“Mr. Seonho, hello. We meet again.”
As though he could not care less about all the eyes on him, Yihyun dropped into the seat across from Seonho. Startled by the sudden appearance of an S-Rank Esper, Seonho nearly choked on his food before barely managing to return the greeting.
“Ah, Guide… Hello.”
Unlike yesterday, Seonho was wearing black horn-rimmed glasses, and dark circles hung heavily beneath his eyes.
“Were you up all night? You must have a lot of research to do.”
At Yihyun’s words, Kim Seonho’s exhaustion vanished almost instantly. He pushed his glasses up, his eyes sparkling.
“Yes. I discovered a new Gate byproduct, and it’s very effective at stopping bleeding and disinfecting wounds, so I stayed up all night running experiments on it.”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
Yihyun deliberately put on an exaggeratedly impressed expression and nodded. When Yihyun even smiled with his eyes, Kim Seonho averted his gaze and murmured quietly.
“You’ve been smiling a lot lately. You look much better this way.”
“Thank you. I decided I’m going to try living a little differently from now on. By the way, Mr. Seonho, I looked around the research institute earlier. The top floor is a restricted area. The security personnel said it was a Gate research laboratory, but what exactly do they do there?”
At Yihyun’s question, Seonho lowered his voice and glanced around.
“I don’t really know either because I’ve never been allowed inside. It has a completely different security clearance level. But according to my seniors… they conduct experiments with special drugs there.”
Yihyun’s eyebrow twitched.
The security personnel said it was Gate research, while an employee said it was drug experimentation. That meant even the research institute’s own employees did not know exactly what the area was used for and were sharing different rumors among themselves.
“Drug experiments? What kind of drugs?”
“I heard this from my supervisor in passing… There’s a rumor that they’re researching drugs related to Esper ranks. Supposedly, if they succeed, they might even be able to turn an A-Rank into an S-Rank.”
Juwon, who had been listening quietly beside them, cut in with an incredulous expression.
“Forcibly raise someone’s rank? I’ve been kicking around the Ability Bureau all this time, and I’ve never heard anything like that.”
Yihyun looked at Juwon as though he were pathetic.
‘Do you know anything at all? Did you seriously spend the last five years doing nothing but drinking at the Ability Bureau?’
Yihyun stirred his soup with his spoon, lost in thought.
A rank-enhancement drug.
The experiments Baek Seungho had conducted using Baek Yihyun as a test subject.
‘Maybe the Gate research is just a cover, and that’s where Baek Seungho conducts the same human experiments he performed on Baek Yihyun.’
“I told you last time that I wanted to repay you, so please let me buy you a meal sometime.”
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t tell you all that because I wanted anything in return…….”
Seonho hurriedly waved his hands, his face turning red. Amused by the cute reaction, Yihyun narrowed his eyes into a smile while still holding his spoon.
Baek Yihyun’s delicate, harmless face had clearly been made for moments like this.
“That just makes me want to treat you even more. Mr. Seonho.”
“Ah……. W-Well…….”
“I think I’ll be hurt if you turn me down…….”
Yihyun tilted his head and deliberately put on a dejected expression. Behind Kim Seonho’s glasses, his eyes darted around wildly, completely at a loss.
In the end, Seonho nodded, his face so red it looked ready to burst.
“……Then, could you contact me whenever it’s convenient for you, Guide? I’ll find somewhere good for us to eat.”
“Sounds good. It’s a promise, okay?”
It was the moment Yihyun perfectly secured himself an excellent source of information.
Ignoring the way Lee Juwon’s expression twisted beside him, Yihyun smiled brightly, satisfied with the answer he had gotten, and cleared away his tray.
“Hyung, I think getting into that body has made you a little weird.”
“Shut up. If I don’t have strength, I have to use something else. Here, take this.”
Yihyun bought Juwon an iced vanilla latte and shoved it into his hands, then got himself an iced Americano to go.
He was on his way back to the Guide Room when his steps stopped near the lounge.
He had spotted Minji sitting there alone.
She looked even more haggard than yesterday. When Yihyun approached, Minji glanced nervously around and slowly began backing away.
As soon as she looked ready to bolt, Yihyun pointed at the black choker wrapped around Minji’s neck.
“Minji, this… I want to take it off for you. Can you help me?”
“…Huh? W-What… did you say?”
Minji’s lips trembled. She swallowed dryly and touched the metal band around her neck with a shaking hand.
“What do you mean…. This can come off?”
Yihyun nodded emphatically and smiled.
“Yeah. Trust me. That thing has been seriously bothering me.”
“…Can I really help?”
“Yeah, it’s nothing difficult. I need a sample to analyze the choker’s structure. You just have to stay still. You can do that, right?”
Minji hesitated briefly, but after seeing the certainty in Yihyun’s eyes, she nodded.
Yihyun immediately called Lee Juwon and summoned him to the pavilion behind the Guide Wing. A short while later, Juwon came strolling over while looking around.
“Hyung, what is it?”
Instead of answering, Yihyun pointed at the choker fastened around Minji’s neck.
“Juwon, metal manipulation is your specialty, right? Can you get this thing off without triggering an alert?”
Juwon’s eyes narrowed sharply.
After politely asking Minji for permission, he carefully brought his hand toward the choker. Waves rippled from his fingertips as he scanned its internal structure.
“……I can open it. If I directly manipulate the internal pins, I can unlock it without forcibly tearing it off. But, hyung, this isn’t just a simple locking mechanism. There are a shitload of things like metal threads attached around the internal pins. If any of those threads snap while I’m opening it, an emergency signal will immediately show up at the Ability Bureau control room.”
“Then it’ll only be a matter of time before the control room bastards come running.”
“Right. Things like this are usually connected in real time, aren’t they? Even the slightest change in the signal will expose us immediately. Then they’ll just put another one on her. And wouldn’t they add even more features to it next time?”
Yihyun folded his arms and tilted his head.
So physically removing it was not enough.
They would have to seize control of the control room server first, then manipulate it into constantly transmitting a ‘normal’ signal.
“Juwon. Don’t you know anyone who’s good with servers? Someone capable of breaking into the Ability Bureau’s security network.”
Juwon scratched the back of his head and frowned. He started to shake his head, then suddenly seemed to remember something and his eyes lit up.
“……There is one guy. His skills are definitely the real deal, but his situation is a little complicated right now. About three years ago, he tried to defect to DUST and got caught near the border. He’s currently rotting on the lowest floor of the Ability Bureau’s underground detention wing… He’s a hacker Esper they used to call ‘Ghost.’ You remember him, don’t you, hyung?”
Yihyun’s brow visibly twitched.
“Ghost? Ah, that little brat with the filthy mouth? You’re telling me he tried to go to Han Taeyun?”
“Yes. Well. That’s what happened.”
As Juwon spoke, a fragment of Yihyun’s memories surfaced with perfect clarity.
Ghost possessed the unique ability [Code Eye], which allowed him to perceive the world as streams of data composed of zeros and ones, as well as [Digital Ghost], which allowed him to seize control of digital signals in the air without any physical contact and become the master of the system.
A genius who had manifested both abilities simultaneously.
In terms of physical strength, the bastard was practically no different from an ordinary person. Yet with that one unrivaled and peculiar ability to dominate the digital world, he had proudly secured himself a place among A-Rank Espers.
‘Come to think of it, his situation is kind of similar to mine now.’
Yihyun clicked his tongue briefly.
‘That’s why he got caught despite having such a good brain. His body was fucking useless.’
“He’s probably living like a walking corpse by now after being convicted of treason. Wow, if you hadn’t brought it up, hyung, even I would’ve almost forgotten that bastard was locked up down there.”
Yihyun stared at the underground detention wing visible in the distance.
A genius hacker who had tried to reach DUST.
If that little runt could see the system itself, something like this should be effortless for him.
“Perfect. If he was trying to get to Han Taeyun, at least there’s no chance he’s loyal to the Ability Bureau. Juwon, find out the visiting hours.”
Juwon scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
“Hyung, visits are prohibited there. He’s a traitor, so an ordinary Guide probably wouldn’t even be allowed to approach the place.”
“If they won’t let me, I’ll make them.”
***
“Ah, why the hell do they keep springing these surprise terrorism drills on us? What a pain in the ass.”
“Our team might as well not even have a Guide. Do we really need to train?”
“Well, if they tell us to do it, we have to do it.”
The Ability Bureau’s main auditorium.
One of the Espers on Yihyun’s team irritably scratched his head and grumbled.
Under Ability Bureau policy, field teams usually operated in groups of four Espers and one Guide. Because there were not enough Guides, a single Guide was assigned to cover four Espers.
Yihyun’s team might have been called a field team, but in reality, it existed in name only.
Baek Yihyun never went into the field. He remained stationed at the Ability Bureau and did nothing but provide guiding to Espers who came to the Guide Room.
Naturally, the Espers assigned to Yihyun’s team had accumulated plenty of resentment.
Step, step.
“Hey, you guys. Take good care of our Guide Baek during today’s training. If so much as a single hair on his head gets hurt, you’d better watch yourselves.”
Lee Juwon swaggered over from a distance, slung his arms around the shoulders of the Espers on Yihyun’s team, and whispered into their ears.
Even among S-Ranks, Lee Juwon held the higher ranking, so the team members nodded awkwardly at his words.
“Uh, yes, Esper Lee Juwon…. Of course. He’s our team’s Guide, hahaha.”
“Absolutely! We’ll protect our Guide with our lives!”
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Yihyun, who had been watching with his arms folded, crooked a finger at Lee Juwon and summoned him over.
After moving off to one side, Yihyun lightly jabbed Juwon in the ribs.
“That’s enough. Go back to your own team.”
“Yes, hyung! See you later!”
The bear-like brute who had been swaggering around only moments ago suddenly acted as though he might start wagging his tail at a single word from Yihyun, then returned to his own team.
The team members stared at Yihyun, who handled an S-Rank Esper as casually as if he were dealing with a child, and swallowed hard in disbelief.