← The Guide Who Hides Their Power is an Otter
“Guiding? Who? Who do you mean?”
“That esper. He’s B-rank, so it should be possible, shouldn’t it?”
He did not particularly call it a nameplate or a badge, but for espers and guides alike it was sewn with embroidery onto the issued uniforms, so it was no different from a rank nameplate. Heisha looked at his own white uniform and tilted his head.
“Well, I’m not sure.”
He had always wondered and found it strange why the Center Director had made him C-rank; perhaps he had prepared for something like this. Even if a high-rank guide guided a low-rank esper, there would be no big problem, but the esper who received the guiding would notice quickly.
This person clearly has a much stronger power than I do.
“Heisha Guide.”
“Even if you’re C-rank, you should be able to guide a B-rank, shouldn’t you?”
It was a tone coaxing and soothing him thoroughly, but the tail of the words stretched out long, and then a furious voice rang out resoundingly.
“If you’re going to say you can’t do it, did you come here to play? If you received a field deployment order, obey and follow the Captain’s instructions and orders. If you’re going to shrink back because you’re C-rank, just do it. Right now!”
“Shrink back?”
“If you’re saying you can’t do it because your rank is low, I’m telling you to just do it. Heisha. If you disobey orders today, I’ll somehow arrange a meeting with the Center Director and block you, in many ways, so you can’t come out on field deployments.”
What was the reason he was going this far? Heisha put away his brightly smiling face. When he erased the smiling face for the first time and frowned, the guides around him began watching the situation and splitting apart.
“It’s Code C, Heisha Guide.”
“…….”
“It means it would be nothing strange if anyone died right now.”
Ah. He vaguely remembered. Before coming to Korea and receiving his field assignment, he had been given educational videos and materials and studied them. Research was in full swing because it had not been long since gates had appeared, but by Code A through C grades, he had seen up to the point where the wave energy or coordinates generated could be guessed.
“Do you still say you can’t do it?”
The first gate that opened in the Republic of Korea had been Code C, and there was a history that dozens of casualties had come out of it. At that time there would probably have been an existing S-rank esper or guide, but because the capable ability users had died on the spot in large numbers, it was a rather sad incident in which they had received support from other countries.
“Um….”
And the Captain was one of the few guides who had survived there.
“I’ll take back saying I can’t do it. I’ll try.”
Now that such a Code C gate had opened again, he would not want to use a single person carelessly. Heisha smiled slyly. He would have to split, and split, and split his power to guide… but there was nothing he could not do!
The Captain heaved his chest and let out a big sigh. If a rumor of disobeying orders spread among the numerous members who followed him, his reputation would come crashing down this time for sure. He was glad Heisha had understood his words.
“Ah, ugh! Ua, ack!”
Since he could not transform into a sea otter, he spread his palm wide and ‘tried’ to do radiation guiding. But there was no way it would come out. Having no choice, as a second-best measure he pressed down hard on the inside of the esper’s injured thigh.
“Uaaaagh!”
“Huh?”
Far from healing, because he pressed on the leg the pain only doubled, and the esper let out a strange sound and screamed.
“What is this commotion?”
The Captain turned his gaze toward where the sound had come from and met Heisha’s eyes. Heisha awkwardly fiddled with the bridge of his nose. Another guide ran over, guided the esper, and sent a signal to the ambulance.
A wound that had been slightly cut during a fight with a creature tore open wide, causing a huge disaster. An ally who could have gone back into the gate after a brief bit of guiding and rest had been sent to a hospital bed in a single blow.
“Heisha.”
He could guide, but who would understand the sorrow of having to hide it?
“Sorry….”
He chewed at his lips mumbling, looking for words of explanation, but there was no way he could say he could not guide in human form.
—Captain! A creature is getting out from inside!
The Captain, trembling all over, was about to grab Heisha by the head, then withdrew his fist and brought it to his earphone.
“Right now, where is Esper Park Gang-u?”
At the mention of Park Gang-u, Heisha raised his head first.
“Is Esper Park Gang-u inside the gate?”
“Mind your own business, Heisha. You protect the esper here, and the rest of the standby teams, all prepare.” The Captain clicked his tongue and radioed. Originally the standby teams were mostly in a situation of playing around outside, but it seemed a gate was different after all.
‘Code C isn’t the highest, though.’
In his homeland, even more powerful Code D gates appeared than this. But there, quite a lot of skilled espers lived, and the number of guides was far greater than here.
They would have gathered Korean diaspora from each country because guides were lacking….
In reality, in Korea, which had one S-rank esper, subjugating it seemed burdensome.
‘If I went and helped, it would end quickly….’
Heisha pressed down on the esper’s thigh, which had gauze layered on it to stop the blood, and stared toward the gate.
“Uaaaagh! It hurts! I said it hurts!”
The esper screamed and poured curses at Heisha.
“A guide can’t even guide and only wrecks my leg! Ah, fuck! And C-rank, too? My luck is really filthy.”
“Wow. How did you know I’m C-rank?”
Guides were not distinguished by badges like espers. This was a rule the Center Director had made because an esper could refuse treatment. It had the meaning, so to speak, of ‘shut up and receive guiding’ to an esper who needed guiding.
“Your hair is yellow too, and at a glance you’re not from our country. I heard about you by rumor too.”
“A rumor? Really? What do they say?”
Even while being cursed at, Heisha’s eyes shone with curiosity. The esper, horrified, shook off Heisha’s hand that had been placed on his thigh.
“Enough, get lost!”
“I see this country only looks at ability.”
It was disappointing. He had often heard that if people got close to him he was a kinder, nicer friend than anyone, but here he was ostracized for being C-rank. And the guiding felt unfair too. A thing like this, he could pour out with radiation guiding enough to make him faint….
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“I told you to get lost!”
“‘Get lost’ means go away, right? But if I go, the Captain will scold me for disobeying orders.”
“Aagh! Go away! Just go!”
Why were there only people who shouted like this?
“Um….”
“Go! Go! I said go!”
This would not do.
“Hey. Esper.”
Heisha put away the face that had been smiling innocently until just a moment ago and checked the surroundings. Everyone had gone to the gate entrance, so there was no one around.
“Will you look at me?”
“I told you to get lost. You really don’t listen, damn it.”
“Look at me. Look at my eyes.”
There was no choice. He would handle this quickly and sneak into the gate.
“Just leave me….”
At last, the esper, irritably opening his eyes wide, met his gaze. Heisha’s pupils, a green of low saturation, rippled for an instant. The eyes of the esper who met them grew large, then soon closed, and his body tilted to the side.
“Oops!”
He pushed the body that was about to fall onto the rock right beside him so it sprawled on the floor instead.
“Whew.”
Cold sweat came out from using his ability after a long time. Heisha checked for signs of people once more. As expected, there was no one. He laid the fainted esper out straight and folded his hands neatly together on his chest.
“Um. This much is perfect.”
If the Captain came and found he was gone, he would say he had gone to the bathroom. Heisha looked around and went in between the rusty five-story buildings.
Poof!
He groomed his transformed body briefly, then, remembering, raised his head. He had to move before someone came, so he ran swiftly and precisely. First, he went to the esper he had knocked out for a moment and spread his palm wide on his thigh.
Today too, his webbing was beautiful. Lately, perhaps because he had transformed without grooming, his fur was unarranged as if he had been hit by a typhoon.
“I should tidy it up at home….”
Grooming was urgently needed right now, but he would endure it. He raised his hand to the esper. He adjusted the amount of guiding flowing through his palm and confirmed that the wound was recovering. Using his power divided up was very tiring work.
“Good dream, Esper.”
He was sorry about hurting him, but for now he was healed!
“Hee hee.”
Anyway, officially, except for Park Gang-u, this was his second esper. Later, when they met, he should receive a word of thanks!
‘Now shall I go inside the gate, my destination?’
He brushed his hands off with a clap and habitually searched for the clam, his lucky charm. He fumbled over his body and sniffled his nose.
There was no way such a thing would be there. With an embarrassed hand, he clenched and unclenched his fist searching for the clam.
“Uaaaagh!”
A scream mixed with the pain of a death rattle entered his ears. His blunt ears twitched and moved. It was a sound coming from inside the gate. Heisha squeezed through the gaps between the rocks and ran hard. He hated the land, because the sensation touching the soles of his feet was cold and rough.
Moreover, this place had been an abandoned outskirts city even before gates appeared. Stone dust and small pebbles felt as if they were blocking his running.
“Land, I hate you!”
It would be nice if there were water inside the gate. Of course there probably was not, though. By the time Heisha ran at full speed and reached near the gate entrance, the surroundings were strangely quiet.
Around the gate, an eerie fog had settled. The sky, from which the red tint had disappeared, had turned black and grown dark, so his field of vision was extremely narrow. From the jeep the Captain had temporarily set up, a light was barely shining on the gate.
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