* * *
When Siwoo opened his eyes again, only a few team members remained nearby — everyone else was gone.
As he furrowed his brow slightly, he caught sight of their anxious expressions.
“H-How could this be…?”
Even after entering countless gates, this was a first.
The rare look of confusion on the agents’ faces said it all.
Siwoo calmly scanned the area.
The landscape had completely changed, and even the air against his skin felt different — another level entirely from where they’d been.
His instincts told him this place had an incredibly high difficulty level.
What’s worse, he was the only S-rank Esper present.
Even from a distance, an S-rank’s aura should’ve been detectable, however faint — the absence meant they were scattered far apart.
It was intentional.
The gate was deliberately separating the S-rank Espers, breaking them apart to eliminate them individually.
Siwoo had never felt a gate’s intent so clearly or so aggressively before.
It didn’t feel good.
As tension gripped him, a foreign presence made him snap his head around.
“Multiple enemies approaching from the front!”
The other agents saw the approaching monsters too and readied their weapons with a shout.
Now wasn’t the time to think. Siwoo fought back, reserving his strength where he could.
They’d gone too deep to simply retreat now, and who knew how long it would take to clear an irregular gate like this?
He had to conserve his energy and hold out as best he could.
Maybe once communications were cut and the situation felt off, the government and the Center would take action…
‘But Han Raon wouldn’t come here of his own accord.’
Siwoo quelled the surge of unease with a deep breath.
No one was more obsessed with safety than Raon.
After Alpha Team 1 cleared the Red Gate, the government hadn’t been so aggressive about pushing guides.
Unless Raon voluntarily entered the gate, they couldn’t have forced him.
There was no way Raon would be in such a dangerous place.
Siwoo clenched his jaw, shoving the horrific possibility out of his mind as he cut down monsters.
But… he couldn’t shake the subtle feeling that Raon had changed recently.
Before he could fully process that discomfort—
“Major Yoon Siwoo, over here—!”
“…!”
While fighting, Siwoo spotted other agents engaged in combat not far away.
But they weren’t from Alpha Team 1 — they were from outside squads.
And even more alarming…
“What’s going on? Why are guides here…?”
The external squad was protecting guides while fighting.
Though they were clearly exhausted, none of the guides appeared seriously hurt.
Siwoo quickly looked away from the unfamiliar guides and addressed one of the Espers.
“The gate’s signature changed drastically, so the government and the Center agreed to send in guide support.”
“These are all the guides?”
“No, sir.”
The guides who had joined Siwoo were Juwon and Taehyuk.
They weren’t on his team, but belonged to the same division, so he recognized them.
Siwoo’s heart dropped when he first saw them — but not seeing Raon among them brought some relief.
“Guide Han Raon came in as team lead, with Guide Jang Haedam and Guide Lee Hamin.”
“…!”
Siwoo’s eyes widened.
He couldn’t breathe.
Why… Why the hell would Han Raon come here…?
Just yesterday, Raon had smiled while guiding him — that face flashed vividly in his mind.
“Where is he? Where’s Han Raon—?”
“I don’t know. But he should be with other Espers, so don’t worry too much.”
“……”
The Esper, realizing Raon was Siwoo’s pair guide, tried to reassure him.
But Siwoo couldn’t hear a word of it.
“Major?”
“H-Haa… Hah…”
Horrific thoughts flooded his mind.
What if Raon wasn’t lucky like these guides and had been separated from his team — alone, defenseless?
What if he was torn apart by monsters?
What if something went wrong while guiding another Esper?
His imagination spun out of control, suffocating him.
Energy began to ripple violently around him, distorting the air.
“Everyone, fall back!”
Sensing something wrong, the others cautiously stepped away from Siwoo.
There had been no warning signs.
Could he be on the verge of losing control?
He had seemed fine just moments ago, so they hesitated to draw conclusions.
While they eyed him warily, Siwoo’s thoughts were consumed by one goal — ‘Find Raon.’
His power responded to that will, exploding outward.
Drip. Drip-drop.
“Rain…?”
The agents, who had been on edge, reflexively looked up.
Raindrops began falling gently, then quickly turned into a heavy downpour.
As they stared in awe, Siwoo’s rain-soaked figure blurred… and vanished, leaving only water stains where he’d stood.
“Major!”
The agents shouted in alarm, but Siwoo was gone.
All that remained was the relentless rain.
“You should’ve refused, no matter what they said!”
“……”
“Do you want me to lose my damn mind watching you die?!”
Raon stared, dumbfounded, at Siwoo — who was now yelling furiously.
He had never seen Siwoo this angry.
Yes, he’d been upset before — especially when Raon nearly died — but not like this.
This was different.
And even though things had been dangerous just now, he hadn’t actually died.
Still in shock, Raon couldn’t respond right away.
“What the hell were you thinking coming here, huh?!”
“Siwoo, I just…”
Raon had imagined what Siwoo’s reaction might be when they met in the gate.
He’d expected him to be flustered, maybe ask for some quick guiding.
Not this.
He hadn’t expected rage.
Siwoo was soaked, and his aura was unsettling.
His eyes, usually a deep black, now shimmered faintly blue — likely from overexertion.
Beep. Beep-beep.
“…!”
Suddenly, Raon’s wristwatch let out a sharp alert. Startled, he looked down.
It was a warning — his assigned Esper’s values had dropped dangerously low.
On the screen, Siwoo’s name flashed in red.
Raon’s eyes narrowed.
He had only just gotten Siwoo’s sync rate up to 40% recently, and now it had already plummeted below 30%.
That was absurd.
Drip. Drop.
Raon stared at the raindrops falling from both of them.
That torrential rain had clearly been Siwoo’s doing — an act to find him.
Who knew how far apart they had been, but judging by the rain, the distance hadn’t been close.
The gate’s separation tactics meant it likely wasn’t even in the same zone.
To cast such a wide-reaching power just to find him…
Even for an S-rank, it must’ve taken an enormous toll.
Enough to wreck their sync in a flash, enough to trigger an emergency alert.
Without a word, Raon reached out and grabbed Siwoo’s wrist.
Siwoo’s eyes widened as guiding energy abruptly surged into him.
“See? You’re crashing again!”
“That’s—”
“And you’re telling me not to come into the gate?!”
“……”
Siwoo clamped his mouth shut, unable to refute Raon’s words after seeing the sharp drop in his numbers.
Raon took the opportunity to pour in even more guiding energy.
Thankfully, the drastic drop had only been caused by overexertion.
Just through physical contact, the numbers began recovering rapidly.
Siwoo clenched his teeth against the overwhelming sensation wrapping around his body.
Strangely, the rage and heat that had been clouding his mind seemed to clear out, swept away by the guiding energy.
As his mind settled into a calm, almost water-like state, Siwoo slowly regained his rationality.
“…Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”
“It’s fine. That kind of thing happens.”
Raon was honestly surprised, but secretly pleased—he felt like he was seeing a new side of Siwoo.
Before his regression, Siwoo had never gotten angry like this.
It wasn’t the kind of thing one could see unless they were truly close.
Feeling an odd fluttering in his chest, Raon continued guiding Siwoo until his readings stabilized.
“Um, Raon… your injury…”
“Oh.”
Only when Hamin spoke up in a trembling voice did Raon realize blood was gushing down his back.
It wasn’t clearly visible, but a gruesome wound peeked out through the torn uniform.
“It’s fine. A potion should be enough for—”
Before Raon could even finish, Siwoo swiftly pulled out a potion and poured it over the wound like a gust of wind.
As the gash closed almost instantly, Raon was left momentarily speechless.
* * *
