OMH Chapter 51
by Volare51. Hooligans (15)
The teenagers in our unit were cackling and enjoying themselves.
Since they’re the kind of kids who are happy when I’m in trouble, I just let it go.
But I couldn’t just brush off what Kwak Seunghae said.
“Where did your cool buzz cut go, and why do you look so prissy? Where are the manly clothes you always wore, and why are you wearing such childish clothes? Are you really Gang Hana, Esper?”
“We already checked my biometrics earlier… Please stop asking.”
They keep doubting me. Asking if I’m really Gang Hana.
To enter the control center, you have to scan all your biometric information and compare it with the identification information sent down from the Central Center. So why is he acting like this? You already confirmed everything.
“Senior, just shave your head again. That’ll solve everything.”
“No, she needs to take her shirt off too, to be manly.”
If I do that, can I escape this pit of doubt? I’ve been dealing with this for about 30 minutes, and I’m starting to want to just take off my clothes and shave my head to end it, like the kids said.
While I was thinking this, Kwak Seunghae opened his mouth again.
“What’s with the clothes, it’s not like it’s a mascot costume, why are you wearing something with a bear on it? Where’s the manly undershirt you usually wear?”
That black tank top is still good because it’s stretchy, so I’m wearing it underneath… Would he stop if I showed it to him? Would he just end it if I took off my clothes and showed him my tank top?
If it’ll shut Kwak Seunghae up, that little bit of undressing is nothing.
I grabbed the hem of the hoodie Woojin had picked out for me.
Let’s just take this off and end it. Then I can shut that old man up. If he still doesn’t shut up, I’ll physically shut him up.
Having made up my mind, I lifted the hem to take off my clothes.
But then I felt a chill.
‘What is it? It’s cold since it’s winter, but this feels different from that cold.’
I raised my gaze slightly and met Woojin’s cold stare.
“…”
Woojin with that cold expression is really handsome. Woojin is a bit of a cold type anyway, so that kind of icy expression suits him amazingly well. He could do a photoshoot with that expression.
Anyway, at the unspoken command not to take off my clothes, I put down the hoodie hem I was raising.
‘Does it matter what others say? It’s important to be what Woojin likes.’
*
Even if the section chief is being annoying, I have to work since I’m at the mission location.
We did enough briefing, so we stood guard a step away from the barbed wire fence.
Beyond the barbed wire fence, where cement dust was swirling, there was nothing to see but the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
And usually, that’s normal. If there’s something, confirming it is our job now, but that’s because it’s an abnormal state that it becomes a job.
I just stared blankly outside the barbed wire for about an hour, and it was really boring.
‘I guess that’s why this place rotates every 6 hours. People who come for contract work will only do other things if they stay in a boring place for too long.’
It’s better to replace them briefly and frequently.
Our team comes at 12:00 and goes back at 18:00, so since the sun is still high in the sky, there’s still a long time until we finish.
I sat down bored, scraping the floor with the rifle in my arms.
Director Kim wants Woojin’s achievements, so why did he schedule this kind of mission at this time? Patrol missions are usually just staring blankly outside and coming back.
Besides, the time is afternoon, from lunch to evening. What could possibly happen in broad daylight like this?
Woojin, for one, liked that it didn’t conflict with Wooreen’s daycare schedule, though.
‘Sigh, he doesn’t even know that he’s in a more urgent situation than Cha Wooreen. How is he going to survive without me, Woojin?’
I’m bored, so I’m thinking all sorts of things. That’s why I don’t really like these boring missions. I’d rather train at this time.
I was sitting outside aimlessly, so the cold winter wind swept through my neck. The hair on the back of my head tickled my neck.
I don’t usually pay much attention to my hairstyle changing, but it’s annoying when my long hair tickles my neck. I want to cut it, but Woojin likes my current style, so I have to just bear it.
Right now, I just have to endure these boring hours.
I only have to look at this barbed wire and the other side for four more hours.
But doesn’t the barbed wire look a little different from before? It used to have a slight glow as it showed off the high voltage current, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that now?
‘Should I touch it once?’
I reached out towards the barbed wire when a sound came from the radio I received from the control center.
-Control D, Control D, do you hear me? Moth 2 occurred. Moth 2 occurred.
Huh, is Control D us? If it’s ‘Moth 2’, it means someone invaded from the outside? Our security net was breached?
‘I complained about being bored, and then an accident happened right away.’
As soon as I heard the radio, I called all our team members to the control center.
The existing patrol team, Control D, can do the external patrol, and we need to catch the intruder.
First, I need to understand the situation, so I asked the section chief.
“What exactly is the situation right now? Has the intruder been identified? What’s the infiltration route? What’s the possibility of it turning into a 3?”
“That’s… we don’t know much about the intruder yet. We just contacted Headquarters because the power to the barbed wire fence in our area went out.”
“I thought the barbed wire looked strange… How did the power go out? Are you sure it was an outsider?”
“The wires were all pulled out so crudely, so it’s obviously an outsider. There’s no way anyone here would turn off the power like that. There’s a big risk of electric shock. And there are quite a few petty thieves coming from outside. It’s obvious that it’s a hooligan trying to steal something again this time.”
“Hooligans coming to steal things?”
The story of hooligans stealing in Downtown is famous. I’ve heard of it before too.
It’s been seven years since the world ended, so where would they get food and stuff? They can’t farm because of the monsters.
In the end, to survive for a long time, they have to find a steady supply source.
And the only supply source is the Esper Guide Association.
Of course, it’s impossible for hooligans to sneak into the Esper Guide Association and steal, so they don’t directly target the Association.
They target civilians who distribute food with the Association’s help.
The reason I know this in such detail is because there have been more than one or two hooligans who have been caught after coming to steal like this.
Catching those hooligans isn’t difficult.
So I never imagined that we’d be robbed while I was on patrol.
Does this make sense? In broad daylight, a team with three S-grade Espers and me as the team leader is being targeted by a petty thief.
Of course, no one has the ability to detect, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the team members have no field experience, but still.
And this mission is actually for Woojin to build up his achievements, so this kind of incident shouldn’t happen.
‘I need to catch the sneaking rat quickly. Is there no Esper here with detection abilities?’
One advantage of having long hair is that I can pull it out.
“……!!”
I was worrying while pulling out my hair when something suddenly occurred to me.
Wait, detection ability? There is someone who isn’t a detection expert, but can do something similar.
Most mental abilities can do enough detection if used well.
I turned my head towards Jang Hana.
Jang Hana, who met my eyes, shrugged.
‘I need to use the S-grade mental Esper in times like this.’
The essence of Jang Hana’s ability is mental disruption. To disrupt someone’s mind, reading their mind is the basic foundation, and being able to identify mental bodies is the basic option.
Identifying a mental body means being able to hear thoughts. It means being able to hear or read someone’s thoughts that are invisible and inaudible.
It’s a useful ability when looking for someone with a special purpose, like now.
I approached Jang Hana and grabbed both of her shoulders.
“Jang Hana. Find someone nearby who’s thinking strangely right now.”
“Huh? I think Senior is the strangest, though?”
“Find the petty thief who snuck in from outside. If you want to go home today. If you can’t find the petty thief who snuck in here today, no one here can go home.”
This mission was directly given by Director Kim. It’s an opportunity to create satisfactory results.
But instead of achievements, only accidents are happening here?
There’s no way Director Kim would stay still.
It’s a mission that he pushed for by putting pressure on the Central Center and the Research Center.
It’s an opportunity that Director Kim created by risking his life to put together the ‘Field Expert Guide Team’ again, and if we lose this, he might try to sell our entire team to the Research Center. There are many cases where people can’t get out of the Research Center until they die if they’re sold to the Research Center. I don’t want to live that kind of life again.
So I have to catch the intruder no matter what.
“Do you understand, Jang Hana? If you want to go around doing missions outside the Research Center like this, find them quickly.”
“No, what are the other people doing, and why are you only doing this to me? Mind reading isn’t a common ability? Aren’t there any mental Espers here?”
“Hmm, I do have abilities in that area, though.”
Jang Hana and I simultaneously turned towards the side where the sound was coming from.
Kwak Seunghae was even raising his hand shyly as he spoke.
“Then why haven’t you caught the petty thief until now? If you’re going to sit in the section chief’s seat, shouldn’t you be able to stop a Moth 2?”
“That, that’s… ahem! No, I didn’t know that my ability could be used to find people either.”
Wow… He’s occupying the section chief’s seat without even knowing the range of his abilities, and he’s even clearing his throat and pretending to be dignified. Amazing, really, letting an intruder in when mind reading is his ability.
“Then use it right now. You can at least read the thoughts of an unspecified number of people, right?”
“I’ve never done anything like that before…”
“Then you can do it for the first time today. Find them quickly. Before they enter the general civilian area. You know that the search area gets wider if they infiltrate that far, right?”
I urged Jang Hana and Kwak Seunghae and sent them outside.
And I called Jo Yong and Ham Soyoung.
“You guys have something to do with me too. We need to check if the intruders have left the restricted area.”
“How do we do that?”
“We find traces of the intruders entering the residential area from the restricted area. This place is inside the barrier, so if an unregistered Esper flies around using their abilities, the Central Center will know right away. Judging from Jo Yong being quiet, they’re not the kind who can float in the air, so they’ll be walking around while hiding their presence. No matter how hard they try, the ground around here is dirt, so it’ll all show. The reason why we planted bushes and trees so much between the restricted area and the residential area is also a big reason for that.”
“Oh~ I see. I just thought you planted them to hide the barbed wire.”
“It has that function too. So you guys go out and find them quickly too.”
I pushed the kids on their backs and chased them out of the control center.
“Hurry up and fix this quickly.”
Come to think of it, I have to finish work at 6:00 and pick up Cha Wooreen.
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