By Zephyria 
Shin Tae-beom’s words cast a pall over all the Secrety members, including me.
“If we give up sleep…”
“Maybe we can do something…”
Jae-ha, who had been watching the members muttering dejectedly, shook his head as if to say that wasn’t the way.
“You’ll die.”
“Ugh.”
“Before you die, you might get kidnapped by Ban No-ah, who’s only looking for a chance to cause trouble.”
“…Then what are we supposed to do?”
Ra Ho-yeon retorted sullenly.
“We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
His trembling fist looked a little pathetic.
Jae-ha, who seemed to have a different idea than me, looked at the Secrety members, who were overcome with helplessness, and said one thing.
“Why don’t you just erase your memories now?”
“Pardon?”
“I have the ability to erase specific keywords. If I use that, you civilians can cleanly get out of this.”
Ra Ho-yeon, who heard Jae-ha’s suggestion, seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon expressed his refusal.
“No, thank you.”
“Why?”
Ra Ho-yeon and the other Secrety members turned to me.
Their eyes were filled with determination.
“This is the only atonement we can make for not even realizing we had lost the real Yujin.”
Four pairs of eyes, filled with belated regret, disappointment, and longing, stared at me.
“We came here of our own free will. So please don’t erase our memories without our permission. Please.”
Ra Ho-yeon bowed deeply to Jae-ha and earnestly pleaded, and the other members beside him raised their voices and followed suit.
“Please!”
“We lost Yujin in vain… We just hope we can protect An Ga-hyeon, who filled that void.”
In the end, Jae-ha couldn’t refuse their desperate words.
Although he frowned as if it was a bit of a hassle.
“In that case, I’ll take charge of your training directly for the time being.”
As soon as Jae-ha opened his mouth, Ha Ri-ra and Geum Na-ro shouted in surprise.
“Captain!”
“Isn’t that too dangerous? It seems like Ban No-ah would only target the moment when the Captain and An Ga-hyeon Guide are together…”
As if to dismiss their concerns, Jae-ha crossed his arms nonchalantly and replied.
“I think it’s the best way to defend these people from falling into Ban No-ah’s clutches. Ban No-ah is afraid of me, so he won’t even come near until he has the power to stand up to me.”
“That’s…”
Geum Na-ro moved his lips, but he nodded as if he understood.
“…Still, you have to be careful.”
“Of course. You guys should focus on tracking down the traces of the disappeared Ban No-ah and finding out his whereabouts.”
At Jae-ha’s command, the members all placed their hands on their chests and knelt down.
“As you command.”
Looking at their orderly appearance, I recalled my past life.
‘I never thought I’d feel nostalgia for those days I never thought I’d miss.’
There were no faces I recognized among the White Tiger Unit members… Still, I remembered my old comrades and felt a surge of camaraderie towards them.
I smiled and held out my hand to Jae-ha.
“Take care of me, Captain.”
Just like in the old days.
However, Jae-ha, who had thrown away his image as a cold-blooded leader, blushed in front of me.
“…Don’t call me that.”
To not be able to call the Captain, Captain, what kind of heart is that?
I was puzzled, but Jae-ha grabbed my hand tightly and asked again, as if emphasizing.
“Don’t forget that in front of you, I’m not the Captain, just Hyeon Jae-ha.”
“…How can I forget that? I’m not a birdbrain.”
“Anyway, don’t forget.”
Jae-ha still had a childish side to him.
“Okay, I got it.”
As I smiled and soothed Jae-ha, the Secrety members and White Tiger Unit members whispered around us.
“…He’s like a sly old fox…”
“I should be glad that the other one is oblivious.”
“That’s the Captain, right? My eyes aren’t deceiving me, are they?”
Hmm.
As the first step in cooperation, I should teach them how to shut their mouths quietly.
Several days had passed since I went to the White Tiger Unit’s hideout and asked for cooperation.
In the meantime, the Secrety members, including me, were diligently called to various music shows, entertainment programs, and festivals, working through a grueling schedule.
Even with a lack of sleep, we met Jae-ha from time to time to train.
‘Ban No-ah doesn’t know when or where he’ll appear, so I can’t give you the same training as the White Tiger Unit members. Instead, I’ll teach you how to draw out your basic skills as Espers.’
Jae-ha, as an Esper who survived in the front lines, made the Secrety members learn how to efficiently draw out their abilities.
Of course, that was easier said than done, so Ra Ho-yeon, Seo Yun-chae, Shin Tae-beom, and Cha Si-yoon came to hate the time they spent with Jae-ha.
‘A scary human being.’
‘A cold-blooded person.’
‘A drill sergeant from hell.’
‘I don’t think he’s even human.’
The members were always exhausted after training with Jae-ha.
They gritted their teeth and complained about how hard the training was, but they never tried to skip the class.
I silently poured out Guiding to prevent the erosion of the members’ abilities.
‘It’s hard, but if we get through this, we might be able to throw a punch at Ban No-ah.’
Cha Si-yoon, who was resting his cheek on my palm, muttered dejectedly.
‘…Only one punch?’
‘The training Jae-ha is giving you now is aimed at making sure you don’t get caught and get out safely when you encounter Ban No-ah.’
Jae-ha and the White Tiger Unit were deeply concerned that the Secrety members would be used by Ban No-ah.
Today, I was taking advantage of the fact that the members who had finished training were fast asleep in the car to have a conversation with Jae-ha.
“Ban No-ah has already realized that they are no match for him. He even gave a warning, like a cat playing with a mouse. They don’t have mental resistance skills like us, so they’re easy prey for Ban No-ah.”
“That’s…”
“Ga-hyeon, the perfect hostage to draw you out.”
After disappearing in front of us, Ban No-ah vanished as if he were dead.
The SNS account he had created was erased without a trace, as if it had never existed in the first place. Like a person who had never existed in this world.
Just in case, I tried to contact those who had a connection with Ban No-ah, such as Seol Yu-rang, but they were bewildered, saying they didn’t know such a person at all.
‘I thought he would show up in front of us again soon…’
It was suspicious.
Since he was after my ability, Resurrection, I thought he might suddenly appear while I was working, so I didn’t let my guard down wherever I went.
Contrary to my constant vigilance, there was no news from Ban No-ah.
Jae-ha sighed, saying that the White Tiger Unit members were talking about it.
“There’s a rumor going around among my colleagues that he might have turned tail and fled abroad.”
“Surely not. After giving such a grand warning?”
“There’s a possibility that even that was a show. Ban No-ah is after your ability, but at the same time, he’s afraid of me, so if he couldn’t find an ability to defeat me, he might have run away again.”
Jae-ha, who took a bite of the ice cream I bought him, frowned.
“If that’s the case, I’ll search the whole world and catch him and get rid of him.”
“…Where did he go?”
“I know.”
Unless we get rid of Ban No-ah, we can’t live safely on this land.
‘If I can end this bad relationship with that guy, I can clear up Jae-ha’s unfairness.’
I stared blankly at Jae-ha, who was gobbling down the ice cream like a cow.
Hyeon Jae-ha, who had to live in the shadows for a long time, even with the stigma of being a deserter because of me.
I felt sorry for Jae-ha again.
“Do you want to eat this too?”
When I held out the untouched ice cream, Jae-ha’s eyes widened.
“What about you?”
“I don’t have an appetite. You eat it. You surprisingly eat sweets well.”
Jae-ha narrowed his eyes.
“You used to save even one caramel in the supplied food and eat it sparingly.”
“Ugh.”
“Don’t lie, you eat it. You haven’t been able to sleep or eat properly because you’ve been running around, and you seem to have lost weight.”
Did I?
Yeon Yu-jin’s body was already thin, so I didn’t know.
As I groped my side, Jae-ha muttered inaudibly.
“…The reason I seemed to like sweets was probably because I wanted to create even one more similarity with you.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
I couldn’t hear him well, so I asked again, but Jae-ha didn’t answer, just smiled.
“It’s nothing. I was just talking to myself.”
That day, we spent the night with our eyes open, wary of Ban No-ah, who might come at any moment…
But he didn’t show up easily.
Just when I was feeling a sense of futility about how long I would have to keep doing this.
-This is breaking news. There are reports that unprecedentedly large Dungeons have appeared simultaneously across the country.
Multiple Dungeon Breaks had occurred.