Chapter 38
He went to work at the Center with documents that Secretary Shim had prepared in advance. Then he registered Ko Eunso’s company, S&T, as an external cooperative body, and left everything blank about which Gate to clear, who the team’s ability user members were, and what method to use for clearing. This was because if he registered this information, the Center would also learn about the Jeju Island Gate.
If they obtained such prime information, the Center would gobble up that Gate among themselves. But if that happened, he wouldn’t be able to escape ‘temporary.’ He decided to keep the Jeju Island Gate thoroughly secret.
‘There should only be one or two thugs…’
Of course, ordinary Guides with temporary licenses were rare, and ordinary Guides who found Gates themselves to make their temporary status official were really uncommon, so the Center staff glanced over here several times. Of course, he monopolized the gazes of the ability users processing documents as if Ko Eungyo standing here was a really strange thing.
He filled out the necessary documents as quickly and accurately as possible, submitted them, and left.
“Good work.”
Today, Lee Seungwoo had said he’d come pick him up at home himself, but he refused. He told him to meet at the Center, and repeatedly emphasized to Lee Seungwoo that he wanted an Esper who followed instructions well. Fortunately, Lee Seungwoo seemed to have understood his words properly.
In any case, he told him an hour later than the time he originally planned to go to the Center. He judged there was no need to open other Gate information to Lee Seungwoo either.
The reason was simple. Lee Seungwoo was a student but an ability user at the Center who’d been active since his third year, and seeing how the Director wrapped around Lee Seungwoo like that, he clearly must be quite acquainted with the Director. In short, it meant Lee Seungwoo was a pro-Center ability user.
When it came to information about Gates, no amount of caution was too much. That was a fact that didn’t change even for Lee Seungwoo, the Esper he’d decided to let into ‘my’ for the first time since becoming Ko Eungyo.
He’d thought document processing would take some time… but it ended much faster than expected. It seemed to be thanks to the company’s name value.
His steps gradually slowed as he checked the time on his wristwatch.
In any case, to register Lee Seungwoo in ‘my,’ he had to return to the Center again. Deletion was possible anytime with each other’s Center application, but registration wasn’t. It was the Center’s policy to prevent indiscriminate registration and deletion.
He thought he should kill some time at the cafe on the Center’s first floor. It was a coffee spot at the Center that those who knew it knew it and those who didn’t know it didn’t.
Ding-a-ling.
It was a familiar bell sound. When he worked office duties, he always came to this cafe and worked on his laptop.
‘It’s been a while hearing it.’
Somehow it felt refreshing. He went to the counter and ordered the menu he always ordered.
“Iced Americano, with an extra shot please.”
“Yes, order received.”
Now he could use the card Ko Eunso gave him without any worries. Though he was relying entirely on this card for living expenses now, this would also change as he built his position as a field Guide. A person should know how to be economically independent without depending on anything. Ko Eungyo briefly reviewed his plan for the next five years.
By the way, the part-timer had changed in the meantime. The coffee taste hadn’t changed too, right?
Walking to an empty table and waiting for his coffee to come out, he habitually tapped his fingers on the table and enjoyed the view outside the cafe. It was possible because the cafe interior had one wall that was a glass window.
‘What’s that?’
He saw something flying from very far away. The whitish form looked at a glance like an elongated chrysalis. It was rushing toward this direction at a terrifying speed.
“Ah.”
He instinctively blocked his face with his arm. With a crashing sound, something lightning-fast jumped through the cafe’s glass window, and the people who were chatting or working in the cafe screamed and rushed outside.
“Terrorism, it’s terrorism!”
“S-someone please report it!”
Brushing off glass fragments from his sleeve, he also stood up to escape. Since it was an era with too many ability users, the number of ‘villains’ who harbored resentment toward the Center and committed terrorism was increasing day by day, becoming a headache for the nation.
But how did they break through the Center’s security? The Center was a place where the nation’s ability users gathered, corresponding with national security. Breaking through here meant they weren’t an ordinary skilled person.
Then, within his view as he tried to flee, something that had flown in wriggled on the floor. He paused and stopped in place.
Time bombs don’t wriggle. Then that wasn’t a bomb.
Right, it kept wriggling…
What flew in from outside wasn’t a terrorist substance but a person. A person who had flown here like a cannonball yet unbelievably didn’t have a single scratch. He was passed out like sleeping with both hands placed on his stomach, with a very peaceful face.
‘…Cha Yeongheon?’
It was even someone he knew. He knew this person. It was a face he absolutely couldn’t not know.
How could he not know Cha Yeongheon? Cha Yeongheon was his Esper. …Jang Iju’s Esper, that is. He was one of the twenty-some Espers he’d managed and the guy who followed him around like a caterpillar whenever there was a chance.
This guy would lie flat on the floor and wriggle around if he didn’t give him Guiding. All day long.
Though Jang Iju had many guys who listened well, there were also guys who left a strong impression for being disgustingly disobedient. Strangely, the more such a guy was, the more he wondered how he was doing. Whether he was receiving Guiding well, and if so, what Guide he was receiving it from…
But to learn of his well-being in this manner.
When Guiding became insufficient, a guy who smashed things everywhere as if he’d become a human rocket and rammed into the Center was never common. There were rascal Espers who were only satisfied if they made a show of Guiding being depleted, and Cha Yeongheon was a guy running at the head of that rascal pack.
Cha Yeongheon was lying still among the cafe debris he’d destroyed, as if dead.
No matter how you looked at it, it was rampage symptoms.
Quickly scanning the surroundings, no Guide other than him was visible. Well, if they were sane, they’d choose to flee with screams before getting caught up in whatever terrorism or something. A Guide should know to cherish their body above anything else. Because there wasn’t just one or two Espers dependent on their hands.
If Cha Yeongheon really rampaged wildly, he should also avoid this place now, but he absolutely couldn’t do that. He was someone who had once been Cha Yeongheon’s Guide.
Unable to help it, he approached Cha Yeongheon, who looked like he was sleeping. Inside the cafe, all the frightened people had rushed out, leaving only him and Cha Yeongheon.
‘If it’s fortunate, is it fortunate?’
First, he had to check if Cha Yeongheon was conscious. He carefully called Cha Yeongheon.
“…Esper Cha Yeongheon?”
Of course, no answer whatsoever came from Cha Yeongheon, who looked passed out.
He examined Cha Yeongheon with a somewhat uncertain expression. Then he crouched beside the lying Cha Yeongheon and checked if his pulse was beating normally. Fortunately, the pulse seemed normal. But if left like this, it could become dangerous.
Would paramedics come in time?
Thinking coldly. Since this was the Center, he reached the conclusion that paramedics would be dispatched before long.
However, even if paramedics came, they wouldn’t be able to give Cha Yeongheon Guiding. Because he was one of the Espers tricky to Guide. Just because it was Jang Iju didn’t mean he matched particularly well with Cha Yeongheon. Even then, he’d only given Cha Yeongheon ‘rhythm games.’
He could do it with Ko Eungyo’s body too. Just that rhythm game. When the kid was on the verge of death, was he in a position to be picky?
He lightly rolled up his sleeve. Then lightly grasped and held Cha Yeongheon’s neck. He just thought to check how twisted Cha Yeongheon’s body was internally.
“…Urk.”
As expected… it’s a complete mess.
He couldn’t even see what the Guiding path looked like. He suppressed the vomit trying to come out while examining the body’s blood vessels twisted to the level of heaven and earth switching. Normally, Cha Yeongheon’s temperament was so dirty that high-grade Guides capable of ‘rhythm games’ didn’t Guide Cha Yeongheon well. Cha Yeongheon’s Guiding deficiency phenomenon was the result of that bastard throwing tantrums.
Of course, he tried to act cute toward him. If not for that, he wouldn’t have bothered Guiding Cha Yeongheon either.
He kept his mouth firmly shut as always and started forcibly pushing his energy in, matching it to Cha Yeongheon.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
