Chapter 2
“Didn’t you say there was no A-grade among the mercenaries? I cut off one of his arms, and his strength was still monstrous.”
“The guide is missing too, so how could you cut off an arm.”
“What was I supposed to do, we were all about to die.”
A shape, whether collapsed or crouching it was hard to tell, was panting far away. Even though the distance was considerable, the wavelength that only guides could feel was surging so violently it felt as if it would tear his skin to shreds at any moment.
Seo Young-woo looked around. Low-grade guides did not dare approach, and the espers had also collapsed without exception. Even if he was right before a rampage, it made no sense that about ten awakened had rushed in just to deal with a single mercenary.
In the meantime, at the wavelength that had grown even rougher, Seo Young-woo changed the frequency so that the Bureau executives could hear the radio.
“This is Seo Young-woo of Team AXIS. I have confirmed the mercenary esper is at risk of rampage.”
Not caring about the violently surging wavelength, he approached the collapsed mercenary. A fire type, it seemed. The ground that, seen from above, he had thought was pierced through with a hole like a sinkhole was all scorched black.
Tak, tak. He could hear small living embers bursting. Looking at the watch on his wrist, Seo Young-woo spoke into the radio.
“For the safety of the Republic of Korea and the protection of its citizens, from 15:32 I will disregard the international awakened agreement with Russia.”
The wavelength sensor attached to the watch detected danger and sounded a signal. As he approached the mercenary on the verge of a rampage, the sound that had been growing louder in the end could not withstand the wavelength and cut off.
A silence like stillness arrived.
When Seo Young-woo knelt on one knee, grabbed the mercenary’s shoulder, and lifted his upper body, the half-separated arm dropped, tuk, onto the ashes. The blackened skin and blistered face were so horrific that it was difficult even to make out his features.
The awakened watching the situation from far away let out soundless screams at the mercenary’s state. Some turned their heads or turned their backs entirely, as if they could hardly bear to take it in with their eyes.
But only Seo Young-woo showed no sign of surprise at all. For guiding, he took the mercenary, who was no different from a corpse, into his arms.
“I will begin emergency guiding now.”
Seo Young-woo lowered his head, found the lips whose shape could not be recognized, and kissed him. The moment he pushed his tongue between the closed lips, his brow twisted at once at the esper’s shared pain. But he could not stop until the wavelength calmed. Slowly wetting the hot inside of the mouth as he swept his tongue through it, he held the lump of flesh, in which no movement could be felt at all, fast and exchanged saliva.
The fingers of the left arm, which was still fully attached, twitched very faintly.
***
Unlike the expectation that the end of the Earth would come from natural disasters and climate change, the trial that came to humanity was the appearance of gates.
After the first gate was created, people associated it with space. Some approached out of curiosity, saying it was the true form of aliens and such, and were swept into a gate and disappeared, and as species with forms outside the norm, that is, variants, burst out, people faced a new terror.
At the same time, as espers with special abilities and guides who healed them came into being, the world found stability again. But the moment one became an awakened, one had to lay down one’s life for the country. Some gained a chance to live through awakening, but others lost even the chance to die because they had awakened.
Restoring daily life. This was the goal of the whole world, and for that, the role of awakened who would stand against the variants was important. Their power became national power, and the standards for a great power changed in an instant.
The appearance of a gate whose grade could not be measured was a first. The whole world trembled with fear and anxiety about an unknown realm, but when the incident ended with less damage than expected, they returned to daily life as if nothing had happened.
“I’m glad to hear you slept well for the first time in a while.”
The counselor poured green tea brewed in the ceramic vessel on the table into a cup. Placing the cup, from which steam rose gently, in front of him, the counselor looked at Seo Young-woo with a smile.
“Your condition is also better than usual.”
“Then you must have eaten as well.”
“No, that…”
Seo Young-woo, who had been answering comfortably, stopped speaking for a moment when he saw the man’s hand holding a pencil moving quickly, then continued.
“I was hungry, but I didn’t have time to eat. I don’t have a habit of setting an alarm, so I overslept.”
At the practiced lie, the counselor’s pencil gradually slowed.
“Have some refreshments, Guide Seo Young-woo.”
“It’s all right. After the counseling, I have a lunch appointment with my team members.”
At the offer of individually wrapped traditional snacks set beside the tea, Seo Young-woo lightly shook his head and declined.
When an esper’s wavelength is unstable, or an esper is injured, the esper receives treatment from a guide. Through guiding, not only external wounds but also mild mental illnesses can be recovered to some extent. Moreover, if there is a partner guide with good guiding efficiency, there is no need for a hospital or anything like it.
But guides were different. Their stamina and physical condition were far better than ordinary people, but everything else was the same. Guides who ran the field had to receive regular mental counseling at the counseling center inside the Bureau for trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder. That was no exception even for S-rank.
“Have you had any discomfort in the meantime?”
“Not particularly. Sometimes when a team member gets hurt, or causes an accident… At times like that I definitely feel stress.”
Watching Seo Young-woo make an expression of resignation, as if something had come to mind, the counselor’s mouth curved in an arc.
“I understand Guide Seo Young-woo does not have a partner esper. Is there a reason you haven’t kept one separately?”
“It’s no great reason. There is no esper with a good matching rate, and after taking the team leader position, I have a lot of work…”
“Even if it’s not necessarily an esper, I think it would be good for you to have an acquaintance or family around with whom you can share your feelings.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Seo Young-woo nodded with a serious face. He knew better than anyone that adding more words would only lengthen the counseling time. At the moment when the counseling time, with still thirty minutes left, felt tedious, the awakened-only watch on his wrist rang.
“I should go now. It’s an emergency call.”
“Yes, let’s end here for today. I’ll see you at the next counseling session.”
As he stood up with a promise for next time, the counselor held out a hand first. Young-woo smiled and lightly took the hand.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Leaving the counseling room, Seo Young-woo hurried his steps while looking at the watch screen showing the research center code.
The research center, the largest building after the Bureau’s main building, had an unofficial entrance besides the main gate leading to the lobby on the first floor. Only authorized people could use it, and it connected not to the above-ground floors, where general work like trait tests or physical examinations was done, but to the underground.
Only after going through a demanding security procedure did the thick iron door open. Inside the waiting elevator there was nothing but a button that could be pressed in an emergency.
But Seo Young-woo, who went in and out of the research center more often than anyone, familiarly tapped his card to the reader.
Then the elevator doors closed and went down. No floor number appeared. As a place where everything was being conducted in utmost secrecy, the structure was such that unless it was an authorized floor, you could not even look around.
Ding. Only after a clear chime rang did the closed doors open. As he walked along the all-white corridor, a nameplate with a red light on it came into view.
“Oh, Young-woo, you’re here.”
As he entered the lab, Park Jin-wook greeted him with his eyes on a paper. Seeing his greasy hair and the reports filling his wide desk, it seemed he had not been home for a while.
“Sunbae, no matter how busy you are, live a little tidier.”
Seo Young-woo pushed aside a delivery box that caught at his foot. As he turned his head inadvertently, a jet-black shape entered his eyes. His brow narrowed on its own.
“Why is he still in that state?”
Three days had passed since the day he stopped the rampage. He should have received guiding from Bureau guides, but the mercenary, far from having his external wounds treated, still looked like a corpse.
“That’s what I’m saying. What on earth is this… More than ten guides came and went, and the guiding doesn’t work at all.”
His hoarse voice, as if fatigue had built up, was mixed with a sigh. Jin-wook, slumped in his chair, spun the chair around and handed him a tablet. On the screen was the personal information of the man lying there with barely a breath left in him.
NAME. Dmitry Orlov AGE. 199X.05.18 Attribute. Fire-type Esper Rank. C
“It doesn’t look like we can solve this on our side, so I requested support from you. They say you stopped the rampage with your guiding. Was there anything unusual during the guiding?”
“Well. I was just pouring guiding in however I could because I was afraid he’d go on a rampage, that’s all.”
Seo Young-woo answered with his gaze fixed on the man’s profile.
“There was a report that guiding didn’t work, but I thought it was because he was right before a rampage.”
“His wavelength is in the stable range, but guiding doesn’t work at all. Even if five of them rush him as a group, it’s only enough for a small scratch to heal.”
“What a strange guy.”
It was a light answer compared to the serious situation. It had been a long time since he had used a large amount of power, so he had had no time to look into the details. Rather, what raised a question was the man’s grade. There was no way a C-grade could have an ability that would burn an entire area…
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