Chapter 29: Behind the Sunglasses

“Master, I’m so excited. Which room are you staying in? Can Sierra take a look too? Yeah?”

“Sierra, keep it down. And about that ‘Master’ thing-”

“Master, but Sierra’s heart is pounding so hard I can’t stand it!”

…Sierra was loud.

Only after promising three separate times to let her see the room did she finally quiet down.

Lee Juju got out of the car with a tired expression.

Unlike before, when the entire company had come out to see them off, not a single person had come to greet them.

Was the auditor still around?

Lee Juju hesitated, wondering if it was even all right to enter the base.

“Move!”

It was an esper he’d never seen before.

Lee Juju wondered who the black-eyed esper was.

Judging by the fact that he didn’t recognize Lee Juju, he clearly wasn’t a member of the company.

The man looked like he was fleeing, and bluish bruises covered his face.

He shouted irritably at Lee Juju, who was blocking the main gate.

At that sight, Sierra’s expression instantly turned icy.

“Master, is that man part of your company? Don’t tell me you’ve been treated like this while staying here?”

“No, Sierra. That’s not it-”

“I said move!”

In the next instant, a powerful impact slammed into Lee Juju’s right shoulder.

Just as he was about to be sent flying, Sierra’s shadow snapped out and caught him.

A fierce rage began to rise on Sierra’s face.

‘No- this is bad. Her guiding still isn’t stable!’

In a panic, Lee Juju scattered radiative guiding, desperately trying to calm her.

“Calm down, Sierra! You’ll rampage again!”

“But I can’t hold it in!”

“W-W-W-What… is this…?”

The esper who had been running like mad stopped dead instead of fleeing.

His face was frozen in pure shock.

****

Lieutenant Frank spoke with a displeased expression.

“How long are we supposed to keep wearing these ridiculous sunglasses?”

Lee Juju looked back at him with a dumbfounded face, then walked away.

Colonel Shan Pei, too, fiddled with the arm of his sunglasses with a blank expression before turning around.

Several company members had already tossed their sunglasses aside and were heading into the base.

“Juju-nim seems to like them.”

“Is that so?”

Captain Russell and Lieutenant Frank exchanged a few words.

From the beginning, there had never been any intention of properly hiding their eyes.

The reason sunglasses were brought up at all was to put Lee Juju at ease.

Naturally, they knew an effective way to shut the auditor up.

Everyone except those who genuinely thought sunglasses were cool took them off.

Sending Lee Juju outside the base was a precaution, just in case.

The Center’s auditor didn’t arrive at the base until late that afternoon.

Espers disembarked from the military vehicle in perfect unison to escort him.

The auditor was a slender man.

Seeing that no one had come to greet them, they surveyed the desolate grounds before heading straight inside the base.

Captain Russell, wearing sunglasses, was on guard and snapped off a crisp salute.

“Good to see you, Captain.”

“Welcome.”

They cast a few suspicious glances at the sunglasses perched on Captain Russell’s face before heading toward the colonel’s office.

Colonel Shan Pei was seated alone, resting his chin on both hands.

Five espers, including the auditor, entered the office.

They lined up in rigid attention, each striking a sharp posture.

The auditor stepped forward and offered a brief, informal salute.

“Major Liam, reporting, Colonel.”

“Very well, Major Liam.”

The auditor frowned slightly as he studied the colonel.

The colonel, too, was wearing sunglasses.

But it wasn’t just the sunglasses that felt strange.

On the way here, he hadn’t seen so much as a rat.

Both Captain Russell and Colonel Shan Pei were wearing sunglasses, was this some new trend here?

At the same time, it felt like they were hiding something.

‘Sunglasses… could it be to hide a rampage?’

By military law, an esper who began to rampage was to be replaced.

They were transported to the Center and only released as a corpse once the rampage ended in death.

As Major Liam’s expression hardened, the other four espers tensed as well.

Colonel Shan Pei was powerful enough that even the five of them together might not be able to defeat him.

If a rampage had begun, reason would be devoured by destructive impulses, making him easier to deal with, but still…

Something felt deeply unsettling.

For now, Major Liam decided to observe Colonel Shan Pei a little longer.

“This is an order from headquarters requesting support due to gate outbreaks.”

“How many?”

“At least fifteen personnel.”

“So they’re asking for at least one full unit.”

Colonel Shan replied in a flat voice.

Major Liam said nothing, simply staring at him.

‘Seriously… what is up with those sunglasses?’

“What is it?”

Colonel Shan tilted his head slightly.

From the colonel’s languid demeanor, Major Liam felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

For the moment, Major Liam withdrew.

After the first night passed and the second day arrived, the sense of unease only grew stronger.

He couldn’t sense a single presence, in the cafeteria, the yard, or even the corridors.

To make matters worse, Captain Russell and Colonel Shan Pei wore those damned sunglasses every time he saw them.

In the end, his duty as an auditor overcame his anxiety and human curiosity.

That evening, Major Liam returned to the colonel’s office.

Colonel Shan was still wearing sunglasses and looked utterly bored.

“What brings you here, Major Liam?”

“…Why exactly are you wearing those sunglasses?”

The atmosphere instantly changed.

“Curious?”

The corners of Colonel Shan’s thin lips lifted slightly.

At that moment, dozens of presences registered outside the door.

The four espers standing at attention behind Major Liam turned around simultaneously.

Later, Major Liam would recall that this was the beginning of the nightmare.

The five espers, including the auditor, were nearly captured on the spot, but thanks to an esper with the ability called “Escape,” they barely broke through the encirclement.

Someone complained about it being annoying from behind, but the espers fled with everything they had.

To be honest, Major Liam believed Colonel Shan Pei had deliberately set a trap and then let them go.

Otherwise, there was no way someone with power like a demon, the virtual ruler of space, would have allowed them to escape so easily.

‘Or did he really enter a rampage, making his ability unstable?’

Thinking that way, it made sense.

“Did you see it?”

One of the espers assigned to escort duty spoke quietly.

“Their eye colors… were all different. That’s what they were trying to hide.”

“Different eye colors? You mean they weren’t black?”

“Yes.”

So that was it.

If their eye colors were different, it meant not only that they had escaped rampage, but that they’d returned to the state right after awakening.
Had time itself been reversed?

The exact truth would be uncovered once the Center dispatched espers in masses.

They wouldn’t let it slide easily, but for now, their mission was to deliver this information to the Center.

With a grave expression, the auditor nodded.

However, no matter how hard they tried to flee the base, they couldn’t find an exit.

More precisely, it seemed a wide-area ability was being used to prevent them from finding doors.

The plan, to arrive as auditors, deliver headquarters’ orders, conduct a cursory inspection, and leave, had been completely overturned.

Major Liam ground his teeth.

The Ghost Unit was playing with them like lab rats.

The five espers split up to search for exits.

After being chased nonstop for an entire night, Major Liam happened upon a gap in space and forced his body through it.

To his surprise, the space led straight toward the main gate.

Without even considering that it might be a trap, his only thought was to escape this place.

As he ran frantically in that direction, he collided with an unexpected person.

But what in the world… was this?

If you roll an eraser across a notebook painted completely black, the erased trail remains visible.

It felt just like that.

As if a single line of a pitch-black life had been cleansed.

Major Liam realized it then.

This wasn’t a time-reversing ability, it was purification.

Yes, the ability of purification had appeared.

As the esper who had knocked Lee Juju aside approached, Sierra stepped in front of him like a guard dog protecting its master.

A savage light filled her eyes, and her shadow reared up, bluish and sharp, ready to slaughter the insolent fool who had dared touch her master.

“Sierra, stop.”

Lee Juju stepped forward.

Sierra reluctantly moved aside, her face trembling as if she were about to cry.

Her shadow still writhed threateningly, making it obvious she was putting on an act, but Lee Juju said nothing.