The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 70

“No, Yoon Hyeya. Gates are extremely dangerous. You saw it yesterday. The moment you started guiding, the monsters went crazy and rushed us.”

“That’s right, Hyeya. And you’re officially listed as being unable to use your guiding ability properly right now. There’s no need for you to enter a gate—”

I couldn’t tell if they were worried about me getting hurt, or worried that I might run away again. Either way, their reactions were all overly dramatic.

If it was concern, that was creepy in its own way.
If it was fear that I’d disappear again, that was creepy too.

I looked back and forth between the three of them with an annoyed expression and spoke.

“I wasn’t planning to bring this up, but I searched my house yesterday. I found an old photo album from when I was a kid. And a diary, too.”

When you lie, you mix it with truth.

The album was real. The diary was fake. People who seriously keep diaries probably don’t even make up half the population.

And since these guys knew very well that I wasn’t the diary-writing type, I kept blending the lie carefully.

“After looking at the album, I became sure that the people I kept remembering while inside the gate were my parents. The diary only had two or three entries, the rest was blank, so it wasn’t very helpful—but there was something about guiding classes. Since I was young, the wording was mild, but basically it said: ‘This is absolute hell,’ ‘I hate this crap,’ and ‘I don’t know what idiot came up with this.’”

That part was basically true anyway.

All three of them had expressions that said: No way… but maybe… what if…?
They clearly didn’t know what to think.

But no matter what they thought, I’d already gotten my answer yesterday—my opinion mattered.

So I continued without hesitation.

“You said earlier that you wouldn’t force me to do something I hate. I don’t want to go through guiding training again—something past me hated to the point of disgust. You say gates are dangerous, but isn’t it fine if I don’t guide inside the gate? You guys managed fine with medicine even when I did guide you. I can just do it before entering, or only when there are no monsters around.”

Even hearing it myself, there wasn’t much to argue against.

The only thing they could say was, ‘You won’t guide inside the gate?’

And the moment those words came out of their mouths, I was fully ready to yell,
‘I knew it, you shameless jerks!’
smack them with the baton I’d brought, and leave.

But maybe because it had only been two days since I came out of the gate—

“Our Hyeya hates it that much? Then there’s nothing we can do,” Yeon Dogyeong said lightly. “Cha Eunhwi, talk to the old man.”

“Okay. I’ll contact him now. Just wait a moment.”

Neither Yeon Dogyeong nor Cha Eunhwi looked upset—not even as much as the amount of truffle in truffle potato chips.

Still, after everything I’d seen yesterday, I was starting to get used to this.

Lee Shinra stayed silent, looking troubled. When our eyes met, he suddenly spoke with a determined face.

“If you get hurt, noona… I’ll definitely heal you. Even if your bones break, or your flesh melts away, or half your head gets blown off… I will definitely—”

“……”

He looked a little unhinged, so I decided not to respond.

Cha Eunhwi quickly contacted the director and explained my decision.

Then we talked together on speakerphone.

[ I won’t stop Hyeya from entering a gate. However, only C-rank gates are permitted. ]

“No, sir. Why C-rank? We’re not that weak. At least a low B-rank—”

[ You seem to have forgotten, Dogyeong. Until just yesterday, your bodies were in such bad shape from skipping all training and barely eating for a year that the medical staff had to physically restrain you and pump you full of supplements and stabilizers just to make you functional. ]

Listening to his calm voice, I finally understood why Teacher Song Yuseong called them by name yesterday.

Even if it started as an order from the director, taking care of them for a year probably made him attached.

The director’s words were clearly for safety, so there was no reason to argue—but Yeon Dogyeong still grumbled unhappily.

Even without video, it felt like I could see his face. A small sigh came through the phone.

[ You’ve always been like this, Dogyeong. I understand wanting to look good in front of Hyeya, but right now… yes. You need to recognize your position. ]

“What—! No! That’s not—! Ugh! Sir, no! I know my position better than anyone!”

Yeon Dogyeong yelled at the phone, his face bright red.

Rude brat.

I wasn’t exactly a model of manners either, but I liked the phrase “know your position,” so I chimed in.

“The director didn’t say anything wrong. You said you’d behave, and it hasn’t even been a few hours.”

“…Ah. It’s fine. The director and I are close, so that won’t hurt him. Right, sir?”

[ It does. ]

“He says it does.”

“…I’ll be careful. From now on.”

“Do whatever. Anyway—are C-rank gates similar to where I was? Or more dangerous?”

Cha Eunhwi, who had been watching us quietly, nodded with a strange smile.

“Yeah. Gate ranks consider many factors, but generally, C-rank gates rarely have monsters that attack first. The terrain isn’t very dangerous, or the monsters have clear weaknesses. It’s dangerous for civilians, but not that dangerous for espers.”

“But for me, who’s basically as fragile as a civilian, it could still be dangerous.”

“…That’s true. But don’t worry, Hyeya. We’ll definitely protect—”

“Yeah. You said it’s fine as long as I don’t guide, so I’ll be careful. Where are we going?”

“We need to decide that now.”

Hearing “we’ll protect you” over and over made my skin itch.

I blatantly cut him off and pretended not to hear, but Cha Eunhwi didn’t mind and spoke to the director.

“Then, Director. We’ll check the list of unclaimed, uncleared C-rank gates and proceed with a raid. And the unit name is… Platinum Unit.”

Looks like he liked Platinum more than Obsidian.

“Pumpkin wasn’t bad though…,” Yeon Dogyeong muttered.

I imagined shoving a whole old pumpkin into his mouth.

After a brief silence, the director replied.

[ Very well. I’ll register you as an official unit within 30 minutes. If today’s raid succeeds, it will count as an achievement. As you know, even C-rank gates can be dangerous—don’t overdo it, and report immediately if anything unusual occurs. ]

“Yes.”

The call ended there.

After that, Cha Eunhwi brought out his laptop and showed us a list of uncleared gates that weren’t assigned to any unit.

I thought we’d choose quickly—but it took longer than expected.

There were far more uncleared gates than I thought.

So the absence of a guide really made that big of a difference…

That must be why people in yesterday’s meeting wanted me deployed as soon as possible.

When I didn’t know, I didn’t care.
But seeing that the number of uncleared gates had nearly doubled compared to a year ago made me uneasy.

And about forty minutes later, thanks to Yeon Dogyeong’s strong insistence, the gate we entered was—

[ Entering ‘Wind Cave Where Melodies Spread.’ ]

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡
Maximum capacity — 5 (+7)
Connection count — 4
Fastest clear time — 03:11:21
Total deaths — 7
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡

It was a very dark, damp cave-type gate.

But… something was strange.

There was no light at all—it should’ve been pitch black.

…Then why can I see so clearly?

The inside of the cave was perfectly visible, as if I were wearing night-vision goggles.