# Chapter 21
“Can we attack Lee Ha-min? He’s an S-class dedicated Guide. Won’t we get in trouble if we attack him? Those people already have bad tempers.”
“That’s true, right? But he’s a dedicated Guide, and if we attack and take down Ha-min, it could be a problem. When he returns from handling dungeons, there would be issues with Guiding.”
The Espers assessed the situation and spoke, but Ha-min pleaded with them.
“I’m really fine, so please attack me. I won’t say anything.”
“Ha-min. Did you awaken as an Esper?”
One of the newly arrived Espers said this, then shook his head as if realizing how stupid his own question sounded.
But the others seemed to share that suspicion.
“Let’s go. This has nothing to do with us. It seems like a personal problem.”
They said this and quickly left, which disappointed Ha-min.
“Then I guess I have no choice. Would it be okay if I attack just a little more?”
Ha-min politely asked the Espers who had collapsed to the ground like they’d become one with the floor.
But the Espers shook their heads and even begged with both hands.
After being harshly beaten, none of them had the energy to act arrogantly anymore.
Looking at Ha-min, it seemed he regretted asking.
His expression clearly showed he thought he should have just done it without asking.
Just then, an unwelcome person appeared.
“…Guide Ha-min?”
It was Kyun In.
He looked at Ha-min, then turned toward the Espers stuck to the ground.
Kyun In’s expression gradually hardened.
Seeing the incomprehensible scene, his thoughts seemed to process slowly.
“Guide Ha-min. Surely Guide Ha-min didn’t do this… No. No. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. I’ve seen such strange things that I almost talked nonsense.”
Then Byun Tae-young appeared behind Kyun In.
Shim Woo-jin must have gone somewhere else, as only the two of them came.
It was impossible to tell if this was fortunate or unfortunate.
If Woo-jin had been there, he might have stopped the two of them.
An uneasy feeling grew as it seemed unlikely the two would just walk past pretending not to notice.
“What are you all doing? Covered in blood too. Did you come back from a dungeon?”
Tae-young tilted his head in confusion and asked the Espers, then looked at Ha-min’s fist.
Blood was on Ha-min’s fist, though he seemed unaware of that fact until then.
“Ha-min. You know how to fight?”
His delayed question followed.
“Yes. I’ve been learning lately.”
Ha-min answered with a bright face.
“Is that so? Now I see what’s happening. Ha-min isn’t crazy enough to just randomly attack all these Espers. These guys must have provoked Ha-min first, and Ha-min fell for it, right?”
That was mostly correct.
“So… a Guide attacked Espers… Even though Espers have become pathetic, I know it wouldn’t be good if this gets known within the center.”
“Yes…”
Ha-min replied obediently, as if he knew he hadn’t done anything right either.
“They must have known who Ha-min is and whose Guide he is, yet they did this. I can’t just stand by. If you hit someone’s dog knowing who the owner is, you’re looking down on the owner. Now the owner has appeared, so what will you do?”
Ha-min might have felt bad being treated like a dog so suddenly, but he couldn’t even get angry.
Tae-young’s aura was that overwhelming.
“You even used your abilities, it seems? I smell something like a pathetic matchstick. Using such abilities on a Guide means you tried to kill him, which means I can kill all of you too, right? You wouldn’t claim you didn’t know that killing my Guide is the same as killing me, would you?”
The Espers’ faces filled with shock.
They screamed that they were wrong and begged for their lives, but they couldn’t move their bodies after being badly beaten by Ha-min.
Kyun In showed no intention of stopping Tae-young.
From his expression, it seemed he thought everything Tae-young said was correct.
‘Should I step in?’
While thinking this, the air suddenly became hot.
‘This crazy guy!!’
Before there was time to stop him, hot heat engulfed the air.
An area of easily 5 kilometers was covered in flames.
Damn it!
The flames didn’t discriminate, and at this rate, everyone collapsed on the floor would die burned to death.
The temperature rising instantly made it clear these flames weren’t just burning to scare people.
“No matter how much you dislike a Guide or want to teach them a lesson, if they’re my Guide, you shouldn’t do that. Didn’t you know Ha-min is my Guide? If you were that stupid, you don’t need to live anymore. If you knew and still did it, it’s natural for you to die. You seem desperate to die, so I’ll kill you. I’ll take care of the bodies at once, so be grateful. I won’t charge extra for cremation.”
Tae-young spoke without showing any particularly angry expression.
Just touching the heat could cause severe burns, and direct contact with the flames might melt even bones.
If Tae-young seriously created his flames, that’s exactly what would happen.
His ability could instantly reduce dungeons to ashes.
“Run away, Ha-min!”
“E-Eunwoo!”
Ha-min seemed to think he couldn’t escape alone, and Tae-young truly appeared ready to kill everyone here.
I was crazy to have let my guard down and felt reassured about him just because he showed a somewhat normal side in front of me.
“I said run, you idiot!”
I shouted at Ha-min again, but he didn’t move an inch.
Then Ha-min’s body moved.
It wasn’t by his own will.
Seeing his body float in the air, it must have been Kyun In’s doing.
My body also began to float, and actually rose a bit.
But I lowered myself to the ground, and Kyun In looked at me with a shocked expression.
He couldn’t believe I could resist when he was determined to move my body.
However, he didn’t have time to think about that for long.
He was already sweating profusely.
These flames must have been difficult for him too, and Kyun In seemed threatened by the situation.
I often felt he was intimidated by Tae-young, and seeing them face off like this, I finally understood why.
Once Tae-young made up his mind, Kyun In couldn’t stop him.
Looking at Tae-young, I could tell he had decided to clean up this place for good.
Most people wouldn’t make such a decision easily, even if they felt it necessary.
To think he would consider killing everyone here just because Espers conspired to attack his Guide.
Kyun In tried to pull me again, and meanwhile, Tae-young’s flames rose even higher.
Terrible screams erupted from everywhere.
It was more horrific than a dungeon with rampaging monsters.
This place had seemingly transformed into a dungeon with Tae-young as the rampaging monster.
The air grew even hotter, and the clothes of those collapsed began to disappear in the heat.
Kyun In, seemingly unable to endure anymore, disappeared with Ha-min.
Ha-min wailed that they needed to take me too, and Tae-young looked at me amusingly amid all this.
His face was quite challenging, as if asking what I would do now.
Realizing this bastard has no limits once he goes crazy, I raised my hand.
I didn’t want to show my ability in front of Tae-young if possible, but it was nearly impossible to move everyone collapsed on the floor.
Moving them wasn’t the issue—if handled wrongly, their flesh would peel off and recovery would be impossible.
I just needed to stop the caster.
After briefly considering options, I remembered one of the fallen Espers had a sword, so I approached him and picked it up.
The sword blade was so hot that most people couldn’t handle it, but by circulating my energy, I could simply protect my palm and hold it without harm.
Tae-young tilted his head and looked at me with curious eyes.
Yes, watch carefully.
Soon you won’t even have a neck to tilt.
I threw the sword toward him, and Tae-young let out a derisive laugh at the seemingly ridiculous act.
He must have thought he could easily dodge it.
Tae-young dodged the sword I threw and looked at me with a confident, contemptuous expression.
But he couldn’t laugh.
He couldn’t understand how I was withstanding this tremendous heat.
The heat continued to rise, and it made no sense that anyone other than Tae-young, who created the fire, could survive here.
The confusion from this seemed to dull his senses and concentration.
Otherwise, he might have noticed that the sword he thought he had dodged changed its trajectory with the movement of my hand and was now aiming for his back.
“AAAAARGH!!”
As the sword pierced his back, the flames disappeared like a lie.
No matter how fiercely the flames raged, they ultimately shared the fate of their caster, and when the caster had a problem, their power would subside.
Tae-young’s flames were no exception.
Even the heat in the air instantly disappeared and returned to normal.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
