“Joo Youngha!”
The monster thrashed and shrieked under Joo Youngha’s foot.
Every time it desperately swung its neck, the face attached to the end slammed against the ground with a dull thud.
Its human-sized wings flapped violently, gouging the earth and kicking up a fierce wind.
Despite the chaos, Joo Youngha stood there with cold eyes, completely unbothered.
The wind slightly ruffled his neatly combed bangs.
Seo Jaewon hurriedly grabbed Joo Youngha’s shoulder.
“Don’t kill it! It might be a clue.”
He still didn’t know what this thing was.
However, the fact that it had accurately called out Esper Kwak Kyungshin’s name meant this monster was definitely connected to Team 12.
Whether it was just repeating words it had heard, a mechanism of the dungeon, or…
‘There were no beings with faces in this dungeon.’
From the people in the castle to the horses, birds, and insects they rode—everything modeled after life was made of translucent shadows.
But this monster before them, distorted as it was, clearly had facial features.
That meant, perhaps, this human-faced bird…
Could be a being from outside the dungeon.
‘I don’t want to think of it as a person… but.’
A being from outside.
If it was a living creature, it could only be the humans who entered for the raid.
Seo Jaewon thought of the missing Team 12 for a moment but shook his head.
He had never heard of a human turning into a monster.
Whatever it was, he needed to investigate further.
“Joo Youngha, wait a second.”
Seo Jaewon crouched in front of the bird, keeping enough distance so his neck was out of reach.
At this range, Joo Youngha could stop it no matter what happened.
Joo Youngha looked back and forth between Seo Jaewon and the bird with a grumpy expression.
“Jaewon, you care too much about useless things.”
Even as he said that, Joo Youngha stood with his arms crossed as if he would wait for him.
Seo Jaewon carefully observed the human-faced bird.
It was still groaning and twitching minutely as if in pain.
‘Honestly, it doesn’t look like it can understand me.’
He chose his words carefully and spoke to the creature.
“I am Seo Jaewon, leader of Raid Team 4, Seoul District 3. Do you understand me? Please state your Esper registration number and affiliation.”
These were words an Esper would be forced to react to.
“Ugh—, ugh, ugh.”
The human-faced bird acted as if it couldn’t hear Seo Jaewon, letting out suppressed screams while struggling to escape from under Joo Youngha’s foot.
‘Damn it, is rational conversation impossible after all?’
Seo Jaewon clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“Joo Youngha, can we take this back with us? Let’s try to capture it alive for now.”
“……”
“You just thought it would be a bother, didn’t you?”
“Yep.”
Joo Youngha laughed without even denying it.
‘You’re working right now, you know…?’
At that moment.
“Kee, ah, kik.”
The bird’s rolling eyeballs suddenly stared straight at Seo Jaewon.
Its torn lips parted as if trying to say something.
“…?”
The bird’s neck suddenly stretched out and thrust right into his face.
With a creaking sound, its jaw unhinged like a snake’s.
“Go, go, got eaten—! Aaaaaah!!!”
The maw, revealing sharp fangs, lunged at Seo Jaewon’s face with a scream.
“…!”
Before Seo Jaewon could even react—
CRACK!
With a sickening snapping sound, the bird’s head fell powerlessly to the ground.
Beyond it, he saw Joo Youngha’s cold face.
Joo Youngha had put pressure on the boot pinning the neck down and crushed the bone.
“Aaaah— Aaah! Aaaaa!”
The human-faced bird cried out, its elongated neck squirming like a snake.
“Ah, seriously, so noisy.”
Joo Youngha looked down indifferently at the sight, then raised his foot again and pressed down hard on the thing’s chest.
Snap!
With the sound of ribs breaking, a thick black liquid flowed out of the bird’s body.
The bird fell into weak convulsions with its mouth open, gradually becoming quiet.
When the liquid touched the grass on the ground, translucent smoke rose up.
‘That scared me.’
Cold sweat broke out late.
He had acted out of trust in Joo Youngha, but still…
“Should I have kept it alive?”
Joo Youngha tilted his head toward him.
Seo Jaewon shook his head and replied.
“…No, it didn’t look like it was in a state to talk anyway.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
Joo Youngha laughed.
‘Is this the time for you to say that? You’re just as impossible to communicate with!’
“Let’s head back for now. It might be dangerous if we stay away too long.”
Seo Jaewon straightened his back and let out a sigh.
Regardless, it was certain that something unusual was happening in this dungeon.
Just then, the bird’s body stopped twitching and its feathers began to puff up.
“?! Joo Youngha, look out…!”
Before he could finish his sentence, black feathers exploded from the bird’s entire body like a burst of shrapnel.
He instinctively raised his arms to cover his face, but there was no way a body that was essentially a normal human’s could block a monster’s attack.
“Sigh.”
He heard Joo Youngha’s voice, light as a sigh, and a firm hand pulled Seo Jaewon close.
When he opened his tightly shut eyes, a strange tingling sensation enveloped his whole body.
Something solid, filled with cool energy.
The unnervingly low temperature sent shivers down his spine.
It was Joo Youngha’s energy.
The surrounding scenery looked distorted.
No, looking closely, colors like warped pearls were reflecting.
A transparent barrier of energy was surrounding them.
The bird’s corpse had exploded so violently that it no longer had a shape.
Only the remaining feathers were lodged everywhere, emitting smoke.
The surroundings were a mess, as if a bomb had gone off.
Trees were snapped, and the ground was gouged out.
It was a power hard to believe came from just exploding feathers.
“Gasp…”
The sight was chilling.
Large primary feathers were lodged in the energy barrier like daggers, quivering.
If Joo Youngha hadn’t helped him, he might have been turned into a pincushion and died.
Joo Youngha grumbled.
“Ah, filthy until the very end.”
A red line was etched across his marble-white cheek.
Blood began to seep out and trickle down his face.
Joo Youngha wiped it away with the back of his hand as if it were nothing.
“Joo Youngha, you…!”
Seo Jaewon hurriedly grabbed Joo Youngha’s chin.
It was a cut. A long gash remained on his flawless, soft white cheek.
As Seo Jaewon tilted his sculpted chin up, Joo Youngha obediently raised his head.
The blood from the wound flowed down to his jaw.
Not seemingly caring about his own condition, Joo Youngha lowered his eyebrows and muttered as if he were being treated unfairly.
“Are you mad? Is it because I killed it? But you were in danger.”
“It’s not that! You’re hurt! What happened?”
Even though it happened in an instant, there was no way Joo Youngha couldn’t block an attack like that.
That’s what it meant to be EX-rank.
Normally, several monsters like that bird couldn’t touch a single hair on Joo Youngha’s head.
‘That thing definitely wasn’t boss-class. How did it happen?’
However, Joo Youngha himself was calm.
Actually, he had a blank expression, as if he weren’t thinking of anything. He was the same as usual.
The guy blinked and asked slowly, as if trying to understand the situation.
“Oh… so you’re not mad?”
“I said I’m not. Why are you hurt? Are you feeling unwell?”
Seo Jaewon turned Joo Youngha around this way and that to check his condition.
Joo Youngha obediently moved his body on the spot as told.
Turning left, turning right, raising his arms…
He had been strangely quiet all morning.
Had his condition been bad since they left the castle?
But he wasn’t a talkative guy to begin with…
To think he couldn’t even check his teammate’s condition properly—he was a failure as a leader.
“I’m a failure as a Guide, too… even though you’re my Esper.”
Seo Jaewon muttered to himself, lost in thought.
Joo Youngha looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled brightly.
“Am I yours?”
“Don’t grin, the wound will open up.”
For now, judging by the surface, there didn’t seem to be any other injuries besides the cut on his cheek.
Was his body temperature a bit higher than usual?
“I can’t check your stress levels because I don’t have my watch… Let’s do a guiding session for now.”
It might sound like he was talking about Mercurochrome or Tiger Balm, but in reality, guiding and an Esper’s condition are very closely linked.
Of course, stress levels aren’t the only thing that dictates an Esper’s condition.
Proper guiding increases immunity and recovery speed, calms the mind and body, and helps with mental health.
So, it really did have an effect on most physical slumps or injuries.
However, Joo Youngha had an ambiguous reaction.
“Guiding? I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a very good idea right now…”
When he had been taking it just fine until now? It was nonsense not even worth arguing over.
“Don’t be stubborn, come here.”
Seo Jaewon made a scolding sound and reached out his hand.
“You can interlace your fingers.”
“Then okay.”
Joo Youngha quickly grabbed Seo Jaewon’s hand, as if he had never hesitated.
Seo Jaewon let out a hollow laugh.
“Why did you act reluctant if you were going to do it so fast?”
“Jaewon, there’s something you’re misunderstanding.”
“What?”
The temperature of the fingers slowly interlacing with his was definitely higher than usual.
He thought it felt cool earlier, but he must have been mistaken because of the transparent, chilly energy Joo Youngha was emitting into the air.
Now that he noticed the kid’s condition was off, it felt different.
“I choose everything quite carefully.”
His eyes were smiling, but it sounded strangely like a complaint.
Was it just a whim that this guy felt a bit prickly lately?
Regardless, now was not the time to indulge that.
“Stay still.”
Seo Jaewon closed his eyes and concentrated on the guiding.
He suddenly gasped as energy surged in, as if it had been waiting.
“Ugh…!”
What is this…? Why is it like this?
