Seo Ui-woo slid his goggles down from his forehead over his eyes and turned on the power.
-Captain Seo.
It’s Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san.
While thinking that busy important people like Lt. Col. Jang shouldn’t needlessly have their noses in other people’s business, Seo Ui-woo calmly responded.
“I am Captain Seo Ui-woo of the 1st Special Task Force. Lieutenant Colonel Jang, Sir.”
-Is this the supply receipt list accurate? It seems like there might be a mistake.
“No, there is no mistake. Please proceed with the order as given.”
-Healing Factor, 80 packs?
“That is correct. You saw exactly.”
-Captain Seo Ui-woo. The Healing Factor is a special supply item. It’s normally issued by the guidance department, and it’s given to all members during missions. If you’re ordering additional packs for personal training, you will have to bear the full cost yourself. Do you know how much that all comes to?
“16 billion won, isn’t it? 200 million per pack.”
-…I see. So you are aware.
“By the way, I am not planning to smuggle them if that is what you are concerned about, Lt. Col. Jang.”
Seo Ui-woo was navigating his way to the 7th floor of the building as he communicated via radio with Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san. The Central Management’s 7th floor had a germ-free transfer room.
Although Seo Ui-woo could generate a protective barrier with his abilities, making it unnecessary to use the germ-free transfer room for teleportation, standard protocol required using it. You never know what foreign substances could get into your body if you don’t use the designated clean coordinates.
If you’re unlucky enough to end up with even a speck of dust like a pebble lodged in your heart during the transfer, it would be a fatal injury.
“This new drug is extremely effective this quarter. My condition is good, and I would like to use my personal training time to enhance my abilities and provide meaningful support in battle.”
-Captain Seo Ui-woo, have you a desire for promotion? At your age, you seem to have already had quite the career advancement.
“I simply aspire to follow in the esteemed footsteps of Lieutenant Colonel Jang.”
Lieutenant Colonel Jang Tae-san is a hassle. I should consider applying for a transfer.
Or maybe, now that the topic has come up, it wouldn’t be bad to actually make a real contribution and earn a promotion.
If I were promoted to major, I would be at the rank of battalion deputy commander. Lieutenant Colonel Jang’s 1st Special Task Force already has his faithful deputy commander, Major Kim, firmly in place, so a transfer to another unit is likely.
Whether the higher-ups would appoint a twenty-year-old youngster as a deputy commander is uncertain. However, he could be useful for propaganda purposes. The first S-Class Esper, Major Seo Ui-woo. Considering some of the top brass are particularly sensitive about public approval ratings, it might not be an entirely lost cause.
-Alright… I understand. I’ll process the supply list as it is.
“Thank you.”
Beep.
As soon as the radio communication ended, Seo Ui-woo took off his goggles. Upon reaching the germ-free transfer room, he sterilized his body and belongings, and immediately executed the coordinate transfer.
Kwon Jae-jin. I desperately want to see Seo Ui-woo’s guide.
Is this what it’s like for all Espers?
Then how do they all manage to go about their daily lives?
Seo Ui-woo seriously contemplated requesting not just a transfer but a long-term paid vacation to suppress his impulse.
Although he had claimed it was for new medication, his abrupt lowered risk of losing control and sudden bulk order of Healing Factor were already suspicious. If Seo Ui-woo did anything further and out of the ordinary, Lieutenant Colonel Jang might sense something was amiss.
To prevent such an unfortunate event, Seo Ui-woo needed to continue going on missions and act naturally.
He was not afraid of being punished for hiding a mutant guide, but he couldn’t bear the thought of Kwon Jae-jin, the mutant guide, being killed. If Kwon Jae-jin were to die, and thus Seo Ui-woo’s only guide on Earth were to disappear once again, how could one possibly compensate for that loss?
Seo Ui-woo needed to protect Kwon Jae-jin.
No, he needed to keep his guide alive, by any means necessary.
White light filled the air and dispersed like light bubbles leaving behind afterimages. Seo Ui-woo exited the germ-free transfer room and immediately found Kwon Jae-jin. It was very easy to locate him since the core embedded in his heart would resonate as soon as Seo Ui-woo approached.
Kwon Jae-jin was in the bedroom, covered in white cleaning powder, hanging from the ceiling.
“…Jae-jin?”
No, every time, he seems to greet Seo Ui-woo in some unexpected way.
Last time, he was firing a gun while injured without using any Healing Factor, and now, why is he dangling from the ceiling?
“Uh, Jae-jin, what are you doing up there? Why are you hanging like that?”
“…Ah, damn it. Shit!”
Catching sight of Seo Ui-woo’s gentle face, Kwon Jae-jin cursed.
He was clinging to the bedroom window’s steel frame with his bare hands, trying to climb up the wall like a rock climber to open a window on the ceiling. This was an attempt to escape that his rock climbing hobby made possible.
That attempt, however, was utterly foiled upon Seo Ui-woo’s arrival.
In any case, the windows here were managed by an electronic system, so Kwon Jae-jin couldn’t open them manually. Even if he could, Seo Ui-woo would have noticed the opened window through an alarm message.
“A window? Did you want to open a window? Are you still trying to leave my house?”
“Do you even need to ask that right now? Isn’t that obvious!”
“Why though? You know you would be killed if you leave, Jae-jin.”
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
