After arriving in Anyang, while Yonghyun and the others were away preparing to raid the gate, Wonwoo was alone in the van, being thoroughly tormented by the system.
[User ‘Wonwoo’ is! So mean! ヽ(。ㅠДㅠ)o]
[How could the three of you have a pleasant conversation, leaving me out completely!]
“Hey, when did I ever leave you out of the conversation? Can you even talk… no, never mind.”
[User ‘Wonwoo’, I think you just had a rather rude thought. ]
“No, you must have misheard?”
[…First of all, I’ll let that slide! (╬▔Д▔)╯]
[‘Wonwoo’! Didn’t you hear my desperate bboroing!]
“No, I. I heard it clearly….”
[Then why didn’t you look at my message! (┬┬Д┬┬)]
“Well, I’m really sorry, but it would be weird to look at my phone in the middle of an important conversation.”
[Am I, am I… embarrassing? (´。＿。｀)]
“No, why is the conversation going in that direction!”
While receiving a simple briefing from Yonghyun and learning from Mihee how a buff-type esper should position themselves in the rear during a gate raiding, the system had let out its self-proclaimed pitiful alarm sound two or three times.
At first, he had glanced at his phone from time to time, trying to read the room between the two of them. However, since there were only interjections like [That’s right!] or [User ‘Wonwoo’ must not forget! Take what you can from them, but don’t get attached! Oppose the Bureau’s monopoly! (╯°□°）╯], he gradually started to ignore the system’s subsequent messages.
‘When I really need to check something urgently, it sends multiple alarms anyway….’
As a result of that thought, as soon as he was alone, Wonwoo had to meekly accept the flood of complaints that the system was pouring out.
[Hmph, fine. I understand user ‘Wonwoo’s’ position of it being a bit awkward to reveal my existence to others. (￣3￣)]
“Th-th… thank you?”
[Then now, do what user ‘Wonwoo’ has to do!]
At the system’s message, Wonwoo mulled over the information about this gate that he had heard from Yonghyun and Mihee.
‘According to the energy measurement results, this gate is a B-rank, entry-type gate.’
‘An entry-type… gate?’
‘You can think of it as going on a hunt. Compared to yesterday… the monsters aren’t coming out, but are waiting inside the gate.’
Yonghyun then added that this entry-type was the safest gate as long as the raiding was successful, as there was no way for civilians to directly see or encounter the monsters.
Wonwoo’s job here was to guide Yonghyun while staying out of the way and protecting himself as much as possible.
‘Support-type espers with almost no combat ability hide themselves among the party members in the center, not the rear. There are many parties that place a rear-type tanker in consideration of a surprise attack from behind. But since Chief Shin Yonghyun is in our party, the rear is also safe.’
Mihee’s expression was so full of pride and satisfaction when she said that, that Wonwoo almost clapped without realizing it.
Recalling his conversation with Mihee, he was internally chanting, ‘My job, in a position no different from a support-type esper, is first, survival, second, survival, and third, survival!’ when a message arrived on his phone.
[Wonwoo hyung, have you arrived? I’ll be there soon! ^^]
While riding in the van, Wonwoo had contacted Jinho to let him know that he was going to raid the gate in Anyang with Yonghyun.
‘Hmm, since it has come to this, it would be good if Esper Han Jinho could join us.’
‘Yes, that’s right. Esper Han Jinho has very good synergy with support-type espers like us.’
‘Having two or more S-ranks participate in a B-rank gate is a bit excessive, but if the dispatch fee can be negotiated….’
Yonghyun and Mihee gave their opinions after seeing Wonwoo contact Jinho, and so Wonwoo proposed that Jinho join them.
‘Raid it together? Just the two of us with Wonwoo hyung? I’d love to!’
‘Well, uh… it’s not just the two of us.’
‘I don’t care, I’m in! I just need to go to Anyang, right? I’ll leave now.’
It was a bonus that cheers erupted from the planning and management department when Jinho’s message, asking for a nominal dispatch fee considering it was a B-rank entry-type gate and he was with Yonghyun, was relayed to them.
[Yes, I’m waiting now. I think we’ll leave as soon as Jinho-ssi arrives.]
Just as Wonwoo, who had sent the message, was about to contact Yonghyun again, someone knocked on the van’s window.
“Hey, hey. Can you roll down the window?”
“Ah, yes. Just a moment.”
Wonwoo was about to mindlessly open the window as the voice said, when a thought suddenly struck him. 'Did I just open the door without even checking who it is?'
“Thanks for opening it, but what are you going to do if you open it without even checking who it is? What if I was a villain or something? Of course, I’m not a bad guy, so it’s fine.”
'Yes, I was just realizing that fact and falling into self-loathing….' After dry-washing his face in his mind two or three times, Wonwoo fixed his gaze on the man in a neat casual suit beyond the window.
“Ah, hello. Are you perhaps… Esper Kim Hyeonil?”
“Oh. You know my name? Well, it’s not easy for a Korean not to know my name.”
Hyeonil grinned and moved his body closer to the car. Thanks to that, Wonwoo was able to see Hyeonil’s face a little closer and in more detail.
'Are all S-ranks handsome…?' Looking at his gray eyes, it felt somewhat unreal, and he had a silly thought that didn’t fit the situation.
If Yonghyun brought to mind a deep navy blue and Jinho a pale cherry blossom pink, then Hyeonil, who was now in front of Wonwoo, brought to mind the color of ash.
“What’s our guide friend’s name?”
“Ah, Kim Won… is my name….”
“Hmm?”
“How did you know that I’m a guide?”
Could it be that the fact that he was a guide was published in a newsletter that espers, especially S-rank espers, passed around?
It was a slightly absurd hypothesis, but Wonwoo had no choice but to think that way. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how every esper he met knew that he was a guide.
“Hmm, how should I explain this. If I say I have my ways of knowing everything, would that seem suspicious?”
“Yes…. A lot.”
“But I felt it as soon as I saw you. Ah, this guy is a guide! And. Of course, I heard the word ‘guide’ from Chief Shin Yonghyun.”
“You know Chief Shin Yonghyun?”
Oops. Wonwoo wanted to slap his mouth for saying that just now. There was no way that fellow S-rank espers wouldn’t know each other, and besides, there was no way that Hyeonil, a fellow esper, wouldn't know Shin Yonghyun, who was practically the face of the Bureau.
“Ah, of course you would know. I just made a slip of the tongue…. Haha. You heard from the Chief? Haha.”
Embarrassed by his slip of the tongue, Wonwoo just laughed, haha. Whether he liked the laugh or was just teasing him, Hyeonil laughed along with Wonwoo.
“Yeah. To be precise, I eavesdropped on it. So he’ll probably be here soon, right? Chief Shin Yonghyun.”
“E-eavesdrop? On what?”
'Something illegal just seemed to pass by, is this okay…?' Wonwoo looked at the pleasantly smiling Hyeonil with trembling eyes.
'Chief, this person is suspicious…. Where are you, I don’t think I should be alone with this person.'
'He didn’t seem like this kind of person when I saw him on social media.' Wonwoo wanted to throw everything away and disappear from in front of Hyeonil.
“What else is there to eavesdrop on. The secret conversations of the Bureau people….”
“Esper Kim Hyeonil.”
“Ah. You’re here, Chief Shin? It’s been a while.”
Did Wonwoo’s desperate wish reach him? Yonghyun approached Hyeonil and Wonwoo with a quick pace. Naturally, Hyeonil’s eyes naturally narrowed.
“I believe I just heard something related to an illegal act.”
“You heard? Aigoo, Chief Shin has sharp ears. My kids told me not to get caught. I got caught.”
“Hoo…. I will hold you responsible for that later. Next. Why are you here? As far as I know, you have a meeting with our Chief Shin Yihyun this morning.”
“Ah, that. First of all, number 1, the meeting is cancelled. What’s the point of a meeting when a gate has appeared.”
“…If there’s a number 1, there must be a number 2. What is it?”
“Number 2. Hmm, hmm. I guess the Black Star Guild’s proposal is number 2. We’ll raid this gate without any separate dispatch or request fees. We’ll only take 10% of the gate’s spoils.”
“…What?”
While Yonghyun asked back in surprise, Hyeonil shrugged, and Wonwoo fidgeted in the middle, not knowing where to look, Hyeonil continued.
“And number 3. Instead of giving up all the rewards, I want to raid it with the guide friend here. That’s why I came all this way.”
Yonghyun cut off Hyeonil’s sudden rush of words with a single phrase.
“Then bring me the request form.”
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