Chapter 69: Emotions

“That bastard Han Seung Ho, he’s destined to die alone.

What’s the point of being born with a face like that?

His personality is such a mess.”

The bald Esper, who spat his chewed gum onto the floor again, took off his black eye patch, dusted it off, and continued to badmouth him.

The attack-type Espers waiting around him only laughed and didn’t deny it.

“If that bastard hadn’t been an Esper, forget it.

If he’d been a normal person, he’d have been treated as a societal misfit and kicked out immediately.

Does he know how to talk to people, or even initiate a conversation?”

One Esper subtly cut him off at the over-the-line comment, “If he was going to live life alone, why didn’t he just stay in his mother’s womb?”

“They’ll hear everything inside, senior.”

“Let them hear it, you son of a b*tch.”

They were sitting in front of the innermost room of the basement that Han Seung Ho had entered.

It was an old building with no soundproofing, so it was almost like slandering him to his face, not behind his back.

The bald Esper knew this and deliberately criticized him even more vehemently.

“That bastard is the type who wouldn’t even bat an eye if you slandered him to his face.”

“He should feel bad after all that cursing, but his mental fortitude is truly beyond reproach.”

The bald Esper, who had just started chewing new gum, slapped the back of his junior’s head for thoughtlessly praising Han Seung Ho, then tossed the empty wrapper.

“Is that a normal person’s reaction?

Is that the kind of reaction you’d get from someone whose head and heart are functioning properly?”

The bald Esper, pointing alternately at his head and chest, opened his single eye wide.

His junior, intimidated, shook his head vigorously and replied.

All the other burly Espers surrounding the corridor gave the same answer.

The bald Esper chuckled, seemingly satisfied with their reaction, and immediately put his eye patch back on, then mentioned a circulating rumor.

It was a rumor that all veterans at the Center had heard, but its origin was unknown.

“They say he didn’t even go to his mother’s funeral because he thought it was a waste of time.

He was a rotten egg from the start, even before his abilities manifested.”

“Senior, you’ve told that story a hundred times.”

“Wow. Then that rumor is true too?

That he can’t feel emotions?”

A young-looking Esper, his eyes shining with interest at the team leader’s last words, asked.

Those tired of hearing the countless times repeated gossip about Seung Ho stifled a sigh.

The bald Esper was a senior who talked a lot.

Thump!

Fortunately, before the bald Esper’s monologue continued to a second verse, Han Seung Ho opened the door and came out.

As the relieved Espers watched, the bald Esper, his single eye glaring fiercely, tried to go inside without exchanging words with Seung Ho.

“That’s enough.”

Even though it wasn’t a loud voice, Seung Ho’s low, deep tone filled the basement.

The surprised Espers and even the slightly flustered bald Esper’s gazes focused on Seung Ho.

He had never once reacted to the stories being spread about him.

He had always passed by indifferently, as if deaf.

“What, you bastard?”

The bald Esper, straining his vocal cords to produce an even lower voice than Seung Ho’s, retorted.

Seung Ho, who neatly folded the handkerchief he had used and put it in his pocket, approached to face him.

Numerous gazes followed Team Leader Han, whose very footsteps were precise.

Seung Ho was accustomed to people’s stares.

“I clearly told you before.”

Seung Ho said, gesturing with his chin towards the dim room where only a single cracked lamp sat.

The lamp, guarding its precarious light, rested on a pool of blood.

Before it, an unregistered Esper, whose severed limbs had been neatly reattached, lay naked.

“Change your torture methods or control them.”

The bald Esper chuckled at the calm reply, shaking his head.

The onlookers standing behind him looked deflated.

“Why control it when there’s a highly capable healer right here?

He restores them perfectly, even if they’re diced into tiny pieces.”

“If you create situations that cause delays in the future, I will report it without warning.”

“……”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“…You son of a b*tch.”

The bald Esper spat his freshly chewed gum between Seung Ho’s feet, then entered with a rotten smile.

He deliberately grabbed a hammer instead of a knife from among the torture instruments so Seung Ho would hear it, and brought it down on the hand that had just been healed.

The unconscious unregistered Esper opened his eyes with a scream.

“Just control it then, properly.”

He lifted the hammer again, crushing the already broken hand bones, and shouted for them to get out if their work was done.

It was one of Han Seung Ho’s assigned duties: to heal captured unregistered Espers who were being tortured, to ensure they didn’t die before information could be extracted.

It was the unrevealed method of processing unregistered individuals.

It was a secret shared only by the Center Director, the Esper Bureau Chief, and Attack Team 1, who operated under their closest shadow.

They were finding the roots of unregistered individuals using the most primitive methods.

***

Min Ji Oh, who seemed to have grown his wealth by selling off his manners, was trying to make another money deal.

“I’ll give you two thousand each. Is that not enough?”

He emphasized the number, pointing to each of the two A-class barrier Espers guarding Yoon Bodam’s hospital room.

He had to strike a deal quickly while that team leader bastard wasn’t around.

But these guys…

“We already told you it’s not possible.”

Where did he find guys just like him?

Unlike Team Leader Kim, who, despite his unpleasantness, spoke with a smile, these current gatekeepers were of the Han Seung Ho type.

Min Ji Oh, whose face flushed, raised the amount, screaming.

“Then three thousand.”

He raised it by a thousand, but they didn’t budge.

‘Should I have withdrawn cash?’

“You just have to open the door! Is it hard to open a door? Is your arm going to break?!”

He was infuriated that he was being rejected even though he wasn’t asking to have a conversation with Yoon Bodam inside; he just wanted them to open the door so he could watch from a distance.

He had expected it to be easy to get past them without that black bear bastard.

“If you have something to say, please tell us.

We will deliver it.”

Min Ji Oh, who had been fuming as if he could hit them with money, snapped his mouth shut, having nothing but curses ready.

He had nothing to say.

“Nothing?”

He had just come because he wanted to see him.

He couldn’t stand it any longer.

Drag.

Suddenly, Ji Oh’s rough, panting breath caught.

The moment the door opened behind the two barrier Espers.

“……”

Bodam, armed with a sharp expression, violently pushed the door open.

He had opened the door because he couldn’t stand listening to Min Ji Oh’s shouts, which were annoyingly badgering the barrier Espers.

The biggest reason was that he was tired of the saying, ‘avoid dog poop because it’s dirty, not because you’re afraid of it.’

“……”

Bodam, who had been wearing a look that dared him to speak, faltered slightly when he saw only the backs of the well-built A-class Espers in front of him.

He had expected Min Ji Oh to be standing there prominently.

Ji Oh, his eyes wide enough to furrow his brow, craned his neck to check the empty bed.

The door was open, but Yoon Bodam wasn’t visible.

“Ahem.”

Ji Oh’s busy gaze dropped sharply at the sound, revealing his small presence.

The barrier Espers, who had experience guarding the Center Director, didn’t clear the way just because the door was open.

They only moved if asked to step aside or if told they were leaving.

A faint green glow shimmered in Min Ji Oh’s bright brown eyes, which Bodam hadn’t seen in a while.

That glow used to make him feel even more intimidated because it seemed so out of the ordinary, but now he felt nothing.

His eyes, beautiful as they were, just looked like nasty eyes, wasted on such a terrible temper.

Min Ji Oh only stared, unable to speak.

He just met Bodam’s gaze, his mouth agape.

“Didn’t you come here to say something?”

Bodam, having no intention of engaging in a staring contest with him, was the first to speak.

He pointed at Min Ji Oh with a chin gesture, which they used as a mouth, indicating he should speak.

There could only be one reason for him, whose ending was as messy as Han Seung Ho’s, to come all the way to the hospital room.

“Why did you come?”

‘He must have come to pick a fight. To get angry and hurl insults.’

“Son of a b*tch.”

He hadn’t intended to dirty his mouth, but his true feelings for Min Ji Oh slipped out.

He met Min Ji Oh’s gaze through the gap between the thick arms of the Espers and stood with his head held high.

His heart felt reassured thanks to the barrier Espers being as big as Team Leader Kim.

His straightened shoulders were even broader.

He was confident that he wouldn’t even bat an eye if Min Ji Oh rushed at him again, as if to raise a hand.

Above all,

“Bod-”

Whoosh! Bang!

Min Ji Oh, who was about to utter his first word, suddenly flew towards the end of the corridor and slammed into the wall.

Even the barrier Espers looked bewildered by how quickly it happened.

“What in the…”

One barrier Esper, momentarily stunned watching Min Ji Oh stuck far away, immediately sensed the presence of an S-class Esper and held his ground, reinforcing the barrier.

‘Damn it. I resented Team Leader Kim, who tempted me by saying this job was easy.

He clearly said Lee Tae Hwan wouldn’t cause any trouble.’

He was the number one Esper the barrier department disliked the most.

Along with Kang Yi Jun.

“Guide. Please go inside.”

The barrier Esper, nervous at the sight of Lee Tae Hwan, who had just appeared and immediately sent a fellow Esper into the wall, tried to close the door.

But the guide, grabbing the doorknob firmly, replied without any sign of surprise.

“It’s fine.”

“Pardon?”

“I called for him.”

“…Him?”

Lee Tae Hwan’s footsteps quickened as he brushed off the teleport Esper’s hand.

Bodam couldn’t see Tae Hwan because he was obscured by the backs of the barrier Espers.

He had only sent him a short text message, ‘Take Min Ji Oh away.’

He wanted to lessen the work for the hardworking barrier team, but he hadn’t expected him to arrive so quickly.

‘He must have been playing around, not working, despite being S-class.’

“Yoon Bodam.”

Tae Hwan, placing his hand on the intangible barrier, called out to Bodam.

Thanks to the excessively thick protective shield the barrier Espers had erected, Lee Tae Hwan’s wave couldn’t be felt either.

Still, Bodam decided to meet his gaze since he had come right away after one call.

However, his gaze didn’t reach Lee Tae Hwan’s face, stopping instead at his broad shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

Blood was gushing from Tae Hwan’s left shoulder as he asked.

Through the tattered thick combat uniform, a crimson wound where flesh had been torn away was exposed.

Bodam, startled by the sight, even stammered.

“You, you…”

Tae Hwan, whose shoulder had been torn by some big-mouthed bastard while checking Bodam’s message at a Red Code site, asked again.

“Are you okay?”