The Dirtiest of Them All
"I'll call you in once every two weeks to a month. All you'll need to do is give a blood sample."
Baek Yeo-eul, who had been quietly braced for some kind of human experimentation, nodded with a visibly relieved expression.
"Since you were deployed to the field yesterday, we'll draw it next time. That will likely be after your trip to the United Kingdom."
Time really had flown. Before she knew it, the UK dispatch was looming just ahead.
Just then, the door opened.
"Esper Han Yi-hyeon?"
It was Han Yi-hyeon, his hair slightly mussed as though he'd run the whole way here. The moment he spotted Baek Yeo-eul, he strode straight toward her.
"All done with your checkup?"
Han Yi-hyeon had left home early that morning for his periodic health examination. Since wearing his watch was prohibited during testing, he'd sent a text before heading out — and judging by the state of him, he must have finished the exams, found the reply, and sprinted straight over.
Baek Yeo-eul rose from her seat and bowed to Do Geon.
"Goodbye, Director."
"...Have a safe trip."
The door clicked shut, and before long Seo Joo-hwan came in.
"I apologize. Esper Han Yi-hyeon barged in so recklessly that—"
Seo Joo-hwan had tried to stop him, but Han Yi-hyeon hadn't listened to a single word. The man had finished his tests, checked his watch, and shot off like an arrow; Seo Joo-hwan had only just managed to catch up and reach this room.
"He is, after all, receiving proper guiding for the first time in his life. I suppose some consideration is in order."
Though of course, the man was every bit as insolent as ever.
Do Geon turned to Seo Joo-hwan.
"About Baek Yeo-eul's assigned agent."
"Ah."
Seo Joo-hwan's eyes gleamed.
"I have it prepared."
Having been thoroughly taken apart last time, Seo Joo-hwan had snapped to attention. When he'd canvassed for agents before, Baek Yeo-eul had been nothing more than an ordinary C-rank Guide and most candidates had turned her down; now, boasting an 89% match with an S-rank Esper of all people, she was drawing no small number of direct inquiries.
From among them, Seo Joo-hwan had picked and picked again, vetted and vetted once more. The shortlist was flawless enough to earn the word perfect without embarrassment, and he squared his shoulders proudly and moved to transmit the file through his watch.
But Do Geon's voice beat him to it.
"I'll take the role. Baek Yeo-eul's assigned agent."
"...I beg your pardon?"
The finger hovering over the send button froze in midair.
"She's a Guide the whole world is watching. Attach just anyone as her agent, and she could easily get dragged into discord, wouldn't you say?"
True enough — pair her with some random nobody, and it might be taken as proof that the state didn't much care, and the anti-government forces might well attempt an approach. But once it became known that the Director of the Guide Protection Center himself had taken her on, they wouldn't even dare come near.
Do Geon was called a monster of a different breed than Han Yi-hyeon. His coldness — bent solely on seizing advantage — and his lightning-fast situational judgment, always several moves ahead, lent enormous weight to the political arena.
"Then we'll proceed that way."
As ever, Seo Joo-hwan marveled at Do Geon's foresight. The assigned agent of a C-rank Guide — herself the partner of an S-rank Esper — being an S-rank in his own right. Honestly, you could wait a hundred years and never see its like.
It stung to watch days of painstaking work go to waste, but with a bitter taste in his mouth, Seo Joo-hwan opened a different file and projected it as a hologram.
As Do Geon began swiftly scanning the file unfolding before him, Seo Joo-hwan reported.
"We've found traces of Kim Dong-soo, the unregistered S-rank Esper who went missing."
Before its citizens, the nation puts on the cleanest face of all — yet the nation is the dirtiest thing there is. It weighs every contingency and moves several steps ahead of everyone else.
Five S-rank Espers were registered with the state. The true number exceeded twenty. And beyond the S-ranks, those holding lower grades numbered far more still.
Many unregistered Espers possessed abilities that would spell nothing but trouble if the public ever learned of them. Powers, in truth, were far more varied than what was publicly known — varied beyond imagination. Because so much remained properly unverified, Espers whose gifts could sow fear or damage society were managed directly by headquarters, and most of them were rotated through assignments abroad rather than at home.
Do Geon served as Director of the Guide Protection Center while shouldering other posts besides. One of them was Chief of Unregistered Esper Management.
The problem was that the unregistered S-rank Esper dispatched to the UK had vanished — and only months later had any trace of him come to light.
"...He was found as a corpse."
A coincidence that sat uneasily.
"How should we proceed?"
Sending them off as planned left a bad taste in his mouth, but canceling the dispatch now was far too late — a national loss would be all but certain.
The order Do Geon would give was already decided.
"Proceed as planned. But instruct Esper Han Yi-hyeon that if he notices anything even slightly off — or feels anything of the sort — he is to return home immediately. Whether or not the work is finished is irrelevant."
If something went wrong and they lost Han Yi-hyeon, it would be a catastrophe beyond mere national loss. His skill counted among the very best even within S-rank, and his workload was such that it would be no exaggeration to say he handled every Grade 2 Gate that opened within the country.
The mission would go ahead as planned — but Han Yi-hyeon's safety came before everything else.
"Understood, sir."
Seo Joo-hwan nodded, then hesitated a moment before speaking.
"Director, is there any message you'd like conveyed regarding the article that ran today?"
Do Geon's brow creased. His deliberation was brief.
"Just tell them to keep it moderate."
"Yes, sir."
Seo Joo-hwan bowed at a crisp right angle and left the office.
One week. The time remaining until Han Yi-hyeon and Baek Yeo-eul departed for the UK slipped away fast.
For overseas travel, they used a private jet provided by headquarters to guard against any possible attack. Even at that pre-dawn hour, Baek Yeo-eul had boarded surrounded by dozens of bodyguards, and only now did her tension finally drain away; she let out a long, deep sigh.
"How are you feeling?"
Han Yi-hyeon asked at once.
Over the past week they had cleared one Grade 3 Gate and one Grade 2 Gate. With her surroundings about to change so abruptly, she had deliberately rested for two full days — and then, barely half a day before departure, an unscheduled Gate had appeared. Fortunately it was nearby and only Grade 3, so it was over quickly, but her sleep had been broken and her body was none too fresh.
"I'm fine."
Baek Yeo-eul pieced together a hazy smile and was asleep almost before she knew it.
It was a direct flight, and when she woke after a solid twelve hours, they were still in the air. After her first meal aboard, the agent who had been introduced as an official when they boarded came over.
"Was the meal to your satisfaction?"
"Yes."
The treatment was lavish, and the food matched it — genuinely first-rate.
Keeping his smile, the agent went on.
"I'm glad to hear it. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Agent Yu Jin-young, in charge of this dispatch."
Yu Jin-young raised a hologram into the air from the watch on his wrist.
Realizing it held the data on the Gate Han Yi-hyeon would have to handle, Baek Yeo-eul fixed her eyes on the hologram and hung on his every word.
"The Gate is Grade 2, and it has now held at Stage 1 for two months and two days."
"How many monsters surface on an average day?"
Baek Yeo-eul flinched at Han Yi-hyeon's voice, right beside her. She had grown so accustomed to the reverent politeness he showed her that she couldn't help jumping every time he addressed someone else.
"Usually five to seven at a time. At the worst, nine have come through."
Those were not good numbers. With no telling when the next wave would come, forces had to stand by around the clock — the drain on manpower would be considerable, and if this dragged on, the UK would suffer heavy losses.
"What are you supposed to do in a situation like this?"
Even an S-rank Esper was not invincible. Closing a Stage 1 Gate that kept spitting out monsters without end was next to impossible.
"Our findings show that when a high-rank Esper is nearby, the wavelength intensifies. The Gate gathers strength to fight back, and once it exceeds its threshold, its stage rises of its own accord."
One of the densely packed holograms enlarged. It was a graph of wavelength intensity, and in the small footage beside it, an Esper drew near — and the wavelength began to surge.
"The problem is that the UK currently has only one S-rank Esper — and his ability is a poor match for this Gate."
So that Esper was the S-rank in question?
Baek Yeo-eul studied the low-resolution footage. It showed the man from behind — even at a glance, an impressive build. The curious part was that, unlike most Espers, he wore a suit.
Even through the grainy quality, his blond hair gleamed.
She found herself staring, absorbed despite herself — and just then, the Esper turned. A sharp nose came into view, his features on the verge of revealing themselves, when the screen went dark.
Baek Yeo-eul blinked a few times and pulled her gaze from the vanished image.
"That concludes the general briefing. Upon arrival, Esper Han Yi-hyeon will assess the situation, work out a strategy with the Gate's commanding officer, and combat will begin. Roughly six hours of flight time remain, so please rest as comfortably as you can and mind your condition."
Yu Jin-young gathered up the hologram and left the cabin.
Six hours later, the jet touched down. On Baek Yeo-eul's puffy face — she had slept continuously to regulate her condition — a trace of tension surfaced.
The cause was none other than the dense wall of security personnel visible beyond the jet's window. There were far too many to compare with the pair who had guarded them at Incheon Airport.
At the same time, she grasped just how gravely the UK regarded this crisis. No wonder they were lavishing such extravagant treatment on Han Yi-hyeon, the man who would end it.
They disembarked and settled into a black sedan.
Yu Jin-young took the front passenger seat, earpiece in place, carrying on a call with someone. A rapid exchange in English followed.
"It seems a problem has come up. They're requesting that we come to the scene at once."
Han Yi-hyeon and Baek Yeo-eul turned to each other at the same moment and nodded.
Normally a dispatch allowed two or three days to acclimate. If even that was off the table, things were serious.