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Taebeom’s ability wasn’t blocked because he was a mental-type esper.
Mental-type espers can’t be controlled by others. Illusions don’t work on them, and it’s completely impossible for any external force to penetrate.
Thanks to this, he wasn’t affected by the control substance that Han Seokhwan esper had spread inside the gate. The air contaminated by Han Seokhwan esper’s ability drained other espers’ energy and blocked their abilities.
The reason Taebeom didn’t immediately use his ability on the cat beastkin esper was solely because his power had weakened.
Like his hearing that came and went, Taebeom’s power had become unstable. The time he could use his ability had become extremely short.
“Just give me the guide’s blood.”
The man said, stepping back as soon as Taebeom’s power was released. They had moved locations using the man’s teleportation. Taebeom had controlled his mind to move them far from the cave.
The man shook his head vigorously, shaking off the creepy sensation as if his brain had been kneaded. He raised his puffed-up tail high and attempted to negotiate with Taebeom.
“I don’t want to fight you. I just need that guy’s blood.”
Not a lot, just enough to fill a small syringe would be sufficient.
“Even a small amount of high-ranking guide blood should be effective.”
The man instinctively knew that Siwoo was an exceptional guide. There must be a reason why an SS-rank esper was struggling so much.
“If you’re uncomfortable with me taking it, you can do it yourself.”
A fake hand that appeared out of thin air handed a syringe to Taebeom. Now that he’d been caught, there was no need to hide his plan.
“I’m not trying to make him fully regain consciousness. Just, you know, enough to have a brief conversation.”
The man’s plan was simple.
Inject guiding to restore rationality to the leader who had gone mad from the shock of losing his family. Then, after a final conversation, kill him with his own hands.
“You can grant that much, can’t you? Quickly go and draw some.”
He wasn’t asking for direct guiding, just a little blood. It wasn’t a difficult request at all. That’s what the man thought.
“Not possible.”
At the firm refusal, the man glared at Taebeom with an exasperated expression.
“What do you mean not possible! I’m not trying to save him, I’m saying I’ll kill him myself!”
He struck his own chest fiercely as he snapped. Of course, Taebeom didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
“Why not? What’s so hard about drawing a little blood!”
There were people around Taebeom who were much fiercer and louder than this man. He was considered quiet in comparison.
“Let’s use guiding medication instead of blood.”
Taebeom took out a small medicine bottle from the inside pocket of his combat uniform. The man laughed loudly as soon as he saw it.
“He’s not in a state that can be calmed by mere medication.”
“That might be true for drugs made in the past.”
Taebeom, who had thrown the syringe on the ground and crushed it with his foot, handed the medicine bottle to him.
“This works on me, so it should be effective.”
It was a new guiding drug not yet officially distributed. The reddish tablet-form pill showed immediate effects like Jihan’s green painkiller pills.
It artificially lowered wavelength levels and calmed the mind without needing sleep. However, it was still in the research stage due to severe side effects. Except for the side effects, the drug’s effectiveness was certain.
“It better work.”
The man snatched the bottle and used his replication ability to increase the number of pills. A couple wouldn’t be enough, so he made as many as possible. A small amount wouldn’t be nearly enough to bring the leader to his senses.
“Why do you call him leader?”
Taebeom asked the man who was busily replicating the medicine bottle.
“He’s not your leader, is he, Esper Go Doyeon?”
The bottle slipped from the man’s hand. The plastic container that fell to the ground rolled among the shards of the broken syringe.
“…Did you read my thoughts?”
The man’s deep eyes hardened coldly. However, his assumption was wrong. Taebeom had known the man’s identity even before reading his thoughts.
“I’ve memorized the information of all high-ranking espers.”
Especially for those who participated in the gate interior entry operation, he had memorized all their abilities and characteristics. Their names, ages, and even their relationships and positions within their guilds.
“Ha, you’re saying you memorized all that?”
The man didn’t believe Taebeom’s words. He thought Taebeom had read his past and was lying.
“Esper Han Seokhwan’s guild was active even before you manifested your abilities.”
They were from different guilds, and their active periods were different. When he entered the Center, Han Seokhwan esper had already entered the gate interior.
So they must have met for the first time inside the gate.
“He’s the only leader I’ve ever acknowledged.”
The man muttered softly as he picked up the fallen medicine bottle.
The claim about losing his memories was a lie. It was just something he said to scare the newcomers.
If he had really lost his memories, he wouldn’t have felt hostility towards the Center. But he remembered everything.
“He was the only one who treated me like a person. Not as a weapon, but as an equal.”
The man trailed off and began replicating the medicine again. His voice, mixed with a sigh, continued through the contaminated air.
“He’s a good person. Not to you guys, of course.”
In their eyes, he’d only be seen as an enemy who caused seizures in beastkin espers. If the situation inside the gate were to become known, the whole world would surely remember him as a criminal.
The man wanted to keep what happened inside the gate a secret forever. That’s why he tried to act alone. Because his leader was definitely not someone who deserved such treatment.
“Then take responsibility and kill him.”
Taebeom, who had pocketed one bottle of medicine, looked down at him. There was no emotion in his cold eyes. His voice, without inflection, was just hard.
“Otherwise, I’ll make him face the consequences outside.”
Taebeom had heard everything about what happened inside the gate through the man’s words.
Han Seokhwan esper had lost his mind from the shock of having his family killed by beastkin espers. Led by him, the ordinary espers attacked the beastkin espers as if they had been waiting for this, and in the process of fleeing and counterattacking, rampages occurred.
It was the rampage of beastkin espers.
“You think you can get out?”
“We will get out.”
At the response that came back without hesitation, the man just snorted. His lips were too tight to properly sneer. It was an attitude as brazenly confident as that SS-rank fool. Come to think of it, the two seemed alike.
“There is an exit.”
Taebeom sat down on the ground, keeping some distance from the man. The man frowned in surprise and his lips moved.
“You found a way out?”
No way, that can’t be. How could a greenhorn who had just been sucked into the gate find the exit that countless high-ranking espers had searched for over such a long time?
“Hey, don’t keep me in suspense, tell me. You… what’s wrong?”
The man, who had been urging for an answer, suddenly hesitated as he saw Taebeom bleeding.
He had suddenly started having a nosebleed while they were talking normally. As if he had expected it, he had already covered it with a handkerchief before the blood started pouring.
“Did you pick your nose?”
The man, who had been looking at Taebeom with bewildered eyes, soon made a face as if he had noticed something. It wasn’t that he had bled from picking his nose, but he seemed to be in pain.
No wonder. I thought his breathing sounded the weakest.
The reason the man had given Taebeom a chair to sit on was because he genuinely looked like he was struggling. The man had the ability to gauge someone’s condition just from their presence and the way they walked.
I thought he was just naturally weak, but I guess not.
“Can you kill him alone?”
Taebeom calmly wiped away the blood and folded the damp handkerchief into his pocket. The man clicked his tongue and slowly nodded.
“The leader won’t kill me. He might attack by mistake, but he won’t kill me.”
Because he was a cat beastkin like his son. Han Seokhwan esper couldn’t bring himself to kill the man in the end.
While the bodies of beastkin espers were bursting, he alone survived. His ability wasn’t even blocked.
Endless screams of agony echoed from all directions. Not just beastkin espers, but everyone died. The rampage that occurred in the narrow, enclosed space led everyone to hell.
The man fled alone, leaving behind the corpses of his comrades. When he returned after a long time, the bodies of his comrades had already disappeared without a trace. All that remained were sprouts growing on the ground soaked with their blood.
The man’s black tail wrapped around his leg.
“So only I can do it. I will end this.”
He warned Taebeom not to touch him at all. And one more thing.
“Don’t call my name. It’s a name I’ve discarded.”
Taebeom nodded in response without asking why. As he slightly bowed his head, another nosebleed started.
“Stop bleeding already! You’ll die before we even fight.”
The man threw some tissues at Taebeom. His pants pockets seemed to contain as many items as his backpack.
“Such a weak young guy.”
While grumbling, he also threw a bottle of water. He glanced at Taebeom, who was wiping blood while moistening his throat. Seeing his red blood reminded him of the guide.
A single drop of the guide’s blood would be far more effective than these pills.
“Not possible.”
The man’s shoulders jerked up. He spilled the water he was drinking and got angry.
“Stop reading my thoughts!”
“I’m not reading them, I can hear them.”
When mental abilities were unstable, sometimes you could hear others’ thoughts even if you didn’t want to. Of course, the man didn’t believe this. They weren’t in a relationship built on enough trust for that.
“Then explain properly. Why isn’t it possible?”
Let’s hear what great reason you have for stopping this. Guiding medication is made by extracting energy from guide cells. So naturally, it would be much more effective than the medication.
Instead of answering, Taebeom stared at the broken syringe. The needle that had fallen on the shattered glass fragments was thin but very sharp.
He’s so afraid of those that he turns pale. That’s what I was told. By his noisy secretary.
“Let’s go now.”
Taebeom, whose bleeding had stopped, stood up. He told the man to move to the farthest place from the cave where his guild members were.
The man rolled his eyes as he packed all the pills into a large bag. He was annoyed at having to follow orders from someone much younger than him.
However, he had originally intended to move to the farthest place anyway. He had no intention of involving the man’s guild members, who had two beastkin espers among them.
He needed to finish this before anyone else was put in danger.
“So. What’s the way out?”
The man looked up at Taebeom as he prepared to teleport. But before he could hear the answer, his jet-black ears fluttered.
“What are these things?”
The man, who had pricked up his ears as if sensing something, started scratching his head vigorously. It seemed a problem had arisen.
Taebeom, who heard the man’s thoughts, closed his eyes tightly. His chest swelled slightly as he swallowed a silent sigh.
What he had feared most had occurred.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
