Chapter 24: Breaking Point at the S-Class Gate

The moment I opened my eyes, I immediately checked the time.
It was 7 AM.
I hurriedly got up and got out of bed.

As I got out of bed, I heard something fall with a thud, but I thought it was my phone and quickly went outside without paying it any mind.

I checked the living room first, but Taewoon was nowhere to be seen.
Just in case, I opened the doors one by one and looked for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

The moment I accepted that he wasn’t there, my strength drained away.
I realized once again that my requests were of no concern to him.

I felt nothing—no disappointment, no hatred, no anger.
I just sat down on the sofa and stayed still.
I don’t know how long I was like that.
I heard the sound of the door lock unlocking.

I didn’t react to the sound and just sat still.
Taewoon, in his workout clothes, entered the living room.

“You’re awake?”

“……I told you to come home yesterday.”

“Nagging first thing in the morning? Anyway, did you see?”

I felt nothing but disappointment towards him.
And the thought that the person he had been with all night was Joo Wonjae made a petty jealousy rise in me again.

“See what? Joo Wonjae’s celebration party?”

“Where did you hear that? They keep calling us to events together because S-Classes look good together. They even said they would change my exclusive to Joo Wonjae.”

He was speaking lightly, but every word he said made my breath catch in my throat.

“What did you say?”

“I said it was good.”

At his words, my breath finally caught and wouldn’t come out.
As I gasped for air, he finally looked at me with a surprised face and quickly came to my side.

“Are you okay?”

He helped me breathe.
I was holding onto his shirt tightly and taking deep breaths.
That’s when I saw the Awakened couple bracelet I had seen in the community on his arm.

He had laughed at it when I mentioned that bracelet…
The other bracelet must be wrapped around Joo Wonjae’s arm.

“It was a joke. Relax your face. And you yesterday…”

I had barely returned to normal breathing, but the moment I saw the bracelet, my body started to tremble, and my breathing became rough again.
I just couldn’t calm down.
His shirt, held in my trembling hand, shook incessantly.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? I said it was a joke.”

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my vision blurred.
I knew it all along.
No matter how hard I tried to become an S-Class, he would never go back to how he used to be.

The moment I saw the bracelet on his arm, the things that had been supporting me began to crumble.

For over three years, I had trained and strived to please him without a single day of rest.
But now, no more…

“I… I’m going to quit.”

“What?”

He frowned at my words and asked.

“I’m not going to be your exclusive anymore.”

My voice trembled precariously.
I remembered how I had endured for three years, ignoring my body breaking down for the sake of promotion.
I thought that if I constantly strived and got promoted, he would at least look at me a little.
But because of the S-Class Guide Joo Wonjae, I realized that there was no hope for me anymore.

Suddenly, I remembered the first time I met him.
His gentle gaze towards me, his happy face during the matching test.
His firm body that always held me tenderly like a lover, his warm body temperature and touch.
Until the grade results came out, I was truly happy.

What was that brief moment of happiness for?
Even as I watched him change to the complete opposite, becoming cold, I still chased after his kindness.
For three whole years…

“What kind of bullsh*t is that.”

I thought he would be happy if I said I was quitting as his exclusive, but he said it with a serious face.

“I said I’m quitting.”

Tears flowed silently.
I didn’t want to be hurt by him anymore.
At the sight of me crying, his hardened face quickly filled with worry.

“What’s wrong with you? Did something happen?”

“I’m tired of being with you now.”

If he had opened his heart to me as much as I had tried, my heart wouldn’t have crumbled in a single moment like this.

“Lee Shinui, tell me exactly what’s wrong. I just don’t get it.”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

I had nothing more to say to him.
I just wanted to get out of here right now.

When I tried to leave, he grabbed my wrist firmly.
I tried to shake off his hand callously and go outside, but an emergency alert blared from my Guiding Watch.

<[S-Class Gate appearance in Sector 221. S-Class Gate appearance.]>

A dry laugh escaped me at the unexpected appearance of an S-Class gate.
I had never seen an S-Class gate in three years.
I thought that I might really have a bad fate with him.

“F*ck, an S-Class gate in this situation?”

I wanted to end things with him like this, but I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen the gate open.
Despite his curse, I said in an emotionless voice.
I planned to end my relationship with him and my exclusive contract after this gate.

“Let’s just do this gate and then end it. I’m going to leave this house, and I’m never going to see you again.”

After saying that, I slowly walked to the front door.
Then, he grabbed my wrist again.

“Stay home today.”

“No. I’m going.”

“Don’t go. You don’t look well.”

He was worried about me, which was unlike him.
Normally, I would have been happy at his words, but now it was just deceitful.

“I said I’m going! And don’t touch me.”

He was surprised by my shout.
He must have sensed something was wrong from my cold demeanor, as he said, unable to hide his bewilderment.

“Then, I’ll teleport, so promise me you’ll just stay in the guiding shelter.”

Knowing he wouldn’t let me go without a promise, I just nodded my head perfunctorily.
At my response, he still didn’t relax his expression and teleported to the shelter.

There were already a few guides in the shelter, and I could also see Espers and guides who had teleported to the shelter like us.

Sector 221 was being broadcast live on the monitors that filled the wall.
Sector 221 was a business district, and since it was lunchtime, the people evacuating on the roads were packed together like ants.

A red gate floated in the sky, which was as dark as night.
A mobile camera slowly zoomed in on the gate.
It was an S-Class gate engraved with the faces of the seven demons I had learned about in gate theory.
I remembered the explanation that this gate was more dangerous because not much was known about it.

Before long, the red door opened, and a dark red liquid dripped down stickily, as if a person’s stomach had been split open.

Perhaps because of the S-Class gate, the atmosphere in the shelter was quieter than usual.

“Just wait here quietly. Let’s talk again after it’s over.”

Unlike usual, as I kept my mouth shut without even looking at him, he looked down at me with a worried gaze.

“Shinui, please answer me.”

When I didn’t answer until the end, he said he would finish quickly and come back, then talked to the shelter manager and went outside.

No sooner had he left than Joo Wonjae approached me and spoke.

“Hyung, I heard it’s your birthday today, congratulations. I think you must be upset that an S-Class gate opened on your birthday.”

“……”

I didn’t answer him and just looked down at the floor with a blank expression.

“Hyung, why aren’t you answering?”

“……”

“You must be in a bad mood today…. I’ll give you a birthday present when the S-Class gate closes.”

As I continued to ignore him, he eventually walked away with a dejected expression.

I didn’t even look at the real-time gate monitor; I just waited for the gate to close.

Until now, I had endured all the pain and misery, hoping only for his heart.
But I no longer had the strength to endure.

The shelter was quiet, but occasionally, I could hear someone taking a sharp breath.

Someone approached me and spoke in a worried voice.
From the voice, I could tell it was Minseong-sunbae.

“Shinui-ssi, Esper Hyun Taewoon doesn’t look so good.”

At his words, I reflexively raised my head and looked for him on the monitor.
His figure, floating in the air, looked precarious, unlike usual.
He wasn’t even using his abilities properly.

The sharp, arrow-like flames from his hand accurately hit the boss monster, but it didn’t seem to have done any damage.

And so, his flames began to grow larger.
To protect his body, he wrapped himself in even bigger flames.

But the bigger the flames, the more unstable he looked.
It seemed he was in a state where he couldn’t retreat and had to fight.
He must have been feeling it too.
At that sight, I clenched my teeth without realizing it.
This state was dangerous.

In the end, as I had feared, an Esper rampage warning message came from the Guiding Watch.
It was the first time since I had been with him.

<[Rampage warning. Please guide the Esper immediately.]>