Chapter 96: Hiccups

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

The bald man glared at the guide, who made a strange noise instead of answering his question.

‘Don’t tell me that’s a hiccup.’

“Hi, ccup!”

Bodam tried to stop the hiccups by holding his breath, but the sound only got louder.

His face was about to flush at the bald man’s openly mocking reaction.

Jo Yeon stood in front of Bodam, shielding him with his back.

“What brings you here.”

“Who are you.”

The bald man looked Jo Yeon up and down and asked fiercely.

“Is Yoon Bodam your guide? Huh? Where do you get off interfering like this.”

The bald man let out a scoff at the B-class Esper’s rage-filled wavelength.

The situation of being stopped by some nobody who wasn’t even a rookie was deeply unpleasant.

“I have no business with you, so get lost. Can’t you understand me?!”

“I can understand you. Please answer my question first.”

The bald man’s eyes bulged with anger at Jo Yeon, who answered with his head held high.

Nevertheless, seeing him silently wait for an answer, the bald man’s hand instinctively rose.

Just the act of him pretending to make a fist was enough for a hundred out of a hundred people to tuck their tails between their legs.

He expected that B-class Esper to cower in no time.

He hadn’t expected the hiccuping guide to come running at the hand he’d raised just to threaten him a little.

“Why are you, hic, in s-someone, ccup, else’s room-!”

Seeing the bald man’s enormous fist rise, a fist that looked like it could knock him out with one punch, Bodam threw his body forward in a panic and shouted.

Bodam, who had blocked the space between the two Espers, threw himself into the arms of the rigidly standing Jo Yeon.

He didn’t have the guts to face that boar-like man head-on.

“What, hic, is, ccup, going on!”

He wanted to ask firmly what was going on, but these damn hiccups got in the way.

He blocked him with his body, trusting that an Esper wouldn’t hit a guide inside the Center.

‘I can’t just stand by and watch my friend get beat up.’

“Move. Bodam.”

He was about to push Jo Yeon to create some distance from the bald man first, but Jo Yeon pushed Bodam away before he could.

“What would you have done if you got hit.”

“Who the hell said they were gonna hit him!”

Bodam whirled around at the bald man’s booming voice and glared.

Since he was still hiccuping, he shot daggers with his eyes instead of opening his mouth.

‘You raised your hand to scare him! You boar bastard!’

The bald man, who seemed to understand his meaning, snickered and let the Teleport Esper who had been waiting outside the door come in.

He explained the situation on the bald man’s behalf and urged that they had to move right now.

“Rampages unrelated to wavelength readings are occurring.”

“…What?”

“The wavelength reading of the Teleport Esper who was with Guide Yoon Bodam at the scene did not exceed 80% at the time of the rampage.”

‘But he rampaged?’

Behind the confused Bodam, even Jo Yeon listened to the news of the rampage with a serious face.

The only way to stop an Esper’s rampage was to manage their wavelength reading.

If the reading was high, they would receive guiding to lower it, and they had to maintain it so that it wouldn’t approach 90%, which was when preliminary signs of a rampage typically began.

“We need the testimony of witnesses related to this incident, so we ask for your cooperation.”

The Esper, continuing his explanation, approached Bodam.

He even extended his hand as if to teleport at any moment.

Startled by this, Bodam unconsciously grabbed Jo Yeon’s arm.

Then,

“Hiccup…”

Jo Yeon shook off Bodam’s hand and took a step back.

He had said an Esper was rampaging.

Without any reason.

“What the hell is this.”

Just then, Min Ji Oh, who suddenly appeared out of thin air, announced his presence with a loud voice.

“Are you not going to let go of that f*cking hand?!”

Ji Oh began to spew curses at the sight of the Teleport Esper trying to grab Bodam’s arm.

The severe words, which couldn’t be written down, made the Teleport Esper flinch.

The bald man, who was also subjected to the cursing, tried to cut him off by puffing out his chest muscles from the side.

“Hey, Min Ji Oh. That’s a bit much. Are we going to drag him away by force or something?”

However, Ji Oh’s curses continued fiercely, not diminishing in the slightest even in front of the bald man’s large frame.

A spectacular array of curses flew, creating the illusion that the hallway windows were shaking.

It reached a point where Bodam, who couldn’t listen anymore, had to grab Ji Oh’s clothes to stop him.

“You bald bastard-!”

“Stop. Stop!”

He felt like his eardrums would burst if he listened any longer.

Thanks to that, his hiccups had stopped, though.

“That’s enough.”

The moment Bodam’s hand touched the end of his sleeve, the noisy mouth shut immediately.

Bodam, unable to believe he had quieted him down himself, looked rather flustered.

Meeting Min Ji Oh’s eyes as he looked down at the sleeve he had grabbed made him feel even more like, ‘what is this?’

He was taken aback by the sight of Min Ji Oh, who had turned to stone with his mouth open, his fierce eyes wide and round.

“……”

‘He had no choice but to freeze like a stone.’ It was his second reunion with Bodam since he had quit.

The day they first reunited, he had ended up just looking at Bodam’s gaunt face without being able to exchange a single word because he had been slammed into a wall by Tae Hwan’s psychokinesis.

“Could you please just come with us? We really don’t have time for this…”

The Teleport Esper, hurt by Ji Oh’s curses, fidgeted timidly.

The bald man, shocked by the ‘bald’ comment, was looking out the window.

‘If he weren’t the Center Director’s grandson, you’d be toast, you bastard.’

“Where are you taking him.”

“It’s an order from the Esper Bureau Director. It’ll only take a moment- Hey, Esper Min Ji Oh-nim, please calm down for now.”

The Teleport Esper apologized first to Ji Oh, who was about to open his mouth with an even more furious expression.

He was scared of what kind of curses he would spew next.

“I apologize for suddenly barging in. We were in a hurry. A hurry.”

“Did you break into my house? Apologize to him.”

“Yes! Guide Yoon Bodam-nim. I apologize if you were startled. We were not considerate enough.”

Along with the Teleport Esper, the bald man also threw out an apology, saying, “Yeah, my bad.”

He just wanted to finish the job quickly and go for a drink.

Bodam’s expression became much more relaxed as he nodded and accepted the apology.

He was bewildered, having never received an apology from the other party in a situation like this.

Ji Oh, who had been watching him intently, wore a foolish expression, as if he had realized something.

“Come with me.”

Bodam’s hand approached Ji Oh, who was dumbfounded by his much-too-late realization.

Right now, Bodam needed Ji Oh, who could inflict an attack on the bald man with his mouth alone.

He wanted to cooperate in catching the unregistered person, but he was scared to go alone.

Bodam waved his hand at Min Ji Oh, who had never used his teleportation for him.

His hand, confident that he would grab it, boldly opened its palm.

‘If he’s so free that he comes to my room every day, he’ll do at least this much.’

“Oh! I’ll go!”

As expected, Ji Oh, grabbing Bodam’s hand with both of his, answered with a will to go anywhere.

‘Now I know what I have to do.’

***

“Shit…”

Tae Hwan, who had descended from the sky, landed with a thud on top of a sedan.

Tae Hwan struggled to take a deep breath, concentrating on letting his shattered spine find its own way back into place.

It was hard to breathe because his broken ribs were piercing his lungs.

On top of that, his vision was blurry too.

His body was a complete wreck.

“Good work. Lee Tae Hwan.”

Team Leader Baek, who had returned after collecting the extinguished gate, slapped a high-five on Tae Hwan’s limp hand.

Thanks to Tae Hwan, who had wiped out the creature’s seed, the gate that had appeared in the sky disappeared without a trace.

“Recover within 10 minutes. I’ll move you to the medical center.”

Tae Hwan, who had handled a gate of Red Code or higher by himself, was in the most wretched state he had been in recently.

He hadn’t been injured this badly since he was around twenty, when he had just entered the Center and used to express excessive anger at gates.

“It would be even better if you get up in 5 minutes. I’m scared to be near you.”

Team Leader Baek’s clones now formed a barrier around Tae Hwan instead of the gate.

She said she could never handle the rampage of an S-class Esper and urged him to return to the Center quickly.

Since Tae Hwan’s recovery ability was superior to anyone else’s, it was more efficient to move after he had set his moderately shattered bones.

“A rampage, my ass.”

Tae Hwan muttered lowly as he wiped the sticky blood from his face.

He was confident that he would never rampage.

At least, not in front of Yoon Bodam.

He would never, ever do anything to hurt Yoon Bodam.

“If you rampage, everyone is in danger. You know that, right?”

Team Leader Baek emphasized the danger to Tae Hwan, who seemed to be treating the serious situation lightly.

She repeatedly warned him that he, of all people, must not rampage.

‘Though, to be honest, with Lee Tae Hwan’s level of control, he could probably take his own life even after the preliminary signs of a rampage begin.’

“Don’t use your ability for a while and stay quiet. Get guiding from time to time.”

The grotesque sound of dislocated joints snapping back into place echoed, thud, thud.

To Team Leader Baek, who was praising him for how fast he was recovering, Tae Hwan snapped that she was being noisy.

He wanted to quickly wash his body, change into new clothes, and go see Yoon Bodam.

Thanks to the deep mucous membrane guiding, his wavelength was stable even after using his ability.

Yoon Bodam was a more outstanding guide than anyone else.

He was good enough to calm his S-class wavelength without difficulty, so it was natural for everyone to covet him.

‘To think his face is maddeningly pretty, his heart is even prettier, and his ability is good too.’

“Haa…”

‘The more I think about it, the crazier I get. I think I’m going to lose my mind because I like Yoon Bodam so damn much.’

Team Leader Baek’s clones, who had been watching Tae Hwan suddenly flush and get excited when he had been perfectly fine, subtly distanced themselves.

‘Should I call the rampage suppression team?’