# Chapter 25
“I’m protecting a regular person. I don’t belong to the Esper Guard, so those guidelines don’t apply to me.”
Kim Byungtae was shocked by the rookie guard’s formal attitude that showed strict discipline. He thought this was an unfamiliar face, and now this person who wasn’t even part of the Esper Guard team was talking back.
“Huh. Who assigned a guard to a regular person? Move aside while I’m still asking nicely.”
Despite Kim Byungtae’s dismissive hand gesture like he was shooing away a fly, the rookie didn’t back down.
“Please step aside. Will you take responsibility if something goes wrong?”
“What problem? Someone with no ability trying to interfere. Know your place and stay quiet like the lowest-ranking member.”
“I’m not the lowest-ranking. I’m Cheonoh.”
“Whether you’re two thousand won or whatever, just go. If they’re a regular person, they’ll die soon anyway, so stop showing off when nobody cares.”
When Kim Byungtae reached out and pushed him, Cheonoh’s solid stance wavered.
Even an F-grade showed a clear difference between a regular person and an awakened one. When Cheonoh, who had seemed evenly matched on the surface, stumbled, Kim Byungtae’s lips curled up in petty joy.
“Guys, if you have eyes, you can see it too, right?”
At Kim Byungtae’s nod, all the guards’ gazes moved simultaneously. Their eyes fixed on Youngwoo, who was smearing blood all over the transparent barrier.
“Lee Youngwoo, Esper. Judging by the crack size, estimated grade minimum B or higher. And he eliminated the crack right after awakening. If properly measured, he’d easily be A-grade.”
Kim Byungtae’s pride showed even though all he’d done was chase after him. He didn’t care at all about the regular person who had been sacrificed by that Esper’s hand. Without even cleaning up, he had immediately followed Youngwoo all the way here.
“Joo Dojoon Esper is also amazing. Look how he spread that defensive barrier.”
“But it’s just a shield. If we had a shield in our hands, we could block that much too.”
At Kim Byungtae’s words, several guards nodded. This made Kim Byungtae even more confident, and he continued talking.
“Our Esper eliminated the crack. Something nobody else could do. Do you know what that means?”
“Yes, Team Leader. Protecting Lee Youngwoo must be our top priority.”
“That’s right. We shouldn’t prevent the birth of an A-grade Esper, even if there are some sacrifices.”
Kim Byungtae nodded with satisfaction at the guard’s answer who was moving with him, and added more. Cheonoh, who had been pushed aside by their attitude of not caring who was sacrificed, stepped forward again. Cheonoh was a personal guard assigned to Jaeha at Jaeyoon’s request. There was no reason for him to agree with Kim Byungtae’s twisted sense of superiority or suffer disadvantages.
“It’s time to intervene. Just let me through. I only need to get my protected subject out.”
“Tsk, how dare a regular person try to interfere when Espers are using their powers? You’ll die instantly, seriously.”
Kim Byungtae’s mocking tone, mixed with low-class sneering, fully revealed his Esper supremacist attitude.
“I’m going to do my job, so don’t worry about me.”
“This guy needs to get hit to come to his senses.”
Anyway, according to Kim Byungtae’s claim, regular person Cheonoh wasn’t even worth comparing to Espers if he tried to intervene.
The reason Kim Byungtae was reacting so sensitively was because the existence of a new Esper had become a hope for the guards.
Especially those who had been watching Youngwoo were excited by his violent power today, as if they themselves had awakened. The hope that they might acquire special abilities led to admiration for potential awakened ones.
“What on earth are you saying? What kind of guards are you?”
“Sigh, Cheonoh, you need to calm down. Come over here and cool down a bit.”
“Wait a minute, ugh!”
Kim Byungtae’s harsh expression softened a bit when a guard from Dojoon’s side forcibly subdued Cheonoh, who absolutely wouldn’t listen. Another quick-witted guard tried to soothe the team leader.
“Team Leader, don’t worry about it. You should focus on Lee Youngwoo Esper.”
“That’s right. I need to observe carefully since we don’t know when he’ll use his power again.”
The petty squabble among the guards entered a temporary lull. That didn’t mean they were doing anything in particular. They were just hiding across the street, watching Youngwoo and Dojoon.
Their restraint or surveillance had no effect on the three people.
“Hmm.”
After acting like he would set off a bomb on Dojoon’s defensive barrier, Youngwoo looked around several times before making a troubled expression.
“Looks like there are no more black cracks.”
Youngwoo’s mutter was heard clearly enough despite being blocked by the barrier, so Jaeha felt a little relieved.
“I was joking. I wouldn’t use something like a bomb on my juniors.”
When Jaeha tried to respond to the softly smiling Youngwoo, Dojoon’s hand supporting his back tensed. It was a small force, but Jaeha’s tense body flinched greatly.
Youngwoo, checking Jaeha and Dojoon with just his eyes, spread both hands and placed them on the defensive barrier.
“Kids, look at my hands.”
They were clean at first, but the blood on his arms dripped down, creating red handprints.
“See? There’s no bomb or anything.”
His kind tone and smile, like talking to a small child, only brought fear.
“Jaeha?”
“Y-yes?”
“Jaeha, don’t answer him.”
Youngwoo’s smile disappeared at Dojoon’s intervention. Dojoon, who stood embracing Jaeha, showed no signs of fatigue despite continuously using the defensive barrier.
“Hmm.”
Youngwoo felt his energy drain while looking into the crack and taking out the core in what seemed like a simple action. Using it several times gave him the same feeling each time, and now he was quite tired.
Dojoon, who was holding Jaeha, was probably in a similar situation to maintain the defensive barrier, Youngwoo guessed as he circled around them. However, even after quite some time had passed, the defensive barrier that Youngwoo’s hands touched was still solid.
“You, are you really not going to remove this?”
“No.”
“What are you? You tell Jaeha not to answer but you answer just fine? Jaeha, he’s weird.”
“Don’t drag Jaeha into your pointless complaints.”
“Now that I look at you, you seem familiar. Didn’t you often hang around with Jaeha?”
“Don’t act friendly with me. I’m only responding to you because Jaeha keeps reacting to you, so I have no choice but to deal with you.”
Jaeha lowered his head in embarrassment at Dojoon’s unfiltered words.
In this absurd situation, Jaeha thought he might be able to create a breakthrough by talking with Youngwoo. His clumsy attempt, not realizing that he himself would stop it, was blocked by Dojoon’s protection.
“Wow, I’m your senior, can you treat me like that?”
“Don’t pretend to be sensible. Jaeha might worry because he’s a nice kid, but that doesn’t work on me.”
Jaeha, who was the center of the two people’s conversation, could only roll his eyes due to the pressure from Dojoon’s arms.
Youngwoo’s head tilted as he stared at Dojoon’s hand tightly holding Jaeha.
“You’re prickly. I thought I heard you were a nice kid. Ah, could it be that you’ve also been wearing a mask? If that’s the case, I might feel some kinship.”
“Sunbae Youngwoo?”
Unlike Jaeha, who was surprised at Youngwoo’s confession that his previous nice senior image was a mask, Dojoon’s face twisted with displeasure.
“This is annoying…”
“Do-Dojoon?”
Jaeha’s pupils shook at Dojoon’s sudden rough appearance. Seeing Jaeha’s surprise, Youngwoo seized the opportunity and jumped on it.
“How scary. So this is your true self. Isn’t it good when a senior feels close to a junior?”
“I have no intention of treating you as a senior, so get lost.”
“Hey, Joo Dojoon.”
Jaeha was bewildered, having never seen Dojoon’s rough side before. Jaeha, who was already greatly afraid of Youngwoo’s sudden change, was terrified that Dojoon might be changing too. Reading Jaeha’s anxiety, Dojoon added a faint smile to the stiff expression he had been showing Youngwoo.
“Jaeha, your heart is too soft. Leave this to me right now.”
Even seeing Dojoon looking so relaxed, Jaeha still had a surprised face. From Jaeha’s perspective, Dojoon was the pushover who would easily give in and take on difficult tasks. He wondered how someone so kind that they could live without laws was worried about anyone else.
In fact, Dojoon, whose protective instinct toward Jaeha had strengthened, pulled him close without hesitation and held him in his arms. It was an action to prevent even Jaeha’s face from being seen by Youngwoo.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“You don’t need to see, and don’t show yourself either.”
“Geez, what are you talking about.”
Jaeha, suddenly embraced even to his face by Dojoon, tried to push away in embarrassment. In this confusing situation, seeing Dorim’s face sleeping soundly in her brother’s arms, Jaeha’s complicated mind became calm.
When he lightly tapped Dojoon’s hand holding his head, the steady hand slowly came down. Though he only released his head, Dojoon’s hand went back down to his waist and held him tightly as if he would never let go. It would have been creepy at any other time, but in a situation where his mental state was shaken, it was quite reassuring. Thanks to this, Jaeha could call Youngwoo as normally as possible.
“Sunbae Youngwoo.”
“Yes, Jaeha.”
At Jaeha’s call, Youngwoo put both hands on the transparent defensive barrier and brought his face closer.
After people had fled, the surroundings were extremely quiet. As the siren sound that had been heard from a distance gradually came closer, Youngwoo’s common sense seemed to return, and he started to show a somewhat anxious expression.
Thinking that if they just held out a little longer, either Youngwoo would run away or the police would come, Jaeha spoke to divert his attention.
“I appreciate the closeness you show to me, Sunbae.”
At Jaeha’s words, the hands of Dojoon holding him tightened, but unlike before, Jaeha’s voice had less trembling.
“But it’s also true that I’m scared of you right now, Sunbae. You say you’re fine, but just looking at the current situation is scarier than most horror movies.”
“Why? I explained everything.”
Youngwoo, with his white and kind image, tilted his head and smiled softly. If not for the blood flowing down to his hands, his face would have been gentle enough to make one want to believe him.
‘Why is my everyday life, which was a comedic slice-of-life, turning into a hardcore gore story?’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
