SOFTIE 55

Moreover, Yeonwoo was a person who had exerted his utmost strength in clearing gates for the sake of Korea. Since awakening as an S-class Esper and being formally deployed to the field, there hadn’t been a single day he truly rested. Rather, there were more days when he was called out on his days off.

In other words, while working at the Association for over ten years, he had accumulated a significant amount of annual leave due to his various recognized achievements, but Yeonwoo had never used it.

Because of his sense of responsibility. He had felt that he couldn’t take leave because he never knew when or where people might arise who needed his help.

“Does the country think it’s doing so well that they can let gates sit idle and suddenly dump them all on me? And as a means to separate me from Softy, no less?”

He knows it perfectly well, and he has no intention of falling for it. It’s something even the citizens would laugh at if they knew.

There were quite a few people who criticized the higher-ups for scurrying to Yeonwoo to request help every time a gate appeared that they couldn’t resolve. To suddenly ask for such gates—and not just one, but several.

If he takes annual leave today, would they even be able to announce that fact to the public? They absolutely could not.

Even if they did, it would all be over if Yeonwoo revealed the fact that he had been forced to handle a murderous schedule. It was information that shouldn’t be disclosed, but since they were already enemies, he wasn’t broad-minded enough to consider the other party’s position.

“Shall I try using the leave I’ve built up all this time?”

Yeonwoo held the documents he had prepared the previous evening and began walking with Softy. He had already contacted Ma Seongtae. The man had made a groaning sound, saying it would be difficult, but told him to bring it in anyway.

Since Yeonwoo had occasionally told him how things were going, he was certain that this paperwork would pass safely. Honestly, there were a few gates that were on the brink, but it wasn’t as if Yeonwoo’s absence alone would cause a major problem.

“It’s hard even to play along with such foolishness.”

[Who is it? Who is bothering Yeonwoo? Is it those old geezers I saw last time?]

“That’s right. Softy, aren’t you smart?”

[I can tell at a glance who Yeonwoo hates or who hates Yeonwoo!]

“Is that so?”

He felt reassured.

The reason Yeonwoo had silently handled his schedule until now was simple and clear.

‘Because if I clear them faster, there won’t be any gates left to clear.’

As proof of that, the gates that had been waiting to be cleared were mostly sorted out. That applied not only to Seoul but to the provinces as well, so that said it all.

Therefore, he could easily guess why a sudden gap had appeared in his schedule, and since the schedule he received today was packed and concentrated with problematic gates, he could predict that something was going to happen.

However, gates do not appear while considering someone’s circumstances. Since gates threatening the safety of citizens would have had to be dealt with quickly, they would have only tampered with gates in remote or sparsely populated areas.

I wonder just how many there are. It’s actually impressive they scraped so many together.

Ah, there are also some where they intentionally dragged out the clearing process just to dump them on me. Those do need to be cleared urgently, but it’s not something Yeonwoo should be blamed for.

It is the fault of the person in charge who failed to deploy personnel properly, the pride of someone who didn’t ask for help sooner, and also the fault of someone who slowed down the progress of work just to play tricks.

“Are you really going to use it?”

“I contacted you yesterday.”

“I did receive that, but…”

Ma Seongtae looked at the perfectly drafted documents held out before him. The content was so flawless it didn’t look like it was written by someone doing it for the first time.

To think Yeonwoo would use annual leave for something like this. Even when I told him to use it every time instead of saving it up, the kid who wouldn’t even bat an eye has somehow come up with this.

“Is it not allowed?”

“Hey, brat. I’m still the Association President. Who’s going to say anything if I choose to exercise my authority? And you know your team members use their leave occasionally. You were the only stubborn one!”

Ma Seongtae is strictly the one in charge of the Espers belonging to the Seoul branch. He slammed the stamp down on the document.

“I’ve stamped it for now, and I’ll process the leave slowly. I have to prevent information from leaking to that side as much as possible. Roughly… I’ll process it once you’ve arrived at the Guide Association.”

“Thank you.”

“But if information leaks, Shin Witaek will use another move. He might contact you personally to tell you to return to duty.”

“I’ve already blocked him.”

“Huh…? Blocked?”

“Then would I even receive that call? No matter what they try, they won’t be able to stop me.”

Even if they tried to block his leave late, Yeonwoo had no intention of obeying quietly.

In the first place, what justification would they use to try and cancel the leave? Because of the gates? The culprit behind that is ultimately a problem on the side of the Supernatural Affairs Department, which failed in management, so they will never reveal that.

Furthermore, people would start asking why they handled the work that way. There are no citizens who don’t know that Yeonwoo has been running around busily.

Because he had intentionally greeted citizens frequently while moving between gates to expose Softy to the public.

“You’ve picked a day.”

“They were the ones who picked the day first. They should have expected to endure this much spite. It would be ridiculous to send Softy when I clearly know their ulterior motive.”

Ma Seongtae looked up at Yeonwoo. While Yeonwoo had disliked Shin Witaek in the past, there had never been a case where he showed such animosity and hostility.

There was no way to know the exact reason, but perhaps it was because he knew that one person disappearing wouldn’t change things significantly.

He had roughly closed his eyes and overlooked the tricks played behind the scenes, but who could overlook a threat to their own life and a Guide more precious than life itself?

“Ah, I looked into it, and there are a few Espers who have made contact with the Guide Association. It seems they really are going to cause trouble. I have the list, do you want to see…”

“Ah, it’s fine.”

“It’s fine…?”

“I’m going to win anyway, so is there any need to know?”

“…Right, you’re so great.”

In fact, Yeonwoo didn’t need it because he already knew which Espers had joined hands with Shin Witaek, but Ma Seongtae frowned because he didn’t know that. However, because it was a natural fact, he couldn’t say anything.

“Mister, thank you. It must have been hard to look into. Actually, I had a rough idea. You need an Esper to deal with a magical beast. But someone belonging to the Supernatural Affairs Department would be too obvious, so someone from the same organization as me would be better. Moreover, it’s more likely to be an Esper who is desperate for Guiding or a Guide. What they can offer an Esper is money, sure, but what they want most is the existence of a Guide. Especially if the Guide Association has turned their back.”

“You’re surprisingly smart.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

The Esper observation class, the way to go receive Guiding from rookies who have just manifested as Guides. It is an advantage to be able to meet Guides before other Espers. If you hit it off or your compatibility is good, you can request a pair first.

So, usually, those opportunities went first to Espers with good personnel evaluations, and there are Espers who don’t even get such chances.

They would have approached those kinds of Espers.

“If they are in their right mind, they wouldn’t try to make me an enemy. Unless it was for a reasonably urgent reason.”

They might look with provocative or unpleasant gazes, but it’s just a gaze. In the end, they can’t handle Yeonwoo with their abilities, so they are close to tucking their tails between their legs.

To persuade such a dog, you have to make a fairly good proposal, and no matter how much I think about it, there’s only Guides.

In fact, the Espers Yeonwoo had overheard having secret conversations were exactly like that. Those whose contamination levels are steadily rising but have no compatible Guide, or those who have a compatible Guide but have been pushed to the brink of a rampage because they were refused Guiding.

Yeonwoo is a special case; if contamination levels get high, you are quarantined. There were Espers who couldn’t accept that if only to stay alive. Of course, there were those who accepted it for the money, too.

‘I wish they would have talked secretly somewhere else; why have a conversation inside the Association so that I can hear it?’

Provoking Softy to reveal his true nature. They intend to plant a sense of danger in the public and make them demand the death of Softy, the magical beast. Even if the provocation fails or Softy is killed in the process, it’s fine with them.

They must be targeting Softy because they aren’t confident enough to target me.

Yeonwoo looked down at Softy. He really, truly does not like this situation where Softy is being threatened because of him.

[Why do those humans hate Yeonwoo? They were humans who would be nothing without Yeonwoo?]

“I know. I wonder why?”

[They are strange humans. Should I scold them like last time?]