Chapter 85 – ​The ​Price ​of ​Misjudgment

Time ​had ​passed ​since ​the Espers who completed ​the ​gate raid returned. ​Seo Yi-kyung and ​Jeong ​Si-jun ​still ​had ​not ​come back, and ​the ​atmosphere ​at the temporary ​base was chaotic.

Yoon Ki-hyun ​moved his ​heavy body ​and came ​to a ​stop ​in ​front of his ​gosiwon room. ​He didn’t even know ​how he had made ​it back here from ​the temporary ​base.

Everything ​had been a mess since he ​heard the news that ​Jeong ​Si-jun ​had ​gone ​missing.

‘…Senior. I think ​you should ​go ​home and get ​some ​rest.’

‘You look very pale.’

If it ​hadn’t been ​for ​the persistence of ​Hyun ​Ju-ho ​and ​Kim ​Sa-on, he ​would ​have continued ​to huddle in a corner of the ​temporary base. Looking ​at their worried ​faces, he felt he ​had to ​at least pretend ​to ​go home and ​wash up.

After washing ​up haphazardly, ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun sat ​on ​the edge ​of ​his bed ​without ​even ​drying [visit our site][visit our site]himself, his ​clouded ​mind racing ​incessantly.

His ​exhausted ​body ​demanded sleep, but he couldn’t fall asleep because his thoughts were overflowing.

‘It’s too early to jump to conclusions.’

Seo Yi-kyung had remained inside the gate to search for the missing Jeong Si-jun. That meant the gate was still open, and the temporary base was still being maintained.

‘For now, they said they would let me know if any additional information comes in that can be shared…’

Since an S-class Guide, who was well-liked by the Center, had made such a bold promise, he felt he could trust it. He had never regretted leaving the Center, but this was the first time he felt such a sense of longing for it.

Would Seo Yi-kyung and Jeong Si-jun be able to return safely?

He thought about it vaguely, but no clear picture formed in his mind. He had never seen an actual battle with his own eyes, and a situation like this was a first for Yoon Ki-hyun as well.

It was an unprecedented incident where both S-class Espers deployed [Read on Read BL Novels]to a gate were desite -->visit our sitelayed in their return.

Since they were two team leaders who could be called the two pillars of the Awakened Management Center headquarters, the dominant reaction was that they would return somehow, but not everyone was optimistic.

‘Gates are places where you never know what will happen inside…’

‘How could we possibly handle a gate appearing in the Ansan area on our own?’

‘We have to try, as far as we can.’

By sitting in a corner of the temporary base, he could vaguely sense the situation unfolding at the Center.

The deadline might be tomorrow. Depending on whether the two returned, the position the Center had to announce would change.

Even now, the media was fueling anxiety daily, claiming that the gate had not disappeared. The Center was buying time by saying they were doing their best to eliminate the gate, but even that was reaching its limit.

While letting time slip away [unauthorized copy]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">unauthorized copy]wm: unauthorized copy -->in his agitation, a message arrived. Checking his phone, it was from Kim Sa-on.

Mr. Kim Sa-on

If the two team leaders aren’t confirmed to have returned by this weekend, it seems they plan to move forward assuming they are MIA, Senior…

Ah, I’m sharing this after getting permission from Team Leader Yang. He said it cannot be shared externally.

His gaze remained fixed on a specific word, unable to pull away.

MIA. Missing In Action. While known as a military term, in the Awakened Management Center, it was used to mean someone had gone missing during a gate raid operation.

If an Esper dies inside a gate, the manual is to recover the body as much as possible and move it outside the gate.

However, in situations where that is unavoidably impossible, the body vanishes along with the gate. This is because a gate whose core has been destroyed vanishes roughly half a day after there are no longer any life signs inside.

To assume that Jeong Si-jun might be dead. Was the decision [Read [unauthorized copy]on visit our siteRead BL Novels]made by the higher-ups, who had pampered him so much, certain?

His noisy, churning mind became as silent as if the power had been cut.

“….”

But the decision of the higher-ups was rational.

Quite a bit of time had already passed since entering the gate. The loss of two S-class Espers would be painful, but they couldn’t cling to that fact when gates were still appearing everywhere.

Since the Awakened Management Center had the duty to carry out gate raids by utilizing limited human resources to the maximum, they had to classify them as temporarily missing according to the rules and prepare for what comes next.

However, separate from understanding the higher-ups’ decision with his head, Yoon Ki-hyun’s guilt did not disappear.

‘Why is this happening?’

If he hadn’t pushed him, Jeong Si-jun was the kind of guy who could have completely ignored the [stolen content[Read on Read BL Novels]size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]gate and stayed by his side spouting nonsense.

Nevertheless, whenever he saw a gate, he thought of Jeong Si-jun, so he had called him and told him to go.

It was because he didn’t want to let Jeong Si-jun into his shabby gosiwon room. It was awkward, and the other man’s inferiority complex toward someone with money never seemed to vanish. So, he thought this was the perfect opportunity to shake him off and sent him to the gate.

“He couldn’t have died…”

Yoon Ki-hyun opened the small window and looked outside.

Nothing could be seen in the pitch-black darkness that had settled. Feeling as if the dark void was crossing over the open window, he closed it again.

The questions he wanted to ask if Jeong Si-jun returned were slowly being bleached away.

The fact that he might have performed a one-sided imprinting on him weighed on his mind, but that was only a problem if he were alive.

He tried to force himself to sleep, but his heart was too restless for sleep to come. Eventually, he grabbed his coat stolen contentRead on Read BL Novelsn>and left the stifling gosiwon.

Walking aimlessly, he found himself in front of the temporary base before he knew it. Control was still being maintained around the base, which had not yet been dismantled.

‘Did I bring my ID?’

Searching his pants pockets belatedly, he fortunately found his access pass in his back pocket. After showing it to the police and returning to the temporary base, the atmosphere was chaotic.

The status board placed in the corner of the temporary base was hollowly empty.

[Status of Personnel Not Returned: 2]

• Jeong Si-jun (Headquarters_Special Team 2_Team Leader (S))

• Seo Yi-kyung (Headquarters_Special Team 1_Team Leader (S))

The names on the list of personnel who had not returned seemed strange. Of [stolen content[visit our site]="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">]all people, it had to be those two.

It wasn’t that they had stayed behind to recover someone else’s body; he still couldn’t believe that Seo Yi-kyung had remained in the gate to find the missing Jeong Si-jun.

“…Senior.”

Hyun Ju-ho, who had spotted Yoon Ki-hyun and run over, lowered his head as if distressed.

“There’s still no news. And…”

“I heard. From Sa-on.”

“…Yes. I heard the higher-ups are moving forward with that assumption.”

Instead of answering, Yoon Ki-hyun stared obsessively at the gate.

How long did the Center intend to maintain the temporary [[visit our site][visit our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">stolen content]base? As long as there were life signs from the two, the gate would be maintained.

If Seo Yi-kyung, judging that there were no meaningful results in the search, returned, what would happen after that?

It was around the time when all sorts of thoughts were swirling.

“…!”

A strange shadow flickered around the gate. It was clearly a human shape. As if possessed, Yoon Ki-hyun approached the gate.

He had been walking slowly, but at some point, he was running. Approaching the gate, Yoon Ki-hyun took in every detail of the approaching silhouette.

However, only one person emerged from the gate.

“Ah. “Mr. Ki-hyun.”

A man with a height similar to Jeong Si-jun’s, but Read unauthorized copyon Read BL Novelswith a slightly unauthorized copyslimmer build. The owner of the melodic voice, who frowned as if apologetic while looking at him, was not the person Yoon Ki-hyun had been waiting for.

Exhausted, he looked down at Yoon Ki-hyun and smiled awkwardly.

“I did my best, but I couldn’t find him. In the end.”

Who couldn’t he find?

Yoon Ki-hyun struggled to make his frozen mind work. He didn’t know why his brain refused to understand words that weren’t even that difficult.

“The internal terrain was too destroyed, and according to the testimony of the team members I sent back first… Team Leader Jeong seemed too desperate.”

“….”

“Being anxious inside a gate is a taboo.”

“….”

“There’s no way Team Leader Jeong didn’t know that…”

Seo Yi-kyung let out a long breath and tilted his head back wearily. He was drained from the long search, and returning without any results was not pleasant.

He had always felt like giving Jeong Si-jun a hard time, but he hadn’t wanted an ending like this.

“I’m sorry.”

The meaning of Seo Yi-kyung’s apology was clear.

That he couldn’t return with Jeong Si-jun. That meant Jeong Si-jun was still left alone inside that gate.

Suddenly, the last phone call he had with Jeong Si-jun came to mind. Jeong Si-jun had clearly wanted to come to the hospital to take him home.

‘Ah, I wanted to see you home today…’

‘…Do you want me to go?’

‘To me, you’re more important than the gate.’

Jeong Si-jun’s voice, surfacing haphazardly, clung to his ears and wouldn’t leave.

Why did he bother to find Jeong Si-jun’s number and call him after hearing that a gate had appeared? It wasn’t as if gates appearing in this country was a new occurrence.

‘It looks dangerous at a glance, so I don’t think my discharge is what’s important.’

Why did he say such things to him on his last day of leave?

Because he judged that a gate that looked dangerous at a glance wouldn’t be a threat to Jeong Si-jun?

Or was it because he thought Jeong Si-jun’s well-being didn’t matter at all?

‘…No.’

Even if Jeong Si-jun was annoying, he hadn’t wished for his death. He hadn’t.

Yoon Ki-hyun stood there blankly, only blinking his eyes. He felt suffocated.