“Urgh—! Seo Dojin!”Yunchae’s scream tore through the air. The heat was so intense it felt like her whole body might melt. But the telekinesis Dojin was supposed to counter the monster with was far weaker than usual.The two covering him, Yunchae and Inho, were already falling apart. The thought flashed through her head—if they didn’t get guiding soon, they could really be wiped out.The monster that had attacked the Guide Team seemed to be contained for now, but if the combat unit fell, none of that would matter.“Seo Dojin! Get a grip!”“Hah… hah…”The monster rained down fire and then rose leisurely back into the sky. Yunchae bit her lip, glaring up at it as it vanished into the clouds again.A few more of those attacks and they’d be done. If they didn’t do something now, it was annihilation.“Seo Do—!”“Kh…”“Seo Dojin!”She was about to yell again when she froze. Dojin’s body tilted sideways and collapsed entirely. Yunchae sprinted toward him.“Seo Dojin! Wake up!”“Ugh.”“Hey!”His eyes stayed shut. He looked completely unconscious—and his body was covered in wounds. But it wasn’t just from physical damage. Yunchae knew he never faltered over ordinary injuries.“Poison?”The color of the blood running from his wounds was wrong. Poison couldn’t be purified through guiding; he needed medical treatment. But this was still inside a Gate.In haste, she pulled an Esper-grade antidote from the med kit and jabbed it into his arm. But it was only a temporary measure—she couldn’t expect much from it.“What the hell are we supposed to do now…”Panic blurred her thoughts. Their team leader was poisoned and unconscious, the unit shredded by the monster’s attacks, and another breath could come at any moment. She wasn’t sure they could survive the next one.“Huh?”Suddenly a cool, clear surge of energy rippled through her body. Her wounds sealed over in seconds.“What is this…”“The Guide Team’s here!”“What?”At the shout, Yunchae whipped her head around. A few figures—Guides, unmistakably—were channeling guiding energy toward her and the soldiers.Judging by how quickly the wounds were closing, this wasn’t ordinary guiding. Was Raon among them?She scanned the group, but there was no sign of him. One of the Guides was even a face she didn’t recognize.“Team Leader Yunchae! Are you all right?”“Ha… Taehyeok. Perfect timing.”It was Kim Taehyeok, her former Exclusive Guide back when she’d led Alpha-3. Yunchae gave a tired nod, relief flickering across her face.“What about Team Leader Dojin?”“He’s done. Completely out cold.”“Then what do we do?”Taehyeok’s face hardened. But Yunchae didn’t have an answer. She might have been a team leader herself once, but Dojin had always been the one commanding suppression of the Red Gates. For him to collapse mid-battle, leaving the situation uncontrollable—it was something that had never happened, not even in nightmares.“The monster will attack again soon. We’ll just have to hold out with what we’ve got.”Even so, she couldn’t just do nothing. Their only real chance had been pinning the creature with Dojin’s telekinesis, but with him down, they needed another plan.“Kh…”“Team Leader Dojin!”A groan cut through the tension. Dojin—who everyone thought was completely unconscious—stirred. His eyes fluttered open, and he slowly pushed himself up.“What happened?”“You passed out. Don’t you remember?”“…”“It looked like you were poisoned.”Her gaze swept over the spot where she’d injected the antidote.Even for an Esper-grade dose, could the antidote really have worked that well? It made no sense—but that didn’t matter right now.“Can you keep fighting? If you go down again—”“That won’t happen. Just get ready. Guides, fall back.”“Hah…”His brazen tone was infuriating, but there was no time to argue. Yunchae turned back to restore formation.“Taehyeok, take the Guides and move them behind the line.”“Yes, ma’am.”“Hm?”Yunchae’s eyes caught that unfamiliar Guide again. A woman. It was rare enough for a female Guide to enter a Gate, and she’d never seen her before. Probably low-ranked or poorly matched—someone without ties to a high-tier Esper.But something about her drew the eye. There was… something different. Yunchae frowned, unable to place why.“Ha, I must be losing it.”Why did a Guide feel like an Esper? There couldn’t possibly be another case like Hamin. She snorted softly at her own ridiculous thought.“It’s coming again!”“—!”At Inho’s shout, Yunchae snapped her head upward. The monster reappeared in the clouds, moving with deliberate grace.Its fiery breath must have a cooldown period. That at least gave them a few precious minutes to recover.“Brace for impact!”And Yunchae realized, dimly but surely—this would be their last chance.“GRAAAAH!”Boom—! The monster’s colossal body slammed into the ground. From behind, Raon wiped sweat from his brow as he watched it fall.“Phew…”It had been close, but Siwoo and Yeojoon’s coordinated assault finally brought it down. Hamin grounding it with wind had been the perfect move.“Holy hell, I thought I was gonna die!”The ever-cocky Yeojoon looked utterly drained, like a battery run dry after overusing his power.“You’re not dying from that. You had my guiding.”“Ha… then I’ll just die anyway.”He gave a hollow laugh—and meant it. S-rank guiding was incredible, but mid-battle it felt like being turned into a zombie. Your body kept fighting even when every cell wanted to quit. It was terrifying, that kind of strength.“What about the combat unit?”Even after barely surviving against the core guardian with their tiny team, Yeojoon was already worrying about the others. He clicked his tongue.“Hey, you must be exhausted.”“You’re on the same team.”“Yeah, yeah, I know!”They bickered lightly, as usual, trailing behind Raon. Thankfully, the combat team had just finished off their own guardian by the time they arrived.“Hah… hah…”“Team Leader!”“Yeojoon.”Yunchae turned with a weary smile. She’d clearly pushed her power to the limit too.“So you two actually brought down the final guardian? Impressive.”“Haha. Team Leader Raon and Guide Hamin helped a lot.”The former Alpha-3 Esper and her old subordinate shared an exhausted laugh. Relief spread through the ranks now that both core guardians were dead.Crack!Inho drove his fist into the egg-shaped core. The entire Gate shuddered and began to darken.Another Gate cleared successfully.Raon looked around, thinking quietly.In the old timeline, they’d been devastated—half the unit lost because the second guardian had toyed with them. They’d won, but no one had been able to smile.Now, though, everyone was smiling. Tired, burned out, but [N O V E L I G H T] alive. That was enough.“Urgh.”“Team Leader Dojin!”“—!”Then, Dojin—barely standing—staggered and collapsed. A soldier ran to catch him.“Sir! Are you all right?”“I’m fine. Don’t make a scene.”But his face was chalk-white, his lips blue. It was clear he wasn’t fine.“Looks like poison. We need to get out—fast.”Yunchae turned to Raon to explain, and he understood instantly. Poison.Normally, Dojin’s telekinesis crushed his enemies before they ever reached him; there was almost no chance of exposure. In the previous timeline, he’d never been poisoned. Only a few soldiers had suffered from the toxin left by the second guardian’s attack.Even Dasom’s healing couldn’t purge it completely.He’d sent her here for that very reason—but she’d only just awakened. Expecting her to neutralize a high-grade toxin was too much.He was still thinking that when they stepped out of the Gate—Flash! Flash! Flash!“—!”An explosion of camera lights hit him the instant he emerged. Raon winced and raised a hand to block his eyes.“The Special Unit has just suppressed the Gate and emerged!”A sea of reporters surrounded the Gate’s entrance. During the irregular Gate incident, Raon had been in no condition to face them. Normally it was Dojin’s duty to handle post-suppression press reports.Raon glanced back instinctively. Dojin, leaning on a soldier, had his eyes closed and didn’t move. The men were rushing him to medical care. Clearly, someone else would have to step up.“Team Leader Raon, go announce it to the public.”“What? But with the other team leaders here, I—”“Go on. You’ve more than earned it.”Yunchae and Inho both gave their approval without hesitation. After a brief pause, Raon nodded.“Who’s that?”“Isn’t he the new Guide Team leader?”Murmurs spread through the crowd of reporters. Raon swept his gaze over them, then spoke clearly.“Good evening. I’m Han Raon, Team Leader of the Guide Special Team.”His face, under the blinding lights, was calm and unwavering—the face of the man reporting the successful suppression of the Gate.

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