IDSEGI Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Although it was early dawn in Korea, it was the middle of the afternoon in New York. Yushin was waiting nervously for Ihan at the Manhattan Guide Center.

After about ten minutes, Ihan emerged from the guiding room, his expression twisted in irritation. Yushin shot to his feet the moment he saw him.

“How did it go?”

“The same.”

At Ihan’s curt answer, Yushin’s face also twisted in disappointment.

“You’re still hitting close to twenty percent match rate with Jason, right? So your symptoms really don’t have anything to do with match rate…”

Yushin hesitated for a moment, glancing at Ihan, then asked carefully.

“You did try kissing, right?”

“Kissing, my ass. My lips were made for kissing Yeoul. I’m not doing that with anyone else.”

“Yeah… well, you can at least check whether guiding works just by holding hands.”

“Forget it. It’s not like we don’t have a way. All we have to do is kill that one-eyed bastard Yeoul talked about. Nice and simple.”

Yushin found Ihan’s breezy answer frustrating. Ihan noticed Yushin sighing over and over and frowned.

“Did the world end or something? Quit sighing like that.”

“Hey! It’s my mouth, I can sigh if I want. What’s it to you?”

“If you want to keep breathing through your lungs, swallow your sighs. Or are you praying for death?”

“I’m Catholic, you bastard.”

The two bickered for a while, trading jabs. Yushin knew why Ihan threw out those rough words—it was his own way of signaling, Don’t worry. A weird sort of kindness.

“Let’s go before Yeoul wakes up.”

Ihan tilted his head toward the air, as if signaling for a teleport. Yushin scratched his head as he looked at him.

“Fine, whatever happens happens. That monster or whatever it is—we just have to cut it down. No matter how strong it is, if we put together all the Espers from Zone 1, we’d have a chance.”

Ihan gave him a once-over, as if wondering what he was talking about.

“Why would they go? They have to guard Zone 1.”

“Oh… right. The gate activity rate’s been bad lately. So it’ll just be you and me—”

“You’re staying too. I’ll go alone from Zone 1.”

“What? What are you going to do by yourself?”

Startled, Yushin tried to stop him, but Ihan answered calmly.

“I’ll take one person with me.”

“Who?”

Before he could answer, a ringtone sounded from his pocket. Ihan took out his phone, checked the caller ID, and smirked.

“He’s no gentleman either.”

He answered the call immediately.

“Where are you?”

—I should be asking you that. Where are you?

“Wait there, I’ll be there soon. Oh, and one more thing.”

—What?

“If you try anything with Yeoul, you’re dead.”

Ihan hung up without waiting for a reply. Yushin, who had overheard, rose on his toes to peek at the screen. The name on the display read “Bastard.”

“Who was that?”

“Yoon Geon,” Ihan replied flatly.

So the Esper he planned to take was Yoon Geon? Remembering the time Ihan had actually bowed to him, it made sense. Yushin stole another glance at the screen and was quietly impressed.

Yoon Geon Esper, promoted from “bastard” to “son of a bitch.”

No one else had ever pulled that off, and Yushin silently congratulated him for the achievement.

* * *

After hanging up with Ihan, Yoon Geon went straight to the Director’s office and knocked. The Director greeted him with a sour expression.

“What brings Esper Yoon Geon here?”

“I have something to say.”

Looking the Director straight in the eye, Yoon Geon made a thunderous declaration.

“I’m stepping down as Zone 5 Team Leader.”

The Director looked at him as if he had misheard—or rather, wanted to have misheard.

“What… did you just say?”

“I said I’m resigning from the team leader position.”

“Are you saying you’re retiring?”

Without the slightest change in expression, Yoon Geon replied matter-of-factly.

“You could put it that way.”

The Director slammed his fist on the desk hard enough to make it shake and shot to his feet.

“Esper Yoon Geon! Why are you doing this, too?”

He took a slow, deep breath, as if trying to rein in his temper, and then tried to reason with him.

“Why are you so fixated on some man, and a mere C-Class Guide at that?”

But perhaps it was too hard to contain himself, because his voice grew harsher as he went on.

“If you were obsessed with Guide Seo Yeon-oh, who has a higher match rate with you, I wouldn’t say anything! You were the one who drove Han Yeoul out to Zone 1 as soon as Seo Yeon-oh showed up!”

Yoon Geon offered no excuses—not because he had nothing to say, but because he saw no need. The Director continued pressing him angrily.

“You were the one who cast him off so coldly—so why regret it now?”

Maintaining his silence, Yoon Geon finally spoke.

“As soon as Yoo Ihan showed up, you were the ones who drove me from Zone 1 to Zone 5. Haven’t I done enough to fulfill my duty by now?”

The Director fell silent. He couldn’t very well rage at Yoon Geon for driving Yeoul out when the government had done the same to him.

It was the government who had demoted him to Zone 5 as soon as Yoo Ihan appeared—because of the fatal flaw of his guiding rejection response.

The Director offered a feeble excuse.

“As I said back then, you were the only one capable of handling Zone 5’s special assignments. You know that.”

“I do. You just didn’t want anyone to find out that the shiny new S-Class Esper had such a serious defect.”

He didn’t hold a grudge over it. After all, being in Zone 5 had allowed him to meet Yeoul before Ihan did.

“You buried me in the middle of nowhere to hide it, so now, if I say I’m quitting, you have no right to object. Even if you have something to say, you shouldn’t.”

“…If even you do this, what will happen to this country?”

The Director slumped into his chair, muttering in dismay. Yoon Geon replied in an even colder and calmer voice than usual.

“That’s no longer my concern.”

With a final bow for form’s sake, Yoon Geon strode out of the office.

The first thing he did after informing the Director was bow his head to the Zone 5 team members.

“I’m sorry. I’m leaving Zone 5 in your hands.”

No one said a word. Some closed their eyes tightly in frustration, but no one dared to protest. How could they stop someone who was leaving with his head already bowed?

Yoon Geon had always been steadfast and stubborn. When he made a decision like this, no one could change his mind. They either stared up at the sky or down at the ground, silently listening to his farewell.

Only one young Esper couldn’t accept it.

Hyunho, on the verge of tears, grabbed the hem of Yoon Geon’s coat and shook his head.

“No… Zone 5 without you, senpai? I can’t even imagine it.”

Yoon Geon stared at him quietly. Hyunho, who had awakened in high school, always called him “senpai,” saying “team leader” didn’t suit him.

He had been fond of the boy in his own way and had tacitly allowed the nickname. With his bright personality and good social skills, Hyunho had easily blended in with the Zone 5 members. Over time, he’d grown into a proper Esper—but he was still inexperienced.

Wiping his eyes roughly with his sleeve, Hyunho’s voice shook with emotion.

“I knew it… You made me work with the police because you didn’t want to give me the rough jobs.”

Though he was a mental-type Esper, his only ability was to force confessions. Still, that made him an ideal fit for Zone 5. The government had assigned him there for a reason.

The Zone 5 Special Forces wasn’t an organization created for ordinary purposes.

While other zones prioritized dealing with gates, Zone 5 guarded the front lines against monsters and foreign incursions.

That was the public reason.

But they had another mission—hunting down criminal Espers and banishing them. And quietly suppressing any uprisings among the exiled.

Which meant, sometimes, killing people.

“I’m an adult now. I can do it. Torture, killing… whatever it takes.”

Hyunho insisted he was ready, begging Yoon Geon not to leave.

Yoon Geon gave a bitter smile and patted his head.

“I’m sorry for making you carry that kind of burden.”

Because he was still young, Yoon Geon had kept Hyunho away from such missions. With his ability, tracking down criminals would have been easier—but the work they did was too merciless and brutal for a minor to bear.

Yoon Geon had always taken on the hardest, dirtiest jobs himself, running himself ragged to ease the burden on his team. He had never said it aloud, but he valued them deeply.

But there was someone he valued more.

“There’s someone I have to protect.”

“More important than us? More important than the country?”

He didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Yes.”

Yoon Geon firmly pried Hyunho’s hands away. The boy shook his head fiercely, eyes brimming with tears, but Yoon Geon never let himself be held.

Abandoning his country was far easier than losing Yeoul. There was no hesitation in his steps as he walked toward him.