* * *
Berlin, Germany.
The insanely large Gate, which had already taken down countless Espers hours ago, forcing the elite Korean Espers from the other side of the world to come as support, spat out a person.
And that person fell into Shin Hajin’s arms.
The Espers of the Korean Association’s Esper Team 1—who were called the Shin Hajin Team after the team leader’s name rather than their official one—stared blankly at the sight.
Their faces turned deathly pale in an instant.
Well, a man dropped out of the Gate. But that wasn’t the problem.
No, of course, a person popping out of a Gate was a problem.
It was, but the bigger problem was that the man had landed squarely in Shin Hajin’s arms.
Shin Hajin, their terrifying team leader, who wore gloves at all times due to his mysophobia, and who, despite being an Esper, didn’t even receive contact Guiding.
A suffocating silence fell among the team members.
Even the tentacles of the monsters, which had been wildly attacking them every second, seemed to hesitate, sensing the atmosphere.
The force emanating from Shin Hajin, who stood at 190cm and boasted a solid physique, was that formidable.
The team members, who had been diligently fighting off monsters behind him, shivered and exchanged nervous glances.
This was their superior: a man who would throw a Guide away just because their finger accidentally brushed his during Guiding, and who would beat A-Class Espers half to death if a drop of their blood splattered on him during a mission.
If Shin Hajin had been a little weaker, he wouldn’t have been this terrifying, but unfortunately, he was an S-Class Esper belonging to the Korean Association whose value skyrocketed every year, with associations all over the world desperate to recruit him.
“Wh-what do we do…?”
Only the whispered words of one of the pale-faced team Espers scattered into the air.
*
Regardless of the team members trembling behind him, Shin Hajin himself stared, momentarily lost, at the man who had fallen into his arms.
Normally, he should have thrown the man away due to the unpleasantness of another person’s body touching his arm, no matter how high up in the air they were.
But it was strange.
Hajin held the man—the first person whose touch did not feel repulsive—and observed him.
The man had a generally light coloring.
Light, short, soft brown hair swaying in the wind of the upper atmosphere, and eyes of a similar shade. His large, round eyes met Hajin’s gaze.
Then, blink.
When the man, who looked like he had been crying, closed and opened his eyes, a teardrop, glistening in the sunlight, rolled down his perfectly white cheek.
In that fleeting instant, Hajin felt a sweet Guiding so intense it felt like his insides were melting.
‘Is he a Guide?’
But it vanished as quickly as it came, as if it were merely an illusion.
The brown eyes blinked a few more times, letting more tears fall.
Then, thud.
The unknown man with the sorrowful face lost consciousness, like a doll whose strings had been cut.
Hajin slowly scanned his face again.
He was a person who never cared about what others looked like, yet this action came naturally.
Long brown eyelashes casting deep shadows below his closed eyelids, and skin so pale and clear it was almost translucent, without a single blemish.
He was pretty, but aside from his generally light coloring, he wasn’t an overwhelming beauty.
He was an ordinary-looking man.
Nevertheless, Hajin couldn’t take his eyes off the man.
On top of that, there was a sweet scent wafting from him from the moment they met.
‘What is this?’
It was too subtle to be Guiding.
Hajin continued to look at the man as if enchanted.
In the meantime, the fact that he had killed the annoyingly roaring monsters and closed the Gate, which his team members had struggled with for over an hour, also happened without him even noticing it.
Hajin, who had been so distracted, only momentarily came back to his senses when he felt his own energy flowing out from the unknown man.
‘Why is my energy coming from a person who just fell out of the Gate?’
His blue eyes thoroughly scanned the man, who looked like he would shatter and scatter if held too tightly.
And what he discovered was a familiar-looking necklace.
It was one of the necklaces Hajin had mass-produced a few years ago to test his own ability.
‘Why is this here?’
“Um, Team Leader.”
However, his thoughts were cut off there.
Hajin turned his head toward the Esper who called him, still holding the man securely in the same posture.
“The Gate is closed, so I thought it might be okay to go b-back now….”
The deathly pale team member continued speaking.
The trembling Esper’s gaze was fixed on the man held in Hajin’s arms.
Hajin frowned at the inexplicable feeling of displeasure.
The team member inevitably let out a faint, jarring sound.
Hajin lowered his gaze again to the man in his arms.
The pale man’s breathing was almost inaudible.
Like a pitiful small animal on the verge of death.
“Lee Jeonghyeon.”
“Y-yes, yes!”
Hajin called out to one of the team members who were huddled together and whispering far away. It was an Esper with teleportation ability.
“Let’s go to the Korea University Hospital.”
“Yes, Korea University Hospital… Pardon?”
Hajin raised his head at the questioning Esper.
His sculptural face was twisted in a frown.
“EEK! S-sorry!”
The dumbfounded Esper turned ghostly pale and silently approached Hajin to carry out the order, nervously watching his reaction.
Hajin forcibly suppressed the repulsion he felt towards the approaching other person.
A brief flash of light enveloped their vision, and—
“Haha, if I work… huh?”
“Shin, Shin Hajin Esper…?”
Hajin was instantly standing in front of the reception desk of the special department at Korea University Hospital.
Well, he came here because the man in his arms seemed like he was about to die.
He frowned.
Not only had he never taken such an action before, but he couldn’t even fathom the reason why he was doing this now.
Even so, his hands, which gently placed the unconscious man onto a chair, were extremely careful.
“…Shin Hajin Esper?”
It seemed the nurses had quickly relayed the message, as the Hospital Director, whom he was acquainted with, was approaching.
His mind, which had been under a strange spell, finally awakened.
Hajin glanced at the man he had set down.
A beautiful man.
The one who made him show kindness for a reason he himself didn’t know.
But this was far enough.
Hajin restrained himself from continuously acting strangely.
He didn’t particularly like things happening that weren’t in his original plan.
It was funny that he didn’t feel repulsed, but the deviation ended here.
He had to go back.
Hajin motioned with his chin toward Lee Jeonghyeon, the Esper who had brought him here, and the innocent Esper carefully approached, watching his mood, and activated his ability.
*
“…!!”
“…Bring it over, quickly!”
Suhyeon opened his eyes when he heard the sounds of bustling and occasional commotion all around him.
His blurry vision sharpened, and the ringing sensation in his ears subsided.
Instead of the darkness of the gloomy Gate, he saw people busy moving back and forth.
Suhyeon was lying in a hospital bed.
After blinking a few times, his paralyzed mind slowly replayed the memory.
He recalled leaping into the white light and meeting the deep blue eyes of a man who looked like he could suck him in.
Suhyeon slowly felt his own body. His heart pounded, letting him know he was alive.
Suhyeon’s eyes, taking in the sight of people rushing about, trembled helplessly.
‘Was it a dream?’
It was only a short while ago that a scene like this, with people coming and going, was familiar, but the memory of being submerged in the darkness of the Gate and surrounded by monsters made him unable to believe what was unfolding before his eyes.
‘Am I actually dead? Or is this all a dream I’m having just before I die?’
They say people see a panorama of their life before death; is this something similar to that?
While Suhyeon was just staring blankly at the gradually organizing situation in the hospital, someone in a white gown approached him.
“Chae Suhyeon… ssi, is that right?”
Suhyeon, who had been denying reality due to the overwhelming fear of the Gate, reflexively lifted his head when his name was called.
The person who called him seemed to be a doctor.
For some reason, he frowned and asked again.
“Chae Suhyeon, is this you? If you can hear me, please nod.”
Suhyeon nodded blankly, like a clueless baby duck following its mother.
“On July 12th, 20XX, are you the one who was sucked into the Gate?”
July 12th. Yes. That seemed to be the date. Suhyeon nodded again, as if entranced.
‘Sucked into the Gate.’
As Suhyeon internally repeated the doctor’s words, reality slowly dawned upon him.
‘It’s not a dream, then?’
“Where, is this—”
Only a sobbing voice, as if he had cried beyond his limit, could come out.
The middle-aged doctor slowly exhaled.
And then stammered out.
“This is the first case of its kind.”
At the incomprehensible words, Suhyeon remained seated, still dazed.
“Chae Suhyeon. You were caught in a Gate that opened in Korea three years ago, and you emerged from a Gate that opened in Germany. First, we need to do a thorough examination to check if there are any problems with your body, oh dear.”
‘Emerged from the Gate.’
Tears streamed down Suhyeon’s eyes as he confirmed for the first time, through another person’s mouth, that he was no longer in the Gate.
His vision instantly blurred with moisture.
The doctor’s lips parted and fluttered as he spoke.
Then, he let out another small sigh, “Oh dear.”
Suhyeon finally realized that this entire situation rushing over him was real, and he cried for a long time in relief.
Tears dropped and flowed. And then.
“…Ah, ugh—”
Suhyeon’s upper body suddenly collapsed at a pain that began to spread from his chest without any warning.
“Chae Suhyeon?”
“Wait—”
Suhyeon, who collapsed without even being able to scream from the pain that felt like his heart and lungs were shriveling up, huddled under the blanket with his head buried against it, trembling violently.
‘I don’t think it’s because I was crying, so why is this happening?’
“Cough,”
Suhyeon coughed at the sudden onset of pain.
Something warm dripped out.
He covered his mouth with his hand, looked at what was smeared on it, and parted his trembling lips.
Dark red fluid stained his vision.
‘Blood?’
But his mind, which had gone completely white, could no longer function.
With the pain rushing over him again like a rough wave, his vision simply went black.
* * *
