“What’s going on, Esper Jung Hyunseung?”Raon’s tone was calm but edged as he looked the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} furious man up and down. Hyunseung, red-faced and trembling with anger, jabbed a finger at him.“Are you kidding me right now? Can’t you see Juwon’s about to pass out?”“Haa…”Raon exhaled, already tired of it.“We’re in the middle of training. Is there a problem?”“Problem? You call this training? This is just torture. Does it make you feel good, lording it over the other Guides because you’re an S-class?”A low laugh escaped Raon.Of course, he’d gained recognition after the irregular Gate, but plenty of people still looked at him the way Hyunseung did—through the lens of his past reputation. And with their previous bad blood, he could almost understand it. But storming in and disrupting training was crossing the line.“Hyunseung, stop it. I—I’m fine, really,” Juwon panted.“Fine? How is this fine? You don’t deserve this crap.”Juwon tried to calm him down, but Hyunseung only flared up more violently at the sight.“As I said, this is training. Every Guide here agreed to it beforehand.”“Don’t make me laugh. When would a Guide ever need to run inside a Gate?”There was no getting through to him. As a member of Team Two, Hyunseung hadn’t entered the irregular Gate, and that ignorance made him stubborn.But even then, all the post-operation data had been shared. There was no way an S-class Esper didn’t know what had happened. Raon frowned, fixing him with a cold stare.“You’ve read the irregular Gate report, haven’t you?”“I did. But it’s not like we’ll see those kinds of Gates popping up all the time.”“Can you guarantee that?”“What?”“That irregular Gate turned gray before it closed. You’re saying with confidence that won’t happen again?”“I—”Hyunseung fell silent. Even experts had warned that future Gates could behave unpredictably. No matter how strong he was, he wasn’t in a position to declare otherwise.“Stop acting like a child. You’re disrupting training—step back.”“What?”“If you keep this up, I’ll call security.”“Ha, you’ve gotta be kidding—!”Hyunseung took a step forward, arm rising as if to strike. Raon didn’t flinch. He simply met the raised hand with a steady gaze.“Enough.”The voice that cut between them was low and commanding. Hyunseung’s arm froze midair.“C-Captain Beom.”“…!”Raon turned in surprise—not Dojin, as he’d first thought.A towering man stood there instead, broader-shouldered than Dojin, his eyes sharp beneath a buzz-cut head. A long scar ran down one cheek, catching the light.Recognizing him instantly, Raon inclined his head.“Captain Beom Inho.”“Mm.”With his close-cropped hair and heavy build, Inho looked older than his actual age. His gaze lingered on Raon for a brief moment before he spoke.“My subordinate’s at fault, sure. But you could’ve handled it better too.”“…Sir?”Raon blinked, confused—until he realized Inho’s eyes weren’t on him.“Siwoo. You—”“…”Siwoo stood a few paces behind, arm slowly lowering.Raon’s stomach sank. If Siwoo had acted, even for a moment, it could’ve turned into an S-class versus S-class incident.“No matter how wrong he was, losing your head like that isn’t acceptable,” Inho said, clicking his tongue at Siwoo.That tone made Raon’s frown deepen.“Losing his head? With respect, Esper Jung Hyunseung was clearly in the wrong.”“I’m not denying that. But using your power on another Esper? That’s over the line.”“Siwoo didn’t do anything yet—!”Raon bristled at the accusation, but before he could finish, Hyunseung suddenly doubled over with a strangled sound.“Kh—!”“...!”He crumpled to his knees, face contorted in pain. But Siwoo hadn’t moved—hadn’t even raised a hand.No way…Siwoo’s ability was water manipulation—he could freeze or boil it at will. During the irregular Gate, he’d killed the core guardian by freezing moisture in the air and turning it into shards.But if he heated that same moisture instead… it would vaporize. He rarely used that technique—it didn’t suit his usual affinity.Still, after that insertion guiding session, his contamination values had skyrocketed. When Espers’ stats rose that sharply, they sometimes unlocked functions they’d never been able to use before.Was he trying to rupture the water inside Hyunseung’s body?A chill ran down Raon’s spine. Killing another S-class in an instant by boiling the water in their cells—that was pure overkill.While Raon’s thoughts raced, Inho straightened, his expression unreadable.“Looks like we’re headed to the infirmary.”“Ah.”“I won’t make an issue of it. Let’s just leave it here.”He hefted Hyunseung effortlessly over one shoulder, speaking evenly.Raon looked up at the massive man, then nodded.“Fine. But since Esper Jung Hyunseung started this, please ensure it doesn’t happen again.”“I’ll see what I can do.”Inho gave a short reply, then turned—and vanished from sight in an instant.Right… his ability was physical enhancement.Ordinary as a power, but when paired with that monstrous physique and S-class stats, it became unstoppable. As leader of Alpha-2 Team, Beom Inho had been Dojin’s only true rival in the original story.If Dojin destroyed monsters from afar with telekinesis, Inho dove straight in and crushed them by hand. The two had hated each other from the start, and their relationship never improved.Actually, Beom Inho got injured before the Black Gate arc and retired early, didn’t he?That had left a devastating gap—only five S-class Espers in the country, and one suddenly gone. The remaining few had barely managed to suppress the Black Gate; it had been called a miracle.Wait… did they actually suppress it?He’d never finished the novel before transmigrating. And in his previous loop, he’d died fulfilling the villain’s role before reaching the end.Whatever. I’m sure they did.Otherwise the story wouldn’t have ended. The ratings had been good; it had to be a happy ending.Raon brushed it off and turned—only to find Siwoo standing close enough to startle him.“Ah—!”“You okay?”“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”Hyunseung hadn’t even swung, so of course he wasn’t hurt. Still, Siwoo’s eyes scanned him carefully, as if checking for injuries anyway.“Sorry I was late.”“Late? That was fast.”The bungee platform where he’d been training Yeojoon was far across the field. For Siwoo to notice something was wrong and arrive this quickly—it was almost teleportation.Now that everything had settled, Yeojoon’s screams had stopped too. Raon patted Siwoo’s arm.“Come on. Let’s get back to training.”“Okay.”Siwoo nodded and drifted back toward the bungee platform. Once Raon saw him go, he turned back to the Guides.“Alright, everyone’s rested enough. Let’s pick it up again.”“Y-yes!”The team members, who’d secretly enjoyed the pause, responded in pale unison. Raon led them back into the run.***The next day, summoned to the Director’s office, Raon could only gape at what he heard.“Abuse?”“Yes. A complaint was filed about your training methods.”“The ones from yesterday?”“Mm-hmm.”Raon gave a short, incredulous laugh. He had a good idea who’d lodged it.“All we did was run.”“And you dropped Esper Lee Yeojoon off a bungee platform dozens of times.”“Well… he agreed to it.”Director Seokhyeon sighed, removing his glasses and pressing his fingers into the deep furrow between his brows.“As you know, Guide training has always consisted of basic exercises and simulations. No one’s ever pushed it beyond that—you of all people should remember.”“I do.”Before his regression, he’d been one of those lazy Guides, skipping drills every chance he got. It made sense that his new standards looked extreme to everyone else.“But things are different now. Guides are entering Gates themselves. No one knows what could happen inside.”“And if the Espers guarding them can’t protect them, what use is that training?”“So we should just let them die like dogs?”“That’s not what I—”“Then what? You think dressing Guides up like pretty dolls again is going to change anything?”Raon’s voice rose, sharper than he intended.

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