The Espers Who Regretted Losing Me Chapter 98

“Are you okay, Hyeya?”

Maybe my face had turned very pale, because the Director stopped speaking for a moment.

Only then did I realize that I hadn’t been breathing.

I finally took a deep breath and forced an awkward smile.

“Yes, I’m okay. It’s just… none of this feels real right now. I wasn’t trapped inside a gate like before. I only went in and came out… but hearing that the world became like this…”

“You can rest for a while and hear the rest later.”

“…Could I maybe go outside and see things with my own eyes?”

There were still many things I wanted to ask and hear.

But unless I saw the world myself, everything I heard would probably feel like a dream.

The Director paused for a moment before answering.

“Right now, if you want to go out, no one here could really stop you. But thank you for asking first.”

He was right.

Normally, leaving headquarters without permission was impossible. But in a situation like this, proper rules probably didn’t exist anymore.

The Director sighed and continued.

“But… I still can’t tell you to go. The outside world is extremely dangerous right now.”

“Because of the monsters?”

“…If you just want to see what it’s like outside, we have video records.”

It was a strange answer—neither confirming nor denying my guess.

Even so, I quickly nodded.

“Please show me.”

I only wanted to see how the city I knew—what it looked like before entering the expedition—had changed.

The Director stood up from the sofa.

He went back to his desk, opened a laptop sitting on one side, and turned it on.

When the screen lit up, I noticed the battery wasn’t even half full.

He played a video file on the desktop.

A famous news station logo appeared, followed by a news anchor speaking.

“Today the ESP Association has issued an emergency announcement stating that gates around the world have gone out of control simultaneously. In our country, gate occurrences have been restricted to areas near headquarters, so large-scale damage has been avoided. However, unusual activity may also be reported in previously existing irregular gates.”

As the report continued, footage from other countries appeared.

It looked exactly like scenes from a disaster movie.

“Meanwhile, serious damage has already been reported overseas. In response, the government has declared a state of disaster and activated emergency response systems. Authorities strongly advise citizens not to approach gates and to evacuate immediately if one is discovered. More updates will follow shortly.”

The footage showed monsters appearing in the middle of cities while people ran in panic.

The military had been deployed.

Espers using their abilities were captured on camera.

The Director skipped ahead.

The next report showed that even our country had eventually begun suffering damage.

Videos filmed on phones appeared, showing monsters roaming the streets.

Then he skipped forward again.

This time it showed the inside of headquarters—footage that had never been released to the public before for security reasons.

“…The gate zone…”

The video seemed to have been taken by a drone.

From above, it clearly showed a giant spider eating other monsters.

“Is that spider… the monster currently in Zone A?” I asked.

“Yes. Queen Arachne. She built nests in Zones A and C and feeds on monsters coming out of the gates.”

He paused.

“Strangely enough, the monsters inside headquarters stay balanced because of her. At least inside this area, she’s the top predator.”

“She doesn’t attack people?”

“Queen Arachne sends smaller spiders as scouts. As long as people don’t attack those spiders or approach her territory, she doesn’t attack.”

“…But in the video, she’s attacking people…”

Some parts were blurred, but the video clearly showed the giant spider catching fleeing headquarters staff.

The Director paused the video.

After a moment, he spoke.

“The staff who were caught in the webs were all rescued, so you don’t need to worry. And Queen Arachne stopped attacking people because she learned fear.”

“She learned fear?”

“Hyeya. What do you think the weakness of webs and insects is?”

“Well, obviously fire—”

I stopped speaking.

Just like how seeing the Director’s burn scars had made me think of Yeon Dogyeong, fire always made me think of him too.

Seeing my reaction, the Director added quietly,

“Dogyeong worked very hard.”

“Burning all of Queen Arachne’s nests and closing the gates wouldn’t have been difficult. But since the spiders were multiplying rapidly, everyone insisted that Queen Arachne should be killed first. Then Eunhwi suggested another idea—using her instead.”

“….”

“If she attacked a human, half of her offspring, body, and nest would be burned. If she expanded her territory beyond Zones A and C, they would burn too. But sending scouts to hunt monsters as food would be allowed.”

He continued calmly.

“If you don’t attack humans, we won’t attack you.”

“That rule was drilled into her for an entire year.”

“That actually worked…? I mean… it must have, since you said earlier she’s maintaining balance, but how could something like that really work…?”

“At first everyone said it was impossible. They said it was a waste of time. But it worked. And even now, two years later, the spiders still keep the balance… even without Dogyeong here.”

The Director resumed the video.

Because of Queen Arachne, headquarters had managed to control the monster population inside its area.

But the outside world was different.

Other monsters destroyed the devices that controlled gate energy.

Gates that used to appear only in headquarters zones began appearing randomly in different places.

And monsters kept pouring out.

At first, it seemed manageable because headquarters and the military responded quickly.

But once A-rank gates started appearing, just like the Director said earlier, the situation collapsed completely.

The last part of the video showed ruined cities filled with monsters.

A reporter’s voice spoke in despair.

“This… is the end of the world.”

I stared blankly at the dark screen after the video ended.

The Director shut down the laptop and carefully put it aside.

Then he spoke again.

“Everywhere in the world is like this now. Most places have become ruins. Communication with ESP headquarters in other countries was lost long ago. At this point… the world is essentially in a state of anarchy.”

“….”

“I know it’s hard to believe, Hyeya. But this is reality. There’s still much more you need to hear… but for now, you should rest.”

“I’m fine—”

“You’re not. …There’s no way you could be.”

His gaze dropped to my hands.

Only then did I notice that I had been clenching my fists so tightly that my knuckles had turned white.

When I finally relaxed them, my skin stung.

I had gripped so hard that my nails had dug into my palms, leaving small drops of blood.

I also realized that my hands and feet felt terribly cold.

“…Is there somewhere I can rest? I heard on the way here that only some rooms are being used. My old apartment was…”

“You lived in Room 707, right? You can’t enter it now, but there are other empty rooms. It may be a little inconvenient, but would you like to rest there?”

“Yes. I’d appreciate that. I still have a lot more things I want to hear…”

But right now, I needed rest.

My mind was too full of thoughts.

I just wanted to sleep without thinking about anything.

The Director nodded with an understanding expression and called for Lee Seung-gwon.

Even though he didn’t raise his voice much, the door opened almost immediately, and Seung-gwon came inside.