[Palsik: Mission accomplished.]
Attached to the next message was a video of Yoon Palsik burning a whole pile of something in a metal drum. Gyujin tapped out a reply.
[Me: Thanks for the hard work.]
Immediately after sending it, he deleted the video Palsik had sent him. Gyujin flicked his gaze toward the field, where the briefing was still in full swing.
The Espers had gathered separately in front of the makeshift operations command post. Every last one of them was built like a tank, and with the entire crowd dressed in black, the atmosphere could hardly have looked gloomier.
Seo Sungmin, the Esper in overall command of today’s exercise, tapped a pointer against the whiteboard. Wearing a microphone and brimming with enthusiasm, he explained the operation. But even at a glance, it didn’t look like anyone was actually listening.
Then again, anyone’s concentration would start to evaporate after spending nearly thirty minutes listening to an explanation that boiled down to entering in an advance group and a follow-up group. Among the Espers stubbornly enduring the briefing while suppressing yawns, Gyujin had no trouble picking out the members of Team 1.
As if anyone could mistake those four for anything but problem children, every one of them was lounging around with terrible posture. Song Youngju had flat-out plopped down on the ground and was openly playing a game on his phone, while Choi Sunwoo and Moon Guk chatted beside him. The way they did whatever they pleased without even pretending to pay attention looked entirely natural.
Gyujin let out a deep sigh and glanced at Kwon Dajung, who stood perfectly straight beside them.
Dajung was standing more properly than anyone else, his eyes sparkling brightly. From the faint smile on his face to his attentive posture, he looked like the very picture of a model student.
The problem was that the person Dajung was watching was not Seo Sungmin, who was passionately delivering the briefing.
With his back turned to Sungmin, Dajung was staring directly at Gyujin without the slightest concern for who might be watching.
Unable to stand it anymore, Gyujin put on a stern expression and pointed toward Sungmin.
Dajung obviously understood exactly what he meant, yet he merely tilted his head with an impish look.
“That little….”
It was painfully obvious that he was trying to get away with it by looking pretty.
Gyujin pointed at Sungmin again.
At the firm gesture, Dajung stuck out his lower lip. He slowly turned around, gazing back at Gyujin with eyes overflowing with reluctance.
That much was fine.
Except Dajung apparently couldn’t break a bad habit to save his life, because he kept twisting his head around, desperate to catch Gyujin’s eye again.
What the hell am I going to do if the baby comes out just like him? One of him is already more than I can handle. How am I supposed to survive two of them doing this?
Gyujin grabbed his throbbing head and swallowed what had to be his hundredth sigh.
“All Guides, please assemble. We’ll give you a brief schedule announcement, then proceed with entry immediately afterward.”
Gyujin took Kim Heemyung by the hand and headed toward the assembly area.
From this point on, he needed to stay sharp.
“Come on, Heemyung. Once the operation starts, stay with me and—”
At that exact moment, without the slightest warning, Heemyung’s body floated into the air.
Startled, Gyujin instinctively grabbed his arm, but it did no good.
Heemyung drifted upward like a helium balloon, his face turning deathly pale.
“What the—!”
The harder Gyujin tried to pull him down, the stronger the force lifting him became.
Nearby Guides and Espers began murmuring in alarm. Gyujin looked around for help.
Among all the baffled people who had no idea what to do, one face caught his eye.
Kwon Dajung was smiling like an angel.
Gyujin understood the situation instantly and clenched his teeth.
He released Heemyung’s hand and marched straight toward Dajung.
The closer Gyujin came, the brighter Dajung’s eyes sparkled.
Stopping in front of him, Gyujin pointed at Heemyung, who was now slowly spinning in midair.
“You did that, didn’t you?”
Dajung merely shifted his eyes toward Heemyung.
Hanging upside down in the air, Heemyung called weakly for someone to save him.
Gyujin’s expression turned cold.
“Stop it. Right now. Enough throwing a tantrum. Put him down safely. Carefully.”
“Is that thing more important to you than me, Gyujin?”
The instant he said “that thing,” Heemyung’s scream grew even louder.
This wasn’t a roller coaster, but his floating body shot higher and higher with no sign of stopping.
Heemyung was utterly terrified. He could no longer even beg for help, reduced to shrieking at the top of his lungs as Espers gathered beneath him for a rescue attempt.
Plenty of people were trying to handle the situation, but no one seemed to know what to do.
Probably because rescuing Heemyung would mean pitting their abilities directly against Kwon Dajung’s.
Everyone kept glancing nervously at Dajung.
Gyujin knew exactly why.
And Gyujin also knew very well how to solve situations like this.
Smack!
The sharp sound rang out as Dajung’s head snapped sideways.
Gyujin had slapped him across the face.
He stared at Dajung with an icy expression.
In an instant, the temperature around them seemed to plunge as though someone had dumped cold water over the entire area.
Everything went dead silent.
Dajung, abruptly struck across the face, cupped his cheek and looked ready to cry.
“Gyujin….”
“I know I warned you not to call a person ‘that thing.’”
Gyujin pressed a fingertip firmly into Dajung’s chest.
“You deliberately do exactly what I told you not to do, bully an innocent Guide, and act like this—like you own the goddamn world?”
With every offense he listed, Gyujin shoved at Dajung’s chest.
He never listens when I try to handle things nicely. I always have to get angry before anything gets through his skull.
Gyujin didn’t even bother controlling his expression as he laid into him.
“Put Heemyung down safely and give him a proper apology. Bow your head and mean it. And stay away from me for the rest of today. Keep to yourself and think about what you did.”
Dajung’s lips parted.
Before he could say anything, Gyujin shook his head.
Dajung’s eyes filled with tears like an abandoned child.
It didn’t matter. This was still the bastard who had used his ability to torment someone else just because he was in a bad mood.
Gyujin firmly walked away from him.
Dajung could cling to him or inconvenience him all he wanted. Gyujin didn’t care about that.
But an Esper threatening another Guide with his ability was something Gyujin would never tolerate.
Utterly deflated, Dajung reached a hand toward Heemyung.
He crooked his fingers, and Heemyung slowly began descending.
Dajung could obviously use his ability perfectly well without all the theatrics, but he wiggled his fingers with exaggerated effort as though determined to make sure Gyujin saw him doing exactly what he’d been told.
Eventually, Heemyung’s feet touched the ground.
People immediately crowded around him as he collapsed onto the floor, trembling violently.
He had been frightened nearly unconscious, but fortunately he didn’t appear to be injured.
Only then did Gyujin press a hand to his forehead and sigh.
I know that personality of his hasn’t gone anywhere, but he’s never gone this far right in front of me before.
Gyujin had no idea what had twisted Dajung’s mood so badly.
They hadn’t even entered the gate yet. Who could have predicted that he would torment the replacement Guide this viciously?
Is all the irritation he’s been piling up ever since I started talking about resigning and breaking up with him finally coming out like this?
Not knowing what Dajung was really thinking only made Gyujin more frustrated.
Maybe I shouldn’t have slapped him.
Dajung was still staring only at him, his eyes wet with tears.
Getting slapped in front of this many people had to have hurt his feelings. He was probably humiliated too.
But how the hell was I supposed to look at that shit and not smack him?
Corporal punishment wasn’t always the answer.
But in Gyujin’s experience, sometimes it absolutely was.
The sky and the gate seemed unusually gloomy today, matching his own frustrated mood.
While Gyujin deliberately avoided Dajung, the commotion gradually settled.
The atmosphere remained somewhat unsettled, but entry into the gate proceeded as scheduled.
The Espers entered first, followed by the Guides.
Throughout the process, Gyujin took especially good care of Heemyung.
Half of it was guilt.
The other half was his attempt, in his own way, to defend Dajung.
“Dajung isn’t normally like that. He’s just been under a lot of stress lately. He’s actually a sweet, gentle kid.”
He could practically read the protest on Heemyung’s face.
Sweet and gentle, my ass. Those qualities are clearly dead and buried.
Gyujin hurriedly added to his defense.
“He can be a little sensitive and self-centered, but once you get to know him, he’s really affectionate. He can be nice too. It’s just that he’s… very selective about who he likes. Anyway, I’m sorry, Heemyung. I’ll apologize for him.”
“I’m fine, really.”
Heemyung answered bravely.
His resilience was honestly remarkable.
Kwon Dajung still scared the hell out of him, but the true apex predator in this food chain was clearly Yoon Gyujin, who had subdued Dajung with a single slap.
Heemyung had already liked Gyujin before.
The instant Gyujin smacked Kwon Dajung across the face, however, Yoon Gyujin’s name shot straight to the top of Heemyung’s mental list of people to whom he would pledge eternal loyalty.
Not only was he handsome and kind, he even had charisma.
“But could you maybe put just a little—just a tiny bit more distance between us? Flying freely through the air without a single piece of safety equipment turned out to be… not quite as enjoyable as I’d hoped. Ha ha ha….”
Because of Gyujin’s warning, Dajung wasn’t allowed to come closer.
But the stare he was drilling into Heemyung from a distance was far more piercing than Heemyung had expected.
Feeling guilty, Gyujin quickly stepped back.