The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 79

When Lee Shinra kept hesitating, Yeon Dogyeong looked at me instead.

“Yoon Hyeya, when punks like that pick a fight, you should just turn them into a bloody mess. What are you saving that strength for?”

“I don’t want to waste energy arguing with people who don’t listen.”

At that, the original “people who don’t listen” all shut their mouths at once.

But the silence didn’t last long.

“Ah, I should’ve gone with you,” Dogyeong muttered.

Lee Shinra, who had been listening quietly, snapped back irritably.

“Then maybe you should’ve behaved better normally. You’re always fighting with people. That’s why Eunhwi hyung and the Director sent me instead.”

“Hey. It’s not because I fight. It’s because your ability is more useful for protecting Yoon Hyeya.”

“Yes, that makes sense. Since all you can do is burn things.”

“…Wait. Take that back—”

Their back-and-forth nonsense made the operations room noisy.

Cha Eunhwi, who had been organizing documents, looked at the two of them with tired eyes, sighed, and stood up.

Then he slowly walked over to me.

His gaze fell on my wrist—the one that had been “forcefully grabbed.”

Right.

Come to think of it, he had grabbed my wrist like that before too.

Hard enough to leave bruises.

Thanks to the Director, who had no sense of keeping secrets.

I almost forgot, but seeing his eyes reminded me.

I should repay that someday.

It was uncomfortable the way he kept staring at my wrist, so I pulled my arm away and snapped,

“Seriously, what’s wrong with Seokyeong and Hwangok? Didn’t they say guides would be treated as important now?”

I kept telling myself I had no expectations.

But if I was honest, I had a little.

Because the way Geumgang Squad treated Taerin unnie had changed.

And if A-rank espers could change, maybe others could too.

Eunhwi closed his mouth for a moment, then answered carefully.

“I told you before—I’ve been away from fieldwork for the past year, so I don’t know everything. But from what I’ve heard through the Director… some espers accepted the change, and some didn’t. Guides were treated badly for so long, and now they’re suddenly told they’re the most valuable. Some espers couldn’t adjust.”

Unfortunate, but not impossible to understand.

“More than anything, Hyeya—you’ve experienced it too. What happens inside gates is hard for headquarters to monitor. Guides who fear retaliation probably prefer to keep things as they were.”

Even I, who adapt fairly well, had been horrified when these guys first showed up.

I had followed them half out of necessity.

If I felt that way, of course other guides wouldn’t suddenly become bold.

There was probably still fear left inside them.

Fear that if they reported unfair treatment, they might be punished later.

If they had improved physical abilities like me, maybe they’d be fine. But they don’t.

“Guides exist for espers.”

Esper superiority.

Those ideas had been built up over decades.

It would probably take just as long to tear them down.

“…Maybe I should just become a bomb.”

“A bomb?”

“If something unfair happens to me, I report it, right? If this isn’t just Seokyeong and Hwangok… maybe it wouldn’t be bad to go around squad by squad and blow things up. Like draining pus from a wound.”

It would be mentally exhausting.

But if I suffered now and things improved later, maybe that wasn’t so bad.

The one who responded wasn’t Eunhwi.

It was Dogyeong.

“I don’t like that.”

His voice stabbed into my back.

I frowned.

Since when did he get to interfere with my decisions?

I turned sharply.

“You don’t like it, so what—”

So what.

That’s what I meant to say.

But I stopped.

Because Dogyeong looked—

like the most wronged, miserable person in the world.

It reminded me of the time a few days ago when he had practically cried about training together.

Lee Shinra hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Hyung. Why are you acting like a child? It’s embarrassing. Stop.”

“So you’re fine with it because you’re confident you can follow Yoon Hyeya around? Coward.”

“What? How is that cowardly—”

“Then I’ll follow her from now on. You stay in the operations room with Cha Eunhwi.”

“…You cause trouble. The Director won’t allow it.”

“I’ll write a pledge saying I’ll behave. Should I go tell him?”

“W-Wait. That only benefits you. There’s nothing good in it for me.”

“Right now it only benefits you. There’s nothing good in it for me.”

They really had too much energy.

Arguing over the smallest things.

After watching them bicker for a while, I turned forward again.

“You’re not stopping them?”

“You don’t know? They’re like that all the time. You can ignore it. Still… it’s been a while since I’ve seen them this lively.”

“You look like a grandfather watching his grandsons play.”

“…Grandfather…”

“Anyway. I’m tired.”

“Then I’ll report for you. Go rest. I’ll take you.”

“I can go al— …Never mind. Okay.”

I was about to say I could go alone.

Then I remembered my situation.

So I took the hand Eunhwi offered.

Rejecting first had become a habit.

Even now, it slipped out automatically.

The moment Dogyeong and Shinra looked our way, Eunhwi used his ability.

The air shimmered.

A moment later, a familiar building appeared in front of us.

Not the front entrance—the back.

He must have chosen it in case people were around.

Before I could let go, he gently released my hand first.

With a soft smile, he said,

“You worked hard today too, Hyeya. Hwangok Squad will probably be disciplined as well. But… what do you want to do tomorrow? When Shinra and I report later, the Director will likely ask about that.”

“Ah.”

A few days ago, he had said there was no need to force myself to match with other squads.

So of course he would ask again.

Honestly, my heart had already left.

The moment we exited the gate earlier, I’d thought there was no point going to a third squad.

I joined other squads for personal reasons, yes—but mainly to see what was more efficient.

With Seokyeong and Hwangok, we cleared only one gate each.

But if I had gone with Dogyeong, Shinra, and Eunhwi?

We would’ve cleared four or five.

That was the minimum.

Honestly, since I was also relieving stress by beating monsters, if I really went all out, we might even hit double digits.

Then Dogyeong’s words echoed in my mind.

Other guys won’t care about you more than we do. They’re incompetent, so you’ll just get more annoyed.

That useless confidence—

turned out to be true.

Unbelievable.

Still… if I quit now, it’ll look like I admit he was right.

I had already given up hope.

Other squads were probably all the same.

But I didn’t want to see Dogyeong smirking, saying, See? I told you.

I was debating whether to just close my eyes and try the third squad anyway—

when Eunhwi spoke again.

“Hyeya. Everything related to you is being handled confidentially. Seokyeong and Hwangok were selected from several candidates. As for the guiding matter, I believe it was only informed this morning. Even if you say no now, no one will blame you. So you can speak comfortably.”

I hadn’t been worried about that at all.

It felt like he was missing the point.

Then, with a gentle smile, he added,

“Dogyeong thinks the same way. So you don’t need to worry about him either.”