Chapter 5: The Icy Gaze

Upon arriving at the scene, the first thing Team Leader Joo did was meticulously inspect the area around the control line.

He lifted the tattered tape, ducked under it, and clicked his tongue as he surveyed the desolate, almost eerie surroundings. Min Yugeon, Jo Jinwoo, and Jung Hanseol followed him in sequence.

The sparsely planted trees were mostly withered, resembling dead husks, and the dry, earthen path was well-trodden. This mountain, not particularly high, once had a designated walking trail, but it had been closed to civilians ever since the appearance of a monstrous creature some time ago.

“I think it’s right around here. Everyone, be careful.”

Team Leader Joo, whose hearing was exceptionally sharp even among his heightened senses, could detect the faintest of sounds with uncanny precision. Sensing a presence, he immediately drew his revolver and scanned the area with keen vigilance. Hanseol clutched his own pistol in his right hand while his left gripped the hem of Jinwoo’s coat, swallowing dryly.

His cheeks and earlobes tingled from the biting winter wind, but he had no choice but to endure it. Just then, Yugeon, who had been scouting a little further up, raised his hand and shouted.

“Team Leader, over here!”

A gunshot rang out, followed by a ghastly, skin-crawling shriek that pierced everyone’s ears. The team hurried up the slope to find the corpse of a creature that Yugeon had dispatched with a single shot to a vital point. The lizard-like beast’s body was longer than Hanseol’s leg. His face contorted in disgust at the unpleasant sight.

Min Yugeon glanced at the dark red blood splattered on his clothes before examining the creature’s feet. Stuck to them were dried leaves not found in the immediate vicinity.

“I think it’s further up.”

Raising the leaf to his nose, Yugeon identified the faint scent of the creature lingering in the air. He pinpointed the likely location of their den and, along with Team Leader Joo, quickened his pace. Hanseol and Jinwoo followed close behind, their nerves stretched taut.

The quiet, desolate tension of the moment felt even more nerve-wracking than the chaotic clamor of a large-scale battle, which was an endless symphony of shouts, screams, gunshots, and explosions. Hanseol kept glancing over his shoulder as he slowly made his way up the gentle mountain path.

Just as his breathing grew labored, he saw Yugeon, at the head of the group, stopped and bent over, peering at something. When Hanseol finally caught up, he discovered a crude, suspicious-looking cave that seemed utterly out of place on the manicured trail. He swallowed hard, silently watching his teammates communicate with simple glances.

Suddenly, a bullet shot from Min Yugeon’s pistol and tore through something’s torso.

“Ah, f*ck. You scared the shit out of me.”

Muttering a low curse, Yugeon nonchalantly picked up a creature about the size of his forearm. Its head was gone, making it difficult to tell what it resembled, but it was already dead.

Unwilling to look at the grim sight of dripping blood any longer, Hanseol lowered his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the afterimage lingered stubbornly. A disquieting shiver ran down his spine, seeming to intensify the biting cold.

Team Leader Joo cautiously inspected the inside of the cave before taking a few steps back. Jo Jinwoo pulled the faintly trembling Hanseol closer to the cave’s entrance and asked the team leader.

“How does it look, sir?”

“Seems like there are a few more inside. Not many, and they’re small. Probably not fully grown.”

“It’s freezing. Let’s just hurry up and finish this. A bit of a shame Hanseol didn’t get a chance to shine, though.”

Hanseol shot a small glare at Jo Jinwoo, who managed to chuckle with unnerving calm even in this situation, then turned his gaze to Team Leader Joo. The team leader, as if in agreement, checked his revolver and fired twice into the cave. A great inferno immediately erupted within, and the smell of noxious smoke began to fill the air. Hanseol stared, dumbfounded, once again marveling at Team Leader Joo’s flame-based abilities.

Jo Jinwoo then fired a few of his own ability-infused bullets into the cave. A couple of massive explosions followed, as if from a chemical reaction. Hanseol was certain that any creatures inside had been completely incinerated, leaving not even a corpse to collect.

‘Can we go back to the office now?’ He felt like he’d done nothing but cower in fear and shiver from the cold, far from making any contribution. But he didn’t care. He just wanted to get somewhere warm, thaw out, and calm his pounding heart. He let out a sigh of relief and glanced down, only to freeze at the sight of something black scuttling past his white sneakers.

It was a long, thin creature, shaped like a snake but with the many legs of a centipede, and it was crawling toward the smoldering cave.

“J-Jinwoo! On the ground!”

Hanseol instinctively drew his gun and aimed at the floor but couldn’t bring himself to shoot. It was too small and moved too fast to get a clear shot. With no better idea, he urgently called out to Jinwoo, who immediately rushed to his side.

Min Yugeon and Team Leader Joo also tensed, their vigilance renewed as they scanned the area. Jinwoo let out a bewildered laugh as he spotted a black mass, like a single large entity, swarming toward them from a distance.

“What the hell is all that?”

A horde of hideous creatures, looking like a cross between snakes and centipedes, was crawling single-mindedly toward the cave. They weren’t large, but their sheer numbers made them look like a swarm of black shadows. They weren’t adults, it seemed, as they paid no mind to Hanseol and Jinwoo, simply scurrying past them as if driven by a homing instinct for the cave.

While the rest of the team focused on the cave, Hanseol kept his eyes fixed on the east, where the swarm had come from, his gun aimed at the empty air. He was overcome with a vague terror that their leader might burst out from there at any moment.

“Aack!”

Suddenly, a figure materialized right before his eyes—or more precisely, right in front of his gun’s muzzle—and Hanseol stumbled backward in shock. At his frantic cry, Jinwoo immediately spun around. But the first thing to catch Jinwoo’s eye wasn’t the fallen Hanseol, but Ryu Yishin, who was nonchalantly sweeping back his slightly disheveled, ash-gray hair.

“Oh, Team Leader Ryu?”

While Team Leader Joo, who had just come down, acknowledged Ryu Yishin, Jo Jinwoo slipped his arms under Hanseol’s and helped him to his feet. Hanseol’s heart was pounding so violently he couldn’t control his own body, leaving him in the awkward position of still pointing his gun at Ryu Yishin.

Despite the biting wind of the season, Ryu Yishin was wearing only a thin trench coat.

Ryu Yishin shot a piercing glare at Hanseol before casually firing a single bullet into the cave where the swarm was headed. True to his nature as an esper with ice abilities, the single shot froze everything, which then shattered with a crystalline sound. Ryu Yishin turned his head toward the approaching Team Leader Joo and asked in a frigid tone.

“Is this Team 7’s jurisdiction?”

“Ah, it was originally Team 5’s, but they’re on dispatch, so we took it instead. What brings you here, Team Leader Ryu?”

“Something I was handling seemed to be connected to this area.”

Ryu Yishin snatched up a straggler that had been left behind by the swarm and was belatedly heading for the cave. In one fluid motion, he twisted its spine and froze it solid, snuffing out its life. The sound of vertebrae cracking was so menacing that it made Hanseol flinch. The strength in that grip was clearly no joke; he looked as if he could snap a person’s neck just as easily.

Ryu Yishin’s gaze shifted to Hanseol as he let the frozen corpse drop to the ground. The menacing aura he exuded was so intense that Hanseol could practically see his own terrified reflection in the creature’s icy shell. His throat bobbed with tension.

“Are you going to keep that gun pointed at my head?”

“Ah, n-no! I’m sorry…”

The icy voice snapped Hanseol back to his senses. He hurriedly shoved the pistol into his coat pocket, cautiously watching Ryu Yishin. The man’s sanpaku eyes, heavy and unreadable, stared intently at him. A moment later, a sneer-like comment escaped Ryu Yishin’s lips.

“Does Team 7 bring Guides along for trivial jobs like this?”

Everyone’s expression froze at the chilling voice, thick with blatant mockery. Hanseol, feeling responsible for the insult his team had just endured, cast his eyes downward. Beside him, Jo Jinwoo’s face hardened as he took a step forward. He squared his shoulders, ready for a confrontation, and began to lash out at Ryu Yishin.

“What business is that of yours, Team Leader Ryu? Whether our team brings a Guide along or not.”

“…”

“Why don’t you fix that f*cking habit of spouting nonsense without knowing the first thing about the situation?”

The atmosphere grew so sharp that a fight could have broken out at any second. Hanseol quickly stepped between them, widening the distance. He had little interest in world peace, but he desperately wanted his immediate surroundings to be peaceful. He knew that when espers fought, it rarely ended until one of them was dead. He had to defuse this.

“J-Jinwoo, it looks like we’re done here, let’s just go back… Please?”

“…”

“Come on…”

Though a persistent chill ran down his spine, causing him to tremble, Hanseol forced a goofy, wide grin for Jo Jinwoo. Pushed along by Hanseol, Jinwoo reluctantly started down the mountain, but he made no effort to hide his fury and resentment toward Ryu Yishin, his aura still radiating hostility.

After exchanging a look with Team Leader Joo, Hanseol continued to lead the fuming Jinwoo away. Joo Youngmin and Yugeon remained behind to confirm that every creature in the cave had been annihilated before contacting headquarters.

Only when he heard the footsteps of Team Leader Joo and Yugeon behind them did Hanseol finally let out a breath. He was practically being dragged down the path by Jinwoo now, but a sudden curiosity about Ryu Yishin made him glance back one last time.

“…”

But there was nothing there. Ryu Yishin had already vanished without a trace.