Chapter 93: How Did You Get Close?

Cough.

Tae Hwan spat out a thick glob of blood and braced his hands on his knees.

He had strained his body forcing the pillar of fire entirely into his psychokinetic field.

Still, it wasn’t enough to kill him.

“That crazy bastard…”

Ji Oh muttered towards Tae Hwan, who stood up, spitting out the remaining blood in his mouth as if it were saliva.

Who would ever think of stopping a rampage with psychokinesis?

Even if he was an S-class.

“If you have water, give me some.”

Tae Hwan said, averting his gaze from the blackened, ash-covered corpse he had gathered with his psychokinesis.

Rinsing his mouth with the water a Barrier Esper handed him from their canteen, he looked up at the gate.

‘I need to hurry and catch those unregistered bastards too.’

But first, eliminating the gate was the priority.

“Just a moment. We’re being ordered to withdraw.”

“What?”

A Barrier Esper, who had received the order through his in-ear device, blocked Tae Hwan’s path.

The withdrawal order had come down from Attack Team 1, which was in charge of civilian areas.

“What kind of bullshit is this.”

Tae Hwan, who rarely wore his in-ear piece, took it out and connected to the control room, annoyed.

The order was for all attacking teams that had been dispatched for support, as well as the existing dispatched teams, to return to the Center.

‘When nothing has been resolved yet.’

“Connect me to the Team 1 Leader.”

Tae Hwan decided to confront the person who issued the nonsensical order directly.

In his six years at the Center, he had rarely crossed paths with Attack Team 1.

It was extremely rare for Tae Hwan, an S-class Esper, to come out to civilian areas, and above all, he hated the head of Attack Team 1.

“Shall we talk face to face?”

The calm, mid-low tone voice that came from beyond the in-ear device connected by the control room was heard simultaneously from behind Tae Hwan’s back.

The long-haired Esper who had appeared without a sound was a multi-ability user.

“It’s been a while.”

She was the seasoned team leader of Attack Team 1.

Her surname was Baek.

“Nice to see you too, Ji Oh. I didn’t know you were here.”

Team Leader Baek’s hand rested on the shoulder of the inconspicuous Ji Oh.

When Ji Oh shook his shoulder as if to brush off dust, the hand that had turned to gas disappeared and returned to its original place.

It was a hand trick she often played, being able to separate and freely move her body parts.

Team Leader Baek.

She was the multi-ability user with the most psychic powers among all existing Espers.

Having surpassed forty and now able to handle even firepower, she used a total of seven different abilities.

Despite having the average height and build of an Esper, she was a middle-aged woman with a strangely intimidating aura.

Befitting the head of Attack Team 1, which operated in civilian areas, her impression was soft and her voice was gentle.

“I believe I ordered a withdrawal.”

With her appearance, all the Espers who had been watching the patrol team and the gate disappeared as if fleeing.

The few remaining guides and Espers were those who couldn’t easily leave the neighborhood where their families lived.

Tae Hwan, who was not one to obediently follow orders, merely looked Team Leader Baek over with a defiant attitude.

Her old and worn combat suit was stained with blood that hadn’t yet dried.

It was human blood, not from a creature.

Mulling over the withdrawal order, Tae Hwan examined the direction of the bloodstain and opened his mouth.

“A rampage?”

“As if it would have gone as far as a rampage.”

Team Leader Baek pointed to the bloodstain on her clothes and answered.

She was on her way back from beheading a subordinate who had just started to have a seizure.

With a smile fixed on her lips, she commanded again in a relaxed voice.

“Cease gate elimination and all personnel return to the Center. Right now.”

“What f*cking bullshit. You don’t see that f*cking thing?!”

Ji Oh, letting out a string of curses, pointed at the gate and yelled.

Team Leader Baek, who let out a light laugh at his unchangingly loud voice, had no choice but to add an explanation.

She knew very well the personality of Attack Team 3, who didn’t know how to just do as they were told.

“Including the one I stopped, a total of three Espers have rampaged. None of them had a wavelength reading exceeding 80%. The one that just blew up here was in the stable range.”

She was referring to the Esper whose rampage damage Tae Hwan had personally prevented with his psychokinesis.

Even with that brief explanation, Tae Hwan and Team Leader Kim sensed what was happening and shut their mouths.

“Then why did they rampage.”

Only Ji Oh wore a question mark mixed with irritation.

At this, Team Leader Baek, who had begun creating clones, snickered.

They had ordered the withdrawal because they didn’t know the reason.

They couldn’t just gather Espers who could go off at any moment in a civilian area.

“We can’t just leave the gate as it is.”

Team Leader Kim, who had been listening quietly, interjected.

Withdrawing the Espers who were rampaging regardless of their wavelength readings was the right call, but the gate, which was just as dangerous as a rampage, still remained in a civilian area.

“It’s not leaving it, it’s putting it on hold. On hold.”

“You should at least leave some Barrier personnel. I’ll stay.”

“Two of the ones who rampaged were Barrier Espers.”

On average, Barrier Espers, whose wavelengths were stable, had a low risk of rampaging.

That was why only Espers with barrier abilities could freely come and go in civilian areas.

And two such Barrier Espers had rampaged.

“The picture of getting hurt by a creature is better. Than a title like, Civilian deaths in an Esper rampage.”

The clones of Team Leader Baek, who had her long hair neatly tied up, flew towards the vicinity of the gate all at once.

Though their abilities were weaker than the main body’s, if all several dozen clones were combined, they were at a level that could contend with Tae Hwan.

“It’s an order from the Center Director, so let’s just let it pass quietly.”

Team Leader Baek, while controlling her clones, leisurely looked over the remaining people.

The Espers, who were intimidated by her sharp expression that contrasted with her tone, eventually took their guides’ hands and returned to the Center.

Now, all that was left were the two from Attack Team 3 and Team Leader Kim.

Team Leader Kim, who wore a gentle smile like hers, approached Team Leader Baek and asked.

“Still, won’t a barrier be necessary?”

“It is necessary.”

Team Leader Baek, who smiled back at him, controlled her clones.

Her clones surrounding the gate skillfully began to erect a barrier.

At this, Team Leader Kim, who finally threw in the towel, calmly returned to the Center.

Team Leader Baek, who stared at the two remaining men, spoke to Ji Oh first.

“You’re still as hot-headed as ever. It’s nice that you’re so consistent.”

Ji Oh, who was particularly weak to the words ‘Center Director’, trembled, unable to overcome his own anger.

Tae Hwan just stood still, watching the gate.

Team Leader Baek’s head, which had been observing the particularly stubborn Ji Oh and Tae Hwan, slowly tilted.

She was someone who had watched the process of Attack Team 3 being formed and the twenty-year-old kids gathering one by one.

She was starting to get curious as to why these guys, who had no interest in others’ affairs, were acting like this over a single gate in a civilian area.

‘It’s not like they have any ties to this shabby neighborhood.’

“Oh, wait. Lee Tae Hwan, stop.”

Tae Hwan, ignoring Team Leader Baek’s words, threw the water bottle he was holding into the sky.

Even if she was the most outstanding multi-ability user, Team Leader Baek was outclassed by Tae Hwan.

The water bottle, which easily pierced Team Leader Baek’s barrier, went right into the center of the gate.

At the same time.

Kiiiiiiiik-!

The creature’s cry, now even fiercer, echoed out.

The light of the gate, flaring up as if it had been waiting, began to color even the clouds brilliantly.

The tumultuous roar pouring out of the gate, which was emitting a rough energy as if the sky would collapse, gradually grew louder.

“It’ll be out soon.”

Tae Hwan was waiting for all the internal organs damaged from suppressing the pillar of fire to recover.

Tae Hwan, who watched the gate while lightly rolling his neck, said casually to Team Leader Baek.

“You do it.”

It was a creature that Team Leader Baek could never handle alone.

Seeing Tae Hwan gesture with his chin at a senior much older than him, Team Leader Baek responded with a laugh.

“If you want to stay that badly, you should stay.”

“Ack!”

Team Leader Baek’s hand, which appeared out of thin air, pinched Tae Hwan’s cheek with enough force to tear it off.

He screamed and tried to grab her flowing long hair with his psychokinesis, but missed as it turned into gas again.

“Did Team Leader Han not come out?”

“Find out yourself.”

Unfazed by Tae Hwan’s cold reply, she watched Tae Hwan and Ji Oh, drunk on her own delight.

Team Leader Baek, who flew up and circled the gate once, left only her clones behind and gracefully disappeared.

For reference, she was Seung Ho’s mentor.

“Hey. Lee Tae Hwan.”

Ji Oh approached Tae Hwan, who was contemplating whether to tear off the cheek that the dirty thing had touched.

He narrowed his eyes, reading the wavelength of Tae Hwan, who seemed to be in his best condition recently.

“Did you… get guided by Yoon Bodam?”

At the three-syllable name that came out of Ji Oh’s mouth, Tae Hwan’s anger flared and he scowled.

He was determined to smash his face in if he treated Yoon Bodam carelessly like before.

“So what if I did.”

Ji Oh, shocked, couldn’t seem to form any words.

Lee Tae Hwan, who had no interest in guides whatsoever, was reacting sharply only to Yoon Bodam.

Lee Tae Hwan was not the kind of bastard who would forcibly extract guiding from a guide who wasn’t even his exclusive guide anymore.

“You…”

He asked, recalling Yoon Bodam, who treated Lee Tae Hwan the most comfortably within Attack Team 3.

“Are you… close with him…?”

Tae Hwan’s expression crumpled at the words pulled together from his scattered thoughts.

The words that followed were even more of a spectacle.

“I, I want to get close too.”

“What is this bastard talking about.”

Even as he said it, it sounded like obvious bullshit, but the mouth that had opened once barked on its own.

“How did you get close!”

Whack. Ji Oh, who was finally hit by Tae Hwan and sent flying, rolled on the ground.

He had been waiting for an answer, without even the presence of mind to dodge the fist.

“You bastard, is there anything in your head?”

In the end, another curse that Tae Hwan had been desperately trying to hold back slipped out of his mouth.

He let out a heavy sigh and, with the most pathetic expression in the world, looked down at Ji Oh before going to do what he had to do.

‘Does that bastard just use his head as a decoration?’