* * *

“What?”

“Huh?”

Rex and Elliot gaped in unison, and the atmosphere in the hospital room instantly chilled.

“What… what do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said. The bomb threat was made using Yang Heewoon’s voice.”

“…Ha, whoever it is must have a sick sense of humor. Are they trying to toy with us?”

“How accessible is Heewoon’s voice data? He’s a Guide, so he wasn’t exactly exposed to the public much, was he?”

“It wouldn’t have been hard. After a bounty was placed on him, fragments of footage began circulating. Maybe not enough to sample his entire voice, but probably enough to piece together a short threat call.”

“Considering he gained renewed attention after that Seo Shinwoo case, it’d be perfect for drawing even more aggro.”

“Shit. What kind of sick bastard—!”

Who would have the audacity to impersonate someone deceased, let alone Yang Heewoon?

The Espers’ voices simmered with slowly rising fury, but one person’s thoughts diverged.

“Eunsoo!”

Cha Junseong grabbed Ye Eunsoo as he sprang from the hospital bed, barefoot and ready to dash out the door.

“Don’t let them manipulate you. We don’t know who or why, but this is exactly what they want.”

Ye Eunsoo tried to shake him off, but it wasn’t easy.

His eyes narrowed in frustration.

‘Idiot.’

He doesn’t even consider the possibility that Yang Heewoon might still be alive.

But maybe that was for the best.

There was no need to let them know Yang Heewoon was alive.

He couldn’t allow them the chance to take him.

Quietly, he needed to bring Yang Heewoon home.

For now, he had to stay calm.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Eunsoo straightened his posture and suppressed his emotions.

“Someone has to go to the scene, don’t they?”

“That doesn’t mean it has to be you. Stay here. You reopened your wound yesterday—pushing yourself now will only make things worse.”

“It’s not like we know when a large-scale gate will occur. If I could afford to rest, they wouldn’t have assigned this mission to begin with.”

“That’s…”

Cha Junseong hesitated, unable to refute him.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Eunsoo slipped free, grabbed his shoes, and began changing.

Each movement made the pain in his abdomen flare, but that didn’t matter now.

With a composed face, he spoke firmly.

“I’ll handle this one.”

---

Since the current state was an emergency where a gate could appear at any time, the procedures for going out were particularly stringent.

Only after being equipped with various supplies for emergency situations and considering his injuries could he leave the Esper Bureaus.

Of course, they predictably refused to give him any painkillers.

It was so typical of the rigid Korean Esper Bureaus. …

Normally, he would’ve fought harder to secure them, but today, time was of the essence.

“Ms. Kim Miri, what’s the current status on the field?”

– We’re prioritizing the evacuation of civilians before pursuing the suspect. Typically, we’d focus on apprehension first, but given the potential for a large-scale gate incident, we’ve decided to proceed with greater caution.

“Understood. Has the suspect’s identity been confirmed?”

– No. As I mentioned before, our priority is evacuation, and many personnel are on standby in preparation for the gate crisis. …

Kim Miri continued explaining what the standby espers were doing, how civilians were being evacuated, and the reasoning behind it all, but he didn’t particularly listen.

What mattered was the suspect’s identity and whether they could be caught.

Even if the suspect wasn’t Yang Heewon, anyone who went as far as to mimic his voice to commit crimes needed to be taken care of early.

And if it really was Yang Heewon…

‘The scale of this incident feels too big for Heewon.’

What on earth was that clumsy fool thinking, causing such a massive uproar?

It felt strange, but it wasn’t as though Heewon had never acted unpredictably before.

Even his connection to the illicit drug broker Kim Jaewoong had been unexpected, so a bigger stunt wasn’t entirely surprising.

Perhaps this was linked to the suspiciously well-timed prophecy, or maybe he had schemed something with the elder from Polwel.

“We’ll arrive soon. Please keep updating me with the location. For now, this call is over…”

Just as Ye Eunsoo was wrapping up his conversation with Kim Miri, his expression suddenly changed.

He shouted at the driver.

“Stop the car!”

“What?”

“I said stop the car, now!”

“Y-yes!”

– Screeeeech!

The driver instinctively slammed on the brakes, startled by the urgent voice.

The car came to a stop, narrowly avoiding a collision with the cars behind, while angry honks and curses erupted from those who followed.

“Why on earth…?”

“I’m getting off. Turn this car around immediately.”

“What?!”

“You’ve just been saved, thanks to me. Get out of here as fast as you can—either to the Bureau or the nearest shelter. Just find a safe place.”

The driver stared at him in shock, but Ye Eunsoo didn’t wait for a response.

He got out of the car and barked his orders one-sidedly.

“That brat talks like such an ass…”

The driver muttered as he watched Eunsoo walk off, grumbling under his breath.

He began looking for a spot to turn the car around.

But something felt off.

The road had been bustling with noise just a moment ago, yet suddenly, the honking and cursing had gone completely silent.

Instead, an eerie stillness pressed down on the air around him.

“Good heavens… What the hell is that…?”

The driver couldn’t help but acknowledge that everything Ye Eunsoo had said and done was correct.

Just 10 meters ahead, the road he was heading toward began to split apart as the sky and ground opened up.

A massive gate had appeared, engulfing the entire area in an instant. If he hadn’t stopped where he did or turned the car around…

The driver’s blood ran cold as he pressed hard on the accelerator, speeding away from the terrifying scene.

---

Ye Eunsoo raised his head to look at the sky.

At first glance, it looked normal, but it wasn’t.

There was a faint purple hue, with streaks of strange golden light flickering intermittently, as if threatening to draw the viewer in.

It felt like looking through a filter—his vision was hazy.

The air was heavy, chilling, and oppressive, unusual for early summer.

The cityscape had also changed.

Among the buildings were unfamiliar, massive trees.

The scent of grass was unnervingly pervasive, almost suffocating.

This was undeniably no ordinary landscape. This was a gate.

“As expected…”

And yet, even this situation and view were unlike any previous gates.

Until now, gates in Korea required people to actively enter them; entering was akin to “trespassing.”

But this time, the space he stood in was unmistakably inside the gate.

A gate that emerged as if devouring entire areas, swallowing everything in its vicinity regardless of consent.

It was clear—this was the new type of gate discovered just a month ago.

‘Could all of this really be a coincidence?’

In the past six months, Polwel had hidden Yang Heewon.

Then, after just recently managing to lure him out, Polwel suddenly reported a prophecy.

Not long after, a threatening call using Heewon’s voice was made.

That call served as a pretext for mass civilian evacuations, and now, a gate had emerged in the very area deemed dangerous by that threat.

How much of this was coincidence, and how much was intentional?

‘Or could this all be part of someone’s plan?’

He didn’t have time to think further. There wasn’t any time to waste.

Ye Eunsoo’s pace quickened until he was practically running.

His stomach felt like it was being ripped apart, but he didn’t care.

He couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

If this wasn’t a coincidence, then someone must be here.

That person, without a doubt.

“Is this really the place?”

When he finally reached the location Kim Miri had last shared, he heard voices—not just one, but many.

He hid himself and observed.

A crowd of people had gathered.

Thirty?

No, closer to fifty.

It hadn’t been long since the gate emerged, yet such a group had already formed.

This wasn’t a natural situation.

Such a gathering couldn’t happen without someone acting as the focal point.

“This is definitely the place, right?”

“Yes, we came exactly as instructed.”

“But there’s nothing—no one here!”

“Then what are we supposed to do? Hide inside one of those buildings instead?”

“Were we tricked…?”

“Calm down. At least we’ve been safe so far…”

“What does that matter if we’re all going to die soon!”

But it seemed their leader lacked any real charisma.

Despite reaching their destination, they weren’t getting the results they wanted, and the crowd had descended into noisy arguments.

Ye Eunsoo squinted to get a better look, but the densely packed group made it impossible to identify individuals.

He couldn’t approach recklessly, either.

His face was too well-known these days.

Getting involved would mean being saddled with responsibility, and he had no intention of herding such a large group, especially in his current injured state.

Besides, these idiots were practically inviting monsters with their loud bickering.

“Wait! Look over there!”

Amidst the cacophony of overlapping voices, someone at the back of the group suddenly shouted.

‘Huh?’

The sight they pointed to was nothing short of extraordinary.

* * *