TDG Ch 13

“Jihyuk, there’s this really good restaurant not far from here if we drive a bit. Let’s go there, my treat.”

Just as I was about to scramble to my feet, Jihyuk grabbed me and pushed me back down.

“Let’s just order something here.”

“Why order in? I said let’s go out.”

But Jihyuk was just as stubborn as ever. He sat there firmly, not budging an inch.

“It’s hot outside. Home’s better. It’s quiet with just the two of us.”

“……”

I didn’t take you for a homebody. If being alone in a quiet place is what you want, isn’t the dorm the same? We finally got a chance to go out, and now we’re just going to sit around and order delivery? That’s kind of depressing. I didn’t want to feed him something as sad as takeout, but I didn’t have the skills or ingredients to cook for him either. Jihyuk, feeling vindicated, insisted we order quickly.

“This sauce is kind of bland.”

To make things worse, even the food that arrived wasn’t satisfying. I didn’t fight Kim Yuhwan just to bring my precious favorite character out and feed him this crap…

“Let me see that.”

Before I could sink fully into disappointment, Jihyuk took the sauce from my hands, tasted it, and stood up right away.

“Can I check the fridge?”

“Sure. But why?”

What he came back with was sugar and vinegar.

He added a little of each in turn, stirred it lightly, then tasted it again. The flat, dull sauce was now full of depth and flavor.

When I looked at him, wide-eyed in admiration, he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Nothing brings out umami like sugar.”

Right. He’s a max-level cook.

That was part of his character setting, though it hadn’t had a chance to come out until now and had kind of been forgotten. While I was spacing out, Jihyuk picked up a bite of food and pushed it into my mouth, asking why I wasn’t eating.

* * *

We cleaned up after eating and dawdled around, and before I knew it, it was almost time to return.

Even as I got into the car, I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling. Maybe I shouldn’t have bragged that I’d make today fun. All I’d done was hype him up and then fall asleep like a log. I was regretting it in real time.

I kept sneaking glances at Jihyuk in the passenger seat as I drove. His beautiful side profile, resting his chin on his hand and gazing out the window, looked perfectly peaceful. Whether it was when he’d fallen asleep in my bed earlier or now, he just looked… happy.

“I had such a great time today. Thank you, Hyung.”

As if he’d read right through the cloud of self-reproach I was feeling, Jihyuk turned to me with a gentle smile. The emotion flickering at the corners of his eyes felt genuine. It didn’t seem like he was just saying it to be nice.

“If you say so, that’s a relief.”

We’d been driving for a while when I noticed a thick plume of black smoke rising ahead. It looked like a fire had broken out.

“What’s that? An accident?”

It might be a Gate Break.

I immediately turned on the hazard lights and began to slow down. After pulling over onto the shoulder, I got out and headed toward the smoke. The scale of the accident was far greater than I’d expected.

Seven or eight vehicles had collided in a chain reaction.

I was right. In the distance, a glowing blue Gate was spewing out monsters. The crash alone was overwhelming enough, but now there were creatures pouring out of the Gate too. It was a complete nightmare.

There were still injured people inside the vehicles that the monsters were approaching.

“Help us!”

“Please, help!”

Those who couldn’t escape their cars screamed in terror at the approaching monsters.

A few people who seemed less injured were trying their best to help, but it wasn’t enough.

I pulled out my phone to call for help, but first, I checked the remaining distance between the monsters and the cars. Unfortunately, they were too close. Before things got worse, I had to at least evacuate the people who could still move.

“Get back! Everyone, move away from there!”

As I ran forward, shouting, the people who had been struggling to tear open the crushed car doors looked up in surprise.

Just then, my call finally connected, and I heard the voice of the staff member on the line. The moment I opened my mouth to respond with relief, something slammed into me from the side and snatched me away. My vision flipped, and I was sent flying through the air. No, rather than “flying,” it felt more like I had been violently launched.

Bang!

A deafening explosion tore through the air, drowning out every other sound. My consciousness, which had briefly blinked out during the impact, returned shortly after.

“Hyung, are you awake?”

Jihyuk’s voice rang out just in front of me. I couldn’t even open my eyes, but I nodded instinctively.

What had hit us was a massive container truck.

I couldn’t say for sure whether the driver had panicked at the sight of the monsters and swerved too hard, or if he had simply missed the brake due to drowsiness, but the container had skidded across the road like a wave and crashed in our direction.

Seeing the mangled remains of my father’s sedan, crushed beyond recognition between the containers, sent a chill down my spine. If Jihyuk hadn’t saved me, I would’ve ended up like that, too. The only reason I was unharmed was because he had completely shielded me.

I quickly pulled myself together. I finished the interrupted emergency report and then contacted the Center’s Crisis Management Team.

After I explained the situation, they told me to stay put, that they would dispatch rescue teams and a helicopter.

Which basically meant: don’t use Han Jihyuk.

They didn’t need to say it explicitly. I had no intention of throwing an unstable Jihyuk into the middle of a disaster zone either.

In the meantime, the monsters had reached the back of the crash site.

“Ahhh!”

“Please help! Somebody help!”

The danger wasn’t just from the monsters. Fuel was leaking from the wrecked vehicles, and smoke was beginning to rise. If any of that engine oil caught fire, a massive explosion was only a matter of time.

Even knowing people could die, I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

Even if I couldn’t fight the monsters, I could at least smash a few windows and get people out.

“Jihyuk, you stay here.”

As I rolled up my sleeves and prepared to move, Han Jihyuk grabbed my arm.

“I’ll do it.”

“No. I’ve been ordered to protect you!”

“Protect me?”

His brows furrowed in disbelief.

“You haven’t been officially cleared by the government yet. If you use your powers in this situation…”

He could face severe disciplinary action. It might seem unfair, but those were the rules.

Jihyuk saw the conflict in my expression and nodded without protest.

“Alright. I won’t use my fire ability. That’s good enough, right?”

What?

“You’re the one who’s in danger, Hyung. So you stay here.”

Before I could say anything, Han Jihyuk took off, dashing ahead like he’d taken flight.

“What the… Hey! Han Jihyuk! Jihyuk!”

By the time I came to my senses and tried to stop him, he was already far ahead.

I thought I had to stop him from doing anything reckless, but to my surprise, Jihyuk had fully understood what I meant and the concern behind it.

In the blink of an eye, Jihyuk charged into the horde of monsters and immediately leapt into the air, landing a powerful kick. I could only gape as three monsters were flung away like toys. Even with his momentum, that kind of destructive power made no sense.

Using the body of an approaching monster as a springboard, Jihyuk launched himself upward and began striking downward as he fell. Thud! Thwack! His punches and kicks rained down wildly, and because the monsters were packed so tightly together, every single blow landed. Their thick, tough hides tore like paper, and their heavy bodies crumpled like rag dolls.

What on earth am I even looking at right now?

Those monsters, even the weakest among them, are faster and more powerful than the strongest human beings. Underestimating them because of their size is the fastest way to end up like the people in Jurassic World.

And those over there? They’re two meters tall. An ordinary person could have their entire skeleton shattered just from being grazed by one of those massive tails. Hoping to survive would be foolish—if the corpse remains even remotely intact, it’s considered a miracle.

Only a handful of Espers can fight those kinds of monsters head-on in close quarters. And yet? Our protagonist is doing it barehanded.

Han Jihyuk unleashed a relentless flurry of punches at the oncoming beasts, grabbing and throwing anything he could get a hold of, ripping them apart. At the same time, he tore open the wreckage of crushed vehicles and pulled people out.

Just like he promised, he hadn’t used a single bit of his fire ability.

“Kiieeek!”

A monster with terrifying fangs lunged for his leg, but Jihyuk kicked it away with ease. His long leg shot out toward the target like a striker taking a shot at the goal, and with a loud crack, the monster’s head separated from its body and went flying.

It had taken me two full years just to get used to how grotesque and horrifying these monsters looked.

And I mean, just used to it. I was still scared. Even seeing them from a distance made my insides tremble. Anyone who says they’re not afraid of monsters that kill and eat humans is lying.

Being an Esper doesn’t mean you have nerves of steel. It just means you have special powers. But adapting to monsters? That’s something Espers struggle with, like everyone else.

I’ve seen plenty of rookies collapse and wet themselves on their first field assignment, or burst into tears and refuse to fight because they were too terrified.

Han Jihyuk was different.

Even as he pushed back the monsters without pause, his sharp black eyes swept across the area not with excitement, but with calm, rational focus, as if he was simply doing what needed to be done.

Tearing off heads, smashing bodies, trampling enemies underfoot.

Amazingly, all of it seemed to follow a kind of system.

Han Jihyuk was either possessed of an extraordinary nerve or a born hunter.

What’s more, there weren’t any of the restrictions like back in the research facility.

Maybe that’s why he was moving so freely now.

He hadn’t given it his all at the lab.

Transcendent strength and intelligence. Ruthlessness in eradicating the enemy without the slightest trace of compassion.

He was the very image of the so-called “new human” the world talked about, and the label of “slaughterer for monster warfare” suited him terrifyingly well.

He was tearing through the monsters, clearing them out left and right, but the sheer number closing in was still too many for one person to handle.

Even so, Jihyuk stayed true to his promise.

Maybe it was for my sake, but he did not use his fire ability, not even once. Even when completely surrounded, he focused solely on close combat.

Anxious, I craned my neck and looked around.

When the hell was this rescue team supposed to arrive?

“Over there! Are you alright?”

Speak of the devil—

A figure was rapidly approaching in the distance.

At first, he was just a speck, but in mere seconds, he had come close enough that I could make out his form.

That’s how fast he was. A long trail of dust followed behind him like a wake, and his sprint, like a runaway train, stopped right in front of me.

Despite the abrupt stop, there was no sign of momentum throwing him off, and his movements were effortlessly light.

There was only one Esper in South Korea with that kind of ability.

‘Song Hyunho.’

Like Han Jihyuk, Song Hyunho was one of the rare S-rank Espers.

His ability: multi-functional physical enhancement.