DB Vol 5 Part 5

This time, he pushed hard with his hands to show his resolve that there would be no compromise. Gye Yoon’s jaw twitched as if gritting his teeth. Then he took a deep breath and raised his upper body.

“Answer just one thing.”

He pressed Won-woo’s wrists and arms strongly, as if he wouldn’t let go until he answered.

“If there had been no interruption, you would have stayed, right? You said it was like a dream.”

“…”

“That sounds like you want to dream this dream again, continuously. Am I right?”

Unlike the desperate question, his piercing gaze was quite fierce as if confirming. Won-woo didn’t avoid those eyes, but he still couldn’t express honesty with his mouth. He wasn’t used to it.

“…Think whatever you want.”

He muttered, avoiding eye contact. Fortunately, it seemed to fall within Gye Yoon’s range of satisfaction. He asked again as if to confirm.

“It wasn’t a nightmare, right?”

“…No, it wasn’t.”

“Understood.”

Nodding his head, he surprisingly let Won-woo go easily. Then he fully raised his body. Won-woo briefly shivered at the emptiness when the body heat covering him disappeared. He also raised his upper body but couldn’t stand up right away.

Gye Yoon’s massive naked body, standing with his feet on the floor outside the bed, exuded a presence that seemed to fill the room. But what caught Won-woo’s gaze was the large cock that swayed and bobbed with every movement. Gye Yoon brushed back his fallen hair with his hand and fixed his eyes on Won-woo.

“Do you have something to say?”

When Won-woo asked without realizing, Gye Yoon nodded. A low, calm voice flowed from his mouth, as if indifferent.

“I like you.”

Although Gye Yoon had called it bait, Won-woo realized Chief Jung’s words weren’t wrong when they arrived at the Gye family house. Hwan was indeed in danger. Only the degree of danger was a bit different.

“Waaaaah― Hwaaah!”

The cry of the child, whose voice was rarely heard before, echoed loudly through the wide back garden of the main house. Won-woo ran towards the direction of the sound, wondering how sorrowfully she was crying. The Gye Family’s garden was as large as a park, but the child’s voice served as a signpost, making it easy to find among the trees.

The child was in Jae-hak’s arms, pointing somewhere while crying. Her face was a mess of tears and snot from crying so much. What happened? Unlike the worried Won-woo, Gye Yoon, who was following behind, seemed to grasp the situation at once and muttered a small curse.

“Fuck, not even a rampage.”

Though it was a small sound, Won-woo heard it clearly and shot him a warning glance to watch his language. Then he quickly approached Jae-hak, who was comforting the child.

“What happened?”

Ah, well, Jae-hak was about to open his mouth with a troubled face, but the child spoke first, raising her crying voice.

“Huaaang― Kkok, kooo, uwaaaaang! Kko-kko!”

Her voice was indeed loud. It resonated so powerfully that one might suspect she had been storing up energy in her vocal cords during her non-speaking period. All the while, she kept pointing to one place as if accusing. Kko-kko? This word alone brought a certain animal to mind, and while Won-woo tilted his head, the uncle who understood immediately stepped forward.

“Kko-kko? You’re not talking about that chicken-head, are you?”

“Hey now, calling it a chicken-head in front of the child. It has a proper name, Kko-kko.”

Jae-hak sighed and briefly explained the situation. Hwan’s condition had improved, so they went out for a walk and encountered Kko-kko. The child, who loves animals, excitedly approached Kko-kko but was severely rejected. Severely? Is there such a thing as mild rejection? While it’s questionable whether chickens have levels of expressing refusal, the fact that there was a real chicken here was surprising.

No, they’re raising a chicken? Won-woo looked around with surprised eyes. Although it was said to be a good place for walks like a park, he never dreamed that chickens would be roaming around. It seems the house owner felt the same way.

“Fuck, that chicken is still alive?”

“Of course it’s alive. You haven’t seen it since you came out of the cave? It’s still so healthy at sixteen years old. Ah, Won-woo, you’re not afraid of chickens, are you? We’ve been raising a chicken here for a long time. Min, I mean the family head, gave Yoon a chick as a gift when he was young, and that fellow is still living healthily like this.”

With Gye Yoon’s “fuck” as background music, Jae-hak added with a smile to Won-woo.

“Our Yoon’s nickname was Peep when he was young.”

“Gift my ass, shit. She brought that crazy chicken to make fun of me.”

“Hey, watch your mouth. Crazy chicken, you say.”

“It approaches bobbing its head and suddenly pecks, if that’s not crazy, what is? Why on earth do you let it loose?”

“Kko-kko needs walks too. It’s great, eating garden bugs while at it.”

“And shitting everywhere.”

As Gye Yoon showed rare anger, Jae-hak clicked his tongue.

“Are you still upset because Kko-kko pooped on your clothes a bit when you were young? You grabbed its wings first.”

“That crazy chicken pecked me first.”

“You must have upset Kko-kko’s mood.”

Jae-hak cut off Gye Yoon’s unjust complaints and comforted the still sorrowfully crying Hwan.

“Kko-kko says it’s busy. Kko-kko is working hard, watching and guarding to see if there are any bad guys here. Instead, look, the handsome uncle came. You know uncle, right?”

He pointed at Won-woo. Won-woo, who had been standing blankly, flinched and rolled his eyes left and right. Is he talking about me? Although he had been told he was handsome many times, it had never felt as awkward as this time. What if the child thinks I’m ugly? However, making Won-woo’s worries seem foolish, the child stretched out both arms towards Won-woo with a face scrunched up from crying.

Even Jae-hak’s face froze in surprise at the gesture that seemed to ask to be held. She’s going to be held right away? But there was an unexpected interference that neither the wounded father nor the surprised handsome uncle anticipated.

Swish, Gye Yoon stepped in front of Won-woo, blocking him. Then, with an expressionless face, he tried to hold Hwan himself. But the child immediately noticed and started to cry even louder.

“Hua, hua, huaaaaaang!!”

However, the uncle had already grabbed under the child’s armpits to hold her. The child waved both arms and rejected her blood relative with her whole body.

“Yoon, move aside! Hwan doesn’t like it!”

“Why? You said handsome uncle. That’s me.”

“Uwaaaang!”

It turned into chaos. For a very brief moment, Won-woo had the self-conscious illusion that perhaps Gye Yoon had stepped forward out of jealousy. But that couldn’t be it. Even if that was the reason he stepped forward, now he seemed to be staking his life on the title of handsome uncle.

With no other choice, Won-woo grabbed Gye Yoon’s arm and pulled him back. Sometimes an Esper’s energy is affected by emotions. Adults can control themselves within limits, but young children can’t regulate the intensity of their emotions, which can cause problems. Fortunately, Gye Yoon stepped back as Won-woo led him. Jae-hak also seemed to breathe a sigh of relief then, but not the child.

He reached out one arm towards Won-woo again. Huh? Me? As Won-woo stepped forward in confusion, the child leaned her upper body towards Won-woo. As he reflexively took the child in his arms, the chubby, short arms quickly wrapped around Won-woo’s neck.

A baby smell like baby lotion scent lingered at the tip of his nose. While thinking it was a pleasant scent, he heard a low complaint right behind him.

“We’ve raised a wolf cub.”

Won-woo immediately turned around, frowning.

“What kind of thing is that to say about your niece? Act like a proper uncle.”

Gye Yoon’s eyes trembled finely like a water surface hit by a pebble at the reprimand. But the hurt man-child couldn’t complain to Won-woo. Instead, he gritted his teeth and asked Jae-hak.

“Hey, wasn’t she supposed to be terrified of Guides?”

But Jae-hak was staring at his daughter in another man’s arms with a dazed face.

“How can she so easily go into a stranger’s arms…”

“Fuck, like father, like daughter.”

Gye Yoon muttered so only Jae-hak could hear, then turned around roughly, creating a gust of wind as he left. Thanks to this, Won-woo could focus on guiding while soothing the child clinging tightly to him. Fortunately, the energy wasn’t too disturbed, and the child seemed to stabilize immediately with Won-woo’s guiding, as the crying subsided.

Although Won-woo wasn’t particularly fond of children, the small life form completely relying on him awakened his protective instincts.

So he still wondered why Hwan had clung to him so easily. For now, he was just relieved that the child wasn’t rejecting the Guide. So he soothed with a gentle voice, putting his heart into it.

“It’s okay, you can greet Kko-kko next time.”

While comforting the child like this, his eyes followed Gye Yoon who had disappeared among the trees. Considering what had happened between them before coming here, he was grateful for Hwan’s presence that was now distracting him. In fact, he hadn’t been too surprised about having sex with him, as he had expected it would happen someday. Rather, the quiet conversation they had this morning, lying skin to skin, was more awkward. Because that felt a bit like lovers.

If it had been just that, he wouldn’t have been unable to take his eyes off where Gye Yoon had disappeared. Yesterday, Won-woo had committed major acts of terrorizing several farms and killing Hong family Espers, but what dominated Won-woo now was a single phrase that had flowed from Gye Yoon’s mouth. Those words he had casually thrown out as he got up from the bed.

‘I like you.’

That plain confession was all there was to it. He had just gone into the bathroom after that, and then went about his next tasks. Not only that, he didn’t look for Won-woo’s reaction, nor did he demand anything. As if informing Won-woo of his situation was the entire purpose.

So Won-woo also acted as if nothing had happened. Only after he disappeared did the tension release, and his heart began to assert itself as if it had been waiting. Thump, thump, thump. The heartbeat grew louder, though slow. But the pounding was awkward, as if the heart that had long been wary of love was creaking with rust as it melted.

“Did Kko-kko leaving work?”

At the sudden cute voice, Won-woo quickly lowered his head to look at the child. Leaving work? Ah, go home. Won-woo smiled slightly, finding it amazing that the child knew the word ‘leaving work’. And suddenly, he thought that the 16 year old long-lived chicken must have seen both Gye Yoon in his ‘Peep’ days and the aunt who had been by his side.

Would there have been a Kko-kko in his world too? Would that Kko-kko have died along with the Gye family? The countless people who no longer existed in his world quickly flashed through his mind. Feeling suffocated, he quickly took in a deep breath of air.

Not now. The Kko-kko of this world is living healthily, like a happy ending. Pecking at people while bobbing around. Not just Kko-kko. Jae-hak in front of him, this small child in his arms, the Gye family head, and Gye Yoon are all alive.

The Gye family of this world probably doesn’t know, having gone through hellish times. That sometimes, just being alive can be a victory. Won-woo wanted to see one of those victors.

“Well, shall we go see if it’s finished work? But if we just go, Kko-kko might not like it, so let’s bring a gift.”

Won-woo asked Jae-hak,

“Could we perhaps get some vegetables from the kitchen? Cabbage or lettuce… Sir, why are you crying?”

No matter how much the Vice Head was a brute who just went around hitting people, Gye Min relied most on his younger brother within the family. So she always utilized her brother for important matters and asked for his opinion.

Perhaps because she believed in his outstanding abilities, she sometimes made recklessly dangerous moves, but there were also times when she came up with divine strokes that caught people off guard. But Min immediately thought this was the former when she heard his brother’s words.

“I told you to eavesdrop on the Yang family’s Esper, and what? Just kidnap them?”

“It’s not just kidnapping. I’m saying to disguise it as if they’ve left for the North.”

“Don’t you know why we’re chasing the Yang family’s Esper? It’s to find out when they’ll come to the North.”

Min frowned but didn’t add any curses. Today, Gye Yoon was proposing while looking straight at his sister with a calm and indifferent tone. As if he had suddenly matured.

“We can create that timing ourselves. Make the Yang family Esper believe they received fake orders. We can manage that level of disguise, can’t we?”

“…Well, it’s not impossible.”

Gye Min muttered, quickly turning his thoughts. If we kidnap them in advance, we don’t have to be anxious about when the Yang family’s Esper will spread the mutant seeds. It also makes planning the operation much easier.

“But we need to show evidence that the Yang family Esper carried out the orders. We need to make real monsters rampage…”

As he said this far, Min thought of someone who could make monsters rampage.

“So this time you plan to have Ji Won-woo wake up the monsters in the North.”

“Moderately. Just enough to look like chaos has broken out. And then, using the chaos in the North…”

Using it? When Min asked, Gye Yoon slowly added,

“We should strike the Hong family once more.”

Just the mention of striking the enemy was certainly thrilling. But there was a crucial problem with this plan. Min shook his head.

“Only Ji Won-woo can wake the monsters. There’s no way to quickly move him from the North to the Hong family area in one go. It’s dangerous to use the southern transport portal again. This time we managed to return without leaving traces, but they’ll surely be wary of us. They’ll monitor the transport portals first.”

“We don’t need the transport portal. Because there’s a way to move Won-woo in an instant.”

Gye Min frowned again.

“There’s no teleportation Esper who can send a person over that distance.”

“Right, probably not among teleportation Espers.”

“Hah, then how on earth…”

“I can do it.”

“You what?”

“I said I can do it.”

Min closed his mouth, at a loss for words. Even under his sister’s gaze checking for the truth, Gye Yoon threw an indifferent glance towards the window. He could see the garden he had come from. Though people weren’t visible because of the trees, one person’s sounds were clearly audible to his ears now.

Quiet breaths, heavy pulse, even the sound of clothes rustling as they moved. Only Won-woo’s sounds were distinct. He disliked covering those sounds with his own voice.

“We need to push forward. Before the enemies realize and start to struggle.”

“Should we end this before they know about Ji Won-woo’s existence?”

No. Gye Yoon shook his head and looked back at his sister again.

“Before they know what kind of monster I’ve become.”

*

Ji Seong-hyeon believed that the most important factor for success was luck. Effort, natural intelligence, exceptional physique? No, even someone with all of those couldn’t beat one lucky bastard. Just like himself.

He wasn’t as smart as his sister or brother, nor was he a hard worker. Plus, he’d always heard Won-woo was the best looking since childhood, so he wasn’t the top in appearance either. 

But look who’s doing the best now. These days, Seong-hyeon felt like luck was following him around. Especially being able to meet Yang Cheon-hyo, who had given all power to his father, was like winning the lottery. Yang Cheon-hyo was famous for not showing himself to outsiders.

So even though his father had spent a long time with him, Seong-hyeon had only seen Yang Cheon-hyo’s face a handful of times. But when he took his older brother’s place, the opportunity came.

During those brief days when his father left in a panic to check on something, Seong-hyeon put his all into grasping this stroke of luck.

He offered eleven Guides like sacrifices to Yang Cheon-hyo over three days. Including himself, of course. They rolled around mindlessly on a bed big enough for three people to lie down.

His father was shocked about whatever secret was behind the chaos at the Hong family’s farm, and Yang Cheon-hyo threw an irritated fit. But thanks to sticking close to the picky Yang Cheon-hyo for a few days, Seong-hyeon obtained important information.

The Purifier.

Yang Cheon-hyo suspected that what happened at the Hong family might have been the work of the Purifier. It was a term he’d never heard before, but by carefully coaxing the upset man, he was able to hear a little more.

He said the Purifiers were Guides. In Yang Cheon-hyo’s words, they were bastards like evil spirits, enemies of the Espers.

Seong-hyeon couldn’t understand at all. How could Guides possibly awaken monsters? And how could Guides, who were no different from ordinary people in terms of power, be enemies of Espers?

Seong-hyeon left Yang Cheon-hyo’s quarters and crossed the vast interior of the Yang family estate, which was like a whole village, to meet his sister.

He had to report the information he’d obtained to her. Although he was bowing his head low now, he intended to one day break that stiff neck of hers with his own hands. And when he went to meet his sister, luck struck again.

Right outside his sister’s office, the reception room where the secretary should have been guarding was empty. It seemed the secretary had left their post. Seong-hyeon approached the office door with a smirk. A faint voice could be heard from inside.

‘I don’t understand why you’re angry. We in the Hong family simply want clear evidence. I trust you understand why we can’t help but suspect whether the Yang family and the Guide Center attacked the Hong family with mutant seeds.’

Someone asked in a slow, calm voice. Given the mention of the Hong family, it seemed the other party was from there. Soon after, his sister’s cold reply was heard.

‘Attack? Well, I hear that many people within the Hong family are actually happy about this disaster. So I’d like to ask in return. Isn’t this a self-inflicted incident arising from internal strife in the Hong family?’

‘That’s going too far. We don’t know how to awaken monsters. Moreover, the Hong family absolutely does not attack family.’

‘We don’t attack our own side either. And even if we had mutant seeds, why would we use such precious things on the Hong family? We don’t have enough even if we pour them all into the North. Such misunderstandings are quite uncomfortable and unfair.’

They were both denying it was them.

‘If you feel wronged, show us evidence. That’s the only way we can continue to work with the Yang family.’

‘Evidence? Once the Hong family has suspected us, no matter how hard we explain and show evidence, will that distrust disappear? Let’s just be honest. You’re saying that since the suspicion won’t go away no matter what we do, we should pay a price, right?’

Ah, so that’s what it meant? Seong-hyeon inwardly clicked his tongue. The Hong family are quite the beggars too. Even though they’re in mourning with many Espers and the vice family head dead, they’re still racking their brains to get something more by joining hands with the Yang family.

‘It’s because the damage to the Hong family was so great this time. I hope you can appreciate the Hong family’s sincerity in still wanting to work with the Yang family in this state.’

‘Tell me what you need.’

For a moment, no sound was heard. Seong-hyeon pressed his ear even closer to the door. Perhaps they had silently written down and passed over their demands on paper. Soon, Yoon-im’s exasperated laugh was heard.

‘I think the numbers must be wrong. To need this many Alpha seeds. I hear that as soon as the vice family head disappeared, the family head’s son took control internally. It seems he’s already desperate to increase his abilities. Unfortunately, we can’t even give you 1/10 of the amount you want.’

In response to the sarcasm, the other party’s slow reply was heard.

‘Isn’t that because you don’t have any Alpha seeds?’

Seong-hyeon, listening outside the door, was startled without realizing it. How did they know? As soon as Seong-hyeon took over as director of the Guide Center instead of his brother, he searched frantically for Alpha seeds first thing. But after searching everywhere, he only found a measly few. The safe was empty.

If there were a lot, he could take one or two without being noticed, but taking one now would get him killed by his father. Why are there only this many? While cursing, Seong-hyeon also wondered if they really didn’t have any seeds now.

He thought maybe that’s why his brother couldn’t give any answer before. Of course, he did take out one seed. He put a fake one in its place.

‘Chief Cheon, the level of your provocative questions is so low it doesn’t even make me laugh.’

His sister’s elegant voice was heard, but there was laughter in the other person’s voice.

‘It doesn’t matter if you don’t laugh, since I heard quite a surprised reaction.’

Who was surprised? As Seong-hyeon wondered, the person from the Hong family bid farewell.

‘Let’s agree to discuss the terms again, and I’ll be going now. We shouldn’t keep the other guest outside the door waiting too long.’

Seong-hyeon panicked and quickly looked around. There was nowhere to hide. With no choice, he crawled under the secretary’s desk just as the door clicked open. Then the click-clack of two people’s footsteps passed by where Seong-hyeon was hiding.

After confirming the sound of the guest leaving, Seong-hyeon finally breathed a sigh of relief. Phew, I didn’t get caught, right? Just as he thought that, the sound of footsteps approached where Seong-hyeon was.

“Come out.”

Ah, shit. While inwardly cursing, Seong-hyeon still put on a smile as he faced his sister.

“Ah, I saw you had a guest so I thought I might be interrupting… Was that person from the Hong family?”

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t…”

Seong-hyeon laughed awkwardly while casually bringing up what he was curious about.

“You’re going to attack the North together with the Hong family, right?”

“Yes.”

He thought she would scold him for eavesdropping, but when his sister didn’t say much, Seong-hyeon saw it as an opportunity and asked more.

“They’ve lost a lot of Espers now, haven’t they?”

“All we really needed from the Hong family was their name anyway. We need a justification to strike the North.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to wait until the Hong family gets sorted out? Why are you in such a rush to attack the North?”

A sigh escaped Yoon-im’s lips. This time, he thought he’d be called an idiot, but although her voice was tinged with irritation, his sister gave him a precise answer.

“Because Chairman Yang, no, your uncle wants it. And it’s also a perfect opportunity to make Gye Yoon go rampage.”

Ah, that brute. While Seong-hyeon understood, he also found it amusing how Espers would tremble and become serious at the mere mention of the Gye family’s brute’s name.

He’s just a half-baked Esper without a Guide anyway. Of course, it’s surprising that he’s still alive like a cockroach even though Ji Geun-oh cut off all his Guides and he probably hasn’t received proper guiding.

“Why did you come?”

Huh? Me. Seong-hyeon looked around once and then spilled the information he’d gotten from Yang Cheon-hyo.

“I heard a little about the Purifier from Uncle Yang. They’re Guides, right? But he seems to hate them immensely. He cursed them as enemies of Espers, like evil spirits.”

“…Guides?”

Yoon-im turned her eyes to empty space, as if in thought. Seong-hyeon observed her closely and carefully asked, almost prostrating himself,

“But there couldn’t be such Guides, right? Guides that awaken monsters.”

“No word from Father?”

No, nothing. Seong-hyeon shook his head obediently and asked as if he’d just thought of it,

“About where Father went. The Guide Research Institute… Could it be a place researching this Purifier?”

“…”

“Is that why Father rushed off in such a panic? I wonder if they were experimenting on Guides to create the Purifier, but they escaped.”

“No.”

Yoon-im shook her head unexpectedly firmly.

“The experiments weren’t successful.”

“How do you know that?”

“If they had succeeded, Father would have been happy. He wouldn’t have made those efforts to enter the People’s Welfare Committee.”

Why is the People’s Welfare Committee coming up here? He couldn’t quite understand, but Yoon-im didn’t explain further. She also looked like she was just guessing and didn’t know for sure. But at her words, muttered as if to herself, Seong-hyeon silently raised an eyebrow.

“If the Purifier can awaken monsters, they might be able to turn seeds into Alpha seeds.”

Right, since it’s a power that acts on monsters in the same way. If it’s true, the Purifier would be a dangerous existence just to think about, but Seong-hyeon still shook his head in disbelief. Such monsters couldn’t exist in this world.

“It’s horrifying just to imagine.”

Seong-hyeon shuddered, but Yoon-im was different.

“Horrifying? If they fall into our hands, they’d be an ecstatic weapon, wouldn’t they? If this Purifier really exists, we just need to catch them. We must catch them alive and keep them locked up for decades, milking their abilities. If we catch them, there’d be no bigger fish. So we just need to be careful of the worst case scenario. The North…”

But her words were cut off. The door burst open and the secretary rushed in with a serious face. He hesitated upon seeing Seong-hyeon, but quickly approached Yoon-im and whispered the news in her ear. And rare shock appeared on Yoon-im’s face.

“You’re saying there’s already chaos with monsters in the North?”

“It appears trees have bloomed at several farms with short time intervals. We checked on our agent who had mutant seeds just in case… It’s been confirmed that they’re in the North now.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t given any orders yet.”

“We can’t know the exact situation because contact has been cut off, but for now, it looks like independent action by that agent.”

Ha, Yoon-im let out an incredulous laugh and quickly ordered.

“Set up a headquarters here immediately to monitor the situation in the North. Get in touch with people in case we need to send Espers to the North even at dawn. Ah, and also to the Hong family…”

Yoon-im’s brow furrowed as she remembered Chief Cheon from the Hong family who had just left. That snake would shamelessly demand Alpha seeds instead of sending people right away.

“We might have to go to the North with just our Yang family if necessary. Prepare thoroughly.”

She gave orders as if she were the head of the Yang family, and Seong-hyeon looked at his sister with envy and jealousy. Will I ever occupy that position someday? As if noticing his gaze, Yoon-im turned her head, and Seong-hyeon quickly lowered his eyes.

“Are you going back to the Chairman?”

“Yes.”

“Then you go and tell him. You heard everything, right?”

Well, that’s not difficult. But Seong-hyeon would be in trouble if Yang Cheon-hyo got upset that the plan had gone awry and tried to relieve his stress through sex. There weren’t many young men among the Guides who matched his wavelength and had the looks to suit his taste.

“Alright. I’ll explain it well.”

“Not well. Explain it accurately. He won’t forgive even a single piece of incorrect information about the Gye family.”

What’s so scary about the Gye family, that toothless tiger cub? Seong-hyeon nodded his head as if annoyed and was about to leave when he asked casually,

“By the way, what’s the worst case scenario? You were saying something about the North.”

Can’t you tell just by hearing it? Yoon-im turned to look at her brother with disdainful eyes. The worst scenario she didn’t even want to think about flowed from her lips.

“Obviously, it’s if the North gets their hands on the Purifier first.”

*

Seung-wook came to the Hong family’s main house in the middle of the night at his father’s request, but his mindset was completely different from when he met the vice family head last time. The one who suddenly summoned the Espers in the middle of the night was Chief Cheon, said to be the right-hand man of the Hong family head.

Perhaps because the Espers who were on the vice family head’s side had died in the incident just two days ago, the Espers called today were those who maintained neutrality without getting involved in power struggles.

Seung-wook thought that the family head’s son, who had seized power with the death of the vice family head, must be quite petty. Not sending even one of his own people. It seemed the same for the other A-rank Espers gathered here. Everyone looked as if they had bile in their mouths.

“I apologize for the sudden summons that must have surprised you.”

Chief Cheon looked around at the Espers with a humble tone, as if trying to appease them.

“However, we had no choice but to request your help as you are the most capable individuals to entrust with the Hong family’s most important task. The family head is paying great attention to this matter as well.”

Unlike the other disgruntled Espers, Seung-wook, for whom this was the second such gathering, almost burst out laughing. The deceased vice family head had said similar things when she gathered Espers a few days ago.

‘You are the elite of the Hong family. The family head is paying great attention to this matter.’

Chief Cheon’s voice sounded even more subservient than the vice family head’s, but Seung-wook wasn’t fooled. The vice family head had at least offered tea and refreshments, but this time there wasn’t even a glass of water.

But those bearing the Hong surname, working in the Hong family’s farms and businesses, couldn’t refuse when the family head summoned them. However, as they had no loyalty or faith in the family, the voices of the Espers listening to Chief Cheon were sharp.

“If there’s a problem in the North, why do we have to go?”

“Because the North’s power alone isn’t enough. We need to protect people from monsters. Isn’t that our job?”

“But isn’t Gye Yoon in the North?”

Even this question was exactly the same as last time. Seung-wook covered his mouth with his hand to suppress the laughter that was about to escape. Now Chief Cheon would say that Gye Yoon was on the verge of going rampage. Sure enough,

“The Gye family’s vice head is in poor condition…”

But Chief Cheon’s words were cut off.

Beep, beep, beep.

Someone’s phone alarm in the room rang loudly. The familiar sound of the monster appearance alarm. In an instant, everyone’s faces hardened. Especially Chief Cheon’s eyebrows shot up like mountains as he urgently asked the Esper whose alarm had gone off.

“Is this a farm accident?”

But there was no need to hear the answer. As if going back in time, the same thing happened to Seung-wook again.

Beep, beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep. 

Beep, beep, beep.

All the Espers’ phones in this place started ringing warning sounds one after another.