Chapter 3: When Instinct Recognized Him

The facility was divided in a way that, to prevent uninvited guests, the emergency stairs would go down to the left, but then you would have to walk all the way to the other side to continue.

Lee Juju practically crawled down the corridor, swallowing his tears.

He must not encounter any monster.

If he unluckily met even an F-Class monster turret, he would be torn to shreds and become monster food right then and there.

The weather was cold and the atmosphere was eerie.

The situation he was in was so absurd that untimely laughter threatened to burst out.

He really didn’t know a day would come when he would be walking inside a Gate alone as if taking a stroll.

It didn’t feel real, but at the same time, the survival instinct to live by any means necessary forced his body to move.

To Lee Juju’s ears, who was walking practically stuck to the floor, came the sound of crude footsteps walking briskly.

‘A person? Is it a person?’

It felt like tears would fall at the sudden hope.

Lee Juju was about to run hurriedly towards where the sound was coming from, when he came to his senses.

If this was inside a Gate, just because he heard footsteps didn’t guarantee that they were people.

Recalling the fact that the most common Normal Grade Gate was a ‘Zombie Gate’, Lee Juju hid his body behind the emergency exit door instead of running to the corridor where the sound was coming from.

Soon, the silhouettes of people presumed to be Espers were revealed little by little.

“Colonel, no anomalies.”

Hearing the voice, he felt a strong conviction that they were people.

However, Lee Juju forcibly held back his body that was trying to rush out on its own.

Enduring in a situation where his mind was extremely unstable due to falling into a Gate alone was torture, but it wouldn’t be too late to go out once he judged that those were really people and Espers.

“It was strange indeed. Does a Gate appearing suddenly make sense?”

“No one knows what might pop out. Do not let your guard down.”

“Yes, sir!”

The sound of briskly moving footsteps was heard again.

He hesitated with his hand on the door.

They really seem like Espers?

However, they seemed to be Espers affiliated with the state, not the ones managed by the Center.

Did the state take the Gate this time?

Even though he tried hard to peek through the crack in the door, Lee Juju’s eyesight was no different from a normal person’s, so he could see next to nothing.

Not only was he hiding in a corner, but unlike the 4th-floor corridor, the windows in the 3rd-floor corridor were hardly broken, so it was dark as moonlight didn’t penetrate.

Silhouettes of people emerging from the right emergency exit were slowly approaching.

He had to watch from here, and if his judgement was right about them not being humans, he had to run away, whether up or down.

If they were Espers, he could request rescue without hesitation.

Only after squinting for a long time could Lee Juju know that their face color wasn’t blue, they weren’t dragging their legs, and they weren’t holding their heads in their hands.

After observing them meticulously until the end, Lee Juju concluded that they were real Espers.

‘Oh God, thank you. Thank you.’

The neatly dressed uniforms and orderly movements seemed far from monsters.

Even after blinking several times, they were Espers.

Lee Juju rubbed away the tears that had trickled out.

And it was when he took a step to come out of the emergency exit door.

“Who goes there?”

A cool and heavy metal touched the back of his head.

The thought that it was an Esper with teleportation abilities came first.

Lee Juju, who flinched at the creeping sensation of a gun barrel aimed at the back of his head, barely realized that the Esper who was at the very front, walking almost 100 centimeters away, had disappeared.

“If you don’t answer in 3 seconds, I will shoot.”

‘How long has it been since I received this kind of treatment?’

Because he had only met Espers who were considerate of Guides, whenever he met Espers without revealing he was a Guide, he could feel anew how dangerous and formidable beings they were.

The senses of superpowered individuals, who were sometimes called non-human beings because they didn’t seem like people, and sometimes even called gods, were truly impressive.

He heard that most Espers could feel presences from 500 meters away.

So it was no wonder they immediately caught the movement or vibration beyond the emergency exit.

Rather, it was surprising that his hiding while holding his breath hadn’t been discovered sooner.

“One.”

The voice counting the number was so grim that Lee Juju’s body, which had been lost in thought blankly, jumped in surprise.

“I’m a human!”

Because he was so startled (to be precise, afraid he would be shot and depart from life right there), he shouted loudly, and more surprised by that sound, Lee Juju quickly covered his mouth.

A clicking sound came threateningly.

Perhaps because the sound rang out loudly, the emergency exit door was ‘torn off’ silently.

And beyond the disappearing door, the corridor was fully visible, where dozens of Espers with a cold and hostile aura were glaring at Lee Juju.

All of them were aiming their guns at him with impeccable calm.

Lee Juju was terrified by their threatening appearance, but thinking that he had made a mistake in a Gate that even a first-year Guide wouldn’t make, he just wanted to die.

From beyond the shame, a sense of relief crept up.

Because with this number of Espers, a mere Gate like this was nothing.

Even if those Espers were all glaring fiercely at Lee Juju.

Even so, a Gate was a place where being 100 percent careful wasn’t enough.

Including him, the Espers gathered here all held their breath and waited for a long time, examining the surroundings.

Fortunately, no sound was heard inside the facility.

Only then did Lee Juju remove the hand covering his mouth.

“I- I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I entered a Gate that I just.”

What came out as an excuse was something that wouldn’t work at all.

Knowing that, he understood why the Espers were still glaring at him.

Lee Juju’s ears burned hot.

He knew it was better to keep quiet for his image but if he didn’t say something, he felt like he would die of embarrassment.

What if these Espers went outside and gossiped a word or two about Lee Juju?

‘Wow, what did they say about the Han River’s water temperature’s like these days?’

Lee Juju’s face began to darken rapidly.

The Espers still aiming guns at his front and back showed not a single change in expression, but Lee Juju noticed that they, who were showing hostility, started to stir as if puzzled.

Probably because his appearance of letting go of tension looked strange.

‘That may be so, but.’

‘Espers shooting me?’

‘Me, Lee Juju?’

There was no statement more unrealistic than that.

‘I’d rather believe that I traveled dimensions.’

Lee Juju snorted inwardly.

Not fearing Espers is a quality naturally possessed if one is a Guide.

Lee Juju rolled his eyes as if asking when he was ever surprised, examining the Espers aiming guns at him here and there, and when the gun barrel touching his nape poked the back of his head again, he turned around in surprise.

Then the man’s face came clearly into view.

Because he had his back to the window, his eye color or hair color couldn’t be known properly, but his jawline and straight nose bridge, which were too handsome to be hidden in darkness, stood out sharply.

It was the extreme of an Esper-like appearance made to seduce Guides.

He was certain it would be a face as beautiful and handsome as a doll even under the light.

“Are you an Esper? What is your affiliation?”

Instead of answering, Lee Juju rolled his eyes.

And then, he sprayed a weak radiation Guiding as widely as possible towards the Espers once.

There was nothing as effective and honest as Guiding to introduce himself as a Guide.

Spraying Guiding was a much more sophisticated method of self-introduction than saying ‘My affiliation is so-and-so…….’

The Espers gathered here would have immediately known what kind of Guide Lee Juju was with this single radiation Guiding.

And this radiation Guiding, sprayed as if with a watering can, was akin to a tribute offered to the Espers.

For instance, it meant ‘Hehe, please take care of me. Even if I look a bit stupid, I’m a really useful Guide. Okay?’

It was needless to say.

Most of the gun barrels aiming at Lee Juju were lowered.

What was strange were rather the remaining Espers who didn’t lower their guns.

Lee Juju’s eyes, which had been thinking about just conquering this Gate with these Espers rather than escaping with them, widened.

There were still two or three gun barrels aimed at him.

Lee Juju was too surprised by this fact to realize that the Espers were extremely flustered.

The Espers who lowered their guns were flustered not knowing why they did so, and the Espers who didn’t lower their guns had their expressions distorted from resisting their instinct not to harm the man in front of them.

Even the strongest Esper gathered here couldn’t be free from this instinct.

The Esper who had the gun to the back of Lee Juju’s head whispered fiercely in a growling voice.

“……What did you just do?”