Chapter 85: Catch Them

Bodam took off the patient gown he had grown accustomed to and, for the first time in months, put on his thick work uniform.

The guide’s attire, lighter in color and material than an Esper’s combat uniform, reduced external impact and preserved body heat.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

Bodam, answering Team Leader Kim’s worried question with a confident demeanor, was walking through a familiar neighborhood.

It was Bodam’s neighborhood.

Five minutes ago, he had received a call from his mother saying Bomi wasn’t answering, and he had followed Team Leader Kim.

Geun Young had panicked after hearing on the news that the alley where her daughter worked at the chicken shop had been terrorized by unregistered Espers.

Worried about her uncontactable daughter, she had finally decided to call Bodam.

Bodam calmed her down, assuring her he would find out what happened and strongly urged her to stay with her aunts without worrying.

“Team Leader Kim, please go. I’ll be careful.”

Bodam said, seeing barrier Espers leading teleportation Espers and moving injured people everywhere.

Other guides, dressed like Bodam, were also on site.

Seeing them also full of worried expressions, it seemed their families worked in the neighborhood.

“Call me immediately if anything happens. Don’t overexert yourself.”

Team Leader Kim, checking the endlessly ringing call signals, glanced around and warned him.

“You must return immediately once you find your sister. It’s more dangerous than it seems right now.”

“…Yes. I’ll be careful.”

Bodam, answering seriously in sync with Team Leader Kim’s low voice, clenched his fists.

Outwardly, it looked like a situation that would be resolved by simply moving the injured, but it seemed there were still other problems remaining.

Left alone, Bodam immediately followed the pre-opened map on his phone to find the shop where Bomi worked.

He closed his ears to the sounds around him and picked up his pace.

The area was filled with the sounds of people wailing while sitting in front of broken buildings, or yelling at Center staff who couldn’t control the unregistered Espers.

The grievances of those who had already suffered multiple attacks from unregistered Espers soared to the sky.

This was an area beyond the protection of Attack Team 1.

A cheap place where one had to survive by their own means or save money to move to a safer area.

Bodam’s fingertips, clutching his phone, gradually turned red.

“Delicious chicken…”

Bodam, arriving at the shop entrance indicated by the map, read the sign lying on the ground.

Glass shards and dust covered the freshly painted sign.

The shop chosen for her part-time job was so perfectly Yoon Bomi.

His sister, who had been crazy about chicken since she was little.

“Yoon Bomi!”

Turning away from the sign, Bodam entered the shop and called his sister’s name.

“Bomi!”

He searched every corner of the small shop for his sister.

His hands trembled at the thought of his mother, clutching her chest and worrying about Bomi.

He checked inside the dark storeroom and opened all the refrigerator doors.

He even checked under the desks where his taller body could never fit.

“Why… is your phone…?”

Bodam, finding the corner of a phone sticking out diagonally from under an overturned chair, smoothed down his constricted chest.

It was Bomi’s phone, which he had bought for her.

She had said she would keep it tucked next to her even when she slept.

Seeing the phone with a completely shattered screen made his rapidly beating heart pound even more violently.

As the glass shards scattered on the floor, only a few steps away, caught his eye, his pulse quickened further.

There were dark red stains on the glass fragments mixed with slippery oil.

“‘Those, bastards…’”

Bodam’s jaw clicked as he leaned down to get a closer look at the glass shards.

Veins seemed to pop out on his tightly clenched jaw.

The moment he thought the red bloodstain was his sister’s, a hot flush surged to his head.

If Bomi, who had grown up tough despite being raised preciously, had shed blood, the situation must have been more serious than he worried.

‘How dare they touch my sister.’

“Guide, what are you doing in there?”

An Esper passing by the shop spoke to Bodam.

Bodam, who was huffing, his shoulders rising and falling, averted his gaze from the blood-stained floor and asked.

The Esper stood at the shop entrance, not entering.

“Have the unregistered Espers been caught?”

“We’re still searching. Are you in any discomfort?”

“All civilians are being transported to the hospital, right?”

The Esper, who scanned Bodam’s pale face up and down, replied that they were.

His own complexion wasn’t good either.

“Are you able to guide right now?”

Bodam, instead of answering, put Bomi’s phone into his pocket.

She wasn’t in the shop, so she must have already been taken to the hospital.

He believed that with this much blood, Bomi wouldn’t be seriously injured.

She was much stronger than him, her older brother.

“Show me your watch.”

Bodam, after checking again for barrier Espers patrolling the area, extended his arm and spoke.

It was a distance close enough to ask for help if anything happened.

“Yes. Here.”

The Esper immediately entered the shop and showed the watch on his wrist.

Judging by his inability to conceal his waves, he didn’t seem to be a barrier Esper.

Even from the faint aura he emitted, he seemed to need guiding.

As expected, his wave level was over 75%.

“I’ll lower it to 60 for you.”

After detaching their watches, which had been touching to confirm the levels, Bodam informed him.

The heat that had been scorching his head was now spreading throughout his entire body.

The saying that rage dominated the body resonated more deeply than ever.

His worry for Bomi escalated into fury towards the unregistered Espers, the source of all problems.

“Please make sure to catch those bastards.”

Team Leader Kim had told him to return to the Center, but he couldn’t.

A rage swelled within him that wouldn’t allow him to sit idly by until the problem was resolved.

He wanted to catch and punish those unregistered Esper trash who preyed on weak guides and tormented even weaker civilians.

Since he didn’t have the power to do so himself, helping the Espers who would catch them maintain their optimal condition was the best he could do.

Only by eradicating the unregistered Espers so they could no longer run rampant could he himself return home safely.

“I will do my best.”

The Esper, who looked curiously at Bodam, who sniffled and had red eyes yet poured out an immense amount of guiding from their clasped hands, replied.

It was not only the fastest guiding he had ever received to seep into his body, but it also cleared his mind.

The fatigue accumulated from repeated overtime shifts seemed to dissipate.

And most of all, it was a face his heart reacted to.

“Um, do you happen to have a partner…?”

“Yes, I do.”

As the swift answer fell, the Esper, quickly calming his fluttering heart, cut off the lingering attachment.

There was no way such a pretty guide would be left alone.

Whoever it was, he was disgustingly envious-.

“Close your eyes!!”

The Esper suddenly pulled Bodam into an embrace and shouted.

In a flash, the collapsed shop ceiling fell directly onto Bodam and the Esper’s heads.

The Esper, who had teleported out of the building just before his body was crushed, clenched a curse while holding Bodam in his arms.

Bodam, realizing they had landed on the ground while still within his embrace, opened his eyes and uttered a similar curse.

‘f*ck, why is that here….’

The target of everyone’s horrified gazes and curses was a monster.

Anemone-like tentacles writhed on its legs, which lightly trampled three-story buildings.

Broken concrete and steel frames, touched by the vibrantly colored, dancing tentacles, melted away.

It appeared to be a danger rating of Red Code or higher, rarely seen even from a Sector 1 gate.

How could such a monster appear in a civilian area?

“Guide!”

“Yes, yes!”

Bodam, who had momentarily lost his wits while staring at the monster before him, refocused at the Esper’s voice shaking his shoulder.

The Esper was pressing the call button on his watch for Bodam.

“Hide. And make sure to check your watch when you encounter Espers like this.”

The Esper was a Teleporter, but he was barely able to move from inside the building to outside.

And that was only possible after receiving Bodam’s guiding.

He tilted his head back as if looking up at a tall building, then helped Bodam up.

The monster, which spewed poison with its tentacles and crushed buildings, had a neck so long its face wasn’t visible.

Despite its massive size, its movements were slow, but the tentacles covering its entire body were spreading poison.

“Esper, your leg…”

Bodam’s expression hardened as he looked down at the Esper, who intended to send him away instead of moving together.

The Esper, sitting on the ground, calmly tied a piece of cloth around his thigh, preparing for bleeding.

The poison spewed by the monster had touched his ankle and was causing it to decay.

“Hurry and go!”

The Esper, whose face was damp with cold sweat, pushed Bodam away.

However, Bodam did not let go of his hand and only looked around.

The barrier Espers, who should have been within helping distance, were nowhere to be seen.

Only the shouts and screams of those struggling to suppress the monsters were heard instead.

Along with the giant monster spewing poison, other creatures also appeared and were sweeping through the alley.

“I don’t need guiding, just go!”

The Esper, judging that he wouldn’t be able to use his ability even with immediate guiding, shook off Bodam’s hand.

A rampaging creature had picked up their scent and was rushing towards them.

All monsters moved targeting an Esper’s wave.

To obtain the blood of Espers, their prey.