# Chapter 69
## 22. Golden Turtle
With a heavy explosion, the missile’s effect was minimal. Even as missile fragments scattered everywhere after hitting the tough skin, the golden turtle showed little reaction. But the missile aimed at its face irritated the monster.
Grr. Grrrr.
A scratching sound echoed from inside its throat, and the golden turtle’s neck stretched forward. Even though the missile exploded near its head and eyes, instead of hiding in its shell, its extended head swung around quickly.
“Ahhh!”
“R-Run away!”
As the massive golden turtle came down, buildings collapsed beyond its immediate area, with debris falling like bombs in all directions. People had already evacuated, but some who didn’t expect a turtle-like monster to move so nimbly got caught in it.
“Kyun Jiho, there are two civilians in front of the Golden Turtle! Joo Dojoon, defensive barrier at that location!”
For some reason, there was no answer from the communicator. Fortunately, a defensive barrier appeared, as fragments falling toward the two fallen civilians bounced away.
Jaeyoon switched the communicator channel to the Association Chairman, but it was still dead. His phone wouldn’t be in his new uniform.
“Esper Yumaro, do you have a phone?”
“They said not to bring personal items…”
Even while being difficult, Yumaro still followed some rules. Jaeyoon thought it seemed unfair that they couldn’t be strict with first-generation Espers but placed many restrictions on second-generation Espers.
“This is really frustrating.”
Modern weapons were meaningless attacks. Knowing this, another fighter jet still fired missiles.
“Unless you hit the heart inside the shell, hitting anywhere else is useless.”
Unable to watch anymore, Jaeyoon pushed off the wall and rushed toward the golden turtle. Surprised by Jaeyoon’s reckless move, Yumaro instinctively used telekinesis to help him move.
In an instant, Jaeyoon reached the top of the golden turtle’s head, directly in front of an incoming missile. The slow monster didn’t care that an Esper was riding on its head. Instead, it was annoyed by the stinging missiles hitting its face and continued its unusual behavior.
“Stop it already!”
Jaeyoon released power toward another missile fired by a fighter jet, causing it to explode in mid-air. Though he couldn’t contact Dojoon, a defensive barrier appeared in front of him, protecting him from the explosion’s effects.
The monster’s head swung around again as if bothered by the loud noise. Its slow front feet dug into the ground, shaking the surroundings.
When the monster’s head came close to the ground, Jaeyoon jumped down. Nearby, flames shot up toward the sky, burning as if warning the fighter jets.
Fortunately, after Jaeyoon’s attack on the missiles and Haeil’s flames, the attacks stopped as they seemed to understand the situation.
Jaeyoon knew that if they wrongly provoked the non-aggressive Golden Turtle, the entire area would be destroyed. It would consider everything that moved as an enemy and begin destroying. The only way to attack was to destroy the insensitive shell and quickly extract the heart’s core.
As soon as Jaeyoon met Haeil, he quickly shared what he knew. Since there was no need to ask how he knew this, Haeil immediately agreed and updated him on the current situation.
“The Association says they’re looking into the situation and will contact us. It seems the official notice about fighter jets was delivered, but they followed standard procedure for emergency situations.”
Fortunately, Haeil was in contact with the Association through some other means. Jaeyoon was grateful that Haeil handled his responsibilities well without needing direction.
“Please contact Esper Kyun Jiho. Tell him to come to me first.”
“Just a moment, Seo Jaeyoon.”
While taking out his phone, Haeil moved very close to Jaeyoon. Even though no one was around, Espers had better hearing than normal people, so he whispered as quietly as possible.
“I think you need to receive guiding.”
Haeil noticed that Jaeyoon’s mana waves were rougher than ever, having worked with him on many missions. Jaeyoon’s mana waves had already reached their limit when he partially destroyed the missile that was flying too fast to follow with the naked eye.
“You know it’s meaningless.”
Only two trainee guides came out for field training. The rest were waiting at the Association for returning second-generation Espers. Even those two were weak, barely better than nothing. Haeil knew they could hardly purify even a handful of Jaeyoon’s mana. When Haeil didn’t back down and silence continued, a twisted smile appeared on Jaeyoon’s tired face.
“How can I receive guiding from you, hyung.”
Who could understand the devastation Jaeyoon felt in a future that had become a past no one knew about? He couldn’t even properly confide in Kwon Haeil. He had only vaguely told him about the self-centered and shameless Esper, and Haeil, having experienced guiding, could only guess the situation.
“Jaeha is not being exploited. If necessary, I’ll make sure no one receives guiding until you stabilize, starting now.”
Haeil had given a fairly accurate response, but Jaeyoon’s trauma was beyond that level. Even Haeil couldn’t be told why Jaeyoon could no longer touch his brother whom he used to hug freely before awakening.
“You go get it instead. From now on, we need to break this thing with brute force.”
Haeil was also pushing himself quite hard, so it would be better for him to receive guiding even briefly. Thanks to Kyun Jiho, going back and forth for guiding was happening very conveniently, but Haeil couldn’t make contact and kept trying to persuade Jaeyoon.
“Or how about going to the guiding room right now? As you said, the Espers just need to focus on breaking the shell anyway, so couldn’t you receive guiding until they get tired?”
Haeil’s suggestion was quite good. They needed to destroy only part of the shell, so Espers couldn’t attack simultaneously anyway.
While they were talking, the golden turtle slowly moved forward, shaking its head occasionally. If only it didn’t move its head, there would be less damage to the surroundings, but it was because someone unnecessarily provoked it.
“Let’s do that. Then Esper Kyun Jiho…”
As Jaeyoon nodded in agreement, his gaze fixed on empty space. Haeil followed his gaze and couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Why is Esper Yumaro over there… Did you give him separate instructions?”
“No, I need to go up there too.”
During the brief time Haeil contacted Jiho on his phone, Jaeyoon and Haeil simultaneously felt an ominous mana wave. It was at the level of a gate opening, but clearly belonged to a familiar Esper.
“What is this?!”
“What are you doing, Yumaro!”
“It’s strange. With all this chaos, your brother isn’t using me.”
When missiles were flying in, Kyun Jiho had to make quick decisions as the communicator was silent. Worried that a miss could endanger their current position despite the defensive barrier, he moved to another location with Jaeha.
After moving to a position roughly between the fighter jets and the golden turtle, maintaining some distance, they moved several more times as missiles kept exploding. Moving with Jiho, Jaeha saw that the scene was more severely damaged than it appeared from a distance and froze.
“Sunbae, are you really not going back?”
“Everyone else is over there.”
“We Espers are super strong, but you’re just like a normal person, Sunbae.”
“You said it’s better to move together than leave me alone.”
“That’s true.”
On the day when Lee Youngwoo visited the Association too openly to be secretive, Jiho naturally tried to locate him. However, no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t teleport to Lee Youngwoo.
According to Jaeyoon, though he didn’t know how Jaeyoon knew this, it was difficult because a perception reduction system was activated at the villain’s base. It made sense, and since there was no other way, Jiho stopped trying to find Lee Youngwoo.
“Sunbae, make sure to stay close to one of us. I might go crazy if you get kidnapped.”
“That’s what I’m doing already.”
Even in this situation with dust flying and loud noises, Jiho’s voice whispering close to his ear was too clear.
“There’s too much dust here, I’ll move us to another place.”
“Wait.”
Normally Jaeha would have hit Jiho’s arm to push him away, but he didn’t. Even while dust rose as the giant feet stepped forward, the golden turtle’s shell remained quiet. From what seemed like an empty place, amid all this commotion, someone’s scream strangely pierced his ears.
“I think someone’s over there.”
“Yes, there is.”
Unlike Jaeha, who could only find people by seeing or hearing them, Jiho was detecting the presence of an awakened person through mana waves. The raging waves were signs of going berserk, which Jiho had experienced himself. He wanted to take Jaeha away, but Jaeha’s gaze was fixed precisely on the unseen person, even though he couldn’t sense mana.
“Are you concerned?”
“I can’t even see what’s what.”
It was amazing that Jaeha was so concerned when he couldn’t sense mana flow or waves except during guiding.
“Someone must have used too much power. It’s similar to when I almost went berserk.”
“What? Who is it?”
“I don’t know. Probably whoever is using the most power right now.”
Unlike the calm Jiho, Jaeha’s mind became complicated.
Though he didn’t know much about the Esper world, he inevitably thought of the three people who had been busy moving around every day.
It could be Dojoon or Haeil, or maybe Jaeyoon.
Seeing Jaeha’s anxious look, Jiho moved first.
“If you’re curious, I’ll go check it out.”
As Jiho was about to leave, Jaeha grabbed his arm that was about to let go.
“Take me with you.”
“No way, Sunbae needs to stay in a safe place…”
As Jiho was about to refuse, Jaeha pulled his neck. Though it was a sudden situation, it was something very familiar to Jiho, who closed his eyes and tilted his head, but what followed was a soft sensation that touched his cheek and quickly disappeared. It was so brief that Jiho opened his eyes to complain and could only smile when he saw Jaeha’s bright red face pointing a finger angrily.
“It’s, it’s an advance payment. You need me for guiding anyway.”
“Yes, but I’ll escape right away if it’s dangerous.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
