Chapter 95: The One Who Shouldn’t Be Here

“Looks like yesterday really wore you out.
You even brought strawberry cake.”

Maybe because we’d spent the whole day together, the staff member helping with registration casually struck up a conversation with me.

It wasn’t until lunchtime, after guiding agents nonstop all morning, that we finally had time to talk like this.

“Ah, well… I just like it.”

I don’t know why Jaeyul still thinks I like strawberry cake so much.

To be honest, it’s not a dessert I’m particularly fond of.

Still, today, that slice of cake helped me a great deal.

Working without rest, fatigue crept in again and again.

I desperately wanted to stop guiding and rest until the exhaustion passed.

Every time that thought surfaced, I looked at the strawberry cake placed on one corner of the desk and pushed myself onward.

It felt like that small slice was speaking to me.

‘Come back safely, hyung.
I will too, so don’t worry about pointless things and hurry back.’

Maybe that was the message behind it.

Today was the day Jaeyul entered the gate.

Not only could I not be by his side, I couldn’t even call him.

That made my anxiety unbearable.

If it hadn’t been for that cake, my heart would’ve been far more unsettled.

“Is it really that good?
Then let me have just one bite….”

Was I looking too easygoing?

This person suddenly revealed some unnecessary greed.

I shot the staff member a sharp glare.

I hadn’t even taken a bite yet, and he dared…!

“A-ah.
I should go get lunch.
H-ha ha….”

Hmm.

At least he wasn’t completely clueless.

The moment our eyes met, he bolted out of the guiding room without looking back.

He might curse later about how an SS-rank guide risked his life over a piece of cake, but this was absolutely not something I was willing to share.

Whatever.

I’d just keep lunch simple with the cake.

If I pushed through until the afternoon, guiding would finally be nearing its end.

I planned to save even eating time and focus on recovering my stamina.

So I could hurry back home.

“Excuse me.”

Something was strange.

“Yes?”

Very strange.

“Why are there so many people entering the gate?
Are you forming a team of several hundred?”

The waiting line I thought would thin out by around six in the evening showed no sign of shrinking even late into the night.

Unable to hold back any longer, I asked the registration staff member.

“And the person who just came through was D-rank, right?
What kind of D-rank enters an SS-rank gate subjugation?”

I knew complaining to a low-level staff member was pointless.

But it was hard to endure.

Over two days, I’d guided well over sixty agents.

I’d expected a large-scale subjugation team and planned to finish by six today.

And yet, the guiding was nowhere near done.

Including those who hadn’t received guiding yet, this meant they were forming a team of at least a hundred people.

No matter how high-grade the gate was, forming a force that large was foolish.

The internal passages of a gate are narrow.

If retreat became necessary, it could easily turn into a massacre with total annihilation.

“Well… that is… um….”

Was there something I didn’t know?

The staff member avoided my gaze with an awkward expression, neither smiling nor crying.

Combined with his hesitant tone, it was obvious there was something he couldn’t say outright.

“Say it quickly.
I’m about to get very angry.”

I made it painfully clear that I was in a bad mood.

I knew it wasn’t his fault, but there was no other way to pry his mouth open.

Perhaps because he was quick-witted, he spoke after a short hesitation.

“Haa… actually, only about fifty percent of the subjugation team has been guided….”

“F-fifty… percent?”

His words were so absurd I forgot I’d been angry.

After guiding nonstop, only fifty percent were done…?

“Not everyone who received guiding is part of the subjugation team.
I don’t know why either, but there was an order to include agents who hadn’t properly received guiding before, even if they weren’t part of the subjugation force….”

So I’d worked myself to the bone healing nonessential agents who wouldn’t even enter the SS-rank gate.

I came here under orders, but thinking of the agents heading into danger, I’d guided them as close to full recovery as possible.

The Busan Center had stabbed me squarely in the back.

But something didn’t add up.

“Then why fifty percent?
Aren’t they entering the gate tomorrow?”

When I arrived in Busan, I’d spoken briefly with the branch chief.

He clearly said the subjugation team would enter the gate tomorrow.

Na Dongchan had also said the trip would last at most two days.

Yet only half the preparations were done…?

“…Tomorrow?
As far as I know, the schedule hasn’t even been finalized yet.
The subjugation team numbers were only confirmed this morning….”

One look at the staff member’s innocent face was enough to convince me.

This was not someone capable of lying.

Which meant the branch chief had lied.

Ha… what a mess.

“A-agent Jin Sehyeon…!
W-wait, just a moment!”

It seemed the Busan Center’s reporting system worked fairly well.

While I stopped guiding, went to my lodging, and packed my things, word had already reached the branch chief.

Before I could even exit the lobby, he came running and grabbed my arm.

“What is it?”

“Ahem… let’s talk somewhere quiet first.”

When people in the lobby turned to look, the branch chief forced out an authoritative tone.

It seemed he still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.

“I’m fine.
I don’t think I have anything more to say to someone who lies so casually.
That explanation would probably be a lie too, wouldn’t it?”

I turned without hesitation.

To put it bluntly, if he wasn’t the branch chief of my center, he was worth less than a random old man on the street.

The chances of seeing him again were slim, so I spoke without filtering myself.

But before I could even take two steps, my shoulder was grabbed again.

“I-I’m sorry!
If you leave like this, our subjugation team won’t be able to deploy!”

The branch chief raised his voice and apologized, discarding all pride.

Perhaps because I’d seen so many authoritarian old men, this 모습 felt unfamiliar.

Still, it wasn’t enough to change my mind.

I wasn’t testing him.

I was genuinely furious and going home.

“Don’t worry, Branch Chief.
When there are no teeth, people chew with their gums.
You can scour illegal guiding offices or call back resigned staff.
Goodbye.”

They’d had non-subjugation agents receive guiding against my original purpose.

Even accounting for a guide shortage, that was pure greed.

If they’d told the truth from the start, I might’ve helped to some extent.

I could’ve even come again later if Busan requested.

Their greed erased all such possibilities.

I forcefully shook off the branch chief’s hand and started walking away.

“Wait.”

The voice behind me made my heart drop.

Thump.
Thump.
Thump.

In the brief moment it took to turn around, countless thoughts raced through my mind.

There was no mistaking that voice.

A voice I could never, ever forget.

“No matter how angry you are, you can’t just leave like that.
You could at least hear our circumstances.
Why are you being so cold?”

The speaker continued complaining the moment I turned.

His expression matched his tone, clearly displeased.

But it didn’t scare me at all.

Because I knew exactly who he was.

“…Song Jihan….”

Just saying his name tore at my chest.

Seeing him standing there, perfectly fine, felt like a dream.

“Do you know me?”

I wanted to be sure.

I needed confirmation that this wasn’t a dream.

So I ran forward and hugged Song Jihan tightly.

Even holding him close felt insufficient, so I clung with all my strength.

“W-what are you doing…!”

A teammate who’d worked with me for ten years.

The only person I could trust to watch my back in any situation.

And… the final team member I’d tried to save at any cost, even at the moment of my death.

Someone who left me with nothing but guilt and gratitude.

“I missed you.
I really did….”

Emotions surged, choking my throat.

My nose stung.

My eyes burned.

He’d contracted gate sickness and become a hostage of the center under the pretense of treatment.

That was one of the reasons I kept fighting ‘X.’

To keep Song Jihan alive.

I didn’t resent him.

I only felt unbearably sorry.

“…You’re a strange one.”

Though he spoke gruffly, Song Jihan didn’t push me away.

He was always like this.

He’d never once refused my requests.

Only then did relief wash over me.

This really was the Song Jihan I knew.

“So what exactly did you like about me?
Or when did you fall in love?
Love at first sight?
Ha, you’ve got good taste.”

Song Jihan fired off questions while striking a dramatic pose.

He lounged diagonally on the sofa in the branch chief’s office, one arm draped over the armrest, legs crossed.

His chin was tilted so high his nose nearly pointed at the ceiling.

Haa… that wasn’t what I meant at all.

I realized belatedly that hugging him had been too much.

“No pointless nonsense.
Why don’t you tell me about those ‘circumstances’?”

I forcibly changed the subject.

Just meeting Song Jihan already meant I’d stay to help Busan, but I needed to know why things ended up like this.

“Well, that’s because….”

The branch chief, seated at the head, tried to explain, but Song Jihan raised a hand to stop him.

It looked insolent, but it also showed Song Jihan’s standing within the center.

Someone even the branch chief couldn’t treat lightly.

“I’ll explain.
It’s true we requested high-ranking support from the Support Administration.
Both guides and Espers were lacking.
But after that, we simply followed orders.
For reasons unknown, the Administration ordered that not only the subjugation team, but everyone receive guiding.
As many as possible until the moment they enter the gate.”

“…The Support Administration?”

Confusion churned inside me.

They wouldn’t issue such a pointless order without reason.

I couldn’t grasp what this was meant to achieve.

Was it really just to bring everyone to peak condition while I was in Busan?

No.

The Administration would never send an SS-rank guide for something so trivial.

Keeping me in Seoul, where unpredictable emergencies could occur, would be far more beneficial.

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t see the reason behind the order.

From that uncertainty, a creeping unease began to bloom.