Late at night.
Han Augustus could not sleep.
Having taken on the position of team leader for the first time in his life, he sat at his desk, deep in thought.
Han went through his team members’ profiles again and organized his thoughts.
First, the cowardly sniper.
‘West Samuel’s weakness is that he’s timid.’
‘But he has astonishing talent for sniping. I’ve seen all kinds of shooters, so recognizing talent in one is easy enough.’
‘He still has no field experience, but he’ll definitely become a major asset in the future.’
Next was Fabian.
There was nothing Han needed to directly improve about him.
One could almost call him a finished product.
He was eloquent and good at handling unexpected situations. On top of that, he possessed the speed of someone from the Covert Mobile Unit and had an excellent understanding of basic marksmanship, swordsmanship, and Mobility Gear techniques.
His gambling and womanizing were concerning... but so far, neither seemed likely to become an obstacle.
‘Next is Louis Allen... but let’s leave him out of this.’
Han casually flipped past Allen’s profile.
His Mobility Swordsmanship was downright insane, but as long as there was a risk that he might harm civilians, there was no point considering how to develop him.
Han was at the stage of deciding whether Allen should remain in the Special Unit at all, never mind on his team.
Which meant the reason Han’s head hurt right now was the sole woman on the team.
‘Lara.......’
Han let out a deep sigh.
Casting while moving was one of the most basic fundamentals for a mage.
And Lara was a half-baked genius who could not perform that fundamental skill.
Realistically speaking, the correct decision would be to remove Lara from active duty until she could cast while moving, or have her leave the Special Unit altogether.
No matter how desperate the current situation might be, the lives of his team members could never be treated lightly.
‘But Lara applied to the Special Unit despite knowing all of that.’
At some point, Han found himself fiddling with the pocket watch in his hand.
For no reason, he opened the cover, then closed it again.
Click. Click.
The sound echoed rhythmically through Han’s small room.
‘Lara could’ve joined a research institute, yet she chose not to.’
‘And when they pointed out during her interview that she couldn’t cast while moving, she apparently said that if she couldn’t join the Special Unit, she’d rather let her talent rot.’
‘It’s ridiculous... but somehow, it worked.’
Han could understand the interviewers to some extent.
They could hardly allow Lara’s talent to go to waste.
If Lara, the youngest person ever to become a State-Certified Mage, had truly withdrawn from society, all the responsibility would have fallen squarely on the interviewers.
‘Now that she’s my team member, I can’t just irresponsibly abandon her. ...Nor do I want to.’
Han did not know exactly why.
But he knew Lara was trying desperately.
With a title like ‘youngest ever,’ it would have been easy for her to become arrogant or start cutting corners.
But Lara was constantly striving to overcome her weakness and improve her magic.
‘Even if I didn’t want to notice, spending a few days with her makes it impossible not to.’
‘She opens a magic book every chance she gets.’
Han saw something of himself in Lara.
Desperation (to the death).
That was a word Han knew well.
From the moment he entered the Special Unit until now.
Han had never stopped running toward his goal.
Toward bringing down the criminals he despised.
That desperate obsession had carried him, an Easterner, all the way to his current position.
How many people had looked down on him, resented him, and envied him at the training institution and after he joined the Special Unit?
Simply because he was an Easterner.
Simply because Lara could not cast while moving.
A road that would have been level for everyone else had been a steep uphill climb for people like them.
“......Maybe I should’ve just honestly told her I had no idea what to do.”
Han leaned back in his chair.
He recalled what had happened earlier.
In front of Lara, he had confidently declared, ‘You’re doing well, so just keep doing what you’re doing.’
It had not been entirely baseless, but he worried that perhaps he had spoken too hastily.
“It did say to give them confidence.”
Han shifted his gaze to the side.
Books were neatly lined up on his desk.
The one at the very front was titled ‘How to Become an Excellent Leader.’
Every book beside it was also related to leadership.
If he did not want to look like a rookie team leader—
If he did not want to betray everyone’s expectations—
Then studying on his own was essential.
Furthermore, Han was not a mage, which meant he had to rely even more heavily on books when it came to Lara’s problem.
Had he not even pulled ‘Basic Understanding of Magic Formulas’ back out of the corner after deciding he had already memorized everything in it?
‘No.... It would’ve been difficult to say I didn’t know what to do in that situation either.’
After finishing his shooting demonstration.
Han had clearly seen the look in Fabian’s eyes.
Surprise.
And at the same time, gleaming respect.
After Han immediately solved Samuel’s problem, Fabian seemed to have acknowledged him as his team leader.
It was not easy to admit ignorance immediately after earning a team member’s recognition.
‘Even Director Ventman and Team Leader Gilbert showed me considerable trust.’
‘Neither of them doubted that I’d lead the team well.’
All the trust Han had accumulated over the years had instead become a burden.
No one seemed conscious of the fact that this was Han’s first time serving as a team leader...
No, that this was his first time ever being part of a team in the first place.
“......What am I supposed to do?”
Han pressed a hand against his brow.
If this had been a mission to assassinate or arrest a criminal, he would never have agonized like this.
He had answered Lara confidently, but in reality, he had no suitable solution.
“......Hmm.”
He thought for so long that dawn eventually arrived.
In the end, Han decided he would quietly seek advice from a trustworthy mage.
Unexpectedly, an opportunity presented itself in the Director’s office.
“This mission will be handled jointly by Team 251 and Team 108.”
The leader of Team 108 was a Sixth-Tier Mage Han already knew.
‘Nice.’
Han inwardly celebrated.
***
“Nice?”
The two men walked down the corridor after receiving their mission orders.
Rubin, the leader of Team 108, furrowed his brow.
Han answered calmly, as though it were nothing.
“...Ah. I was just happy that it seems we’ll be working together again after so long.”
“......You.”
Rubin stared at Han as though wondering what on earth had happened to him.
After blinking several times, he looked Han over.
“Are you all right? You’re not sick, are you?”
“.......”
“No. There’s no way you’re all right. Otherwise, there’s no reason you’d ever be happy to see me.”
“...Rubin.”
“You should’ve said something if you were sick. I could’ve had you removed from the mission.”
“I misspoke. That’s enough.”
What exactly was Han supposed to do if the team leader was removed from the mission?
He did not bother saying it aloud.
Rubin was not being serious anyway.
Rubin soon seemed to lose interest and shifted his gaze back to the report.
“That’s fortunate. At least you look healthy enough to clean up after us.”
“.......”
“Why are you smiling silently like that? It’s unpleasant.”
“I was just thinking that you really haven’t changed.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Han suppressed a laugh.
Rubin.
This blunt man who spoke whatever came to mind had once been one of the so-called ‘bastards’ who tormented Han, the Easterner who had joined the Special Unit.
...Had once been.
The past tense meant that was no longer the case.
After going through numerous incidents together, Rubin had eventually acknowledged Han as a colleague.
They were fairly close now.
So close, in fact, that Rubin was one of the very few senior officers Han spoke to casually instead of treating with strict deference.
‘His way of speaking is just a bad habit. There’s no malice behind it.’
Han did not find Rubin’s sharp attitude uncomfortable.
“Anyway, Team Leader Han. Don’t forget that my team is the main force for this mission.”
“I know. Your side is the main unit. Mine is support.”
Their current mission was to capture kidnappers posing as taxi drivers.
According to the Special Unit Intelligence Division, there were at least two suspects.
They were believed to operate from a fixed base and steal secondhand taxis that had been listed for sale.
Three vehicles had currently been confirmed stolen within the district.
Photographs of those vehicles had also been secured.
“They stole the cars in the same district where they’re carrying out the kidnappings, so they hardly seem like criminal masterminds. Still, there’s no way they’re using the stolen vehicles exactly as they were. They’ve probably changed the color or altered the decorations.”
Rubin handed Han the report as he continued.
Photographs taken for the used taxi listings had been clipped to the report.
“Still, the vehicles have distinctive features, so identifying them shouldn’t be too difficult. Check the areas I circled.”
“There’s a large scratch here too. Even if they covered it, traces would remain.”
“There’s no guarantee they’re committing the crimes with these particular vehicles, but we should definitely examine the stolen cars first.”
“Agreed.”
The two continued discussing the mission.
Before long, they were approaching the room where their team members had gathered.
Han, who still had not managed to bring up Lara, began to grow impatient.
Eventually, he stopped walking.
There was no one else around them.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“You asking me something is unusual. Is it about the mission?”
“...You could say that.”
Lara was a team member who would be participating in missions, after all.
Han added the justification silently and nodded.
“Go ahead.”
“Are there many cases where a mage can’t cast while moving?”
“No.”
Rubin answered immediately.
“More importantly, that wasn’t a question about the mission.”
“It absolutely concerns the mission. Then have you ever seen a similar case?”
“I have.”
“Where?”
“Isn’t one of your team members like that?”
“.......”
Han was disappointed.
He stared at Rubin with an utterly serious expression.
“That’s it? In your entire life?”
“That’s all.”
“.......”
Some of the strength drained from Han.
He turned his head and looked forward.
Rubin was a Sixth-Tier Mage who had graduated from a magic school, so Han had assumed he must have encountered cases similar to Lara’s.
Apparently not.
Lara’s condition seemed to be even more unusual than Han had imagined.
Han sank into deep thought again.
After watching him for a moment, Rubin spoke.
“Were you always this expressive?”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing. ...More importantly, if this is about Lara, it’s not as though I have absolutely no ideas.”
Hope came from an unexpected direction.
Han immediately focused.
“It isn’t about casting while moving, but there are plenty of cases where a mage can’t learn a particular formula. Most of the time, it’s because they lack talent in that field or because it clashes with their innate attribute. But casting while moving has no particular attribute, so neither explanation applies. In that case, it would mean some kind of impairment....”
“An impairment....”
The word made Han ask, “Can past trauma manifest as an impairment in magic?”
“Magic is still performed by people, so of course it can. Why? Does something come to mind?”
“.......”
Lara’s somewhat aggressive way of speaking, as though she were constantly trying to protect herself.
The aversion toward magic school that had shown through during her conversation with Stella.
Her inexplicable obsession with joining the Special Unit.
...Han felt as though he might be beginning to grasp a thread.
‘I’ll need to have a deeper conversation with her later.’
Han silently nodded to himself.
Rubin asked,
“So does that mean we can stop standing awkwardly in the middle of the hallway now?”
“Ah, sorry. Let’s go. ...And thank you for the advice. It really is reassuring to have a Sixth-Tier Mage as a colleague.”
“Reassuring, my ass. I’m hardly the only Sixth-Tier Mage around here.”
“You’re the only man at that level I trust to keep his mouth shut this well.”
“There you go spouting convenient nonsense again.”
Rubin snorted.
But Han knew Rubin would never gossip about someone else.
That simply was not the type of man he was.
Even back when Rubin had been giving Han a hard time, he had kept Han’s mistakes to himself.
The two resumed walking.
Just before opening the door to the conference room where their team members had gathered, Rubin added,
“...It sounds a bit ridiculous to say this after answering all your questions, but overcoming the problem might not be the only solution. The important thing is simply making sure it doesn’t interfere with the mission. ...As you know better than most.”
“......I’ll think about that carefully.”
With that, Han and Rubin entered the conference room.
The two explained the mission to their team members and began working out the details of their plan.
***
In the middle of the heated meeting, West Samuel was more enthusiastic than he had been in a long time.
One might have expected him to be nervous about his first field mission, but the reason his hands were trembling right now was not anxiety.
‘Maybe my ‘talent’ will actually get to shine this time...!’
How often had people looked down on him since childhood and told him he had no talent?
But look!
Everyone really did have something they were suited for.
Thanks to Han, Samuel had discovered his talent for sniping.
He wanted nothing more than to aim his rifle at some bad guys as soon as possible.
A cold, aloof sniper.
A master marksman who ended the entire incident with a single pull of the trigger!
...Well, maybe not quite that much.
But at least now he would finally be able to properly do his share.
Perhaps sensing Samuel’s feelings, Han, who had been continuing the briefing, stared at him for a moment.
Their eyes met.
Samuel sent Han a gaze burning with determination.
As though answering that determination, Han opened his mouth.
“Samuel. It looks like you’ll have to dress as a woman.”
At that moment, Samuel’s world collapsed.