Chapter 31: Goodbye Everyone!

Ugh. Uhh.

New recruits, searching for water and dry heaving, became more numerous.

There were also some veterans who clicked their tongues but secretly suppressed their nausea.

The Gate site for the new recruits under Team Leader Han Seung Ho was truly an inferno.

Yi Jun, whose enthusiasm to break Team Leader Kim’s barrier had been crushed, in a suddenly melancholic mood, quietly killed all the monsters.

He made them wield their own sharp, scythe-like hands to stab vital points and messily dismember themselves.

This act of self-mutilation, mixed with foul smells and squishy monster blood, repeated itself.

The numerous monsters thus ended their own lives and crawled into piles of corpses.

This was Yi Jun’s usual method in the field.

The difference was, he didn’t use his ability when such a gloomy mood enveloped him.

His wildly fluctuating emotions were quickly subsiding.

“Brother Bodam.”

Yi Jun, who jabbed his foot into the muddy ground, called Bodam.

He approached Bodam, who was nestled like a child in the Barrier Esper’s arms.

Judging by Brother Bodam’s normal complexion, it seemed the outside sounds and sights were also blocked.

He was quite a capable barrier user.

Yi Jun’s mood sank even further.

“Let go of him if you’ve done enough.”

Seung Ho, who had returned after instructing the new recruits to clean up the monster corpses, blocked Yi Jun’s path.

The unconscious Teleport Esper was still clutched in his hand.

While it would have been a dangerous state for an ordinary person, the young Esper seemed to have fallen asleep after fainting.

“I haven’t even started.”

Yi Jun’s foot, which wore a gloomy smile, was blocked by Seung Ho’s barrier and could not advance further.

He was only nine steps away from reaching Brother Bodam.

The short distance felt strangely far.

“Knock, knock.”

Yi Jun playfully knocked on the barrier and made sounds with his mouth.

His pale complexion, unsuited to his smiling face, was turning white.

His drooping body seemed ready to collapse onto the ground.

“Hyung, let’s talk.”

Bodam, who had opened his closed eyes, looked up at Team Leader Kim, not Yi Jun.

Without breaking their close embrace, they exchanged words in a conversation unheard from outside.

Yi Jun, watching the two, blinked his eyes, trying to refocus.

He was so close, yet he couldn’t read his hyung’s thoughts because of the barrier.

He wanted to grip that fist-sized head in one hand. Since he couldn’t catch him, he just wanted to confine him in his arms.

He was gradually becoming dazed by the unexpected situation.

Because this was a plan that was completely absent from that small, complex mind.

‘Ah, I…’

Brother Bodam’s light brown eyes, which had turned away from the barrier user, finally looked at him.

He wondered if he could now see outside the barrier.

Even though he was clearly looking at him with unchanging eyes, it didn’t feel like they were making eye contact.

It felt unfamiliar.

“I need guiding.”

‘I underestimated my hyung.’

When there was no reply, he grabbed the unconscious Esper by the back of his head and slammed him into the barrier.

It was an act of taking out his anger.

The moment the Teleport Esper’s forehead hit the barrier with a thud, his head, which had passed into the barrier, instantly landed in Seung Ho’s hand.

“Oh.”

The hostage was snatched by Seung Ho, who had been watching for an opening.

Seung Ho, who opened the barrier and snatched Yi Jun’s hand, kicked the unconscious Esper with his foot, pushing him inside the barrier.

It happened before his eyelids even fully closed.

“Why are you so fast?”

Yi Jun, with a sigh and a widened smile, spoke to Seung Ho, who was crushing his hand.

“You’re just slow.”

Seung Ho, who incapacitated Yi Jun’s hand and then grabbed his neck and slammed him to the ground, replied curtly.

When Kang Yi Jun’s mood deteriorated, his skill also declined.

He was the type Seung Ho found most pathetic.

Kang Yi Jun was the human whose weakness, swayed by emotions, was most extreme.

“Don’t cover my eyes, Hyung.”

Seung Ho, who pressed the confinement barrier around Yi Jun’s neck to the ground, ignored his words.

Mind-type abilities were performed by looking into the eyes.

Kang Yi Jun, whose limbs were bound and sight blocked, was just a disobedient twenty-year-old brat.

“Team Leader-niim.”

Yi Jun, giving a charming eye-smile that wouldn’t work, asked him not to cover his eyes.

Seung Ho, who omitted a reply, crushed and broke Yi Jun’s other wrist with his foot.

Yi Jun’s hands were both thoroughly broken.

He wouldn’t be able to use his hands until the day after tomorrow.

He was young, so his recovery would be fast.

Han Seung Ho, whose expression remained completely unchanged during the entire process that lasted for a short moment, put on his in-ear monitor and connected to the control room.

He took out a black band of special material from his back pocket and requested a Teleport Esper.

Hearing a presence, he turned around to see Team Leader Kim kneeling on the ground, checking on the unconscious Esper.

Beside him, the overly meddlesome guide was already holding his hand and giving him guiding.
Pointlessly.

“Hold Brother Bodam for me.”

Yi Jun, whose vision was blocked by the black cloth Seung Ho had thrown over his eyes, said.

His smile, which still contained an unknowable depth, lingered on his lips, tireless.

“Huh? Brother Seung Ho.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll be quiet.”

Seung Ho, whose body felt much lighter after receiving guiding, conserved his energy instead of punching the maknae’s jaw.

He had to be careful not to waste energy, even to regulate his stabilizer intake.

“I like Yoon Bodam.”

Seung Ho, who decided he just needed to shut him up, lowered his long leg and aimed for his jawline.

Kang Yi Jun kept running his mouth.

“If he’s not here, I can’t—”

Thwack.

A strike that wasn’t loud enough to be covered by the sound of rain cut off Yi Jun’s words.

It was Bodam who kicked first, not Seung Ho.

“Ah….”

Yi Jun realized it was Bodam by his small foot size the moment the sole of a shoe touched his stomach.
His mouth instinctively fell open.

Bodam, who had stopped guiding the injured Teleport Esper, couldn’t stand the mad barking and rushed over, landing a kick.

He had been listening and listening, but he was barking too much.

“You, crazy, b*stard, threatening, with, someone’s, life!”

Like a madman, he kicked repeatedly, striking his abdomen with all his might.

He climbed onto the stomach of the b*stard who had ripped off the arm of a perfectly fine Esper who had come to do his job and threatened him with monsters, and then put his entire weight on him with both feet, striking him.

The Esper’s abnormally strong, muscular abdomen did not burst under Bodam’s feather-light weight.
He should have gained weight if he had known this would happen.

Bodam’s wish to damage at least one rib was not fulfilled.

Bodam, who had jumped up, slipped on his wet clothes.

Just before he fell onto Yi Jun’s body, Seung Ho grabbed him and helped him regain his balance.

Thud, Bodam, who planted his feet firmly on the ground, immediately shook off Han Seung Ho’s hand.

He disliked both of them.

“Is it fun?”

Bodam bent his upper body, rested his hands on his knees, and asked Yi Jun, catching his breath.

Kang Yi Jun, who had been thoroughly kicked in the stomach, was laughing like a madman.

He hadn’t made a single groan while being hit, and now he was laughing silently.

Crazy bastard, anyway.

“What’s so funny about everything to you?”

Raindrops, like sweat, gathered and dripped from Bodam’s chin, which was bowed.

Among the Espers of Attack Team 3, whom he hated in various ways, Kang Yi Jun was truly incomprehensible.

“Wasn’t I supposed to laugh?”

How could someone be so perfectly crazy?

Yi Jun, with an annoying smile, lifted his head in the direction of Bodam’s voice.

Beneath the black cloth, his gray eyes seemed to glow chillingly.

“Why are you trying so hard to hide?”

Kang Yi Jun’s voice, muffled and subdued by the rain, sounded a little unfamiliar.

The cheerfulness on his bright face seemed to waver, almost disappearing.

Bodam answered without hesitation.

“I never hid.”

“You don’t have money, either, Hyung.”

He didn’t even reply to Yi Jun’s immediate, backbiting retort.

Kang Yi Jun, who had been reading his pea-sized mind, knew all about Bodam’s family circumstances.

Even without looking deeply, these were thoughts that filled Bodam’s mind daily, never leaving him.

“Use my money.”

Bodam laughed along with him.

“I’ll pay you back everything, Hyung. …Please answer.”

“…….”

“Yoon Bodam.”

“How dare you call my hyung’s name rudely.”

Thwack.

Thud.

Bodam, who tried to cut off Kang Yi Jun and show off his fierce punch, fell over.

He had tried to impressively land a punch with the skill he used to break a wooden board during a one-day taekwondo trial class, but he slipped.

Even so, he maintained his sharp expression.

Team Leader Kim, who was watching intently, briefly looked away, and Seung Ho subtly raised one eyebrow.

Bodam, who had gained reliable safety thanks to Team Leader Kim’s barrier around him, did not immediately get up.

He naturally straightened his knees, brushed off his hands, and looked down at the slumped Kang Yi Jun.

He was miraculously not afraid.

He even seemed like a twenty-year-old brat throwing a tantrum.

Yes, he was truly young.

And since he was immature and ill-mannered, he was even more annoying.

‘I’ve lived being afraid of a guy like this?’

“I feel sorry for you guys.”

Of course, he had to be afraid.

He was an Esper, not an ordinary child, and moreover, an Esper with financial backing who could cover up any trouble he caused.

To Bodam, who would get slightly scared just by someone being tall, he was naturally a terrifying presence, enough to make his mouth go dry.

Especially Kang Yi Jun, who was uniquely even scarier.

“At least guides can leave by their own will. You guys have to live in the Center forever.”

Espers, no matter what incredible physique and abilities they possessed, led lives that would make one sigh.

No matter how much money they had, they could only live within the scope permitted by the Center.

Bodam, whose mind was broad despite his small stature, would sometimes forget his own predicament and feel pity for them.

Of course, it was truly rare, a compassion he had by accident, like catching a fly with his hand when trying to swat it.

“Because you’re confined for life until you die of old age.”

Bodam, dusting off the muddy soil from his knees, stood up and finished speaking.

The faint smile on Kang Yi Jun’s face blurred with the rainwater.

“Even if you guys were like idiots, I still tried my best.”

‘Hyung,’ a softly called voice was small enough to be covered by the rain.

It was uncharacteristic of Kang Yi Jun.

His lips, from which his conceited smile had been washed away, gaped.

“Don’t go.”

Bodam turned his back on Yi Jun.

Two Teleport Espers, who had arrived earlier, were waiting for Seung Ho’s command.

“Hyung. Don’t go.”

His damp voice rolled on the ground.

Bodam’s feet slowly planted themselves on the muddy ground for a moment, then lifted even slower.

“I’m leaving now. My business is finished.”

Bodam, passing Seung Ho, walked towards Team Leader Kim.

Thanks to the height difference, Han Seung Ho’s face didn’t enter Bodam’s vision unless he looked up.

He walked forward, treating Han Seung Ho as if he didn’t exist.

He never looked back.

Bodam, smiling as he approached Team Leader Kim, who had waited for him, took his hand with a face bright as day.

Team Leader Kim wrapped his other arm moderately around Bodam’s shoulder.

The wider the contact area, the smoother the teleportation.

Han Seung Ho, who had been watching them with an indifferent expression, turned his body towards the muttering Kang Yi Jun.

“Ah.”

Bodam, who had tightly closed his eyes for teleportation, hurriedly let go of Team Leader Kim’s hand.

At that small movement, Han Seung Ho, who had turned back again, suddenly had a wet piece of paper stuck to his face.

“Thank you for everything!”

Bodam, throwing his resignation, said goodbye in a loud voice.

It was an expression and voice that would annoy even the wide-mouthed onlookers.

Bodam, who didn’t forget to hand the white envelope to the team leader, burst into laughter.

The damp paper, precisely stuck on his high nose, clung to his face and wouldn’t fall off.

He hadn’t intended to throw it at his handsome face, but the trash he threw far away found its own place.

The Espers and new recruits on the opposite side, who had been watching this entire scene, looked as if their eyeballs would pop out.

They rubbed their eyes, wondering if they had seen wrong, and those who didn’t doubt their eyesight covered their gaping mouths.

They couldn’t believe the white envelope, marked ‘Resignation Letter’ in black marker, was stuck to Team Leader Han Seung Ho’s face.

Bodam, who scanned the astonished gazes of the onlookers, more numerous than the wind, smiled with satisfaction.

He saw a few familiar faces at the adjacent Gate, far away.

Every time he was cursed by his assigned Esper and dragged around in front of everyone, the faces of those watching him remained in his memory.

Their excited expressions and whispering lip movements were unforgettable.

At this, he suddenly realized that he might be quite intelligent.

His innocent smile deepened.

“Shall we go now?”

Team Leader Kim asked.

Bodam nodded quickly and grabbed his hand again for teleportation.

His quiet laughter wouldn’t stop escaping.

Tears, which would be hidden by the rain, also overflowed.

Bodam, who broadly gazed at the Gate site he would never set foot in again, raised one arm high.

All the emotions that had accumulated, making his stomach ache, burst out with a refreshing yell, like a dam breaking.

Without needing many words, he left only a short farewell.

Thinking he would never forget this moment for the rest of his life.

“Goodbye, everyone!”

It’s over.