Chapter 1

BANG, THUD.

A man, drenched in the purple bodily fluid of a creature that had just burst apart like a firecracker, scowled.

“Filthy bastards….”

It was an Esper who had annihilated the creature in a single instant and was now walking slowly into the Gate. Following him, other Espers began to fall in line and enter as well.

“Are you alright?”

Upon seeing the creature explode right in front of them, some people had fainted or collapsed in shock. Someone approached a woman who was staring blankly at the scene.

“Can you walk? Just go straight this way, and you’ll find the shelter.”

“Y-yes… thank you. Thank you.”

The woman, still in a daze, repeatedly expressed her gratitude and disappeared into an alley. The people reassuring civilians, handling the rear guard, and helping to heal the Espers were Guides.

“Who was it that blew that up just now?”

“Who else? It was Esper Park Kang-woo.”

The world had reached a breaking point, and no country was safe. Friends people had seen just yesterday were dying, and countless individuals who had lost their families and homes were left with nothing. The Gates were the final blow.

Creatures bursting from the Gates wreaked havoc, a relentless cycle of destruction, turning every day across the country into a war. The only shred of hope was that, just as humanity was on the verge of annihilation, a new breed of superhumans had emerged.

“So he’s an S-class, huh? Causing trouble wherever he goes. Blowing up creatures right in front of civilians? What if someone had died?”

“I heard he always calculates for that. We haven’t had any problems so far, have we?”

The Guides clicked their tongues, clearly displeased with his actions, yet they dared not speak ill of him. He was the only S-class Esper in South Korea. His strength and ability were unrivaled, and he would often enter and clear out high-level Gates on his own, earning him a strong, almost fanatical, following among the public.

“Just an arrogant bastard.”

“Huh?”

Someone emerged yawning through the hazy mist that had formed after the Gate opened.

“Guide Heisha. You’re late. Too late. Busy. Too busy.”

Since they didn’t know any other English, the Guides clumsily pointed at their watches and sputtered out the words, indicating he was late. Heisha just grinned. His eyes were still watering from the yawn, but his overall impression was one of cheerful innocence.

“Sorry I’m late. Who’s an ‘arrogant bastard’? What does that mean?”

With the low ratio of superhumans in South Korea, the government had no choice but to seek out ethnic Koreans scattered across the globe. Otherwise, the nation faced an existential threat, a desperate situation where Korea could literally vanish from the map.

“It means something like… good luck. Right?”

“I guess so.”

The Guides muttered and moved away from Heisha. All the Guides on this mission were Korean nationals; only Heisha was a repatriated Korean who had lived abroad.

“So ‘arrogant bastard’ means good luck? I learned a new word today. Arrogant bastard.”

To make matters worse, he was a rookie who had only been in Korea for a little over a year.

“Is the Gate already cleared?”

The reason everyone avoided him was that he couldn’t provide much help as a Guide. He was the only C-class Guide on the mission, the lowest rank. His matching rate was abysmal, and no Esper wanted to partner with him. He was essentially a filler, a Guide who was just brought in to make up the numbers.

“It’s not cleared yet. Do you want to go in and help with the healing?”

“Pardon? (What was that?)”

He would speak fluent Korean one moment, then suddenly switch to English when asked a question he didn’t understand. A damn Korean-American. His C-rank and general uselessness meant no one cared if he was late or didn’t show up at all. The only thing they asked was that he not get in the way.

“Enough. Heisha, you’re on standby. Did you evacuate all the other civilians?”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“You two, stay with Heisha. Everyone else, enter the Gate. As you all know, Esper Park Kang-woo cannot be healed, so just observe the fight from as far away as possible. Don’t forget to use your comms if something happens. Got it?”

“Yes!” Everyone’s response was a single unified roar.

Heisha cocked his head. He had been on missions before, but he had never heard of an Esper who couldn’t be healed. How could an Esper operate without a Guide’s support? What would happen if he went berserk?

“Guide Heisha.”

“Did you call me?”

“You have this in your ear, right?” A Guide pointed to the earpiece in his ear. Heisha nodded and showed his own ear.

“I have it.”

“If you hear the word ‘retreat,’ you have to run.”

“Why?”

“There’s a time bomb in there.”

“A time bomb?”

As the words got a little more complicated, Heisha looked flustered and laughed awkwardly.

“I know what a bomb is, but what’s a time bomb? Time?”

“It means a bomb that could explode at any moment.”

Was he talking about that Esper the captain had just mentioned, the one who couldn’t be healed?

“Okay, I get it now.”

Heisha’s eyes crinkled into a bright smile, and he nodded. An “Esper no one can heal.” The phrase sent a thrill through him, and he suddenly felt the urge to meet him. On top of that, the Center Director had intentionally assigned him, a C-class, to the scene. His power-measurement tests would always short out, which led them to believe he possessed an even greater, unmeasurable strength than an S-class.

“You’re not to guide anyone. Don’t do it carelessly, or for anyone.”

He promised he wouldn’t, as he had no reason to refuse. Just as he had expected, everyone ignored him, and the lack of attention was a relief. However… the thought of a powerful Esper who could not be healed was a sentence that completely captivated him—a reason not to avoid him.

Heisha flashed a wide, toothy grin. He hoped he would reach the very brink of exploding. Because then, he would finally have his chance to guide him. That would be absolutely wonderful…

The guides who had been with him outside were now running away, not even bothering to look back. Heisha stood perfectly still, his head cocked to the side as he stared intently at the Gate.

“What does ‘run’ mean?”

“Hey! Heisha! What are you doing not running away? Hurry up!”

What poured out of the Gate was not a creature, but the Guides and Espers themselves. A dozen or so people zipped past Heisha in a flash. The Guide captain yelled.

“Heisha! Hurry up and get out!”

“Oh. ‘Get out’ means ‘run away’?”

He had learned another new word. Just as Heisha grinned, the entrance of the Gate exploded with a bang! A surge of psychic energy rippled outward, and a man with bloodshot eyes began to lose control, thrashing wildly.

“Heisha!”

“Forget about him and get out of the area! Now!”

The captain walked toward him at a hurried pace.

“Heisha! What are you staring at? Do you want to die?”

“What does ‘die’ mean?”

“Do you really want to die here?”

“Ah. That means ‘die’?”

He was pretending not to understand on purpose, but there were genuinely some words that were difficult to grasp. With time running out, there was no time for this verbal sparring. The captain shoved Heisha’s back, but he merely smiled, his handsome face unbothered, his body not budging an inch.

“Captain?”

“Heisha!”

“Lie down.”

He meant to say ‘get down,’ but in the sudden chaos, the sentence wouldn’t form, so he just blurted out the words. Knowing he wouldn’t understand, Heisha grabbed the captain by the collar and flipped him over. With a strange grunt, the captain frothed at the mouth and passed out.

“Oops. My mistake. Are you okay? Captain, are you still breathing?”

Heisha glanced around, checking his surroundings. Luckily, no one had seen what happened. Except for the Esper, a little distance away, who was now being called a “time bomb.”

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Heisha. Your name is Park Kang-woo, right? Park Kang-woo Esp—”

Swoosh. A rock, sent flying with psychic force, grazed his cheek. It wasn’t a sharp object, but it had moved so fast that it left a cut.

“That hurts! I’m going to bill you for the scar!”

Heisha frowned and looked around again. Hmm. No one was here. The perfect environment.

“Esper Park Kang-woo!”

“…”

His pupils were unfocused. It was impossible to tell what he was looking at, but there were hundreds of rocks suspended in the air.

“You’re not going to put those down, are you?”

“…”

Since a rock could come flying at him at any moment, Heisha shoved the captain further away and looked up.

“I guess your matching rate is bad because you’re an S-class. But why didn’t the director match me with you?”

Now that he thought about it, it was strange. Was it a waste to connect him with me?

“Hey! Look at me!”

Heisha’s eyes crinkled into a bright smile, and he spread his arms wide.

“If you like my guiding, get up and be my friend! I’m lonely because I don’t have any friends!”

As Heisha’s eyes shone and he looked up at the sky, his body twitched. At that moment, a massive rock came flying and buried him with a loud crash.

Rustle, rustle…

A strange sound emerged, and something began to crawl out from between the cracks of the rock. A pale face, thick fur, soft black paws, and the sharp teeth of a mammal.

“Couldn’t you have waited just a little bit?”

He climbed to the very top of the rock and stood up in a dramatic pose.

“Come on over, Esper Park Kang-woo. Try my guiding.”

He raised a black paw and waved it. Standing proudly with his two paws in the air was a proud sea otter, a special animal from the Aleutian Islands. Heisha, who was as popular in Alaska as he was in Korea…

“Come on, Esper Park Kang-woo!”

…was a dashing sea otter.