Min Yu-hyun could no longer hide his irritation.
He had proposed this Joint Mission for one reason only: to show Beom Do-il that he was a far superior Guide compared to Lee Jun-hyung.
The boss-class beast in P-01 Subzone had the ability to summon other monsters, making it too much for two Espers to handle alone.
That was where a Guide’s Sleep or Immobilization skills would come in handy. They would need his support.
Yu-hyun had banked on that exact scenario.
By proving his worth in action, he would raise the prestige of “S-rank Guide Min Yu-hyun,” and make sure Beom Do-il knew he was far more impressive than Jun-hyung.
That had been the plan…
But instead, Yu-hyun found himself glaring at the two Espers, fighting with unrestrained energy as if the battlefield was their playground.
Yoon Do-jae was S-rank, already famous for his unmatched strength—that was understandable. But Beom Do-il? That A-rank idiot fought far too well, and Yu-hyun couldn’t figure out why.
Before Yu-hyun or Jun-hyung even had the chance to use their Guiding skills, Beom Do-il was already cutting down the monsters the boss had summoned, drowning them with water or freezing them solid.
Do-jae focused on the boss, while Do-il tore through its summoned minions.
Standing a little farther back, Yu-hyun chewed on his lower lip, disbelief written across his face, before letting out a sharp click of his tongue.
Jun-hyung, waiting idly beside him, turned his head at the sound.
Catching Jun-hyung’s glance, Yu-hyun gave a bitter laugh with a sigh.
“Seriously… why the hell are they both so good at this?”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. The Espers were supposed to struggle, the Guides were supposed to step in dramatically from behind, and the whole thing was supposed to look spectacular on camera. Instead, Yu-hyun’s muttered complaints were tinged with growing frustration.
Jun-hyung, listening, finally understood the real purpose of this Joint Mission.
No wonder it had felt so odd—an emergency assembly pairing Espers and Guides who’d never normally work together? Now it made sense.
Yu-hyun had wanted to showcase his S-rank powers for the broadcast. But Yoon Do-jae, the rule-bound FM, and Beom Do-il, unusually sharp and energetic today, weren’t giving him a single opening. No wonder Yu-hyun looked like his plans were collapsing.
Jun-hyung chuckled softly and said,
“You’ll need to come up with another method.”
***
That “other method” came much sooner than expected.
Just two days after the partner switch, a Black Gate appeared in I-03 Subzone.
Unlike the ordinary blue Gates that spawned normal beasts, or the yellow Gates filled with stronger elites, or even the red Gates with boss-class monsters—the Black Gate was something beyond them all. A convergence of mutations. The strongest, most dangerous kind of Gate in existence.
In all of recorded history, it had only appeared three times. And now, inexplicably, it had opened a fourth.
Since it hadn’t even registered on Gate Radar, it was likely already open by the time anyone realized.
Either way, the Black Gate was a crisis on an entirely different scale. The nation declared a state of emergency.
Requests for support went out to foreign associations, and every Esper and Guide in the country was summoned.
If the Black Gate wasn’t contained, the disaster wouldn’t just threaten the nation—it would endanger the entire world. An international Code Zero was declared.
A massive operation was launched, led by Hyun Tae-oh with two foreign SS-rank Espers at his side.
Naturally, filming for A Pair is Born was suspended—but instead, every contestant was fitted with micro-cameras on their jacket lapels.
The plan was to capture footage of them fighting mutant beasts inside the Black Gate, then air it as a special broadcast.
The cast was stunned that even in a crisis of this magnitude, they were still expected to film. But the order came directly from the Bureau Chief, and their contracts required them to wear the cameras under any conditions, even wartime. They had no choice.
The last time a Black Gate appeared had been sixty years ago. For every Esper and Guide alive today, this was their first.
From the entrance itself, thick black smoke writhed and pulsed, making all the Ability Users tense.
The two foreign SS-ranks and Hyun Tae-oh led the way inside.
Behind them, ranks upon ranks of Espers and Guides followed in formation.
The interior was vast—large enough to house thousands.
Chi-yu froze the moment he saw the mutant beasts inside. His face went white.
They were grotesque beyond imagining. Compared to them, the monsters in ordinary Gates almost seemed harmless—cute, even. These things were terrifying, their twisted shapes surpassing even the word hideous.
He quickly turned his eyes toward Tae-oh, already deep in combat. With three SS-ranks together, the fight was brutally one-sided.
Positioned across left, center, and right, the three annihilated the endless flood of beasts—slicing, detonating, freezing—reducing them to dust in moments.
The S-rank Espers who followed handled the regenerating ones, identifying their weak points, destroying them, then broadcasting the information through their shared comms before moving on to the next.
Though no one had ever fought in a Gate of this scale, the Espers worked with practiced efficiency.
Even the foreign fighters adapted quickly through the translator system in the comms.
Supporters from abroad moved seamlessly, assisting the frontline with clean precision.
Meanwhile, the Guides were divided into teams under the Guide Department Head, preparing to handle the inevitable wave of Espers pushed to the brink of Rampage.
Among them, Kang Chi-yu had been set apart. Unlike the others, he could not only stabilize energy waves but also directly suppress Espers on the verge of losing control.
In battles this large, there were bound to be reckless Espers who pushed themselves too far. Chi-yu was tasked with saving them.
Sure enough, as the fight dragged on, Espers in critical condition began stumbling into the safe zone, right on the edge of Rampage.
Chi-yu poured out his recovery energy, calming their boiling power instantly, then passed them on to other Guides for continued Guiding.
It was the first time his healing Guiding truly shone.
Though it had earned him a place among Team 1 Guides, he had never used it on this scale before.
And every second of it was being captured by the lapel cameras on Jun-hyung and Yu-hyun. Later, when broadcast, it would make Kang Chi-yu famous as the only Guide with two abilities—and adored by the public.
“Situation report! Esper casualties: 624 injured, 117 dead! Guide casualties: 12 injured, none dead!”
From above the safe zone, a D-rank Esper relayed the numbers through the comms.
Apparently, some Pairs had disobeyed orders, abandoning their posts to reach their Espers. That was where the twelve injured Guides had come from.
Chi-yu remembered Hyun Tae-oh’s words before they’d entered the Gate, when he had fastened a teleport necklace around Chi-yu’s neck, repeating the same warning over and over:
“Never step outside the safe zone. Not once. Not ever.”
“If you die, I’ll blow up the Black Gate—and the entire world with it.”
When Chi-yu had asked, worried, “But what if you’re the one in danger?”, Tae-oh’s answer had been firm, his eyes unyielding:
“Even if I’m at death’s door, you do not enter the combat zone. If I die, the Marking ensures I’ll die right in front of you.”
He had made Chi-yu promise again and again, fearing he might recklessly run to him if he was in danger.
The thought of Tae-oh still dying in front of him thanks to the Marking had left Chi-yu with a hollow laugh. Fear and worry had lingered, but deep down, he held a strange certainty. If it was Hyun Tae-oh, he wouldn’t die.
“Unit 9 here! We’re overwhelmed with Espers needing Guiding! Unit 10, back us up!”
Before long, though, Chi-yu had no room for such thoughts.
The mutant beasts inside the Black Gate outnumbered the Ability Users several times over. For those below A-rank, it took two working together just to bring down one.
The Espers carried into the safe zone were drenched in blood, many missing limbs. More than half were on the verge of Rampage, their veins bulging and writhing under their skin.
Every Guide team was swamped, frantically stabilizing the endless tide of injured. Some units were forced to call for backup from neighboring teams.
Chi-yu focused on using only his recovery skill for suppression, but his energy reserves were running low, leaving him anxious.
The sheer scale of death and injury was overwhelming. It was chaos—a living hell.
Still, thanks to Chi-yu, no Esper had yet fully lost control.
The Guide Department Head, Central Bureau officials, and Association executives all had their eyes fixed on him.
Among them, a middle-aged man in a RISG lab coat leaned toward an Esper executive and whispered something. The man nodded, then instantly teleported away.
Watching this, Yu-hyun narrowed his eyes.
Executives didn’t fight, that much was expected. But since most of them were former Espers, they should’ve been overseeing the battle. Instead, every single one of them was staring into the Guide safe zone.
As if searching for something—or confirming it.
The group itself was strange: high-ranking government officials, the Central Bureau Deputy Director, the Association Vice President, RISG executives.
What exactly were they looking for?
The RISG executive, and the Esper officer who had suddenly vanished earlier, gave Yu-hyun a chill. His gaze darted, trying to piece it together.
His instincts in matters like this were rarely wrong.
And then—
With a thunderous crash, a mutant beast appeared right in the center of the Guide safe zone. It was on the verge of Rampage.
Guides screamed. The Espers receiving Guiding snapped into combat stance.
The beast’s entire body glowed red, quivering with unstable energy.
“It’s—it’s about to rampage!!”
At the cry, Kang Chi-yu shot forward.
If it exploded here, every Guide in the safe zone would die. His reaction was pure instinct.
Even if it put him in danger, Espers nearby could still act—they were already bracing themselves, holding back only because the creature was unstable.
Chi-yu sprinted forward and reached out.
The instant his hand touched the beast, he poured his recovery energy into it.
He hadn’t truly believed Guiding would work on a monster. But if it was going to rampage, everyone would die anyway—so instinct had driven him to try.
To his shock, the beast’s energy waves felt eerily similar to an Esper’s.
The creature, ready to explode, suddenly reverted to its original form. But as soon as it did, instinct kicked in—it lunged at Chi-yu.
Executives watching from above moved to intervene—but before they could, Hyun Tae-oh appeared in a flash.
As if he’d been watching Chi-yu the whole time, Tae-oh materialized in front of him, pulling him close while unleashing lightning that burned the beast to ash.
From the moment the mutant had appeared, the RISG executive had been watching intently. Now, as Tae-oh killed it, the man immediately pulled out his phone and began a call.
Beside him, the Esper executive who had vanished earlier reappeared, both men watching Tae-oh and Chi-yu.
Min Yu-hyun’s eyes narrowed, watching them carefully.
