Chapter 35: Aftermath

“Seo Yeong-u!”

The moment the Esper pulled my ankle, causing me to fall and hit the back of my head on the ground, I heard Tae Seung-jun’s voice.

The sensation of my Guiding being forcibly extracted was making me nauseous.

The Esper’s frozen hand pulled at my pants.

As I tried to hold onto my waistband, a shattered ice pillar struck his head.

“Keoheok!”

The Esper, who had collapsed on top of me, groaned as he was bound by an invisible restraining Barrier.

Tae Seung-jun, who appeared after shattering the ice pillar, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him far away.

Even in his final moments, the Esper tried to drain my Guiding.

“Seo Yeong-u, are you okay?!”

Tae Seung-jun helped me up from the floor and strengthened the restraining Barrier on the Esper.

He bound the Esper’s arms, legs, and even his drooling neck with the restraining Barrier, choking him.

As Tae Seung-jun pulled up my half-removed pants, his own eyes looked half-crazed.

“Barrier-user-nim! Please release his neck!”

The rampage suppression team, who arrived a step behind Tae Seung-jun, was taken aback by the aggressive Barrier.

Thanks to the Guiding they had forcibly taken from me, the Esper’s wavelength had lowered considerably.

They injected him with a sedative and, instead, tried to calm Tae Seung-jun down.

“Hyung, it’s Hyung…”

I couldn’t care less about the Esper; I was frantic, searching for Chul-soo.

I wanted to explain the situation properly, but my words kept getting stuck.

Not because I was scared, but because I was so worried about him that my throat was closing up.

Tae Seung-jun fumbled with the back of my head as if checking its condition and pulled me into a hug.

It felt like he was saying something, but the words didn’t reach my ringing ears.

Tears burst out when someone wrapped a blanket around me.

From that moment on, my choked breath was released, and the words came pouring out as well.

“Ch-Chul-soo used teleportation.”

“Go to him.”

“Not me, go to him, quickly…!”

Tae Seung-jun must have cast a Barrier over my face because the sound was blocked.

“I said go to him!!”

I shouted with all my might from within the Barrier, struggling.

Tae Seung-jun, who held my arms and legs tightly and stood up, entered the cafe without a word.

Only after he called Esper Hwang Gyu-tae and confirmed Chul-soo’s condition did I stop screaming.

With the tension released, Tae Seung-jun’s embrace felt comfortable.

I grumbled inwardly that I wanted to be leaning on Chul-soo’s chest, not this one, and wiped my tears.

I wanted to go to him quickly.

“I said I’m fine.”

“I’m not hurt at all!”

Tae Seung-jun’s voice grew increasingly fierce as he dragged a perfectly fine person into the examination room.

The doctor who had treated my finger just an hour ago was caught between me and Tae Seung-jun, looking nervous.

“The doctor said my body is fine, so what’s the problem!”

“Ah, um… I never said that.”

I glared at the unhelpful doctor and was about to kick my chair and leave.

The only thought in my head was that I had to go to Chul-soo right now.

“You’re not leaving until you get examined.”

I couldn’t even get a few steps before Tae Seung-jun grabbed my shoulder.

Tae Seung-jun, who plopped me down not on a chair but on the bed, was expressing his anger with his expression instead of words.

Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Chul-soo is alone right now.”

“His wavelength went up to 54%!”

“He’s with Hwang Gyu-tae, and they’ve attached two Guiding Machines to him.”

Every time I tried to stand up, that bstard Tae Seung-jun pushed my shoulder down, making my face flush with heat.

That bstard kept overpowering me with force.

In the old days, he at least just beat me with his words.

“So you just shut up and get the examination.”

“What kind of examination do I need when I’m not hurt!”

“I might have to strip you by force.”

‘Has that crazy bstard finally lost it?’

“Try it!”

“Just try it!”

Fearing he might actually do it, I crossed my arms tightly and lifted my chin.

If he so much as laid a hand on my clothes, I was going to press the emergency call button.

That bstard needed to get f*cked over once to stop showing off his strength to me.

“Call me again when you two are done talking.”

The doctor, who had been watching the staring contest between me and Tae Seung-jun, finally left the examination room.

I tried to follow him out but was caught by Tae Seung-jun again, and this time, I struggled and screamed.

I was already worried sick about Hyung, and Tae Seung-jun’s anger just made me feel wronged.

“Why are you taking it out on me!”

“What did I do wrong!”

“Who said you did anything wrong?!”

“You’re angry right now!”

Tae Seung-jun had been treating me with a grim expression ever since before we came to the examination room.

He didn’t curse like usual, but he glared at me more fiercely than ever before.

“I’m pissed at myself!”

“At myself!”

Behind Tae Seung-jun, who had shouted, the door opened.

It wasn’t the doctor, but Aran-noona.

“Lower your voice.”

A monster’s energy emanated from Aran-noona, who had come in her combat uniform worn at Gate sites.

It seemed she had just finished eliminating a Gate.

“You go help the suppression team.”

Tae Seung-jun glared at me once and then walked out the door.

As soon as Tae Seung-jun, who was in a particularly low mood, disappeared, I quickly stood up and spoke to Aran-noona.

“I want to go to Hyung.”

“No, sit down.”

But even Aran-noona blocked my way.

“The Team Leader is sleeping on a sedative right now.”

“You won’t be able to talk to him even if you go.”

“A sedative?”

‘Was his condition so bad that he needed medication?’

Hearing that made me even more anxious.

Since there was no way Aran-noona would stop me with force like Tae Seung-jun, I was about to make a run for it.

“Could I ask you for some Guiding?”

But at the unexpected request, I put my butt back on the chair.

Even when I was the team’s dedicated Guide, Noona had never once asked for Guiding first.

I was always the one who checked her levels first and scheduled the Guiding sessions.

“…Give me your hand.”

“Thanks.”

Aran-noona pulled a chair in front of me, took off her gloves, and sat down.

It was the first time in four years that I was giving Guiding to an Esper other than Chul-soo.

After leaving the team, I had only ever given it to Chul-soo.

I hadn’t even brushed past another Esper.

“When was the last time you received it?”

I asked seriously, holding a hand that had a different texture and size from Hyung’s, who was a man.

Aran-noona’s wavelength was very tangled.

“Relatively recently.”

“Was it last week?”

“What about the matching rate?”

“Not bad.”

“63%.”

“Is there nothing higher?”

The matching rate needed to be at least 68% to get a high Guiding effect from simple contact alone.

Aran-noona never did mucosal Guiding.

Even with me, she had only ever held hands for four years.

“It’s hard to find a Guide these days.”

“63% is enough.”

After I left, Barrier Team 3 didn’t have a dedicated Guide.

They operated as a team without one.

When I asked why, Chul-soo had said the team members didn’t want one.

I didn’t ask why they didn’t want one.

“Seung-jun is acting like that because he feels sorry.”

Aran-noona brought up the guy I didn’t want to hear about while I was concentrating on Guiding.

“What’s he sorry about?”

“He said you were at the cafe because he called you.”

Of course, there’s nothing Aran-noona doesn’t know.

With a face that looked uninterested in worldly affairs, she knew everything that was going on.

“He probably thinks the accident happened because of him.”

“That he got you hurt by calling you out for no reason.”

“I doubt it.”

“He was really angry with me.”

I let loose some of Tae Seung-jun’s misdeeds that I had been saving up to tell on him.

Aran-noona, who listened silently, would occasionally make a ‘tsk’ sound.

She probably did it on purpose for me to hear.

Like she was agreeing with me.

“Okay, I’ll scold him.”

“Please do.”

“Tell him to stop using his strength on me.”

“It hurts like hell.”

It wasn’t like Tae Seung-jun had used enough force to actually hurt me, but I deliberately exaggerated.

After cursing him out, I felt a little better.

“You know where this is, right.”

Aran-noona brought up a map on her watch and showed me the place where Chul-soo had teleported.

In case of an emergency, we had attached a location tracker to his watch.

Barrier Team 3, including myself, was aware of all his movements.

“Hyung went here?”

The place Chul-soo had teleported to was neither home nor the hospital room.

It was a place the younger him had never been to.

“He shouldn’t know this place now…”

A quiet resting area behind Building C.

There was only a lone bench, and after it became a non-smoking area, no one visited it anymore.

It was the place where Hyung and I first met, and it was our frequent hideout.

It was also the only place in the Center where I could truly be at ease.

“His body must remember.”

Aran-noona encouraged me, saying it was a positive sign that his memory was trying to return.

My heart was pounding so hard I couldn’t speak.

“Gyu-tae happened to have just arrived at the main building, so he found him right away.”

“There was nothing wrong with his body at all.”

My Guiding was cut off as I focused on Noona’s words.

Noona, who continued her explanation calmly, held my hand as if to tell me not to get excited.

“He said he was in a state of panic and didn’t recognize him.”

“Not for long, just briefly.”

My pounding heart calmed down at Hyung’s condition, which was more serious than I had worried.

If an Esper’s panic worsens, there is a risk that their level will rise rapidly, leading to a rampage crisis.

“He calmed down quickly.”

“It was at a level that could be subdued with a sedative, and right before he fell asleep, he was only worried about you.”

She said he only fell asleep after hearing that I was safely with Tae Seung-jun.

As I just bit my lip, unable to speak, Aran-noona continued the conversation.

“You know how the Team Leader’s parents passed away, right.”

“…Yes.”

“Seeing the Esper who was about to go on a rampage must have reminded him of that situation.”

“To the current Team Leader, that was only two years ago.”

I had expected it.

That’s why I tried to keep him and that Esper as far apart as possible.

If I had been as strong as him, I would have carried him and run.

Covering his eyes tightly so he wouldn’t have to see anything.

But far from holding him, I couldn’t even cover his eyes.

In searching for a secluded spot, I had chosen the most remote corner of the terrace, only putting him in danger.

I couldn’t protect him.

“Noona.”

I swallowed once in my raw throat and squeezed Aran-noona’s hand.

“Please let Chul-soo stay at home until his memory comes back.”

I sent my Guiding deeper into Noona, giving my words strength.

“You said you’re short on Guides.”

“Use me.”

“Yeong-u-ya.”

“You know I’m good at Guiding!”

“My matching rate is usually high with most people, and even if it’s not, I can do well.”

I pleaded anxiously with Aran-noona, who just looked down at our clasped hands and kept her mouth shut.

“I’ll do it for anyone….”

“Just don’t take my hyung.”

I kept begging, even though I knew I could never take his place.

“He can’t work right now.”

The Gate site was too dangerous for him, who was only seventeen.

I hoped his trauma would never be triggered again.

“Seo Yeong-u.”

Aran-noona, her voice turning icy cold, suddenly grabbed my wrist and lifted it.

I was so engrossed in talking that I didn’t even realize Noona had rolled up my sleeve.

Belatedly, I tried to pull my captured arm away, but I stopped resisting at Aran-noona’s chilling gaze.

“It’s nothing.”

Seeing me try to cover my exposed arm with my hand, Aran-noona, her anger boiling over, called for the doctor.

I grabbed Noona’s hand tightly with a frightened face.

It was the first time I had ever seen her raise her voice like this.

“It’s okay.”

“Noona, these are all from accidents.”

At Aran-noona’s call, the doctor who had rushed in hurried his steps as he saw my arm.

“What in the world is this…”

The doctor’s expression, as he examined my arm, which was mottled with ugly bruises, hardened as seriously as Aran-noona’s.

‘It’s really nothing.’