Normally, Joo-hyun would have looked at Ga-ram preparing his matching guide with disinterest, as if hearing about another world. However, right now Joo-hyun had Cha In-ho. He wondered if he would have acted like Ga-ram if Cha In-ho were here with him. Of course, it was a meaningless curiosity.
Ga-ram tightly hugged his guide, closed the door of the car, and walked over to Joo-hyun.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going? Don't dawdle."
He hadn't even expected a thank you for waiting. Silently turning around, Joo-hyun started walking ahead.
When they arrived at ES-23, it was an abstract gate with light scattering in various directions. Generally, gates were circular or rectangular, but there were no statistics indicating abstract shapes were more dangerous, so it didn't matter.
The problem was the large drag marks on the dirt in front of the gate. Judging by the crushed and broken grass, a monster had already passed through the gate.
Holding their breaths, they surveyed the surroundings, but the forest, covered in trees and grass, was eerily silent.
"What do you think? Should we chase the monster or check inside the gate first?"
"There are no civilians around, so it's better to check the gate first. It'll be troublesome if more monsters come out."
Nodding, Ga-ram stepped into the gate first. The sight of a person disappearing in an instant was amazing, but it was just another daily occurrence for espers.
Beyond the gate was a desert where their feet sank into the sand. The environments within gates varied, but deserts were among the worst.
"Ugh, a desert? How annoying..."
Ga-ram used his wings to shield his head from the sun. The air was hot, so it didn't help much, but it was better than nothing.
Without such protection, Joo-hyun untied his scarf and wrapped it around his wrist to wipe off the sweat.
"That always looks vicious. It's a perfect design for a rabid dog."
"Shut up and follow me before I leave you behind."
"Hmph, as if I'd leave you."
The scorching sun heated his choker, making his skin tingle. Ignoring the sensation, Joo-hyun trudged forward through the sinking sand. They had a long way to go.
"Runaway esper."
"..."
"Runaway... Ugh, Joo-hyun."
"What."
"What do you think?"
"About what."
"The gate. Do you think it's another planet?"
Research on gates was still ongoing, but nothing was confirmed. The theory that the space beyond gates was another planet was the most popular, although the hypothesis of it being a parallel Earth also had significant support due to the environments' similarities to Earth.
"I don't know. I don't want to know."
"You're a cold one."
"Still, I'd rather it be revealed soon. If civilians go in out of curiosity and disappear, it's a hassle."
Despite the world beyond being full of monsters and lacking human civilisation, civilians kept attempting to cross the gate, lured by its mysterious allure. It was legally prohibited, given the danger from monsters and the risk of getting lost, but people still tried.
Joo-hyun wiped his forehead with his scarf again. The sweltering heat from above was hard to bear, but the sand draining his stamina was worse.
"It's rare to see a gate with no monsters like this. Interesting."
Feathers gathered and flapped in the air, stirring a breeze that tousled Ga-ram's blonde hair. Joo-hyun, watching the feathers, grabbed a handful and didn't let go.
"Such a bad temper."
Ga-ram grumbled, but Joo-hyun didn't care. As Ga-ram had noted, there was nothing around but sand, with no sign of monsters.
On average, an esper would encounter about ten monsters within five minutes of crossing a gate. Weak monsters tended to group together, while stronger, larger ones were fewer in number.
While extremes existed, it felt uneasy to consider their luck was simply good.
Then, Joo-hyun and Ga-ram stopped. A massive corpse, half-buried in the sand, was dried out, likely due to the arid climate.
At Ga-ram's gesture, feathers flew over and cleared the sand. The monster had a huge hole in its belly, but the damage was so severe it was hard to tell what kind of attack it had suffered.
"Judging by its size, it could be Yellow-grade."
Monsters were classified by colours representing the rainbow: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, with Purple being the weakest and the grades increasing in strength up the scale. Defeating a Yellow-grade monster typically required three A-grade espers.
"Where are the ones who hunted this? Can you find them with your ability?"
"If it were soil, maybe, but not in the sand."
"Useless."
"Are you any better? Don't complain when you barely use your power, afraid of going runaway."
Runaway espers, including Joo-hyun, tended to conserve their abilities due to the lack of proper guiding. Even now, Joo-hyun was stubbornly trudging through the sand instead of using his power to walk easily.
Joo-hyun looked up at the clear blue sky and sighed, picking up the pace.
They found several more corpses, each with a large hole in its body, all dried up.
The detector's maximum range was about 10 km, and even at its farthest reach, they found no significant clues. It could be a peaceful gate with all the monsters gone, but the consistent Yellow-grade corpses were concerning.
It didn't seem like territorial disputes, as there were no monsters guarding the territory, and if it were a hunt, a pack of at least ten Green-grade monsters should have left signs.
"I see nothing but sand."
Ga-ram, who had surveyed the area from the air, shook his head.
"Maybe it's just an abandoned gate."
"Maybe they fought among themselves. Either way, good for us."
Gates connected spaces, but not all monsters tried to cross them. They just stumbled through if they happened to find one.
The more monsters near a gate, the higher the chances of crossing, so espers regularly checked. A gate like ES-23, with fewer monsters, required less attention.
"We just need to deal with any monsters that crossed over, and we're done. I won't miss seeing your bad-tempered runaway esper face!"
Joo-hyun suddenly stopped. Ga-ram, who had walked a few steps ahead, raised an eyebrow and turned back.
Joo-hyun stood still, staring at a part of the sand where a giant paw with sharp claws was sticking out.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Dig that out."
Normally, Ga-ram would have grumbled about being ordered around, but he swiftly adopted the face of an S-grade esper and cleared the sand.
"You know about the Red-grade monster that appeared at BN-6."
"Yeah. It took out two espers."
"This is it. It matches the description perfectly."
Seung-cheol, who was on the mission then, had survived and provided a detailed account of how strong the monster was.
Red-grade monsters were relatively rare but not so scarce. However, the reason Joo-hyun was tense was that the Red-grade monster had a hole in its belly like the Yellow-grade ones.
"It wasn't a territorial dispute. It was a one-sided hunt by a predator."
Joo-hyun's red eyes met Ga-ram's blue ones. Their battle-hardened instincts were sharp.
Where was the monster that had no hesitation in preying on a Red-grade monster now?
"Hold on tight. We're flying as fast as possible."
Cutting through the dry, hot air, the two espers flew. Joo-hyun brushed aside the feathers and leapt out as they neared the gate.
"I'll take the left. You go right!"
"Don't give orders. I'm taking the left!"
Shaking his head at Ga-ram's shout, Joo-hyun crossed the gate and ran to the right.
Monster grades generally ranged from Red to Purple, but there was one more above them. Though exceedingly rare, it was classified: Black.
The last Black-grade monster appeared eight years ago at the GW-11 gate. The first to encounter it were an A-grade esper and three B-grade espers. None returned.
Only after several more teams of lower-grade espers failed to come back did the association send an SS-grade esper to GW-11.
They found a monster that could only be described as savage.
If a Black-grade monster roamed freely beyond the gate, the destruction could be immense. Although it wasn't confirmed as Black-grade yet, even a strong Red-grade monster was dangerous.
Joo-hyun, running through the pathless mountain, paused, sensing something off, and caught his breath.