“Mr. Guide?”
When Suhyeon hesitated, Lee Kyujin pressed him for a move.
Suhyeon toyed with the puffball’s tentacles for a moment.
He could feel those gentle black eyes watching him.
After a brief pause, Suhyeon locked eyes with the puffball and extended his arm, pointing toward the cluster of abandoned houses.
“Kkyaaang?”
The puffball’s gaze rolled toward the direction of Suhyeon’s arm and then back again.
Suhyeon hesitated before bringing his hands together.
He balled them into fists and then made a sharp, vertical snapping motion.
It was the best gesture he could come up with to say, “Break it in half.”
Feeling that wasn’t quite enough, he made a swift downward slicing motion with the edge of his hand.
Directing something to attack didn’t exactly sit well with him, but now was the time to test the puffball and his own power in front of others.
The puffball blinked its large, moon-like black eyes a few times, then planted its tentacles on the ground.
‘Did it understand?’
Just as Suhyeon tilted his head in thought, the puffball’s body leaned back.
At that moment, sensing something, Hajin pulled Suhyeon back by the waist.
“KKYYAAAAAAAAAANG!”
Just as Suhyeon’s back hit Hajin’s chest, the puffball let out a roar fierce enough to burst eardrums and shot forward at an incredible speed.
“Holy—!”
A violent gale of dust erupted from where the puffball had been standing.
The wind was so strong that a few of the Espers cursed under their breath.
Suhyeon gripped Hajin’s arms—which were locked tight around his waist—as if they were a support beam.
A typhoon-like wind swirled around them.
—KKYYAAAAAAANG!
As the wind died down, Suhyeon managed to open his eyes at the sound of a distant cry.
The first thing he saw was a long, thick white tentacle reaching toward the sky.
The puffball had already arrived in front of the row of abandoned houses.
It had understood Suhyeon’s intent perfectly.
Targeting the largest building, the puffball slowly leaned the tentacle it had raised into the air forward.
Then—BOOM!!
Earlier, the puffball had created a dust storm just by flopping down, but now that it was intentionally striking the earth, a massive cloud of dirt exploded outward like a bomb.
The impact was so powerful that a heavy vibration traveled all the way to where they stood.
With a single strike, the abandoned house and its surroundings were decimated.
Debris and dust from what used to be a building rained down.
—KKYYAAAAAAANG!
The puffball let out another roar, but it didn’t stop there.
It raised its tentacles again.
It seemed intent on destroying everything in the vicinity that remained standing.
Once again, a fierce wind blew, and the sensation of an earthquake rattled beneath their feet.
Suhyeon felt his guiding wavelength—which had been trickling out almost imperceptibly since the transformation—suddenly surge outward.
It wasn’t a massive amount, but it seemed the puffball required energy every time it made such a violent movement.
CRASH!
—KKYYAAAAAAANG!
Whew.
As the puffball was having a grand time sweeping away the ruins, Lee Kyujin, who was watching the scene alongside the other Espers, Suhyeon, and Hajin, let out a light whistle.
“I can’t judge everything just from that, but based on its size, it looks pretty strong. Now, try to make it stop. It’s only a ‘perfect’ control if you can manage it while it’s in an excited state like that.”
He tossed out another casual instruction.
Suhyeon paused, just as he had when he first tried to signal the puffball.
‘How do I stop it? How do I call it back?’
Even if he shouted “Puffball,” there was no way it would hear him from this distance, and a hand gesture wouldn’t be visible either.
He wasn’t sure if the monster had good eyesight, but it would be difficult to get it to look at him through that thick shroud of dust and debris.
In fact, the area where the houses had been was now so clouded with dirt that he could barely see the movement of the tentacles.
Suhyeon knitted his brows.
It felt like he was clearing stages in a game that was slowly increasing in difficulty.
The tentacles were raised once more to strike the ruins, and the puffball’s celebratory roars echoed.
Guiding energy flowed out toward the puffball again.
‘…Guiding.’
An idea struck him.
Suhyeon reached out mentally and toyed with the wavelength that was bubbling outward.
Since it was connected to the puffball, he figured if he manipulated the flow, the creature would react.
—Kkyang?
His hunch was correct.
As soon as he pinched off the guiding that was flowing like a stream, the puffball ceased its rampage and whipped its head around from the distance.
As he continued to slowly restrict the guiding, the puffball seemed to squirm for a moment before it began thundering back toward them.
It apparently had the ability to fly, as it eventually lifted off the ground and glided over to land right in front of Suhyeon in an instant.
“Kkyaaaang. Kkyang!”
The way it cried now made it sound like an obedient puppy begging its owner for a treat.
“Wow…”
He heard one of the Espers behind him let out a sound—somewhere between admiration and a sigh.
Suhyeon blocked the giant head that was trying to nuzzle into him and gave the white body a few strokes.
Seeing that there were no further instructions, he turned back to Lee Kyujin.
The red-haired man was staring at the snow-white puffball with a glint in his eyes.
“Is that it?”
When Suhyeon asked with a tilt of his head, Lee Kyujin blinked.
“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah,” he stammered.
Soon, his black eyes curved with amusement.
He waved his hand dismissively.
“If you can control it in that state, well, that’s proof enough. I’ve recorded it, and I’ll send the report up. Good work, Mr. Guide. That’s a hell of a power… honestly. If you ever come out to the field officially, come work with my team!”
With that, he immediately turned around and hopped into the car he had parked haphazardly.
The remaining Espers stood there blinking at each other, seemingly unable to believe it had ended so simply without a single finger being lifted.
Suhyeon felt the same.
What had started in a haphazard way ended just as haphazardly.
Regardless, it was time to clock out.
The other Espers, who had been standing around awkwardly watching the direction Lee Kyujin had disappeared in, soon gave Suhyeon a polite bow and vanished along with Lee Jeonghyeon.
“Let’s go home, Suhyeon.”
When Lee Jeonghyeon returned after transporting the others, Hajin tugged at the hem of Suhyeon’s clothes.
Suhyeon, who had been standing dazed, snapped out of it and nodded, then realized he hadn’t turned the monster back into a small puffball yet.
The massive puffball was swaying its tentacles happily.
Now that he knew guiding was the medium, returning it to its small form was simple.
He snatched back and blocked the flowing wavelength, and the puffball glowed white again before dropping into Suhyeon’s hands with a soft pop.
“Kkyuu.”
Perhaps it had enjoyed being a monster, as the puffball chirped in a strangely high-pitched voice and rubbed its head against Suhyeon’s hand.
Its behavior was exactly the same whether it was a monster or a tiny ball of fluff.
And so, after performing a feat that didn’t feel real at all, Suhyeon returned home with Hajin, clutching the puffball.
“Careful.”
“…Ah.”
He had felt fine just a moment ago, but the second he stepped foot inside the house, Suhyeon’s legs gave out.
A wave of extreme exhaustion crashed over him.
The guiding wavelength, which was lower than usual from controlling the puffball, made his body feel tingly and numb.
After being carried and washed by Hajin, Suhyeon fell into a deep sleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
It was the end of an overwhelming day.
“KKYYAAAAAANG!”
From that day on, Suhyeon and the puffball were called out a few more times.
It was to learn more about his power and the puffball’s strength in detail.
As the number of outings increased, the doubts people had about the ability to control the puffball quickly vanished.
Espers fought the puffball—keeping things short of actual bloodshed—and a research team was seemingly formed, with researchers coming to observe Suhyeon and the puffball for long periods.
Suhyeon wasn’t sure if they were doing it to dissect his power or to strictly ensure his safety, but he didn’t mind either way.
Thanks to those repeated sessions, he was becoming increasingly accustomed to handling the puffball, commanding it, and controlling its monster form.
Managing his own ability was quite strange and interesting.
Since the medium was guiding, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Hajin still didn’t seem satisfied with the situation, but he no longer opposed it with the terrifying anger he had shown at the very beginning.
While this continued, his original guiding duties resumed as well.
He had almost forgotten in the midst of the chaos, but the Gate Rush wasn’t over yet.
However, regardless of that, the number of Gates had plummeted, and outings to the field had become rare.
The frequency of Gate tears had shifted again, and it had been quite some time since a Gate as dangerous as those from the initial lull had appeared.
Come to think of it, Hajin hadn’t gone out lately either; he just spent all his time stuck to Suhyeon’s side.
But it was too early to relax; strong Gate energy was still being detected across the country.
The strange thing was that while the energy readings were getting stronger, no actual Gates were opening.
He heard that it was an ominous situation, as if the world were waiting for the right moment.
