Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
The phones of every specialized gifted person rang simultaneously.
[Notice] Situation Alpha has been declared. All high-rank gifted individuals are requested to gather in the Grand Conference Room by 3:00 PM. Furthermore, all Association-affiliated gifted individuals are to remain on standby for potential Gate openings. Repeating the announcement…
‘Situation Alpha (alpha).’
It was the term for an emergency requiring the assembly of all gifted individuals with significant combat power, regardless of whether they worked as freelancers or for the Association.
It was clearly a serious situation.
However, Suhyeon had grown somewhat accustomed to the Association’s atmosphere—where alarm bells and sirens would wail for dangerous Gates, sending Espers sprinting out of the office.
He didn’t feel as panicked as he once would have.
“Um, what’s going on?”
“No clue. Says to go to the conference room.”
“I just hope it’s not a Gate relay marathon.”
“It probably is. What do you expect from the Association?”
Despite the incessant chiming of notifications, the atmosphere in Team 1—including Hajin—was remarkably calm.
It didn’t feel like an emergency; it felt more like a collective “this too shall pass” or “not my problem” vibe.
‘What exactly is happening?’
If it warranted an Alpha declaration, it was surely something more dangerous than Suhyeon could imagine, but he decided to worry only once the trouble actually arrived.
Thus, Suhyeon was hoisted up by Hajin and carried toward the Grand Conference Room, following the Team 1 members who were once again whispering as they watched the pair.
The Grand Conference Room, which he was visiting for the first time, was vast.
It looked less like a meeting room and more like a massive lecture hall, with long desks arranged in tiers and a giant screen at the lowest level.
Since they had arrived early, only a few people were scattered throughout the hall.
Hajin and Team 1 naturally took seats at the very top tier.
Suhyeon, following closely behind, tried to sit in the empty chair next to Hajin, only to have his waist snatched.
In an instant, Suhyeon found himself sitting on Hajin’s lap.
He blinked and turned his head toward Hajin, only to be met with a gentle gaze from those blue eyes, as if asking if there was a problem.
Well, it was true that Suhyeon didn’t particularly care about the gaze of others… but with so many people coming in, this posture was a bit embarrassing.
“Gasp.”
Sure enough, he heard someone from Team 1 catch their breath.
He figured the Team 1 Espers were just people who gasped whenever he and Hajin were even slightly close, but the real issue was the crowd starting to flood into the room.
Within seconds, almost everyone who entered would freeze, turn pale, and whip their heads away, yet they couldn’t stop whispering and glancing back as they walked in.
Since the cause was clearly their current position, Suhyeon squirmed, trying to escape Hajin’s arms.
Hajin, however, didn’t seem to care at all.
His solid arms held Suhyeon tight, refusing to let go.
‘We can’t stay like this for the whole meeting.’
Only after Suhyeon turned back to meet his eyes directly did Hajin finally release him with a strangely dejected face.
As the scheduled meeting time approached, the sparse hall became packed.
It seemed those with exclusive contracts sat together; he saw several newcomers offering light greetings before taking seats beside people who were already there.
Suhyeon sat quietly next to Hajin, watching the doors.
Of course, with all gifted individuals—both Espers and Guides—gathering, there would be many, but he was surprised by the sheer number of people given that this was a meeting only for high-ranks (A-rank and above).
Perhaps he had assumed the number of A-ranks would be small because he was comparing them to the two unique S-ranks.
Then again, he recalled that all the Espers in Team 1 were A-rank.
“Suhyeon!!!”
Just as he was thinking about how long it had been since he sat in such a crowded place, a familiar voice rang out.
Hajin’s face instinctively contorted into a scowl.
Suhyeon turned to see a man with flamboyant blonde hair waving his arm vigorously, completely ignoring the stares of the crowd.
Asher approached with brisk, wide strides, his eyes sparkling.
As the neat-faced Asher drew closer to Suhyeon, Hajin’s leg, which had been stretched out under the desk, suddenly swung out.
Asher casually dodged the kick intended for his shins and ignored Hajin entirely, beaming at Suhyeon.
“Suhyeon! Any sign of you breaking up with Hajin yet?”
His opening line was, frankly, appalling.
“Ayy, I’m joking. Just a joke.”
When Suhyeon’s brow furrowed, Asher played it off playfully as usual, but his cheeks suddenly turned pink.
“So, you know.”
He seemed unusually bashful. Suhyeon blinked, confused by Asher’s sudden shyness.
“Well, you see…”
Asher hesitated, which was very unlike him.
“When you break up, come to me anytime, okay? I think I… really like you, Suhyeon.”
“?”
“What did you just say?”
Hajin reacted faster than the bewildered Suhyeon.
Suhyeon, who hadn’t understood Asher’s words for a moment, let out a gasp as the weight of the confession sunk in.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I like you, Suhyeon. Not just the guiding? Yeah, I like you.”
As if the confession itself weren’t enough of a bomb, Asher kindly hammered home the point that Suhyeon had heard correctly.
Suhyeon’s eyes blinked rapidly, while Hajin’s expression twisted.
“You crazy bastard.”
Hajin didn’t hold back his curses.
Whoosh!
Zzzzt!
The powers of the two S-class Espers clashed in the crowded space.
Gasps and screams could be heard from nearby.
“You’re doing this here?”
“……Hajin, Hajin.”
Having momentarily lost his soul from Asher’s confession attack, Suhyeon finally regained his senses and grabbed the hem of Hajin’s sleeve just as he seemed ready to pounce on Asher.
“Suhyeon, that bastard—”
“Asher?”
Just as Hajin’s nerves were at their snapping point, he growled without even looking at Suhyeon, when a clear voice rang through the commotion.
The appearance of a third party naturally quieted the ruckus.
The issue, if any, was that this third party made everyone—including Suhyeon—freeze.
“Asher, you should come over here. Your seat is over this way.”
Lee Jaeram was standing there, a smile on his face, holding Asher’s wrist.
“Is everyone here? Everyone, please sit down!”
At that moment, the Association President bustlingly entered the room, accompanied by people who appeared to be his secretarial staff.
“……Well, Suhyeon, anyway, come to me if you break up!”
“Get lost.”
Ignoring Hajin’s words completely, Asher waved his arm with a lingering look of regret.
Lee Jaeram passed by Suhyeon and Hajin with him.
A dark gaze seemed to sweep over Suhyeon and Hajin before vanishing.
Flinch.
For some reason, a sudden, chilling sensation made Suhyeon’s shoulders jerk.
Hajin, however, didn’t seem to notice; he only seemed to be boiling with jealousy from Asher’s sudden confession, grabbing Suhyeon’s hand and interlacing their fingers tightly.
‘I must have imagined it.’
Regardless, Asher, who had launched the confession attack, had vanished.
Giving his hand to Hajin, Suhyeon momentarily looked toward the direction where Lee Jaeram and Asher had disappeared, then turned his gaze toward the newly lit screen.
Several windows were messy and overlapping as if they had just been connected.
“Ah, ah. Testing, testing.”
A cursor moved busily, organizing them. Just then, the voice of the Association President, standing at the podium, boomed through the conference room speakers.
The noisy chatter died down instantly.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice. As you know, everyone gathered here is a high-rank gifted individual of A-rank or above. Most of you probably recognize each other, but I’d appreciate it if you could familiarize yourselves with one another, as you’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. Even freelance gifted individuals have gathered this time. Let’s get straight to the point. This is the record of Gate activity over the past few months.”
A data display appeared on the screen.
Suhyeon blinked as he absentmindedly looked at it.
On a zoomed-in map, countless multicolored circles of various sizes were scattered in terrifying numbers, and beside them was a three-digit figure.
‘Does that mean all those Gates have opened?’
It was far more than he had expected.
While Suhyeon was dazed by the sheer number, the President continued.
“We have cross-checked this data with past records and consulted with other nations. As some of you may have guessed, we have no choice but to conclude that this is a Gate Rush.”
A series of gasps and sighs filled the room, and Suhyeon found himself moistening his dry mouth.
‘Gate Rush.’
He had learned about it during his very first training session.
A disaster that occurred once every ten years or so.
A phenomenon where an abnormal number of Gates, both large and small, opened at once, eventually leading to the opening of a massive, catastrophic Gate.
The conference room became deathly quiet.
Everyone was staring at the screen with hardened faces.
Suhyeon swallowed hard and stole a glance at Hajin.
Hajin still looked as calm as ever.
Feeling the gaze, he turned and smiled at Suhyeon as if nothing were wrong.
Just as he always did.
Seeing that, Suhyeon felt the tension tingling through his body begin to dissolve.
The President spent an hour explaining various things with a grave expression.
From how the Espers would be deployed, to how exclusive Guides would be required to wait on-site for potential Level 6 or higher Gates.
This would surely apply to Suhyeon as well, and he found himself accepting it calmly.
It was certainly a serious and dangerous situation, enough to declare an emergency.
But it was different from when he had first stepped into this world and reacted sensitively to every single Gate.
Perhaps it was because Hajin was right beside him acting so normally, but Suhyeon found that he had regained his usual composure even in this unfamiliar place.
“Dozens of Gate energies have already been observed. You should be prepared for the next month or so. Many of you here experienced the last Gate Rush eleven years ago. We did well then, and I believe we can do well this time as well. Orders will soon be issued to each team. I hope that this passes without casualties.”
As the President finished speaking, the lights in the conference room flickered back on.
Suhyeon gripped Hajin’s hand tightly.
Their interlaced fingers pressed together firmly.
Blue eyes met light brown ones in the air.
“We’ll be okay, right?”
Amid the bustle of people starting to move, Suhyeon asked. Hajin’s blue eyes crinkled in a smile.
“Of course.”
That was enough.
