Chapter 109: Confrontation

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The bald man slammed his bare hands on the powerful dome-shaped wall, spewing all sorts of curses.

Team Leader Kim, who had quickly retracted his shield and come over, examined the wall erected by the unregistered person and called for an attack team.

It wasn’t an ordinary reinforced wall.

It was an elaborately and sturdily constructed wall of a level that even the A-class Team Leader Kim could never create.

‘An ability user who can even change the color to be invisible from the outside.’

“Ha, that bastard can use barriers too?! You’re dead when you come out!”

The bald man, who had only thought of the unregistered person as a firepower Esper, was enraged, veins popping.

Just as he was about to be thrown at Kang Yi Jun, the unregistered person had created a reinforced wall.

That rat-like punk had been hiding his multiple abilities.

Rage boiled up at the rat who had feigned docility, hiding his exceptionally strong wavelength like a ghost.

He was even more furious because he had no idea what kind of conversation the psychos were having in there.

“Kang Yi Jun! Come out, you bastard!!”

Team Leader Kim, ignoring the furious bald man, meticulously analyzed the reinforced wall with a sensitive expression.

In the meantime, the attack Espers who had come for support gathered their strength to break the wall.

Team Leader Kim’s brow furrowed even deeper as he made way for them.

‘Even for a multi-ability user, this is unusual. If he’s a multi-ability user and surpasses A-class…’

“Connect me to Team Leader Baek.”

Team Leader Kim, who had relayed the message to a colleague next to him, immediately called Seung Ho.

His sharp intuition was beginning to lean in a bad direction.

“Kang Yi Jun?”

The Crow asked.

He had called the name he had heard the bald man screaming until his throat was torn.

Yi Jun, who had comfortably settled on the floor, gave a light nod.

“Your name.”

“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with. Did you say Crow? That’s fine too.”

“How did you know my ability.”

“When I touch a body, I can read what kind of ability it has. Even a graze is enough.”

“You must have been looking for me.”

“Yes. I was looking for you.”

Yi Jun sneered at the Crow’s gaze that was scrutinizing him and tilted his head.

The brown eyes that had flashed the moment he found out his ability resembled those of a beast that had found its prey.

‘To think I confused this with hyung.’

“Most mind-types are either crazy or die early. How old are you?”

“I’m not crazy, and I’ve lived quite a long time.”

“Haha. Interesting.”

The Crow, who laughed brightly like a child, didn’t even look twenty.

‘He’s known to be quite old to be wearing the mask of a young unregistered person.’

Yi Jun’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the Crow, who was said to have existed for 100 years.

Because he couldn’t read his thoughts.

“If you have any questions, you can ask. I’ll answer you.”

The Crow, who had sensed Yi Jun trying to penetrate his mind, wore a gentle smile.

He even slowly scanned Yi Jun with a gaze as if looking at a much younger child.

As much as he had walked into the Center, which was hell-bent on catching him, of his own accord, the Crow overflowed with composure even in his boyish form.

“The reason you let yourself get caught.”

“I told you. I was looking for you.”

“Why me.”

“Because I wanted to help.”

The Crow looked at Yi Jun’s neck, where a blue bruise remained, with a pitiful expression.

“Life at the Center doesn’t seem easy.”

“How old are you.”

“I’m an adult now.”

“Your real age.”

Yi Jun was curious about the Crow’s age, which was unknown to anyone.

The Crow, who had answered first with an unreadable smile, spoke in a pure, untainted voice.

“If you’re curious about me, follow me. Let’s get out together.”

“I don’t want to.”

“…You don’t want to?”

The Crow, who knew nothing about Kang Yi Jun except his name and rare ability, looked genuinely puzzled.

As if he hadn’t expected to be rejected so flatly without even a moment’s thought.

“Do you like the Center?”

“Of course not.”

“If you don’t like it, why are you trying to stay. Are you trying to stay locked up in this prison for the rest of your life? For the next few decades, until you die.”

“It’s all the same to me. Inside or out.”

Yi Jun, who had his arms behind his back and a relaxed posture, exuded as much composure as the Crow.

“I don’t plan on living for decades either.”

“Yi Jun.”

A tremor ran through Yi Jun’s hand, which was on the floor.

Cold sweat formed on his forehead, and his complexion turned pale.

“What are you trying to do by reading my thoughts. I told you to ask if you’re curious. I’m answering you.”

While talking with the Crow, Yi Jun had been trying to penetrate his mind.

He had focused all his nerves, attempting to seize control of the Crow’s brain.

“I’m on your side.”

In the end, Yi Jun, who had released his ability excessively to the point of a nosebleed, staggered.

The Crow, who embraced him to prevent him from falling to the floor, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Living in the Center has evaporated your will to live. I will help you.”

“Me?”

“I came all this way to help you.”

“Then die for me.”

The Crow’s neck came into Yi Jun’s hand.

He tried to kill the Crow, grabbing his thin neck and squeezing with all his might.

It might have been a desperate opportunity for an Esper who wanted to escape the Center, but Yi Jun was an exception.

He had nothing to be attached to on the outside.

His interest was solely on Yoon Bodam.

“If you want to help me, try dying. I’ll live my life in gratitude.”

“The reason you’re trying to kill me.”

The Crow, who had instantly reconnected his crushed neck bones, asked.

‘The reason for trying to kill him?’ It was simple.

‘Because hyung hates the unregistered.’

“I couldn’t give him the scarf…”

Yi Jun, who had used his ability excessively with his not-fully-recovered body, vomited blood.

His hand, which was holding the Crow’s neck, no longer had any strength.

The Crow, who caught his limp hand, let out a low sigh.

“If I give it to you around your neck… wouldn’t he accept it?”

Yi Jun’s vision, who had muttered an uncertain thought, slowly went black.

Kwaang-!!

Tae Hwan, who had arrived with Seung Ho after receiving Team Leader Kim’s call, slammed his fist into the reinforced wall.

The wall, which hadn’t budged even when the attack Espers simultaneously poured their abilities on it, showed a slight vibration at Tae Hwan’s fist.

“Lee Tae Hwan. Let’s do it together.”

Team Leader Baek, who had observed the reinforced wall that wouldn’t break even with Tae Hwan’s strength, transformed her hand into a giant hammer.

Ji Oh, who had raised his arm high, saying he would join in from the side, was stopped by the Team 1 seniors.

To the S-class Tae Hwan and the nation’s best multi-ability user, Team Leader Baek, mere A-classes would only be a hindrance.

“Let’s go on three.”

“Three.”

Tae Hwan, who shouted “three” without a countdown, flew into the air first, and Team Leader Baek, who let out a sigh, also lifted her hammer after him.

Tae Hwan, who had doubled his weight with his psychokinesis, rushed towards the reinforced wall and crashed into it at the same time as Team Leader Baek’s hammer.

“Oh…”

Thanks to Tae Hwan and Team Leader Baek, who had poured out enough strength to create a strong wind around them, a crack finally began to form in the wall.

Tae Hwan, who grabbed the crack and pulled it open, used his psychokinesis to apply pressure to the weakened wall.

“Done.”

Attack Team 1 and the Barrier Espers, who filled the interrogation room, got into their combat stances and held back their reactions.

‘If it’s a barrier that even Lee Tae Hwan can’t break in one go, it means the ability user is above S-class. Then the one inside is definitely.’

“It’s empty.”

Team Leader Baek, who wore a hollow smile as she looked at the empty interior of the reinforced wall, swept her hair back.

The unregistered person who should have been with Kang Yi Jun had disappeared.

Leaving behind only a red bloodstain on the floor.

Tae Hwan, who bit back a short curse, kicked a chair to cool his anger.

Seung Ho, who approached from behind him, quietly examined the space where Yi Jun and the unregistered person had been.

“To think we’d lose the Crow right in front of our eyes.”

It became clear upon seeing the traces of his disappearance, leaving not even a wavelength.

He, who had used at least three or more abilities that had been confirmed with their own eyes, was definitely the Crow.

When he was first caught, the boy had been using firepower, he had proven his barrier ability with the reinforced wall, and he had even used teleportation.

“That psycho Kang Yi Jun has joined the Crow! Or the two of them were communicating through telepathy beforehand!”

The atmosphere was one of agreement with the bald man’s statement, who was shouting, spittle flying.

The suspicion that Kang Yi Jun, the epitome of an unreadable rebel, had betrayed the Center was naturally accepted.

The Crow, who was getting his hands on rare ability users one by one, would have coveted the mind-type Kang Yi Jun.

“Team Leader-nim. Let’s catch them and take care of them together while we’re at it. Team Leader Han, you don’t mind, right?”

An Esper from Attack Team 1 asked Seung Ho as a courtesy.

There was no one who didn’t know that the newcomer of Team 3 was a problem.

The higher-ups would want to keep the young master, who was their source of funding, alive somehow, but if he had joined hands with the Crow, a disposal order would surely be issued.

Seung Ho detected Yi Jun’s wavelength from the blood on the floor.

According to the report, Kang Yi Jun was not in a state to be bleeding.

It meant there had been a clash with the Crow.

“If there’s no answer, we’ll take care of it ourselves.”

Team Leader Baek agreed with her team member’s opinion and waited for Seung Ho’s answer.

Seung Ho did not open his mouth until he left the interrogation room.

‘It was a life he was going to tie up with his own hands anyway.’

Ji Oh, who had confirmed that Kang Yi Jun had disappeared with the Crow, immediately returned to the waiting room.

He was worried that some harm might come to Bodam, who was connected to that bastard by a natural imprint.

Perhaps everyone was thinking the same thing, because Tae Hwan also arrived at the waiting room around the time Ji Oh was knocking on Bodam’s door.

“He’s in there, right?”

Tae Hwan, who had climbed the stairs, urged Ji Oh.

Min Ji Oh, the most impatient of them all, was just timidly knocking on the door.

“Open the door.”

Tae Hwan, who had reached the front of the door, turned the handle with his psychokinesis and unceremoniously pushed Ji Oh’s back.

If the sleeping Bodam got angry and asked why they had come in, he was going to blame Min Ji Oh.

But.

“……”

He’s not here.

No one.

A feeling incomparable to when they had seen the empty reinforced wall washed over Tae Hwan and Ji Oh.

It felt like their hearts had dropped to the bottom of the floor.

“Y-Yoon Bodam.”

The bathroom, with its lights off, was open, and the owner of the room was nowhere to be seen on the bed or the tea table.

“Sh-shit, Yoon Bodam!!”

Ji Oh’s voice, who belatedly started to shout, trembled.

He threw open all the doors in the waiting room, searching for Bodam.

The disappeared Crow and Kang Yi Jun, and Yoon Bodam.

The blood vessels in the speechless Tae Hwan’s eyes burst.