Chapter 17: Project S

The secret S-Class project that Dr. Yoon had mentioned began.

The project training, like the promotion program, took place after 7 PM.
But the difference was that the wavelength training was conducted using machines while under sleep anesthesia.

In a way, it was no different from slacking off during training.
All I had to do was sleep.

I had safely finished the project training and was on my way to the changing room.
I made eye contact with a tall man walking from the opposite side of the hallway.
I had never seen him before, and he was a handsome man with blond hair and golden eyes that were almost black, likely a foreigner.

I was about to pass him by, glancing at him and thinking he might be a dispatched soldier from overseas.

“Your body is full of electric currents. You’ll break down if you continue like this.”

I thought he was a foreigner, but I stopped in my tracks when I heard familiar Korean.
The man smiled at me as soon as our eyes met and then disappeared in an instant.
It was so fast that I wondered if I had seen a ghost.
From his movements, I guessed he was an Esper of A-Class or higher.

My body was full of electric currents.
There were times when my body tingled and had spasms, but Dr. Yoon had said they were temporary symptoms.

But there was no harm in being careful, so I decided to pay attention to my body’s condition.

As I was changing in the changing room, I was thinking that I hoped my work finishing time would overlap with Taewoon’s today.
Suddenly, the surroundings were flooded with red warning lights.
Soon after, the gate emergency alert began to ring loudly.

<[A-Class Gate appearance in Sector 35. A-Class Gate appearance.]>

An alert to dispatch to the field had also arrived on my Guiding Watch.
It was close to midnight, and since there were often heavy casualties in gates that appeared at night, I was worried.

I hurriedly ran to the front gate of the Center.
As soon as I boarded the shelter, I changed into the special combat suit placed in the team’s exclusive room.
In the meantime, Minseong-sunbae arrived.

“Shinui-ssi, you’re here early?”

“Yes. I was at the Center.”

“I think this gate will take quite a while.”

It was a sudden-type A-Class gate.
Fixed-type gates had predetermined monsters, but when it was a sudden-type, there was a high probability of variant monsters appearing, so it was more difficult than other times.

Hoping that Taewoon wouldn’t get hurt and that the gate would close safely, I looked at the monitor.
The gate was slowly opening.
Since it was night, an Esper who handled electromagnetic waves was brightly illuminating the surroundings with their ability, but most areas were out of reach of the light.
I heard Team Leader Park’s voice through the earpiece, telling us to prepare for danger.

Monsters with two horns on their foreheads like deer poured out from between the gate doors.
The monster that appeared to be the boss was at least 10 meters tall and walked on two legs like a human.

The monsters also had wings like bats on their backs and threatened by flying in the air.
They tore their mouths wide and rushed at the Espers at once, trying to swallow them whole.

Since it was a variant monster and this gate had appeared on a main road, even C-Class Espers were mobilized.

I moved to the shelter’s central waiting room with Minseong-sunbae and watched the situation on the large monitor.

A barrier was installed around the gate to prevent the monsters from getting out, but the citizens who couldn’t escape became their targets.

The screams of the people caught in the gate were heard clearly through the speakers.
Just listening to the sound felt suffocating.

B and C-Class Espers evacuated the citizens on the ground and killed the monsters, while S and A-Class Espers dealt with the boss monster and the monsters protecting it.

As there were many Espers deployed, the monsters were annihilated faster than usual.
Relieved at the sight, I was watching Taewoon when I heard Minseong-sunbae’s surprised voice next to me.

“Huh? Esper Sung Yohan is back.”

‘Sung Yohan?’

When I turned my gaze to the screen he was looking at, I saw the monsters’ bodies being separated as if they had been dismembered.
Some monsters’ faces just disappeared in mid-air.
I couldn’t tell what ability was used to kill them.
And I couldn’t see the Esper who was using the ability either.

From the ability, I thought it might be an S-Class Esper.
There were 20 S-Class Espers belonging to Korea, but I had never seen any of them except for Taewoon.
They each had their own assigned branch and were rarely seen as they were often dispatched.

I turned my gaze back to the screen showing him.
From his spirited flying, it seemed he was thankfully uninjured.
As a fire-attribute Esper, his surroundings were always engulfed in flames.

Flames were generated from his hands without stopping and were shot at the monsters.
Just by touching his fire, the monsters were engulfed in flames until they were annihilated.

Soon, the boss monster’s face was split in half.
And its body was also cut into pieces as if by a sharp knife and fell to the floor.
It wasn’t his ability; it seemed to be the ability of the Esper I had seen just before.

As the thick blood from the boss monster splattered on the road, the gate door began to close.
But monsters were still rampant on the ground.
Fortunately, most of the high-grade monsters had been dealt with, so it wasn’t a dangerous situation.

I could see the Espers moving towards the shelter on the monitor.
This time, I hoped he would come to find me.

The shelter door opened, and the surroundings became noisy.
Looking towards the source of the noise, I made eye contact with the blond man I had seen at the Center earlier.
He walked straight towards me.

Everyone’s attention was focused on the man.
People moved far away as he walked.
The blond man was soon in front of me.

“Can you guide me?”

He had been in casual clothes when we met just a moment ago, but now he was wearing a black special combat suit.
He was an S-Class, just like Taewoon.

If he was an S-Class, he should have an exclusive or a pair Guide, so I was flustered as to why he was asking me for guiding.

“Didn’t your exclusive Guide come with you?”

“I just got back to the country, so I don’t have an exclusive Guide.”

“I’m a B-Class Guide, so it would be better for you to guide with an A-Class Guide.”

“It’s okay. I want to guide with you.”

Despite my words, the man took both my hands and tried to guide.
Usually, the Guide finds the Esper’s wavelength, but the man skillfully found my wavelength and attempted to guide.

The moment our wavelengths touched, my breath stopped.
It felt like I was being dragged into darkness.

Without a moment to collect myself, I struggled and tried to free my hands, but the harder I tried, the stronger his grip became, and my hands started to ache.

“Let go!”

“Just a little more.”

“I said let go!”

Despite my words to let go, the man only pressed his body closer.
It was the first time I realized how unpleasant guiding with an Esper other than Taewoon was.

I was still shouting and struggling, and Minseong-sunbae tried to help me, but the man’s body wouldn’t budge.

It was then.
With Taewoon’s sharp voice, the pressure on my hands disappeared.

“What the f*ck are you doing!”

He was hugging me and glaring at the blond man.
His hands were stained black.

“I’m guiding.”

“She’s my exclusive Guide.”

“So she’s your Guide, Taewoon. But why is she so clean? Have you not guided her properly?”

“Now that you know, don’t you dare touch her again.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than he bit my lips aggressively.
It was the first time we had kissed, so I was so surprised I almost stopped breathing.

Kissing was a preferred method because it could raise the guiding level quickly, but I had never expected to kiss him so publicly.

With a small laugh, the blond man’s voice was heard.

“Yes, that’s how you leave a mark. If you neglect her, other Espers will covet her. Because we like clean wavelengths.”

Taewoon pulled his lips away and glared at the blond man.

“She’s my exclusive, so don’t touch her.”

He then teleported with me in his arms.
We arrived in his room in an instant.
It was the first time he had teleported with me, so I was surprised again.

“How do you know Sung Yohan? Why are you guiding that b*stard!”

As soon as we moved, he pushed me away and said in a fierce voice.

“I don’t know. He just appeared and guided, and I saw him for the first time today.”

My voice trembled with surprise.
My mind was in chaos from his kiss.
I tried to calm down and looked at him anxiously.

It seemed the blond man was Sung Yohan.
The dark aura I had felt when I guided the man called Sung Yohan was still enveloping me.

“Do you not know the meaning of an exclusive Guide?”

“…I do.”

At his cold voice, I kept trying to come to my senses, but the breath flowing between my lips was still irregular.

“Lee Shinui.”

“…I told him to find another Guide.”

“Then what’s with this?”

“I said I didn’t want to…”

I had definitely said I didn’t want to, but Sung Yohan was bigger than me, and it was difficult for a Guide like me to resist the strength of an S-Class Esper.

“Don’t even think about guiding with other Esper b*stards besides me. It makes me feel like sh*t.”

He grabbed my wrist and pushed me onto the bed.
He pressed down on my body with a rougher touch than usual, giving me no time to calm my chaotic mind.

He got on my back and ordered me to do remote guiding.

I did as he said, but I couldn’t concentrate.
He must have sensed my state, as he clicked his tongue and chided me for not doing anything properly.

I tried to empty my mind as much as possible and guide, but before I knew it, my own wavelength began to become unstable from my swollen lips and the dark wavelength still lingering around.
Then, as if he couldn’t take it anymore, he bolted up and left.

I wanted to stop him, but my own mind was too complicated, so I could only watch him leave.