3. That fateful day (3)

'Oh great, things just had to get worse."

A number of low levelled monsters slipped past through the front line Espers and surrounded both Moon Jin-soo and Park Hyun-sik in a circle. They need to defeat the high grade monster before the situation worsen,

'But clearly, it worsened in a blink of an eye.'

Did he unintentionally jinxed it for being too naive? Couldn't be.

"Do mind that I'm an unexperienced noncombat type Esper, and my abilities have penalties." damn, it felt dizzy even just from talking. I observed our situation. 4 low leveled ones, 3 mid levels, and one high level from before.

The higher the numbers he activated his ability for, the more burdensome his penalties as well. His energy might get depleted soon, but now that it came to this, there's no reason to not go all out. Even if he overused his abilities..

'Either we kill all of them here, or it's us who will be killed.'

He has no other choice except to trust the Esper called 'Park Hyun-sik' for now.

Shaking off the urge to vomit up his throat, Moon Jin-soo activated his ability once again. "I'll stop their movements." Along with his flickering light brown eyes, translucent golden powder swirled around his body and all the monsters around them.

Park Hyun-sik glanced at the softly trembling pupils that looked golden at the same time he felt massive energy surged inside him. He analyzed the situation around him.

At a glance, all the golden particles seemed to look like a small area paralyzing ability centered around the support Esper, restraining the movements of all the monsters surrounding them. And..

He noticed it.

There's no way an Esper, and a high ranked one such as him, doesn't realize the power surging from the place Moon Jin-soo maintained physical contact with him. The slender hand touching his upper arm radiated soothing and pleasant energy flowing inside him.

Even though he was bewildered before because of the unexpected chaos, his mind got clearer, and his body felt lighter. It's almost as if a Guide is guiding him right here right now, but felt more comfortable than that.

Such a thing had never occurred to Park Hyun-sik before, or at least, not once had he heard of a support type Esper with such buffing effects.

'Is this also your ability?'

He made up his mind to ask the person after clearing all this mess.

With a sharp gaze, the nozzle of his rifle aimed towards one of the monster's head.

Bang! Bang!

Fire erupted from the place where the bullets pierced the low leveled monsters' skins. The body of the monsters that couldn't withstand the heat of the flame burned on the spot with shrieking sounds.

"Elemental bullets.." cool, it's the first time I see it in person. Condensing elemental energy into an object was known to be difficult, and to top it off, this guy can do it even after attacking that swarm of monsters before. One by one, the number of monsters gradually decreased.

The small fries are easily taken care of even with just a few bullets, but the mid leveled ones have tougher skin and vitality. 'I guess elemental bullets also had its weakness as well as normal ones..' Moon Jin-soo glanced at the rifle Park Hyun-sik is holding.

"How many bullets left?"

"8."

He must've used many bullets before. Just three mid level monsters left, as well as the only high level one. But..

The sound of tongue clicking could be heard.

"Just as I thought, fire doesn't effective much against them." I squinted when the fire elemental bullets Park Hyun-sik shot at the mid leveled monsters only left some burn marks and scratches. It seems like their tough looking skin have resistances to fire attribute.

Closing his lips in a tight line, Park Hyun-sik finally opened his mouth. "—then I suppose we should do close combat for the rest."

"Pardon?"

Before I was able to react, his hand that supported my shoulder went down my waist, and he easily lifted my body up with his arm under my buttocks.

"—?!"

Reflexively, I put a hand on his shoulder to maintain my balance and looked at him. I couldn't contain my facial expression.

Why did you pick me up like a child?

Why are you holding me, a 173cm tall man, like this?

At some point, I'm more surprised that you didn't even have the slightest hesitation in your tone nor action.

"What are you— woah!"

The moment Park Hyun-sik took a step forward, he ran full speed. Closing the distance with the paralyzed mid level monsters, I tightly gripped my hands on his shoulder.

"You did told me to stick by your side. But since I have to move to be able to swing my dagger, this way, I'm sticking you with me instead." he replied lightly.

Even with one of his arms unable to move to held me so as not to fall forward, the man swung his dagger-rifle around swiftly. The sight itself is as if he's stabbing and slashing his immobilized enemies with a sword.

The disgusting appearances of the monsters could be viewed in close distance. Good thing their movements are restricted, so Park Hyun-sik was able to kill them without much issue. I wiped my cheek when I felt a splash of the monsters' blood.

"You could have just left me there—"

"Alone in the middle while you struggled to maintain your abilities, even standing on your own two feet?" Park Hyun-sik spewed out in a cold manner. The noncombatant Esper on his arm shut his mouth tight.

Well, that's not the only reason. Seeing how Moon Jin-soo also told him to maintain physical contact, that probably means his ability could only be activated as long as they touch each other. And the soothing buff ability that he felt..

Shaking away his illogical thoughts, unintentionally, Park Hyun-sik's grip on Moon Jin-soo became tighter.

"Huu.."

Moon Jin-soo let out a tense breath he was unconscious of holding in. The body of the last mid leveled monster fell backwards after Park Hyun-sik released the dagger from its chest. Not long, the monsters were all taken care of, except one.

"Alright, last on— ngh!"

A sharp, painful feeling pierced my heart like needle stabs. My body trembled as my breathing became harsh and uncontrolled. The paralyzing ability that was activated, forcibly stopped on its own.

The golden dust that gathered around him and the monster's body disappeared, and Moon Jin-soo's complexion turned pale as he realized it too late. The glow on his eyes is nowhere visible.

Kieeek!!

"Kuh–"

The monster flies to the sky and swung its wings aggressively towards us. I tremblingly lifted my arm to protect myself, but the wind attacks managed to leave a shallow scratch near my eye. Small trickle of blood flowed down from the wound.

I overexerted the usage of my abilities. The penalties of using both my paralyzing and buffing abilities gradually came crashing down. My body trembled uncontrolably with a burning sensation that arose from inside.

'My buff.. the longest is probably less than 3 minutes..'

My grip on Park Hyun-sik's shoulder tightened. Even with difficulty speaking, I need to inform him about my ability. "My buffing ability will.. gradually decrease and stopped a few minutes after it– haa.. deactivated, so you have– to kill it fast.."

With a quiet nod, Park Hyun-sik aimed his rifle towards the monster's wings.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Although the first shot missed because of the agile monster, two of the bullets were able to pierce the membrane of the wings and left some burning holes on it.

Unable to bear the burning flames growing wider on its wings, the monster shrieked in pain and fell down to the ground.

Park Hyun-sik ran towards it in an instant and slashed the monster's wings. It's necessary now to hinder its movements. The pair of wings that looked like bat wings fell down helplessly.

Having its flying limbs torn off, the monster aggressively clawed out forward with its hand, and with a loud 'clang!' the sharp claws collided with the rifle.

"Tsk."

The tall man let go of his rifle for a brief second and punched the monster's face using his fist. The powerfully brute force made the monster flew a distance away.

Park Hyun-sik grabbed his dagger-rifle again and without letting a single moment for the monster to stand up after the impact, he stabbed the monster's chest and dragged the dagger's blade upwards.

The high leveled monster, sliced open from the chest to the tip of its head, fell down weakly.

"..is it dead?" I asked with difficulty to stay awake.

Park Hyun-sik replied immediately, "Yes. I couldn't feel its energy anymore." He let out a small sigh.

The never-ending tension left my body and soul a little bit. Finally, a moment of breather.

As the penalties unstopping and I can't handle the pain, cold sweat formed on my forehead. Tiredly, I leaned my head on Park Hyun-sik's shoulder. Even though I was just a burden until now, he still didn't let me down.

I continuously fought the urge to close my eyes, unable to be calm since we haven't checked other Espers and Guides in front lines.

Just when Moon Jin-soo about to open his mouth, Park Hyun-sik heard footsteps from behind.

"Park Hyun-sik ssi!"

It was the middle aged Esper who was cheerfully loud before. He looks tattered with some shallow wounds, and different from before, the current expression on his face looks stern.

"The flood of monsters stopped just now and fortunately, the portal is stable again. All the Espers are currently being guided by the Guide's team." the man reported.

Park Hyun-sik nodded, it seems the high leveled monster they defeated was the boss monster. "Any casualties?"

"None, fortunately. However, a few got wounded and needed to get medical attention." the man replied with a sigh and then continued, "The Guides did a good job treating everyone's wounds with basic medical treatment."

Park Hyun-sik frowned momentarily, "What about the volunteered A-ranked Esper with the healing ability?"

"He got wounded in the head and fainted due to shock, so the Guides are taking care of him right now. They said his condition wasn't serious so he'll survive. Can't blame him, I heard it's his first dungeon as an Esper? He looks as young as my son in college." the man then grumbled with a displeased look on his face,

"Seriously, what the hell just happened? Didn't they said that this gate was cleared two weeks ago? Even though we're suppossed to be here just for a reconnaissance mission— oh, I realized this late but, who is this? He doesn't look good..." the eyes of the middle aged man trailed with concern from Park Hyun-sik to the limping body on his arms.

"We'll send the Management HQ official reports about this. I will also bring this.. 'incident' with the higher-ups at the next meeting. Send all of the wounded to the nearest hospital immediately," the lips suddenly turned into a tight line.

Park Hyun-sik pondered for a second, was this really just an 'incident'? It seems he need to investigate what just happened.

"..as for him, he is—"

"Ugh– haa, gasp!"

before Park Hyun-sik was able to finish his sentence, he could feel the body of the man on his arms shaking, no, Moon Jin-soo is convulsing with a harsh breathing.

Park Hyun-sik widens his eyes at the sensation of the burning body temperature penetrated from his clothes. The middle aged Esper shouted in shock.

"Gah–?! That, isn't he about to rampage?! G-Guides, emergency!"

"Park Jae-hwa!" with a loud shout, Park Hyun-sik ran towards some Guides who immediately ran at his command. One of the Guides, the woman who was clinging to Park Hyun-sik before, scanned at the convulsing man with a pale face. The sight itself also made her pale.

"L-Lay him down right now!"

Park Hyun-sik laid Moon Jin-soo down on the ground as he told, the woman Guide sat down in front of him and uncovered Moon Jin-soo's black mask to make sure he didn't suffocate.

When the black mask that covered his face was taken away, a hitched breath could be heard somewhere.

No one, not even the cheerfully loud middle aged man from before, uttered a word as they stared at the man laid down on the ground.

'This person..' Park Jae-hwa widened her eyes at the patient, but quickly snapped out of it.

"I'll start the emergency guiding!"

Grabbing Moon Jin-soo's hand, dim pale blue colored glow radiated from the Guide's hands.

"Kugh.. urgh, no– haa.. s-stop, please..." theoretically, guiding was suppossed to feel soothingly pleasant, like water flowing inside your body and cooling down the uncontrolable burning flames.

However, for Moon Jin-soo who hasn't got any guidance ever since he awakened, it felt weird. The foreign sensation made tears pooled around the light brown colored eyes, forcing him to went in and out of consciousness.

"Keep going, Park Jae-hwa."

Despite the man's pleading and weak struggles, Park Hyun-sik ordered the woman Guide, Park Jae-hwa, to continue the guidance. Park Jae-hwa hesitated for a bit, but then she prioritized the emergency situation.

It's way beeter to decrease the rampaging rate of the Esper laid down in front of her, than stopping and opened him a chance to go berserk.

She could feel Moon Jin-soo's energy gradually increased as well as the rampaging energy decreasing bit by bit, however every single one of the Guides are exhausted and used up all of their guiding energy. That includes her.

Any more than this and she would collapse.

Realizing they couldn't do much anymore, Park Jae-hwa clicked her tongue,

"It's not enough, he still needs immediate medical attention. I also don't know why but his fever won't go down. I can only replenish his energy a tiny bit and relieve his rampaging rate for awhile, if he stayed like this his condition will worsen!"

Hearing her words, Park Hyun-sik immediately slipped his hands under Moon Jin-soo's knees and back. The Esper stood up without any difficulties with the 173cm tall man laid limply in his arms.

The feeling of high fever remained, and it only felt higher every seconds wasted. Park Hyun-sik clicked his tongue.

"I'll bring him to the nearest hospital. Please clean up the mess and get yourself treated." without hearing their replies, the tall man turned around and ran in a hurry.

The back of the dark brown haired man went further away until he is too far away to be seen. Park Jae-hwa stood up and breathe a sigh. She wiped the sweat trickled down her forehead and looked around the messy area, full of monster corpses and exhausted bunch of talented people.

"Still, to think that Park Hyun-sik ssi still looked very fine despite defeating that many swarm of monsters before.. and he even killed the boss monster without breaking a sweat." the middle aged man next to her stood still even after Park Hyun-sik's back is nowhere in sight.

"Haah, well, as expected of an S-ranked person, I guess? That's just how different we, low leveled talented people, are to an S-ranked person. I can't imagine how powerful an SS-ranked person could be." Park Jae-hwa sighed while shaking her head, as if what she had stated is a matter of fact.

Her mind trailed at the place where Park Hyun-sik just left, "And that person just now.. there's no mistake.."

"You thought so too?"

Burning eyes turned rapidly towards the Esper in a fierce gaze, "Of course! There's no way that I, Park Jae-hwa, a fan of the 'Nation's Little Brother' idol Moon Jin-soo, would mistook him for someone else, uncle!"

The middle aged man flinched, "Aigoo, youngsters these days.. right, right, I understand so stop shouting! Also I'm not your uncle, don't call me that, you punk!"

The bickering between the two stopped when they both sighed towards the monsters corpses.

They had a lot of work to do.

As if sympathizing with their hideous situation, the sun that shone on the bright blue sky disappeared behind the grey clouds.

Arrived in front of a black colored sedan parked a few blocks away, Park Hyun-sik opened the car door and gently put the black haired Esper on the front passenger seat with seatbelt on.

Moon Jin-soo regained a little bit of consciousness when a click sound could be heard next to him. Park Hyun-sik closed the car door and sat on the driver's seat after putting on his seatbelt. Is this his car? When did they got in?

A weak groan slipped past his mouth as the car engine started, "Where.."

"Hospital. Your condition is severe, you need medical attention as soon as possible." the driver, Park Hyun-sik, replied without letting the feverish Esper finished his sentence.

'Hospital.'

He gulped. There would be many people in a hospital. He would rather go home and deal with this himself rather than go there.

Shaking his head weakly, Moon Jin-soo replied in a haste, "N-No.. not hospital–"

A piercing headache came suddenly, as if a hammer is pounding his head. The black haired man put a hand over his forehead, his eyesight wavering.

With a trembling lips, he continued talking, "I'll.. take care of this myself so, no.. hospital..." his voice got weaker as he was unable to hold on to his consciousness any longer.

The stubborn attitude made him let out an exasperated sigh. Park Hyun-sik replied in a stern voice, "Fine. As long as it's not a hospital, you have no reason to refuse then."

As if his whole body being submerged underwater, the voices around him deafened. He felt numb and couldn't move a limb, and could only groan as the high fever only felt worse.

Both his skills' penalties are in full swing.

Before he lost conciousness completely, Moon Jin-soo could hear the low voice of the man next to him.

"I'm bringing you with me to Soleil Guild."

'Soleil..'

The name was familiar, where did he heard it? He can't seem to recall in the midst of his pounding head. An annoyed groan slipped out from his throat.

Unable to hold it any longer, Moon Jin-soo fell into deep slumber.