Chapter 118:
“……What? What are you talking about?!”
Jang Woo-seok roared, and his secretary hurriedly handed him a tablet. Bold headlines filled the screen.
「(Breaking News) Haeil Guild Attacked by Unregistered Individuals in the Heart of the City」
「(Breaking News) Rebellion of the Unregistered? Haeil Guild Leader Enraged by Attack」
「(Breaking News) Haeil Guild, Number One in Korea, Draws Swords Against Unregistered Individuals?」
Jang Woo-seok’s eyes quickly scanned the sensational headlines, stopping at the bottom.
「(Breaking News) Haeil Guild to Hold First Official Press Conference」
His hands trembled.
If the mercenaries had been captured, Seo Jae-yi and Haeil Guild wouldn’t dismiss it as a simple attack by unregistered individuals.
There was only one reason for a press conference:
A warning to the unknown mastermind.
“Those bastards!”
Jang Woo-seok’s face flushed crimson. He hadn’t expected them to make such a big deal out of this.
It was then that he received a short text message.
[It was only needed a little blood, but you escalated things. Now it will be even more difficult to obtain. I’m disappointed, Prime Minister.]
It was from Park Jeong-su, the cause of all this.
“Damn him!”
Jang Woo-seok’s roar echoed inside the car.
The press conference was held in the large conference room on the first floor of Haeil Guild’s headquarters.
Calling it a conference room was a bit of a stretch; it was actually where the guild members regularly gathered for drinks under the guise of meetings.
Of course, the reporters, unaware of this, gulped as they looked at the impressively decorated conference room. Many murmured about how this was indeed befitting of the number one guild in Korea.
“A lot of reporters showed up.”
“It’s to be expected. This is Haeil Guild’s first press conference since its founding. And they were attacked by unregistered individuals, no less. They’ll be recording every single word.”
“Crazy. Even people from Sunghwa Guild are here.”
“It seems like almost every guild in Korea is here.”
“An attack by unregistered Espers is a serious issue for guilds. But… even in this situation, I don’t see anyone from Taesan Guild.”
“Ah, well, they…”
The slightly tense expressions of the murmuring reporters turned to smirks.
Every reporter knew about Taesan’s extreme jealousy and the dirty tricks they pulled on Haeil Guild, even before losing their top spot.
“The press conference will begin shortly, so please take your seats.”
At Moon Soo-hyun’s words, everyone sat down.
“As previously announced, there will be no Q&A session. The Guild Leader will explain the situation himself. Anyone causing a disturbance will be immediately removed, so please keep that in mind.”
Not having a Q&A session at a press conference was unheard of.
However, this was Haeil Guild’s first press conference. Unsure of what would be announced, the reporters, though disappointed, had no choice but to stay.
“Then, let the press conference begin.”
In the heavy silence, the door opened, and Haeil Guild Leader Kim Yoo-sung and his paired Guide, Kwon Ye-na, entered.
A barrage of camera flashes illuminated their expressionless faces.
“Huh? There are only two of them, but why is there an extra seat?”
A reporter, typing “Haeil Guild Leader and paired Guide’s faces are unpleasantly stiff” on his laptop, looked puzzled.
There was indeed an extra chair to Kim Yoo-sung’s left. But the door closed as if no one else was coming.
Though curious, the reporter refocused as Kim Yoo-sung began to speak.
“I am Kim Yoo-sung, Guild Leader of Haeil Guild. As previously announced, we have called this press conference to address the attack on Haeil by an unregistered Esper mercenary group.”
Clack, clack, clack. The sound of typing filled the room as Kim Yoo-sung spoke.
“At approximately 1:20 AM this morning, one of our guild members was attacked by multiple Espers. The result: all of them were captured alive. They were unregistered Espers, not wearing receivers.”
Clack, clack, clack, thud.
“……?”
The frantic typing stopped. Everyone stared blankly at Kim Yoo-sung.
One guild member attacked by multiple Espers? And they captured all of them alive? Not just a few, but all of them?
“Is that… possible?”
Someone asked, dumbfounded. They weren’t supposed to ask questions, but they couldn’t help themselves.
“This morning, we sent photos of the captured Espers to the Guiding Center to inquire about their registration status, and we received confirmation that they are unregistered.”
Ignoring the reporter’s question, Kim Yoo-sung continued.
The reporters hesitantly resumed typing.
“As you know, the use of abilities by unregistered individuals is strictly prohibited by law in Korea. However, in cases where unregistered individuals inflict harm on others, registered Espers are permitted to subdue them.”
This meant that while they might have inflicted some injuries during the capture, it was legal.
“After subduing them and questioning their motives for targeting Haeil, we discovered a shocking truth.”
Finally, the main story.
Everyone held their breath, poised over their keyboards and cameras.
Bam!
At that moment, someone kicked open the door and burst into the press conference.
Who would be crazy enough to interrupt Haeil Guild’s press conference? Surely not Taesan Guild, fueled by their resentment?
Everyone in the room turned pale, their eyes fixed on the door.
Short hair, dark eyes, a mole on her right cheek, a cold gaze, an intimidatingly expressionless face.
A woman in a suit they had never seen before. Click, clack. The sound of her heels echoed through the room.
Walking confidently through the stunned silence, the woman sat down in the empty chair to Kim Yoo-sung’s left. Despite sitting alongside the Guild Leader and his paired Guide, the room was dominated by her presence.
“I will explain from here.”
The stunned silence was broken by her deep voice.
Judging by her words, she must be the guild member who was attacked by the unregistered Espers.
“But didn’t you say the attack happened early this morning? She doesn’t have a single scratch.”
The conference room was so silent that the whispered comment echoed loudly. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
Attacked by multiple Espers and capturing them all alive, without a single injury, and then barging into the press conference?
‘No way.’
There weren’t many unknown faces among Haeil Guild members. Some of the paired Guides, excluding Kwon Ye-na, and some lower-ranked Espers.
And…
“First, let me introduce myself.”
The one who Awakened as an S-rank before even Haeil Guild Leader Kim Yoo-sung, and who had been even more famous since the moment of her Awakening. Yet, the lack of public information about her had only fueled people’s curiosity.
“I am Seo Jae-yi, S-rank Esper and Raid Leader of Haeil Guild.”
Seo Jae-yi, the world’s youngest S-rank Esper.
This was the moment she made her first official public appearance.
“Shoot! Take pictures!”
Click, click, click!
A flurry of camera flashes erupted, far exceeding the excitement when Kim Yoo-sung and Kwon Ye-na appeared.
Despite the blinding flashes, Seo Jae-yi didn’t blink.
Seo Jae-yi, the S-rank Esper with a shortened lifespan, the infamous temper that even other S-ranks couldn’t handle, the one who dethroned Taesan Guild.
The most famous Esper in Korea, yet she had never shown her face until now.
The reporters were stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
Whatever she said today would be huge news. Even if she declared, “The unregistered Esper attack was a lie! It was just for attention!” it wouldn’t matter. Seo Jae-yi’s appearance itself was a massive scoop.
Her face would be plastered all over the news.
“As you know, I’m currently in semi-retirement due to a rapid increase in my overload level from a lack of Guiding. Thanks to six months of careful management, my levels have stabilized somewhat, and I’ve been running a small flower shop next to Haeil Guild’s headquarters.”
Clack, clack, clack, thud.
The frantic typing stopped again.
A flower shop? Did they hear that right? Firestarter, running a flower shop?
But Seo Jae-yi continued, regardless of the reporters’ shock.
“I was attacked early this morning while I was at the flower shop. As some of you may have seen on your way here, the shop is completely wrecked, which is quite heartbreaking.”
“Come to think of it…”
A tiny shop next to Haeil Guild’s headquarters.
Normally, it wouldn’t have caught their attention, but the broken windows and missing door, revealing the devastated interior, had been more noticeable than Haeil’s headquarters.
They had thought a car had crashed into it. They hadn’t realized it was Seo Jae-yi’s shop, the place where the attack had occurred.
“But there was an even bigger shock. According to the captured unregistered Espers, their target was none other than my paired Guide.”
Another bombshell. The room buzzed with excitement.
Everyone knew that Seo Jae-yi had been diagnosed with a shortened lifespan because, for eleven years, she hadn’t found a single Guide with a matching rate over 50%, let alone a paired Guide.
So when did she get a paired Guide? And unregistered Espers were targeting an S-rank Esper’s paired Guide?
The reporters were reeling from the successive revelations.
“I judged this situation to be extremely serious and decided to hold this press conference.”
Seo Jae-yi’s voice dropped, laced with anger. Everyone in the room gulped.
“I’m warning you. Whether it’s unregistered Espers or anyone else, I will not forgive anyone who touches my paired Guide. I will hunt them down and make them pay.”
Crack!
The wooden table crumbled under the pressure of her fingers, as easily as a cracker.
The reporters wondered if the captured Espers were even still alive.
“Haeil Guild will also prioritize the protection of our guild member’s paired Guide. Considering the danger and severity of a Guide shortage for Espers, this is a natural course of action.”
Kim Yoo-sung echoed Seo Jae-yi’s warning.
In other words, if Seo Jae-yi’s paired Guide disappeared, she might go berserk.
A berserk S-rank Esper? The thought was terrifying.
“If this happens again, regardless of the reason, we will eliminate them all. We hope this never happens again.”
With that, Kim Yoo-sung, Kwon Ye-na, and Seo Jae-yi stood up.
As they were about to leave, someone shouted desperately. They weren’t supposed to ask questions, but this was too important.
“E-Esper Seo Jae-yi! Do you have any plans to reveal the identity of your paired Guide?!”
Seo Jae-yi stopped at the loud question that cut through the clicking of cameras. The reporter flinched under her gaze.
Cold and sharp. Just meeting her eyes made him feel like he was shrinking under her overwhelming presence.
Reporters were known for their boldness, but the infamous Firestarter’s glare was terrifying.
“……My Guide is Baek Joo-won, the stateless S-rank Guide who recently Awakened.”