Chapter 18

-But personally I like photos of Ash coughing up blood, it's so hot; his physique is amazing but he looks like he might die any day

⤷I only save those kinds of photos too

⤷⤷You must do it really often lol

⤷⤷Caught lol

-Living up to being an issue maker... He'd be a corpse without controversy, look at this firepower at dawn

⤷More precisely, without his face. Everyone knows controversy comes from his face, right?

⤷Agree lol Even the senile old man next door knows Ash's name and face. He said Ash is his dad when he saw him

⤷⤷Fuck the comment above is hilarious

⤷⤷What even is this lol

-Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that there's more talk about Ash than the combat personnel entering gates? lol

⤷What are you talking about ㅇㅅㅇ? Ash also entered gates together, why are you saying he's not combat personnel...? He's an A-grade Esper so he should at least receive basic self-defense training.

⤷⤷Is protecting himself the same as an Esper with real combat-suitable abilities? Fucking intelligence level; if you're gonna say stupid shit, just shut up

⤷⤷Hey you shut up ㅠ Someone like Ash could probably twist your neck 360 degrees with bare hands ㅠ The center has reasons for deploying him in the field. Gates aren't a joke;;

-But seeing him come out alive every time from high-level gates, honestly isn't it certain he has skills?

⤷What skills lol Look at his ability. Is it useful in gates...

⤷His ability is teleport? right. Besides just fucking whoosh whoosh running away, what else can he do?

⤷I think he's only needed when being a transport shuttle lol Must've been a nuisance to other Espers ㅉㅉ

-Do you guys seriously think Ash is weak? You're joking, right? lol???

⤷Makes me realize how much time has passed lol

⤷Why?? Does he have something?

⤷What is it

⤷Time flies lol Even murderers get their past whitewashed

⤷⤷What is this supposed to mean???

⤷⤷?

⤷⤷What? Nothing comes up when I search ㅠㅠ

⤷⤷(This comment has been deleted.)

⤷⤷Really???

⤷⤷Is this for real?

⤷⤷Huh where does it say that's Ash?

⤷⤷I knew there was particularly excessive hate toward Ash but this is my first time seeing something like this lol Don't spread rumors... I don't like Ash either and am closer to hating him, but this is a bit...; There were only a few articles back then and even those weren't from public broadcasters but pseudo-journalism. They don't even properly show who it is, so what;

⤷⤷? Then don't believe it ㅗ I'm explaining in detail because you asked and you're still bitching

-Ah his sides are so wide, drooling

⤷Same man but I acknowledge that level ㅇㅇ

⤷He'd be good at that ㅎ

⤷⤷But why are there no Guides who say they've done it with him? Is he impotent? lol

⤷⤷Your father is impotent^^

⤷That would be big too

⤷⤷(This comment has been deleted.)

⤷⤷Crazy bastard's a left-hander

⤷⤷Ah~ tasty lol

⤷⤷Three legs ㅎㄷㄷ

⤷⤷Hyung ㄷㄷ

⤷⤷Is that really a photo of there? ㅠ I didn't see it, why delete the comment...

⤷⤷It wasn't that, just a casual clothes photo lol

⤷⤷Only showing among yourselves ㅠ Show me too;

-?? You're slowly crossing the line... Shouldn't you guys be careful about getting sued? When posts about getting sued as a group go up in a few months, I'll be eating popcorn lol

⤷Fuck off

⤷Serious loser out

⤷Ash never sued even after millions of personal attacks

⤷That bastard doesn't know how to sue lol

⤷If he was gonna collect money through lawsuits, he'd start with other bigger scale places first lol There are ATMs everywhere since he's everyone's punching bag, why would he come here??

⤷Seems like he doesn't use the internet at all. Don't think I've ever seen him carry a phone, and according to an acquaintance working at the 11th branch, he doesn't even have an emergency contact number

⤷⤷If he doesn't have a phone, what does he use to contact people?

⤷⤷I wouldn't know... maybe a radio?

⤷⤷Telepathy

⤷⤷Telepathy what bullshit lol

-The post atmosphere seems to be getting weird

⤷It's ripe lol This was written to bash from the beginning

⤷What do you mean slowly, it was shit from the start

⤷Enjoy if you don't want to die

⤷Deal with it

⤷⤷Grandpa should take out his dentures before sleeping, nobody says that these days lol

-Everyone's excited because it's dawn...

-It is weird though...ㅡㅡ Usually even B-grade Espers get recruited by teams, is it really a personality problem lol No subject

⤷This post itself is the subject, intelligence level lol

-What's the point of earning good money? Living a life constantly coughing up blood, if it were me I'd have said goodbye to the world long ago

-Oh dear ㅠㅠ You evil bastards... I was shocked reading the comments, seems like it's time to sleep lol

⤷Really, seeing you guys fight makes me realize it's dawn lol

(The author has blocked additional comments on this post.)

Half of it was incomprehensible words, but through the other half he could roughly understand. That it was all curses and criticism. Occasionally there were people who defended that man, but their reasons were all about his face.

"..."

He had nothing to say. He certainly did have a face that stood out that much. It was strange that despite looking so inhumanly beautiful, not a single person had anything good to say about him.

Nain no longer brought up Ash's story to people. After all, it would be the same result of not hearing good things even if he brought it up.

The Espers thought that Nain, who had stopped his benefactor talk, had finally come to his senses. However, contrary to their wishes, Nain, who still hadn't come to his senses, muttered internally.

'Still, I should thank him face to face.'

Even if those rumors were true, they were separate from Nain's feelings. It would be really nice if he could see his face directly at least once and convey his gratitude.

* * *

The center was chaotic from morning. This was because the core of the gate where awakeners had been deployed last month was destroyed, and it was about time for the conquest team to emerge.

People going out to meet them left the center early in the morning, and several vehicles loaded with medical supplies also came and went in case someone came out injured. With several personnel stationed at the center leaving all at once, the atmosphere was unsettled all day.

Thanks to that, Nain was also very busy today. Since being busy was much better than wandering around not knowing what to do, he felt satisfied for the first time in a while. As soon as the medical supply vehicles left the center, the chaotic atmosphere settled and the usual idleness returned to Nain.

Sitting at the desk by the medical ward entrance, Nain decided to organize what he needed to do going forward in his notebook, since he had nothing else to do anyway.

'1. Method to return home.'

He even put strength in his hand and pressed down firmly while writing grandly, but there wasn't much content to write. Gates were still an unknown territory to most people here too. Everyone just repeated like parrots that it wasn't time yet and to wait.

Nain wrote 'Gradually collect clues' below that and drew five stars.

'2. Investigation of Espers' magical power circuits.'

Unlike Nain, who belonged to the Magic Department but was only half-complete since he couldn't even sense mana, mages were those who possessed the ability to detect and handle mana.

Mana was expressed in the form of magic through mediums called magical tools, or artifacts.

However, the Espers here manifested transcendent power using only their own abilities without any medium. Through this fact, Nain formed a hypothesis.

'Espers must have self-formed magical power circuits within their bodies.'

What had resulted in mages meeting terrible deaths when trying to handle magical power without mediums seemed to correspond to 'rampage' here. In other words, Espers used their own bodies as mediums to use their abilities.

'It's not that there are no restrictions on abilities at all.'

Even so, it was worth researching. Once he understood the system by which they handled supernatural abilities, he might see a path.

Nain began to gauge how many tools he currently had that might help prove his hypothesis.

Various herbs, practice magic potions, fake illness potions, spirit stone fragments, automatic fan, automatic fountain pen... Damn, they were all useless. Moreover, none of them were what he needed for the current situation.

"...Oh."

The pen tip that had been alternately marking X's on the paper hesitated for a moment.

Magical power reaction solution. Nain wrote that on the blank paper and drew several overlapping circles above it.

This method was at least the only one available currently and the most realistic. He needed to obtain one necessary material, but he decided to take meaning in the fact that a framework had been roughly established, however faintly, compared to having nothing at all.

Magical power reaction solution had the property of faintly glowing when it reacted with magical power, making visible the paths where mana flowed - the magical power circuits.

It seemed like he could successfully create the reagent, apply it to an Esper's body, and observe the flow of mana as it appeared on the skin.

The medical ward had many test subjects... no no, Espers. Nain smiled satisfactorily.

'...But I don't have money...'

Nain grasped his pocket situation and quickly withdrew his smile, sighing glumly. If he wanted to try any experiments, he'd need to obtain materials, but the reality was that he was tight on living expenses for tomorrow, let alone material costs.