* * *
“What do you mean the tower’s collapsing—wait, what?!”
‘Rumble…!’
Before anyone could question it further, the entire tower began to shake violently.
The tremors were far more intense than anything felt during the battle with the monsters.
“It’s crumbling from below! Hurry, get up there!”
Even the guides who had been at the lower levels rushed up shouting, leaving no room for doubt.
The espers, who had just survived a grueling fight, began sprinting up the tower at full speed.
“Hyung!”
“Siwoo…”
Despite the chaos, seeing Siwoo’s face brought Raon some relief.
Siwoo, unaware that Raon had fallen in place of Dasom during the fight, now looked utterly worn out.
“Are you okay? I heard you fell from the tower…”
“Ah.”
Siwoo, who had dashed over, grabbed Raon’s shoulders and quickly checked him over.
Raon had been so focused on fighting the monsters, he hadn’t even realized someone had seen him fall.
To reassure Siwoo, he opened his mouth to speak.
RUMBLE!
“Ugh!”
“……!”
But with the tower now collapsing for real, there was no time to chat.
Raon grabbed Siwoo’s arm and shouted urgently.
“We need to get to the top, now!”
“Got it.”
Siwoo nodded and scooped Raon into his arms.
Since guides didn’t have the stamina to scale the tower in one go, the espers carried them instead.
Boom. Crash. BOOM!
Thanks to that, they made it to the top of the tower just in time.
Raon sighed in relief as he confirmed that not a single person had been left behind.
“Whew…”
This gate had way too many unpredictable variables.
While Dasom’s reawakening had been expected, Hamin reawakening too, the monsters attacking the tower, and the structure collapsing—none of that had been part of the plan.
‘What do we do now?’
Raon tried to stay calm despite the mess in his head.
Originally, they would descend the tower to find the door to the next stage.
The tower had many rooms, and the exit had to be located among them.
But now that the tower was gone, that was impossible.
‘Wait.’
Clearing a gate only required finding its “core.”
And that core was more likely to be beneath the base of the tower than here at the top—possibly in the area Raon and the guide team had entered through when the cliff collapsed earlier.
The problem was how to get back down there.
The guide team had gotten lucky the first time, managing to descend safely.
But one wrong step now could mean a fatal fall.
Raon’s eyes scanned the surroundings.
He soon spotted Taegeon among the espers.
His face didn’t look good—he’d clearly had a rough time thanks to all the unexpected chaos.
“Hey, Nam Taegeon.”
“What?”
Sure enough, when Raon approached and spoke, Taegeon responded sharply.
But when he saw it was Raon, his eyes widened in surprise.
“Can you track the core’s location from here?”
“Huh…? No, I can’t.”
“Knew it.”
Gate cores emitted a unique energy signature, so Taegeon’s ability could track it when close enough.
But they were still too far.
Which meant the only option was to go down the same way the guide team had come up.
“Actually, our team fell from the cliff earlier and found another entrance to the tower.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing this, Taegeon’s eyes went wide.
Since they’d met halfway up the tower, the story added up, and he quickly accepted Raon’s explanation.
“So now you want me to find a safe path down?”
“Exactly.”
“And how the hell are we supposed to get all these people down there?”
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it, the guide team was small, so they could handle surprises.
But for the combat espers, whose abilities varied, sending them down the cliff could be dangerous.
Raon turned his gaze again—and spotted Hamin, who looked visibly anxious.
“Hamin… Guide.”
“Y-Yes? Me?”
Raon wasn’t sure whether to still call Hamin a “guide,” but officially, he hadn’t changed roles yet—so he stuck with the title.
“Are you adjusting to your ability?”
“Honestly… I’m not sure yet.”
“Do you think you can use it on other people?”
“Um, I’d have to try to know for sure…”
He seemed uncertain, probably because his reawakening had been so recent.
Raon paused to consider it.
Still, they had another esper on the team with a similar ability, and Dojin could use telekinesis too—so maybe it would be manageable if they split the load.
“If you share the work with other espers, it should ease the burden, right?”
“P-Probably?”
Hamin gave an awkward smile.
Hearing this conversation, Taegeon, who had been listening in silence, frowned.
“Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Why are you asking Hamin to do that kind of thing?”
“Because I think he reawakened… as an esper.”
“What?”
Taegeon blinked, dumbfounded. But Raon continued, unbothered.
“Just find a safe path down, okay?”
“Wait, hold on—!”
Ignoring him, Raon turned away.
As a fellow reader of the original novel, Raon himself still couldn’t believe Hamin had reawakened.
But he didn’t care about how panicked the other “love interests” were.
His bigger concern was Dojin.
Since the power structure in the unit revolved around the combat team, Dojin—as their team leader—had the final say in which route to take.
But Raon wasn’t sure if Dojin would actually listen to him.
Still, he figured he had to try.
So he brought Hamin with him and went looking for Dojin—only to find an unexpected scene.
“Damn it, I told you we should’ve gone after the guides first! Now what are we supposed to do, huh?!”
Inho was yelling at Dojin.
Judging from Yoonchae’s pale expression, she must have already had it out with Dojin earlier.
The atmosphere was tense—team leaders were arguing, and morale was crumbling.
“What if something worse had happened during the guide search? Would you have taken responsibility?”
“What?”
“You went along with it back then without a word, and now you’re blaming me? Isn’t that a little childish?”
“You son of a—!”
The tension was rising dangerously.
Raon decided he couldn’t stay silent any longer and stepped forward.
“Excuse me, team leaders.”
“Team Leader Han Raon…”
All eyes turned to him.
Dojin, in particular, looked utterly shaken—clearly, he’d thought Raon was dead.
His teal eyes trembled slightly as he met Raon’s gaze.
Raon calmly returned the look and spoke.
“Fighting among ourselves won’t get us anywhere. Shouldn’t we be focusing on resolving this situation first?”
“Do you have a plan, Team Leader Raon?”
Inho, now collected, asked. Raon responded immediately.
“Yes. When our guide team fell from the cliff earlier…”
Raon turned to the team leaders and explained what had happened to them.
Inho and Yoonchae quickly grasped the situation and nodded in understanding.
“As expected. Since the Tower pointed downward, if we head below, we might be able to track the core.”
“I think so too.”
Fortunately, both of them responded positively to Raon’s opinion.
Now, all that remained was for Dojin to give his approval.
But Dojin’s face was stiff with tension. Seeing that, Raon had a bad feeling.
“Why didn’t you report to me as soon as you got back?”
“…Excuse me?”
Raon couldn’t believe Dojin was bringing that up at a time like this.
Still, he didn’t want to waste precious time arguing when every second counted. He lowered his head willingly.
“I’m sorry. I’ll report directly from now on.”
Besides, Dojin wasn’t entirely wrong.
When they fell off the cliff, it seemed like the combat team had split—some continuing the suppression effort while others searched for the guide team.
In a situation where the absence of the guide team had a significant impact, he really should have gone to Dojin first and informed him they were safe.
With that in mind, Raon couldn’t bring himself to get angry.
He just hoped Dojin would make a quick decision.
“Now that you’re back, the guide team should start guiding immediately. A lot of Espers’ levels have dropped.”
“What’s the plan going forward?”
“If you’re referring to the idea you just suggested—there are too many uncertainties. It’s hard to accept.”
“Uncertainties?”
Raon frowned and asked. Dojin turned his gaze elsewhere.
Following it, Raon saw Hamin, fidgeting anxiously.
“You’re telling me a guide used Esper abilities? I’ve never heard of anything like that. Are you sure you didn’t just hallucinate after falling from the Tower?”
“…Ha.”
Dojin wasn’t buying any of it.
He treated Hamin’s reawakening as an Esper—and flying up the Tower—as some delusion caused by the Tower’s psychic powers.
If that’s how he wanted to play it, then Raon would just have to show him right here and now.
With a scoff, Raon called out to Hamin.
“Hamin, Guide.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Try using your ability. Right here.”
“H-Here?”
“Yes.”
Hamin swallowed hard, clearly nervous.
He couldn’t bring himself to look at Dojin and tightly shut his eyes.
“Hamin?”
“U-Um…”
No matter how long they waited, Hamin didn’t move.
When Raon called him again, Hamin finally opened his eyes and responded with a troubled voice.
“I… I don’t think I can use my ability…”
“…What?”
Raon stared at him, completely thrown off.
* * *
