The next day, Raon headed to the Center.
Raon’s kidnapping was no ordinary incident, so the escort was more thorough than usual.
Siwoo did not want to leave Raon’s side for a moment from the morning.
In contrast, the media was quiet.
Raon had become nationally popular due to the suppression of the Irregular Gate.
The fact that Raon was kidnapped by a terrorist group, even with the cooperation and protection of the Center and the military, would be a rather humiliating incident.
Therefore, Raon also hoped for this matter to pass quietly.
“Hello, Director.”
“Welcome.”
Seokhyeon’s condition was terrible, as if he hadn’t slept well due to various worries last night.
His usually dark circles seemed ready to reach his cheeks.
Raon momentarily looked at Seokhyeon’s haggard face with pity.
“First, tell me what happened yesterday.”
“Yes.”
Raon nodded and began to explain, starting from how he took the car sent by the Center to the hotel for the dinner party.
And how he took the same car after the dinner party, but a different driver was driving, how he felt suspicious and tried to contact the Center, but was knocked out and dragged away by Apophis’s Named members.
“The Named members of Apophis I met were K, the leader, and the Named members M and A. All three seemed to be Espers.”
“I see.”
Seokhyeon’s expression became even more serious.
No one had ever had such close contact with Apophis’s Named members as Raon.
Moreover, they kidnapped a Guide, not an Esper belonging to the military, and attempted to talk to him.
Seokhyeon asked in a considerably serious voice.
“What did they demand of you?”
“They wanted to enter the Irregular Gate.”
“The Irregular Gate?”
“Yes.”
Raon told a moderately fabricated story.
Anyway, he couldn’t tell anyone about the conversation they had.
He couldn’t recklessly talk about transmigration, regression, or the System.
However, he thought he could talk about Apophis’s goal.
Raon, after much thought, decided not to side with Apophis.
Because he couldn’t completely trust them yet.
“So, after kidnapping me, they demanded my cooperation.”
“From you?”
“Yes, it seems they underestimated me because I’m a Guide.”
“Hmm.”
It had been a very long time since the Guide Team was formed, as Guides had not been needed to enter the Gates for a while, and the Guides had completely become independent from the military.
Moreover, Raon had shown clear achievements as the Guide Team Leader, so he was even more special compared to other Guides.
Perhaps because of this, the higher-ups recognized Raon’s achievements but couldn’t figure out how to treat him.
An Esper would be given opportunities for promotion in the military, but a Guide was not.
“It seems flies are swarming more because of your ambiguous position.”
“Well, I’m fine with the way things are.”
“Don’t say things like that. You might end up dead.”
At Seokhyeon’s cold words, Raon stopped being sarcastic and fell silent.
He had joked because Siwoo and Seokhyeon seemed too sensitive, but it only provoked them more.
Raon muttered to himself, watching the contemplating Seokhyeon.
‘Apophis doesn’t seem like they’ll give up easily either.’
He didn’t know how much of their words he should believe, but if most of what K said was true, they would do anything to escape transmigration and repeated regression in the future.
Even if he didn’t cooperate, they would try to enter the Black Gate somehow.
And they might cause another terror attack, leading to more deaths.
‘Should I just catch them all?’
As he initially thought, he could approach them by pretending to cooperate, and then stab them in the back, catching them all at once.
Of course, the quick-witted K might notice in the middle and harm him, but if the operation succeeded, they could achieve the great feat of capturing most of Apophis’s Named members.
‘But the Director would never allow it.’
The man’s face was already pale just from him being kidnapped overnight; there was no way he would allow a Guide to be deployed in such a dangerous operation.
Meeting the Intelligence Division Team Leader secretly was merely a stroke of luck.
“For now, don’t leave the house for a while. If you have to go out, make sure to tell me in advance.”
“Understood.”
As expected, Seokhyeon seemed intent on solving the problem by completely hiding him away.
Raon readily agreed, as he had also predicted this.
Next, he met with a senior member of the Intelligence Division and explained the conversation he had with the Named members, especially their appearance.
The Named members took off their masks to gain Raon’s trust.
However, no matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn’t remember their faces.
It seemed they had played a trick so that he would partially lose his memory once he left that space.
Still, he was glad he didn’t have to spend a long time explaining to the Intelligence Division that he had seen the Named members’ faces.
Except for the parts about transmigration and regression, he answered the rest truthfully and sincerely, so the experienced Esper of the Intelligence Division didn’t realize he was hiding anything.
“Thank you for your hard work, Team Leader Han Raon. You may return home now.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Raon came out with a rather lightened expression.
Siwoo, who hadn’t left his side even when he met the Intelligence Division Esper, spoke to Raon.
“Let’s go home now.”
“Alright.”
Raon was getting tired and was about to go straight back, but he stopped when something suddenly came to mind.
“Oh, right.”
“What is it?”
“I forgot to get my watch and terminal back.”
“Ah.”
Raon had his watch and terminal taken when he was kidnapped by Apophis.
Since he needed both for work, it would be best to get new ones as soon as possible.
“You’ll have to apply for them first.”
“I guess so?”
At Siwoo’s words, Raon frowned as if annoyed.
Watches and terminals were made by mixing Dungeon materials, so there wasn’t a large inventory.
If he was unlucky, he might have to receive the leftovers at the time new Guides were coming in. Raon sighed and shook his head.
“Let’s go and ask.”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, he hadn’t completely left the Center yet.
Raon turned his steps to the Center Support Office to explain the situation.
“Team Leader!”
“…!”
Then, startled by someone calling out loudly, he stopped.
The person ran towards Raon like an arrow.
“Team Leader, are you alright?”
“Oh, Esper Hamin?”
Hamin looked up at Raon, his eyes brimming with tears.
And he tightly held Raon’s hand.
“Since the last Dual Gate, you haven’t come to the Center, and you haven’t been easy to reach… I was worried about you every day, Team Leader.”
“Ah, I’m doing well.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Raon’s kidnapping was top secret, so Hamin didn’t know about it.
The thought that he would have been even more frantic if he had known about the kidnapping sent a chill down Raon’s spine.
Hamin, who had re-awakened as an Esper, had a much stronger grip than before, and the hand he was holding was gradually tingling.
“I acted so pathetic during the last Dual Gate… I’m so sorry.”
“Ah.”
Seeing the tearful Hamin, Raon also remembered the incident at the Dual Gate.
It was true that time had been delayed because Hamin, who could fly, failed to fulfill his role of destroying the core at the point where the Gates merged at the end.
Fortunately, Mikhail took over the role, and nothing went wrong.
Since the Gate was successfully suppressed in the end, he had no intention of resenting Hamin at all.
“There’s no need to apologize, Esper Hamin. The Gate suppression was completed successfully.”
“But if I had managed my stamina better until the end…”
“Dual Gates usually take a long time to suppress compared to other Gates. It’s enough that you were helpful before that.”
“Ah.”
Hamin had fully carried out his role from the Blue Gate area this time.
He cooperated with Siwoo to allow the members to breathe underwater and defeated numerous monsters.
That alone was enough for him to have done what he was supposed to do.
“And there will be an opportunity again next time, won’t there? Until then, train well and be prepared.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Raon smiled with satisfaction, seeing the determination return to Hamin’s eyes.
The person who had changed the most after the regression was probably Hamin.
Even though he himself was free from the System’s restraints and could act freely, it was incomparable to Hamin, who had re-awakened as an Esper, unlike in the original work.
Hamin’s face, which had been glum just moments ago from thinking he was a burden, brightened a little.
That alone made Raon secretly feel pleased, as the ruined main subject of the original work seemed to have changed.
He felt like he would have been guilty if the current Hamin were depressed and despairing like the Hamin in the original work.
Raon looked at Hamin with a somewhat complicated expression.
“Let’s go now, Hyung.”
“Ah, alright.”
Just then, Siwoo, who was watching with dissatisfaction from behind, tapped Hamin’s hand.
Only then did Raon remember what he had to do.
“Um, Team Leader. When do you plan on returning to active duty?”
“Hmm, well.”
However, Hamin was quite persistent.
Raon didn’t notice that Siwoo’s gaze was sinking low and pondered for a moment at Hamin’s question.
