Chapter 32
“Are there any other materials besides these?”
“That’s all we have for mental-type materials.”
The mental-type Esper’s gaze was filled with questions as Yeonwoo nodded in response. Looking back and forth between Yeonwoo’s employee ID and the title of the reference book, the mental-type furrowed their brows. A colleague gestured to the mental-type and whispered softly.
“That’s Esper Han Yeonhwa’s brother.”
At that whisper, Yeonwoo’s mouth fell open.
My goodness. An auxiliary-type should be able to view mental-type materials too. Do I need to be someone’s brother to see mental-type materials? Sitting down, Yeonwoo let out a small hollow laugh and opened the reference book.
The document collecting the characteristics of mental-type Espers also included a compilation of ability types discovered so far.
“…Not here.”
Despite scanning the materials until just before the training bell rang, he found nothing substantial. Still, Yeonwoo’s face looked refreshed as he returned to the training ground.
He felt relieved that the sense of déjà vu and questions he’d been feeling until now had been resolved. It was because I traveled back to the past. Nodding, Yeonwoo entered the training ground, dismissing the suspicious gazes he had been casting around the Center.
“Hello.”
“Did something good happen?”
An Esper who grabbed Yeonwoo after his bright greeting wore a suspicious expression. This was one of the Espers caught up in Jung Eunyoung’s instigation about Yeonwoo receiving benefits thanks to Yeonhwa. As far as I know, the reserve team hasn’t been decided yet. Despite the suspicious gaze and sharp voice, Yeonwoo just smiled brightly.
The Center building should have felt unfamiliar, but it was familiar, and an even stronger sense of dissonance came from seeing beings that shouldn’t exist wandering around the Center. What could be more chilling than having a dead person existing normally beside you?
But if I’ve returned to the past, then dead people could be alive again. Having accepted this, Yeonwoo settled in his spot, stretching while looking around.
With each passing ability user’s face, a line of memory emerged. When did that person die? Nodding, and when did those two imprint? Tilting his head, Yeonwoo waved to Choi Dongwon who was arriving for work.
“Why are you so excited?”
Is it that obvious? Feeling his cheeks, he could sense his prominent cheekbones. Well, it was natural to be excited since a problem that had been giving him a headache for over a month had been resolved.
Now I just need to find out why I returned to the past. There didn’t seem to be any time-related ability users on the mental-type side, so maybe I should look on the auxiliary side? Running alongside Choi Dongwon in the training ground, Yeonwoo greeted Park Seohyun as she entered.
“Hello.”
At the familiar voice, Yeonwoo’s body froze.
The moment he saw Seo Yujin entering with Park Seohyun, Yeonwoo’s upturned lips began to tremble slightly. Looking around with an inexplicable anxiety, Yeonwoo slowly backed away.
“Esper Han Yeonwoo?”
Startled by the voice calling his name, Yeonwoo turned to look at Seo Yujin. His feet kept moving with the urge to flee immediately. It wasn’t because of the unfamiliar Esper’s mana. It felt like he was warning himself that he shouldn’t be with that person.
“Are you okay?”
Quickly inhaling at the touch of a hand stopping him, Yeonwoo looked down at his feet. I’m… fine. Muttering, Yeonwoo smiled brightly and extended his hand.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Han Yeonwoo.”
“I’m Seo Yujin.”
After gathering the exchanged mana, Yeonwoo looked at Jo Heeseo, who was standing with her hands behind her back. Jo Heeseo, who had hidden her hands as soon as she saw Seo Yujin’s employee ID, greeted with a half-hearted attitude and looked around. As soon as she spotted Bae Jaeyoung, she left without even asking for permission, causing Seo Yujin to burst into a short laugh.
“I told you, right?”
Lee Subin, who approached, comforted the three Espers standing alone.
“It’s better for your peace of mind to think you can’t receive guiding from that one—I mean, from Guide Jo Heeseo.”
At those words, Choi Dongwon nodded with a hardened expression. Recalling the look of disgust directed at him every time he showed seizure symptoms, Choi Dongwon glared at Jo Heeseo, who was flirting in front of Bae Jaeyoung.
“Don’t worry too much. She’s always like that.”
After comforting Choi Dongwon, Lee Subin greeted her team members as they arrived, saying she looked forward to working with them next week, and left. With the atmosphere cooled, Seo Yujin, who had been reading the room, quietly slipped away saying she would gather training equipment. Park Seohyun sighed and opened her bag.
“Have some candy. I brought it just in case because last week was so tough… I didn’t know we’d need a sugar high before training even started.”
Placing candy in Choi Dongwon’s still stiff hand, Park Seohyun left, saying she would bring Jo Heeseo back. Watching the two of them arguing, Yeonwoo pressed his forehead firmly.
Jo Heeseo had… been singing about joining Muyeong Guild since military academy days and eventually joined Muyeong Guild. Despite not meeting the conditions Muyeong Guild wanted, Jo Heeseo had been accepted to Muyeong Guild. She had walked around with such a high nose that the memory was as vivid as if it were yesterday. He was a bit curious. How did she get into Muyeong Guild?
Well, it’s not my business.
Turning his gaze, Yeonwoo looked at Seo Yujin, who was stretching. Even after staring for quite a while, no information came to mind.
“Is there something on my face?”
Did I stare too much? Turning his gaze away at Seo Yujin’s question, Yeonwoo held up the candy bag Park Seohyun had given him.
“Would you like some candy?”
Yeonwoo rummaged through the candy bag as he watched Seo Yujin nodding with a bright face. All that came to his fingertips were strawberry-flavored candies.
“Wow. How did you know I like strawberry flavor?”
Seo Yujin’s eyes widened as Yeonwoo handed her the candy. Yeonwoo’s eyes also grew round at Seo Yujin’s question. It hadn’t been a conscious action. Looking at the handful of strawberry-flavored candies in Seo Yujin’s hand, Yeonwoo pressed his throbbing head. He and Seo Yujin must have been close enough to know such trivial preferences. Yet, his memories of Seo Yujin remained hazy.
No matter how much he tried to focus on the memory, all he felt was a chill on the back of his neck and goosebumps rising.
“Excuse me, Esper Han Yeonwoo.”
When Yeonwoo, who was rubbing his goosebumped arms, turned his head, an Esper with a tearful face was stomping his feet anxiously.
“You trained in the communal zone last week, right? With Esper Bae Jaeyoung. Did you happen to see a shield about this size? It’s silvery with a purplish tint.”
The Esper was eagerly explaining the size and shape of the weapon in a voice full of whimpering, but the communal zone was not a joint training ground like Zone C; it had individual training grounds. There was no way Yeonwoo, who had been practicing in a different training ground, could have seen that weapon.
When Yeonwoo answered that he hadn’t seen it, the anxious gaze turned to Seo Yujin. After Seo Yujin also replied that she didn’t know, the Esper’s face was filled with despair. As the team members standing beside the Esper sighed deeply enough to sink the ground, the whimpering Esper left to find other ability users who might have seen his weapon.
“Surely he didn’t lose his weapon?”
Seo Yujin, eating candy, muttered “no way,” but sometimes the unthinkable happens.
Even before the training start bell rang, the training director entered with a stiff expression and called the Esper’s name.
“Esper Jung Inhyuk.”
Despite the quiet call, the Esper flinched as if thunder had struck above his head and immediately began shedding tears. Seeing the silver shield in the training director’s hand, Yeonwoo sighed along with Park Seohyun, who was standing beside him.
“I understand your excitement about the new training.”
At those words, the team members who had been glaring at the Esper with eyes full of resentment looked at the training director with hopeful gazes.
“It would be difficult to lose a weapon of this size.”
When the training director opened his inventory and put the shield in a drawer, despair began to settle on the faces of the team members one by one.
“Now, didn’t I tell you before? Losing a weapon that belongs to the Center, not even a personal weapon, and during training of all situations, is practically proving yourself to be an irresponsible ability user. How many ability users would entrust their backs to such a person?”
Pausing briefly to look around, the training director waved to the ability users who were waiting. Watching alternately between the team members who were crying with reddened eyes and the ability users lining up in front of the inventory with excited faces, Yeonwoo traced the spot where his dagger would go with his fingertips.
Similarly, Choi Dongwon, who had been rubbing the forearm where his shield would be fixed, quietly approached and whispered. Let’s watch out for each other. Nodding, Yeonwoo exchanged glances with Park Seohyun. The first time might be a mistake, but the second time could be intentional. The standby members, who had accumulated penalty points but hadn’t been assigned to the dangerous area, were eyeing them with gleaming eyes.
At the training director’s call, Yeonwoo picked up a dagger and quietly moved back, and Park Seohyun and Choi Dongwon approached, clutching their weapons with both hands. Jo Heeseo and Seo Yujin joined, and just as Park Seohyun, who had gathered her belongings, was about to head to the communal zone, it happened.
“From now on, training in other zones is prohibited. I will divide the zones, so please train only in your designated zone. Come forward one by one and choose your weapons.”
At those words, Jo Heeseo’s face was filled with disappointment. Though training in the communal zone didn’t make her a communal zone Esper, she seemed to want to escape Zone C somehow. Jo Heeseo pouted and looked at Bae Jaeyoung with lingering attachment, but Bae Jaeyoung was busy greeting her new team members and paid no attention to Jo Heeseo.
“Step back for a moment.”
As the training director lightly waved his hand, an opaque barrier formed, dividing the training ground. Park Seohyun ran to claim a prime spot, and Jo Heeseo reluctantly followed just as a thunderous sound echoed.
“What’s that?”
Yeonwoo, who took shelter behind Seo Yujin and Choi Dongwon as they spread defensive barriers, opened his mouth at the sight of colorful wings. Wings as large as a human torso, tail feathers longer than his height, feathers with vibrant colors. It was a macaw parrot.
“Come here.”
As the training director extended his arm, the parrot folded its wings and landed gracefully.
“Hello!”
After greeting loudly enough to shake the training ground, the parrot became a bit dejected when there was no response and slowly walked up the arm to settle on the shoulder. The training director stroked the head of the parrot, which was whispering in his ear, and gathered the ability users scattered in all directions.
“A gate has been discovered in the Center’s assigned area.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
