Guide to the Fallen World - Chapter 32

#32. Shelter Samrangjin

***

The intent behind it may not have been entirely pure, but in the end, Yeowon’s attempt was a success. It was hard to dismiss it as just a kiss when the guiding effect had been so overwhelmingly effective.

They had kept their lips pressed together for about ten minutes under the guise of guiding.

It had only been a single mucosal guide, yet its effects far surpassed those of hundreds of guiding drugs. Yeowon was astonished to see that most of Dohyuk’s wounds had healed.

Still, the sight of him returning so battered on that first day was too shocking, so she didn’t skip guiding him the next day, or the day after that.

As a result of spending the whole day together, performing radiation guiding and sometimes even attempting mucous membrane guiding…

Dohyuk underwent recovery awakening. The electric ability he had humbly said he could only use a little. That ability, which he had treated as secondary, saying it was too weak to be applied in combat, was greatly enhanced.

Jay explained that, to be precise, it wasn’t so much an awakening as it was a regaining of an ability that had failed to fully bloom and had degenerated due to insufficient guiding throughout his growth period, despite having awakened his ability.

“My goodness, I don’t know whether to call this amazing. Usually, this kind of thing often happens after sexual guiding… How much did you suck and lick?”

Yeowon, feeling guilty at the suggestive remark, deliberately excused herself.

And Dohyuk trailed closely behind Yeowon.

Jay plainly watched but didn’t stop them. If the guide liked it, there was no reason for her to intervene. Choosing an esper to keep by her side was the guide’s prerogative. She would simply support that decision.

Her duties would expand to include the education and surveillance of the esper who had successfully latched onto the guide, but even that wasn’t so bad.

It was nice to watch.

Witnessing firsthand the kind of beautiful love she had only seen in movies and dramas felt somewhat annoying yet satisfying. She wanted to keep watching as long as possible.

Of course, she would intervene and interfere whenever necessary, but not yet.

“…Maybe I shouldn’t have let them leave the base.”

Still, she did have regrets. She also acknowledged her miscalculation. The speed at which their relationship was developing was faster than expected.

Jay stared at Yeowon and Dohyuk through the hologram in her retina. It hadn’t been long since she had chided them, and already they were kissing again.

The guide’s slender arms, wrapped around the esper’s neck, fluttered gently. Then, the guide’s face, beaming brightly, was captured over the esper’s shoulder.

Yeowon hadn’t laughed like that even once since Dohyuk had left for Yeouido. Even considering he was the first esper she had encountered since waking from hibernation… her affection was considerably deep.

She had once warned Yeowon. Even if Dohyuk seemed docile, his essence was still that of an esper, shouldn’t she be more wary?

At that time, Yeowon had said.

‘Not liking someone who likes me… is just too difficult.’

‘That’s sophistry. I like you too, but you dislike me.’

‘That’s because you’re crazy, Jay.’

‘Crazy… I am not! Kang Dohyuk is crazier than me! Look here. I’ll show you, quantified as data!’

‘Get rid of it. How am I supposed to know if that data is fabricated or not.’

‘Wow. You’re so frustrating, really!’

‘This is what they call reaping what you sow. Still… well, now that we’re talking about it, even though I do dislike you a bit, it’s not like it’s a genuine hatred.’

‘Huh?’

‘Your methods might be a bit crazy, but there’s probably no one as full of love for humanity as you are. Even if it’s hard to understand, I respect your way.’

‘…Really?’

‘I know you prioritize and consider me above all else. And who in the world dislikes the person who cooks for them?’

‘Wow. So, you just see me as your personal maid?’

‘Speaking of which, make me some egg rolls today. With perilla leaves.’

Yeowon’s face was radiant as she said that. And Jay liked that.

Her shyness was evident beneath her evasive attitude, and I was grateful that her indirectly conveyed sincerity was filled with trust.

You trust me, even though I am just a consciousness entity.

When in reality, I have been confining and using you, a guide, to suit my own purposes. Even knowing that plainly, you say you respect me.

How can you be so naive?

You once said you wanted to part ways with me, that I was crazy and insane. You insisted I was a villainous artificial intelligence and a mad scientist hybrid.

It’s only been a year since then. Just because I’ve changed my attitude a bit in the meantime, you’re trying to respect and accept me again like this.

Is it because of you that I, too, am becoming soft, as if infected by you…?

Good thing I’m an android. A machine doesn’t shed tears.

So, for now, I won’t interrupt. I’ll just watch as the two of you hold each other and kiss.

Because I want to return that trust and respect.

Because I want your smile to last tomorrow too.

And to make that happen, I have to do what needs to be done.

Jay stopped watching Yeowon and turned her gaze to the movements in Yeouido. It was to find Heo Yi Gyeom, the representative Esper of Yeouido, who had vanished without a trace.

Espers with detection abilities were a pain to deal with. Earth ability user could sense underground shelters, but detection wasn’t just about locating, it was about perceiving.

And that guy’s perception, which far surpass the five senses, are almost precognitive.

He even detected and evaded Dohyuk’s telekinesis completely. If he wanted to, he could detect movements, shifts, and even life signs within the base.

If his purpose were to raid the guiding drug production bases using that ability, it would be rather reassuring. But Heo Yi Gyeom did not do that. He only had his subordinate espers scout the vicinity of the bases, and he didn’t seem to intend to touch their production facilities.

If so, there is only one reason.

The leader of Shelter Yeouido is looking for the guide.

There must be a limit to his detection range, so it will take some time, but if left unchecked, he could pinpoint the guide’s location at any moment.

Moreover, the essence of Heo Yi Gyeom’s unique ability is absorption itself. This makes him difficult to deal with in a confrontation. When he reappears, he will surely emerge with unique abilities he didn’t have before.

The reason he’s hidden himself now must be because he has begun hunting espers to absorb the abilities he needs.

Jay succeeded in grasping most of Yi Gyeom’s intentions in this way.

However, one important puzzle piece was missing.

Jay was unaware that the esper from Shelter Yeouido had already pinpointed the guide’s location.

***

The Vellicous wasp is a type of monster. It’s famously known to inhabit all across the continent, regardless of climate.

A peculiar fact is that these monsters form a kind of pair bond.

If you kill a female and extract her pheromones, the male, without knowing why, will track those pheromones and set out to find his vanished mate. Even if the location is across the ocean, on another continent, this monster will unfailingly find the source of the pheromones.

What follows is simple. Just attach a small tracker and release it, and you can easily see where the monster flies.

After pinpointing the location, you detonate the bomb attached to the monster’s back, killing the male without any anomalies being detected. This way, even if observed by satellite, it is disguised as the carcass of a common monster.

The place where the Vellicous wasp completed its flight and circled once was the Sakhalin Ice Forest.

This is the former Russian territory that had fallen into ruin after the war between the Shanghai and Sakhalin Shelters, and turned into a living hell for the survivors due to the League’s atrocities.

In other words, Sakhalin is a notorious wasteland where Shanghai espers set up a ‘tournament’ and made the living fight each other until not a single one remained.

Shelter Sakhalin, now attracting everyone’s attention, was a site of mass slaughter and a snow-covered grave, which even espers hesitated to visit.

To hide the Guide in such a place. It was unexpected enough to make one burst into laughter. Sakhalin, shrewdly chosen by the Chief, was that much of a surprising location.

And yet, they were still discovered.

Now that he knew the location, there was no need to rush. Yi Gyeom proceeded with the tasks he needed to accomplish, step by step.

First, to evade the Chief’s eyes, he forged his identity, disguising himself as an esper from Shelter Samrangjin.

After that, he instigated conflicts between shelters and embarked on a full-scale ability hunt.

Fortunately, there were many foolish espers in the world. There were also plenty of those aiming to take over shelters to secure a stable supply of drugs, so many they were practically tripping over each other.

Moreover, thanks to regions where the shelter wars between espers were not yet over, acquiring the abilities he needed was easier than expected.

“You. You bastard! Now that I see it, you’re not Yoo Tae Seok from Samrangjin, but—!”

Crack!

The esper from Shelter Junam couldn’t finish his sentence. He couldn’t even scream. It was because the lower half of his face had been completely blown away.

“Ghkk! Ghhhrk!”

With his throat grotesquely exposed, the Junam Esper let out a metallic rasp before vanishing with eyes wide open. At that very moment, Yi Gyeom spread out his detection ability.

He pinpointed the location where the enraged Esper would reappear after his spatial leap, and as soon as he materialized, Yi Gyeom wrapped his fingers around his heart.

“Kh… Khhhk!”

Slowly, Yi Gyeom absorbed the man’s ability. The Esper’s desperate struggles gradually weakened until, at last, they ceased entirely.

“Hoo…”

Yi Gyeom dropped the corpse onto the ground as if discarding trash and immediately took out a cigarette. The battle had dragged on because he had acted like a purely physical-type esper to avoid revealing his disguised identity.

Even so, with this fight as the last, he had obtained all the unique abilities he had aimed for.

Yi Gyeom rummaged in his pocket, activated the secure communicator, and issued instructions to the Yeouido espers on standby.

【Raid the guiding drug production bases immediately. The goal is to secure a large quantity of drugs.】

【Espers who have completed their identity disguise should converge near the Sakhalin Ice Forest via different routes. Be careful not to overlap your paths, as the Chief is watching.】

Having finished giving instructions, Yi Gyeom took a deep drag on his cigarette filter and slowly exhaled.

“To get along well, I’ll have to win her favor…”

Should he bring a gift or something? But what do women in their twenties like?

To find out, he first had to return to Shelter Samrangjin. There are women in Samrangjin too, so if he asked, they would tell him.

Also, while he’s asking, he should also find out how to comfort a woman who has lost her lover.

Because when they meet again, he will have to kill Noah’s esper.