28 – TDG 28

An ​unexpected ​ally ​had ​appeared. Kwon Min-wook ​shoved ​his ​hands ​into ​his pants pockets and ​glanced ​left and right. ​Then, with a ​detestable ​twitch ​of ​his ​eyebrows, ​he pointed to ​himself.

“Are ​you ​talking to me?”

“Who ​else would it be ​but you?”

With ​a dissatisfied ​frown and ​sharp, upturned ​eyes, ​Seonbae ​Soo-jeong looked as ​aggressive as ​a bull facing a ​matador. Seeing her look ​as if she might ​charge and ​gore ​him at any moment made my ​heart sink. This was ​the ​first ​time ​I’d ​seen Seonbae Soo-jeong ​this angry. ​Does ​she have some ​kind ​of grudge against that Kwon ​bastard?

A sour ​smile ​played on Kwon ​Min-wook’s ​face.

“I ​don’t ​know ​what I ​did ​to deserve ​this.”

Seonbae Soo-jeong roughly pushed aside the chair ​blocking her path ​and marched forward ​with an imposing gait, ​coming to ​a halt right ​in ​front of me. ​Then, she grabbed ​my shoulders ​with ​both hands ​and ​yanked me ​toward ​her.

“Then why ​is ​our ​kid stolen contenttrembling visit our siteand ​looking ​like he’s ​about ​to ​die?”

Only ​after being caught in her embrace did I realize that I was the cause of her fury. To be precise, it was fury directed at Kwon Min-wook for attacking me. In that case, there was no need to refuse this favor. I decided to play along quickly. I bit my lip hard and let my shoulders shake pitifully, as if burdened by sorrow.

Seonbae Soo-jeong patted me quickly to reassure me, then glared back at Kwon Min-wook, demanding an explanation. Kwon Min-wook let out a short sigh and frowned.

“No, what do you mean trembling… I really didn’t say much. I just approached him to say a word because it bothered me to see him sitting alone in the corner…”

“I bet the important part is what that ‘one word’ was, right?”

As Seonbae Soo-jeong sneered, a vein popped on the man’s forehead.

“Then let’s just ask. Ask Guide Seo Joo-won yourself what I said.”

“With you glaring like that, the kid is too scared to speak. I saw everything from over there! You were saying something with a dissatisfied look on your face, and the kid’s face turned red and he looked like he was about to cry! It’s his first official deployment; he can listen to some music to control his mind because he’s nervous. We’re all in a tiring position, getting pushed around here and there—instead of helping each other, why is your mind so twisted that you’re acting like a condescending old man? If you want to play drill sergeant, go do it to your own kids!”

By this point, Kwon Min-wook seemed unable to take it anymore. He straightened his expression and began to protest.

“Yoon Soo-jeong! You’re going too far. [unauthorized copy]Don’t speak recklessly when [stolen content]you didn’t even hear it yourself. Can you take responsibility for those words?”

Wait a second.

Looking at the flow of the conversation, if Kwon Min-wook keeps playing dumb and denying it, there’s a high probability that Seonbae Soo-jeong—who didn’t hear the actual conversation—will be treated as if she’s making things up and end up at a disadvantage. I can’t let the Seonbae who came to help me out of kindness end up in a predicament.

A capable Hubae should provide covering fire at a time like this.

“…The card.”

At my voice, which came out like a whisper, Seonbae Soo-jeong perked up her ears.

“Hmm? Joo-won, what did you say?”

I looked up at her with teary eyes, my lips trembling.

“He… he asked about… the card… I couldn’t hear him properly because I was listening to music… so I couldn’t answer in time. That’s why… Seonbae Kwon Min-wook thought he was being ignored and got angry. I’m sorry…”

The expression on Seonbae Soo-jeong’s face, as she looked down at me, soured rapidly.

“…Card?”

“A-and… he said I should be nicer to Esper Han Ji-hyuk. Seonbae Soo-jeong… please don’t be angry… It’s true that someone like me isn’t a Guide fitting for an S-rank Esper. Seonbae Kwon Min-wook really said it for my own sa— sake…”

The key point here is to cut off the sentence with a sob at the right moment, because finishing the sentence would make me sound unnecessarily dignified.

Shedding a single, forced tear, I dove back into Seonbae Soo-jeong’s arms and buried my head. Of course, I didn’t forget to capture the look of dismay spreading across Kwon Min-wook’s face before I did.

“……”

I could feel the Seonbae holding me trembling. I think the preheating for the booster is sufficient. Let’s leave the rest to her.

“Ah~. Now I see why you did that.”

A cold sneer escaped the Seonbae’s lips.

“I heard the rumors. That Mr. Kwon Min-wook made [visit our site]a huge fuss about wanting to [stolen content]become Esper stolen contentHan Ji-hyuk’s dedicated assignment in the past.”

“!”

A crack appeared in Kwon Min-wook’s face, which had been as thick as an alloy.

“If you were rejected, you should have stepped back quietly. I guess you kept it bottled up inside for months? To the point where you’d bully him from behind like this?”

“Stop with the nonsense. What kind of ridiculous speculation is—”

Kwon Min-wook countered with an uncomfortable look, but Seonbae Soo-jeong didn’t stop her sarcasm. Instead, she only twisted her face more menacingly and glared her eyes.

“Speculation? Ha! You’re truly pathetic, Kwon Min-wook. Neither you nor I are at a stage in our careers where not having that one thing causes a problem, so you really wanted to do this to a kid ten years younger than you?”

“…I told you to stop, Yoon Soo-jeong.”

“Why? You gonna hit me if I keep going? You’ll hit me? You must be feeling pretty guilty, huh?”

“Yoon Soo-jeong!”

“Hey! Have some shame. How dare you scream back at me? Were you that jealous that the kid did well and got a card from his Esper?”

“I didn’t say it with that intention…!”

Kwon Min-wook shouted in a fit of emotion, then immediately shut his mouth. Then, in a much calmer tone as if he were doing the right thing, he shamelessly laid out his words.

“I simply said that it’s not good to use the affection of a dedicated assignment to squeeze a black card out of an Esper. I’ve seen many cases where that becomes a headache later.”

I was so appalled that I almost let out a hollow laugh, forgetting my position as the pitiful rookie.

I thought he’d deny it until the end, but he just self-destructed with his own mouth?

It would have been a hundred times better to just say you bullied him because you were jealous, you idiot. If it were me, I’d rather climb a building and jump off than let those words out as an excuse.

And the worst part is, this bastard is acting so confident because he actually thinks he’s right.

I don’t think he was such a stupid character?

Because of you, I’ve ground my teeth so much that 0.1cm of my molar enamel must have evaporated. Maybe I overestimated him because he was the epitome of frustration in the beginning.

Just as the phrase ‘you crazy bastard’ was beginning to form in Seonbae Soo-jeong’s mouth, opened in sheer absurdity at the excuse highlighting brilliant jealousy and inferiority, a voice interrupted.

“I gave the card, so what’s the problem?”

A hot, fierce wind blew from somewhere and swept over my body. When I unconsciously closed and opened my eyes, Han Ji-hyuk was descending to the ground, brushing away the flames he had brought with him.

“…Ji-hyuk-ssi?”

How is he back already? Is it over already?

Seeing the tears streaming down my cheeks, his eyebrows knit together even more fiercely.

“…Who is it?”

Ji-hyuk’s revealed face was as cold as a winter wind, but his eyes alone [visit our site]were burning unauthorized copyintensely. His stolen contentferocious eyes, pupils constricted, began searching for the culprit.

“Han Ji-hyuk!”

In that tense moment, Song Hyun-ho, who was on the opposite side of the center, ran toward Han Ji-hyuk calling his name. “You were he—” Noticing the chilly atmosphere flowing around us, he stopped mid-sentence and looked at us with a reluctant expression.

“Did… something happen?”

When no one answered, Song Hyun-ho looked at our four faces in turn as if to find out for himself, then frowned and asked.

“Guide Seo Joo-won, were you crying?”

“Ah, no! Some dust got in my eye…”

I hurriedly wiped my wet face and laughed awkwardly.

I tried to squeeze out tears to pretend to cry, and now I’m the one in a predicament. A bucket of cold sweat poured down inside me.

He looked as if he wanted to ask [unauthorized copy]more, stolen contentbut his expression changed at the words heard through the microphone.

“The three Guides must evacuate from here immediately. Signs of the appearance of a fifth gate have been confirmed in this vicinity.”

A gate? They were talking about even or odd numbers of doors earlier, and it seems one more is finally appearing.

That’s why Ji-hyuk came back.

“Others have already evacuated. If you go that way, a staff member will guide you. There is still some time left, so please remain calm…”

While moving according to Song Hyun-ho’s instructions, a light that burned the vision black erupted in the sky.

Any human in this world would recognize that ominous flash.

A gate opened in the sky.

I thought there was time left…?

‘Was it a miscalculation?’

Unfortunately, I know that there is still no way to accurately measure the appearance time of a gate down to the minute.

Still, this is too spectacular.

Monsters, clumped together like lumps of clay, fell indiscriminately. My vision blurred at the sight of the black throats, like gaping abysses, flicking long tongues.

Within a vision splitting like a kaleidoscope, a fleeting moment stretched like an eternity. If a life review were to come, now would be the perfect time.

Just as I sensed inevitable death, Han Ji-hyuk moved from the blind spot of my vision.

Whoosh!

Before I knew it, I was flying through the air, held in his two arms. Terrified by my body soaring upward as I lost gravity, I hugged his neck tightly. I wasn’t actually flying, but the airtime felt almost like it, and the fierce sense of speed, rushing like a train, shook my body.

Boom!

By a hair’s breadth, the monsters were slammed into the ground. It was exactly where we had been standing. The sight of the asphalt floor splitting and shattering like styrofoam upon impact was terrifying. [Read on Read BL Novels]Monsters vomited out by the gate continued to fall, piling up like a tower. Perhaps the one at the very bottom couldn’t visit our sitewithstand the weight and burst, as purple flesh and blood spurted out here and there.

Ugh, disgusting. While shivering from physiological loathing, I tilted my head at the sudden feeling of emptiness. …But why is it only me?

Where is Seonbae?!

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Seonbae!!”

“I’m here!”

Hurriedly looking toward where the voice came from, I could see Seonbae Soo-jeong and Kwon Min-wook being held in Song Hyun-ho’s arms a short distance away. Seeing her wave her hand to tell me not to worry, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. They avoided it. For a moment, I felt my blood run cold.