Chapter 1
Dark clouds covered the sky, as if rain would pour down at any moment. The front of the building was packed with press vehicles from every broadcasting station, and staff who had rushed out were blocking the reporters from entering.
– All personnel from departments in charge at Special Operations Headquarters, please come to the central conference room. I repeat…
Seo Young-woo, who had been leaning against the window and looking down at the reporters gathered in front of the building, heard the announcement and started walking.
Among the people running around in a frenzy, he alone kept his original pace.
The center of safety. Seoul, Republic of Korea!
Despite the slogan posted in the corridors and all over the building, for several days now the Special Power Management Bureau of the Republic of Korea had been noisy with the sound of internal phone bells and people’s dress shoes.
The gate that had erupted at a time when people should have been relaxing and waiting for the holiday break, a gate whose grade could not be measured, had driven the citizens into terror. Streets that should have been lively had frozen completely because of people who would not leave their homes, and on TV only breaking news was being provided instead of the holiday specials that had been prepared.
In the end, the Special Power Management Bureau asked the World Union for help, and every esper and guide registered with the Bureau was busy dealing with the gate and cleaning up the chaos.
Everyone without exception fell into fear at a battle that showed no sign of ending, but citizens cheered at the gates that had begun to close little by little. Everything seemed to be returning to normal, but the internal situation was not very good.
Raised voices were already flying back and forth in the conference room. The lawmakers who, whenever election season approached, scolded people despite having no particular love for the country, had all gathered at the Bureau. It was a perfect place for showpiece politics.
“We are expecting the gate itself to be S-grade or higher.”
“It would have ended soon anyway. Why did you hastily request support from the Union! It’s not as if you’re going around the whole neighborhood announcing that our country is weak!”
“Assemblyman Jeong, at the time the gate’s grade could not be measured. Under the international agreement, we have a duty to report it…”
The Republic of Korea was on the lucky side. The appearance of gates was later than in other countries, so there had been time to prepare for danger. Watching other countries in crisis, it had quickly found awakened people and trained them in advance, and at the same time had greatly increased the number of disaster-related public officials and built a new system, such as restoring damage caused by unidentified monsters as quickly as possible. Of course, a large drawback had followed…
“Hey! Are we the only ones who have to keep that duty? Does that make sense? Look, Russia just tossed mercenaries over and washed its hands of it. What are you going to do about this?”
As you can see, compared to other countries, the National Assembly members had too much influence. Every time a gate burst open in Seoul they came to pick a fight, so there was not a single quiet day.
Seo Young-woo, who had taken a seat at the back, watched the conference room, which was five minutes from total chaos, as if it were someone else’s business. More than the shouting going back and forth noisily, the suit he was wearing for the first time in a while felt more uncomfortable. Every time he moved, his forearms and thighs, pulled tight as if they could not stretch any further, bothered him endlessly.
“If you’re going to take mercenaries, at least take only A-grade ones and reduce the damage!”
“That’s right! Why doesn’t the Bureau think about the suffering our citizens will go through!”
At the absurdity that struck his ears, Seo Young-woo muttered quietly.
“You have to say something that makes sense before I can even pretend to listen…”
Awakened grades had a pyramid structure, and the higher the grade, the fewer their numbers. Moreover, with gates bursting open simultaneously, even if you asked the World Union for help, it was natural that support rarely came. Even if that were not the case, no leader would send a top-grade esper to a gate whose grade could not be measured and where the chance of survival was low.
This case was a special one. Though Russia belonged to the Union, it always rejected requests, yet it was the first to send a mercenary team. Early on, their help was great. There were even citizens moved by the sight of them stepping forward first and standing on the front line, but later, using the excuse that their translation devices were malfunctioning, the mercenaries unleashed indiscriminate attacks regardless of whether buildings were destroyed or not, so the secondary damage was enormous.
“Let’s do this properly! Our citizens’ lives are at stake, aren’t they!”
As if the prepared lines were finished, Assemblyman Jeong let out a loud, “Ahem,” and cleared his throat. When he sat down, he had a proud expression, as if he had done enough.
In the noisy conference room, Seo Young-woo put his arms on the table and rested his chin on his hand. Watching the triumphant faces of the National Assembly members, he spun the ballpoint pen in front of him between his fingers. When things were really in an uproar, they had hidden…
The sound of the pen falling, tak, onto the table was especially loud. Seo Young-woo, who had not been concentrating on the meeting and had not even known the room had fallen silent, only straightened his posture when he saw people’s gazes shoot to the back all at once.
“I’m sorry.”
Seo Young-woo raised the corners of his mouth in a smile and picked up the pen again.
“Aren’t you Guide Seo Young-woo? Shouldn’t the person called the Republic of Korea’s greatest power be out in the field, huh? Are you in your right mind right now, or not?”
Assemblyman Jeong, with eyes that said he had caught him nicely, pushed back from the table and stood up. Just as he began shouting and pointing his finger, an urgent voice came through the radio receiver connected to Seo Young-woo’s ear.
“Guide Seo Young-woo!”
Seo Young-woo made a shushing gesture to the shouting Assemblyman Jeong and listened to the radio.
– Codename Choi, unable to communicate with the mercenary esper.
The moment Seo Young-woo’s brow narrowed, the people who had been getting heated also shut their mouths tight and began watching each other.
– Correction. The mercenary esper is showing signs of a rampage.
As soon as the transmission ended, Seo Young-woo stood up and ran quickly to the door. Not to be outdone, Assemblyman Jeong stood up after him, blocked the door, and shouted.
“Right now, right now what is happening!”
Did they know that problems always arose because of bastards who ran wild trusting only their name tags, fearlessly? The old men who did no work and only took appropriate motions had been useless before gates appeared and were useless now.
“Unless you are my superior, I have no duty to report.”
“I asked what is happening!”
This was not the time to smile leisurely. With a foreign mercenary on the verge of a rampage, he had to return to the field at once, and he could not waste time because of a National Assembly member who was making a fuss about saying a few more words before he left.
Seo Young-woo immediately grabbed the man’s wrist, twisted it behind his back, and subdued him in one motion.
“Aaagh! It hurts, I said it hurts!”
– This is Woody, helicopter ready for takeoff.
Just as he was about to say a word, another transmission came into his ear, so Seo Young-woo lightly pushed the assemblyman away.
Listening to the transmissions coming in endlessly, he headed straight for the emergency stairs. Stepping up three or four stairs at a time, he arrived at the roof in one go. When he opened the door, the helicopter placed in the middle of the roof was roaring, ready to leave at any moment.
As soon as Seo Young-woo jumped in, the helicopter slowly lifted off the ground and rapidly picked up speed toward its destination. Beside him, a soldier communicating with the field reported the situation.
“Team Leader Seo, they say they cannot find the guide for the mercenaries Russia sent!”
The situation had gotten complicated. Throwing off his stifling suit jacket, Seo Young-woo put on a plate carrier over his white shirt and checked his magazines.
“Send one of our guides for now, urgently!”
“They say, they say guiding doesn’t work on him!”
In the meantime, Seo Young-woo, who had put on a ballistic helmet, answered only by nodding as if he understood. Since gates appeared, house-sized monsters sometimes appeared in downtown Seoul, and this incomprehensible talk about guiding not working was probably also…
– Team Leader, when will you arrive?
Currently moving by helicopter. Five minutes to arrival.
Seo Young-woo looked down at the area that had become a wasteland over the past few days. Even with public officials and awakened rushing in, the scale of the damage was so great that restoration would take quite some time.
Before long, a jet-black road that looked like a huge sinkhole came into view, and the smell of burning stung the tip of his nose.
The helicopter landed quickly. The dark clouds that had filled the sky were clearing little by little, and sunlight was coming down here and there between them. People’s screams and the sirens sounding everywhere had stopped, but tension still flowed at the scene.
“Team Leader, you’re here!”
A man who ran up in a wrecked state gave a light salute and began pouring out everything that had happened so far.
“The mercenary bastard is completely insane. He was dealing with all the variants by himself, so I wondered if he was something special, but after that, whether he lost control or what, he even attacked our own side!” The whole time he walked quickly, as if explaining was not enough, he vented his frustration using his hands as well.
As they got closer to the scene, A-rank esper Choi Yu-rim, who had been sitting on burned material resting, stood up at Seo Young-woo’s appearance.
“Why are you getting up. Stay seated.”
“If you were going to worry, you should have come a little earlier.”
Choi Yu-rim, standing barely on a limping leg as if in bad condition, answered in a grumbling tone.
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