Chapter 87: Helping You

The Esper leaning on Bodam’s leg pulled out a knife.

Thanks to the guiding Bodam poured out like a waterfall, he barely managed to steady himself and sit up, shielding Bodam behind his back.

He could feel the white hand holding the kubotan trembling, even without seeing it.

Crack. Crackle.

The sound of glass shards crumbling repeated slowly.

Above the subsided air, an Esper’s aura blossomed with the arrival of an unfamiliar intruder.

The woman with long, disheveled hair was clearly an Esper.

Wearing thick winter clothes unsuited for the season instead of a Center combat uniform, the woman opened her mouth.

“I’ll have to cut off his leg.”

It was a voice as young as her face.

Unlike her small, round face, she was taller than Bodam.

The woman, approaching step by step, radiating an A-class level wave, had no watch on her wrist.

She closed the distance, showing interest in the Esper’s leg, which had begun to fester above the knee.

“You can’t cut it with that.”

She pushed away a chair blocking her path with the tip of her foot, gesturing with her eyes towards the kubotan Bodam was holding.

The Esper, pointing his knife at the slowly approaching woman, warned her.

“Don’t, come any closer.”

It was a warning that posed not an iota of threat.

The woman merely gazed intently at the Esper’s knee with hazy eyes.

Blood had thickly pooled below the rotting cross-section.

Blood seeped between the torn soles of the woman’s shoes as she stood over it.

“I’ll cut it for you.”

“You, f*ck-.”

“It’s dangerous if the poison spreads.”

The woman, who caught the knife the Esper swung, sat on the floor to examine the rotting knee more closely.

Her eyes, which had easily dodged even a punch thrown with full force, fixed on Bodam.

Poke.

The pretty light pink kubotan tried to stab the woman between her neck and shoulder but bounced off.

Bodam’s arms, holding the kubotan with both hands, trembled, as it failed to penetrate the hard skin.

The woman, observing this, spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.

“It’s dangerous.”

It was not something one would say to a guide who tried to stab them in the neck.

“Kugh!”

The woman grabbed the Esper’s hand holding the knife and pressed the blade down below his pelvis.

The Esper’s back, letting out a painful scream, pressed against Bodam’s chest.

Bodam, who had been leaning tightly against the wall, endured the Esper’s weight crushing his chest and met the woman’s eyes.

Air couldn’t properly pass through his constricted airways.

Bodam hugged the struggling Esper, clutching the kubotan like a lifeline.

There was nothing else he could do.

The woman, covered in blood splattering everywhere, watched Bodam with reddened eyes.

Her eyes, never leaving Bodam for a moment, didn’t even blink.

She gazed intently at Bodam’s pale brown irises, where tiny blood vessels had burst, as she cut off the Esper’s rotting leg.

Bodam also did not close his eyes.

He stiffly held up his neck, which kept trying to hide, and raised his pale, bloodless face.

It was his first encounter with an unregistered Esper.

‘Those sons of bitches who tormented guides and injured my sister.’

“Come with me.”

The woman, finishing her cutting, released the Esper’s hand and closed the distance further.

She tried to lean her upper body forward to face Bodam more closely.

Her long fingers touched Bodam’s cheek.

“Please.”

The moment the woman’s hand touched Bodam, the Esper, extending his uncut leg, struck her in the side.

He tried to gather his last strength to push the woman away and attempt teleportation, but.

“No, you can’t.”

Bodam’s voice, piercing through his constricted breath, brought him to his senses.

The kubotan slipped from the guide’s slender hand, which he had fiercely gripped for teleportation.

If he used teleportation now, the guide’s limbs would surely be severed in two or a worse accident would occur.

The Esper, who had lost even the strength to make a sound, pulled Bodam’s wrist towards the shattered glass wall.

He pushed Bodam’s back as if telling him to escape quickly.

“But I helped you…”

The woman, who had risen from the floor, rubbing her seemingly fractured ribs, murmured.

She then kicked out her other leg, identical to the one she had just used to cut the Esper’s leg, and crushed the Esper’s ribs.

Finally, the Esper’s consciousness, which he had struggled to hold onto, broke, and he slumped to the floor.

“Come with me.”

The woman, turning her attention from the unconscious Esper, repeated the same words to Bodam.

Then, she slowly approached, her footsteps squelching wetly with blood.

From her face, immersed in empty void, a hunger for guiding was conveyed.

The Esper’s craving for a guide seeped stingingly into Bodam’s skin.

“Why, me.”

Bodam replied to the woman, who was just one step away.

“Why should I, go?”

He had to buy time.

His legs, already drained of strength, felt nothing, and even if he threw glass shards that could be used as weapons, they wouldn’t even scratch the Esper’s skin.

The only answer was to buy as much time as possible, somehow.

Until Lee Tae Hwan arrived.

The woman, closing her mouth, simply watched Bodam for a moment.

She meticulously scrutinized the guide, whose eyes were wide with terror, and who was tightly clutching the collar of the Esper much larger than himself.

“…….”

In the suffocating silence, Bodam, biting his tongue to keep from losing consciousness, thought.

‘Just let Lee Tae Hwan come, and you’re dead.’

‘Lee Tae Hwan, if you’re late, you’re dead by my hand.’

“Ah-ram!”

A strange Esper, who broke the brief silence, appeared via teleportation.

As soon as he appeared, he clutched his chest, which was pierced by a spear, and collapsed to the floor.

He also was not wearing a watch.

The woman immediately ran to the Esper and supported him.

“We have to go. He’s coming here.”

The Esper, whose lips were pale from excessive bleeding, urged the woman, saying they had to leave immediately.

He seemed to be in no condition to use teleportation anymore.

The woman, who had helped him up, fixed her gaze back on Bodam.

“Hmph.”

Bodam, feeling that gaze, put all his strength into his body and lay down on the floor.

He even slipped his leg under the unconscious Esper’s body to show his determination not to be willingly dragged away.

Searching for something to grab nearby, he desperately clutched the leg of an overturned table.

“Quickly, just go.”

The Esper, bleeding profusely from his chest where the spear was embedded, pulled the woman’s arm.

Bodam’s body bristled as he heard their conversation about just leaving.

He swallowed hard, gripping the table leg so tightly that it creaked.

He held his breath until the two unregistered Espers really did just leave.

He couldn’t even hear the cries of his stiff muscles from every corner of his body.

“Ha, haa….”

Bodam, who finally breathed after the unregistered Espers had completely gone, covered his mouth.

With his palm over his mouth, he slowly exhaled and inhaled his constricted breaths.

His leg, trapped under the Esper’s body, felt like it was cramping, but he had no sensation.

He was busy replaying the situation of almost being kidnapped by the unregistered Esper, listening to his rapidly beating heart.

His heart was pounding like crazy.

Truly, like crazy.

“Yoon Bodam.”

The woman’s cold fingertips still seemed to linger on his cheek.

That icy touch was unforgettable.

Her dark brown eyes, which had calmly cut off a person’s leg, swirled in his mind.

Those blood-covered eyes-.

“Yoon Bodam.”

Bodam’s shoulders shot up at the low voice, and he reached out his arm in the direction of the sound.

The man who had called Bodam grabbed the arm extended towards him and lifted him.

Bodam didn’t even realize his upper body had been raised.

He swung his arms around, trying to shake off the hand that had gripped his shoulder.

Then, his entire body was held fast.

“Breathe.”

Seung Ho, pulling Bodam’s struggling body into his embrace, spoke.

He pressed down and stroked Bodam’s convulsing, trembling back, helping him breathe freely.

“Ha….”

Bodam, recognizing Seung Ho by his wave and scent, hunched his body.

It felt like being covered entirely by a thick blanket.

Within the wide embrace, he regulated his breathing and calmed his abnormally fast-beating heart.

Han Seung Ho’s touch felt strangely familiar.

He gradually found stability in the consistent pressure of the hand stroking his back, without a word.

“Tea, Team Leader.”

Bodam, suddenly raising his head, called Seung Ho.

The title, habitual, slipped out naturally.

“Please, heal him.”

Bodam pointed to the unconscious Teleport Esper with the hand he had pulled from Seung Ho’s embrace.

It was an Esper who had done his best to protect him.

Surrounded by other Espers, he was receiving emergency treatment.

“I said I’d do it, if you needed it, didn’t I?”

Seung Ho didn’t even glance at the person Bodam was desperately pointing to.

He merely placed a hand on Bodam’s forehead.

His body, which had been cold, was now heating up.

“Heal him…!”

Bodam’s voice rose as he shook his head and pulled his hand away.

He got angry like a feverish child, saying he would pay whatever it took.

He begged him to do it, saying he would pay any amount, please.

But even as Bodam sobbed and pleaded, Han Seung Ho didn’t budge.

His firm expression, as he held Bodam tightly, didn’t even waver.

The gazes of patrolling Espers around them converged.

“Team Leader Han Seung Ho. Please, treatment.”

The Esper, who had finished emergency treatment for his comrade, also a Teleporter, finally spoke after hesitating.

His condition was very severe.

It seemed hopeless, even if they went to the medical center.

“Heal him!”

Bodam, punching Seung Ho in the chest, also pleaded desperately.

Tears, shed silently, streamed down his tired face.

He tried to punch Seung Ho’s chest again with his fist, which couldn’t even properly grasp.

He wanted to hit his heart, which remained unmoving even when seeing someone on the verge of death.

He had healing abilities, yet.

Why on earth.

“f*ck.”

Bodam’s body turned with the familiar curse from a familiar voice.

Tae Hwan, who had cursed in haste and even used psychokinesis, rushed into the building.

He used psychokinesis to steady his staggering legs and embraced Bodam.

Though he had already cursed once, he suppressed the profanity that rose to his throat and examined Bodam’s tear-streaked face.

“Are you hurt?”

He had only wished he wasn’t crying, but in the end, he had made him cry.

“Are you okay? Look at me. Does it hurt?”

Bodam didn’t see Tae Hwan.

His S-class body, battered from rushing here, was only noticed belatedly.

Only the Esper on the verge of death was in his sight now.

Seeing the dark red blood spread widely on the floor, his voice grew stronger as he called Seung Ho.

“Team Leader!”

Tae Hwan, who had been holding Bodam, immediately stepped back from the pushing force.

Bodam, having pushed Tae Hwan away, approached Seung Ho.

“Fix him.”

Tears fell freely as he grabbed the arm of the cold human whose thoughts he could not possibly fathom.