DB Vol 2 Part 10

“Ms. Han Seona. You don’t need guiding? If there are signs of going rampage, don’t hide it and speak up.”

When Seona didn’t open her eyes, Seung-wook called her name once more, firmly.

“Ms. Han Seona.”

Only then did Seona slowly open her eyes and speak in a calm voice.

“Of course, I need guiding.”

“Then why are you so composed?”

“Who’s composed?”

Seung-wook raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down.

“You are, Ms. Han Seona. You’re so composed it’s as if you don’t need guiding at all. Am I wrong?”

At his question, Seona also looked Seung-wook up and down while seated.

“If your standard for being composed is suppressing explosive energy with all my might, barely breathing, and just barely hanging on, then yes, I’m composed.”

Seung-wook now furrowed his brow. The words coming out of her mouth described a situation on the brink of going rampage, but her outward appearance and voice were calmer than anyone else’s. Yet he couldn’t accuse her of lying.

“If you need guiding immediately, why are you like this?”

“Because I’m an irregular wavelength, there’s no suitable guide, and even if there’s a slightly overlapping wavelength, guiding is painful, so no Guide wants to take me on.”

“You can’t receive guiding, yet you’re so compo—”

Unable to use the word ‘composed’ again, Seung-wook’s jaw clenched and twitched. Seona’s current behavior was impossible for an Esper. If she had used her ability to its maximum, she should be having difficulty breathing, even to the point of respiratory distress, unable to control the rampaging power.

“You’re on the verge of going rampage, yet you expect me to believe you can breathe so calmly?”

“Team Leader, have you never tried any other methods to calm your power besides the guiding provided by guides?”

Why look for other methods when guiding works? As the answer showed on Seung-wook’s face, Seona slightly twisted her lips as if she had expected that.

“I have many. I’ve tried hundreds of methods. I’ve learned the training methods of most religions, and I’ve even drunk strange rotten water that was supposed to suppress power. Until today, none of them had any effect.”

Seona muttered the last words, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. To anyone watching, she looked as if she was managing her internal energy.

“Why until today?”

“Since I was kicked out of the field anyway, I ran with the resolve to go rampage, thinking it would be the last time. Maybe because I let everything go, ironically, it’s not easy to go rampage.”

Seona explained with her eyes still closed, and everyone hovering nearby could hear. They all wondered. Kicked out of the field? The last time?

“Deputy Team Leader Han Seona was kicked out of the team for helping me when I was being bullied by Espers.”

People’s gazes suddenly turned toward the voice that had interrupted. Won-woo was walking slowly toward the two of them. Seona also opened only one eye slightly before immediately closing it, afraid of being caught. Won-woo gave strength to the corners of his lips so as not to laugh as he looked at Seona.

‘Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to hide the Guide’s identity well. Just trust me.’

She told him to trust her, but he didn’t know she would meditate.

“You did a good thing, so why were you kicked out?”

When one of the watching security guards asked, Won-woo shrugged.

“They say it’s because I let the Esper who tried to r4pe me die when he went rampage.”

As Won-woo’s brief explanation fell, Seona now had the image of a righteous hero who had saved everyone added to her. Plus the pitifulness of being unable to receive guiding due to her irregular wavelength. Everyone felt angry and sympathetic about the injustice and hardships she had endured. From among them, one person stepped forward.

“I, I will Guide you!”

It was Jang-seon, who believed Seona had saved him. In reality, he had survived thanks to Won-woo pushing him, but now he could only see Seona. To think such a strong Esper was on the verge of going rampage because she couldn’t receive guiding. Burning with responsibility as a Guide, he immediately grabbed Seona’s hand with both of his.

“I know Deputy Team Leader Han Seona’s wavelength well from what I’ve heard. There’s a partially overlapping section with me, so guiding should work.”

No, it couldn’t possibly work. The energy was already stabilized, so there was almost no guiding left to do. Seona looked at the suddenly intruding Jang-seon with disapproving eyes, but she couldn’t push him away in front of everyone. She just stiffly tried to pull her upper body back, when Jang-seon let out a groan and exclaimed.

“My goodness. How did you endure when it’s this severe?”

It wasn’t severe at all. Jang-seon was just feeling intense pain from trying to Guide an Esper with an incompatible wavelength for the first time, so he couldn’t properly read Seona’s situation.

“I, I will definitely complete the guiding.”

“…Alright.”

Seona responded glumly and glanced up at Won-woo. The look asking ‘Everything went well, right?’ somehow seemed triumphant, making Won-woo unconsciously chuckle as he turned away. Then his eyes met Seung-wook’s, who was staring at him. Of course, Won-woo turned his eyes away as if uninterested, but Seung-wook didn’t let him go.

“Ji Won-woo, wait.”

There were too many eyes watching to ignore him and leave, and although they were in different teams, Seung-wook was still his superior. Seung-wook looked at Won-woo intently as if telling him not to leave, then apologized to Seona, who was in the middle of guiding.

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding, Ms. Han Seona. As an apology, I’ll properly look into the unfair personnel transfer.”

“You shouldn’t use an apology to write off something you should do anyway.”

At Won-woo’s words, Seung-wook turned back to him.

“Write off?”

“Helping with an unfair situation and apologizing are separate matters. Ms. Han Seona saved the lives of everyone here, yet you picked a fight with her about guiding as soon as you saw her. If you made a mistake, apologize properly. Don’t try to gloss over it like that.”

Seung-wook realized he was receiving back the same rudeness he had committed against Won-woo.

‘Mind your manners, Mr. Ji Won-woo. Thank people who are trying to help. Don’t just push them away like that.’

Ha. A small, incredulous laugh escaped Seung-wook’s lips. Whether he laughed or not, Won-woo glanced at Seona once and lowered his voice.

“Besides, just because an unfair personnel transfer is canceled doesn’t mean all problems are solved. Ms. Han Seona was kicked out because the Espers in the Support Team demanded it. Rather, it would be best to use this opportunity to move her to a department that matches her skills.”

A transfer matching her skills. Seung-wook couldn’t object to that. Her performance today was good enough to work in the main team right away. But the Center had procedures.

“It would be difficult to find the right position, and even if there is one, that’s the authority of the Center’s HR team.”

“Difficult to find? There’s a place with a shortage due to a vacancy right now.”

Where… Ah. Seung-wook understood immediately. Head Team 3. Seung-wook looked at Won-woo with incomprehensible eyes. An Esper had died because of that incident, but strictly speaking, Won-woo was the victim. Yet the person involved was calmly mentioning the vacant position like this.

No, being calm was actually like him. His eyes and voice, unresponsive to anything, were always as dry as a desert. But now, it seemed like an oasis had formed in Won-woo. It was just that the surface was calm, that’s all.

“…What on earth happened?”

At the informal speech that came out like a mutter, one of Won-woo’s eyebrows twitched up and down.

“If you’re done talking, I’ll be going.”

“Wait, I’m not finished.”

“Mind your manners. Don’t give unnecessary orders using informal speech just because my position is lower.”

He got paid back in spades for mentioning manners once. Seung-wook was so dumbfounded that he lost his words and watched until Won-woo disappeared. A few people cleaning up the still chaotic surroundings glanced over, but couldn’t take their eyes off the scene.

Strangely, he didn’t feel bad despite the sharp words. He had been annoyed at how Won-woo had changed, but had he already gotten used to it? Instead, he found himself chuckling. He had to admit that Won-woo, no longer like a doll, was better than before. But he was still curious. Why on earth had he changed like this?

***

Sang-cheon was a diligent self-employed person who was always ready to receive customers from 10 AM to 7 PM, whether there were customers or not. The secret to his diligent business was his routine of going to bed by 11 PM at the latest and waking up at 7 AM. So at first, he didn’t want to answer the phone that suddenly rang at midnight. He actually ignored it. But the persistent ringing finally made him get up angrily.

“Really, what kind of person calls in the middle of the night… Huh?”

Sang-cheon rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand when he saw Chief Jung’s name on the phone. What’s this? Did he call to complain that the Alpha seed he gave was too crappy?

“H-Hello?”

As soon as Sang-cheon answered in a trembling voice, he heard a rapid voice.

[I apologize for the late hour. Is the Center communicator connection finished?]

Sang-cheon couldn’t help but frown at the abrupt question. Come on, how long has it been since he delivered the Center communicator? I only received it late in the evening, how could I finish the connection in just a few hours? Do you think that’s all I have to do?

“Of course I finished it.”

Because he’s a genius with nothing else to do. Plus, it was a request from a creditor. He had to squeeze out non-existent time to do it. The Brute might cause a fuss otherwise. Still, why call in the middle of the night?

[That’s a relief. Then please open the door.]

“Door? The door to my lab?”

[Yes, right now. Quickly.]

Despite the urgency in his words, Chief Jung’s voice was no different from usual, making Sang-cheon briefly suspect he was talking to an AI. So he tilted his head and walked quite slowly to the door.

“Why the door suddenly? Chief Jung, you didn’t come to my lab, did you?”

[It’s not me. Someone will be coming to you, Director Hwang, right now… a person will be coming.]

“Who’s coming?”

[Shh! It’s a secret.]

What the… Sang-cheon blinked, growing tense as well.

[You must keep secret both the identity of the person visiting now and the fact that someone went there. Understood? When that person arrives soon, hand over the Center communicator.]

“Now?”

[Yes. Right now.]

“But suddenly what…”

[Director Hwang, there’s no time to explain. Just hand over the communicator. I’ll say it again, tonight you didn’t meet anyone. Do you understand?]

“I understand, but…”

[Then open the door right now. The person coming… hates doorbells and will definitely break in. Open it quickly before the door gets damaged.]

This was even more absurd. What kind of person breaks into someone else’s house because they hate doorbells? He’s not the Brute, so what… Sang-cheon was about to open the door but stopped his hand.

“I’m just asking this just in case, but there’s no problem with where your… Vice Head is locked up, right? Like, it didn’t collapse, or the entrance wasn’t breached from the inside…”

[No, there’s no problem.]

Ah, then I have no problem either. Thinking this, Sang-cheon was just about to open the door. The metal lock became blurry as if two images were overlapping. At first, he thought the lock might have shaken. Or was there something wrong with his eyes?

But it was too brief a moment to confirm exactly. Crucially, there was no sound at all. However, the relief that it was nothing unusual ended as quickly as the doubt.

Click.

The handle turned and the door opened. Huh? Why, why is it opening? Just as Sang-cheon stepped back in surprise, the door opened and a dark man entered. The all-black clothes, black mask, and deeply pulled-down hood made his face barely visible, automatically raising Sang-cheon’s guard.

“W-Who are you? And how on earth did you open the door?”

Sang-cheon asked loudly, but the man just stood in front of the door, quickly surveying the interior before saying something else.

“The communicator?”

It was a short sentence, but the flat, low voice immediately caught Sang-cheon’s attention. Is this what it feels like when a voice is handsome? It was almost like a legendary siren, making him want to keep listening. Moreover, it felt somehow familiar. But this was the first time hearing this voice? Why did it sound familiar?

Sang-cheon unknowingly stared at the man’s face. Even though his eyes weren’t visible due to the deep hood and long bangs, it felt like their gazes met.

“The communicator.”

He said again. Another short sentence. But Sang-cheon couldn’t help but be surprised again. How could such a casually uttered word sound so rude! Sang-cheon finally stepped back and asked,

“You’re the person Chief Jung sent, right? I did get a call just now, but is there a problem? Why do you suddenly need the communicator? Ah, did something happen to Ji Won-woo?”

He asked while walking to the communicator, but received no answer to any of his questions. Sang-cheon glanced back at him with an uneasy feeling.

“You are sent by Chief Jung, right? And you’re from the Gye family?”

The man, standing askew, just slightly nodded his head. Sang-cheon was surprised once again. Even that small gesture exuded an aura of arrogance so bright it was dazzling.

He was someone who could build a wall of dislike without saying a word, just through attitude. The troublemaker is like that, and the people working for that family are like that too, the Gye family is overflowing with raw gems of rudeness. Sang-cheon grumbled inwardly as he handed over the Center communicator.

“There’s a small switch on the communicator’s body. Push it left for Center communications only, right for communication with the Brute.”

“…”

“That’s for two-way communication, and in the case of the Brute on the other end, he can hear everything in any situation. I don’t know why the Brute thinks he needs to hear everything. Right?”

“…”

“Here.”

Sang-cheon held out the communicator, but the rude employee just stood still. What’s wrong with him?

“Take it quickly. Even if he’s the Brute, he should be of some help since Ji Won-woo is in danger, right?”

“…Even if?”

The single word question sounded chilling, but Sang-cheon was genuinely worried about Ji Won-woo and replied casually.

“He’s the Brute. Even locked up, that person is amazing, so he’d be more helpful to Ji Won-woo than an ordinary person like me. Um, right?”

“Right.”

Twitch. Sang-cheon’s eyebrows immediately curved upwards. Hey, when did you ever meet me to use informal speech? But before he could say anything, the rude man’s hand snatched the communicator from Sang-cheon and turned around.