“He also spent quite a long time working hard without a guide, just like you. That’s probably why he failed his recent health check.”

The espers in the shelters graduate every year. But they couldn’t be immediately thrown into real combat. No matter how realistic the programs Ark created through their unreal technology, a period of adaptation to actual rifts and battles was necessary.

That was why espers with extensive field experience were highly valued. They often acted as teachers and mentors to their juniors. As far as Yoon Tae-ha knew, Baek Sang-ho was also a mentor trusted by his juniors.

“The center must have strongly recommended it.”

“So that’s why Baek Sang-ho looked so unhappy.”

“Only someone like you can get away with holding out without a guide. You’re a bit...”

Seo Do-jin deliberately paused. His face said he wanted to pick a fight but was holding back because there were other employees around.

“Eccentric.”

He placed the laptop he was holding on top of Yoon Tae-ha’s head. Then he played around, letting go of the laptop and then catching it.

The lingering warmth from the machine that had just been running uncomfortably heated her scalp. The S-class voice that had suddenly become a laptop stand turned cold.

“You know we fight a lot like this, right?”

“Are you going to grab my hair at work? Have mercy. I have a whole truckload of direct subordinates too.”

“Then move. I have plans with my sisters today.”

“You really have a narrow social circle. Seeing your sisters, is it Winter and Choi Bo-mi again?”

Seo Do-jin, who had taken the laptop back, put his arm around Yoon Tae-ha’s shoulder with a look of pity. It was far from a warm embrace. It was closer to him casually draping his arm, as if to say, ‘You carry the weight of my arm for me.’

“If the three of you team up, you could form a three-person team. You could even hire one more and go mercenary as a squad. I’ll even come up with a team name in advance. The Four Seasons Hoodlums.”

“The Four Seasons Hoodlums?”

“You’re like hoodlums all year round. Because your names have spring, summer, and winter in them. Now we just need to collect autumn...”

Seo Do-jin, who had finally asked for a beating, chuckled and left.

After parting with him, Yoon Tae-ha immediately moved to another floor to finish her remaining work. And in the psychokinesis training room, her scheduled meeting place, she met a junior from the north and helped with their training. She made the junior, who said they couldn’t go on, get up again and again.

“It seems your stamina has improved a lot?”

The junior, who had finished the rigorous training, gave their feedback with a refreshed face. The junior took out an ion drink and put it in Yoon Tae-ha’s locker before leaving.

Is that really so?

She immediately changed into casual clothes, dried her hair, and pondered the junior’s words.

It must be because of the guiding.

Thanks to that man, Yoon Tae-ha was maintaining a healthier physical condition than ever before.

She no longer had to bury her head in bed as soon as she woke up in the morning. The frequency of nights when she indiscriminately swallowed painkillers on an empty stomach was also decreasing. Her quality of life had drastically improved.

Moreover, Cheon Geon-young was quite good at discerning whether the guiding had been successful or not.

It’s okay. It’s enough.

It seemed that her frequently used words when she wanted to just gloss over things had instilled distrust in him.

He wouldn’t let go of her hand unless he judged that the guiding had been properly done in his opinion. Does it show on my face? She was starting to get worried. It was an instinctive fear. The fear of being tied to him because of the guiding.

This feeling had deepened since her visit to Song Jun-tae’s hospital room.

A black sprout had grown in her heart. A sprout from a seed she had never planted. It didn’t seem like it would bloom into a pretty flower. So she couldn’t happily wait.

Her health was definitely improving. It was a good thing, even for the sake of her goal.

To eliminate all of Orca from Ark before she died.

Of course, it was a difficult goal. A seemingly impossible dream. But she had lived for it. Hearing clearly with her exceptionally good ears what others called her.

If Cheon Geon-young was indeed a government official hostile to illegal organizations, then things were moving in a more positive direction.

If she could just figure out the identity of the organization he belonged to. And if it was confirmed that Cheon Geon-young would never side with Orca. She could leak useful clues from the outside.

Even though she could never tell him who she really was.

Such things were really minor inconveniences compared to her goal. She could handle them as much as needed...

Her body felt light, but her head was complicated. Yoon Tae-ha sat on the chair in the locker room, staring blankly at the wide-open locker for a long time.

•

She caught a taxi to attend her dinner appointment.

At first, she had naturally chosen teleportation. But Cheon Geon-young from the time when his guiding hadn’t been proper came to mind. That disgruntled him on the rooftop. Then, her hand automatically called a taxi. Even as she sat quietly in the car until she arrived at the meeting place, her mood fluctuated erratically.

The meeting place was a hotel in Seoul.

Two people were gathered in the suite Yoon Tae-ha had reserved. Choi Bo-mi, with a smile as bright as spring, greeted Yoon Tae-ha. Han Gyeoul was setting the table in the living room.

“I heard you’re joining our team?”

Choi Bo-mi, an A-class nature-type esper, was an attack operative in Team Alpha. She seemed pleased about Yoon Tae-ha joining the team.

“I haven’t said that yet. Isn’t your team leader’s personality a bit too hasty?”

“The leader was in a position where he’d beg you to come. Even when I told him that Tae-ha can’t be persuaded like that, he was stubborn.”

Choi Bo-mi continued to speak in a voice reminiscent of a gently swaying willow tree.

“After the meeting, you said you’d consider it positively, right?”

“He said it was about dealing with a traitor.”

Yoon Tae-ha sat in the center of the sofa as she was led. Han Gyeoul nagged her to eat quickly before the food got cold. Choi Bo-mi smiled softly at her friend’s face.

“Gyeoul seems worried sick about you.”

“Really?”

“Stop with the nonsense. You won’t be able to eat anything like this for a while once you go on the mission. So hurry up and eat.”

The two women pushed food towards Yoon Tae-ha, urging her to eat more of this and that. The dinner, accompanied by trivial stories, was pleasant.

“The kids on our team were really surprised when I told them they’d be having dinner with Tae-ha.”

“Why?”

“It’s Yoon Tae-ha, after all. You can imagine.”

Han Gyeoul tied her flowing hair back with a rubber band and spoke cynically.

“You don’t have many close psychics, do you? You only know faces because of work.”

Yoon Tae-ha put a straw in her mouth and widened her eyes. Her upturned lips were full of mischief.

“Are you close with me, unnie?”

Choi Bo-mi, with a smile contrasting Han Gyeoul’s frown, poked the S-class’s cheek.

“Only we know she does such cute things. Right, Gyeoul-ah?”

“Not cute at all.”

Yoon Tae-ha made a disappointed face at the cold reaction. Meanwhile, Choi Bo-mi briefly checked her messages, put her phone down, and asked again as if to confirm,

“So, are you really going?”

“I’ll go if my guide allows it.”

“If you go with me, I’d be grateful. Tae-ha is good at telekinesis and teleportation.”

Choi Bo-mi couldn’t teleport. It wasn’t strange. Having a high rank didn’t necessarily mean having teleportation abilities.

“Team Leader Baek Sang-ho can’t teleport either, right?”

“He can’t. That’s why he wants to take you. Because Lee Ro-ah could do both telekinesis and teleportation.”

Han Gyeoul got up, saying she would prepare dessert since they had finished the main course. It was an intentional move to give them some space. Choi Bo-mi winked at Yoon Tae-ha. A rustling sound began to be heard from afar.

“How did you find out that Lee Ro-ah went to Orca?”

“Our operative, permanently stationed in the ungoverned zone, witnessed it.”

“Everyone must have been shocked.”

“Yeah. The team leader didn’t come to work for a week. I heard later that he voluntarily went into the underground bunker.”

Suddenly, her mouth felt bitter. An esper who had been affiliated with Ark suddenly jumping outside the lines one day. Looking at it this way, it was hard to tell if it was Lee Ro-ah’s explanation or her own.

“Is the top priority to recapture Lee Ro-ah?”

At Yoon Tae-ha’s question, Choi Bo-mi’s consistent smile clouded over as if wet.

“Lee Ro-ah is the motivation for the team leader’s actions. The official goal of Team Alpha is to secure the Green Feather and return.”

“What if Lee Ro-ah violently resists us in the process? An A-class telekinetic who’s good at teleportation would have considerable combat power.”

“I’m telling you, she won’t go down easily.”

Yoon Tae-ha, who had been staring intently at the iced Americano in front of her, hesitated and picked up an ade instead. She drank the fizzy ade while looking at the coffee.

“It’s a project where I’m going in with my guide. It’s not like we’re going on a trip, and I’m going with a guide who manifested less than a year ago. I need to prepare thoroughly.”

“I heard from the security chief. They said the two of you get along really well? Similar styles and everything.”

They might be so similar that they both fearlessly volunteered as spies for their own purposes.

“Just a friend I can communicate with to some extent. That’s all.”

She chose her words carefully. But the words she offered were at best the same ones she had rejected before. She felt pathetic for picking up even that now.

“Such a relationship is clean. Look at me. I’m going through all this trouble because of a boy I was engaged to when I was young.”

“Even if the most ideal couple in the center says that, it’s hard to empathize.”

“Was I found out?”

As soon as the two finished talking, Han Gyeoul brought in the dessert army.

•

Suspicious.

That was the impression Cheon Geon-young had recently gotten of her. Ever since their visit to Song Jun-tae’s hospital room, she had suddenly become less talkative. She still answered properly. But she spent more time lost in thought by herself.

He had often seen her staring blankly at the passing clouds. Crucially, she would look like she had something to say to him, only to change her mind several times.

Then one day, she took him to the library they had visited during the company tour and lingered, tapping the spines of the books on display. It seemed she was planning to say something after all.

She stood next to Cheon Geon-young, who was watching a company promotional video on a screen.

“The weather’s nice, isn’t it? Things look even better when you see them from the library.”

From this morning until the afternoon, Yoon Tae-ha had said the weather was nice four times. She didn’t seem to realize it herself. Had she finally made up her mind? The face looking up at him with her hands behind her back was cute.

A loose-fitting shirt, shorts, and sneakers. A face that looked like she should be chasing grades rather than anti-government forces. Her cheeks, slightly warmed by the autumn sunlight, were lively.

Was she going to say the weather was nice again? Yoon Tae-ha seemed to be pondering how to start the conversation. Cheon Geon-young naturally broke the ice.

“Since you dislike the heat, you must like autumn the most, right?”

“Autumn and winter are pretty similar.”

“So, have you decided to say it? Because it’s autumn?”

She wore a surprised expression, as if caught off guard.

A soft smile spread across the lips of the man who had been so indifferent that it was even difficult to talk to him before Yoon Tae-ha approached. Yoon Tae-ha looked up at Cheon Geon-young’s neat face for a moment. And then said in a casual tone,

“Wanna go to the sea?”

There was no way she was talking about the East Coast.

“To the Green Sea.”