The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 120

As the three of them just sat there watching, I decided to do it myself. I opened the canned food, unwrapped the chocolate, handed each of them a disposable fork, and even gave them unopened bottles of water.

Han Yeonwoo asked in an extremely cautious tone.

“Thank you so much for sharing all this, but… is it really okay to… um, give us so much?”

As he spoke, he glanced at my backpack.

It wasn’t very big, and it was obvious what he was worried about. Giving food and water to them meant wasting precious supplies.

Honestly, all three of them looked a little rough around the edges, but their personalities seemed to be the complete opposite. That was a relief. Impulsive or selfish people were a pain to deal with, and you never knew what kind of trouble they’d cause.

Relaxing my expression a little, I answered casually.

“Like I said before, clearing this gate takes a lot of work. It doesn’t look like you’ve eaten yet, and it’d be a bigger problem if you ran out of energy because you were hungry. If you still feel bad about it, then just share some of your supplies with me after we get out safely.”

“If that’s all, then… yes. We only have emergency rations, but we’ll gladly share.”

I could’ve made up another excuse, but it seemed I’d guessed right—they were uncomfortable accepting something without giving anything in return. The moment it became an exchange, Han Yeonwoo visibly relaxed.

‘I guess that’s just the atmosphere of the group they’re part of.’

There was a reason people said that if those at the top were upright, those below would follow.

I’d seen it happen firsthand. Even the quiet, kind kids at the Association had gradually changed because of the atmosphere that spoiled Espers rotten.

“Thank you. We’ll enjoy this.”

“Thanks for the food!”

“Thank you!”

After Han Yeonwoo thanked me, Park Minseok and Nam Woojin chimed in at the same time before picking up their forks.

The canned food was different for each of them, so they looked back and forth before deciding to share.

Watching them reminded me of the past for a moment.

Everything in my bag had been chosen by Cha Eunhwi, Yeon Dogyeong, and Lee Shinra. Even these canned meals weren’t sold commercially—they’d been made by the Association. True to an organization that prided itself on taking care of its Espers, they were delicious and came in all kinds of varieties.

‘They used to put in different kinds every time just to see what I liked.’

I never really ate the ham or fish since they tasted fine as they were, but I’d usually take out the bread or fruit because those didn’t taste much different from fresh.

Apparently they’d noticed.

At some point, my bag had started containing only similar kinds of canned food.

Even now, the cans I had were castella cake, peaches, and baby potatoes.

Back then I’d thought they had way too much time on their hands.

Looking back now, though, it felt strangely different, realizing they had been trying their best to take care of me in their own way.

That was all it was.

But even dwelling on memories like that felt uncomfortable, so I slowly turned to the three of them, happily enjoying their meal.

“Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask you. That’s why I followed you. Would you have some time after we clear this gate safely?”

“Uh… that’s fine, but… depending on what you’re asking… there might be… well… a lot of things we can’t answer…”

Nam Woojin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly while savoring a peach with an expression of pure bliss.

He looked genuinely apologetic.

I’d heard plenty about how wary survivors were, so I understood.

And these three were clearly on the gentler side.

‘Have I just been meeting good people lately?’

After dealing with nothing but awful people, then living through the world’s collapse, maybe that was why.

Before, whenever things started going in a direction I didn’t want, I’d immediately feel drained and miserable.

Now, it didn’t bother me at all.

I’d expected getting information wouldn’t be easy anyway.

I nodded.

“It’s fine if you only tell me what you can. From what I overheard, it sounds like you regularly check around the Association. I just thought we could exchange whatever information we’re both able to share.”

“Oh, if it’s just that, we can tell you right no—”

Han Yeonwoo clamped a hand over Nam Woojin’s mouth before he could finish.

Park Minseok, with bread crumbs still stuck around his mouth, blinked in surprise.

A muffled, “Mmph?” escaped Nam Woojin’s sealed lips.

Han Yeonwoo ground his teeth as he looked back and forth between the two clueless faces before turning to me with an embarrassed expression.

“Then… like you said, after we’ve safely cleared the gate… if it’s something we’re allowed to answer, we’ll tell you.”

It looked like Han Yeonwoo was deeply embarrassed by his hopelessly innocent friends.

That expression…

It felt incredibly familiar.

When I thought about it, it was exactly the face Cha Eunhwi used to make whenever Yeon Dogyeong and I proudly showed Headquarters Director all the random things we’d picked up and eaten inside gates.

‘…Ah.’

I’d accidentally connected the two just because they’d crossed my mind.

Startled at myself, I quickly pushed the thought away.

Meanwhile, Han Yeonwoo was desperately signaling to his friends with his eyes.

Apparently he couldn’t openly explain things while I was sitting right there.

Since the other two still looked completely confused, I explained it myself.

“I said we’d talk after clearing the gate because I could just take all the information I want and then turn around and hurt you.”

“Oh! That’s what you meant? But if you were going to do that, then like you said before, you wouldn’t have bothered coming all the way in here…”

“I could’ve lowered your guard first, then used you efficiently during the gate. I could feed you false information about how to clear it, put you in danger, or use you as human shields. People can die inside gates without anyone ever knowing.”

“…”

“…I’m not saying I’d do that. Those are just examples.”

Nam Woojin and Park Minseok were so shocked they dropped their forks.

I hurriedly waved my hands.

Just what kind of lives had they been living?

Compared to them, I almost felt like I was the more suspicious one—even after being trapped inside gates while the world practically ended.

The people at Headquarters had become close to me surprisingly quickly too, but that had only happened because I’d helped them so much, and because the Headquarters Director had been there to bridge the gap.

Seeing my strange expression, Han Yeonwoo sighed.

“These two have always been careless. They couldn’t tell when someone was trying to trick them. Even after the Gate Outbreak, they never changed. I can’t even count how many dangerous situations they’ve gotten themselves into…”

“Hey! If you say it like that, it makes us sound stupid.”

“But it’s true. You fall for the same tricks every single time.”

“…That’s because the people tricking us are the bad guys. The Boss said so too!”

“Yeah! The Boss also—”

“…”

Both Park Minseok and Nam Woojin snapped their mouths shut at the same time.

Han Yeonwoo looked at them with tired eyes before taking a drink of water.

I wisely pretended not to hear.

I’d ask after we cleared the gate anyway.

Our awkward meal came to an end.

After cleaning up, I took the lead and began explaining.

“You might’ve already guessed, but giants live inside this gate. Well… from their perspective, we’re probably the tiny ones.”

“Oh, giants! Then… can we talk to them?”

“Seriously? Imagine a tiny little speck walking up and trying to start a conversation with you. Creepy, right? We’d be lucky if they didn’t mistake us for bugs and step on us.”

“Ugh… just imagining that makes me want to—”

Han Yeonwoo silently looked at the other two.

…The fact that they both immediately shut up and lowered their heads felt far too familiar.

Doing my best to smile at Han Yeonwoo’s utterly exhausted expression, I listened as he turned back to me.

“Please continue. Um… now that I think about it, we never properly introduced ourselves. Though it seems you already know our names.”

“Oh, right. I’m Yoon Hyeya. I’m somewhere in my mid-twenties.”

“Then you’re older than us! We all became adults this year. Can we call you noona?”

If they’d only become adults this year, that meant they were twenty.

They were definitely younger than my rather ambiguous age.

In that case, noona was a perfectly reasonable way for them to address me, so I nodded.

“Sure.”

“Yes, ma’am—I mean, noona. You can call us comfortably too. You don’t have to be formal.”

“Just tell us what to do. We’ll do whatever you say.”

Park Minseok and Nam Woojin hurried to add.

They really were friendly.

I’d become a fairly sociable person myself over the years, so I answered without any discomfort.

“All right. Then let’s get back to talking about this gate.”

Picking up the conversation where we’d left off, I continued my explanation.