Chapter 76: A New Kind of Fight

“W-what is this…! Wait, wait, stop for a second!”

Surprised by the unfamiliar guiding, the two espers let out flustered voices.

I ignored their requests and continued the guiding.

Whether they had been working quite comfortably until now or had been receiving regular guiding, the two of them were not in a state where guiding was urgent.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

Ri-hyun, whose eyes had been locked with mine, seemed to seize the opportunity and intervened.

He tried to pry my hand off his friends’ wrists.

Alright.

While we’re at it, you might as well experience this hyung-nim’s class.

I attempted to guide Ri-hyun as well, whose hand was now touching mine.

It was the first time I was doing it for three people at once, but since they were all in relatively good condition, I was able to proceed without any difficulty.

With a little concentration on the guiding, I was able to organize their mana to near perfection in just a few minutes.

“It’s true that I have a connection with Team Leader Seon Jaeyul. But it seems everyone gathered here does too, am I wrong? I don’t think I’m a special case.”

“……”

Thanks to showing off my guiding skills, the mouths of Jaeyul’s Academy colleagues, who had been sending looks of distrust, were shut.

Where would you young’uns have seen it?

A guide who can guide three people at once, I think I’m pretty… cool.

Ahem…!

“At the very least, I’m not here through connections.”

I have a reasonable belief that the majority of people gathered here got into the special team through personal connections and school ties.

Including Ri-hyun, Hwang Jiyu and Im Chan, whom I had just guided, must have used Ri-hyun’s backing.

Park Bomyung and Yoo Eden, skilled special agents who were watching this spectacle with curious eyes from a distance, were colleagues who had fought alongside Jaeyul when he was under Team Leader Oh Seonggyu.

So it’s possible to suspect that they all used a similar route to get into this team.

Ri-hyun, having been hit where it hurts, had a somewhat fierce look in his eyes, but he couldn’t offer a rebuttal.

Clap!

Jaeyul, who had been silently watching the situation, clapped his hands and changed the atmosphere.

He must have intentionally given me the opportunity.

If Jaeyul had stepped in and defended me in the previous situation, the team members’ distrust would have only grown.

It was right for me to show my strength on my own.

It was unavoidable, as this place called the Special Abilities Center was particularly divided by power.

Though I hadn’t expected them to be like this even to a Guide, who wasn’t even a fellow esper.

“That’s enough with the introductions.”

As if to start a formal discussion, Jaeyul’s voice gained more weight.

A grumpy-looking gaze was still directed at me, but I tried my best to ignore it.

It seemed Ri-hyun couldn’t acknowledge me even after I showed my strength.

Well… that part is something I can’t do anything about.

“Now that we’re a team, we’ll omit the honorifics. The official name of our Special Team 1 is <Special Assault Team 1>. Our top priority is the subjugation of high-risk gates that occur nationwide.

In addition, we are also in charge of cleaning up Gate Breaks that have failed to be dealt with in the first instance.”

Since everyone had gathered with a general understanding, there were no complaints despite the high-difficulty tasks.

Especially since everyone gathered here was quite skilled, and they would all have a certain degree of ambition.

They would want to secure personal achievements by solving difficult tasks.

Though it’s a matter I have little interest in.

“Team Leader! I have a question!”

“What is it.”

That too is a talent.

Ri-hyun opened his mouth with a voice that was quite different from when he was addressing me.

“Agent Jin Sehyeon is going into the gate with us, right? It seems his guiding skills are top-notch without even needing a matching rate test.”

That’s not a compliment.

It’s closer to words spoken to somehow drag me inside the gate.

“No. Agent Jin Sehyeon is not going into the gate. To be blunt, there’s no way a guide can keep up with the battle between espers and monsters inside a gate, is there?”

…Jaeyul-ah…?

I’ve been going in and out of gates for years.

I admit that I’m physically inferior to espers.

But I’m not at a level to be compared with an ordinary guide.

No, I’m confident I’d be more helpful in a gate than some of the people here.

“…Right. What would I do if I went into a gate? And if I happened to die in there, wouldn’t the loss be immense? You’d never be able to get guiding from an SS-rank Guide again.”

But I also pretended to agree with Jaeyul’s words.

He doesn’t know the full extent of my skills, but he must know to some degree since he experienced a battle with a monster four years ago.

Still, he must have said that out of consideration, telling me not to overdo it and work hard.

To just fill a seat in the office and rest.

In that case, I should accept his kindness.

In the past, I would have definitely said I would go into the gate with them, even if it meant overdoing it, to show off my abilities and gain recognition from others.

But now, I’m not going to throw away the opportunity to be a professional slacker that has been given to me.

“……”

Anyone would agree that it was the right thing to say, so there was no room for rebuttal.

Not even a small complaint was heard.

Of course, a displeased gaze remained, but what could I do.

Ah, I’m really glad I became a guide.

***

The conference room on one side of the office was remodeled into a guiding room.

It’s the dedicated guiding room for Special Team 1.

I even prepared recliner chairs so that the espers, tired from battle, could rest comfortably, and I bought good aroma oil diffusers and air purifiers that are good for mental and physical stability.

Perhaps because it’s a team made up of skilled agents, the budget is also generous.

It was a space that was a world of difference from when I ran an illegal office in the old days.

I guess this is why people have to succeed.

“Are you busy, Agent Jin Sehyeon.”

Just as I was finishing up the final touches, Jaeyul burst open the guiding room door and came in.

“I’m not busy, Team Leader Seon Jaeyul-nim.”

It’s such an awkward honorific that I can’t get used to.

“Then give me some guiding. I’m so tired….”

Jaeyul, who had confirmed that no one was inside, suddenly pulled my arm towards the sofa.

Pulled by his strength, I sat down, and Jaeyul leaned his head on my shoulder and collapsed.

He must be tired, having moved so busily these past few days.

Isn’t everything difficult at the beginning?

“…Guiding isn’t a fatigue reliever, you know?”

“I don’t know, just do it.”

I held the whining kid’s hand and gave him a simple guiding.

I’ve been doing it every day, so he wasn’t really in a state where it was necessary, but Jaeyul seemed to like the sensation of receiving guiding.

“Haah… I feel alive now. Is there such a thing as guiding addiction?”

The sensation of my mana and Jaeyul’s naturally mixing was truly strange.

I don’t feel this sensation with other people, so it was probably because our matching rate was 98%.

“I don’t know. But it really isn’t tiring for me when I guide you. With other espers, even A-ranks, I feel drained after one guiding session.”

“So don’t guide those other bastards, just guide me.”

“What are you talking about. They’re not other bastards, they’re your team members. Get a grip, Team Leader Seon Jaeyul-nim.”

Now he’s even throwing all sorts of cute tantrums.

When he’s like this, he doesn’t seem like the team leader who leads the special team.

“But Jaeyul-ah, wouldn’t it be better if I went into the gate with you…?”

I subtly asked Jaeyul what I had been thinking while preparing the guiding room.

The biggest reason for putting a guide in a raid team was to immediately restore the mana of a tired esper if the battle with a monster dragged on.

To do that, the guide naturally had to accompany them to the gate or the battle site.

But in the end, that team composition disappeared because the sacrifice of guides in the fierce battle sites was too great.

The problem was the guide’s body, which was not optimized for combat.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things.”

Jaeyul suddenly ended the guiding unilaterally and stood up from the sofa.

As if there was no need to hear my proposal any further.

“Honestly, you know too. That I’m different from ordinary guides.”

My physical abilities may be poor, but I have skills that can directly attack monsters.

On top of that, with the ability to instantly heal wounds, I could be called the best guide for gate subjugation.

“I said no, Agent Jin Sehyeon. Don’t even bring that up again. Especially regarding your abilities, even more so.”

…This cheap bastard!

It’s cheating to pull rank like this at a time like this…!

“Tuck in your lips. Tidy up the office and rest while having a delicious snack. That’s an order.”

This bastard is now completely playing with me.

The kid, who had kneaded my cheek as if playing with clay, left the guiding room.

Leaving behind the words to have lunch together before the meeting in the afternoon.

I wasn’t really going to follow him into the gate, but I was just trying to leave open the possibility that it could happen in an unforeseen situation, so I had no intention of being stubborn for long.

It was when I was about to follow Jaeyul out to ask when we would eat, since lunchtime was almost over.

“Hey.”

But a suddenly outstretched forearm blocked me as I was about to leave the guiding room door.

I almost ran into it and got hit in the Adam’s apple.

“…What is it?”

The owner of the forearm was Ri-hyun.

And his eyes seemed a little… crazed.

Thud.

The guy suddenly pushed my chest, shoving me into the guiding room, and locked the door.

His eyes, as he blocked the entrance with his hand holding the doorknob behind his back, were extremely unsettling.

“Where do you think you’re making passes under the pretext of guiding. I heard you’re a former illegal guide office owner, did you not break that habit?”

This is… a new kind of fight.