After a long stretch of silence and fierce, unspoken tension, someone finally gulped and parted their lips.
“……Esper Shin Hajin.”
“Yes.”
“……Ahem.”
The man, appearing momentarily flustered as if he hadn’t expected Hajin to answer so immediately, cleared his throat.
“Ahem, well. The person who received the summons command was Guide Chae Suhyeon. I don’t understand why Esper Shin Hajin is the one standing here. Of course, you are more than welcome to observe, but…….”
Hajin tilted his head at a sharp angle.
“Weren’t you planning to discuss the recent Gate accident?”
“That is correct, but…….”
“I was the person in charge of that site. Why issue a summons to Su—Guide Chae Suhyeon for something you should be saying to me?”
Hajin let out a jagged, mocking laugh.
“Furthermore, that accident was caused by the incompetence of the observation team, and my Guide was merely a victim caught in the crossfire. In fact, Chae Suhyeon should be sitting here slapping their faces while they beg for forgiveness—ah, excuse me.”
In the front row of the many observers, a man gasped sharply.
It was the general manager of the observation team.
However, the man with the floor remained oblivious, continuing to muddy the waters.
“We are simply asking why Esper Shin Hajin is—”
“Sigh…….”
Hajin’s sigh cut him off like a blade, freezing the air in the room.
A deadly chill swept through his languidly opened blue eyes.
“You asked why I am standing here?”
“Ye-yes…….”
“Whether Gate energy could be detected or not, my only pair was nearly killed in that mess.”
“No, that’s—”
“Since receiving guiding from Guide Chae Suhyeon, my body has become incapable of accepting guiding from anyone else. It was similar before, but now it’s absolute. The fact that Chae Suhyeon nearly died in a Gate accident means that a future where I go berserk, wipe Korea off the map, and die myself was a hair’s breadth away from becoming reality.”
A gruesome silence washed over the crowd once more.
“I suppose you didn’t think of that when you issued a summons to a person who just regained consciousness—an S-rank Guide who has me as a pair. If this is how the Association treats me after I’ve played the role of their obedient Esper for so long, I’d have no qualms about leaving this instant.”
“Esper Shin Hajin!”
Hajin’s frigid gaze landed on the middle-aged man who had shouted. Hajin slowly sat down in the shabby chair—likely intended for Suhyeon—and crossed his legs.
‘If Suhyeon were sitting here, would his pale throat have moved in a nervous gulp? Or would he have just blinked indifferently and asked, “What did I do?”’
As long as it didn’t involve the Gate—his past memories—his lover was always calm.
Lately, he even seemed to brush off the Gate incidents with composure.
Feeling a sudden, powerful impulse to run back, fill his vision with those clear light-brown eyes, and kiss those white eyelids, Hajin met the many gazes looking down at him with pure boredom.
The fact that this meeting, which normally would have been held via video conference, was being held in person made their foul intentions transparent.
It was more than enough to stoke Hajin’s temper.
“If you don’t provide a reason I find acceptable, I might actually follow through on that.”
“……!”
The Association’s high-ranking officials widened their eyes in shock at the suggestion that one of the nation’s top Espers might leave the country.
Someone could be heard muttering in horror about “contract penalties,” but everyone knew the truth: Shin Hajin was someone who could pay off any penalty in a single lump sum and leave whenever he pleased.
Tch.
Someone in the crowd clicked their tongue, realizing things weren’t going according to plan.
“……For now, everyone is gathered, so let us proceed.”
“……Ahem, cough! Then…….”
Hajin stared at the middle-aged woman leaning back behind the man who had been speaking.
Director Lee Nahyeon.
One of the people holding the reins of power in the haphazardly run Association.
The man currently speaking was nothing more than her pawn.
Hajin recalled him as someone who used to maintain a decent neutral stance, but it seemed he had misjudged him.
“……Right now, we are questioning whether Guide Chae Suhyeon might, perhaps, be a humanoid monster.”
“Pfft—!”
The moment the man blurted the words after a long series of coughs, a burst of laughter erupted from one side.
It was Asher Delveron, who had been observing.
“Cough, pfft. What did you say?”
“Director Kim Jong-hyeon, what did you just say?”
Yihan, who had been watching silently, finally stepped forward.
The Association President, who had been desperately holding back a trembling Yihan to prevent an explosion, blinked in disbelief.
Something that had only appeared in third-rate tabloids aimed at public sensationalism was now being mentioned officially by the Association.
“Or, if not that, we suspect he may have an unnervingly close connection to the Gates.”
Even if they tried to walk it back, everyone had already heard it.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Hajin’s long, gloved fingers tapped the armrest of his chair in a slow, rhythmic pattern.
His distinct blue eyes stared at the speaker as if ready to devour him whole.
He wanted to blast a hole through that mouth for daring to insult his lover so casually.
A cold fury swept through his mind.
Hajin’s pupils sank into a darker shade.
“……Is that a statement you are prepared to take responsibility for?”
When Yihan finally calmed down slightly upon seeing the ominous aura radiating from Hajin below, and Asher Delveron leaned against the wall with crossed arms to watch the drama unfold, a frigid voice flowed from Hajin’s lips.
“But isn’t it true? Has a Guide’s guiding ever closed a Gate or influenced a monster before? If he possesses such an ability, shouldn’t Guide Chae Suhyeon be standing at the front lines of the Gates in this urgent situation?”
Instead of answering Hajin, another person shot back with a sharp question.
Simultaneously, a video played on the wall.
The blurry footage appeared to be an enlarged CCTV clip from the moment the Gate opened in front of Suhyeon.
“Guide Chae Suhyeon was inside a Gate for a long time. No one knows what happened in there. Isn’t it strange that someone who was just an ordinary citizen suddenly awakened as a high-ranking Guide immediately after emerging? It’s a logical theory. It would also explain how he could fill the guiding levels of Esper Shin Hajin, which no one else could reach. Particularly if he possesses some sort of brainwashing ability—”
“I’ve heard enough. Are you seriously spouting tabloid rumors in this place? So, you’re saying my brother died in there and the current Suhyeon is something else entirely?”
“But it is a perfectly plausible theory—”
“Mmm, if he were a monster, it would explain why Suhyeon is so attractive.”
Nonsense, Yihan’s outburst, and Asher Delveron’s commentary.
The situation was devolving into a mess.
The higher-ups didn’t intervene, almost as if they welcomed the chaos, and only the Association President watched the carnage with his mouth agape.
His eyes met Hajin’s for a split second.
The President looked momentarily apologetic, but Hajin ignored it without a shred of expectation.
The Korean Association had always been run by a few high-ranking officials and a small circle of gifted elites; within that structure, Kim Gyuhan’s voice was minuscule.
Hajin stared intently at the man who had first broached the subject.
A chilling murderous intent surged in the blue eyes fixed upon him.
Belatedly noticing the enraged gaze, the man met Hajin’s eyes and let out a sharp, terrified gasp.
The sight of him cowering from a mere look was pathetic.
“Sigh…….”
He missed Suhyeon. Hajin tilted his head back and let out a long breath, his prominent Adam’s apple bobbing.
Then, he slowly raised his foot.
Blue sparks flew.
CRASH!!! BOOM!
The long desk in front of his chair was sent flying with a deafening roar.
The desk, rolling away as weakly as a wooden plank, slammed into the wall with a heavy thud.
Shards of wood and dust rained down.
Without changing his bored, leg-crossed posture, Hajin rested his chin on one hand.
A low chuckle echoed through the now-silent room.
Yihan, who had been huffing in rage, finally calmed down upon realizing Hajin had decided to take matters into his own hands.
“Hahaha…….”
Hajin laughed low for a long time.
Then, he stopped abruptly.
His blue eyes scanned every face—those who had spouted nonsense and those who had merely watched.
To a man, they were all cowards, flinching without the courage to step forward.
“Tell me. If Suhyeon…… if Guide Chae Suhyeon is not human, or if he is someone influenced by the Gate, what is his objective? To open Gates at random? To incite a Gate Rush? To lower people’s guards and then annihilate humanity?”
“……That is. Isn’t that just speculation?”
It was laughably pathetic how quickly the man’s spirit broke as he tried to backpedal.
“I was simply applying the same level of creativity you did. Why do you think that’s nonsensical? Isn’t that exactly what you were trying to imply?”
