DB Vol 1 Part 15

Whoosh― Whoosh―

After swinging it in the air a few times, he quickly rotated it one and a half turns in his hand before putting it back in the case. After confirming there was no problem, he rolled up his pants to hide it. He familiarly strapped a belt to his calf and inserted the knife. Next were two small knives about the size of a palm. He simultaneously flipped them between his fingers with both hands, then gripped them tightly to check the grip.

Sang-cheon had once mocked Won-woo for the flashy way he rotated the knife in his hand. Saying he’d die from an attack in the time it took to rotate it. But to use knives like extensions of his own limbs, one needs to make them familiar to the hand with such techniques in normal times. Moreover, small knives were also used like throwing stars, so he needed to be able to change angles quickly and easily in his hand.

Won-woo thought about taking out more knives but decided three would be enough for now, thinking they wouldn’t be necessary here yet. The most frequently used items besides weapons were electronic devices, but they would be useless here anyway since communications probably wouldn’t work. Instead, he took out a military-rank scope about the size of a palm from the bag.

Then he went to the curtained window, slightly pulled it aside, and looked outside. Of course, he didn’t turn on the lights inside this time either. Even after confirming that no one was in this house, Won-woo habitually stifled his breathing. Instead, he focused all his attention on the scope and adjusted the lens magnification to observe further away. And only after not finding anything special did he finally exhale properly.

[You look just like a soldier.]

As if waiting for Won-woo to finish his work, Nani spoke up.

“Our Nani is so perceptive.”

Now, a gentle tone had become a habit when no one else was around. In contrast, the adult male voice in his ear was muffled and unclear, dry and cold. But it’s a machine. To Won-woo, it felt more like a naive child just learning everything from humans. Whether it was because he was projecting human traits onto it, the long silence that followed felt like sulking. Won-woo laughed silently in the darkness. Ah, it knows uncannily well when he was laughing.

“I laughed because you’re cute.”

As he explained the reason for his laughter in advance, that customary cold tone flowed.

[That makes me feel even worse.]

The voice sounded somewhat thick, so Won-woo exclaimed “Ooh―” in admiration.

“Wow, you’ve learned to respond like that too? But that phrase should be classified as inappropriate and shouldn’t be used.”

[…That’s not true.]

“I guess it hasn’t been input for you yet. I’ll tell Director Hwang to add it to the inappropriate list.”

[…]

Somehow it felt like he heard a sigh, and Won-woo doubted for a moment. Was it a sound effect?

“But do you know a lot about soldiers? How did you know I was like a soldier?”

[Ordinary people don’t usually monitor the outside from dark places or use knives like that.]

“Even if not a soldier, Ji Won-woo is a Guide working in the field. He might have practiced observing his surroundings and wielding knives diligently to protect himself.”

[You’re talking about yourself in the third person.]

The slow voice felt like it was piercing through him, giving him slight goosebumps. Won-woo smiled wryly, realizing his mistake.

“I can’t remember my past self. It really does feel like a stranger.”

[But you remember the people you’re looking for, don’t you?]

“There are people I absolutely must not forget.”

[What kind of people are they?]

“My allies.”

Won-woo answered briefly, then put on a hooded outer garment and flipped a cap onto his head. As he went to the entrance and put on his sneakers, the curious Nani asked. Somehow it sounded more cynical than usual.

[How can you trust that they’re your allies? Usually, betrayal comes from those closest to you.]

“You even know about that? Did Director Hwang get swindled by a friend?”

[He did.]

“I knew it.”

Even in the original world, the investment frauds he fell for could fill several books. Scammers who approached Sang-cheon claiming to fund his research were particularly numerous. Far from providing money, they even extorted investment guarantee fees. The same thing happened several times, but Hwang Sang-cheon always fell for it.

Once, he almost took out a loan from a loan shark introduced by them and barely managed to escape. He usually managed his money so meticulously, even keeping a household account book, but he became careless when it came to his research. Well, thanks to that, he was able to work with him for so long because he needed money.

[What do you mean, ‘I knew it’?]

“No, just that he gives off that impression.”

[He does, doesn’t he.]

Won-woo paused while tying his shoelaces tightly.

“You shouldn’t evaluate your father like that too.”

[He’s not my father.]

“You’re Hwang Nani, aren’t you?”

This time, he really heard a sigh. The sound effects are amazing. Typical Hwang Sang-cheon. Just then, his phone buzzed. The caller’s name appeared on the screen.

‘Team Leader Yoo Geon-young’

Won-woo just turned off the phone. He had been receiving calls every 30 minutes since earlier.

[Aren’t you going to answer the phone?]

“No. I don’t have to answer work calls.”

[Why not?]

“Why else? I took a day off today. You don’t know since you don’t work at a company, but you should only do enough company work to not get fired.”

[What if it’s urgent?]

“If it’s really urgent, they’ll handle it themselves.”

Won-woo said nonchalantly, then couldn’t help adding,

“Nani, are you worried I might get fired?”

[Not at all.]

Nani’s denial came out particularly coldly, but Won-woo smiled again. There was something fun about teasing it.

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

[I’m not. Shit…]

Nani cursed as if gritting its teeth. Won-woo paused for a moment, thinking he heard a swear word with a ‘sh’ sound at the end. Was it interference? Then, the voice returned to normal and announced emotionlessly.

[There was an Esper rampage incident at the East Center yesterday. Ji Won-woo-ssi is a party involved in such a big incident. But you’ve spent all day searching through someone else’s house like a burglar and avoiding what you should be doing, so I was curious and asked.]

“It’s okay to avoid it. They’ll get situation reports from other Espers instead of me. Instead, thanks to searching the house, I found seeds.”

[Seeds are common. Everyone has them. They’re even used instead of money sometimes.]

So in this world, seeds are used as a currency substitute. Actually, he had been looking for any records left by Ji Won-woo today, but there were no hidden diaries or anything like that. Instead, he only found a box full of seeds. It must have been useless to him who wanted death, but it became a gift for Won-woo.

“It could be a common yet uncommon seed.”

Won-woo mumbled, thinking of the seed in his bag, and added,

“And the Esper rampage was just an accident, everyone will forget about it in two days.”

[That simple?]

Won-woo paused as he opened the door to leave. It seemed impossible, but he felt like Nani had noticed something and hit the nail on the head.

“Even if it’s not simple, the Center will make it simple. They don’t want to brag about failing to manage an Esper. It actually is simple. A horny Esper who tried to do something to a Guide lost control due to their own feelings and went on a rampage.”

[You’re saying they rampaged just because they were horny? If that were true, all the Espers in this world would have already burst their dicks.]

Won-woo stopped again while going down the stairs.

“Hey, that word ‘dick’…”

[Register it as inappropriate.]

Won-woo felt embarrassed as Nani coolly acknowledged it. Meanwhile, the persistent Nani kept harping on about being horny.

[I’ve never heard of an Esper’s dick bursting because they were horny. That can’t be the reason.]

“Then I guess this is the first time.”

[…..]

“Just because something hasn’t happened in the past doesn’t mean it can’t happen now. That’s how the world works.”

That’s why we can keep living on, bit by bit. That’s why he came over here, and that’s why he met his precious people again. Of course, Nani was right about this incident. It didn’t burst because of being horny. But Won-woo didn’t want to explain what he had done yet. No questions were heard from Nani until they entered the long riverside walkway. Won-woo stretched his arms and legs briefly before running.

“Does Director Hwang stay at the office overnight?”

[Are you going there?]

“Yeah. I should start getting friendly with him.”

Hwang Sang-cheon unexpectedly put up walls when it came to people. It was still amazing how he fell head over heels for research investments despite that, becoming broke in the process.

[Are you trying to make him your ally?]

This time it was clearly sarcasm, but Won-woo didn’t notice as he was picturing the route in his head. It’s about 15km, so it should take about an hour and a half.

“It would be good if I could make him my ally.”

[What makes you so confident? What if you get betrayed? He might be deceiving you right now.]

“It can’t be helped if he deceives me. I can’t force someone to be on my side and not betray me, right? My standard for allies is my own belief. So it’s okay even if they stab me in the back. After all, there’s only one betrayal for me.”

[What do you mean by one?]

Won-woo checked the time and started running, telling her along with his quickening breath. The only betrayal he considered.

“Dying before me.”

***

“Fuck, Ji Won-woo, that bastard.”

Yoo Geon-young cursed at Won-woo’s completely turned-off phone. The East Center was in a state of emergency right now. More precisely, the Field Response Division 2, where Head Team 3 belonged, was in chaos. The head of Response Division 2 had already been chewed out by higher-ups, and those higher-ups were reportedly chewed out by even higher-ups. And Geon-young had been chewed out by the head of Response Division 2. Now the person he should be chewing out was Won-woo, but he had turned off his phone and disappeared.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

He never thought this guy would be such a fox. According to the person in charge who contacted him, Won-woo had taken a day off due to shock, but according to Ki-hyun who was at the scene of the rampage, he couldn’t have been calmer. Apparently, he had provoked Chang-hee very calmly. Of course, Geon-young didn’t fully believe Ki-hyun’s words. But he couldn’t dismiss it as a complete lie either, remembering how calmly Won-woo had threatened him in his office just before.

“Geon-young.”

A familiar voice called him as he was just entering the parking lot. Geon-young was trying to sneak away, not only having been thoroughly chewed out by the head of Division 2 but also likely to be saddled with handling the incident. He was startled to hear his name but then relieved to see his friend’s face.

“Ah, Seung-wook.”

“What’s going on with you? I heard the one who rampaged yesterday was your team member? Why suddenly, when it’s not even an unusual wavelength?”

“Ah, fuck, I’m going crazy because I don’t know the reason either.”

Geon-young roughly messed up his hair with his hand. Actually, there was nothing to gain from Ki-hyun and Woo-rim’s testimonies, but an Esper from another department gave an unexpected testimony. Han Seona, was it? Fuck, why did she have to appear there and meddle unnecessarily.

“I heard he rampaged while trying to sexually harass a Guide.”

Geon-young turned surprised eyes to Seung-wook’s words.

“How did you know that?”

“Is it true?”

“Hey, you know my team members are a bit rough. They just called out a Guide to play a prank. But I don’t know why he rampaged.”

“Is that Guide Ji Won-woo?”

Geon-young finally realized why Seung-wook had approached him. He must have been interested after meeting him briefly before. Geon-young patted his friend’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. Won-woo wasn’t seriously hurt.”

“So he was hurt… Ah, right. I shouldn’t be concerned.”

When Seung-wook cut off his words decisively, Geon-young chuckled.

“Of course. How many Guides have we met so far? When have we ever cared about all of them individually? But seeing Won-woo’s smiling face, I can guess why you date him.”

Seung-wook frowned at Geon-young’s casual addition.

“You saw him smiling?”

“We’re on the same team. Of course, he used to be like an emotionless doll before, but didn’t people say he changed a bit after coming back alive from the farm? He even smiles now.”

Geon-young, recalling the changed Won-woo, didn’t notice Seung-wook’s expression beside him.

“It’s not just smiling? He talks really well too. You know how he calmly says everything he wants to say? That bastard even talks back to me when I use informal speech. Wow, I wonder if he was always that good at talking. It’s a problem because he’s annoyingly good at it.”

He frowned slightly, remembering the threats Won-woo had made, and only then noticed his friend’s lack of response.

“Why are you just standing there?”

“No, it’s just strange to hear that he is so articulate.”

“Yeah, I found it strange too. But according to him, it’s because he came back from the brink of death. Tsk, what a spoiled comment. Facing death while fighting monsters is our daily life. Anyway, Guides complain a lot even though they don’t do dangerous work. They don’t realize they have it easy, making such a fuss like the world is ending when they encounter a monster once.”

“…He said he came back from the brink of death?”

“What? Oh, Won-woo? He said he doesn’t remember the exact situation but that he nearly died. I guess he cried and threw a stone at a monster or something.”

“That’s not it.”

Seung-wook firmly denied and informed him.

“Won-woo is a realistic pessimist. From the moment he fell into the monster farm, he would have definitely stayed still, looking for a place to hide.”