Chapter 57: Wealth

Jo Yeon watched the unconscious Bodam for a long time before returning, his face utterly dejected.

It was already past midnight.

Despite Jo Yeon’s persistent gaze, Bodam ultimately remained in a deep sleep.

At least it was fortunate that he was sleeping well.

After all, rest was the most important thing for recovery.

After confirming that Guide Yoon was sleeping like a baby, Team Leader Kim finally couldn’t resist and ordered a hamburger.

He pre-ordered food at a 24-hour fast-food restaurant and picked it up in just one second.

He picked up a hot, fresh french fry and ate it.

Then he went to the guest table, as far as possible from the bed, and began his late-night snack.

Since it was night, he curbed his desires to two hamburger sets.

He sat comfortably on the sofa and chugged a large can of cola.

“Ha. Now I can live.”

Even if alcohol was like a soft drink to an Esper, Team Leader Kim never drank during working hours.

He wished he could gulp down beer with his burger, but he settled for cola.

He devoured the hamburger in four bites.

He then shoveled in the french fries, filling his hungry stomach.

Just as he picked up the remaining hamburger and was about to tear open the wrapper.

“Ugh…”

Hearing a very faint sound from the bed, he immediately put down the hamburger.

“Guide-nim?”

“Ki… Kim Team… Lead… er-nim…”

“Yes. I’m here. Are you feeling a bit more awake?”

Moving his chapped lips, Bodam, who had emerged from sleep, listened to the approaching voice.

It really was Team Leader Kim.

Feeling relieved by his steady voice, Bodam’s eyelashes, matted with dried tears, fluttered.

“Ah…”

Among his fragmented memories, the moment the Research Director grabbed his shoulder and pushed him was the first to surface.

Even with Team Leader Kim clearly in front of him, his shoulder still ached as if it were being held.

He belatedly grew angry that he had been utterly helpless against that pig bastard with only a few strands of hair.

He wasn’t an Esper, just an old man shorter than himself.

“I’ll call a doctor. Just a moment.”

“Shit… hic.”

Bodam mumbled, unable to properly open his eyes, still half-asleep.

Team Leader Kim, mistaking Bodam’s angry, heavy breathing for difficulty breathing, wore a worried expression.

As he was about to leave quickly to call a doctor, Bodam’s tears burst forth.

He barely managed to put strength into his arm, waving his hand, searching for Team Leader Kim.

Team Leader Kim immediately grasped his hand and asked if something was wrong.

A rush of sorrow overwhelmed him.

“Pig…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Ba…”

“…Huh?”

Team Leader Kim, denying his own excellent A-class Esper hearing, asked again.

He seemed to have misheard “pig.”

“Pig… bastard…”

He tried to add “that,” but his eyes closed again.

Bodam, who had tried to report that the Research Director had threatened him, returned to dreamland without finishing his sentence.

Team Leader Kim, blinking as he replayed Guide Yoon’s last words, quietly covered his mouth, which had just eaten a hamburger late at night.

***

The extravagant spending spree of Min Ji Oh and Lee Tae Hwan, who jointly held the second rank in Attack Team 3’s wealth, began.

Of course, it wasn’t a verified official ranking of assets.

However, within the Center, considering their backgrounds, they were judged to be roughly similar.

In any case, it was a proven fact that they both had a lot of money.

First, Lee Tae Hwan imported one more SVNI guiding machine with his private funds.

Only eight of these machines had ever entered the country.

He forcibly took a machine that was unavailable even overseas, paying a premium.

To import the SVNI-11 machine from Hong Kong, he mobilized an A-class Teleport Esper and even a barrier team.

Not satisfied with this, he was putting pressure on the Guide Association in the Busan branch to extract the sole SVNI-36 unit they possessed.

[We would rather select and send an excellent A-class Guide.]

The Guide Association President’s strong accent conveyed a deep sense of frustration.

Lee Tae Hwan, who had shown a firm stance that he didn’t need a Guide, appeased the Association President’s anger by adding another ‘0’ to the proposed amount.

Tae Hwan’s family kept calling him, asking what was going on with his sudden massive spending.

To his older brother and sister, who asked what there was to spend money on inside the Center and if he’d caused trouble, he simply told them to mind their own business.

He merely dug his ear once at the barrage of curses assaulting an Esper’s sensitive eardrums, offering no excuses whatsoever.

Anyway, it was all his own money.

Min Ji Oh also didn’t lose in this numbers game.

He provided investment funds to various specialized research institutes for ability users, pressuring them to develop methods to stabilize an Esper’s wavelength.

Unlike Tae Hwan’s siblings, who were rife with curses and worries, Min Ji Oh’s parents remained quiet.

So, what did Han Seung Ho do?

True to his nature, he watched the situation with his mouth closed and only his eyes open.

He merely watched the two of them, who were desperately trying to restore Kang Yi Jun’s condition, with a cold gaze as if living in a separate world.

A week passed like that.

Yoon Bodam still hadn’t woken up.

– “Why.”

Seung Ho, who had just come out of the office bathroom after showering, answered the phone.

Unwiped water droplets dripped onto the floor.

– “Looks like you were just waiting for my call. Are we dating?”

– “Purpose.”

Seung Ho drew a sharp line, answering Team Leader Kim, who had been calling every other day recently.

Team Leader Kim couldn’t resist teasing Han Seung Ho, who answered the phone before the first ring even finished.

– “How is Esper Kang Yi Jun doing?”

Team Leader Kim exchanged appropriate information with Seung Ho, who was the only one who spoke nothing but the truth.

They hadn’t made a deal, but they naturally exchanged information, following the flow.

When Kang Yi Jun’s wavelength levels dropped, Han Seung Ho would inform him via text message.

Team Leader Kim, in turn, would subtly convey Bodam’s condition over the phone.

It also helped alleviate the boredom of being stuck in the hospital room like a built-in closet.

– “A new machine is arriving today. His levels are dropping.”

– “Wow. No, seriously, how much money does one need for that to even be possible?”

Seung Ho didn’t respond to Team Leader Kim, who was spouting nonsense about needing 10 billion won, but he also didn’t hang up the call.

With that silence, Team Leader Kim voluntarily provided information he hadn’t even been asked for.

– “He woke up briefly yesterday morning. And this time, he fell back asleep crying again.”

During the week he had been lying in the hospital bed, Bodam had woken up a total of five times.

Each of those five times, he had cried profusely until exhausted, losing consciousness.

He mumbled incomprehensible words, searched for someone, then pushed them away, repeatedly crying.

Each time, Team Leader Kim did his best to comfort Bodam and help him calm down.

So far, his efforts hadn’t succeeded.

– “You guys are really trash. You know that, right?”

Team Leader Kim, who usually excluded personal feelings during work, revealed his true thoughts during a call with his old colleague.

It was essentially a monologue, a way to vent, as it was no different from talking to a wall anyway.

– “If he were my dedicated Guide, I would’ve cherished him. He curses every time he wakes up briefly. Just how much must he have bottled up to be like that?”

Han Seung Ho, as always, just held his phone without any reaction.

His quiet response, neither affirming nor denying, was truly characteristic of him.

– “What about the S-class Guides?”

Team Leader Kim, who had meticulously listed Attack Team 3’s rudeness, returned to the main topic.

Currently, there were only three active S-class Guides in the entire world.

Two were affiliated with the military, prohibiting them from exporting guiding services to other countries.

The remaining one was in Russia, close to Korea.

– “Contact has been blocked until the year after next.”

– “I heard he was imprinted. So contact must be even harder now. Go lie down there yourself.”

– “Min Ji Oh went and came back empty-handed.”

– “Oh, my. That crazy bastard.”

Team Leader Kim laughed, impressed by the sheer madness that someone actually acted on a casually thrown-out suggestion.

Now he’s even disgracing the country.

If it were a regular Esper, their head would have been chopped off and then some.

– “Team Leader Han.”

Seung Ho, who had been looking down at the water on the floor, belatedly wiped the moisture with a towel.

– “What.”

– “When Guide Yoon-nim wakes up, should I tell him?”

He was asking how to inform him about the natural imprinting.

They needed to explain the current situation, where he was bleeding without reason and losing consciousness for days.

Having it conveyed by the person Bodam currently trusted the most was the best method.

Or,

– “No need to tell him.”

– “Oh, really?”

To Team Leader Kim, who asked, “Should we try speaking in human language so we can all understand?” Han Seung Ho simply replied not to tell him, then hung up the call.

There was no need to tell him.

Kang Yi Jun’s wavelength levels were slowly but steadily dropping.

The levels, which had only been rising or stagnant for a month, had changed since meeting Yoon Bodam.

Most importantly, the aura surrounding him had noticeably quieted down.

It was a positive change.

It was said that if this state could be maintained, there was a high possibility of stabilization even with machines and medication.

Once his skin color returned and he regained his original appearance, they planned to select another Guide with a high matching rate and attempt guiding.

Given that the guiding machine was effective, there was also a possibility that the natural imprinting hadn’t been fully completed.

Drip.

A red drop of blood fell from his nose.

He casually stopped his nose with the towel he had been using to dry his wet hair.

He was in a state that required real guiding, not just medication and machines.

Seung Ho opened his tablet PC.

He opened the profiles of Guides currently available for immediate guiding.

All of them were Guides with a matching rate of over 65% with Seung Ho.

With Yoon Bodam, it was 75%.

“……”

As he scrolled through profiles with his fingertip, a familiar face appeared in the photo he stopped on.

White skin, light brown hair.

It wasn’t Yoon Bodam.

– “Yes. Team Leader Han Seung Ho. Do you need a Guide connection?”

Seung Ho, who had connected to the Guide assignment officer through his in-ear device, gazed intently at the name in the photo before speaking.

– “Anyone. The Guide who can arrive the fastest.”