SOG Ch 193

“You hate guiding, don’t you?”

“…”

“You avoid fieldwork, and you hate Espers. All because of me, right?”

“…”

“Even though you’re still so scared… why do you pretend you’ve overcome it?”

Shall we play hide-and-seek again? Like when you were a baby? Seon Eun-soo laughed with a mocking tone. Go Woo-jin couldn’t bear to just watch anymore. Whatever the circumstances between those two, he was about to rush in to intervene.

As he took a step, Woo-jin flinched and pressed himself back against the wall. It was because Seon Jae-chan was beating Seon Eun-soo with an expressionless face. Ugh, ack…! Kuh…! Amidst Seon Eun-soo’s screams, Woo-jin could tell from Jae-chan’s words that he was effectively resisting Seon Eun-soo’s mental abilities.

Woo-jin was equally surprised. A guide overpowering an A-class Esper.

“That’s enough, you bastard.”

Shortly after, Jae-chan left with just those words. When Woo-jin checked, Seon Eun-soo was clutching his crotch with one hand and had bloody foam in his mouth. He was muttering predictable things like “Fvck, you d1rty b4stard… male pr0stitute… I won’t let this slide” while crying.

Belatedly sensing a presence, Seon Eun-soo hesitantly looked up.

“Oh…”

And that was the last sound Seon Eun-soo made before Woo-jin silenced him with a brutal kick.

Looking down at the battered figure that looked more like a bloody pulp than a person, Woo-jin tried to calmly steady his unabated breathing. No Guide should ever have to endure such a threat from an Esper. That was the sole reason he had intervened.

Woo-jin took a deep breath, ignoring the fact that Jae-chan had ultimately defended against the mental attack and beaten Seon Eun-soo, or that he himself had inflicted excessively cruel violence. He straightened his blood-spattered collar and wiped his shoe on Seon Eun-soo’s jacket.

This should be enough. In this state, he won’t be able to move for months. He withdrew his gaze without lingering.

However, Woo-jin came back after barely five steps.

A fire seemed to flare in his black eyes. Seon Eun-soo’s fingertips twitched as he faced that cruelty. Woo-jin inflicted violence thoroughly avoiding vital points, ensuring the trash wouldn’t die easily but would suffer immensely, before contacting Chae Seong-hwan. He inquired about the earliest available flight tickets to the American Union. Thinking it was just an act of isolating trash from society.

*

At some point, the combat protocol for psychic ability warfare had changed: bringing guides to the battlefield had become standard. This was due to Black Swan using ‘Angels’ and fighting with unlimited use of abilities.

This put Guides in a somewhat dangerous position, but it was an unavoidable choice for the military and the Center. It was a more efficient choice to expend Guides, who were tens of times more numerous than innate manifesters, rather than losing the limited resource of Espers.

That’s why when the Intelligence Agency proposed a joint operation with the goal of “reclaiming Black Swan’s confidential research data,” Woo-jin readily agreed to participate. Jae-chan’s name was on the Intelligence Agency’s participant list. Looking back, he probably thought Jae-chan would be safer if he went along.

“Oh, are you bringing Guide Nam Hae-sol?”

At the first meeting with the Intelligence Agency, Noh Min-wan asked upon noticing Nam Hae-sol’s name on the Guide Bureau list. As Noh Min-wan, who had been struggling emotionally since the death of his close colleague Hwang Guk-hyeon, smiled mischievously for the first time in a while, Woo-jin didn’t particularly deny it.

Suddenly, he sensed a gaze. It was Seon Jae-chan, who was present as a member of the Intelligence Agency. However, perhaps realizing he’d been caught, he naturally turned his gaze away to talk with his colleague in the Intelligence Agency. Beside him, Noh Min-wan hummed an old trot song, “Love blooms even on the battlefield~”

Thus, Woo-jin occasionally visited the Intelligence Agency to prepare for the operation. Although he only had very businesslike conversations with Jae-chan, sometimes Woo-jin imagined having personal conversations with him. Every time he saw Jae-chan, he was reminded of Seon Eun-soo, whom he had recently detained in Rust County, American Union. Since overhearing the conversation between the two brothers, Woo-jin had been thinking he had something to discuss with Jae-chan.

Come to think of it, they were both twenty-seven now. Old enough to have long since matured, so it seemed like after this mission, they could put the past aside and have an open-hearted conversation over a drink.

A month later, on the day of the operation, Woo-jin was fiddling with the round chocolates in his pocket for the first time in a while. As he fiddled the ticklish wrapper, even the occasional throbbing pain in his eyes seemed to ease. Just before departure, he handed the chocolates to Kang Eun-ho, Jae-chan’s successor who had transferred to the Intelligence Agency along with him. He asked him to give them to Jae-chan.

The tragedy unfolded in an instant.

Black Swan’s secret base, located based on Intelligence Agency intel. The operation proceeded flawlessly until they infiltrated the underground common utility tunnel, a remnant of the old exiled government in Zone Z. The anomaly occurred when an excessively wide open space was revealed, with severed water mains and communication lines.

“Fall back. Check the map.”

As Go Woo-jin gestured, the E-SOF unit immediately took up an all-around defense posture, and the Intelligence Agency side was rechecking the map.

A rain of long-range gunfire poured down. Simultaneously, a Windless Zone appeared.

Normally, the group could have survived even hundreds or thousands of bullets. They might even have been able to pinpoint the snipers’ positions and counterattack.

But their abilities were rendered useless.

Woo-jin immediately ordered a retreat according to the Windless Zone training manual, but this Windless Zone was strange. No matter how far they retreated, they didn’t reach the boundary. It was as if an extensive Windless Zone had formed centered on their position the moment they entered the sniper’s range.

Could a Windless Zone be encountered so coincidentally? Moreover, the enemy was attacking the joint team with pure firepower like firearms, as if they had anticipated the Windless Zone.

They later learned that they had fallen into a trap carefully set by Angels and Technicians. Black Swan had waited for them to enter the appropriate point before artificially creating an energy nullification phenomenon.

In any case, Woo-jin didn’t know this fact at the time.

But he knew they had fallen into a trap.

There were few escape routes. The water pipes they used as cover had already burst, spilling decades-old stagnant rusty water, so staying put would turn them into honeycomb. Even knowing it might be another trap, the group had no choice but to twist open a nearby fire door and hide inside the base.

It was a high-ceilinged underground space with waste materials piled here and there.

“Victor, this is Alpha. We’re isolated in a Windless Zone. Request emergency response.”

While Noh Min-wan, the communications officer, urgently relayed their situation, Go Woo-jin assessed the casualties.

There were no fatalities, but the situation wasn’t good. No, considering they had passed through a hail of bullets without abilities, the team’s condition might be considered decent. 

That’s when Woo-jin realized Kim Ju-yeop, the healing Esper, was missing. 

“Team leader, over there. There.” Noh Min-wan pointed to the Intelligence Agency group huddled together.

Go Woo-jin walked over with a somewhat tense expression. Passing piles of waste concrete and steel frames, he approached with large strides, causing the Intelligence Agency team members to hesitantly back away. Seon Jae-chan, Kim Ju-yeop, and Kang Eun-ho were revealed in the center.

“Report the situation.”

Despite Woo-jin’s command, the Intelligence Agency personnel remained silent. True to a well-trained team, their expressions revealed nothing outwardly. Kim Ju-yeop also looked bewildered, as if he had just been called and didn’t yet understand the situation.

“Are there any injured?”

Finally, Woo-jin addressed Jae-chan, the team leader, informally. 

“Please use formal speech.” 

An Intelligence Agency member with blazing eyes intervened, only for Jae-chan to restrain him.

“Yes.”

It was a calm and unwavering voice.

Woo-jin’s gaze hardened as he noticed Kang Eun-ho’s bleeding state. Of all places, he was hit in the shoulder. Despite what must have been excruciating pain, Kang Eun-ho was very quiet, not even making a sound, only his face trembling slightly. The pungent smell of gunpowder still lingered, with a hint of thick blood scent briefly touching the nose.

That’s when Kang Eun-ho briefly lifted his gaze from the floor. For a moment, his large, teary eyes met Woo-jin’s.

“And what will you do if you confirm it?”

Seon Jae-chan stepped between them, fastening his bulletproof vest tightly.

“You’ve noticed too, that it’s a trap. It’s dangerous to stay. Injured or not, we need to grit our teeth and get out of here.”

“…”

“I’ll take care of my team members, so you take care of yours.”

It was typical of Seon Jae-chan. And it was also an appropriate response for the current situation.

Although it was impossible for Kim Ju-yeop to use his healing ability due to the energy nullification phenomenon, Woo-jin instructed him to at least assist with first aid. Leaving Kim Ju-yeop responding to orders behind, he returned to his original position. He felt an odd silence settling again in the place he left, but as Jae-chan said, it was his team, so it wasn’t his concern.

Perhaps that’s why Woo-jin didn’t notice the small droplets of blood beginning to fall from under Jae-chan’s combat uniform.

“We’ll plan our strategy among ourselves.”

Woo-jin, having returned to his team, was forcibly trying to manage the situation as the operation team leader.

“Team leader, this time Guide Nam Hae-seol is over there.”

Noh Min-wan pointed to the Intelligence Agency side again. Indeed, Nam Hae-sol was now lingering around there.

Even if there was a subtle atmosphere with the Intelligence Agency, they wouldn’t harm Nam Hae-sol. Woo-jin left her there and was in charge of emergency treatment for the injured when a very small commotion arose from the Intelligence Agency side. 

“Geez, they’re making a fuss,” Noh Min-wan grumbled. However, they had already formed a human wall among themselves, so it wasn’t clear what was happening.

Woo-jin turned his attention back to the Intelligence Agency side because Nam Hae-sol’s voice was clearly heard. “We must tell them.” She was raising her voice loud enough to be heard even at this considerable distance.

What followed happened in an instant.

Through the gap created as Nam Hae-sol broke through the Intelligence Agency’s human wall, Woo-jin briefly saw Jae-chan, now noticeably paler than before.His face had grown noticeably paler than before.

Bloodless, deathly white skin. Lips turned blue. Resigned eyes.

And, lastly, the sight of his blood-soaked side visible beneath his bulletproof plate.

Before anyone could intervene, Seon Jae-chan, despite his severe injuries, launched himself forward without hesitation. Without a moment’s doubt, he leapt between Nam Hae-sol and the bomb.