Chapter 28: Broken Formation

“The balance is a mess, and you want us to enter the Gate like this?”

Just as he said, the composition of Espers gathered in front of the Gate was far from ideal.

Most of them had been assigned to support Choi Si-hyeok, who could single-handedly wipe out monsters with telekinesis, so over half were defense-type Espers, and even the rest were long-range support types.

Taking such a bizarre lineup into a Gate was something only Si-hyeok ever did.

So when Tae-woo, whose abilities were completely different from Si-hyeok’s, was expected to replace him, there were obvious limits.

On top of that, their numbers were low.

Tae-woo scanned the Espers gathered before the Gate.

Roughly twenty people, give or take—an alarmingly small force.

Once he confirmed the headcount, his expression inevitably hardened.

“Th-that is…”

Even the staff member who knew the situation had nothing useful to say.

This was all because of Choi Si-hyeok’s sudden notice that he wouldn’t be participating.

Whether they postponed the Gate schedule or rearranged personnel, his supervisor—who was destined for overtime either way—hadn’t given it much thought and simply slotted Kang Tae-woo into Si-hyeok’s place and called it done.

Tae-woo was already scheduled to be dispatched to another Gate in a few days, but the supervisor had muttered that it would be fine now that he had a Guide.

The staff member dearly wished he could drag that supervisor out here and make him explain everything himself.

As the phrase “that monster bastard” kept getting tossed around, cold sweat began to bead on the staff member’s back.

When he glanced at Tae-woo, his expression looked the same as always, yet somehow he seemed angry, and just looking at his face made the back of one’s knees go weak.

“Damn unlucky…”

Everyone was brimming with complaints, but none of them could afford to skip the Gate raid.

If they pulled out now, next time they could be forcibly assigned to higher-rank Gates or ones everyone else avoided.

And who was Kang Tae-woo?

The monster who never died.

The strongest Esper.

His efficiency in one-versus-many combat might not match Choi Si-hyeok’s, but if they funneled the swarming monsters toward Tae-woo and left the cleanup to him, it would work.

“First, a brief explanation about the Gate…”

Seizing the momentary lull, the staff member finally managed to begin.

Grumbling all the while, the Espers followed his guidance, adjusting their formation and preparing to enter the Gate.

At the center of a massive crater, as if struck by a meteor, stood the entrance leading into the Gate.

As they descended inside, a cavern surrounded not by soil but by solid rock came into view.

The wide-open space, the faintly glowing walls, and the alien structure made it unmistakably clear once again that this was not Earth, but a Gate to another dimension.

Once they reached the deeper levels and the first battle began, everything turned into a blur of combat.

According to the reconnaissance data they’d received beforehand, the monsters here were relatively slow and tough.

Occasionally, some appeared that could fly or cling to high walls and attack without coming down, but their numbers were small enough not to pose a major problem.

With so few people and such a poor lineup, it was only natural that their pace in dealing with monsters slowed.

With many close-range defensive types, the formation was solid at first, but there were too few offensive Espers, and even the long-range ones were all support-oriented.

The battle dragged on.

The Espers grew steadily more exhausted, and as time passed, some began to suffer serious injuries.

After checking everyone’s condition, Tae-woo had no choice but to start pushing his abilities harder than he should.

Thankfully, thanks to the guiding he’d received from So-won, his body felt light.

The strain of using his powers was reduced, allowing him to hold out in decent condition for longer.

Still, if he continued like this, he couldn’t guarantee what state he’d be in a few hours from now.

We need to make it back safely today.

All he could do was hope he wouldn’t return in a monstrous state like last time.

Thinking of So-won waiting for him at the Center, Tae-woo cut down the monsters before him one by one.

While Tae-woo fought the monsters alone at the front, the rest either guarded the surroundings or provided minimal support from behind.

But among the Espers grumbling that if Choi Si-hyeok were here, they’d have cleared a Gate like this without a single injury, there was hardly any real support to speak of.

–It looks like this is the last area.

The voice of an Esper who had quickly surveyed the surroundings flowed through the in-ear communicator as they reached a space sealed off on all sides by walls.

It was the far end of the Gate, reached only after a long struggle.

A vast chamber with a ceiling so high its end couldn’t be seen—yet completely empty.

A heavy silence settled over them, and everyone tensed.

The fact that the Gate showed no sign of closing meant the master of this place was still alive.

Whether it would burst out from underground, smash through a wall, or tear open the air itself—no one could say.

Tae-woo, too, sharpened his senses and scanned the area.

For a while now, a faint scritching sound had been reaching his ears, but with the echoes inside the cavern, it was hard to pinpoint its source.

He slowly lifted his head, fixing his gaze on the ceiling.

Something seemed to be moving in what he’d thought was an unseen sky.

When he narrowed his eyes and focused, he detected a writhing motion.

“Above.”

At Tae-woo’s signal, all the Espers looked up at once.

Realizing they’d been discovered, the monsters immediately sprang into action.

The deafening flap of wings from hundreds—thousands—perhaps even tens of thousands of creatures echoed throughout the chamber.

As they plunged downward all at once, it felt as if the ceiling itself were collapsing.

Their glowing white eyes resembled stars scattered across a night sky, but the ferocity of their advance was anything but beautiful.

“Fall back!

Fall back for now!”

Someone shouted.

The matchup was terrible.

For a party focused on close combat, flying monsters were the worst possible enemy—especially when they were small and numerous.

The creatures, barely about a meter long, were swift, and their bat-like wings were coated in paralyzing powder.

Every time they flapped, dust-like particles scattered.

A foul, choking powder rained endlessly from above.

Espers with weak resistance visibly slowed.

They hurried to retreat, but before they could reach the exit, a wall suddenly collapsed with a thunderous crash, blocking their way.

When they looked up in alarm, they saw monsters smashing through nearby walls to seal off the escape route.

“Those bastards…!”

An Esper capable of long-range attacks hurriedly drove them back, but the path out was already gone.

“Damn it…”

Someone’s hollow mutter was swallowed by the roar of beating wings.

***

“I’ll be going now.”

“Yes…”

Even Tae-woo had left So-won’s side.

The figure walking away, growing smaller with each step, was no longer visible.

So-won stood quietly, staring at the place Tae-woo had departed from.

It felt as though a storm had just passed.

A peaceful calm, as if daily life had resumed, settled in—but deep in So-won’s heart, a lingering gloom refused to fade.

Now alone, So-won turned and headed back into the Center.

Fatigue hit him all at once.

All he wanted was a quiet place to rest.

Fortunately, there was just such a place available.

Approaching the information desk, So-won held out his Guide registration card before the staff member could even greet him.

“I’d like to use a private waiting room.”

“Ah, a private waiting room just opened up, but it’s being cleaned right now.

Could you wait in the common waiting room for a bit?

We’ll guide you as soon as it’s ready.”

“Yes…”

Nothing seemed to go right today.

Letting out a sigh, So-won trudged toward the common waiting room.

Expecting it to be crowded, he was surprised to find it nearly empty.

Puzzled, he took a seat closest to the entrance.

He looked around once more.

The Guides scattered throughout the spacious room, each occupied with their own tasks, were clearly few in number.

This was the only facility near the Gate where Guides could wait, yet even counting everyone present, there were barely thirty people.

Even accounting for those not yet arrived, it was still too few.

So-won tried to deny the ominous feeling, telling himself they must simply be late or had stepped out briefly.

But even after sitting there for a long while, watching the entrance, no one new came in.

Then, he recalled the person he’d encountered in front of the Center and realized the cause.

Choi Si-hyeok.

Si-hyeok’s abilities were endlessly versatile.

He could surround himself with telekinesis to form a barrier, tear apart vast areas, or crush enemies simply by looking at them—and much more besides.

Because of that, he often preferred minimal personnel, sometimes even entering Gates alone, claiming that support Espers only got in the way.

Seeing the number of people gathered in the waiting room, So-won could clearly picture how the Association had rushed to dispatch Tae-woo the day before.

When Si-hyeok canceled the Gate schedule out of sheer annoyance, the team assembled around him was no longer capable of clearing the Gate.

Finding a proper replacement for Si-hyeok in a single day was nearly impossible, and postponing the schedule involved too much red tape.

So Tae-woo had been forcibly dispatched instead.