Chapter 11
Facing Dohyeok’s face, painted entirely in disappointment, Jiseo hesitated for a moment.
It was only after being asked outright that she realized it herself: it wasn’t that she disliked Baek Dohyeok as a person. What bothered her was the idea of a high-ranking Guide being wasted on someone unnecessary.
And that “unnecessary someone” was Im Jiseo herself.
“It’s not that I dislike it. It’s just inefficient. In-effi-cient. You wouldn’t put premium gasoline into an Avan—X, even if you’re a vice president.”
“I would.”
Ah. Right.
This man was a chaebol.
Thinking she’d gotten unusually worked up, Jiseo lightly tapped the mug of hot chocolate with her finger, then downed the ice-crusted drink in one go.
The smile vanished completely from Baek Dohyeok’s face. He didn’t look pleased, but he wasn’t a mess either. He seemed to be thinking deeply, lightly touching his brow bone with his fingers.
Jiseo’s gaze lingered on those fingers.
It was shockingly perfect guiding.
“Anyway, when the repair estimate comes out, file it with insurance. If it goes over the limit, I’ll… figure something out.”
Baek Dohyeok’s gaze slowly returned to her.
Pretending not to notice the way his snake-like, gleaming eyes clung to her, Jiseo checked her phone for baseball score notifications. There was a game today. If she went home now, she could probably catch it from the bottom of the seventh inning. Since they’d run into each other at the restaurant anyway, there was no reason they had to leave together.
“Vice President, I’ll be heading out now.”
When Jiseo stood up, Dohyeok—who had been lost in thought—reacted half a beat late and rose as well.
“I’ll drive you.”
“No, I brought my car. Goodbye.”
She bowed politely and turned away first, leaving the restaurant. She’d have to walk a bit to where she’d parked, but she thought that might actually be better. She quickened her steps, worried he might suggest walking together—but he didn’t seem to follow her out.
Thankfully.
…Thankfully?
Jiseo slowly replayed the thought she’d just had—that she was glad to be away from Baek Dohyeok.
Did she really dislike even the sound of him breathing beside her?
No. That wasn’t it.
If she stayed near Baek Dohyeok, she felt like she might end up wanting to touch him without realizing it.
Because she was insensitive to guiding, Jiseo had never developed any particular attachment to Guides either. Park Jeongyun—cute, and adored by the team as their Guide—liked Jiseo for that very reason. Since Jiseo didn’t fawn over Guides like the other Espers did, some Guides occasionally found her displeasing.
Maybe S-rank really is different.
Shaking her head, Jiseo cut off the thought.
“Ugh, I’m late. I need to hurry home and watch baseball.”
By the time she got home, she’d completely forgotten about Baek Dohyeok.
She couldn’t shake the despair of having crashed into a Bugatti Veyron, but she had thoroughly forgotten about the S-rank Guide.
Not growing arrogant over success, and not obsessing over past failures—this, too, was a good quality for a team leader.
“Jiseo!”
Kim Junho, who was darting among the monsters with a dagger, slashing at their legs to slow them down, spotted a flying monster descending rapidly from the air and shouted Jiseo’s name.
Jiseo, who had been supporting a teammate specializing in long-range attacks by firing high-density energy like a laser gun, instantly lowered her stance and planted both hands on the ground.
From that point, pure white cold spread widely, freezing the parts of the monsters touching the ground solid. Thanks to Jiseo pinning them in place, Junho gained a brief window. He leapt off the immobilized monsters and plunged his blade into the neck of the incoming beast.
“Hayun, are you ready?”
“Yes!”
Hayun’s attack packed a huge punch, but required a long charge time. Seeing she was ready, Junho butchered the wings of the critically injured, thrashing monster and immediately jumped back down.
Ziiiiing—
Hayun’s attack fired exactly five consecutive shots.
Coincidentally, there were five monsters Jiseo had frozen. The moment Junho lowered his stance, the light bullets fired from Hayun’s hand in succession blew the monsters’ heads clean off.
The “Titan Bears,” hulking masses of flesh, had a core at the center of their heads. Unless the core was destroyed, no matter how much you cut their bodies apart, the severed chunks would wriggle back together and regenerate. You had to destroy the head—but their bones and hide were so tough that ordinary attacks couldn’t do the job.
“More incoming! Hayun, keep charging! Choi Minhyuk!”
Choi Minhyuk, a physical-enhancement Esper who had just pulverized the monster Jiseo was holding into minced meat with his fists, thundered forward to face the incoming horde.
Jiseo watched Minhyuk’s back, then the approaching monsters, and paused to think.
Strangely, she felt overflowing with power. A sense of exhilaration, like she could do anything.
She felt like she could try something different.
Crack—thud!
Craack—thud!
Solid ice spears were lodged in every monster’s head.
It was Jiseo’s ability.
In an instant, the spears pierced their tough hides, shattered their steel-like bones, and reached the cores in a heartbeat.
Watching the monsters melt into foul, grotesque liquid and slump to the ground, Minhyuk turned to stare at Jiseo.
“Whoa, Im Jiseo—what was that?”
“Huh? …I just tried it, and it worked.”
Jiseo looked down at her fingertips with a conflicted expression. Her ability could be used for both offense and defense, yes—but it shouldn’t have been strong enough to pierce a Titan Bear’s skull.
“It worked? Damn, Im Jiseo, what is this—did you secretly take some miracle tonic? Share with the rest of us, you punk.”
Junho, having stowed his dagger back in the sheath strapped to his thigh, walked over and pulled Jiseo into a headlock. Junho, who had been her team leader since she was a fresh trainee, was naturally comfortable with skinship.
“Team One contacted us. They said they’ve mostly cleared the rough areas too. Let’s finish this up and get out.”
It had been a small gate to begin with. The entire Blue Team 2, Jiseo included, answered with a spirited “Yes!”
After a brief moment of thought, Junho spoke to Jiseo.
“From now until we leave, you’re main DPS. Try that thing you just did again. You can do it, right?”
“Yes, I can.”
The latter half of the battle, with Jiseo handling main damage, went smoothly.
Even though her raw attack power was lower than Hayun’s skill, Jiseo’s freezing attacks required little preparation time and were instantaneous. On top of that, she could hit more enemies at once than Hayun could.
As a result, Jiseo ended up using her ability far more than usual. Looking at her device, she puffed out her lips.
It wasn’t anywhere near a runaway risk, but her numbers were higher than normal.
“Good work.”
“Unni!”
Blue Team 2’s Guide, Jeongyun, had been waiting and came running over. When Junho saw her, he beamed like a puppy reunited with its owner.
“Guide Jeongyun, aren’t you a stroller?”
Jeongyun, who was about to start guiding with Junho—normally the most active one thanks to his speed—tilted her head in confusion.
“You worry me too much. Don’t run around so much. If Guide Jeongyun gets hurt, what am I supposed to do?”
“……”
Even after hearing it countless times, Junho’s barrage of cheesy lines was impossible to get used to. Jeongyun’s expression instantly curdled.
Jiseo felt the same.
“Give me your hand.”
Jeongyun held out her hand to Junho. Normally, he would have eagerly grabbed it, saying something like, ‘Guide Jeongyun, just breathing near you feels like guiding already! But I won’t miss the chance to hold our cotton-candy-soft Guide Jeongyun’s hand!’
Instead, he pointed at Jiseo.
“Do Im Jiseo first.”
“Huh? Ah…”
No matter how childish Junho seemed, he was a four-year team leader with decent authority and solid evaluations. Jeongyun extended her hand toward Jiseo.
“Your hands might be cold.”
They always were after using her ice. Even though Jeongyun said it was fine, Jiseo briskly rubbed her hands together to warm them a little before taking Jeongyun’s hand.
As always, there was no special sensation. Just the vague feeling that guiding was “happening.”
But Jeongyun, who was holding Jiseo’s hand tightly, made a small hmm sound and looked intrigued.
“Jiseo, have you received guiding recently?”
Caught off guard, Jiseo was about to shake her head—then paused, and nodded.
Jeongyun fiddled with Jiseo’s hand, cupped her cheek, even pulled her into a brief hug, before shaking her head.
“Your level was 7% when you entered the gate, and now it’s 20%. It’s strange that it dropped so sharply, but it also rose suddenly. And now it’s not going down.”
Of course, it wasn’t a dangerous number at all. It was well within the safe zone. There was no pain, no discomfort, and her senses felt normal.
But compared to Jiseo’s usual state, the fluctuations were extreme.
“Jiseo unni handled main damage in the latter half today. She was amazing. Maybe that’s why?”
Hayun, wanting even a little more contact with Jeongyun, clung to the hem of her clothes and enthusiastically recounted Jiseo’s performance until the gate was cleared. From Jiseo’s tall perspective, the two of them talking face-to-face looked like a squirrel clinging to a rabbit—adorable.
After showing Jeongyun his device and explaining that guiding probably wouldn’t be necessary today, Junho crooked his finger at Jiseo to follow him.
“Don’t even think about dumping report writing on me.”
“Oh, then I’ll just leave it to Hayun.”
“Hey! She’s a kid!”
Grumbling, Jiseo took off the grime-covered top of her combat suit in the lounge and pulled on a clean hoodie. Hayun had awakened at seventeen and trained nonstop before joining the team the moment she turned twenty. Even so, to teammates who’d known her in a school uniform, she’d always be the baby.
Junho grabbed two ion drinks that hadn’t fit in the cramped lounge fridge and tossed them over one by one. Jiseo caught them neatly, froze one just enough to form a thin crust of ice, and tossed it back.
“Jiseo. You should get your rank reassessed.”
