Chapter 6: The Price of a Misfire

“Welcome back, Team Leader.”

The moment Ryu Yishin appeared, stepping through the opened office door, voices brimming with deference and power echoed. The atmosphere in the room strongly suggested a group defined by clear hierarchy and strict order.

Within that office, Ryu Yishin was the sole individual capable of directing and controlling everyone’s movements with a mere flick of his hand.

“Are you back?”

“Yes, I returned thirty minutes ago. Two are still in the Guiding Room.”

“Tell them to come to my office once their guiding is done.”

Without bothering to conceal the weariness and irritation etched on his face, Ryu Yishin roughly swept his hair back, then issued an order to Kang Seungmin, the sub-team leader.

Kang Seungmin pressed his temples, then offered a slight, silent bow towards Ryu Yishin’s retreating form as he promptly entered his office. Of course, Ryu Yishin closed the door instantly without a backward glance, leaving Kang Seungmin’s respectful gesture to be met only by empty air.

The moment Ryu Yishin stepped into his private office, he collapsed onto the sofa, exhaling a short, weary sigh.

He had planned to finally take a week of annual leave, starting today, to rest before the large-scale battle at the end of the month. However, a mishap caused by one of his team members had shattered all those plans.

Having never once received satisfactory guiding throughout his life, Ryu Yishin had been plagued by stress-induced headaches since childhood.

Now, denied the adequate rest crucial for optimizing his condition, his frustration was utterly inevitable.

As if being summoned to the Director of Security’s office this morning wasn’t enough, he had also encountered Jo Jinwoo, a man he’d clashed with at every turn since their training days at the Esper Training Center a decade ago.

Clearly, today was shaping up to be an exceptionally terrible day.

“Team Leader, may I enter?”

“Come in.”

Letting out yet another exasperated sigh, Ryu Yishin immediately responded to the crisp knock and the low, tense voice, subtly adjusting his posture on the sofa.

Moving in perfect synchrony, they stood stiffly with their hands clasped behind their backs, facing Ryu Yishin, who was still sprawled on his side, propping his face with one hand.

A palpable tension permeated each of their shoulders, and their complexions were unnervingly pale, hardly befitting individuals who had just undergone guiding.

Still reclined, Ryu Yishin meticulously scrutinized each of their faces. His gaze soon settled sharply on Choi Jiho, who stood precisely in the center.

“Choi Jiho.”

“Yes, Team Leader!”

“Did I say I was on leave starting today, or did I not?”

“Y-you did!”

Choi Jiho, who had graduated at the top of his class from the Esper Training Center and joined Team 1 three years ago upon Ryu Yishin’s nomination, was the very person responsible for forcing Ryu Yishin to report to work today.

Despite his burly physique, he possessed a somewhat delicate personality, a stark contrast to his intimidating frame. Yet, when it came to dispatching monstrous creatures, he would charge in recklessly, often making numerous blunders.

“Then you should do better, Jiho.”

“Y-yes, yes… You’re ab-absolutely right…”

Choi Jiho, bowing his head in profound gratitude as he attempted to answer Ryu Yishin, couldn’t complete his sentence. Instead, he clamped a hand over his mouth, swallowing a nascent scream.

A chilling, splintering sound had erupted from behind him. Ryu Yishin, utterly failing to control his temper, had not merely frozen the small vase on his desk, but utterly shattered it.

“But of all things, you shot a civilian and forced me to come to work?”

“I didn’t shoot… Th-there was a sudden presence, and I, I didn’t mean to…”

“Shut up, you bastard. I’m not finished talking.”

An Esper attacking or injuring a civilian during a mission constituted a grave error, one that would incur a 10-point penalty for every team member.

Team 1, having never once relinquished its top performance title since Ryu Yishin’s appointment as leader, found Choi Jiho’s mistake to be an utterly devastating blow for everyone involved. And with the recent announcement of restructuring, the consequences were even more dire.

He had painstakingly molded even Choi Jiho, the last to join, into behaving according to his strict preferences. He absolutely did not want to endure a situation where someone would be cut or new team members had to be recruited due to restructuring.

If that were to happen, the team atmosphere would undoubtedly become chaotic, an adjustment period would be necessary, and it was plainly obvious that he would be left to clean up the resulting mess.

Thus, Ryu Yishin felt a pressing need to tighten the reins, ensuring that none of his current team members would become targets for restructuring.

“Luckily, the civilian fell at the exact moment you fired, so their head wasn’t blown open, but…”

“…”

“They fractured their pelvis when they fell backward, and received an eight-week diagnosis.”

“…”

“Jiho, what do you think?”

Ryu Yishin’s lips curved into a smile, yet the gaze he swept over Choi Jiho was nothing short of glacial.

As an Esper wielding ice-elemental abilities, both his stare and his words were frigid, like shards of ice.

Choi Jiho was now trembling uncontrollably, biting his lower lip until it bled.

As the terrifying reality sank in—that he was the target of Ryu Yishin, whose very smile instilled dread—Choi Jiho even considered that it might be better to simply lose his mind and faint.

Choi Jiho also felt a genuine sense of injustice. After all, the person he had mistakenly aimed at was a civilian who had undeniably trespassed into a controlled zone.

However, regardless of the civilian’s mistake or any potential violation, this incident would overwhelmingly be judged as Esper negligence.

It was an inescapable reality. When an Esper fires a bullet imbued with their unique ability, even tenacious monstrous creatures are knocked down; there was no way a powerless human could be safe.

Had Choi Jiho’s bullet struck the civilian, even if it had merely grazed their arm, that person would have died instantly.

“An Heeseong, go get the sub-team leader.”

“You called for me, Team Leader!”

Ryu Yishin let out a hollow laugh, finding Choi Jiho’s trembling, disproportionate to his size, quite amusing. He then called for Kang Seungmin, the sub-team leader, who deputized for him in his absence.

Kang Seungmin, who had already been waiting outside the team leader’s office, observing the atmosphere, immediately appeared. He motioned for the quivering team members to retreat, then stood alone before Ryu Yishin.

By now, Ryu Yishin was fully reclined on the sofa, gazing up at the ceiling.

“You heard everything, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.”

Kang Seungmin glanced down at Team Leader Ryu Yishin, who wore a radiant smile that one might mistakenly perceive as a sign of good spirits. Yet, having known him for a long time, Kang Seungmin knew Ryu Yishin was in a considerably foul mood.

One wrong move here, and everything would be ruined. Ryu Yishin might once again turn his office into a disaster zone, an office that Kang Seungmin had painstakingly restored just two weeks prior, replacing all the broken furniture with new pieces.

Kang Seungmin desperately racked his brain, trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. But Ryu Yishin’s words—or rather, his actions—were faster. The office furnishings began to freeze and shatter, creating a cacophony of noise.

‘Damn it, I’m screwed.’

Kang Seungmin squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, swallowing a curse, fearing an ice shard might fly into his eye.

“Senior.”

“…Yes, Team Leader.”

“Tell Choi Jiho clearly: if he doesn’t want to die, he’d better behave himself.”

“Understood.”

Kang Seungmin was five years Ryu Yishin’s senior, a full rank above him. However, in the Esper society, which revolved strictly around ability, age-based hierarchy was meaningless.

Furthermore, Ryu Yishin was the only person who could stiffly hold his head high and talk back even to the Director of National Security, the head of the National Security Agency. Thus, Kang Seungmin’s submissive posture was entirely justified.

That formidable Director of Security was none other than Ryu Yishin’s father.

“Ah, Senior. One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Tell Choi Jiho to be on self-reflection from today until the large-scale battle. I feel like I’ll kill him if I see his face.”

“…Yes.”

Kang Seungmin carefully bowed to Ryu Yishin, who had casually uttered such ruthless words with a bright smile. Waving his hand dismissively into the air, as if telling him to get lost, Ryu Yishin didn’t spare Kang Seungmin a glance as he quickly retreated, instead closing his eyes deeply, as if to sleep.

In stark contrast to Ryu Yishin’s seemingly peaceful, expressionless face, the team leader’s office echoed only with the sounds of things breaking and shattering. Kang Seungmin’s sigh grew heavier as he moved further away from the office.

****

Inside Ryu Yishin’s private guiding room, specifically arranged within the team leader’s office, both of Team 1’s A-rank guides were present. Both of them, with visibly tense expressions, were sharing Ryu Yishin’s hands, holding them as he leaned back languidly on the sofa.

“That’s enough. Get out.”

“…Yes, Team Leader.”

Though barely thirty seconds of physical time had passed, the eternity-like duration finally ended for the two guides. As guiding time and efficiency were not directly proportional for Ryu Yishin, there was no need for the guides to remain there any longer.

They rushed out of the guiding room at Ryu Yishin’s resolute command. Despite having received guiding, Ryu Yishin still pressed his throbbing temples, his brow furrowed in irritation.

‘Damn migraine.’ Ryu Yishin felt a surge of annoyance, a powerful urge to throw something, but there was nothing within reach. While he could use his abilities to lift and move the bed or sofa at will, he consciously suppressed his temper, recalling the office fixtures and furniture he had frozen and shattered barely an hour ago.

The reason he had to resign himself to receiving even unsatisfactory guiding was the simple fact that there were no S-rank guides in the country with the same rank as him, an S-rank Esper.

Unlike guides who are born and raised among civilians and awaken their abilities later in life, Espers are born with their powers. Only Espers could detect the unique aura of guides, so they often traveled throughout the country, like market researchers, searching for those who drew a strong resonance. The two A-rank guides in Team 1 had been discovered in this manner and brought in by him seven years ago when he was appointed Team Leader of Team 1.

The two A-rank guides he had brought in provided more than satisfactory guiding to the other team members, but they failed to satisfy Ryu Yishin himself. Even if their ranks didn’t match, a high resonance rate could result in decent guiding effects, but unfortunately, both guides had a low resonance rate with Ryu Yishin.

Due to this reality, the stress-induced headaches that had plagued him like a brand since childhood grew worse each day. Consequently, his irritation escalated, his temper frayed further, and his patience wore thin.