TGIC Ch 47

Chapter 47

“Esper Vasily, come to think of it, which region is the gate located in?”

“Taean.”

“……”

Damn it, I should’ve asked beforehand…!

Unlike me, who was only deployed within the jurisdiction, I had overlooked the fact that Vasily could be dispatched anywhere nationwide. Did he say Taean County in South Chungcheong? If I had known it was this far, I would’ve at least brought a neck pillow. Even with no traffic, it’s over two hours one-way.

Sigh… Well, we’ve already left, so there’s no helping it. I figured I might as well ask for some information about the gate.

“Do you know any details about the gate?”

“It’s a C-rank gate that opened off the coast of Taean. Nothing unusual about it.”

“Then the raid should be completed within a day.”

“Yeah.”

Taean, huh… Even if the raid ends early, it’ll probably be late at night by the time we get home. If it ends too late, it might be better to just stay nearby for the night and return to Seoul the next day. I’d have to guide Vasily anyway, so I figured I’d subtly ask him when he comes out of the gate, and turned my gaze toward the window.

I’d thought “off the coast of Taean” was just an expression, but we had really come all the way to the seaside. Seeing the ocean stretch out in front of me left me with a strange, complicated feeling.

As soon as I got out of the car, a salty sea breeze welcomed me.

It’s summer, so there were plenty of people who had come to the beach to have fun, but because of the gate, the coast was restricted, leaving the beach desolate. Instead, temporary tents were set up along the shoreline. But oddly enough, I couldn’t see the gate itself.

While looking around, I spotted a faint greenish glow far off in the sea. So it really had opened out in the water.

Vasily said he had something to take care of and stepped away. I wandered around looking for some shade, and stopped when I saw a few Guides conducting temporary sessions with Espers inside the tent.

Hmm… Everyone looks busy.

That said, there were plenty of empty seats. I hadn’t come as a temporary Guide, but I was still a Guide. It should be fine to go inside and sit, right?

I hesitated. But since I wasn’t even wearing a temporary combat uniform, I felt a bit self-conscious about pretending I belonged.

“Oh, Guide-nim. We meet again.”

Just as I was fumbling to hang my Guide ID around my neck in case someone mistook me for a civilian and kicked me out, I heard a familiar voice from behind.

I had a feeling they were talking to me, and when I turned around, I recognized the face right away.

I remembered where I’d seen him—he was the Esper who had complimented me on my guiding at the last gate. I think he was… A-rank, if I recalled correctly.

“Hello, are you here on gate deployment?”

“Yes, that’s right. I didn’t expect to see you here too, Guide-nim. What luck.”

“Haha…”

The Esper smiled good-naturedly and kept the conversation going.

I responded with a vague smile and nodded. There wasn’t much point in mentioning I was here as Vasily’s companion, so I decided to keep that part to myself for now.

“I came to receive a temporary guiding session… Would it be alright to ask for yours?”

Hmm… I wasn’t here in an official capacity as a temporary Guide today, but Vasily was currently away, and my matching rate with this Esper was pretty good. It would be more efficient for me to do it than passing him off to someone else.

Besides, this Esper would soon be entering the gate with Vasily, so guiding him properly now would help Vasily too.

“Alright. Please, let’s go inside.”

I entered the tent with the Esper and sat down in an empty seat.

“Then I’ll begin the guiding session.”

“Thank you in advance.”

After a brief greeting, I started the guiding.

As soon as I lightly embraced the Esper, his waves began to flow in. His condition wasn’t bad, but his wave management wasn’t great either. I continued guiding while calmly organizing the erratic waves.

Just a bit of focus, and the waves began to stabilize quickly.

“As expected, you’re very good at guiding.”

The guiding ended in the blink of an eye, so quickly it was almost embarrassing. The waves calmed down almost immediately after the session began. The Esper, who had been checking his condition, hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“My designated Guide retired recently, so I’m looking for someone new. If you don’t mind, would you consider becoming my designated Guide?”

“But I’m a C-rank Guide… And aren’t you an A-rank Esper?”

“Even so, you’re much better than any other Guide I’ve received guiding from so far. I feel like our matching rate is high too. At this level, I don’t think the rank difference really matters…”

Hmm… I felt that too. The illegal suppressant chip didn’t seem to have any side effects with this Esper.

Purely based on matching rate, it might even be higher than the 91% I had with Vasily. Maybe because he was A-rank, I didn’t feel overwhelmed at all during the session.

He looked decent, had a trustworthy air about him, and seemed to have a good personality—unlike Vasily. With an Esper like this, becoming a designated Guide wouldn’t be so bad… But the fact that Vasily still had three years left before leaving was weighing on my mind.

While I was seriously pondering his offer without realizing it, the atmosphere around us suddenly grew restless. I turned my head, sensing something was off, and saw Vasily leaning against the entrance of the tent, staring straight at me.

“……”

Vasily’s expression was entirely blank. He said nothing, but sometimes silence could be scarier than anger.

Was it just my imagination, or did his gaze feel particularly cold today?

Well, it wasn’t like he’d caught me in the act of guiding, just chatting, so it should be fine. I decided to act just as brazenly as Vasily usually did.

As I stole glances at Vasily and struggled to stay focused on the conversation, the Esper stood up from his seat.

“Then please think it over and let me know. I’ll send a designated guiding request later, so please accept it.”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer and just watched Vasily nervously.

“……”

So he heard everything.

Vasily was observing how far things would go. The distance between us wasn’t that far, and with an S-rank Esper’s hearing, he probably heard every word of our conversation. I resisted the urge to tear my hair out.

Why do I feel like I just got caught cheating? It’s not like I’m Vasily’s designated Guide anyway, and guiding temporarily is literally my job!

I saw the Esper salute Vasily outside the tent before walking away. Vasily just looked at him and didn’t do anything.

Now it was my turn. I hesitantly walked up to him and spoke.

“Uh… You got back quickly…”

“I thought Guide Kwon Gidam might be getting bored. But I guess that worry was unnecessary.”

“……”

Vasily was mocking me. He definitely looked upset.

Trying to read his mood, I said carefully,

“The Esper asked me for a quick guiding session. I’d met him at the last gate, and it went really well… It seemed more efficient for me to do it than someone else…”

Vasily clammed up even more. Damn it, did that only make things worse?

In a rush, I grabbed Vasily’s arm and tried to change the mood by offering to guide him.

“Esper Vasily, wouldn’t you like a guiding session before departure?”

“I’ll get it after I come back. We’re leaving soon.”

He even refused the guiding session. That was rare for him, which made me even more worried.

‘There won’t be any problems… right?’

I glanced at Vasily as I stepped out of the tent.

Outside, I suddenly felt a chill in the air. I turned my head toward the direction of the cold wind and saw the sea ahead completely frozen.

‘So that’s what he meant by having something to take care of—he froze the ocean.’

I had assumed we’d be taking a boat, but it looked like they were planning to walk across the ice to reach the gate. Well, the distance wasn’t that far anyway.

Now that I thought about it, even before the regression, Vasily was usually the one who handled gates that opened near water. Freezing the surface like this made approaching the gate so much easier.

Still, it was quite a sight. It looked like a massive glacier was floating in the sea. The weather was summer, yet it felt like I was in the Arctic.

While I was absentmindedly admiring the enormous ice bridge leading to the gate, the signal to depart rang out. Vasily started walking toward the assembled Espers, and I quickly reached out to grab his sleeve. He turned to look at me.

“Uh… Please be careful out there.”

I fumbled over my words, unable to even meet his eyes properly.

Vasily silently stared at me for a moment before raising the corner of his mouth slightly.

“…Wait here quietly.”

With that, he turned away and headed toward the gate.

One by one, the Espers began stepping onto the frozen sea. Vasily blended into the group and began walking toward the gate beyond the horizon.

Recalling the expression Vasily gave me as he looked back one last time, I felt a sense of relief.

All I’d said was “please be careful,” but just that one line seemed to lift his mood.

Even after regressing, I’m still stuck reading Vasily’s mood all the time…

“This is exhausting, seriously…”