SOFTIE 29

Hit by a foot, Softy rolled along and struck the wall. The nearby Guides only watched cautiously; not a single person stepped forward. Softy, his vision flipped upside down, glared at the human who had kicked him.

It didn’t hurt, but it left him in a foul mood. Murderous intent surged once more, but Softy suppressed it by thinking of Yeonwoo. It was just as Softy was wiggling to right himself and move.

“Mister Softy, shall we have a word for a moment?”

Why are there so many things interfering with me? I have to go meet Yeonwoo. The human who called Softy was the teacher.

“It was your first class—was there anything difficult to understand? If you have questions, I’ll let you know.”

…Since he happened to have something to ask, he decided to follow.

Softy obediently followed behind the teacher. However, before Softy could ask anything, the teacher handed him a weapon. It was the very weapon he had explained and shown during class.

“Esper Seo Yeonwoo is an Esper who will now receive proper guiding for the first time. Therefore, he might coax the unknowing Mister Softy into demanding guiding. Since Mister Softy is Esper Seo Yeonwoo’s Guide, I am giving you this. As I explained earlier, you can brandish this when in danger, and if you press this pager, it will contact me. Then I will protect Mister Softy. Do you understand?”

Softy blinked, listening silently to what the teacher was saying.

I’m the one protecting Yeonwoo; what is he talking about?

Thinking Softy was listening intently to his words, the teacher spoke even more enthusiastically.

“You can put it in your storage space. You must not tell Esper Seo Yeonwoo. Espers are dangerous to Guides. There are those who think they only need to obtain guiding. Especially Esper Seo Yeonwoo, his contamination level is high, so you must be extra careful. Shall we look at something together for a moment?”

The thought of asking the teacher questions vanished completely. He suddenly turned on a computer screen and showed several videos. They were videos from an era when Guides were exploited by Espers. Naturally, the meaning was clear.

The teacher wanted him to see the state of the Guides, but Softy stared at the Espers who were suffering because they couldn’t receive guiding.

On the day they reunited, the Yeonwoo he saw then looked exactly like that. Eyes staring into the void, but containing nothing within them.

“You see? If he were an ordinary Esper, I wouldn’t care, but Esper Seo Yeonwoo is an S-rank. You must be particularly careful. Because he is a strong Esper, he might forcibly steal your energy. It is a matter directly linked to your life, so you must be cautious.”

This kind of person is the most dangerous. Smiling and pretending to be kind and good, while trying to rip out a throat from behind.

Moreover, this human—he dislikes Yeonwoo.

Yeonwoo turned the pouncing magical beast into a roast. He stepped over the corpse of the beast, which was dying after being scorched by electricity without even being able to approach, and moved forward.

“He cherishes a fellow like that so dearly.”

“Softy is different from these things.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure he’s different.”

Yeonwoo ignored Kang Hana’s sarcasm. She was full of complaints. She thought there would be time to rest once Yeonwoo returned, but more Gates were thrust into their hands just to interfere with him. It was to the point of being suspicious where so many Gates were appearing from.

Everyone seemed to be growing exhausted from the raids hitting them with such tiring frequency.

“Should we just bolt? It’s not like Korea will collapse without us.”

“It might collapse.”

Shin Yoosung calmly pointed out the reality. If the Seoul Branch Team 1, which achieved the highest success rate in Korea, bolted to another country, it was questionable whether this nation would function properly.

“If Seo Yeonwoo hadn’t been here, it would have collapsed long ago.”

Whenever a crisis arose in Korea, it was always Seo Yeonwoo who stepped up. Forget Team 1—if just Seo Yeonwoo alone vanished, Korea would stagger.

“True. I’d rather they use a legitimate reason and tell us to suffer; that would be fine. But is there a team that can’t handle a Gate like this? There isn’t. Isn’t it strange that people who used to throw only difficult Gates at us to milk us dry are suddenly giving us Gates like this? They’re doing it to spite us. Otherwise, they couldn’t do this to me. There’s no time to rest!”

It was a fact that even if Kang Hana didn’t say it, anyone who knew anything was aware of.

“By the way, are you okay even if you take off the earring?”

Shin Yoosung asked, looking at Yeonwoo’s bare ear. Yeonwoo fiddled with his pierced ear. Now that the item he had worn for over ten years was gone, it felt awkward, but the reason for wearing it had vanished.

“I’m receiving guiding now. There’s no need to limit my abilities anymore.”

“Still, the level hasn’t dropped to Green yet. Is it really okay?”

“I’m adjusting it moderately.”

“That’s the problem. Your contamination level is going to skyrocket if you do that.”

At Kang Hana’s words, Yeonwoo let out a smirk. Even if the level rose, he had a Guide who would stabilize him.

“Must be nice for you.”

Understanding Yeonwoo’s smile, she shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s fine. Like you said, these are just mediocre Gates; they aren’t places where I’d need to use a lot of power.”

“That’s true.”

A monster flew back from Kang Hana’s kick. The swarming magical beasts hesitated as if facing fierce predators.

Yeonwoo fiddled with his ear, lost in thought. He suddenly became curious. What would happen if he didn’t limit his strength? He had taken off the earring, but he had never used more than the strength he had previously restricted.

Yeonwoo had controlled his abilities for a very long time. Therefore, he didn’t know the limit of his power used in an unregulated state.

“I’ve rounded them up.”

“Alright, I’ll burn them all! Let’s finish this quickly and get off work!!”

The main attack pattern was for Shin Yoosung to bind several magical beasts with shadows and bring them forward, and for Choi Minjae to emit smoke so the beasts would fall into hallucinations and walk right in front of them, then for the high-firepower Yeonwoo and Kang Hana to sweep them away.

While Kang Hana was laughing heartily looking at the blazing flames, Yeonwoo tried to use his ability once without restriction.

Electricity flowed from Yeonwoo’s body and headed toward the magical beasts in a straight line. Due to the powerful shockwave, all of Kang Hana’s flames were extinguished, and not a single corpse of a magical beast remained.

The surroundings became silent.

“…What are you doing?”

Kang Hana, staring blankly at her feebly extinguished flames, muttered.

“No, I just tried to do it for real for once…”

Yeonwoo looked down at his hands wordlessly. He had controlled it subconsciously. But it was stronger than before. Was it because there were no side effects and the contamination level had dropped to some extent?

Once Yeonwoo exerted his true skill, the Gate was cleared in no time. Park Gunwoo’s shoulders slumped dejectedly when he realized he wasn’t of help for even Hana thing.

“I’m of no help.”

His only strength was his sturdiness; while he could block attacks from magical beasts, he wasn’t suited for subjugating a large number of them.

“Straighten your back! It’s a relief you’re here. You help us clear quickly and transport us to the next Gate location in a second. If not for you, we’d have to move by car. That would waste time and be more tiring in various ways.”

Yeonwoo checked his contamination level while continuously using his abilities. Because he had used his powers recklessly thinking it was fine, the level was right on the verge of approaching 80%. Ordinarily, he would have been anxious and frustrated, but now it was okay because he had a Guide.

In fact, he could use the high contamination level as an excuse to go see him. He used to envy Espers who went to see their Guides after a raid, and now he could do the same.

“I miss Softy. I wonder if he’s doing well in class.”

“Hey! Can’t you see the magical beast coming in front of you?”

Yeonwoo looked up at the sky. The round, clumped clouds looked exactly like Softy.

“How many are left?”

“Hana A-rank, and four B-ranks.”

Yeonwoo was lost in thought as he cleared the beasts. He heard that class ended at 2:00 PM. It would be good to go before then, but 2:00 PM was impossible. Moreover, once class ended, they would surely call him separately to talk about something.

Before the sun sets—at least before 4:00—I have to go pick him up.

“I’ll finish this in three hours.”

“…What?”

“Pardon?”

Kang Hana and Park Gunwoo asked back as if it were absurd, but Yeonwoo silently dealt with the magical beasts. Once the wave energy maintaining the Gate lowered and entered a stable zone, he turned his back without lingering.

“What are you doing? Not moving? I’m going first.”