Chapter 91: Hallucination

The scope of a rampage varied according to an Esper’s ability and rank, and likewise, there was a great disparity in their recovery power.

An injury that an S-class Esper like Tae Hwan could quickly recover from could threaten the life of a lower-ranked Esper.

“Will you be alright?”

Seung Ho’s personal Teleport Esper asked as he helped him inside his home.

Normally, Seung Ho would have let go of the arm he was holding right after the teleportation ended, but he didn’t refuse his support.

His condition was that serious.

“You can go now.”

Seung Ho, who had stopped in front of the bedroom, sent the Teleport Esper away.

He ordered him to assist Team Leader Kim until he called, and then entered the room alone.

The Gate that had appeared in the civilian area had not yet been eliminated.

If not for the unexpected turn of events, Seung Ho would have joined them as well.

His legs felt heavy as he walked toward the bed without turning on the lights.

His combat uniform jacket, which was only draped over his shoulders, fell to the floor due to his unsteady gait.

Seung Ho, with his left arm bandaged where it should have been, used his right arm to pick up the jacket and place it on the table.

Even that small movement seemed to strain his body, and pain flared in his torn-out left shoulder.

The Teleport Esper he had promised Bodam to heal had rampaged.

If it weren’t for Seung Ho’s barrier, which had moved him to a private room in the medical center, the entire ward would have been obliterated.

Seung Ho, who had detected the pre-rampage symptoms, sent a signal to the standby Rampage Suppression Team and erected countless reinforced walls to trap the Teleport Esper.

Instead of letting go of the hand he was holding, Seung Ho layered a barrier over it and lost his left arm in the ensuing rampage.

Even though he couldn’t even stand on his own, Seung Ho refused treatment.

None of the medical staff watching the situation urged him further.

After all, he was a Healing Esper.

As Seung Ho took off his own shirt, the medical staff removed the melted fabric from the severed part of his arm, cleaned the blood, and simply bandaged it.

Watching him not even grimace once during the process, as if he felt no sensation, they thought, ‘As expected of Han Seung Ho.’

But why couldn’t that same Han Seung Ho stop the rampage?

If he had just cut off his breath the moment the pre-rampage symptoms started, he would have saved his left arm.

‘Please, heal him.’

It was a choice uncharacteristic of him.

If one had the ability to kill an Esper on the verge of a rampage, it was right to do so to minimize the damage.

It was a decision everyone knew but found difficult to make.

Many hesitated, unable to cut off the breath of a fellow Esper in an instant.

The sight of them turning into a ball of fire before a rampage felt like their own future.

‘Team Leader!’

It was rare to find a superior who could kill an Esper as unhesitatingly as Han Seung Ho, who was even rumored to be emotionless.

Normally, one would show at least a hint of agitation at killing an Esper in the same predicament.

Just as he would indifferently pass by a dying person, he would calmly end the life of a subordinate crying that they didn’t want to die.

That Han Seung Ho.

‘You’ll heal him, right?’

His judgment had been clouded.

Lying in bed, Seung Ho turned off his phone, which had been ringing incessantly.

They were matters he couldn’t resolve in his current state anyway.

To recover his left arm, he needed sufficient rest and guiding.

Even without guiding, his arm would be back after a deep sleep.

Seung Ho needed sleep.

“Ahem.”

He was thirsty, too.

A wave of thirst washed over him, but he had already gotten into bed without even the energy to change his clothes.

He raised his eyelids slightly and scanned the pitch-black room.

It seemed better to fall asleep quickly than to expend the energy to walk to the kitchen.

He closed his eyes again and tried to sleep.

When was the last time he had been injured to the point of being unable to support himself?

Despite being in an unfamiliar situation, his expression was as serene as the silence that filled the house.

He waited for sleep amidst the familiar stillness.

The ever-worsening pain pushed away sleep, but he would fall asleep eventually.

As he always had.

‘Team Leader.’

“……”

‘I hope you get sick.’

A long time had passed since he closed his eyes and waited for sleep, but sleep still wouldn’t come.

Although he was in a space so quiet it felt like time had stopped, it was so loud his jaw ached.

‘With no medicine to cure you and no one to help.’

He finally gave up on sleep and sat up.

When he closed his eyes, the sound ringing in his head grew louder.

A white face that appeared through the darkness was endlessly repeating the same words.

‘I hope you suffer alone in an empty hospital bed and then leave.’

Even with his eyes open, the voice repeated, and Seung Ho’s head slowly drooped.

His one remaining right hand came into his wavering vision.

The persistent pain that made his jaw ache traveled down his neck.

The worsening thirst made him crave water, but he had neither the strength to get out of bed nor anyone to help him.

He was alone, as always.

The fact, nothing new, dug into the empty space that had opened up.

The image of himself, trapped in bed with incessant pain and no one to ask for a glass of water, came to mind.

It was the end Bodam had cursed him with.

He had expected it himself.

Even in the face of death, Seung Ho was used to being alone.

In fact, he had thought that only by being alone could he end his life peacefully.

“…Yoon Bodam.”

But to think that in his final moment, he would recall and search for someone.

Seung Ho’s head, drenched in cold sweat, touched the headboard.

Even in a sitting position, he lost his balance and gradually tilted.

The silence of reality, which had fled from his noisy insides, was excessively quiet.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before.

Yoon Bodam.

As the unfamiliar emotion washed over him, Seung Ho slowly withdrew his healing.

He couldn’t control anything.

Neither his body nor his emotions.

‘When did I become so weak?’

Drip.

As the healing ability disappeared, blood droplets formed and fell from the bandage, which was quickly covered in red stains.

The blood that seeped out, as if it had been waiting, instantly stained the pillowcase as well.

A foul smell emanated from the dampness.

‘I can’t become weak.’

Bang, bang, bang.

Ding-dong. Ding-dong.

BANG, BANG, THUMP!

“Ah…”

Bodam, who had hit a bone wrong while pounding on the door with his fist, squeezed his eyes shut.

When there was no response no matter how many times he rang the bell, he had started to beat on the door with all his might.

Judging by Han Seung Ho’s wavelength remaining in the hallway, it was clear he was inside the house.

A capable guide could sense an Esper’s condition just by their wavelength.

“Team Leader Han Seung Ho! Are you alright?!”

Bodam raised his cracked voice and pressed himself against the door, checking for any sign of movement.

His serious face, from concentrating on the sounds beyond the door, was covered with traces of crying.

He had been crying for a long time, thinking of the Teleport Esper who had saved him.

An Esper who, while suffering from the pain of his rotting leg, had pushed Bodam’s back, telling him to run.

‘If I had guided him more. If he had used a little less power. He wouldn’t have rampaged.’

After mulling over the guilt that inevitably followed a guide, he came to his senses and found himself in front of Han Seung Ho’s house.

His body moved on its own upon hearing that Han Seung Ho, who had been by the Esper’s side, had refused treatment despite being severely injured.

It was because his unusually sensitive guide’s intuition kept stirring up anxiety.

“Guide Yoon Bodam. Please calm down. Nothing will be wrong.”

The Barrier Esper in charge of Bodam’s protection wrapped a barrier around the hand that was about to knock on the door.

The small guide’s hand was turning red, matching his large frame.

He couldn’t understand why he was worried about Team Leader Han Seung Ho of all Espers.

Even if his left arm was gone, he would probably heal himself with that amazing healing ability of his.

“Please answer! You’re in there, right?!”

When the sound of his knocking didn’t echo due to the barrier, Bodam raised his voice even louder.

He didn’t stop, even when the Barrier Esper beside him urged him to go back.

“It’s Team Leader Han Seung Ho, what is there to worry about? He probably can’t hear because he’s blocking outside noise. You know his ability well.”

“Healing ability users also rampage.”

The Barrier Esper, who had been contemplating whether to drag Bodam away by force, withdrew his hand at Bodam’s next words.

“Han Seung Ho is an Esper too, and a person.”

There were many times he wondered if he was even the same species, but Han Seung Ho was a person too.

Would Han Seung Ho be able to evade the death that came faster the more one let their guard down?

People never knew when or how they would die.

“Let’s just check if he’s okay and then go.”

He was worried about Han Seung Ho.

Even more so because of everyone’s nonchalant attitude that he would be fine.

“Why is his phone turned off? That bastard….”

At the Barrier Esper’s words that he might have blocked outside noise, Bodam gave up on calling out further.

Instead, he fumbled with the door lock key and tried to call Tae Hwan.

Just in case he might know Han Seung Ho’s house password.

His anxiously beating heart made him think of that fierce but reliable face.

“Huh? Why is this….”

Bodam, who had placed his hand on the door lock, paused.

No light came on, even when he tried pressing his palm to it and pushing the buttons.

Click.

When he pulled the handle with force, the door opened.

Stunned, Bodam watched the door open anticlimactically before finally going inside.

He had no time to wonder about the malfunctioning door lock.

The Barrier Esper, who had intended to follow him, instead checked to see if the door lock was broken.

As soon as he entered the house, he realized his intuition had been right again.

The unstable wavelength of an Esper leaking from a sealed room was detected.

Among the many doors in the excessively large house, he ran to find Han Seung Ho’s presence.

There was only one door that was closed.

“Ugh.”

Bodam, who opened that door and entered, unconsciously took a step back.

The acrid smell that stung his nose and an excessive wavelength he had never experienced before pressed down on his skin.

“Ha, Han Seung Ho!”

He gave up trying to find the light switch in the pitch-black bedroom and followed the wavelength.

A large, barely visible shadow had collapsed at the end of the bed.

He rushed over, and a damp pool had collected under the bed.

…Was it not water?

Fumbling with his hands, Bodam grabbed Seung Ho’s shoulder and discovered that the empty left shoulder was soaked.

He immediately put his ear under his nose to check his breathing and barely managed to sit the tilted body up.

Fortunately, his breathing was not weak.

“You can hear my voice, right?”

He grabbed Han Seung Ho’s face, wet with what could be either blood or sweat, and spoke to him.

A hand, reacting to his presence, grabbed Bodam’s wrist.

“Open your eyes. Are they open?”

His eyes couldn’t adjust to the complete darkness, where not a single ray of light penetrated.

The darkness was so oppressive it would fluster even someone without night blindness.

‘Ah, he has them open.’

Bodam, who had turned on the emergency light with his wrist watch, shone it on Seung Ho’s face.

His complexion, as he met his eyes without a word, was so pale it was startling.

It was the first time Bodam had seen Han Seung Ho looking dazed with unfocused eyes.

“To the, to the medical center.”

Startled by his unfamiliar appearance, Bodam stuttered.

He had already started guiding the moment his hand touched him.

He turned his head toward the door to ask the Barrier Esper who had followed him in to call a Teleport Esper.

“Yoon…”

With a weak, leaking voice, Seung Ho’s forehead fell onto his cheek.

Bodam…. The voice that mumbled the rest of his name was so low that even hearing it from right in front of him, it was barely audible.

Bodam, whose cheek was pressed firmly, tried to respond calmly despite his panic.

‘Okay, first, let’s read the wavelength.’

“Sorry.”

He couldn’t confirm the exact numbers, but there were no signs of a rampage.

In that case, until the Teleport Esper arrived, he would calm his wavelength with guiding—

“I’m sorry.”

“……”

“Yoonbo, dam.”

Bodam’s train of thought, which had been busy thinking of ways to stabilize the Esper, abruptly cut off.

It seemed his hearing had gone bad from his cheek being pressed so hard.

That Han Seung Ho?

Was he hearing things because he wanted an apology from Attack Team 3?

As if to deny Bodam’s suspicion, Seung Ho’s right arm moved and wrapped around his thin shoulder.

With only one arm left, he hugged the shoulder he could still fully embrace and repeated the same words.

Sorry. I’m sorry.

“…Hwha?”

Bodam, whose cheek was so pressed that his head tilted back as the distance narrowed, repeatedly asked, “Huh?” with slurred pronunciation.

No matter how many times he heard it, it just sounded like an auditory hallucination.

“I’m sorry.”

Each time, Han Seung Ho reminded him with a dry breath that it was not a hallucination.

Continuously, as if the only words he knew were ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Yoon Bodam’.

His slow voice, like that of a child who had just learned to speak, hovered between the two phrases.