STJ_27
It felt like being sucked into a whirlpool, as if under the influence of anesthesia, or like sliding down a high-speed slide. His stomach churned with nausea, as if turned upside down from motion sickness.
Amid the discomfort, Doyoung tightly shut his eyes, enduring the pain. And when he opened them again, he heard people shouting around him, their voices piercing his ears.
“Call the medical team!”
“Get a stretcher first!”
“Please step aside! This is an emergency!”
His vision was still blurry. As if the world was spinning, Doyoung blinked repeatedly until his focus slowly returned, allowing him to take in his surroundings.
Doyoung found himself sitting on a cold floor with Nam Yuseong, who was still gripping his wrist.
Just moments ago, they had been on barren ground riddled with cracks. But now, as he looked down, his hand touched the smooth, polished surface of a granite floor.
With great effort, Doyoung lifted his head and saw gray walls and the silhouettes of people staring down at them from above.
Was this due to losing too much blood? Or the effect of instant teleportation? As his vision began to blur again, Doyoung shook his head, trying to fight off the dizziness like someone struggling to shake off a hangover.
Above the growing crowd of people, there was a slogan.
『Welcome to UEFC. Witness the courage and fighting spirit of our soldiers firsthand.』
It was a banner hung at the entrance of the first-floor lobby of the headquarters, in front of the Space-war Memorial.
Like a scene that captured everyone’s attention, a sudden vortex appeared in the middle of the spacious lobby inside the building. And along with it, two people emerged, one of whom was bleeding heavily.
The schoolchildren visiting in their uniforms were startled by the sight and began pulling out their phones one by one.
However, the soldiers carrying screen shields were quicker to surround them. The screen shields, blocking the entire view, were filled with warnings prohibiting photography.
How could I be here again?
In his confusion, a faint voice reached Doyoung's ears.
"Are... you okay...?"
When Doyoung turned toward the voice, he saw Nam Yuseong. His eyes shone like beads freshly dipped in phosphorescent liquid.
Seeing Nam Yuseong's condition, which looked far worse, Doyoung managed a faint smile and nodded his head with difficulty.
Soon, the two were laid on emergency stretchers. As if a massive explosion had just gone off beside him, his mind felt hazy, making it hard to hear the conversations of the people above him.
“Esper Nam Yuseong’s wave has reached level 10!”
“He needs guiding right now! Quickly move him to the recovery room and request the highest-ranking Guide at the center!”
“Understood!”
“This is also an emergency! This Guide can’t control his blood pressure!”
“Bring another unit of blood!”
One person was taken to the Esper recovery area, while the other was moved to the medical area for ordinary individuals. The two stretchers headed in opposite directions.
The sound of the emergency bed wheels rolling echoed like a poor-quality signal, sometimes audible, sometimes fading.
Doyoung, who was watching the rapidly moving ceiling patterns, felt his vision darkening. And finally, he lost consciousness.
***
Beep, beep.
The rhythmic sound of machines woke Doyoung from his sleep.
“Ugh…”
Why does my body hurt so much?
His thoughts drifted for a moment before he slowly opened his eyes. Without remembering what had happened, he instinctively tried to lift himself with his right hand, only to feel a sharp pain as if his breath had been knocked out.
“Akh!”
The pain subsided after a while, and finally, Doyoung had the chance to assess his condition.
He was wearing a hospital gown. When he slightly lifted the collar of his shirt, he saw that his arm was wrapped in thick bandages. It was the aftermath of a surgical suture.
“…Sa Iijun.”
In a hoarse voice, Doyoung uttered Sa Iijun’s name and quickly scanned his surroundings.
He was alone in the treatment room. The transparent fluid slowly dripping from the IV connected to his arm didn’t seem to be a blood transfusion, so he thought it would be fine to just remove it.
After removing the IV needle and sitting up, Doyoung lowered his feet to the floor and put on the hospital slippers. As soon as he tried to stand, his head felt dizzy for a moment, but he had no time to waste.
He had left Iijun in the middle of hell. He needed to know how he was doing.
Doyoung finally managed to get on the elevator after staggering through the hallway and headed to the 51st floor. As if the situation wasn’t over yet, the atmosphere in the command control room was tense.
The command staff were busy with communication radios, calling out to someone and shouting, while Jeon Haesu, standing at the back, looked deeply worried.
“Reaper has arrived at the possible attack location.”
“Proceed to the field.”
“This is headquarters. Delta, Reaper is waiting at an altitude of 5 km.”
Reaper is an unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 20 meters, capable of carrying nearly two tons of bombs. The destructive power of this weapon is enough to obliterate an entire area.
However, authorization from the location has not yet been granted. No matter what happens, communication with the Espers has been completely cut off.
A reconnaissance plane was dispatched, but due to thick smoke and dust, it malfunctioned and crashed.
Haesu, touching her forehead as if she had a headache, noticed Doyoung there. Having exhausted all means to contact the other team, she asked Doyoung a sharp question without even inquiring about his condition.
“Guide Joo Doyoung, what was the situation like the last time before you exited? Tell me what you remember. There are reports of a sniper.”
“Sa Iijun caused an explosion, and all armed civilians have been killed. Only the Creatures remain.”
“Civilians? Not Loners?”
Doyoung shook his head.
“None of them were using abilities. There were about ten people, all carrying rifles. The type was KI16.”
Hearing this, Deputy Commander Oh Yangtaek whispered to Haesu.
“That’s a rifles from our military supplier.”
“...Are you sure? Could Guide Joo Doyoung have misseen?”
“I’m certain I remember it clearly.”
“......”
With this new information, it seemed another meeting was about to begin. However, Doyoung couldn’t wait any longer.
“Please send me back to the field.”
“What?”
Haesu asked back as if she had just heard something absurd.
“Please send me back to the field. Sa Iijun might go on a rampage. Even if Yoon Juhyun provides guiding to the other Espers, Sa Iijun will only listen to me, not anyone else.”
Doyoung finished his sentence with clear pronunciation, but Haesu shook her head.
“Guide Joo Doyoung, you truly have a kind heart, but the only Esper capable of warp right now is undergoing emergency guiding treatment, and I’ve never transported anyone that far before.”
“If you provide vehicle support and manpower...”
“After learning that someone set a trap, I can’t recklessly send my people in.”
“Then I’ll go alone!”
“Guide Joo Doyoung.”
Haesu continued in a firm voice.
“Think carefully about whether this action stems from heroism or mere recklessness.”
"......"
Silence returned.
After the gate opened, most satellites had become useless interdimensional debris, as the government had only built communication networks within controlled zones.
Moreover, all systems ceased functioning near the Creatures' area. The only way to contact someone outside the controlled zone was by using an old-fashioned long-range radio.
In the end, those still in the field had to find their own way and could only wait until they could reestablish contact.
Just at that moment, along with the static of a disrupted signal, a hopeful voice broke the silence.
“We’ve received a vehicle signal!”
Everyone in the command room let out a cheer of excitement. The previously empty map now began to blink with a red marker. It was the signal from the bus carrying the Espers.
Shortly after, a voice connected through the vehicle's communication device was heard.
― HQ, this is Delta. We are on our way back after resolving the situation. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) to headquarters is 30 minutes.
“Report the condition of the team members.”
― India, Sierra 2’s wave is not good. To be precise, Sierra 2’s wave has risen to level 11 or 12.
Wave levels have a scale. The lower the level, the safer it is, and the higher the level, the closer it is to the threshold of a breakout.
And the highest level is 12.
Doyoung didn’t need to hear more. He immediately left the command room. His knees felt weak, and several times he nearly fell, but he kept avoiding danger and ran.
Doyoung took the elevator down to the first floor and stood in front of the headquarters' main entrance, waiting for the bus that would bring them back.
Time felt like it was moving incredibly slowly. Before Doyoung's eyes, some of the most vivid memories of his encounters with Sa Iijun began to play like a film in his mind.
Like the first time he met Sa Iijun, who was like a wild beast that had escaped from a zoo, when he saved Sa Iijun from torture, the kiss they shared under the wisteria flowers, and the blind yet mesmerizing gaze and smile that made him feel like the most special person in the world.
The sun slowly set, and the surroundings grew slightly darker.
After waiting for about 30 minutes, a small light appeared in the distance. Doyoung's previously empty eyes began to shine.
“They’re finally here!”
The waiting soldiers cheered with joy. The bus, covered in black dust from the explosion at the scene, began to pass through the headquarters' gate and entered the premises.
Doyoung immediately ran without a second thought. One of his flip-flops came off, but he didn’t care and didn’t stop to put it back on.
As soon as the bus stopped and its doors opened, he quickly stepped inside. The sharp, metallic smell of blood hit him the moment he entered the bus.
Doyoung quickly scanned the bus, his eyes landing on Sa Iijun, who was lying on a patient bed at the back, covered in blood and looking as lifeless as a corpse.
"Ah..."
Doyoung hoped it was entirely the blood of Creatures, but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.
Iijun's body was covered in large and small wounds. Particularly the injury on his arm, which appeared to be caused by the teeth or claws of a Creature, looked wide open like a deep, jagged gash.
Although high-level Espers possess the ability to heal themselves, Iijun's wounds showed no signs of recovery. His body, exhausted from overusing his abilities, had now fallen into a critical state, leaving him unable to heal on his own.
The wavelength detector beside his bed was too close and unmoving.
Worry began to take over. Even though many people praised Espers as immortal beings, in Doyoung's eyes, they were simply humans made of flesh and bone.
"Please, don't die."
Doyoung climbed onto Iijun's weakened body lying on the bed, like a doctor about to perform CPR on a patient. And then, without waiting any longer, he lowered his face.
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