Chapter 101: Crow

The waiting room of Attack Team 3, which Tae Hwan had completely wrecked, had its construction finished and was transformed into a meeting room and office for Team 1.

Just in time, a temporary space was created for Attack Team 1, which had withdrawn from the civilian area.

Until now, they had only had dorms within the Center and had only operated from an external garrison.

In the space that had been Team 3’s living room, only a long conference table and a beam projector were placed, creating a stern atmosphere.

The strategy meeting of Attack Team 1, seated around the table, was coming to an end.

Team Leader Baek and her team members all commanded outstanding attack units respectively.

All members of Attack Team 1 were on par with the team leader rank of other teams.

“Aram. Aram.”

Team Leader Baek muttered as she listened to the report with a composite sketch that looked like a drawing of a hairy beast displayed on the screen.

Three Espers had rampaged, and there was a woman who appeared in common in the witnesses’ testimonies.

A woman with long hair and thick winter clothes.

“She doesn’t seem like the Crow. That one’s never been called by a human name, right?”

“Yes, sir. Never.”

The main duty of Attack Team 1 was to arrest the unregistered.

It was close to impossible to catch all the unregistered individuals, whose numbers grew as new manifestors appeared each year.

The main purpose of the arrests was to find their roots.

Attack Team 1 called those roots the Crow.

The Crow, who wore a pitch-black mask indistinguishable from the night sky and announced its presence with a loud cry.

The root cause that lured newly manifested young Espers away from the Center had to be cut out as soon as possible.

The one who had only been hiding in the darkness was now openly picking a fight with the Center.

“They’re really excited, having gotten their hands on a few rare ones.”

The cause of the gates appearing in civilian areas along with the mysterious rampage incidents was concluded to be the manifestation of a rare ability user.

During the time the Esper Bureau Director was active, there had been a case of an ability user who could generate gates manifesting overseas.

It was an Esper who had disappeared after receiving only a moment of attention due to dying in the year of manifestation, unable to control their own ability.

After that, it was an ability treated as almost non-existent as no other similar ability user had manifested.

‘To think a being that doesn’t even manifest overseas would appear in Korea.’

‘And with another rare ability user who triggers Esper rampages at that.’

“What are they trying to do by grabbing a bunch of kids and making a scene? The Crow that lived as if it didn’t exist.”

Team Leader Baek, who turned her swivel chair towards the screen, laughed lowly and snapped her fingers.

At the sound, the composite sketch disappeared, and hundreds of photos of all different people unfolded.

Team Leader Baek, who was slowly scanning the faces she had already memorized, tapped the table, signaling the end of the meeting.

“Get Team A ready. Since they’re making such a fuss, asking to be caught, let’s play along with them.”

At the premonition that the all-night shifts would continue for a while, the faces of the team members who answered “Yes” were already shadowed.

They hadn’t slept for more than two hours for over a fortnight since the first gate appeared in the civilian area.

Though it was also because they drank instead of sleeping.

“Haaam-.”

The ballpoint pen thrown by Team Leader Baek entered the mouth of the bald man, who was yawning, reeking of the strong alcohol he had drunk the day before.

He had emptied two bottles of hard liquor from the shock of the ‘bald’ comment.

Team Leader Baek, who instructed the bald man, who was trying to return the pen, to throw it away, asked.

“What time is it.”

“It is seven fifty-eight.”

“Fifty-eight?”

‘Eight minutes?’ she asked back, her lips stretching in surprise as she checked her watch.

‘I definitely told Team Leader Han to come by 8.’

“Is the kid dead?”

She was puzzled, knowing well Seung Ho, who always arrived 4 minutes before the appointed time, no matter what.

That guy always arrived exactly 4 minutes before, not 10 minutes, not 5 minutes.

Ever since Team Leader Baek first saw him.

When it was past 8 o’clock sharp, Team Leader Baek took out her phone.

‘Han Seung Ho, late without notice.’

Having heard about his injury, she wondered if he had gone to the other world first, groaning in pain alone.

‘There’s no order in going, so I hope he departed peacefully.’

“As long as he didn’t rampage, that’s all that matters.”

Left alone at the long table after all the team members had disappeared, she called Seung Ho.

Just before the ringing started, the sound of a door opening was heard, so she hung up and checked Seung Ho’s condition, listening for his characteristic sharp footsteps.

‘His recovery seems incomplete.’

“Team Leader Han can be late too.”

Seung Ho, who had nonchalantly looked around the space that had been used as their waiting room, sat down next to Team Leader Baek, who was in the seat of honor.

He had forgotten to check the time while watching Bodam sleep.

Because Bodam, who had opened his eyes at the sign of him getting out of bed, had spoken to him, more time had passed.

For the first time in his life.

“Is it the Crow.”

“You should say, ‘I’m sorry for being late.'”

Team Leader Baek made a stern face at Seung Ho, who immediately got to the point.

“I will make sure not to be late.”

“And.”

“I apologize.”

“Right.”

A smile flickered on Team Leader Baek’s face, who had waited until an apology came out of Seung Ho’s mouth.

Not a single shred of remorse was present in the apology he spat out with his head held stiffly high, in that usual cold voice of his.

‘Anyway, that Seung Ho kid.’

“Let’s have a look.”

Team Leader Baek, who flipped open Seung Ho’s uniform jacket with her psychokinesis, looked at his left arm, which had not yet regenerated.

She covered the empty sleeve of his shirt again with the jacket and didn’t ask further.

“It doesn’t seem to be the Crow. It seems a few rare ability users have gone over. One that opens gates. And add the one that caused the rampage this time.”

Team Leader Baek continued her explanation, handing over a tablet PC with data.

“Her name is Aram. Early 20s, and her height is roughly mid-170s.”

“What is this.”

Seung Ho slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the drawing on the tablet screen.

Even on closer inspection, it was just a doodle.

Drawn by a child.

“Aram’s composite sketch. She says this is the eyes, nose, and mouth.”

“Were there any preschool children among the witnesses?”

“Well. I don’t know the age of your team’s former guide.”

“……”

“He drew it.”

Seung Ho’s narrowed eyes returned to their original size as he carefully examined the drawing.

He marked the important clues.

“We need Kang Yi Jun.”

Team Leader Baek, who was watching Seung Ho’s every gesture as if observing him, also got to the point.

It was the reason she had called him.

“The Bureau Director is on the verge of his tantrum flaring up. That guy is going to open his eyes, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you persuade him?”

“No.”

It was a short answer that would have angered her team members if they had heard it, but the familiar Team Leader Baek just nodded her head.

‘If that guy says no, then it’s no.’ Team Leader Baek also knew that Kang Yi Jun was not the type to use his mind-type ability for the Center.

It was just a shame for an ability that would shine in the interrogation process.

“Give it a try. Before the Bureau Director uses Guide Yoon as leverage. I know you guys aren’t interested in guides, but.”

Seung Ho’s gaze sharpened.

Team Leader Baek, who deliberately paused at the look that told her to keep talking, tilted her head.

The sight of him showing interest in a guide was fresh.

‘Look at them. Lee Tae Hwan and Min Ji Oh were like that too.’

“They said you were linked by some ambiguous imprinting. That means Kang Yi Jun likes him that much, so a condition has arisen for a guy who has nothing to lose.”

Team Leader Baek, who took out a cigarette and lit it, snickered, saying that coaxing one guide without backing would be no big deal for the Bureau Director.

“It’s common to give a guide a lot and tell them to stick by an Esper’s side, and to extract abilities from an Esper on the condition of attaching a guide to them. He has no money. And he probably has a lot of debt.”

Seung Ho said nothing.

Even at that dry reaction, Team Leader Baek, who was just smoking her cigarette, received a call from a team member saying preparations were complete.

She grabbed the jacket she had draped over the chair, left her instructions, and disappeared.

“We will execute the guide deployment operation immediately. We’ll release Team A first. If additional gates occur, only the upper-level teams will step in, so you guys get ready too. Especially Lee Tae Hwan.”

The cigarette butt, which had become stubby in just a few puffs due to Team Leader Baek’s tremendous lung capacity, was placed in the ashtray.

Seung Ho’s face was as calm as ever.

It wasn’t a story that would stir up much emotion anyway.

‘If they try to use Yoon Bodam, I just have to make it so they can’t touch him.’

“Oh, and Team Leader Han.”

Team Leader Baek, who reappeared before Seung Ho could get up from his chair, delivered her unfinished words.

“Get an exclusive guide. You can’t do it without a guide.”

She pressed for an affirmation, sharpening the edge of her soft, mid-low voice.

“Answer.”

Seung Ho, who rose silently from his seat, looked down at Team Leader Baek.

Team Leader Baek was also well over 180cm, but her younger junior was just shy of 2m.

The low, deep voice that matched his large build brought out an unexpected answer.

“I have one.”

“You have one?”

Seung Ho, who turned his back after the short answer, left the room.

Before closing the door and leaving, he turned around for a moment and took in the space, whose wallpaper color was even different from before.

It was the waiting room they had used ever since Attack Team 3 was founded.

One he had thought would never change.

***

When he first manifested as a guide, Bodam just felt relieved.

Because he had one less thing to worry about with employment.

But once he actually became a guide, his salary was peanuts and his work was a series of rages, so he lost sleep whenever he had the chance.

After joining Attack Team 3, he lived on stomach medicine for the stress that increased in proportion to the money he received.

He endured, taking comfort in his decreasing debt and the money that was slowly accumulating.

That was the Bodam of the past.

“Thank you for everything. Team Leader Kim.”

Back then, he thought he would be happy with just money.

‘Once I pay off all my debt and move to a safe house, I’ll be full even if I don’t eat.’

He had imagined that a day of smiling foolishly even after being beaten by Yoon Bomi would repeat itself.

“Call me right away if anything happens. I’m a little faster than Esper Min Ji Oh.”

“Yes, sir. Please be sure to contact me when you’re less busy, Team Leader Kim. I’ll treat you big time!”

“I’m happy just with the words.”

To such a Bodam, reality presented even more difficult conditions and played push-and-pull with happiness.

It presented trials as if to grant happiness only when the three elements were achieved.

As expected of a reality that was not so easy.

It made his heart burn until his health, a safe environment, and the money to support all of this were met.

“Do you like French food?”

“Just buy me coffee. Coffee.”

“What coffee do you drink? I’ll buy you enough to last a lifetime!”

Thanks to the lottery, Bodam had met the last and most difficult condition to obtain.

Health was a lifelong homework, and next was the environment.

This was the problem.

An obstacle that could never be overcome by his efforts alone was interfering with his happiness.

The unregistered individuals outside the Center and the natural imprinting with Kang Yi Jun were problems that could not be solved with money.

“Guide Yoon Bodam-nim.”

“Yes!”

“You look happy.”

But that didn’t mean he would give up on happiness.

‘It wasn’t just once or twice.’ Bodam had been through enough hardship to make alcohol taste sweet.

Yoon Bodam, who had declared war, saying “let’s see who wins,” even in the situation of being forced back to the Center.

His body was weak, but he prided himself on having a heart stronger than anyone’s.

Thanks to his many calluses.

“Do I?”

Bodam, who had taken off his patient gown and was wearing casual clothes, asked Team Leader Kim back.

He didn’t know that he was lightly shaking his head.

‘Am I in a good mood? Hmm, I guess so.’ It wasn’t bad.

The decision to return to Attack Team 3.

‘Because I’m not the me of the past.’