Chapter 83: The Lunatic Who Watched His Guide Save the Day

—Guys, can you hear me?

The espers were too busy defending against Lamia’s indiscriminate attacks to respond properly. Jae-hyung shouted louder.

—I said, can you hear me?!

“Yeah, yeah—what?”

Haejin rebuilt a crumbling wind barrier and answered.

—Hyung-soo-nim gave me an idea.

Jae-hyung relayed Lee Chae’s theory to everyone. The espers stopped attacking and retreated inside the barrier.

“Sounds plausible.”

“Makes sense. The only question is whether our scaredy-cat Yoon Jae-hyung can actually pull it off.”

—Stop teasing!

Jin-woo flared at the jab.

“Yoon Jae-hyung, you think I’m joking right now? We almost died as a group! I thought we were done for!”

—That’s not what I meant… I’m scared. What if I mess up and everyone gets hurt?

Right then—the barrier cracked again. Inside turned into chaos as espers dodged arrows and counterattacked.

“F*cking crocodile hide!”

Haejin cursed and rebuilt the barrier.

“Hey, Yoon Jae-hyung. We’ll buy more time—call Yong-yong and confirm if Chae’s right.”

—Ah! Great idea.

Jin-woo snapped arrows mid-air and grinned.

“Wow… our Cha lunatic’s actually smart? Nothing motivates Jae-hyung like Yong-yong.”

“Obviously.”

Just mentioning Jae-hyung and Yong-yong was Legion’s laugh button. The pair had wrecked the place enough times. Espers dodging arrows suddenly burst out laughing. Then laughed harder realizing only they’d be crazy enough to laugh in this situation.

Jae-hyung connected again.

—Crackle… Guys. Hyung-soo-nim’s seriously amazing. Yong-yong’s shocked how he knew.

“Yeah, so get to work. You’re the only one who can take down Lamia.”

—M-me? I haven’t even agreed…

When Jae-hyung hesitated, Jin-woo jumped in.

“You want us all to die before you move?”

—Fine! I’ll do it!

“Oi, Dog Jin-woo, stop killing the kid’s spirit. Jae-hyung-ah, don’t stress. We don’t need you to kill Lamia—just drive it back to the gate.”

—Okay… don’t blame me if it goes wrong.

Jin-woo, who’d just yelled, softened.

“How could we blame our cute maknae? Just do it comfortably.”

—Whatever.

While they talked, infuriated Lamia thrashed and roared.

“KYAAAAK!”

It was going all out, but Haejin’s strong barrier and the espers’ evasion skills let them dodge everything.

They wouldn’t have provoked it normally, but with Jae-hyung about to use illusion, emotional agitation was perfect.

Haejin shouted,

“Legion—all-out attack!”

Espers unleashed everything at once. The sudden full assault startled Lamia—it folded its wings.

Jae-hyung sweated buckets, focusing to enter Lamia’s limbic system—the part handling memory and emotion. The outside was armored in impenetrable crocodile hide, but the brain was soft as tofu. Now he understood why it had cut communication earlier.

Quiklops probably told this dumb thing not to talk.

Jae-hyung had never used pure illusion solo—nerves and pressure crushed him. Everyone’s lives rested on him.

But Lee Chae’s desperate face overlapped with Yong-yong waiting for him— he had to win.

“Haa…”

A moment of shaky breath— a familiar hand covered his. Sweet voice in his ear.

“Jae-hyung, you can do it! Collateral said come down, so I came!”

Confidence surged. Weird—Yong-yong wasn’t even a guide, just a dragon. Love’s power?

Boosted, Jae-hyung refocused and successfully penetrated deep into Lamia’s limbic system. The espers’ disruption had worked.

The instant he injected the illusion skill, Lamia’s frantic wingbeats stopped.

Almost… just a bit more!

He poured everything into shifting its emotion from rage to fear and brainwashing it to return to the gate. But Quiklops’ prior suggestion was too strong—erasing it wasn’t easy.

How did we do it last time?

He recalled an S-rank illusion esper overriding Quiklops’ suggestion on a beast-type. Couldn’t delete it—so layered a new command on top. Didn’t fully defeat the monster, but saved lives.

Jae-hyung tried adapting it— but couldn’t grasp how.

“Not working?”

Lee Chae asked. Jae-hyung nodded. So close, yet stuck—frustration boiled.

“Why like this! Jae-hyung hurt again. Can’t hurt…”

“Yong-yong-ah, if Quiklops’ suggestion is too strong for illusion, how do we override without deleting?”

“Hm? I don’t know. Dragons just breathe fire?”

No help. Then Lee Chae cut in.

“If you can’t delete, layer a new suggestion on top. What’s the current brainwashing?”

“Attack Cha Haejin and nearby humans, eliminate interferers… Probably why it hasn’t destroyed buildings much. Brain’s linear—follows instinct and direct orders only.”

Lee Chae’s eyes lit up.

“Then try this: ‘Attack complete—return to gate immediately.’ Add it without touching the old one.”

“Ooh… might work. I’ll try.”

“Jae-hyung, fighting!”

Yong-yong placed a hand on Jae-hyung’s shoulder—exactly like Lee Chae’s guiding pose. The stroking hand ran down his spine. Jae-hyung shivered like he was being guided for real. He smiled at Yong-yong, turned serious, and gathered every ounce of power.

Following Lee Chae’s idea, he reinforced the existing suggestion first— then relayed to espers.

—Layering new command—Lamia might spasm. Dodge for a bit.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Bigger arrows than before pierced Haejin’s barrier— but no injuries.

Lee Chae quickly added,

“To make it believable, tell espers to pretend to fall. It’ll think the attack succeeded.”

“Hyung-soo-nim’s a genius?!”

Jae-hyung relayed it. Espers played dead without hesitation. Lamia stopped attacking, twisting confused— no idea what to do next.

Jae-hyung seized the opening and injected the new command.

[Attack complete—return to gate immediately.]

Please… work.

Mouth dry, heart clenched. Lamia stayed still, confused. Jae-hyung repeated relentlessly.

[Attack complete—return to gate immediately.] [Attack complete—return to gate immediately.]

Finally— the unmoving Lamia shifted. It turned, spread massive wings skyward— and without looking back, flew the opposite direction.

“Haa… haa…”

The moment Lamia vanished, Jae-hyung’s strength drained. Vision spun.

“Ah…”

He staggered— Yong-yong caught him perfectly.

“Jae-hyung did great! So proud! Fought Lamia! Jae-hyung strongest esper! Good human…”

Jae-hyung hugged Yong-yong, rubbing his cheek on his chest. Tears threatened—he’d done it. Then Haejin’s voice.

—Oi, Yoon Jae-hyung. How long we lying here?

“You can get up.”

—Our maknae. F*cking proud of you.

The barrier dropped. Espers rose, cheering and hugging. In the middle— Lee Chae stood frozen, staring at the empty sky, tears finally falling.

He’d saved them all— with nothing but textbook knowledge and quick thinking.

Haejin ran over, scooped him up, and spun him.

“My guide didn’t just save my ass— you saved the whole damn Legion.”

Lee Chae buried his face in Haejin’s neck, sobbing and laughing at once.

The lunatic kissed his tears away, whispering over and over,

“Told you—you’re the best.”