FETCH 55

Beep—.

Following the sharp sound of a whistle, labored gasps of “heugh, haah” traded back and forth heavily. It was still a long way off from summer, yet the temperature inside the training room far exceeded that of midsummer.

Despite preparing air conditioning, cold water, ice packs, and even ice water to soak their feet in, the heat in the training room showed no signs of fading.

Since their first Olympics ended, the next Olympics had already approached right before their eyes. Nearly four years had passed since Jaechan joined the Center as a Guide.

With the new Olympics ahead, each Esper and Guide was currently spurring on their training in preparation for the national team selection matches.

Beep!

At the sound of the whistle blowing again, everyone’s breath catches for an instant. Beep, beep, beeeep! At the long, continuous signal, the Espers all lunged at each other at once and began to unleash their supernatural abilities.

And Jaechan’s eyes were fixed on Han Kang, who was moving his body with incredible agility. Even during the first Olympics, Han Kang had boasted a completed set of stats, but in the time since, his movements had become even lighter.

Unlike the hot air, a chill lingered around him, leading some Espers to intentionally cling to Han Kang. Every time that happened, Han Kang would frown, yet he radiated a subtle sense of ease.

One might think that since he had aged a bit, he wouldn’t be as bratty as he used to be…

“Ah, fuck, all of you get off me! I said it’s hot!”

That would be a miscalculation.

Han Kang had become more shameless, more bold, and more like Han Kang.

After screaming out, Han Kang moved his body nimbly here and there to avoid the Espers clinging to him. As if showing off the results of his training, he boasted physical abilities that were vastly superior despite having received the same training, shaking off the Espers lunging at him with full force in an instant.

“Isn’t your Esper just a monster?”

The voice of Choi Seokyoung heard from the side was thick with a sense of being fed up. Jaechan glanced at him. With his eyes closed as if he didn’t even want to look anymore, Choi Seokyoung shook his head.

“We decided to win a gold medal in this Olympics.”

“Who did? Han Kang?”

“Yes.”

“Why say something so obvious as if it’s some grand resolution.”

“That’s true, but his condition lately is…”

It happened the moment he spoke.

Crack—!

Along with a powerful rupture of wavelengths, Han Kang’s body expanded greatly in mid-air before shrinking back in an instant. Discovering this, Jaechan stopped what he was saying and hurried to check Han Kang’s condition.

“Are you okay?”

He fumbled for his microphone and checked Han Kang’s status. It looked as though he were twitching for a moment, but Han Kang, instead of a verbal answer, raised his palm to signal that his condition wasn’t bad.

“You have to say it properly. Are you okay?”

— I’m okay. I’ll tell you if it’s difficult.

“Okay.”

The voice coming through wasn’t very good, but since he said he was okay, Jaechan decided to watch for now.

Jaechan had unknowingly left the safe zone and was gripping the fence tightly. Han Kang’s condition hasn’t been very good lately. To be precise, it wasn’t that his condition was bad, but rather that his wavelength was a bit unstable.

Jaechan nervously tapped the fence with his fingers and bit his lip repeatedly.

“You’re right, Kang’s wavelength is a bit unstable.”

“Is it very bad?”

“Still, there’s a regular check-up coming up soon, so we can look into it then. Don’t worry too much.”

Ji Sangtaek patted Jaechan on the shoulder and gave a relaxed smile. Perhaps because he was a veteran who ranked among the top in the Center and had experienced all sorts of things, he rarely made a fuss.

On the other hand, even though he was now in his fourth year, Jaechan was still anxious and nervous in many situations. Especially when it came to matters regarding Han Kang, he still blamed himself first.

If only I were a naturally manifested Guide.

His heart burned with the constant worry that Han Kang’s unstable wavelength might be his fault. Because of this, every time he performed high-intensity Guiding a bit more frequently, Han Kang’s tone was like, ‘Why are you going this far?’

He couldn’t reveal the fact that he had manifested by taking drugs, and Jaechan’s heart was turning black with worry these days.

“Once training finishes, make sure the Espers are Guided properly. Especially you, Jaechan, try to give Kang a bit more Guiding.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have a good lunch, and for the Guides, after afternoon individual training, you’re dismissed to go home on your own.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Watching the Esper training as it slowly headed toward the final stages, Ji Sangtaek gathered the Guides together and briefed them on the next schedule. Since they lived on almost the same schedule every day, there wasn’t a strict need for a briefing, but today he seemed to be trying to set a serious tone, given it was training for the national team selection matches.

Since Ji Sangtaek occasionally acted the part of the team leader to change the atmosphere, Jaechan also gave a light reply of “Yes” and looked at him. Their eyes met only for a moment. Ji Sangtaek let his gaze slide away to look at the electronic display.

On one side of the screen broadcasting the Espers’ sweaty training, their Guiding levels could be seen rapidly fluctuating in numbers.

And the place where Ji Sangtaek’s eyes landed was Han Kang’s Guiding level.

“Oof, Han Kang is going to need insertion Guiding. I’ll go ahead and reserve a Guiding room.”

Jaechan followed his gaze to the display. He had clearly raised the level to nearly 100 in the morning, but it had already dropped into the 70s. Not only that, but the drop was so steep it felt like a rampage might occur soon.

Jaechan’s hand reflexively curled into a tight fist.

Seriously, what is wrong with him?

Jaechan immediately called out a word of thanks to Ji Sangtaek’s back as he left the training room and looked at Han Kang again.

There were about five minutes left until the end of training. Han Kang’s hand was twitching minutely, and his expression was gradually hardening.

Even amidst this, the supernatural powers of the Espers settled over the training room showed no sign of lifting. The layers of wavelengths felt heavy enough to be physical.

Thwack thwack thwack!

With attacks trading rapidly, the Espers appeared in the east and vanished in the west. Their movement speeds were incredible, as if they hadn’t been born human to begin with.

Crack—!

Once again, a powerful wavelength exploded, and a chill pervaded the interior of the training room. This time, too, it was undeniably Han Kang’s wavelength, but unlike Jaechan’s body which was tense with strain, Han Kang still showed light movements.

“Did you do that on purpose just now?”

— Yeah, because the leader kept chasing me.

“Okay. Keep going. Three minutes left.”

Jaechan looked around with anxious eyes. In agility training, where one must protect the sensors attached to the body while simultaneously defending and attacking, coordination with the Guide was extremely important.

It was training to move quickly based on the Guide’s advice amidst the wavelengths of supernatural powers that hit and run frantically.

However, instead of advice, Jaechan watched Han Kang’s status intently. He had said he would do so even before the training began, and Han Kang had nodded his head in agreement.

Despite that, Han Kang had the most sensors remaining on his body. He used his wide-ranging wavelength to tie down the surroundings’ feet, and simultaneously created ice to attack their sensors. In the meantime, he protected his own and stripped away those of others.

Is his wavelength unstable because he’s using his powers to that extent?

After thinking deeply, Jaechan shook his head. Han Kang’s status had been the same even before this training session.

Beep—. Beep—. Beep—.

The training ended along with a long signal. Simultaneously, Jaechan hopped over the fence and entered the stadium interior.

“Han Kang! Come here right now, right now.”

Panting for breath, Jaechan waved his hand at the huffing Han Kang and bit his glove with his teeth to pull it off. With a scritch, scritch sound of velcro tearing, his hand slipped out. He faced the strange air that was both cool and hot only for a moment.

Jaechan grabbed the hand of the approaching Han Kang firmly.

“How are you. You don’t look good, so don’t say you’re fine.”

“Yeah. It’s not good. Look at this, it’s doing it again.”

Even as Jaechan held Han Kang’s hand tightly and poured out his wavelength with all his might, the fingertips of the other hand that wasn’t being held twitched and convulsed.

Seeing that, Jaechan’s expression hardened coldly.

“Ah, why does it keep doing this.”

Jaechan swallowed a heavy breath inwardly at Han Kang’s tone, which was thick with annoyance rather than worry. Han Kang, looking down at his own hand, was turning it this way and that as if it were someone else’s business. It wasn’t just the twitching. The back of the hand, where blue veins were tangled haphazardly, was quite ghastly to look at.

Han Kang’s face was drenched in sweat. When Jaechan wiped it away with his hand regardless, Han Kang gave a smirk and rubbed his cheek against Jaechan’s palm. Even in the midst of that, a pained groan escaped Han Kang’s lips. He seemed to be trying his best to endure it, but it was certain that he wasn’t well.

“First, first let’s go to the Guiding room and do some Guiding. Your Guiding levels are too low right now. Why are your wavelengths so unstable lately… It’s worrying.”

Jaechan said this as he folded both of his hands over both of Han Kang’s hands. Whether he felt the worry, Han Kang also gave an obedient answer of “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry too much, I’m okay.”

Jaechan couldn’t bring himself to smile at the added words.