Chapter 90

Chapter 90. Terminal Diagnosis (15)

“Y-yes? What do you mean by that…? No, the Association really did its best! It’s me, yes, I’m the one at fault!”

“……”

“I’m the one who failed to carry out your request. I’m the one who ran and left Guide Maeng Sodam behind, so, um, yeah…”

The staff member, who had been scraping together excuses with all his might, immediately clamped his mouth shut when he met Juyul’s dispassionate gaze. When they first met, Juyul hadn’t said much, so he had assumed the man really was the aloof “noble Esper” he’d heard about—someone who didn’t concern himself with petty turf wars between Association branches. But those eyes… they clearly belonged to someone who knew far more than a low-level agent like him ever could.

And Juyul had, indeed, seen through nearly all of the man’s thoughts. Juyul was someone who heard and saw more than most. Since his rise, Korea’s Association had maintained the number one branch ranking, and they had gathered every rumor, every dirty secret from branches all over the world. Which meant there was almost nothing related to the Associations that Juyul didn’t already know.

What was shutting this staff member up now was likely the recent withdrawal of the UK branch from the European Union’s joint association structure.

‘They slapped the United Alliance across the face, so now they need to show off their power. But then some creature popped up they couldn’t handle, and they had to call me in. Must’ve been humiliating.’

It said everything that they begged the Korean Association to dispatch Juyul, then assigned a B-class Esper with barely any subjugation experience to stand beside him. Sure, they brought him in as a backup plan, but the British Espers scattered around the surrounding ridges had probably been hoping they’d get to find and subdue Pafnir first.

Juyul glanced over his shoulder and spotted Pafnir’s body, now neatly split in two.

He turned his head back, a faint smile—so faint it would go unnoticed unless seen up close—crossing his lips. Behind him, far more precise and numerous ice arrows than those used in combat rose into the air.

As they whizzed past the now-pale staff member, the arrows descended and tore Pafnir’s corpse into ribbons. The staff member, covering part of his face, couldn’t bring himself to watch the brutal spectacle and gagged as he turned away.

“Urgh…! Why—why go this far? Do you know how useful an S-class mutant’s body is?!”

“That thing dared to hurt my Guide. You should be thankful I let it end like this.”

Juyul said it with such confidence, as if that alone justified utterly mutilating the corpse. The staff member’s face twisted in disbelief.

Perhaps it was the blood and gore, but the staff member’s knees gave out, and he practically crawled over to Juyul, muttering under his breath.

“B-but you’re the one who got hurt worse…! I mean, for a creature to even injure Baek Juyul—if it’s that powerful, it would’ve made a fantastic specimen…”

“Not really. It wasn’t all that strong.”

Juyul snorted at the suggestion, but the staff member, frustrated, looked down at the pile of pulp that used to be Pafnir and sighed heavily. He clearly didn’t want to admit he had been wounded and was instead insisting it wasn’t that strong—that he had just been caught off guard.

Snorting silently to himself, the staff member stopped just short of running into Juyul’s back.

“W-what’s the matter? Did I say something wrong…?”

“You didn’t say anything wrong.”

“Then… does that mean I made a mistake some other way…?”

“I haven’t forgotten that you ran and left my Guide behind.”

The words hit with far more bite than anything before, and the staff member, who had finally relaxed a little, tensed right back up. Sweat soaked his forehead, and he scrambled to wipe it with a handkerchief while hastily blurting out whatever came to mind in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

“Ah, r-right. For now, I think we should focus on getting Guide Maeng back to the lodge! I’ll accept full responsibility later, yes, but for now let’s make sure she’s safely transported. Once she’s awake, we can debrief and—yes! The jeep’s parked right over there, let’s get going right away!”

At the end of his rambling, his true goal was clear. Plastering on a servile smile, he reached out both arms like a mechanical doll. Juyul narrowed his eyes at him, then curled one corner of his mouth.

“Lead the way. As you can see, my hands are full, so I’ll need someone to open the door.”

The staff member, still trembling, immediately dashed off like a shot the moment Juyul’s lazy voice dropped. Before long, the sound of the jeep’s engine echoed, and the vehicle rolled up beside Juyul. Just as the staff member leapt out of the driver’s seat and rushed to open the back door—

Thud!

A foot slammed into the door beside him, freezing him in place like a statue.

“I-is there s-s-something wrong… hic… sir…?”

“Not this one.”

“N-not… not this one? Then, uh, th-this one…?”

By the time the staff member’s anxious glances had his eyes starting to resemble a flounder’s, Juyul reached for the front passenger door handle. Only then did the foot pressing against the door finally lift, revealing the dented panel beneath.

The fact that the jeep’s door—reinforced with research funds so massive that it could withstand attacks from even A-grade monsters—had been crumpled by a single human kick gave the staff member something new to worry about.

Should he be more concerned about the repair cost of the door… or about the man who had just wrecked it?

Stuck between two deadly options, the staff member finally opened the passenger door with trembling hands, tears welling in his eyes.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Juyul settled Sodam into the seat and even fastened her seatbelt before smoothly walking past the flustered man and sliding into the driver’s seat.

Left standing alone at the roadside, the staff member stared blankly, snapping out of it only when he heard the engine start. Panicked, he rushed to the driver’s side window.

“Ba—Baek Juyul, sir! Driving this modified jeep requires at least a year of training! If someone unqualified handles it, you’ll break it!”

Fixing the dented door might only cost a few million won at most, but if the engine failed, that was another issue entirely. The latter could mean not repairs, but replacing the entire vehicle. The thought of possibly having to pay over 700 million won made the staff member’s face crumple in despair—until a terrifying possibility struck him, leaving his mouth agape. He began pacing in place, too frightened even to knock forcefully on the window.

“You—y-you’re not planning to leave me behind… r-right? I mean… I’m supposed to sit in the backseat… right…?”

As if answering his pitiful question, the window hummed down with a mechanical whine, revealing Juyul’s sharp blue eyes.

The staff member reflexively swallowed hard and stared in silence, as if he’d forgotten how to speak, waiting for the man’s response.

After calmly watching the man fidget, Juyul finally spoke in a quiet voice.

“You look like someone who could use some time to think.”

“…What?”

“While you’re walking, think hard about the mistakes you made today, why you made them, and how you plan to apologize for them. All of it.”

“N-no, but still—this is—!”

Whirrrrrk.

What answered him wasn’t a proper reply, but the soft hum of the window sliding shut again.

The subsequent growl of the engine made it clear: Juyul meant every word.

All the staff member could do was stand there, mouth agape, watching the jeep disappear down the road.

But even that didn’t last long.

Because only after the vehicle vanished did he realize… without GPS, he had no idea how to get back to the lodge.

“AAAAAAAARGH!”

As the first rays of dawn lit up the road, the man—never meant to run in his life—was forced into a full sprint, doing everything he could to chase the taillights of the disappearing jeep.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the jeep—now unbearably warm from the heater cranked to its max—Juyul had no intention of heading back to the lodge anytime soon. Unfortunately for the poor man still trying to chase them down.

When he first checked Sodam’s face after holding her, he did wonder if he should take her to a hospital instead. But after clearing away the strands of hair and the bits of ice stuck to her skin, he noticed her complexion looked better than usual. Far better than when she’d collapsed after an intense Guiding session.

In other words, her passing out wasn’t due to a medical issue, but more from a combination of physical exhaustion and complete emotional burnout.

“…She did have every reason to be tired.”

Ever since arriving in the UK, she’d been plagued by a brutal hangover, denied rest, and dragged into daily search missions with Juyul. Given her fragile stamina, she was overdue for a breakdown.

Watching her shift slightly in her seat, breathing softly in her sleep, Juyul let out a quiet laugh.

“She told me not to make her worry… and here she is, sleeping like a log.”