The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 117

‘But I didn’t expect the roads to be this messed up…….’

About 20 minutes had passed since I left.

I looked at the road that was completely ruined, cracked apart, and even had holes in it, and let out a sigh.

Only then did I realize how safe a place the headquarters had truly been.

‘If it’s this bad even though there aren’t any large buildings nearby, the city center must be much worse.’

There was no way skyscrapers could have remained intact after an impact strong enough to split and collapse the ground.

Even in the videos the director had shown me, buildings had collapsed and been damaged. Not only the people inside them but also the surrounding areas must have suffered tremendous losses.

I clicked my tongue as I walked around the cracked road.

‘It looks like it’ll take longer than I expected.’

Even the director, who hadn’t been outside for years, probably couldn’t have expected it to be this bad.

Still, it wasn’t all bad.

After the gate rampage incident, the world had become one where even the rules humanity had discovered over decades were completely overturned.

Things like how an average of about fifteen rifts appeared around the world every day, or how monsters could only appear from gates of certain ranks.

When the Espers were still at the headquarters, they apparently cleared the surrounding area regularly, but that had already been more than a year ago.

So I thought there would probably be four or five rifts nearby at the least, and maybe around ten at most.

That was why I had memorized all kinds of information about gates and monsters through the director.

‘But I don’t see anything.’

There were several possibilities.

The number of gates appearing had decreased. Someone had created an artificial generation device and stabilized them. Gates had started disappearing naturally. Someone had cleared them.

‘Whatever the reason, it’s a good thing.’

In fact, I had prepared myself for the worst-case scenario as well.

Among the phenomena observed after the rampage incident, there had been cases where rifts merged together and created completely new rifts.

Something similar to the gate fusion incident, where I had been trapped twice due to bad luck, had also happened outside.

However, the known cases so far only involved two gates combining, but in those situations there was no limit to the number.

Since I had prepared myself for the possibility that there might even be a merged gate near the headquarters, the quiet scenery brought me some relief.

I walked for a long time, using large pieces of debris as landmarks so I wouldn’t lose my sense of direction.

‘……A convenience store!’

Unexpectedly, there was a convenience store in the middle of the road that remained relatively intact.

I looked around and moved toward it.

It wasn’t because there was anything I particularly needed. I knew it had probably already been completely looted.

It was just that seeing it strangely made me feel nostalgic.

However, I immediately stepped backward in front of the entrance.

‘There’s…… something inside……?’

The reason was because a large red X had been painted on the glass entrance with spray paint.

Various flyers were attached to the glass windows, blocking my view of the inside.

On top of that, the handle had been wrapped with chains so the door couldn’t open.

It gave me a strange feeling and sent chills down my spine.

Curiosity comes after safety.

Remembering the words I had heard so many times they had practically become stuck in my ears, I touched the back of my neck and left without hesitation.

However, not long after, I felt the same thing at the second convenience store I found.

‘This one is blocked too.’

This convenience store was bigger.

It even had two doors, but just like the first one, chains were wrapped around the handles and a red X was painted on it.

At least I could see inside here, but……

‘The shelves are empty.’

There was truly nothing.

If it weren’t for the swollen drink cans and packaging containers rolling around on the floor, I would have thought this place had never received any supplies in the first place.

‘Could this mark…… not mean “danger, don’t enter,” but instead mean it has already been looted?’

But if that was the case, wouldn’t simply marking it be enough?

Using chains to block it off was strange.

Anyway, thinking about it wouldn’t give me an answer.

What was certain right now was that my bag was basically the same as a bottomless treasure chest.

In a world like this, water, food, and survival tools that replenished every day were no different from treasures.

‘They must have had some foresight.’

When I was trapped inside gates, things happened so quickly that I never had a chance to use it.

But without this bag, I probably wouldn’t have even thought about searching for those guys alone.

I took out water and chocolate, ate them, and adjusted my direction again.

I thought I had walked quite a long distance, but when I turned around, I could still see the headquarters.

I decided my goal was to get away from here before lunchtime.

And then, aside from the fact that “walking was tiring,” I continued for another hour without encountering any major threats or problems.

At some point, I began to feel that the road had somehow become more organized.

More precisely, it felt like a newly created path had been made.

Cracked, split, and damaged areas were blocked with debris, guiding people toward safer routes.

‘Are there people living around here?’

Unlike the empty surroundings near the headquarters, there were quite a few traces of high-rise buildings, so it wasn’t an impossible guess.

Just as I decided that I should take a rougher route just in case—

I felt a strange presence ahead.

“…….”

An Esper.

The distance wasn’t very far, but the energy I felt was only moderately strong.

Of course, this was based on the people I had met inside the headquarters.

Compared to what I would call a true Esper, the presence they gave off was extremely weak.

Most importantly, their emotions felt calm and stable, which meant they were probably people who had awakened after the gate rampage incident.

People who had only gained experience fighting monsters.

The problem was that there wasn’t just one person.

And they were approaching where I was.

‘If possible, I don’t want to make contact.’

In a situation where even ordinary people had to be cautious, getting involved with awakened people whose physical abilities had increased was something I needed to avoid even more.

However, it was also true that there would be no problem if they didn’t notice me.

If it were only one person, maybe not, but with several people, I might be able to learn some information by listening to their conversation.

I dug through the debris, made a small space, squeezed myself inside, and covered the top again with debris to hide myself.

Holding my breath and focusing, I realized there were three people approaching.

Then, when I confirmed their appearance, I unconsciously frowned.

They were young men riding bicycles.

Their faces were unfamiliar and they definitely weren’t Espers from the headquarters, but their clothes looked extremely familiar.

‘……They look way too similar to the uniforms that were issued.’

There were no emblems attached to their arms.

They were also wearing various layers of clothing, so it wasn’t accurate to say they were exactly the same.

But it felt too suspicious to dismiss it as a coincidence.

The men slowly riding their bicycles stopped in the middle of the road.

They weren’t far from where I was hiding, so I flinched for a moment.

Fortunately, they started chatting among themselves.

“Ah, my legs hurt like hell. I want to ride a bike.”

“You can’t even drive properly. What do you mean you want a bike? Want to crack your head open again?”

“Hey, that happened because the road was terrible!”

Two of them started arguing, while the remaining one looked around and moved his hands busily.

Wondering what he was doing, I narrowed my eyes and watched carefully.

He was marking something on a map.

“The rifts around here are almost completely cleared now. There aren’t any newly created ones either.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Then let’s check around the association quickly too.”

I couldn’t help but flinch at their relieved conversation.

The rifts are almost cleared.

There are no newly created ones.

Let’s check around the association too.

Those words meant—

‘Are these people clearing gates?’

Unlike what I had worried about, there were no gates left around the headquarters.

The roads were organized enough for people to travel through by bicycle.

Their clothes resembled the old uniforms.

When I put together all the suspicious things one by one, I started to see a vague answer.

Even if they weren’t necessarily Espers, there was a possibility that they were connected in some way to the people who had belonged to the association.