The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 14

“And the other one is ‘The White and Pallid Conservatory.’”

Cha Eun-hwi finished calmly and turned to look at me.

He was always a pressure-inducing person, so I flinched without meaning to.

When I tilted my head, his indifferent voice came down on me.

“Guide Yoon Hyeya. Do you know what kind of place the ‘White and Pallid Conservatory’ is?”

Wow. What is this, a pop quiz from a teacher?

Still, it wasn’t that rare for him to ask questions out of the blue.

He did it to Yeon Do-gyeong and Lee Shin-ra sometimes too.

Of course, the three of us almost never answered properly.

Because of that, Cha Eun-hwi clearly wasn’t expecting much—but surprisingly, I did know about the White and Pallid Conservatory.

“It’s a C-rank gate that continuously produces a virus that’s harmless to humans but fatal to plants.”

At my answer, Cha Eun-hwi’s eyes widened.

“…Why do you know that?”

I felt slightly offended and snapped back.

“Well, I can know things too. Why are you looking down on me—”

“It’s just surprising. You don’t know most of the fewer-than-thirty A-rank gates, but you know one C-rank gate out of hundreds. And you’ve never even been to that conservatory.”

“……”

When he put it like that, I really had nothing to say.

But I couldn’t exactly explain the reason without looking even more pathetic, so I clamped my lips shut. Yeon Do-gyeong snorted.

“It’s because Yoon Hyeya studies gates from the back of the book.”

“Oh, right. You said there were fewer gates starting with ‘ieung’ to ‘hieut,’ so you started from the later pages instead of ‘giyeok’ to ‘siot,’ right?”

“Yeah. That’s why, even if she doesn’t remember anything else, she remembers all the gates that start with ‘hieut.’ Right?”

That was true. But did they really have to expose me like that? Absolutely zero tact.

Cha Eun-hwi looked at me like of course that’s why, but I pretended not to notice.

Jung Ha-ram, who’d been sulking after being called useless, chimed in.

“Hey, wait. How do you two know Hyeya studied like that? Espers and guides get separate training.”

“You don’t need to know. Anyway—if the gates merged, then that sheep thing got hit by the Conservatory’s virus, right?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how it happened, but thinking back, the dark bluish sky and the weirdly burning sun are exactly like the outside of the Conservatory. It’s like the forest where Barometz was replaced where the building used to be.”

Cha Eun-hwi let out yet another sigh.

Since nothing like this had ever happened before, it was hard to be certain.

But if two gates really had merged, too many things lined up.

And not just the scenery inside the gate.

The uncomfortable, sticky feeling when we crossed the rift disappearing once we got inside… The monsters appearing suddenly but not attacking recklessly… That’s all strange.

Even now, Barometz was wary of even small threats and couldn’t approach easily.

If a C-rank and an A-rank gate merged, it should be considered a B-rank—but honestly, it felt much lower than that.

Because there were no attacking monsters in the White and Pallid Conservatory.

All that existed there were diseased plants. They looked gross and released a virus that only affected plants, but beyond that, they weren’t dangerous.

That was why, even when the gate appeared, there were no human casualties, making it hard to even assign a rank.

However, a long time ago in another country, espers who had cleared the gate carelessly wandered around afterward with spores all over them and caused a major incident.

I heard crops all died, causing massive damage.

After that, the gate was classified as C-rank, and entering it required protective suits as a rule.

And of course, those suits were discarded immediately after the raid.

It might seem excessive, but there was already a real precedent.

Inside the Conservatory, the viruses combined, attacked each other, and caused sudden mutation reactions.

There were dozens that could cling to the body after breaking through an esper’s barrier.

If those viruses spread to crops in the outside world again like before, it could turn into a full-blown disaster.

I looked up at the sky once and spoke as the realization settled.

“You said earlier that multiple toxic substances were mixed in the air. That also matches the Conservatory’s traits.”

“That’s true. Then do you also know the strategy for clearing the White and Pallid Conservatory?”

“The Conservatory itself is classified as a Named Monster, so you just destroy the entire building…”

That’s what it said, at least.

I’d memorized it diligently back then, but I hadn’t opened a textbook in years, and I didn’t trust my memory.

My voice trailed off without me noticing—but Cha Eun-hwi let out a quiet laugh.

Yes. A laugh.

This guy?

Cha Eun-hwi, who was usually expressionless or scowling, even flinched after realizing he’d smiled. Then he naturally looked away and gave orders.

“As Guide Yoon Hyeya said, the strategy is simple. If this forest is playing the role of the building, then we burn it. It’s fine if the area shrinks. Shin-ra, reinforce the barrier as much as possible. Do-gyeong, burn everything you see.”

“Yes. You heard him, Hyeya noona? I’m going to use my ability at full capacity now. If you don’t guide properly, I’ll collapse, the barrier will drop, and you’ll be in serious trouble.”

“……”

“Of course, since you’re our guide, I’ll take responsibility and heal you—but one of the most painful things in the world is heat-induced nerve pain, so be careful.”

Just like always, he was unnecessarily detailed and specific in the most irritating way possible.

Without replying, I hooked my arm around Lee Shin-ra’s.

Then Yeon Do-gyeong spoke up.

“Ah, same here. If our Yoon Hyeya doesn’t guide properly, I might accidentally set fire to something weird. Like Jung Ha-ram, or some useless guy we brought along just to detect things, or some esper from Geumgang Squad One.”

“Huh? I don’t like pain though… Shin-ra, you’ll heal me too, right?”

“Ask your own squad members to heal you.”

“That’s harsh. We’re in the same squad right now. Right, Eun-hwi? What should I do?”

“You’re completely useless, so just watch.”

Jung Ha-ram looked genuinely shocked.

Honestly, most people would’ve gotten angry or offended—but in that sense, Jung Ha-ram was impressive.

He only drooped a little, then spoke to me in a gloomy voice.

“Hyeya… am I useless?”

Right now, yeah, you kind of are… was right on the tip of my tongue.

But there was no way a guide could say that to an esper.

Even if he looked pitiful on the surface, Jung Ha-ram was still an A-rank esper, complete with that typical chosen-one mindset.

Still, I really don’t want to say anything nice.

Why would I go through that effort for him? I didn’t even want to offer empty comfort.

As I awkwardly hid my reluctance behind a stiff smile—

“Yoon Hyeya, I just told you to guide properly. How long has it been, and you’re already spacing out? Fire’s flying.”

“You really think you have room to worry about something else right now?”

Sharp voices stabbed in from both sides.

It was painfully obvious—they hated it when I got close to another esper.

I thought of it as a kind of obsession.

Not affection, not mixed feelings—just a belief that I was their possession.

They say even dog poop has its uses, and right now, that obsession was actually helpful.

As negative emotions crept up on me, I obediently turned my head away.

Jung Ha-ram, who looked like he’d been expecting something more, pouted—but didn’t say anything else