Cheon Geon-young gave a smooth smile, took the car keys, and began to move the luggage. What was that smile just now? Yoon Tae-ha stood there, dumbfounded.

“That’s the safest car, and it’s fast. What do you think that means, Ms. Yoon Tae-ha?”

“It means we have to drive around diligently and escort them.”

Baek Sang-ho, hanging onto the door of the massive RV, gave a satisfied thumbs-up.

“Don’t forget to switch drivers if your partner gets sleepy!”

She grumbled about the obviousness of his words and got into the passenger seat. Cheon Geon-young had already finished preparing to leave. He asked calmly,

“Nervous?”

“The area we’re going to often has Gaia’s detection go haywire. It’s common for dispatched teams to get swept away by silently opening gates. Of course, I’m nervous.”

“Just act like when Gaia isn’t around. We can finish this safely without it.”

“You look a little excited?”

“Not at all. Can’t you see my hand shaking from fear?”

He lightly shook the hand that wasn’t on the steering wheel, showing her his picturesque profile. Then Cheon Geon-young extended his trembling hand towards the passenger seat.

“So, hold it for me.”

Unable to retort, Yoon Tae-ha just opened her mouth and froze like ice.

“Hurry.”

The cars were leaving the hangar in order. Her gaze alternated between the rear of the other cars and her guide’s hand.

“Gun-young-ah. Stop playing around and let’s go.”

“I can’t leave if you don’t hold my hand. Do you want to wait here until those people come back?”

“Wow......”

I’m going crazy.

With a face as red as an apple, she took his hand. Only then did the car smoothly start moving. Raindrops fell on the car, making a sound like burning firewood.

Before leaving the relatively safe area, Cheon Geon-young gave a short guiding. It was a thoughtful consideration. At least in this mission, she probably wouldn’t die from guiding depletion.

Should I try again?

Staring at the raindrops flowing down the window, leaving silver trails, she used her telekinesis for a moment. Soon, the water droplets clinging to the window disappeared as if evaporating. It was still raining heavily.

She had succeeded in controlling the incessantly moving raindrops, even if only for a few seconds. She relaxed her power again. And she took a short breath.

The closer she got to the warmth he offered, the more the pain disappeared. The more she could do. Yoon Tae-ha instinctively felt it. This was a crossroads.

Once she started wanting something from her guide, her life as an esper could plummet in an instant. She had learned that from experience. She needed to distance herself here.

She had been burned before. But the problem was that the lessons etched in tears and despair kept fading whenever she stood next to him.

“Close your eyes if you’re tired. I slept enough before we landed.”

Would they only fade? It was troubling that the greed buried beneath those lessons was trying to grow.

It seemed that the black sprout pushing its way through the thick wall was indeed greed. It had the strongest vitality among everything she possessed. The people of her grandfather had cut it down several times with sharp scissors, but it sprouted again.

It must be that it didn’t learn because it resembled its owner. Foolishly.

But she hadn’t learned. How not to covet someone who could even stop the rain and wind. She even doubted if such a thing was possible in the first place.

Her lips, which she had been worrying, finally uttered words succumbing to instinct.

“Gun-young-ah.”

“Why?”

“Hold my hand properly.”

He was still looking ahead. Soon after, Cheon Geon-young, who had released her hand, firmly interlocked their fingers. Then, more of their palms and wrists touched. The sensation coming from another person’s skin was surprisingly mesmerizing.

They sped through the lawless zone, where darkness had completely fallen, relying on the faint headlights of the car ahead.

As time passed, the sun slowly rose. The raindrops also thinned. Black cars followed each other in a line across a field covered in white flowers resembling chrysanthemums.

“You can roll down the window. The air in this area is said to be harmless to humans.”

At his words, she rolled down the window. The scent of damp grass and the refreshing air unique to dawn rushed in. Like someone on vacation, she rested her arm on the window and enjoyed the breeze.

“The air is nice.”

“I hear a lot of people want to come sightseeing around here these days.”

“Even though it’s a place where you have to risk your life to come?”

“That’s probably why they want to come even more. It’s a sight they want to see even if they have to be prepared to die.”

They crossed the field, which had endured the harsh wind and rain and revealed its clean, bare face, for quite a while longer. Then, Baek Sang-ho communicated.

- Are you two on your honeymoon right now? You sound excited.

“Shall I show you how excited I can really get?”

Baek Sang-ho laughed at her concise reply.

- Show me later. Enemies spotted at the three o’clock direction.

“Did you detect them with the radar? They’re not in my sight yet.”

- You’ll see them soon. Looks like hunters after supplies. Lots of trucks and trailers, so we must look pretty appetizing.

She quickly placed the pistol prepared in the back seat within Cheon Geon-young’s reach. After tying her hair back tightly so it wouldn’t fall down, she inserted a communication device into one ear.

“Drive carefully. I’m going to the truck bed now.”

“I’m not confident in an emergency.”

“Then do you want to fling your partner out?”

“Of course not.”

Like someone who would never do such a thing, he squeezed her hand once tightly and then let go. Even without looking at him, she felt like she knew what kind of eyes he had. Hunters were chasing them, but instead of worrying, she was frustrated that she wanted to exchange trivial words with him.

- Yoon Tae-ha, stick close to the third truck. The goods loaded there are the most expensive.

She immediately teleported to the rear truck bed. Grabbing the sturdy-looking silver handle, she stood up abruptly.

Cheon Geon-young started to speed up, following some instruction. Her slender body swayed, unable to withstand the strong wind.

- It looks like you’ll have to deal with the group of motorcycles approaching from the left.

Not long after, enemies came into Yoon Tae-ha’s sight as well.

A motorcycle unit painted in various colors was rushing towards them with a cloud of dust behind them. The beautifully bloomed flowers were crushed under their wheels.

A man who appeared to be the leader fired a warning shot into the air. His subordinates let out monkey-like shouts and made rude gestures at her.

- Don’t let them get close.

“Yes.”

With a calm reply, she summoned her entity. The sky was so clear and blue that the enemies didn’t immediately recognize the blue entity floating in the air.

She sent the entity menacingly towards them to prevent them from approaching. The hunters, who belatedly noticed, scattered as they dodged the attack, disrupting their formation. At that moment, one of the enemies suddenly blew a whistle. Peeeeeep! It was an annoying sound. At that instant, the ground shook ominously, and Yoon Tae-ha gripped the handle even tighter.

- Something is approaching rapidly from underground. Prepare for impact!

No sooner had the warning ended than something massive rose from beneath the ground. White flower buds scattered like popcorn. A beast’s roar tore through the morning air.

“Kua!”

Yoon Tae-ha quickly rotated her entity, preventing a situation where she would be showered in dirt. She shook off the flower attached to her shoulder. The beast was running one step ahead of her.

“Kuaaaah!”

Baek Sang-ho shouted the beast’s name.

- It’s a Kuakua!

“Wha, what did you say?”

- I said it’s a Kuakua!

Baek Sang-ho shouted the unfamiliar name like a fanatic. In the meantime, an animal as large as a trailer rammed its body into the truck in front. She quickly used her telekinesis to stabilize the swaying truck.

“Kuaah!”

The thing that came out of the ground was an animal with short triangular horns on its head. Its seemingly soft fur was ivory-colored, and its claws were quite sharp. If it were only smaller, she might have called it a horned hamster.

- That’s a protected species.

“A protected species? Are you kidding me right now? I almost got crushed to death.”

Suddenly, the communication switched from Baek Sang-ho to Raphael. Raphael’s voice was urgent.

- Hey Yoon Tae-ha, that’s a protected species. Do you know how much impact one Kuakua has on purifying the land? If you want to keep using disposable forks, you better keep it alive!

She immediately frowned.

Then I have to keep it alive!

The animal persistently chased the truck. An unknown desperation dwelled in its pitch-black eyes.

It rammed the truck again. Yoon Tae-ha corrected it with telekinesis. After it repeated that action a couple of times, the giant hamster whipped its head towards her.

Are you interfering with me?

She flinched at the fierce gaze that seemed to say that. The leader of the motorcycle gang blew his whistle again. The animal shook its head as if in pain.

“Kua!”

In the rear, Choi Bo-mi and the other members of Team Alpha were fighting the hunters. Never-before-seen colorful animals appeared additionally. It was chaos.

She grabbed the handle and leaned out of the truck as much as possible to observe the enemy. The leader of the motorcycle gang, who maintained a safe distance and didn’t approach, held a small remote control in his hand. Every time he pressed a button, the animal howled and rammed the truck.

“Leader, is it okay if I get on its back? There’s something I need to check.”

- Approved. Don’t kill it!

Yoon Tae-ha teleported immediately. And as soon as she landed, she fell over properly. Everything was slippery as if its fur had been oiled. She carefully ran her hand around its neck without hurting its fur.

‘There should be some kind of control device.’

While she was searching diligently, Cheon Geon-young gave her a clue.

- There’s something embedded below its ear. Check it out.

As the animal tried to ram again, Cheon Geon-young naturally maneuvered his car between the truck and the animal, protecting the truck.

Instead, his car tilted from the impact. Yoon Tae-ha searched for the place her partner described. Then she found a pentagonal mechanical device.

“There’s a control device! Can I remove it?”

- Approved. Break it and then capture only the leader with the remote control and come back.

Yoon Tae-ha, who had immediately moved down to its neck, gently patted the animal.

“I’ll pull it out in one go. So leave my guide’s car alone.”

“Kuaaaah!”

Strangely, the animal’s speed slowed down. Did it understand? Feeling like she would fall off at any moment, she pulled out the firmly embedded device in one go.

A very thin and long needle was deeply embedded below the animal’s ear. The freed giant hamster roared.