* * *

“He asked me to introduce him to someone. After that, I haven’t seen him since.”

“Who was that?”

“Seo Shinwoo.”

“Who’s that?”

“An unregistered esper.”

“…”

“And… one of the most extreme ones.”

Before Junseong could finish his explanation, he reached out and grabbed Eunsoo’s wrist just as Eunsoo began to rise.

Eunsoo’s eyebrow arched.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Sit down. Don’t do anything rash. Rex is set to take down Seo Shinwoo’s group tomorrow. If you want to join the operation, I can make the arrangements…”

“How many days?”

“…What?”

“How many days did it take to catch this Kim Jaewoong, interrogate him, uncover his connections, and plan this operation? It couldn’t have been done in a day or two. So how many days did you keep this from me?”

Eunsoo’s voice was cold with restrained fury.

Junseong frowned, holding Eunsoo’s icy blue gaze for a long moment before finally sighing.

“…Ten days.”

“Next time, inform me immediately.”

“If I had told you, you’d have gone charging in.”

“Bad people should be caught quickly, shouldn’t they?”

“There’s a process to these things. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d act on impulse.”

Eunsoo let out a scoff, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘They’re all so incompetent…’

It had been six months since Eunsoo became an “adult.”

He had stepped into the “broader world” Yang Heewoon had often spoken of.

And in that broader world, Eunsoo had come to one conclusion:

Adults were astonishingly useless.

They got bogged down by procedures, public opinion, and social appearances, letting time slip through their fingers until everything fell apart.

Yang Heewoon’s disappearance had been no different.

If they had acted more urgently in the early days, deployed more people, maybe he could have been found.

But no—they delayed, citing gates, security for high-ranking officials, and the need to capture illegal espers.

Delay after delay, and Heewoon was gone.

It was never that important to them in the first place.

Not to anyone.

Not even to Yang Heewoon himself, who had left after calling him “first.”

Leaving behind nothing but a web of lies and a meaningless video.

The faint smile on Eunsoo’s lips vanished.

“Don’t do anything reckless. It’s tomorrow anyway. Less than 12 hours until the operation begins. There’s no need to rush; it’s better to move together.”

“Do I look like someone who would be careless?”

“…I’m asking you. Please. This operation was carefully planned. We’re already monitoring Seo Shinwoo and his group closely. There’s no indication that Yang Heewoon has been found or is in immediate danger. So…”

Junseong sounded desperate.

Pushing him further would only create unnecessary trouble.

Eunsoo clicked his tongue and sank back onto the sofa, though he had no intention of walking away empty-handed.

“You have the interrogation footage of Kim Jaewoong, don’t you? Send it to me.”

“You know I can’t release that to anyone outside…”

“Can’t you? Then I’ll go see it myself. I know where to find some of these radicals. If I catch them and interrogate them, something will turn up.”

Junseong’s dark brown eyes bore into Eunsoo’s, who met his gaze without flinching.

Yang Heewoon had once described this man:

A strict adherent to rules.

Someone overly cautious because of the responsibilities he shoulders.

A frustratingly slow actor, but the kindest person you’ll ever meet.

Ye Eunsoo mostly agreed with Yang Heewoon’s opinion—albeit with a negative bias.

In the past six months of serving as the exclusive guide for Special Team A, he had seen firsthand that Cha Junseong embodied the worst traits of an “adult,” a comprehensive collection of them, even.

Yet, Ye Eunsoo firmly believed that this man would bend his principles now.

Cha Junseong had committed far too many offenses against Ye Eunsoo, who was under Yang Heewoon’s protection—both as the leader of Special Team A and as a friend of Yang Heewoon.

As expected, Cha Junseong was the first to avert his gaze from Ye Eunsoo.

A sigh escaped his lips, a clear gesture of conceding defeat.

“You can only view the footage at the office. However, you’re allowed to take the file with you. I’ll also give you a summary of the interrogation.”

Ye Eunsoo’s lips twisted into a crooked smirk.

His face was full of dissatisfaction, but he soon followed Cha Junseong.

The negotiation had been concluded.

---

The first recipient of the 30 million won reward for witness information was the person who had agreed to lend Yang Heewoon a room and take care of the body.

Apparently, Yang Heewoon had chosen to face death in a moldy, musty room that let in neither sunlight nor fresh air.

A cold, hard bed—like a coffin—had been smashed to pieces by a furious redhead.

For the first time, Ye Eunsoo found his impulsive and single-minded aggression appealing.

The second recipients were two students.

They had accurately recalled one of the few outfits Yang Heewoon had taken with him.

Thanks to their tip, Ye Eunsoo discovered that Yang Heewoon had stopped by a hospital.

The final recipient of the 30 million won reward was a hospital doctor, who claimed to have informed Yang Heewoon of his full recovery.

The three idiots, trusting the desperate health diagnosis Yang Heewoon had submitted to the administration, had apparently concluded that the man the doctor met couldn’t have been Yang Heewoon.

Ye Eunsoo, however, thought otherwise.

Ye Eunsoo paid the doctor for his information as well.

And then came Kim Jaewoong, a drug broker who appeared as the fourth witness after six months of silence.

Kim Jaewoong claimed he had met Yang Heewoon in the underground parking lot of the hospital where he worked.

“I have your missing ledger.”

“Let’s trade. This ledger for your connections.”

“That’s all I want.”

Somehow, Yang Heewoon had gotten his hands on Kim Jaewoong’s ledger, which had gone missing months earlier—a document so incriminating that turning it over to the police would spell big trouble.

While its coded content made it look like an ordinary diary to the untrained eye, Yang Heewoon had somehow figured out how to decode it.

Since one of the cases in the ledger involved Yang Heewoon, Kim Jaewoong concluded that it wouldn’t take a day for him to be completely exposed if Yang Heewoon testified.

Thus, he accepted the proposed deal.

“For someone holding such a vital item, the demand was surprisingly modest. There was no reason to refuse…”

Reading through the contents of the file he’d transferred to his phone, Ye Eunsoo found himself lost in thought, covering his mouth with his hand.

The word modest stuck out to him.

The illegal unregistered Esper “Seo Shinwoo” was a notorious figure who worked in the shadows, committing various crimes and even dabbling in contract killings.

While Kim Jaewoong was also a criminal, he wasn’t on the same level.

He typically dealt with moderate, non-combat Espers in the manufacturing field rather than extremists.

So why would introducing Seo Shinwoo be considered modest?

“It doesn’t add up.”

Yang Heewoon, after all, was a Guide—lifelines for Espers and rigorously controlled by the government.

Illegal Espers, constantly lurking in the shadows, were always on the lookout for Guides.

Even a D-rank Guide was considered rare, so from Seo Shinwoo’s perspective, having a B-rank Guide walk right in would be like a gift from the heavens.

The likelihood of favorable treatment was high.

Still, even with such a high likelihood, it was hard to predict the actions of extremists.

It didn’t seem plausible that someone as risk-averse as Kim Jaewoong would refer to contact with Seo Shinwoo as modest.

If that’s the case…

“Hey! Ye Eunsoo, long time no see!”

A booming voice abruptly interrupted his train of thought.

Ye Eunsoo’s face twisted in irritation.

He hurriedly turned off his phone and quickened his pace to avoid the voice’s owner, but it was too late.

“What an obnoxiously huge guy.”

Even though Ye Eunsoo had grown rapidly over the past six months—enough to make his joints ache—he still couldn’t surpass Rex Hamilton, who was over two meters tall.

Actually, he wasn’t even taller than Elliot Hooper yet.

Damn it.

Thankfully, he was still in his growth spurt, so there was hope.

But that didn’t stop the constant irritation he felt every time he noticed the difference in size and build.

“Are you eating well? Sleeping okay? Huh? You look thinner.”

To make matters worse, a thick arm naturally draped over Ye Eunsoo’s shoulder.

A friendly gesture.

To an outsider, they’d seem like close friends.

But that wasn’t the case.

Ye Eunsoo barely managed to stop himself from throwing a punch—not out of politeness, but because he knew it wouldn’t land anyway.

“I’m heading to the final strategy briefing. Are you coming too?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He had already received a summary of the operation from Kim Miri.

As a Guide, he was technically classified as non-combat personnel and wasn’t part of the official team.

While the operation team seemed eager to include him because of his unique status, Ye Eunsoo had no intention of joining them.

He had his own methods.

“This is about Heewoon, so it’s worrying, right? But don’t stress. Leave it to me. It’s dangerous work, but you can count on me to handle it.”

“…Get your arm off me.”

“You’re still so prickly. Do you really hate me that much?”

What a ridiculous question.

* * *