BCGWR Chapter 6 Part 1

He, who had been acting as if he could kill people with just his gaze, tilted his head slightly at Ji-su’s stare, then folded his eyes into a gentle smile, as if he had never been that way.

“Why?”

“…No… it’s nothing…”

At such a brazen reaction, Ji-su chose to quietly close his mouth.

Thanks to the passionate instructor’s swift progress, they moved on to the next part: actual incidents caused by discriminatory remarks.

During this, a case where an Esper who verbally abused a Guide received a fine was presented, and some of the Espers listening to the lecture again showed signs of discomfort. However, perhaps because Kang Jae-yoon himself had corrected their posture, no one openly expressed dissatisfaction.

The cases of verbal abuse quickly concluded, and they moved on to ‘incidents of violence and criminal prosecution due to forced exploitation of Guiding,’ which also frequently occur in reality.

This included actions where an Esper, craving Guiding, would physically overpower a Guide and threaten or assault them to force Guiding.

When the instructor, after citing numerous examples, asked, “Everyone, should such cases occur? Or not?” a unanimous answer of ‘No’ was heard.

“It seems you all know the theory well. So why did you all act like that yesterday?”

At Kang Jae-yoon’s frosty murmur, the shoulders of the Espers with good hearing stiffened noticeably.

Ji-su, observing the scene from the very back row, would usually have just laughed it off, but today he felt exceptionally uneasy.

Although the Cataclysm brought about human evolution, the emergence of dungeons, monsters pouring out, and a world where people fought like superheroes, ironically, human life remained the same.

Whether for better or for worse.

Han Ji-su sat in the Peace Guild lobby cafe, already on his second iced tea, his brows deeply furrowed.

His head throbbed again the moment he recalled the Esper team manager who had come to personally pick up Kang Jae-yoon, who had arbitrarily deleted his schedule immediately after the penalty lecture.

He had been waiting in the cafe for over an hour. For the Peace Guild, which always minimized meetings, a meeting taking this long meant it wasn’t something one could simply skip.

“Haa…”

Of course, he hadn’t entirely believed that Kang Jae-yoon had no schedule.

Even though Kang Jae-yoon had arbitrarily canceled schedules before, Ji-su hadn’t explicitly addressed it because Kang Jae-yoon always maintained a reasonable standard. Previously, he only canceled schedules he could afford to miss, but he had never tried to skip a Level 1 security meeting, which was mandatory, like today. So, Ji-su was honestly quite concerned.

‘This time, I really need to speak firmly.’

It had always been this way, but Han Ji-su disliked it when Kang Jae-yoon’s reputation was at stake, even if his own wasn’t. Especially if Ji-su was the cause. No matter how much S-rank Espers tended to act as they pleased, if things continued like this, there would undoubtedly be repercussions later.

Just as he was thinking it would be best to speak to him properly today, he felt a tapping sensation on his hand. Looking down, he saw his companion monster, Toto, crawling out of his bag.

“Toto, are you awake? Did you sleep well?”

“Squeak…”

Han Ji-su took a photo of Toto, who had just woken up from a deep sleep, his face adorably puffy, beginning to wash with his front paws. Just thinking about uploading it to his Toto-exclusive SNS with the caption, ‘Even hamsters wake up with a puffy face like this,’ brought a slight smile to his lips.

After finishing his wash, Toto gripped Han Ji-su’s finger with his front paws and stood on his hind legs. He then quickly looked around before fixing his gaze on a certain spot. Following Toto’s gaze, Ji-su turned his head, spotted the snack pouch in his bag, and asked, stroking the little crown of Toto’s head,

“Toto, do you want a snack?”

“Squeak!”

Ji-su chuckled and, the moment he tore open the pouch of dungeon-grown nuts and offered it to Toto, about 30 pieces of fruit instantly vanished into Toto’s cheek pouches.

This was only possible because Toto was a monster with an Inventory in his cheek pouches, but everyone subtly glancing over widened their eyes in surprise.

As always, Ji-su pretended not to notice the subtle glances. To pass the time, he fiddled with his phone, indifferently scrolling through the news, until he paused at a headline in a much larger font than the other articles.

As soon as he saw the title mentioning the name of one of the only two SS-rank Espers in the country, Ji-su clicked on the article and stared intently at the photo of a chillingly handsome man.

The expressionless man, without a hint of a smile, was ascending the stairs to a plane waiting on the runway. The article, starting from the bottom of the photo, first reported that the clear had finished several days earlier than planned, with no casualties or injuries.

It then recounted a heartwarming story: due to this cooperation, North Korea had tried to present Jung Ha-jin with an item as a gift, but he had refused.

As he scrolled down the article, there was another photo: Jung Ha-jin talking with North Korean Awakened individuals. Judging by their attire, it seemed to be taken during a briefing just before entering a dungeon.

In the photo, Jung Ha-jin and the North Korean clear team were maintaining an appropriate distance from each other; it didn’t just seem like a power struggle between Espers, but rather as if their formations were deliberately set up that way.

‘Even with the world changed like this, we’re still a divided nation.’

As he let out a wry chuckle, finding it absurd that they were still a truce country even with calamities striking Earth, someone approached without a sound, rested their chin on Ji-su’s shoulder, and whispered into his ear.

“So this is what you were laughing at… But Ji-su. As I always say, a kind person is better than a gruff one.”

“…Ugh, what are you saying. I was just looking.”