The Villain’s Recipe - Chapter 14.2
“No. It belongs to a friend.”
“Oh, a friend?”
“Yes. Didn’t I tell you before? I told you I had a friend who grew up in the same facility as me.”
“……Did you meet that friend?”
“I didn’t. But I will soon.”
At Kang Sa-hyeok’s determined words, the corners of Yoo Yeon-seo’s curved eyes trembled slightly.
By then, Kim Mi-young had finished preparing for the Gate operation and called out to Kang Sa-hyeok.
“Kang Sa-hyeok! We’re moving to the Gate now!”
When an Esper enters a Gate, the Guide generally waits outside. Occasionally, a Guide may accompany them if they spend a long time inside the Gate or if the situation is particularly dangerous, but such cases were rare.
“Fortunately, it’s not as dangerous a Gate as we expected. Apparently, it’s an orc lair.”
Orcs were dangerous if they broke out of a Gate and spilled into the outside world, but otherwise, they were among the more manageable Monsters.
Of course, there were orcs that had become dangerous through mutations, but the probability of encountering one in a B-rank Gate was low.
“We should be able to take care of it quickly.”
Kang Sa-hyeok intended to clear the Gate as quickly as possible and then search for Min-ha.
His friend had always been rather delicate, so how much suffering was he going through by now?
Min-ha had said he was fine during their phone call, but Kang Sa-hyeok could not completely believe that.
‘He was always the type to comfort others.’
Even if he himself was suffering, he would probably try to hide it for someone else’s sake.
So, for Min-ha’s sake, Kang Sa-hyeok had to display his full abilities this time.
Even if it meant accepting all the Guiding from a Guide he did not like.
Kang Sa-hyeok might not have cared about the rumors circulating within the Management Bureau, but he had a decent eye for judging people.
Yoo Yeon-seo was not what people commonly called a good person.
He also showed possessiveness toward Kang Sa-hyeok.
For now, Kang Sa-hyeok had left him alone because it had not caused any major problems. However, if Yoo Yeon-seo did even the slightest thing that crossed the line, Kang Sa-hyeok intended to request a Guide replacement.
Kang Sa-hyeok was not an entirely kind person himself, after all.
Fwoosh.
The color of the red flames gradually changed, turning blue.
If someone were asked to name the color of fire, they would usually choose red.
But in reality, the strongest flames were not red.
Kang Sa-hyeok drew out as much of his power as possible, driving the orcs back and burning them.
The orcs screamed from the agony of burning alive, but he paid no attention to them.
Just because they could feel pain and suffer did not mean the orcs could become human.
They were enemies, nothing more than Monsters that had invaded Earth.
“That one. That one’s gone crazy again.”
Watching Kang Sa-hyeok from behind, Kim Mi-young clicked her tongue.
Before anyone else could even intervene, the entire orc colony was disappearing under the power of Kang Sa-hyeok alone.
“As expected of an S-rank Esper. I never imagined he could kill orcs so effortlessly.”
The Guild master of the Guild mobilized for this operation was amazed.
“Well, that’s true. But being an S-rank Esper isn’t always a good thing when it comes to using that much power.”
“Because of Guiding.”
“That’s right.”
No matter how much Yoo Yeon-seo kicked up a fuss, it seemed they would have to assign another Guide this time.
That damn wavelength!
Guides were already difficult to find, and on top of that, the Guide had to match the S-rank Esper’s wavelength as well.
According to the experts, an A-rank Guide needed a matching rate of at least 60%, but Yoo Yeon-seo’s was only 51%.
As a result, proper Guiding could not be provided.
“It’s almost over, so let’s get ready too.”
Since they had entered the Gate anyway, they might as well gather everything they could before leaving.
The moment she finished speaking, the mining team farther behind her quickly picked up their tools.
It was a Gate operation just like any other.
❖ ❖ ❖
A terrible stench assaulted the tip of Kang Sa-hyeok’s nose.
It was not simply the smell of something burning.
It was the fishy, disgusting odor of protein burning and sticking to the surface, and it clung to Kang Sa-hyeok.
Since this was an everyday occurrence after killing Monsters, he showed no sign of being disturbed.
The people around him were the same.
There were exceptions, but even those people would often have their grimaces turn into smiles whenever they faced Kang Sa-hyeok.
Just like Yoo Yeon-seo.
