TDG Ch 27

“When the evacuation of the civilians is complete, Team 1 will enter first. Team 1 will wait near Point A, and the moment the gate breaks, they will bind the monsters in one place. The remaining Espers will stand by at Point B, and upon the second signal, concentrate heavy fire on this target point. When firepower is depleted, switch with Team B. Repeat this process until the enemies are completely annihilated. The estimated duration is a minimum of two hours and a maximum of four hours. Guides, please also give it your all so that paired Espers do not suffer any hardships outside of their assigned duties.”

“Yes!”

After finishing his briefing, Song Hyunho glanced in this direction.

“Han Jihyuk. Over here.”

As Jihyuk stepped forward to the front of the formation, the eyes of the personnel focused on him.

“Given the situation, we will skip the formalities and make a temporary introduction. You have probably heard the rumors already, but this is Han Jihyuk, an S-rank Esper who has been assigned to Team 1. He is a fire-type ability user and will serve as the main firepower for this operation.”

Main firepower? It is his first deployment, and they are immediately sticking Han Jihyuk in as the main dealer?

They said he was just backup manpower, but the treatment is extraordinary. Which means they are fully intending to squeeze every ounce of value out of him.

I was not the only one surprised. A small murmur spread among the Espers.

“We are heading out soon, so let us at least greet each other among Team 1.”

At Song Hyunho’s words, a woman who had been standing in the back row stepped forward.

“I’m Lee Seoah. We have met before, right? I look forward to working with you.”

As she tilted her head slightly, her thick hair swayed lushly. This time, instead of letting it down, she had braided it into a single loose plait.

“I’m Park Jaegun. I use wide-area skills. You will understand when you see them.”

A man in his mid-forties with a broad build and a stern impression greeted him in a deep baritone. From behind his massive frame, a fox-faced man wearing round black sunglasses leaned forward with a grin.

“I’m Heo Joyoon. With clairvoyance and x-ray vision, I can see through anything.”

A guy with good eyesight wearing glasses? If it is not for fashion, there is only one reason.

Looks like his ability activates involuntarily.

Just like mine, those glasses were clearly imbued with a special skill that suppressed his ability.

After checking his watch, Song Hyunho shouted.

“Time is almost up. Alright, Team 1! From now on, move to the coordinates sent to your watches!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Seoah, take care of Jihyuk.”

“Okay. Do not worry.”

Having received separate instructions from Song Hyunho, Lee Seoah stepped closer to Han Jihyuk.

“Let’s go together. I will tell you what you need to do at the start.”

Oh… Wait a second.

I hurriedly rummaged through the original story in my head.

Didn’t Lee Seoah also end up having something with Han Jihyuk later on…?

It is vague to call it outright something, but there was definitely a scene where Lee Seoah showed romantic interest in Han Jihyuk. Since every female character in ⟨ Lo.Pa.Da ⟩ ends up harboring feelings for Han Jihyuk at least once, I had brushed it off while reading. Seeing it in person, though, it feels different.

Both of them have a similar cold vibe too… this feels kind of… like a promising stock…

I shook my head vigorously.

No, no. That will not do. Our Jihyuk belongs to Ahyoon. Ahyoon, I am sorry. I swear, the female lead of ⟨ Lo.Pa.Da ⟩ is only you.

While I was fervently offering prayers of atonement, Jihyuk, having finished preparing to depart, gave me a silent look of acknowledgment.  

‘I’ll be back.’

I raised my arm until my shoulder nearly popped out and waved vigorously.

Fighting, Han Jihyuk! Go and wipe them all out and come back.

His receding back looked especially reliable. I felt proud and gratified, yet strangely lonely as well.

So our Jihyuk really has reached the time to leave my care…

Just thinking that made my chest ache as if someone had sliced away one side, leaving it cold and empty.

What do you call this again? Empty nest syndrome or something?

I kept telling myself I had to let him go, that I had to make him independent, but deep down I still worried about whether things would really work out. In the end, I felt lonely anyway. That is just human nature. Since it is something that will inevitably come one day, all you can do is prepare your heart for it.

Han Jihyuk and Esper Team 1 headed toward the gate, leaving behind only Song Hyunho, who had been pulled out as reserve personnel due to his injury.

I absentmindedly watched the pointer indicating Team 1 slowly move toward the coordinates on the large screen set up at the front. From now on, my job was to endure the time. Until the moment my paired Esper safely completed the mission and returned.

“A greenhorn kid like that is S-rank? The world is so unfair.”

Whispering voices from behind drilled straight into my eardrums. Their volume was carefully measured so it would not reach Song Hyunho in the command post, but only as far as where I was standing.

“His face is insanely good-looking, too. Damn, I am jealous. The Guides are going to make a huge fuss again.”

“They almost did, but it died down. Because he has an exclusive Guide.”

“You idiot. Do you not even check the anonymous board? They are not exclusive. Pairs like that never last long.”

“But who is that? I have never seen him before, but he is fucking pretty.”

“No idea. I heard he has not been at the center for long.”

“Lucky as hell. How did he manage to snag an S-rank? With his body?”

“You bastard, does being ugly get fixed just by stripping? If it is an S-rank, there are thousands who would throw themselves at him voluntarily.”

“Heh heh. I like those slender types. I want to suck on those pretty fingers just once.”

“Right, right. When someone like that cries, it is fucking hot.”

“If we get a chance next time, should we call him together?”

I can hear everything, you assholes. Call me for what, together? Do you think I am some bar hostess? It has been a while since I felt this old Division 7 trash vibe; the dirty, pathetic nostalgia was bubbling up. Hanseung-ah, I miss your dead-on-arrival rap^[1] that hits like flat soda^[2] after all this time.  

My back prickled so badly that I could not stay still. Stop staring, you bastards, you are going to burn holes in my body. I was too tired to argue with them one by one, and you avoid shit not because you are scared, but because it is filthy. I abruptly stood up and moved my seat far away from them. I did not want to hear another word, and I was irritably pulling out my Bluetooth earphones and shoving them into my ears when.

“Sorry, I am a bit late.”

I thought there could not be a more fucked-up situation than this, but I was naive. The world was always fully prepared to screw me over in colorful new ways.

This voice, made even more obnoxious by its greasy sweetness, was—

“Guide Kwon Minwook! You are here!”

Song Hyunho greeted him with a genuinely pleased voice.

Why is that bastard here?

“Why do we only get the problem cases? Team 1 always seems to be matched with well-mannered ones!”

Yoon Soojung sunbae’s complaint, which I had buried in my memory, flashed through my mind like lightning.

Those well-mannered Espers who were frequently matched with Guide Team 1 were none other than Song Hyunho’s Team 1.

Seeing the look of solid trust in Song Hyunho’s eyes as he looked at Kwon Minwook made my stomach churn.

Let us make a prediction here. What is the probability that Song Hyunho is in cahoots with Kwon Minwook?

I would say the probability is low.

Because Song Hyunho is a self-proclaimed sportsman who values honor. He is not the type to be swayed by Kwon Minwook’s dirty deeds.

There was no particular mention of it in the original story either… The possibility of him being a villain is slim. He is probably just trusting Kwon Minwook as a longtime colleague. One might ask how he could be so blindly deceived, but if the other party is determined to deceive, there’s no helping it.

I quickly put in my earphones and pretended not to notice. Of course, I did not play any music. In case a certain someone decided to come over and spout nonsense without skipping a beat, I needed to hear every word of it. 

Please do not come over here, Kwon Minwook. Get lost far away. If you are going to disappear anyway, it would be great if you vanished beyond the atmosphere.

But once again, my desperate wish did not come true. The sound of approaching footsteps made my irritation slowly rise. Kwon Minwook stopped exactly beside me and leisurely planted himself in the adjacent seat. Just him showing up was enough to make my nose feel numb from the stench of his perfume. Who knows how much he slathered on?

“You took the card but did not go exclusive. That is quite the tactic, Guide Seo Juwon. How on earth did you manage to pull that off with an S-rank Esper?”

“……”

“Was it the body after all? Did you have some incredible technique that Esper Han Jihyuk absolutely could not give up on? If that is the case, I would love it if you taught me a bit.”

“……”

“Letting someone have your body once and getting a black card out of it, what a jackpot. This is just a setup where the poor Esper Han Jihyuk gets sucked dry. Does he even know about this?”

I should not have moved so far away from everyone. With no one nearby, he was openly revealing his true colors and spewing verbal filth.

So this time, he was not even going to bother keeping up appearances like last time?

In this world setting, Espers can never be the weaker party, so what kind of getting sucked dry setup is he talking about? I am really seeing some impressively creative contrived justification. And at the very least, that is not something you should be saying. Have you completely lost your sense of shame?   

My hostility toward Kwon Minwook went beyond disliking him as an original-story villain and turned into outright disgust toward his very existence.

No matter how much he disliked me, did he not realize we were in the same line of work? At the very least, he should have some conviction about his own profession.

How could he spout the exact same garbage as those Esper bastards earlier? Do you all share a brain or something?

When I continued not reacting and just kept my eyes closed, he nudged my shoulder as if asking what I was doing. Murderous intent surged, but I swallowed it down and opened my eyes. Then I immediately acted startled and pulled out my earphones.

“Oh! I am sorry, Sunbae-nim! I was listening to music and did not even notice you came… Did you call me?”

“……”

“I have been really into rock lately. Do you know Metallica? They are one of the rock bands that carved out legendary status at the end of the twentieth century. There is a song called Enter Sandman. Even though it is underrated by hardcore thrash metal fans, I really, really love it. Why don’t you give it a listen…”

Before I could finish speaking, Kwon Minwook stood up from his chair with a stiff expression.

“This is an incident site. As a rookie guide, would it not be better for you to show a more serious attitude toward your duties? Sitting in a corner listening to music does not seem very appropriate.” 

And you must be overflowing with professional duty to be spewing that kind of hateful nonsense, huh.

I hunched my shoulders timidly and put on the most pitiful, on-the-verge-of-tears expression I could manage.

“I am sorry. This is my first time being mobilized for such a big mission, so I was really nervous. If I do not listen to music…”

“What is going on with our kid?”

At the curt voice coming from the back row, my head turned on its own.

At some point, Soojung sunbae had arrived and was glaring at Kwon Minwook with her hands planted on her hips.

Her gaze was exactly like she was looking at a filth-covered sewer rat that had crawled up from the drain.