Chapter 2. The New TeamRaon stared at the miraculous number with his mouth open.Fifty-five percent.That was the reading after a single night and half a day of insertion guiding. Checking his wrist device, Raon smiled in satisfaction.When he had first guided Siwoo, the numbers had been a disaster. His contamination level had dropped below thirty percent, triggering the device’s warning tone and forcing an emergency guiding session.Even as the numbers rose steadily, the irregular Gate had forced Siwoo to push himself too far. The figure that had barely climbed past forty percent had plunged back under thirty more than once.Since awakening as an S-rank Esper, Siwoo had never once reached over fifty percent. To achieve that with only contact guiding, they would’ve had to spend a month holding hands nonstop.“So this is why insertion guiding exists…”Raon murmured under his breath, half-understanding now why superiors were so insistent about it.“You’ve worked hard,” came a dry voice.“Ah.”When he lifted his head, Director Jang Seokhyeon’s stiff expression was waiting. Raon had just arrived in the Director’s Office at his summons.Their last session had ended late in the evening; he’d taken a day’s rest and now, two days later, was finally facing him again. The memory of that awkward phone call surfaced belatedly, and Seokhyeon looked even more uncomfortable than usual today.“Well, it’s a relief the numbers went up that much,” Raon said lightly.Seeing the spike made him feel like he could do it every day, though his body would probably break before long. He gave an awkward laugh, gauging Seokhyeon’s reaction. The director didn’t look inclined to press about anything so personal; explicit guiding was a private matter, and Raon was grateful for that much.“Still, it’s good that it ended safely…”Since Espers’ power tended to be abnormally strong, accidents sometimes happened during insertion guiding. That was why Seokhyeon had called to check in—he simply hadn’t expected it to take that long, and a minor incident had resulted.An awkward silence hung for a moment before Seokhyeon spoke again.“And I’ve reviewed the team roster you proposed.”“Ah, yes.”Looking down at the tablet in his hand, Seokhyeon frowned. It must have been the revised team list Raon had submitted a few days earlier.“Your personnel choices… may cause a bit of confusion.”“Confusion?”“Yes.”He tilted his head slightly, sounding troubled. His gloved fingers tapped the tabletop.Because of the irregular Gate, the Special Task Headquarters had been established, and the organization was being rebuilt around Dojin and Raon. As agreed earlier, Raon now had authority to assemble his own guiding team and choose the Espers who would serve as their escorts.“And there will probably be some talk about the Espers you selected to protect the guide team as well.”“Well, that’s to be expected.”Raon answered calmly, as if it had nothing to do with him. Only Seokhyeon seemed to find it suffocating, sighing heavily.“Do you really think this will be approved?”“You promised me.”“Honestly…”Grinding his teeth, Seokhyeon glared at Raon’s shameless expression and set the tablet down with a soft thud.“Let’s start with this. Explain why you chose Guide Park Dasom.”“Hmm.”Dasom was one of the guides Raon had hand-picked. She wasn’t especially talented, and he’d expected to be questioned about her.Guide Park Dasom, like Hamin, was B-rank. But whereas Hamin’s advantage was his extraordinarily high match rate with an S-rank Esper like Dojin, Dasom had no such pairing. Naturally, Seokhyeon disliked her inclusion in the team.“There’s no shortage of A-rank guides in the Center. Why this decision?”“Because I believe Guide Park Dasom will be useful.”“A B-rank guide without a single high-match Esper?”“Yes.”While Seokhyeon looked displeased, Raon considered her indispensable. He recalled what had happened before the rewind.Back then, the irregular Gate hadn’t appeared until a year later—and humanity, grown complacent, had been devastated. None of the Alpha-1 team members had returned alive. Even Seokhyeon, the Director himself, had died, along with the other guides who’d entered with him.With its core power gone except for Alpha-1’s Espers, the Association fell into chaos. Then strange phenomena began to surface among ability users.Multi-guides. Multi-espers. Those who had manifested as guides reawakened later as espers, and vice versa.Dasom had been an unremarkable B-rank guide, always sidelined from the front lines. But when the shortage of guides forced her into a Gate deployment, she reawakened—as an S-rank Esper.And her power was healing.An S-rank healer Esper was almost unheard of worldwide. The few healers in Korea were all low-rank, confined to military medical posts rather than Gate operations.After Dasom’s reawakening, Gate response had become far easier—but far too late, after the protagonists had suffered through every hardship imaginable.So this time, I’ll make sure she reawakens early.When the next irregular Gate opened, bringing Dasom and triggering that awakening would be crucial. Which meant he had to get her into the guide team, no matter what.“You gave me personnel authority, didn’t you?”“Well, yes, but—”“You’re not planning to take that back, are you?”Instead of persuading, Raon pushed forward shamelessly. He was the only one who knew her importance; explaining it now would sound insane. The only option was to brandish the authority he’d been granted and insist.“You’ll be short on guides for all the assignments,” Seokhyeon warned.“I’m an S-rank Guide. I can handle it.”“Good grief.”At last, the director gave up. Shaking his head, he said, “Once the reorganization is settled, we’ll arrange a meeting for the whole team.”“Thank you.”Raon replied brightly and stood. But as he turned to leave, Seokhyeon stopped him.“There’s something else you should know.”“What now?”Raon’s tone sharpened, wary of more nagging. But Seokhyeon’s expression was strangely grave, and Raon obediently sat back down.What came next was beyond imagination.“Team Leader Seo Dojin has proposed a pairing with you.”“…What?”Raon thought he’d misheard.“You mean—you rejected it, right?”He was already paired with Siwoo. For Dojin to make such a proposal meant breaking that bond and demanding Raon pair with him instead—an insult to both partners.“I turned him down at my level, but… well, it’s Seo Dojin. Who knows what he’ll try next.”“Ha…”Raon pressed his fingers to his throbbing temple. The memory from inside the irregular Gate surfaced.‘Guide me.’Dojin’s hand had gripped his shoulder, voice commanding, as Raon tried to guide the wounded Siwoo. He still couldn’t make sense of that strange obsession.Before the rewind, Dojin had despised and avoided him. What wind had shifted now? Was this about Hamin collapsing inside the Gate?Selfish bastard.To throw away a guide with a ninety-five percent match and then cling to him—did the man ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) have no pride? Raon clicked his tongue inwardly and met Seokhyeon’s eyes.“If the guide refuses, there’s nothing he can do.”“I hope so. But the higher-ups might see it differently.”“…”Damn the government. Damn the power structure.Suppressing the thought, Raon said in a steady voice, “Please block any further requests from Team Leader Seo Dojin through the Center.”“Understood.”When Seokhyeon nodded, Raon rose again. This time, he wasn’t stopped.Tap.“Phew.”Exhaling, Raon walked forward. His head was already a mess with too many problems to think about, and now another one had just landed.“Han Raon.”“…”A voice called his name. Familiar enough to make him frown.When he turned, Seo Dojin was standing there, eyes locked on him.

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