Chapter 8: The Unforeseen Deluge

‘Something to hide.’ This wasn’t merely the weight of discussing sexual preferences. Han Do-hoon’s peculiar tone made Sa-yoon instinctively put down the liquid meal he was eating.

“Are you talking about that medicine from earlier?”

“……”

Han Do-hoon fell silent at Jin Sa-yoon’s probing question. The sudden quiet from someone who had been speaking freely created an awkward pause. As Han Do-hoon cleared away the empty food packets, he spoke again.

“You might also be suited for the battlefield.”

“Me?”

“It will be more comfortable than you think. Everything.”

These words held a strange, profound meaning. Jin Sa-yoon and Han Do-hoon had only met a few times. Their relationship was limited to knowing each other’s names and abilities, making it perplexing why Han Do-hoon believed Sa-yoon suited the battlefield.

“I prefer the civilized world, with its soft beds and comfort.”

For Sa-yoon, staying warm and secure at headquarters, with its four major insurances and consistent overtime pay, was ideal. Pondering something deeply in response to Sa-yoon’s words, Han Do-hoon then rose to his feet.

“If you ever wish to come, let me know.”

“I’ll just take your sentiment. Truly, just your sentiment.”

Having no intention of ever going to such a dangerous place, Sa-yoon firmly refused. He then gathered his half-eaten liquid meal and stood up from where he was sitting. He felt as though eating any more would upset his stomach.

“Let’s see, shall we continue on to point B then?”

As Sa-yoon lightly stretched his shoulders, he felt a red alarm flare in his senses. He abruptly stopped speaking and closed his mouth. At that very moment, a dense fog, obscuring their vision, enveloped the entire passage. The suffocating smell made him hastily press his emergency mask tightly onto his face.

All the ‘Lanes’ had been dealt with, and there were no other life forms nearby. Sa-yoon scanned his surroundings, trying to discern why the gas pipes had malfunctioned.

At that moment, one of the coordinates Sa-yoon was monitoring expanded exponentially. Sensing the anomaly before the shock reached his eyes and ears, Sa-yoon instinctively grabbed Han Do-hoon and pushed him down.

“Get down!”

In an instant, their surroundings collapsed, and the two plunged into a black abyss.

“Cough, cough.”

His vision blurred with dust. A faint sound of dripping water echoed in his ringing ears. After the massive tremor, the two had plummeted straight to the ground. In a space of unknown depth, Sa-yoon closed his eyes tightly, bowed his head, and concentrated.

“What just happened?”

“Don’t touch me.”

Jin Sa-yoon shook his head, refocusing. He had no leisure to look around, nor to speak politely to Han Do-hoon.

Even now, hundreds of millions of coordinates floated and shifted like stars in his mind. As dozens of calculations were made simultaneously, he could feel Han Do-hoon’s puzzled gaze from beside him.

“A bomb exploded.”

“What?”

“Don’t ask twice. It’s difficult.”

The recent explosion had been triggered by an Air Lane. It had detonated at a distance that made it difficult for Sa-yoon to pinpoint, yet its scale was immense. Realizing the anomaly, Sa-yoon immediately extended his controllable range to its maximum.

He erected collapsing concrete debris and pipes. He rectified the cracks spreading like spiderwebs from central Seoul and propped up buried steel frames in the underground to support the structure. The overwhelming influx of information made him feel nauseous.

Observing Sa-yoon, who was drenched in cold sweat, Han Do-hoon noticed his deteriorating state and frowned.

“Are you holding up the exploded area right now?”

“If this damned underground collapses, everything above it will come down, won’t it?”

The explosion occurred much faster and was smaller in scale than anticipated. The original plan for this terror attack was to use a large bomb to sink all of Seoul. However, an explosion of this magnitude would only be enough to submerge the Yeouido area. It was unclear where the leak occurred, but the terrorist group had evidently disseminated misleading information.

If that were the case, he needed to report this variable to headquarters immediately.

Even Jin Sa-yoon, for all his abilities, could not move while simultaneously supporting the ground. Headquarters would surely send a rescue team once they felt the impact, so he only needed to hold on until then.

“Hoo…”

His ragged breath hitched. It was hellishly difficult. Sa-yoon reached out a hand to wipe the sweat trickling down his forehead. As he fumbled for a handkerchief in his chest pocket, another hand brushed across his forehead. Squinting, he saw Han Do-hoon wiping his sweat away.

“What are you doing…”

“How long can you last without a Guide?”

“Well… ugh.”

He shook off the sweat that was dripping steadily to the floor. Sa-yoon replied evasively, while his mind raced with other thoughts. Whether he had a Guide or not was irrelevant to Sa-yoon. The real problem was that he couldn’t reveal he was a multi-Guide in the current situation.

If only he had been trapped alone, separated from Han Do-hoon, he could have removed the ring and unleashed his full power. But he was currently wearing a ring that suppressed a Guide’s abilities. He couldn’t take it off now. If Sa-yoon’s condition were to change, the perceptive Han Do-hoon would likely notice immediately.

Blinking slowly, Sa-yoon strained to clear his blurry vision. He was slowly realizing that this situation was no joke. It was a monumental task to reassemble the ground. The sudden, overwhelming workload was starting to make his head spin. ‘What should I do?’

“Mr. Han Do-hoon. Do you want to go up alone and call for rescue support?”

Sa-yoon suggested, desperately trying to get Han Do-hoon away from him. In response, Han Do-hoon looked up at the ceiling. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to bore through the ground and ascend. However, Han Do-hoon shook his head.

“The Han River is directly above us. If you drill a hole in the wrong place, we’ll be submerged instantly.”

“Oh, for crying out loud.”

The last place the two had been was at the junction of Yeouido and the Han River. With the terrain altered by the explosion, they would have to bore a hole to get up, but water could easily pour through weakened cracks in the ground. Realizing the gravity of their situation, Sa-yoon sighed. When things go wrong, they really go wrong.

“Since we don’t have a communicator, I can’t even tell you the way up… Well, for now, I can manage.”

The ground, dislodged by the explosion, was gradually stabilizing. His head was throbbing wildly, but fortunately, it seemed he could manage the situation without removing his ring. Once the displaced steel frames were back in place, he could probably collapse for a while.

‘I’ll definitely get a long vacation.’

Even if he couldn’t prevent the explosion, if he could mitigate the damage by himself, he would have earned his keep. Wouldn’t this achievement be lauded as saving Seoul, making him a hero?

Sa-yoon planned to immediately apply for vacation once they got out and head to a warm southern country. The thought of relaxing under the hot sun, riding a boat, sipping mojitos, and watching dolphins play in the sea seemed to neutralize the harsh reality.

‘Ah, and I’ll have to grab the CEO by the collar for sending only the two of us down here when I get my vacation.’

“Huh?”

“Is there another way?”

“It’s not that…”

A chill ran down Sa-yoon’s spine as he hopefully checked the coordinates. After stabilizing the critical areas, he scanned the opposite side of the underground, detecting a wave that shouldn’t be there.

On the opposite side, beyond Yeouido, he felt the same energy he had sensed from the massive explosion that had just occurred in the middle of the Han River. It was a sensation similar to the crimson-black waves that had filled his coordinates.

Sa-yoon’s lips trembled as he spoke.

“We’re screwed.”

“Why?”

Sa-yoon stared at the right side, blocked by a wall. Though invisible to others, he could clearly feel it.

“You just said the Han River is right above us, didn’t you?”

It was so absurd, he almost laughed. A massive mass was rapidly closing the distance, instantly filling the gap on the opposite side of where Sa-yoon had been holding things back.

It seemed an old pipe had burst due to the aftermath of the explosion. Unluckily, it was a pipe close to the surface. Through that gap, the Han River water was pouring in like a drain with its plug removed.

“Water is coming in through the cracks. It’ll all be submerged here soon.”

Sa-yoon spoke with a grim, hardened expression. This was completely unexpected. Right now, the water was infiltrating the underground in small whirlpools. But once the water, seeping through rusted pipes, began to erode the ground, it would collapse instantly. And below that, with deliberately drilled air-raid shelters, the Han River would turn into a colossal sinkhole.

Han Do-hoon, understanding the situation from Sa-yoon’s brief explanation, stood up.

“Where is the leak point?”

“It’s too late. Even I have no solution for this.”

Sa-yoon’s ability was spatial control. He could mark coordinates to move and adjust locations. A disaster without a solid form, like water, was his worst enemy.

‘I can’t stop it now.’

Even as he thought this, water relentlessly found every gap and poured in. The bottom of the Han River would soon become a quagmire, and the weak ground of Gangnam and Yeouido would tilt along with the massive sinkhole. A banner reading ‘(Congratulations) Seoul’s Demise (Celebration)’ fluttered in Sa-yoon’s mind. No matter how extraordinary Sa-yoon’s abilities were, in his current state, all he could do was clean up after the recently detonated bomb. It was impossible to adjust ground weakened by water.

Not in his current state, with the ring on.

‘You’re insane, Jin Sa-yoon.’

With that brief thought, Sa-yoon inwardly called his own name and bit his lip tightly.

Even at this moment, Sa-yoon’s mind was slowing down from excessive calculations. With the ring on, this was his limit. If he clumsily tried to block the water by moving the ground, it would be difficult to predict how the wet, weakened earth would collapse. If he took off the ring, he might be able to properly stabilize the collapsing ground and block the water while dealing with the exploded bomb, but…