“What the—?”
Seon Juho glanced around, and Lee Tae-rim followed, scanning their surroundings. Tae-rim blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. The gates twisting into existence weren’t just one or two—there were several. Panic surged through him, and he screamed.
“Screw the test! We need to run!”
There was no way he could handle this alone. As monsters burst from the ground, Tae-rim recoiled in horror. Seon Juho shot up into the sky, high enough that the creatures couldn’t reach him.
“Juho! Seon Juho!”
Tae-rim shouted desperately, but Juho didn’t move—he just floated in midair, unbothered.
“Hyung, look over there.”
Tae-rim grabbed Juho and shook him, but then turned his head in the direction Juho was pointing. That’s when he saw it—something off. The twisted space forming a gate was only half there.
“What… What did you do?”
“That woman kept nagging me about having an Erasure-type ability, so I figured I’d try it out.”
The gate was slowly dissolving into darkness. Even seeing it for himself, Tae-rim couldn’t believe it. And more than disbelief, a deep worry began to settle in. Juho was erasing something that massive—it had to be taking a toll on him.
“Are you okay? Are you feeling anything weird?”
“If you guide me, I think I can take out a few more.”
Tae-rim stared at him. That wasn’t a ‘yes’—it was a roundabout way of saying no, he wasn’t okay. He let out a deep sigh.
“If it starts to feel like too much, you stop. Got it?”
“Okay.”
Up at this height, the monsters weren’t a threat. But honestly, Tae-rim still wanted to run. Still, Juho looked so determined to test that damn ability of his, and there was no stopping him.
Fine. Worry about it later. Juho wouldn’t have offered if he couldn’t handle it. And the fewer gates there were, the less collateral damage.
Tae-rim said nothing, but his face made it clear he had a lot on his mind. Instead, he threw his arms around Juho’s neck and pulled him into a kiss.
A low groan slipped from Juho’s throat, and his arms tightened around Tae-rim. From the moment their lips touched, Tae-rim could feel Juho’s danger level shooting up, so he pushed more Guiding energy into him, pouring everything he had into it.
Tae-rim focused entirely on the Guiding. Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard a helicopter, but the sound was tangled with monster cries—he couldn’t be sure. All that mattered was Juho, who was drawing in his energy like a vacuum.
It didn’t last long. Tae-rim was still fully immersed in the Guiding when Juho suddenly pushed him away, forcing his hands to drop awkwardly. The distance between them widened.
“Kgh… Cough, cough!”
“Juho!”
Juho turned his head and started coughing violently. Tae-rim’s heart dropped when he saw blood streaming down Juho’s chin, painting it red.
“Are you okay?! I told you not to push yourself!”
Juho coughed again, blood splattering as he spat out the rest with a sharp ptooey.
“Damn… that hurts more than I thought.”
Tae-rim yanked the cloth draped around him and gently wiped Juho’s mouth. The clean white fabric instantly turned crimson.
“Hyung, I got rid of four gates.”
“Is this really the time to brag?! Are you asking for a beating?!”
“Sorry, hyung. I went too far.”
“You idiot…!”
Tears pricked at Tae-rim’s eyes. His throat tightened, and he almost cried, but he held it in. Now wasn’t the time to fall apart. He pulled Juho’s face back in and kissed him again. Thankfully, it didn’t look like Juho had gone into full Rampage yet.
“Don’t you ever do that again.”
“Okay.”
“Your Erasure ability’s going to come out eventually, yeah. But don’t you ever erase a gate again.”
“Got it. I won’t, hyung.”
Tae-rim’s voice shook, still thick with the tears he’d been holding back. Juho nodded slowly. He understood. Tae-rim cared about him more than anyone. If this ability got exposed, no one could predict how the world would react. People were the scariest part of all this—and Tae-rim hadn’t forgotten that.
“They got here faster than I thought. But they didn’t see anything, right?”
“It’s too dark. They probably didn’t.”
That sound from earlier had been a helicopter. It was still far off but getting closer. Tae-rim’s unease only grew.
“Even if they did, if there’s no evidence, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah… I hope you’re right.”
Juho started attacking the monsters. Tae-rim stayed wrapped around him, continuing to Guide. Juho was stronger than he’d ever imagined. Watching him tear through monsters like wet paper… Tae-rim couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for them.
But the number of monsters pouring out from the countless gates was overwhelming. No matter how powerful Seon Juho was, he couldn’t handle this alone.
The first helicopters to arrive were two in number. They didn’t fly in close—instead, they hovered at a distance and opened their rear hatches, deploying Espers into the field.
“Seon Juho, Lee Tae-rim?”
The Espers flew in swiftly and immediately began engaging the monsters. One of them, an older-looking man, approached Juho and Tae-rim and called their names. Tae-rim gave a small nod.
“We suddenly picked up Guide Lee Tae-rim’s signal in Zone 1 and rushed over. But then we got reports of ground tremors and monster cries, so we had to bring extra backup. Sorry for the delay. I’m Kang Soo-cheol, an Esper from Zone 6.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Tae-rim returned the greeting politely, but Seon Juho only shot the man a brief glance and gave a slight nod. Tae-rim figured it was just because he was too busy fighting. Kang Soo-cheol continued speaking as he slashed through monsters.
“Judging by your condition, it looks like you’ve had a rough time. Still good to keep going?”
“Yes. I’m guiding him continuously, so he should be fine.”
“Other Espers from the neighboring zones will be arriving soon. Any idea how many gates have opened?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Hmm. Hard to get an exact count when they’re crawling out from underground. Either way, this is an emergency, so keep fighting as best you can.”
“Understood.”
With that, Kang Soo-cheol moved away, leading his team to intercept the monsters heading toward the city. Soon, more transport helicopters began arriving. Since they couldn’t carry everyone, ground vehicles rolled in to assist as well.
It was impossible to stop the endless tide of monsters completely, but they focused on preventing them from reaching the city. Still, the front line was slowly being pushed back. There were simply too few Espers for the number of monsters they were facing.
“There’s over ten here! Tell them to get here fast! They’re all S-rank!”
The Espers from the other zones still hadn’t arrived. Kang Soo-cheol, clearly frustrated, barked into his radio, shouting for reinforcements.
The situation was growing increasingly urgent. The closer the monsters got to the city, the more frantic everyone became. Even knowing it would take time for transport helicopters to arrive from the other zones, they couldn’t help but demand speed. Tae-rim felt the same helpless frustration building as he watched the number of monsters continuing to rise.
“There has to be something we can do…”
“Hm?”
Seon Juho, still wearing a blank expression as he fought, turned to Tae-rim with a sudden smile. Tae-rim narrowed his eyes. What is with this guy’s mood swings? That’s such a huge shift… Wait—could that tiny nod from earlier have been intentional?
No… No way. Our Juho wouldn’t do that. Tae-rim recalled the moment Juho had coughed up blood. He was probably just too drained to respond properly.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed overhead as a jet-like aircraft appeared. No—it looked more like a transport plane, judging by the rear hatch opening. Bright lights inside the plane illuminated the night as Espers jumped out in rapid succession. Tae-rim’s face lit up with relief as they approached.
It was the Espers from Zone 1.
“You’re safe!”
It looked like all the S-rank Espers had made it, along with a sizable number of A-ranks. The moment they landed, they joined forces with the Zone 6 team and launched into coordinated combat.
“Thank god. Seriously…”
Jung Jae-heon, whom Tae-rim hadn’t seen in a while, visibly relaxed the moment he spotted him. Even though Seon Juho was glaring daggers at him, Jae-heon didn’t care—his gaze stayed fixed on Tae-rim, silently relieved that he was safe. Tae-rim could only give him a sheepish, awkward smile in return.
The battle raged on. Espers from other zones kept arriving. If the gates had opened outside the city’s outer wall, there might have been more breathing room. But because they’d appeared inside, dangerously close to the urban core, there was no time to spare.
Normally, Guides would be essential in a situation like this. But the current shielding technology was barely enough to block a single S-rank attack, and breaches were common. It was too dangerous to bring Guides into an area flooded with S-rank gates. So the Espers had no choice but to take Guiding Supplements and tough it out.
Understanding the risks, Tae-rim threw himself even harder into supporting Seon Juho. He was the only Guide on-site. And Seon Juho was strong—if Tae-rim could keep Guiding him properly, it would make a real difference.
Especially since the number of monsters Juho was erasing with his ability was nothing short of overwhelming. If Juho went down, the defensive line could collapse completely. Tae-rim couldn’t afford a single mistake. If they couldn’t stop the monsters here, it would truly be the end.
