IDSEGI Chapter 102

Chapter 102

When news broke that Yoo Ihan would be leaving Zone 5 before completing the full fifteen days and returning to Zone 1, the reactions in the two zones were sharply divided.

First, in Zone 5, a celebration broke out.

“Finally! Finally, we’re free!”

“The team leader will be back too! Sure, sometimes we complained that he was too strict… but honestly, there isn’t a better boss in the world.”

“Don’t cry. This is a good day. We’re free starting today!”

While the Espers in Zone 5 hugged each other and wept tears of joy, the Espers in Zone 1 were on the floor crying for an entirely different reason.

“Hhhhuuuhh… Esper Yoon Geon, can’t you please not go back?”

“We’ve learned what it’s like to have the best boss—don’t make us face the worst again!”

“You all saw it, right? When I made a mistake in training, Esper Yoon Geon only scolded me with words… This is the first time I’ve made a mistake and not been hit.”

Yoon Geon was a little taken aback by the Zone 1 Espers begging him not to leave.

Just a few days ago, the Zone 5 Espers had been pestering him with calls and messages asking when he would be back, which was already annoying enough—and now, once he returned, it looked like he’d be hearing from the Zone 1 Espers too.

At that moment, Park Shinwoo, the leader of Zone 1’s Esper team, approached the troubled Yoon Geon.

“Leave them be. Even if they act like this, if you actually tried to leave, they’d break your legs to keep you here.”

Speaking indifferently, Park Shinwoo was the only Esper in Zone 1 who remained calm about Yoo Ihan’s return.

Yoon Geon replied stiffly.

“I’m not particularly concerned.”

He wasn’t the kind of person to grow attached to someone just because they’d spent a few days training closely together. Whether they clung to his pants and begged him not to leave didn’t matter—what he honestly wanted was to see Yeoul again as soon as possible.

Seeing Yoon Geon’s detached attitude, Shinwoo teased.

“At first you seemed warmer than I expected, but the more I see, the more I think you really are a bit cold.”

Yoon Geon didn’t respond, only lifting the end of his brow slightly.

Shinwoo gestured toward the Zone 1 Espers who were clutching each other and lamenting.

“They’re actually happy, you know. We act like we hate it when we like something. Kind of childish, right?”

Yoon Geon answered with silence, which Shinwoo took as agreement.

Glancing at the weeping Espers, Shinwoo smirked and put a cigarette between his lips.

“As you know, Espers live in constant tension.”

Each time he rolled his tongue slightly, the cigarette clamped between his teeth bobbed loosely and playfully.

“Especially someone like Yoo Ihan—it’s even more so. That’s why he’s gotten into the habit of saying everything lightly. And before we knew it, we all became like that too. Zone 1 wasn’t full of lunatics like this from the start. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t misunderstand.”

At Shinwoo’s words, Yoon Geon glanced around the training area.

Yoo Ihan’s photos were plastered everywhere.

On punching bags, on target boards—most of them were tattered. The ones on the target boards, in particular, had gaping holes where the eyes and groin were.

Even setting aside the Espers huddled in a corner, giggling as they set piles of his photos on fire, it was hard to call this a normal environment.

“…It seems you love Zone 1 very much, Captain Park.”

It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but Park Shinwoo waved his hand modestly, as if embarrassed.

“Ah, no, not at all. And besides, I’m only a team leader in title. You know full well that Yoo Ihan is the real leader. Being called ‘Captain’ just feels a little awkward, you know? Haha.”

Yoon Geon fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject.

“Do you have a lighter?”

“Huh? Oh, for the cigarette? I’m just holding it. The Zone 1 Esper Center is a no-smoking area.”

Come to think of it, Yoon Geon had never seen any Espers smoking during his stay in Zone 1. He hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but now he wondered if there was a reason.

“There’s no separate smoking area?”

“Ever since Yoo Ihan made a scene, saying if anyone was going to die early from smoking, he’d just kill them himself right now, everyone’s been smoke-free. He even destroyed the smoking room.”

Shinwoo scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

“Still, it’s such an old habit that I feel calmer with a cigarette in my mouth. I just don’t light it, in case he catches me.”

The easy, faint smile on Shinwoo’s face had the calm detachment of someone who’d already reached enlightenment. From what Yoon Geon knew, Yoo Ihan was now in his early-to-mid twenties, while Park Shinwoo was in his forties.

Although his time in Zone 1 had been short and he hadn’t met Ihan directly, Yoon Geon somehow felt he already had a rough grasp of Ihan’s personality.

They say the water at the top must be clear for the water below to be clear. If the water below was full of lunatics like this…

Since it was another zone’s business, he didn’t pry further.

“Yeoul, did you hear? Esper Yoo Ihan left earlier today.”

Heewon, who had only just heard the news, came running over to Yeoul. At her words, Yeoul gave a faint smile.

“Yeah. More or less.”

“He showed up suddenly and now he’s suddenly gone.”

“Yeah.”

Noticing Yeoul’s half-hearted reaction, Heewon asked with concern.

“Are you sick? You don’t look so good.”

If even Heewon, who wasn’t exactly the most perceptive, could tell, his complexion must really be bad. Yeoul pressed his palms to his cheeks and stood up.

“I’m going to wash my face for a bit.”

“Okay. Or better yet, take a half day. Lately, with gates hardly opening, they’ve been approving those easily.”

Normally, he would’ve said it wasn’t that bad and insisted he was fine, but today Yeoul knew he really wasn’t in good shape. His head had been hazy and dizzy for a while now, and his stomach was queasy again, like the digestive troubles he’d experienced countless times in his past lives.

“Yeah. I’ll do that.”

Yeoul took a half day off for the first time in a long while and left work early.

On the walk home, he came to a fork in the road. Home was to the left, but he turned right, heading in the opposite direction.

It was just a whim.

Somehow, the sky seemed bluer today, and the wind a little less cold. With that thought, Yeoul walked aimlessly forward, turning right at the intersection, circling around the mountain path, taking a left at the fork, then going straight again.

Eventually, a gentle hill came into view.

Halfway up was an old wooden bench.

It had once been part of a hiking trail, but after Zone 5 became a civilian-restricted area, no one came here anymore, and it had been abandoned.

Yeoul liked sitting on the bench, blankly watching the sunset. This was his private hideout, one he had never told even Yoon Geon about.

He had shared it only with Ihan.

So the only two people who knew of this place were Yeoul and Ihan.

No, not anymore—now it was just him.

The current Yoo Ihan had never been here.

“The sunset here is the prettiest. I thought it would be nice to see it together.”

That’s what Yeoul had said the first time he brought Ihan here in a previous life.

And Ihan’s reply back then—he still remembered it because it had been so ridiculous.

Was it, “The sunset reflected in your eyes is the prettiest”?

Yeoul had immediately straightened his face at that, probably scolding him to cut it out with the cheesy lines. Back then, he still wasn’t used to Ihan’s sappy tone, so he reacted to each one.

The truth was, he had kind of agreed with him at the time.

Because as he looked into Ihan’s light brown eyes, with the reddish waves of the sunset shimmering slowly within them, he had thought the same thing.

He still hadn’t forgotten that sight.

It wasn’t that he missed him or wanted to go back to that time—it just came to mind.

That pretty face of his, those faintly flushed cheeks, and the sunset sinking slowly in his eyes.

“…I should just go home.”

Better to go home and sort out his thoughts than spend time here.

Maybe even make plans for what to do in two months.

Just then, Yeoul’s phone rang.

He considered not answering since it was an unknown number, but something about it felt off, so he picked up.

A frantic voice came through the speaker.

“Hello? Is this Guide Han Yeoul’s number? Please come here right away!”

The sudden call carried a voice that was far from unfamiliar.

It was Esper Kim Yushin.

But why would Kim Yushin be calling him?

In this timeline, they didn’t even know each other…

Before his curiosity could go further, one thought rang loud in his head.

Did something happen to Ihan?

His hands trembled, but he tried to stay calm.

He couldn’t truly calm himself, but at least he kept enough composure to ask what was going on.

“Esper Kim Yushin? What’s wrong?”

“Esper Yoo Ihan is badly injured. He needs guiding right now!”

Yeoul’s face drained of color.