Chapter 93: A Separation Ordered from Above

Even after the branch chief explained why he had personally come all the way here, silence lingered for quite some time.

It was such an absurd order that I couldn’t even gauge how to respond.

It wasn’t even a gate that had appeared in Seoul, but support for the Busan Center, the farthest location from here.

I was so taken aback that I couldn’t bring myself to speak either.

The silence was broken by Jaeyul’s voice.

“That won’t work.

Sending a guide alone to a place that’s dangerous even for Espers, without any team members, does that make sense?

And to do that to our center’s… no, our country’s only SS-rank guide, you can’t just send him like that.”

“Haa… I’m sorry, but this isn’t something that can be decided at the team leader level.

It’s already an order that came down from above, and even I can’t do anything about it.”

“By ‘above’… do you mean the Support Administration?”

“That’s right.

They’re not saying Agent Jin Sehyeon has to enter the gate himself.

Even I would find that hard to accept.”

As he spoke, irritation gradually surfaced on the branch chief’s face.

Whether it was the branch chief or Na Dongchan, it was probably true that neither of them wanted to send me to Busan.

And it wasn’t just because I was an SS-rank guide, like Jaeyul said.

If the Busan gate were cleared quickly and perfectly, the glory of subjugating the Seoul gate would inevitably fade.

Since they had volunteered in order to stand in the spotlight alone, their desire would only be stronger.

Knowing the depth of their greed, this time I actually believed them when they said there was nothing they could do.

“And the fact that the Support Administration specifically requested Agent Jin Sehyeon isn’t unreasonable either.

Busan currently doesn’t have a single S-rank guide, so the agents would be entering the gate in the worst possible condition.

To begin with, they only have one S-rank Esper as well.”

By contrast, Seoul Second Center was overflowing with high-ranking guides drafted from all over the country.

Even in a situation where the nation itself was on the brink of collapse, protecting Seoul—where major facilities were concentrated—took far higher priority than Busan.

Even to me, the request for support didn’t sound unreasonable.

Especially since they said all I had to do was provide guiding from a center located a fair distance away from the gate, it didn’t seem like any dangerous situation would arise.

Now everyone’s gaze turned toward Jaeyul.

He didn’t have any real authority to decide, but it was a formal procedure.

Even though he knew that perfectly well, he still wasn’t giving an answer.

At that moment, Jaeyul’s eyes met mine.

I nodded slightly, conveying that I was fine with it.

If things were really as they explained, there was no reason it wouldn’t be fine.

“…Haa, alright.”

After a long pause, an agreement that clearly went against his will finally came out.

There was nothing in violation of the contract with the Support Administration, so there wasn’t really anything to object to.

The other team members didn’t speak up, but their expressions weren’t very good either.

Since when did these guys start caring about me this much.

They all hated me at first.

What a surprising change.

“Then leave now.

Busan is scheduled to be deployed a day or two after us, so there isn’t much time.”

Na Dongchan urged me on while glancing at his watch, as if there were a strict time limit.

“Like this… right now?

You should at least give me time to prepare.”

I hadn’t even had time to steel my resolve yet, and I needed to pack at least some basic things.

And I’d planned to cook dinner for Jaeyul before leaving, at the very least….

“It’s only for a day or two anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to just go quickly, help out, and come back?”

Since I wasn’t complying the way he wanted, irritation briefly crossed Na Dongchan’s face.

But he quickly smoothed his expression, as if nothing had happened.

Sorry, but no matter how angry you get now, you don’t scare me anymore.

And there was no way I was leaving like this.

“Then I’ll go do the support work you want, so give me a bit of time.

I’ll get ready as quickly as possible.”

He didn’t look very pleased, but permission from both the branch chief and Na Dongchan was granted.

“Just in case, take as many healing agents as you can.”

“Yeah.”

“You should also bring as much food as you can carry.

You never know what might happen inside.”

“I know.”

“And also….”

“Hyung, I can take care of my own business.”

Jaeyul cut me off, placing a hand on my shoulder as I rattled off precaution after precaution.

“I’m not a ten-year-old kid anymore.”

We didn’t have much time, so I’d been speaking without much structure.

Only then did I realize I’d been worrying unnecessarily.

“Ah… right, yeah….”

I was worrying about someone who was far stronger than me now.

Still, the gate he was entering was on a completely different level from the ones we’d dealt with before, so it was only natural to worry.

They say that no matter how much your child grows, they still look like a kid to you.

It felt like that kind of emotion.

“You be careful too.

No matter what anyone says, don’t go anywhere near the gate.

And even if no one looks after you, make sure you eat properly.”

He was treating me like a little kid now.

Looking down at me, Jaeyul went on with childish nagging, as if talking to a child.

Still… it didn’t feel bad.

For some reason, I didn’t dislike this kind of trivial concern.

Especially when it was Jaeyul’s sincere worry, it always gave me strength.

“…Alright.

I should get going now.

Na Dongchan will start making a scene again.”

I was given barely thirty minutes.

Between saying goodbye to the team members, there wasn’t much time left to talk with Jaeyul.

Time flew by so fast it was frustrating, but there was no longer any excuse to delay departure.

“What are you… doing?”

It seemed Jaeyul had no intention of letting me leave like this.

The hand gripping my shoulder suddenly pulled me in, and he hugged me tightly.

Being embraced like that by someone much bigger than me made it hard to breathe almost immediately.

We’d hugged countless times before, but doing this at work felt strangely awkward and unfamiliar.

“And… don’t get hurt.

I really hate it when you get hurt.

You have to come back just like this.

Got it?”

As expected… my intuition had been right.

Until recently, our relationship had been awkward because of the Rihyeon incident.

To the point where we could barely hold a proper conversation.

But when a real crisis arrived, Jaeyul didn’t show even a trace of those rough emotions.

We could be like this because we were practically family.

I hugged Jaeyul back and spoke.

“You too.

Don’t get hurt, and come back safely.”

The warmth surrounding my body felt especially comforting today.

“Don’t overdo it and work yourself too hard for no reason… huh?!

If you’re gone, our team would have such a hard… no, such an inconvenience!”

He’s really not honest at all.

Park Bomyeong saw me off with a grumbling voice.

“Yeah.

I’ll be careful and come back without getting hurt.

Don’t worry.”

“W-who’s worrying!”

Oh.

Now his face is red too.

What a cute guy.

Even though I told them it was fine, the team followed me all the way to the helipad to see me off.

With the helicopter noise, it was hard to hear voices properly anyway.

Still, it was nice that we could look each other in the face and wish each other safety.

“I’ll 연락할게.”

(I’ll contact you.)

After looking around at everyone, I quietly told Jaeyul that I’d be in touch.

Seeing him nod as if he understood, I headed toward the helicopter.

It wasn’t exactly a welcome business trip, but since Jaeyul would be entering the gate himself tomorrow, there wasn’t much for me to do in Seoul anyway.

Maybe it was better to at least be working instead of just worrying.

They said it would take about two hours at most to reach Busan.

Judging by the fact that they’d even prepared a helicopter, it really must have been urgent.

Soon the helicopter lifted off, and at that moment, my eyes met someone below through the window.

He was waving so wildly that it was impossible not to look.

It was Rihyeon.

There was an unusually bright smile on his face as he swung his arms around.

The kind of radiant smile that only appeared when he was genuinely happy.

Bathed in sunlight, the sight drew my eyes even more.

I kept looking down until the center disappeared from view, then took out my phone before the helicopter left Seoul.

I needed to send Jaeyul a precaution I hadn’t been able to mention.

The most important one.

[Bring lots of antidotes.]

I had also typed, ‘Put fire-type Espers at the front,’ but deleted it right after.

Why antidotes and fire-type Espers.

Because the inside of that gate was crawling with monsters that used poison.

Fire-type attacks were the most effective against them, so it was best for those Espers to hold the front line.

But it probably wasn’t necessary to say that much.

Just telling him to bring antidotes would be enough for him to understand.

Jaeyul wasn’t a rookie team leader anymore.

The ‘read’ indicator appeared almost immediately next to my message.

But no reply came even after quite some time.

With a bad feeling, I sent another message saying, ‘Got it?’

“…What.”

For some reason, the message kept failing to send.

There was no internet or signal on my phone.

That shouldn’t have been possible, since the phones issued to agents were satellite-based.

Could it be that the signal was unstable because we were flying too high…?

No.

That couldn’t be it.

They worked even on planes flying much higher, even on ships floating alone in the middle of the ocean.

There was no way they wouldn’t work on a mere helicopter.

…I had a bad feeling that something was wrong.

A very bad feeling.