* * *
“Argh! Seo Dojin!”
Yoonchae screamed.
The sheer intensity of the flames felt like it could melt his entire body.
But Dojin’s telekinesis, which was supposed to counter the monster’s attack, was far weaker than usual.
With Dojin faltering, Yoonchae and Inho—who were supposed to be covering him—were quickly torn apart.
A terrifying thought crossed Yoonchae’s mind: if they didn’t get guided soon, this really could be the end.
The good news was that the monster targeting the guide team seemed to be held at bay.
But if the combat team collapsed, it wouldn’t matter.
“Seo Dojin! Snap out of it!”
“Haah… haah…”
The monster launched another attack, then soared back into the sky.
Yoonchae bit his lip as he glared upward.
A few more rounds of this, and they were done for. If they didn’t do something now, it was game over.
“Seo—!”
“Khk…”
“Seo Dojin!”
Just as Yoonchae was about to shout again, he froze in shock.
Dojin’s body tilted sideways—then collapsed entirely.
Yoonchae sprinted to his side.
“Seo Dojin! Wake up!”
“Ugh…”
“Come on!”
Dojin’s eyes were shut, seemingly unconscious.
His body was a mess of injuries—but it wasn’t just physical.
Yoonchae knew all too well that Dojin could take a beating and stay standing.
“Poison?”
The color of the blood seeping from his wounds was suspicious.
Poison couldn’t be neutralized with guiding alone—it needed treatment.
But they were still inside the gate.
Yoonchae hurriedly pulled out an esper detox from the emergency kit and jabbed it into Dojin’s wrist.
It was only a temporary fix; it wouldn’t be enough.
“What the hell are we supposed to do now…?”
Panic clouded Yoonchae’s mind.
Their team leader was down from poison, the rest of the team was battered, and the monster would strike again at any moment.
There was no guarantee they could survive another attack.
“Huh?”
Just then, a sudden burst of refreshing energy surged through Yoonchae’s body—and his wounds began to heal rapidly.
“What is this…?”
“The guide team’s here!”
“What?!”
At that shout, Yoonchae whipped his head around.
He saw several members—presumably from the guide team—extending their hands toward the battered soldiers, channeling guidance.
But this wasn’t normal guiding—their wounds were healing.
Could Raon be among them?
Hope rose in his chest, but as he looked around, Raon was nowhere to be seen.
One of the guides was even unfamiliar to him.
“Team Leader Yoonchae, are you alright?”
“Phew… Taehyuk. Just in time.”
Taehyuk, the designated guide for Yoonchae’s Alpha-3 Team, ran over.
Yoonchae welcomed him with a relieved nod.
“What about Team Leader Dojin…?”
“He’s out. Completely unconscious.”
“Then what should we do…?”
Taehyuk’s face grew grave. But Yoonchae had no answers either.
He had been a team leader not long ago, but it was Dojin who had taken the lead in suppressing the Red Gate.
To lose control of the situation now, with Dojin unconscious in the middle of a battle… not even in his worst dreams had Yoonchae imagined this.
“The monster’s going to attack again soon. We’ll have to hold out as best we can.”
But that didn’t mean he could just stand by and do nothing.
The odds were better if Dojin could use his telekinesis to restrain the monster—but with him unconscious, they had to find another way.
“Ugh…”
“Team Leader Dojin!”
Just then, Dojin—who they’d assumed had completely passed out—let out a groan.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and pushed himself up.
“What… happened?”
“You fainted earlier. Don’t you remember?”
“…”
“Must’ve been the poison.”
Yoonchae’s gaze swept over the area where Dojin had been injected with the antidote.
Even if it was designed for espers, was the antidote always this effective?
Yoonchae found it strange, but there were more pressing matters at hand.
“Can you keep fighting? If you collapse again…”
“I won’t. Just focus. Pull the guides back now.”
“Haa…”
It was absurd how Dojin could give orders so shamelessly in that condition, but there wasn’t time to argue.
Yoonchae turned to stabilize the situation.
“Taehyuk, pull the guides back for now.”
“Understood.”
“…Hm?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Yoonchae spotted a guide she didn’t recognize.
A female guide—unusual in gate combat zones.
And since she didn’t know her, the woman was probably a low-rank guide or someone with poor compatibility, not suited to partner with high-tier espers.
Still, something about her caught Yoonchae’s eye.
She looked… different from the others.
Frowning, Yoonchae couldn’t quite place why.
“God, I must be losing it.”
A guide who felt like an esper?
No way.
There couldn’t be another exception like Hamin.
Chuckling at her own absurd thought, Yoonchae turned away.
“It’s coming again!”
“!”
Startled by Inho’s shout, Yoonchae looked up.
The monster reappeared, almost leisurely, as if it had simply been waiting for its turn.
Apparently, its fire breath had a cooldown time.
That brief window had allowed them to regroup—a small mercy in disguise.
“Hold the line!”
And just then, Yoonchae realized—this might be their last chance.
“GRAAAAH!”
With a thunderous crash, the massive monster collapsed to the ground.
From behind, Raon wiped sweat from his brow as he watched it fall.
“Phew.”
It had been a close call, but thanks to Siwoo and Yeojoon’s coordinated attack, they’d managed to take it down.
And Hamin grounding the monster had been a brilliant move.
“Damn, I really thought I was gonna die!”
Yeojoon, usually so cocky, looked completely drained—his face pale, like a used-up battery.
“You’re not dying from that. You had my guiding, remember?”
“Haha… Honestly, I think I’d rather die.”
Yeojoon gave a dry laugh, only half-joking. S-rank guiding was incredible, yes—but in the middle of combat, it felt like it turned you into a zombie.
You wanted to collapse, but the guiding just forced your body to keep moving. It was terrifying in its own right.
“What about the main combat team?”
Even as they barely held off the monster guarding the core, Yeojoon was already worrying about the larger combat unit.
He clicked his tongue.
“You’re a real piece of work.”
“We’re on the same team, you know.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know!”
Still bickering, Yeojoon and Siwoo followed Raon back.
Fortunately, the combat team had just taken down the monster guarding their side’s core too.
“Huff, huff…”
“Team Leader!”
“Yeojoon… you made it.”
Yoonchae turned, giving him a weary smile.
She’d clearly pushed herself to the limit too.
“You two beat the final monster? Not bad.”
“Haha, well, Team Leader Raon and Guide Hamin helped out too.”
Yeojoon, from Alpha Team 3, chatted cheerfully with Yoonchae.
With the monsters at the gate’s core defeated, a sense of relief spread through the unit.
CRACK!
Inho smashed the egg-like core with his fist.
As it shattered, the gate began to flicker and darken.
‘Looks like this gate’s been cleared too,’ Raon thought as he looked around.
Before the regression, they’d suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the second monster.
They’d cleared the gate in the end, but the mood was grim.
No one had been able to smile.
This time, though, everyone was beaming.
They were exhausted, sure—drained from overusing their powers—but no one had died.
That alone was a victory.
“Ugh…”
“Team Leader Dojin!”
“…!”
Just then, Dojin—barely on his feet—stumbled and collapsed.
A team member rushed to catch him.
“Sir, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Don’t make a fuss.”
But his face had gone pale.
His lips were blue.
He didn’t look fine at all.
“Looks like the poison’s gotten to him. We need to evacuate—fast,” Yoonchae said, answering Raon’s puzzled look.
That’s when Raon remembered—the monsters’ poison.
Normally, Dojin’s telekinesis would crush enemies before they got close, so he rarely risked exposure.
Before the regression, Dojin had never been poisoned.
He vaguely recalled others being hit hard by the second monster’s venom—but not Dojin.
‘Not even Dasom’s healing could fix this completely, huh…’
They’d sent Dasom for exactly this reason, but maybe she wasn’t strong enough yet.
She’d only just awakened.
Raon was still thinking about that as they stepped out of the gate.
FLASH! FLASH!
“…!”
A barrage of camera flashes hit him the moment he emerged.
Raon winced and threw up a hand to shield his eyes.
“The special ops team has just emerged from the gate after a successful subjugation!”
The gate’s entrance was now swarmed by reporters.
Last time, during the irregular gate incident, Raon had been in no condition to give interviews.
Usually, Dojin handled post-subjugation press.
Raon glanced behind him.
Dojin was unconscious, leaning against a team member, being rushed out for treatment.
Someone else would have to speak this time.
“Team Leader Raon, go. Speak to the public.”
“Me? But we’ve got team leaders here—how can I…”
“Go. You’ve more than earned the right.”
Yoonchae and Inho handed the duty to him without hesitation.
After a moment of hesitation, Raon gave a small nod.
“Who’s that?”
“Wait… isn’t he the new Guide Team leader or something?”
Whispers rose from the crowd.
Many didn’t know who Raon was yet.
Unbothered, Raon stepped forward and opened his mouth.
“Good evening. I’m Han Raon, team leader of the Guide Special Unit.”
His voice was clear and firm—and he looked every bit the part of a leader.
* * *
