Episode 2
“We are looking for a doctor on board! Is there a medical professional among the passengers?”
The flight attendant shouted and hurried about, but no one stepped forward.
Thinking she had no choice but to contact the airport, she was rushing down the aisle when someone emerged from the first-class section.
“What is it?”
The flight attendant discovered the tall man who had appeared after drawing back the curtain and started in surprise, greeting him. It was that Sa Gangjun—the one a colleague had made a fuss about in the galley after seeing him board.
Nothing could be read from his expressionless face. However, by the way he looked down at his wristwatch, one could tell he was displeased with the situation causing the delay.
“I’m sorry. One of our passengers is showing symptoms similar to a panic attack.”
“……Let’s go together.”
The situation Gangjun witnessed after following the flight attendant was quite serious. A passenger had his ears covered and was wheezing in agony, barely able to breathe. His eyes, which occasionally flailed at the air, were completely unfocused with fully dilated pupils.
Gangjun removed his gloves and sat down at eye level in front of the passenger who had collapsed in the aisle. When he lifted the man’s chin with his long, straight fingers, a face bleached stark white was revealed.
“Head…… bow…… posture…… low……”
Gangjun cupped the small face of the man babbling nonsense in his palm, and his pupils began to slowly ripple. A sapphire-colored ring formed in his iris, which was gradually gaining a blue hue.
Those eyes, sparkling with a profound dark tone, took on bright colors like the sea near the equator, growing darker as they approached the pupil. They were frighteningly deep eyes, reminiscent of blue holes—what are also called the black holes of the sea.
*‘It’s okay.’*
When Gangjun poured his voice into the man’s mind, the trembling of his body, which had been shaking like an aspen, stopped in an instant. Soon, docile brown eyes, like a marionette being controlled, turned toward Gangjun. His ability was being manifested.
“What is your name?”
“……Ju Doyeong.”
Just as he was about to hypnotize him into quietly falling asleep, Gangjun’s brow furrowed sharply. He felt a faint guiding energy coming from the other person. Gangjun turned his head and asked the cabin attendant standing a few steps away.
“Is this person a Guide?”
“Excuse me? That’s impossible. According to aviation regulations, Esper and Guide passengers are required to be seated in first class.”
Gangjun lowered his gaze to Doyeong. His pupils emitted a blue light once more. But as if the question remained unanswered even after using his ability, Gangjun asked the attendant with a displeased expression.
“Would you find this person’s passport for me?”
He suspected there had been a procedural mistake. The attendant opened Doyeong’s bag and found his passport. She unfolded the first page and held it out so Gangjun could see clearly.
Age 27, Ju Doyeong.
Seeing that it was not marked ‘Guide’ beside his name, the man was clearly a civilian. Then what was this faint energy he felt at his fingertips?
Gangjun’s gaze as he looked down at Doyeong sharpened as if to pierce through him.
“Ju Doyeong.”
A low voice called Doyeong’s name. Doyeong looked at Gangjun with blind, entranced eyes, as if completely spellbound. Gangjun gave a firm order in a low voice.
“You must answer.”
“Yes……”
“From now on, you will answer my questions honestly.”
“…….”
Gangjun’s finger tapped Doyeong’s blank cheek.
“Answer.”
“Y-yes……”
“Are you a Guide?”
“No……”
Gangjun’s eyes as he looked down were rippling with blue light, his expression complicated.
The words saying he was not a Guide were not a lie. No one could lie before his ability.
Yet this man named Ju Doyeong was definitely guiding him even at this very moment.
“You’re not a Guide……”
“Yes……”
“I didn’t ask you to answer that. You must be tired; it would be best to sleep now.”
As Gangjun’s large hand covered his eyes, Doyeong collapsed on the spot.
“You said this guy was a Guide?”
“Yeah.”
“He doesn’t look like one no matter how I see him. Look. The readings are at rock bottom.”
“Still. It was what Colonel Sa said.”
“Hmm…… Then is it a technical error? Call and tell them to bring a different wave detector.”
Doyeong woke to the sound of unfamiliar voices near his ears. People in white doctor’s coats flickered before his eyes. The emblems attached to their chests somehow looked familiar.
The UEFC unit insignia depicting a lightning bolt striking a shining longsword.
“Oh? You’re awake?”
A woman discovered Doyeong sitting up groggily and quickly approached, checking his pupils with a penlight. At that moment, he could read the letters embroidered on her white coat.
[UEFC Medical Support Team
Ph.D. Ji Huiyeong]
Why was a doctor affiliated with UEFC examining him?
Doyeong delved into his memories. He had realized he didn’t have sleeping pills on the plane and suffered a panic attack. The scene of the childhood accident that had remained as trauma unfolded before his eyes, and even though he knew it wasn’t real, he had helplessly collapsed. From the middle, his memories had cut off completely. He had caused tremendous inconvenience to the other passengers on the same flight.
With his mind in turmoil, Doyeong rubbed his throbbing temple and asked the doctor.
“Where is this?”
“The sixth floor of the UEFC Main Building, the medical wing.”
“What? It’s not the airport?”
His mind snapped awake as if doused with cold water. UEFC was located on the outskirts of Seoul, quite far from the airport. As if gauging the question Doyeong harbored, the doctor spoke.
“Mr. Ju Doyeong, you were brought here through proper procedures after a Guide suspicion report was filed.”
“……Excuse me? What report?”
“Hiding the fact that you are a Guide is an act punishable by the New National Security Act, you know? Seven years in prison.”
“Wh-what?”
Doyeong suddenly frowned deeply at the absurd words he was hearing.
“You didn’t know? Article 7, Section 2 of the New National Security Act, failure to report. A person who knows they are an Esper or Guide but fails to report it to an investigative or intelligence agency shall be punished with up to seven years of imprisonment or a fine of up to one hundred million won.”
“First of all, I’m not a Guide! Who asked you to recite legal articles at me? Are you threatening me right now?”
Doyeong threw words of protest toward the woman who was laying down the law as if to intimidate him. However, without batting an eye, the woman flicked her finger toward the soldier standing behind her. A document was handed to her, and it was soon thrust before Doyeong’s eyes.
“There haven’t been any leaked guiding waves from you, but I suppose we’ll know once we run tests. Would you sign here, please? It’s a consent form for Guide identification testing.”
“Why do I have to undergo such a test?”
“You said you’re not a Guide. Is there a problem?”
“Good grief, this is absurd.”
To assert his innocence, Doyeong scribbled his signature on the document. A nurse approached as if she had been waiting and attached silicone pads to various parts of Doyeong’s body. He got goosebumps all over from the cold sensation.
“Ugh! B-but, why am I here instead of the airport in the first place? Who is the person who reported me?”
Doyeong asked, but no one in the room answered. A male nurse with a businesslike expression quietly attached silicone pads to Doyeong’s forearm and forehead, then made him open his mouth and bit down on a stick with a wire connected to it.
A flustered Doyeong asked while biting the stick.
“Wha’ is ’his?”
“It’s a device that measures mucous membrane guiding levels. Please hold it in your mouth.”
There likely wasn’t a person alive who didn’t know that mucous membrane guiding referred to kissing or intercourse. Doyeong’s face flushed bright red, and he spat out the stick with a ptui.
“It doesn’t hurt, so don’t worry.”
“That’s not the problem—”
“You mustn’t speak from now on. Put it back in your mouth. We’ll begin the measurement.”
The nurse didn’t listen to Doyeong in the slightest and pushed the stick into his mouth like forcing candy on a child, forcibly conducting the examination. With a beep, paper was ejected from the machine. That the reading was scraping the bottom of the graph was something even Doyeong, far from an expert, could tell.
“Hmm…… you’re not a Guide.”
At the doctor’s words, Doyeong shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘I told you so.’ The doctor who pulled out the test results approached the man in a military uniform standing to one side of the examination room. Together they looked at the paper, conversing with serious faces.
“See. It’s not a machine problem either; he’s a civilian. For sure.”
“What the? Could it have been a prank?”
“It’s Sierra One. If it were Sierra Two, I could see it, but……”
Doyeong, exercising his journalistic spirit, perked up his ears but couldn’t understand the cryptic words.
“Well…… I guess even monkeys fall from trees. If he turned out not to be one, send him off.”
Doyeong pretended not to hear their conversation, hardened his lips, and put on a resolute expression. The doctor holding the test results approached with an ambiguous smile.
“Mr. Ju Doyeong? Sorry for the trouble. You may leave now.”
Doyeong jumped at the opportunity.
“Is it okay to drag an innocent citizen here like a kidnapping? If someone makes a prank call reporting so-and-so as an Esper or Guide, do you bring them in and test them like this every time?”
“It’s not like that. Civilians are tested when there are accumulated reports from two or more people. However, if an Esper files the report, the agency is required by law to conduct an examination.”
“What? An Esper filed the report?”
The doctor made a face that seemed to say ‘why don’t you know that?’ as if she rather couldn’t understand him.
“Yes. You suffered a panic attack on board, and after Colonel Sa Gangjun rescued you, he reported it.”
“……!”
Colonel Sa Gangjun.
He was someone Doyeong had never imagined he would form any kind of connection with. Because he was up there, while Doyeong was in the real world.
After briefly hearing how he had ended up here, Doyeong took the test results in hand and came outside.
“Haa…… what the hell is all this?”
Walking down the hallway with an even more complicated state of mind, Doyeong suddenly realized he was lost. He had such a terrible sense of direction that he often got lost even in the mountain village he had lived in for years. Fortunately, a map was posted on the wall.
Doyeong was pointing at the red dot indicating his current location, estimating where the elevator would be, when a siren loud enough to tear his eardrums rang out. Someone’s shouting was heard as well.
“Catch him! Don’t let him outside!”
Could it be, me? Why?
Panicked, he looked around, and the warning lights attached to the wall began to flash. So shocked he nearly jumped in place, Doyeong could do nothing but stamp his feet.
Then, with a loud bang, a barrier wall dropped a few steps in front of Doyeong like a steel weight plummeting down.
“Aack! Wh-what did I do……”
The floor shook as if there were an earthquake. Soon, a roar loud enough to burst eardrums rang out behind him with a bang. Doyeong covered his ears and turned around; his face went pale and rigid.
In the completely sealed-off space, blocked from front and back, he was not alone. Only then did he realize that the people trying to prevent someone from getting outside hadn’t been aiming at him.
A massive shadow fell over Doyeong’s face.
A man of enormous build stood before his eyes.
Doyeong’s lips moved pitifully, murmuring a name that every citizen of this country would know.
“Sa…… Sa Ijun……”