#096
“What are you thinking so deeply about, hyung?”
Park Sunwoo, who had been pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, looked up at Eunseok and asked. The young man’s face, still bearing traces of youth, now looked only disgusting.
When Eunseok maintained his unresponsive stance as he had for the past few days, Sunwoo’s eyes slowly narrowed.
“Are you going to keep your mouth shut like that…”
Slap!
With the sound of a slap, Eunseok’s face turned to the side.
“Forever?”
The taste of blood filled his mouth from his split lip again. For an S-rank esper, it was a very weak blow. It was violence meant solely to inflict shame, not pain. Of course, it had no impact on Eunseok, who was well-trained in various forms of interrogation and torture.
“Ha, you’re really no fun at all. I’m being so gentle and kind to you, why are you treating me like this? I went out of my way to bring you here, even messing up my plans. How long are you going to keep this up? Isn’t it about time you adapted to reality? Guide Lee Eunseok?”
Eunseok closed his eyes. Clumsy resistance would only fuel the enemy’s fighting spirit and excitement. No response was the answer.
“Ah, fuck,” Sunwoo spat out an expletive full of irritation.
Ring ring-.
The monotonous ringtone of a burner phone sounded.
“Speak,” Sunwoo answered the phone in a stiff voice. Eunseok opened his eyes and keenly observed the changes in Sunwoo’s expression. Feeling Eunseok’s gaze, Sunwoo’s face became expressionless. However, subtle changes were still detectable on his face, untrained in this type of control.
Dismay. Irritation. Anger.
The situation doesn’t seem to be going well, Eunseok inwardly concluded after observing the subtle changes in Sunwoo’s expression.
Well, it was about time for things to wind down, by his rough estimation. There’s a limit to securing gates located in places unnoticed by people. There would also be a limit to the number of gates they had secured and hidden. They must have almost exhausted the gates they had for causing breaks. This meant that the time was approaching when ability users, who had been tied up dealing with gate breaks, would turn their attention to the Apostles of the Apocalypse.
After ending the call, Sunwoo roughly threw the phone onto the bed. After gritting his teeth for a moment to suppress his irritation, he looked at Eunseok and smiled, baring his teeth.
“They’re all useless. I was a fool for trying to do something big with them. Idiots with neither strength nor brains. But it’s okay. Thanks to them, I was able to get you. For an S-rank guide, that much is worth it, I guess.”
Sunwoo sneered as he spoke, then caressed Eunseok’s thigh. He licked his lips and lowered his head. Eunseok watched for a moment as Sunwoo began to suck his genitals, then closed his eyes.
***
The series of gate breaks had entered a lull. It was approaching about ten days since the first gate break.
The Ability Management Bureau lowered the gate break alert level to caution. People’s daily lives, which had almost come to a standstill, were slowly starting to resume.
People once again headed to work in the morning, and students went to school.
Damaged buildings were being demolished, and evacuees who had lost their homes began busily searching for new shelters. Funerals for the casualties stored in morgues began en masse.
Compared to the disaster 20 years ago, the number of casualties was relatively small. This was thanks to the all-out efforts of ability users. However, while it was small compared to 20 years ago, the death toll alone was still a national disaster-level sacrifice.
A joint funeral was held for the victims who lost their lives in this incident. Numerous citizens flocked to lay flowers, disregarding the risks. Media outlets, which had been busy reporting breaking news about gate breaks, began broadcasting memorial programs for the victims.
As the situation began to calm down, criticism of the Ability Management Bureau started pouring in. This was because most members of the ability user group calling themselves the Apostles of the Apocalypse were affiliated with the Bureau.
Fights among people intensified on the internet.
Some argued that ability users should have been more strictly controlled, while others blamed the Bureau for excessively exploiting ability users, leading to this situation. This fight spilled over into the political sphere, with debates continuing day after day.
Amidst all this, two figures began to emerge as the main topics of discussion: S-rank esper Park Sunwoo, the face of the Apostles of the Apocalypse, and S-rank guide Lee Eunseok, who had been kidnapped by them.
An S-rank esper with an S-rank guide was virtually invincible. Naturally, questions of responsibility arose regarding the Baekho Guild’s failure to protect Eunseok.
“Ha, fuck. This is too disgusting to deal with,” Moon Bora cursed after alternately watching news and videos on her phone.
“We worked our asses off to clean up this mess, and now what? Responsibility?”
Shin Jeongho’s expression darkened further at Moon Bora’s words tinged with anger and irritation. He felt considerable responsibility and guilt for failing to protect Eunseok and being easily defeated.
Seeing this, Moon Bora slammed her hand on the table.
“Shin Jeongho, lighten up your expression! Why should you feel responsible for this? Your opponent was S-rank Park Sunwoo! You were lucky to just be shot by Ji Taeuk and knocked out. If you had faced him head-on in perfect condition, you would have been 100% dead!”
“Still, in that situation, protecting Guide Lee was my responsibility,” Jeongho said in a low voice.
“Ha, shit!” Moon Bora roughly messed up her hair, her mind troubled by Ji Taeuk’s betrayal and Eunseok’s kidnapping.
Silence fell in the conference room for a moment.
It was a rare moment of rest since the gate breaks had entered a lull. However, no one had the peace of mind to enjoy their personal time. They had to face the real reality that they had been able to momentarily forget while frantically dealing with monsters.
Ji Taeuk’s betrayal, Eunseok’s kidnapping, and the Apostles of the Apocalypse.
“Why did Ji Taeuk side with Park Sunwoo?” Oh Seongeun, who had been sitting silently until now, muttered softly. At these words, everyone’s expressions darkened further. While Ji Taeuk hadn’t contributed much in terms of combat power, he had always provided a sense of security to his colleagues with his remarkable healing abilities. His personality was also good, without any rough edges, so no one disliked him. The shock was even greater that someone like him had joined a terrorist organization.
“Ji Taeuk… it’s because he has a weak heart,” Moon Bora finally spoke slowly after a long pause.
“That guy, even at the Ability Management Bureau, he didn’t know how to refuse and was always being called here and there, overusing his ability. It was common for him to get nosebleeds several times a day, and he barely survived on guiding because his levels were always so precarious. A guy who had just become an adult was exploited to the bone for a full 5 years. It’s natural for him to have complaints.”
“I know healers are rare, so it was much tougher for him than other espers. But were those 5 years easy for us? We were all pushed to our limits just the same. But that’s no excuse for joining a terrorist organization,” Han Cheolyong retorted in a stiff tone.
“…I know. I know that too. It’s just… I can’t believe it. With his personality, I could see him crawling over there on his own, but I can’t believe he shot Jeongho and helped kidnap Eunseok.”
Moon Bora mumbled in a deflated voice.
“More importantly, about Guide Lee…” Han Cheolyong trailed off, his expression clouding. As the topic turned to Eunseok, everyone’s faces contorted slightly.
It had already been ten days. There was no way S-rank Park Sunwoo would have just kept Eunseok nicely. Everyone could clearly guess, though unspoken, what kind of hardships Eunseok might be enduring by now.
Even guides who have been educated as ability users since their minor years suffer when forced into unwanted guiding. For Eunseok, who had lived as an ordinary person until recently, it would be an even greater mental shock.
“We’ll rescue him. We have to rescue him,” Moon Bora said, composing her contorted face, as if making a vow.
“Now that the gate breaks have been contained, both they and the Guild Leader will start to move,” Oh Seongeun said, also composing his expression. After a brief pause, he cautiously continued.
“However… while Park Sunwoo has Guide Lee, the Guild Leader…”
A heavy silence fell again.
Although there were a few A-rank guides in the guild, they were far from sufficient for S-rank Choi Hanseo. Especially if Park Sunwoo had received guiding from Eunseok, his levels would be infinitely close to zero. Even assuming their powers were evenly matched, it was an extremely disadvantageous fight for Hanseo.
