AAGULT Ch 127

Chapter 127

“Crazy.”

“Shh……”

Aiden muttered quietly. It might have only sounded ridiculous coming from a seven-year-old kid, but he couldn’t help himself.

Then, the adult holding his hand must have thought Aiden was scared, because he pulled Aiden into an embrace as if to hide him. The man covered Aiden’s mouth and whispered softly.

“I know it’s hard, but you have to be quiet right now.”

They were currently hiding inside a building, and outside, a monster the size of a house was stomping past with a heavy thud. Every time the monster took a step, a huge tremor shook their bodies. The run-down building shook slightly in response, and dust rained down from above.

“……”

It was absurd and outrageous, but he wasn’t stupid or dull enough to shake off that touch in this situation. Aiden rolled his eyes to check who the adult beside him was.

The building was dark, so he couldn’t see the man’s face, but the white Association uniform clearly indicated he was a young male Guide.

“……An Esper will be here to rescue us soon. It’ll be alright.”

“……”

It would have been natural to feel anxious, left alone with a child Guide without any protective personnel, but perhaps because he felt the need to calm the child, his voice, though trembling, was earnest, and his arms around Aiden were firm and protective.

The hand covering Aiden’s mouth slowly fell away only after the monster’s thunderous footsteps faded into the distance.

“Phew……”

As his tension eased, he let out a sigh of relief and pulled a radio out from his coat.

To Aiden, it was an outdated device, something people had stopped using twenty years ago.

The man tapped on the radio, trying to contact his teammates.

“This is Team A-5. Do you read me? I’m isolated with Guide Ye Aiden.”

Bzzt, crackle.

The radio didn’t work, but he kept trying.

“……”

Aiden silently assessed the situation. Through the cracked window, he could faintly see the giant screen filling the sky.

<PAST TEAM: 44/52 │ FUTURE TEAM: 48/49 │ MONSTER TEAM: 99/101>

The moment he opened his eyes inside the gate, this man had grabbed him and ‘evacuated’ him into the building.

There hadn’t been enough time to fully grasp the situation, but he’d heard the gate’s internal instructions muttered by someone who claimed to be the boss. Thanks to that, he could roughly understand how things were functioning here.

“……”

The Past Team referred to the 52 people who had entered the double gate that opened twenty years ago.

The Future Team would be the ones who entered the gate that opened in the present.

He had entered both the gate from twenty years ago and the one from the present, but it seemed he’d been assigned to the Past Team.

Why?

Because a single person can’t exist in two different timelines within the same space?

Then why did his consciousness remain as his 28-year-old self?

What the hell was he supposed to do in the body of a 7-year-old inside this gate?

“Sigh……”

His mind was boiling over with unanswered questions and frustration.

Still, one thing was clear: judging from the Future Team’s headcount of 49, the four others who had re-entered the gate must have ended up in the same situation as him.

…Though none of them had probably ended up in a body as young as his. Damn it.

First, he had to reunite with Jaeha and the other Espers.

He couldn’t do anything in his current situation.

While he was forming that conclusion, the man gave up trying the radio and sighed.

“Not working?”

He asked out of politeness.

Feigning sincerity was second nature to Aiden, and he didn’t want to draw suspicion by suddenly acting differently.

“Just for now… I think the signal is bad.”

The man gave an excuse, possibly not wanting to reveal how dire the situation was to a child.

“I see……”

Aiden feigned understanding, rolling his eyes again toward the window.

<PAST TEAM: 44/52 │ FUTURE TEAM: 48/49 │ MONSTER TEAM: 99/101>

<PAST TEAM: 41/52 │ FUTURE TEAM: 48/49 │ MONSTER TEAM: 98/101>

Seeing the mentally unprotected Past Team members fall so quickly, it really must be a psychic-type monster inside this gate.

He frowned as he stared up at the sky.

The man beside him knelt on one knee and placed a hand on Aiden’s shoulder.

“……”

Aiden finally shifted his gaze from the sky back to the man.

As he leaned in closer, the face that had remained hidden in the dark finally became visible.

For some reason, it looked familiar.

“Guide Ye Aiden. I know this is scary.

But I’ll do everything I can to get us out safely, so could you trust me?”

“……”

Aiden didn’t particularly like adults like him.

He almost scowled at the words that scratched at his already irritated mood but held back just in time.

People like this always ended up paying the price someday — always sticking their noses into others’ business even when they had their own problems to deal with.

Unnecessarily kind. Soft, foolish, overly sentimental…

Crackle.

“Ah, the signal… Code A10. This is Guide Song Ju-hyuk. Do you read me?”

The most amazing man in the world. My future father-in-law.

Crack, crackle.

“……No good. I think it would be best if we left this building. It doesn’t seem very stable.”

“Okay. I trust you. But I’m really scared… Can I hold your hand the whole time?”

Aiden shifted his tone dramatically and naturally clung to the man’s side.

His pronunciation, initially clear, shortened and filled with a child’s lisp as he went on, but the man didn’t seem to notice.

How old was Song Ju-hyuk at this time?

If he was 32 at the time of his death, he would be 30 now.

That meant Jaeha was currently five…

Five.

Isn’t that insane?

He must be ridiculously cute.

I want to see him.

Chubby cheeks, plump hands, short and stubby all over.

“Of course.”

Though Aiden was only mentally two years younger than him, the man replied with the reliable tone of a father with a five-year-old son.

Aiden easily acted the part of a brave little seven-year-old boy trying to endure his fear and clasped the man’s hand tightly.

At the same time, he carefully studied Ju-hyuk’s face.

“……”

The familiarity made sense — traces of Jaeha were all over his features.

Still, the fact that Aiden didn’t immediately go, “Ah, they look alike!” meant that Jaeha probably resembled his mother more.

The strong eyebrows, the defined jawline, the straight nose — those seemed to have been inherited from this man.

Song Ju-hyuk was a different type of handsome compared to Song Jaeha — a more serious-looking, dignified kind.

He smiled as if to reassure Aiden.

“If you get tired, just let me know. I can carry you.”

“Okay……”

Clinging to his side and pretending to be helplessly weak, Aiden began to follow him out of the building.

Outside the window, they could see the bases of densely packed buildings resembling a major city.

Between those, there was even a thatched-roof house wedged halfway up a skyscraper — a bizarre contrast that made it clear again that this was an unreal, distorted space.

“……”

Outside the building, they began moving slowly and quietly.

Meanwhile, the giant screen in the sky flickered and changed.

<PAST TEAM: 41/52 │ FUTURE TEAM: 48/49 │ MONSTER TEAM: 98/101>

<PAST TEAM: 39/52 │ FUTURE TEAM: 47/49 │ MONSTER TEAM: 96/101>

“……”

The man’s expression darkened after reading the numbers on the screen.

But it was obvious he was trying not to show it, likely for Aiden’s sake.

Aiden also silently clicked his tongue at the changing numbers.

The way the Past Team was getting wiped out made it clear: twenty years really made a big difference.

From accumulated experience with gates to the Association’s equipment support, education, and training — none of it could be underestimated.

“What team do you think we’re in?”

He already knew but pretended not to and asked.

While he was contemplating how to naturally reveal the information without seeming suspicious, an answer came back.

“Most likely… the Past Team, I think.”

Aiden raised one eyebrow, having expected something like “I’m not sure” or “I don’t know.”

“Why?”

“……”

The man hesitated.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer, but rather that he was wondering if it was okay to explain it directly to a child.

But he began to speak slowly, as kindly as possible.

“The Past Team is falling behind compared to the Future Team.

I’ve written the Association’s Esper training manuals myself and participated in multiple gates, but even so, our Association isn’t equipped to handle gates like this one.

The monster we saw earlier might be an unregistered type.

And since it used human language to broadcast a message, there’s a possibility it’s a psychic-type monster.

Also, since the terms ‘past’ and ‘future’ are involved, this might be a time-disrupting gate.

According to a thesis by Dr. John F. McIntosh in the U.S. two years ago—”

“……”

“……That was a bit complicated, wasn’t it?

It might just be my speculation, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Aiden was impressed internally.

At the same time, he saw glimpses of Jaeha in the way the man spoke so intelligently and clearly, which made him feel strange.

“……”

Song Ju-hyuk felt like the ‘positive version’ of Jaeha.

It might sound strange, but it made him wonder:

If Jaeha had grown up safely under this man and his wife’s care, maybe he would’ve grown up like this.

If he hadn’t been abused, hadn’t been gaslit, if he had been raised in love — if he’d received a proper education and grown up normally…

“……”

“It’ll be alright.”

But what use was it thinking like that now?

He’d already ruined everything.

Aiden swallowed a sigh and quietly nodded.

Then, he spaced out, not even thinking about staying alert.

Maybe it was because he already knew that both he and this man would make it out of the gate alive.

The man beside him diligently remained on guard and protected Aiden, which made it even easier to relax.

After a few minutes of walking, Aiden heard the man sigh in relief.

“Ah, thank goodness……”

Aiden looked up.

By sheer luck, they saw a Past Team member waving at them from a building across the way.

[4 days 22 hours 23 minutes 01 second]

It had only been about an hour and a half since they entered the gate, but Aiden was already distracted by thoughts far removed from the gate.

Like, how could he possibly earn Jaeha’s forgiveness?

“Guide Ye Aiden, we should head to that building. Let’s hang in there.”

“Okay……”

Wait.

Aiden instinctively responded but suddenly realized something and looked up at Song Ju-hyuk.

“……”

Song Ju-hyuk.

Song Jaeha’s father.

The man who’d seen Jaeha through his childhood for five years.

Someone Jaeha still missed, even if he didn’t show it.

Aiden thought,

Isn’t this… a chance?