Chapter 30: No Mercy

“H-Hey, maybe…”

Up close, his face was even more mottled with bruises. Lee Juju looked the esper over, head to toe. He looked like he’d been beaten badly.

“Y-You… were you the one who purified those company members? W-With that ability from earlier?”

“Purification…”

Lee Juju and Sierra understood the word immediately. It meant guiding. Sierra seemed to like the term; she broke into a grin.

That was when, from afar, Lieutenant Colonel Miles walked over, yawning.

“What is this? Why are you all loitering around? Major Liam.”

“L-Lieutenant Colonel…”

“I’ve been waiting for quite a while, you know.”

In that instant, realization flashed through Major Liam’s mind.

“Damn it- don’t tell me you’re in cahoots with the Ghost Unit too, sir?”

“Of course I am. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting?”

Miles took a couple of casual steps forward, then nodded as if he’d figured something out when he saw Lee Juju. He grinned broadly and said,

“Oh dear, Juju. You should head inside. Of all people, you had to run into Major Liam… Major Liam here is a bad guy. A villain!”

“A villain?”

Lee Juju’s gaze naturally shifted to Major Liam. Major Liam bristled at once. For some reason… a childish urge rose up in him, he didn’t want to be misunderstood as a villain by this man.

“What are you talking about? I’m the one being chased right now! And hiding an esper with purification abilities from the Center, that’s a serious crime, Lieutenant Colonel!”

“You look terribly wronged, Major Liam. But who would that benefit, reporting it to the Center?”

“Let’s see if you can still say that when you’re standing before a tribunal!”

“Oh dear. This one’s impossible to reason with.”

“You’re the one who won’t listen, sir!”

Lieutenant Colonel Miles snickered, deliberately provoking him.

“What exactly is the problem? Juju here isn’t even an esper, he’s a civilian.”

“A civilian… you say?”

With a confused expression, Major Liam stared intently at Lee Juju. Unlike the man who had been running for his life just moments ago,

Major Liam now appeared calm, no, he even looked as if he didn’t want to run anymore. Lee Juju quietly studied the new face as well. Major Liam’s eyes, beneath his orange hair, were pitch-black like the dark.

Not long after, the sharp sound of boots marching echoed from behind Major Liam.

“Oh, you arrived a day early, Juju-nim.”

Captain Russell greeted Lee Juju in an unperturbed voice. Still dazed, Lee Juju looked at him.

“Hello.”

“Yes. Good morning.”

Four espers dropped down from midair with dull thuds. All four were unconscious.

“One more memory wipe and we’re done. Ah, and Juju-nim already has him restrained.”

Captain Russell said this with a gentle smile. Lee Juju realized for the first time that Russell was capable of smiling like that. He looked positively delighted.

What on earth was so amusing…?

“Erase his memory?”

“Yes. It’s easier if we just knock them out and wipe their memories, but someone has to act as the carrier. We capture one alive, erase his memory, hypnotize him, have him carry the other four, and then send him back to the Center.”

“…”

Stunned, Lee Juju stared at them.

Sunglasses…

‘If this was the plan, why wear them at all?’

Lieutenant Frank stepped forward with a grin. His sunglasses flashed brightly in the sunlight. And just as Lee Juju’s attention was momentarily drawn to them.

Thud!

With a dull sound, the bruised man, Major Liam, collapsed. Lieutenant Colonel Miles casually brushed off his hands, grabbed Liam by the back of the neck, and handed him over to Lieutenant Frank.

“Honestly, Lieutenant Colonel. You were going to wipe his memory while he was still conscious, weren’t you?”

“If we left him any longer, wouldn’t Juju start feeling sorry for him? He already brought home a stray cat from somewhere else, as it is.”

With a tone that sounded oddly approving and disapproving at the same time, Miles pointed at Sierra. The squad members’ gazes all shifted to the pink-haired woman. Weren’t they supposed to be getting along with Sierra? Lee Juju narrowed his eyes at Miles.

“What- what are you staring at?!”

Sensing danger, Sierra hissed and swelled the size of her rising shadow even more. Emergency treatment or not, she shouldn’t have been able to use her powers this freely. Frowning, Lee Juju placed a hand on her shoulder.

“That’s enough, Sierra.”

How should he introduce these people? Colleagues? Friends? Or…

Lee Juju’s gaze flicked briefly toward the squad members. Colonel Shan wasn’t there.

“…They’re my espers.”

Of course, he didn’t mean it that way, but still, they were espers under his direct management. The moment he said that, the squad members’ expressions all changed in different ways.

Lieutenant Frank awkwardly pushed his sunglasses up again, and Captain Russell’s eyes widened briefly before returning to normal.

****

Lieutenant Colonel Miles, Captain Russell, and Lieutenant Frank were about to leave to deal with the auditors. When their attention shifted to Sierra, Lee Juju stepped forward.

“I’ll show Sierra to the colonel.”

“Hm. Is Colonel Shan in his office, Captain Russell?”

“He probably is.”

Russell answered.

Sierra’s situation needed to be settled. Lee Juju headed for the colonel’s office with her. He needed to ask how to track down and deal with the villain organization Sierra had mentioned, and whether Sierra could be formally attached to the unit.

Sierra’s pink bob haircut stood out far too much. The squad members all had colorful hair to begin with, but shocking pink was unique to Sierra. Perhaps it stood out even more because a woman had appeared in a unit full of men.

As a result, every squad member Lee Juju passed ended up trailing after them in a long line. It was like kindergarteners following their teacher to an amusement park, or like the Pied Piper leading a swarm of rats. It was deeply awkward.

“Do you all… have nothing better to do?”

When Lee Juju sighed and turned around, the squad members who’d been following as if entranced stopped and blinked.

“N-No, sir.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow.”

After exchanging glances, they scattered in an instant. Watching them go, Lee Juju asked Sierra,

“Sierra.”

“Yes?”

“Are they still nearby?”

“Yes, Master!”

Sierra answered loyally, her voice far too bright. Of course they were. Even if he scattered them, they’d just follow from out of sight. Giving up on them, Lee Juju knocked on the colonel’s door.

“Come in.”

‘Didn’t even ask who it was.’

Did Colonel Shan already know it was Lee Juju outside? When he entered, the room was messier than expected. The colonel’s office, normally used as an operations command room, was filled with maps, a wide desk, sofas, and the colonel’s personal chair.

But the chairs were nowhere to be seen, smashed, overturned, scattered everywhere. Probably the auditors’ doing. No ordinary scuffle could’ve caused this much damage.

“And who’s the one beside you?”

While surveying the room, Lee Juju finally realized he needed to introduce Sierra.

Gone was her earlier cheerfulness; Sierra glared at Colonel Shan with a ferocious expression. And contrary to expectations that he’d treat her like a trivial insect, Colonel Shan’s face was equally cold and rigid.

It was like the look of someone meeting a lifelong rival… or perhaps he was simply angry that another esper had been brought onto the base without his permission. After all, he was the unit’s overall commander.

A little flustered, Lee Juju tried to introduce her.

“This is Sierra. I don’t know if Lieutenant Colonel Miles told you, but last night she was the one who tried to kidnap me-”

Lee Juju broke off in shock. Sierra had been lifted into the air, as if caught in the grip of a giant hand, choking and gasping.

Instinctively fighting for her life, Sierra expanded her shadow with her powers. But the shadow couldn’t inflict even the slightest wound on Colonel Shan, it simply passed through him.

“Colonel!”

When Lee Juju grabbed his arm, the colonel looked at him silently. It had only been a few days since he’d been away, but the colonel’s eyes were pitch-black. Lee Juju was sure they’d turned blue after they kissed…

‘How much has he been using his ability?’

The uniform beneath his palm was maddeningly irritating. Sliding his hand to rest over the colonel’s hand instead of his arm, Lee Juju began contact guiding. Sierra’s choking body dropped to the floor. The colonel spoke, his expression noticeably more relaxed.

“It’ll be over soon.”

Over? What would be over?

Sierra’s… life?