Chapter 30

“Check my ass! Hey, if you were going to check us, you should’ve done it before the damn thing broke down! We’re busy as hell! What do you take us for, a bunch of suckers?!”

Juwon revved the engine as he shouted.

The agent’s face went pale as he frantically waved his hands.

The terminal was dead, and at this rate, it felt like his own neck would be on the line before the mobile unit even arrived.

“N-no, we still have to check… It’s protocol…”

“That’s your problem!”

Juwon leaned toward him.

“Do you have any idea how much we make per hour? If we’re late and the job gets canceled, are you going to pay us out of your own pocket?!”

When Juwon reached toward the agent leaning through the passenger-side window, the man instinctively stumbled backward.

“A-all right, all right! All clear…!”

He hurriedly waved toward the other guards.

“Hey, open it up! Just let them through already!”

Clang!

The moment the barricade swung open, Juwon slammed his foot on the accelerator and shot through the checkpoint.

As the frantic agents shrank in the rearview mirror, Ihyun finally let out the breath he’d been holding and gave a quiet chuckle.

“Nice job, Juwon. That was very convincing.”

“Well, it’s all thanks to that crazy kid.”

Juwon grinned.

“At least he earned his chicken and pizza.”

The air grew heavy the moment they entered the border zone.

A chill peculiar to Gates hung in the air, while layers upon layers of mana radiated from the numerous Espers stationed throughout the area, pressing down on their bodies.

Yet nowhere could Ihyun sense that bone-chilling mana he knew so well.

What the hell? They said Han Taeyoon was here.

Ihyun felt secretly relieved.

And, at the same time, strangely hollow.

He was annoyed with himself for being glad Taeyoon wasn’t here.

Even more annoyed that some part of him was disappointed.

The Gate appeared to have already been cleared.

Trucks bearing the DUST insignia lined the area around the entrance, while fully armed Espers stood nearby in a tense standoff with government forces, killing intent radiating from both sides.

It was the silence right before an explosion.

“Hey! Who are you? Stop right there!”

A DUST member in a black uniform blocked their path as they attempted to slip through the heavily guarded perimeter.

Juwon instinctively tensed his shoulders, but Ihyun casually stepped in front of him and produced the fake IDs Kang Taesik had given them.

“Ah, good work, sir. We’re from Blue Fin. Our boss sent us over to help haul Gate byproducts.”

The operative eyed their IDs and faces suspiciously before clicking his radio with an irritated sigh.

“I’ve got temp workers here claiming to be support. Blue Fin? Did we request byproduct support?”

A voice answered through the radio.

“—Hold on. Let me check. Uh… Blue Bean is on the list.”

“Ah, them? Got it.”

Ihyun’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

Blue Bean?

Did that bastard deliberately pick a name similar enough to impersonate another company?

Classic Kang Taesik.

The operative finished the call and jerked his chin toward the interior.

“Follow me. We’re short-handed anyway, so this saves me a headache.”

Ihyun and Juwon followed him toward the Gate entrance.

The scene inside was incomparably busier than outside.

Mining teams continuously hauled mana stones and Gate byproducts out of the Gate, piling them into enormous mounds on one side.

With DUST locked in a standoff against government forces, they needed to clear and transport the byproducts as quickly as possible.

Apparently, they were desperate enough to accept even temporary laborers.

“Here. Take this.”

The operative tossed a thick stack of papers at Ihyun.

“From now on, check the quantity of incoming supplies by item and log everything. If even one item goes missing or the numbers don’t match, we’ll assume you stole it and chop off your hands.”

He gave Ihyun a cold look.

“Got it?”

“Don’t worry, sir. This kind of work is our specialty.”

Ihyun replied smoothly as he clicked a pen.

Beside him, Juwon shot him a look that practically screamed,

Hyung-nim, are we seriously doing this?

Ihyun ignored him and began scanning the documents.

It looked like simple grunt work.

But his mind was racing.

This was a golden opportunity to trace where these byproducts were being sent—and perhaps uncover internal DUST intelligence hidden in the records.

When the operative guarding them lit a cigarette, Ihyun casually struck up a conversation.

“Excuse me, but what does it take to become an agent in DUST?”

“Huh?”

The operative exhaled smoke and looked Ihyun up and down suspiciously.

“Why are you asking? This isn’t a place for random temps like you to aim for.”

Ihyun lowered his head slightly.

His long eyelashes fluttered, his expression turning sorrowful, as though he were on the verge of tears.

When Baek Ihyun’s neat, beautiful face transformed into that of a tragic protagonist, the operative’s gaze wavered.

“My brother and I have been working ourselves to the bone to pay off the debts our late parents left behind.”

His voice trembled ever so slightly.

“I only asked because I thought that if we could work for a great organization like DUST, maybe we could finally leave this miserable life behind.”

“Wait.”

The operative frowned.

“Aren’t your last names different?”

Ihyun seamlessly continued, nudging Juwon beside him.

“We’re… half-brothers. Different fathers.”

Juwon froze for half a second at Ihyun’s sudden improvisation.

Then he caught on.

He lowered his head deeply.

“My little brother is right.”

His voice came out thick with emotion.

“We just bust our asses every day doing whatever President Kang orders us to do…”

His shoulders began to shake.

“We want to live like human beings, too.”

Juwon covered his face with his massive arms and pretended to cry.

His heavy shoulders shook violently.

“HK… snff…”

Thick, choked sobs leaked through his fingers.

“A-hey! All right, all right! Don’t cry!”

The operative looked around nervously.

“Why are two grown men crying…? Tsk.”

Suspicion quickly gave way to pity, followed closely by annoyance.

“DUST is purely merit-based.”

He sighed.

“If you want in that badly, look into the Newbie Esper/Guide Selection Trials next week.”

Ihyun cheered internally.

Selection trials?

“Thank you so much for the information!”

Ihyun wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye and flashed him a bright smile.

“We’ll definitely prepare for it.”

Juwon, who had been sobbing into his arms moments ago, casually wiped his nose on his sleeve as if nothing had happened and stepped back behind Ihyun.

“Stop crying and get to work already.”

The operative jerked his chin toward the mountain of byproducts.

“Juwon, you heard that, right?”

Ihyun leaned closer and whispered,

“The trials.”

Juwon nodded solemnly.

While whispering to Juwon, Ihyun immediately began checking the quantities of the byproducts and compiling the export inventory.

As he worked, he hesitated several times.

He wanted to ask where Han Taeyoon was.

But ultimately, he held his tongue.

Prying too much would only raise suspicion.

The final truck carrying Gate byproducts eventually departed the border zone, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Ihyun finished his inventory list while watching its rear disappear into the distance.

Wiiing—!

The moment the truck vanished from sight, a sharp siren wailed.

At the same time, black vehicles swarmed into the area.

DUST special operatives poured out and began driving massive cylindrical machines directly into the mana ley lines surrounding the Gate.

“…That’s a Mana Reversal Amplifier.”

Ihyun’s quiet murmur was cut short when DUST security guards shoved the shoulders of the temp workers, including him and Juwon, as they herded them away.

Mana Reversal Amplifiers were originally designed to prevent Gate overflows.

But if their output limiters were removed…

Everything changed.

“Operation beginning!”

The security guards barked orders.

“Everyone into the vehicles! Anyone who comes within three kilometers of here is killed on sight! Move if you want to live!”

They brutally shoved the temp workers into the back of a truck.

Detection-type Espers swept the area to ensure no personnel remained behind.

The truck then pulled away from the Gate.

Through the rattling truck bed, Ihyun watched red perimeter lines blink into existence, densely marking out the three-kilometer exclusion zone.

Radio chatter confirming that all field personnel had evacuated beyond the control line echoed through the truck.

[All sector personnel evacuation confirmed.]

[Mana Reversal System operation approved.]

[Commencing countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… 0.]

Kuuuuung—!

Even from three kilometers away, the ground convulsed violently.

The vibrations traveling through the truck bed were heavy enough to rattle their bones.

The space where the Gate had stood—

vanished.

It was as though the entire area had been ripped out of the world.

A moment later, the radio crackled again.

[Eradication confirmed.]

[Trace removal rate: 100%.]

[Task complete. All units, return to base.]

“…He really wiped it out.”

Even after a Gate was cleared, its residual mana field usually took time to settle.

Here, it had been torn out by the roots and obliterated without leaving a trace.

Ihyun couldn’t tear his eyes away from the scene.

Han Taeyoon is really erasing Gates.

“Hey! Why are you back again?! Why?!”

When they returned to Kang Taesik’s safehouse, Ihyun casually dropped onto the sofa.

“President Kang.”

He smiled.

“I used your company’s name with the DUST guys.”

Kang Taesik’s jaw dropped.

His face turned pale in an instant, his lips trembling violently.

“W-what?! Who did you sell out?! Why the hell did you use my name with DUST?!”

He grabbed his head.

“You crazy bastard!”

“I went to the Gate byproduct collection site today and told them we were support from Blue Fin.”

Ihyun smiled innocently.

“Turns out there were actual support workers there from a company called Blue Bean.”

He shrugged.

“That fake name you came up with to imitate Blue Bean really came in handy.”

Kang Taesik clutched the back of his neck.

A groan escaped his lips, sounding almost like a prayer to the heavens.

Dear God… why are you giving me such trials?

Getting involved with DUST was enough to shorten his lifespan.

Learning that Ihyun had casually thrown around the name of his dummy temp agency had left him utterly stunned.

But Ihyun’s business was far from over.