There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 63 - 62. Night Star

"First squad, prioritize the guild members’ rescue. Second squad, contain the boss for now," the black-haired esper that seemed to be the Captain gave out orders immediately.

The man didn’t speak loudly, but with the way the soldier carried themselves in full attention, his voice still rang clearly; firm and stern, as if he wouldn’t take any objection.

"Third squad, help secure the perimeter," he gave out the last order, and the soldiers immediately saluted before springing into action.

"Yes, Sir!"

Hand still on the near-erupt esper, Zein watched the black-uniformed espers jump into the gate one by one, as well as spreading out to the surrounding park. Three people came in Zein’s direction—or rather at where the guild members congregated. One of them was a guide, another a healer, and the last one was the owner of the commanding voice.

A tall man, probably slightly taller than Bassena, walked while fixing his gloves. The black monolid eyes stared keenly at Zein. And then, suddenly, the handsome face broke out a subtle smile, before the man turned toward the gate with a sturdy, disciplined gait. He gazed at Zein for the last time before jumping into the ominous red gate with a nonchalant smile.

Without even needing to ask, Zein already had an inkling as to who that man was.

The Captain of Mobius, and Han Shin’s older brother; Han Joon.

It was no wonder Zein felt the name Mobius was familiar. They had talked about the man briefly during the expedition, and how he had a bad relationship with Radia Mallarc. Was that why the man looked at Zein earlier? Because he was from Trinity?

While Zein wondering about the man, the Mobius healer knelt down beside the laid esper and looked curiously at Zein. "Is it okay if I started the healing? Or do you need to finish the guiding first?"

There were some guides who couldn’t be disturbed by anything during the process, including other esper’s intrusive mana. But certainly not Zein. "No, you can start. I’ve finished anyway," he let go of the guide’s neck and stood up.

"Huh? Already?" the guildmaster blinked, looking up at the guide.

"Yeah, that much is enough right?" Zein pointed at the esper who no longer had blackened skin. He could cleanse the man completely since he was only a 2-star anyway, but he didn’t know how many he needed to guide later, so Zein wanted to pace himself. "He should be yellow now," he added, as the Mobius’s guide measured the esper.

"He’s right," the Mobius female guide confirmed with a nod, to the other guild members’ astonishment.

Zein turned toward the two espers who came back from the dungeons too, asking. "What about you?"

"I-it’s okay, we didn’t even do much,"

"Please save it for the one who is still in the dungeon!" the other esper started to sob, pleading with a deep bow, while the other members calmed him down.

It was quite a solid guild, Zein thought. Small guilds usually have better bonds among the members, and this one seemed to be particularly close. What bad luck, to encounter an anomaly.

There were a few kinds of anomalies within the dungeons. One of them was the connecting dungeon where Bassena ended up four years ago. Another one was this changing gate, which suddenly roused in difficulty in the middle or end of the raid, or even the moment someone entered the gate.

In this case, the boss seemed to undergo a metamorphosis which resulted in a spike in the miasma level.

"If it’s just the boss, it won’t take long," the healer said after finishing her treatment. "Since the Captain took part himself."

Well...since it was a 5-star esper who Bassena Vaski talked about in a respectful manner, Zein had no doubt. From one of his conversations with Bassena, it seemed like the man used to train the young Serpent Lord back in the academy. Aside from Radia, he was one of the rare people who could tame Bassena Vaski. The moniker ’Dark Knight’ for Mobius actually originated from him, as a play of his signature skill; [dark night].

—a star in the dark night; was how Bassena described Han Joon. The man’s cloaking technique was arguably the best, even during the day. But at night, the only thing could be seen of the man was a flash of his dagger, like a glint of a single star in the dark night sky.

All of Bassena’s martial art and physical skill was taught by Han Joon, so the man was probably the only esper that got to beat the crap out of Bassena Vaski without any repercussion.

Not long after, the first squad came back with the rest of the guild members. Some were heavily injured, and two met an unfortunate fate. But they didn’t even have a leeway to mourn as one of them, the tanker, entered the blackening state too. This one even had red eyes already, reminding Zein of Bassena’s state inside that cave.

Zein wagged his hand and the soldiers brought the esper to him without hesitation. The billowing miasma was almost too thick for the Mobius guide to take care of it without a protection mask like Zein. They also needed at least two people to restrain the trashing esper.

So Zein grabbed the esper’s neck and pushed him to the ground, using his mana to pin the man further, as well as emptying his vessel at the same time. It took longer this time, since the corrosion had gone further and the core was bigger. Sadly, Zein didn’t think this one would leave unscathed unless he had an exceptionally strong mentality.

Zein looked up at the blue sky once the trashing had stopped, preventing himself to dive too deep into the esper’s system. There were quite a few reasons why guides were reluctant to guide someone on the brink of eruption—it was dangerous, it was exhausting, and above all, the esper’s mental trauma could get transferred toward the guide. It felt bitter, like poison, like tasting the miasma-riddled water in the red-zone.

Even for someone like Zein, whose guiding skill was already polished and exceptional, cleansing two cases of near-eruption still left a bitter aftertaste.

"Are you alright, Sir?" the agent who came to the park with Zein asked.

"It’s fine," Zein shifted his gaze from the sky, and looked around the park. The guide from Mobius was checking the condition of the other guild members and started guiding the high-risk ones, while the healer immediately worked hard from the critical one, leaving the ones with light external wounds to the hospital’s medics that came to help. "It’ll be nice if you can get me drinking water, though."

The agent nodded and swiftly went away. The one who brought Zein the water, however, was the guildmaster who looked like he aged a lot in the last hour. The sounds of sobs and wailing could be heard in the background, adding even more sorrow to the guildmaster’s shadowed face.

Zein looked at the two dead espers on the ground while drinking the bottled water with his free hand. He felt even weirder now, looking down at his chest.

He understood the sadness of losing someone important. And yet...he realized he didn’t feel anything now. All he thought at the scene of the tragedy was...nothing. That it was just a regular occurrence, so familiar and ordinary for him. Was he already numb to sorrow, or had he put human life as something trivial? Or was it because they were espers and not civilians?

Even after he finished guiding the tanker, and moved to guide the other espers, those that looked so frightened and dejected, slumping in grief, he couldn’t manage to feel anything other than ’oh, such a pity’.

In the end, he stood watching at the corner of the park, leaning into a swing. Wordlessly playing with the bead in his necklace, trying to figure out whether he had become too detached, or if it was just a case of cultural difference.

"Oh, here you are, Sir Guide!" the guildmaster suddenly came running toward Zein when he was lost in thought. "I was looking for you everywhere..."

"Yes?" why would this man look for him when he had his whole guild to worry about?

The guildmaster still looked distressed, but he forced a solemn smile as he looked at Zein. "I want to thank you, Sir. Please tell me your name and account, we will compensate you for today,"

"Hmm..." Zein glanced toward the center of the park, at the two lifeless bodies and the miserable guild members.

"We might not have much, but we’ll still try to pay you back properly," the man said firmly, seemingly perceiving Zein’s hesitation as doubt.

"That’s..."

"You might want to reconsider that," a voice cut their banter then, deep and low, although the tone was quite light-hearted. "I don’t think you can afford the fee of his single service,"

Zein tilted his head at the owner of the voice, which black eyes were staring back at him. Pointing at the badge in Zein’s collar, he added with a subtle smile. "Isn’t that right, Mister Trinity’s executive?"

In practice, Zein had yet to receive any incentives for his service, since he still wasn’t on duty, and the one he guided so far was just Bassena. But if they really plan to pay him with the rate stated in his contract...

Yeah—even Zein thought so. This small guild wouldn’t be able to pay his 5-star rates. Not with the condition they were in right now.

"T-Trinity—forgive me, Sir, to suggest something so impertinent," the guildmaster bowed deeply, eyes widened in surprise. "But...still..." he looked up with fierce eyes. "We still wished to repay you,"

Zein sighed, straightened his back slightly, and try to remember the content of Abel’s text earlier. "It’s alright, you don’t have to do that,"

—it’s not good to accept payment for emergencies unless they officially requested your aid

"I’m just doing what should be done,"

—but if you can, please represent Trinity with dignity

"It’s something that happened in our guild’s neighborhood too, so we also have a responsibility,"

Zein was just spouting bullshit on his part, although it was also the truth that he was doing good deeds following his instinct. But what he didn’t realize was that he said it in a soft tone, probably out of pity—with serene, beautiful pair of blue eyes. It was also fortunate that he wore the shirt and jeans from the pile that Reina sent him the other day.

The result was a bewitching appearance that made the guildmaster almost shed a tear, as if he was ready to lay himself for Trinity’s cause.

And the guide hadn’t even removed his mask.

"There’s more than one way to repay someone’s favor," the black-eyed Captain broke the touching moment with a soft chuckle. When Zein looked at him, the man cocked his head toward the throng of reporters standing by at the other side of the barricade.

"Y-yes? Is there something I can do for you, Sir?" the guildmaster perked up.

Zein narrowed his eyes at the reporters and the cameras, chewing the inside of his mouth. He suddenly remembered how the PR department had to be working hard to prevent any news about him to leak out before the official appointment the day after tomorrow.

"I’d like it if my name is kept hidden for now," Zein said, shifting his gaze toward the confused guildmaster. The confusion was understandable since people usually seek popularity, not shrinking away from it.

But Zein wouldn’t wear a mask if he sought things like that.

"But..."

"It’s fine if you mention Trinity, but not my exact participation," Zein explained, and the guildmaster finally nodded, bowing deeply once more, before walking away and leaving Zein with Mobius’s Captain.

Looking at the man closer, he had a completely different vibe than Han Shin. The only thing similar about them was their black eyes. Perhaps because he was a military unit Captain, the man had a perfect posture even when he stood casually. Rather than mischievous like Han Shin, his eyes were sharp and cold, with the same deep baritone voice as Captain Agni.

Was that a trait of military personnel? Zein wondered playfully.

Abel once told Zein that he was ’by the book’, but the Mobius Captain would fit the term more. Even after taking care of the dungeon anomaly, not a single crease appeared on his uniform, and not a splatter of mud or blood could be seen. Overall, he looked like someone who would not tolerate tardiness and was strict even to himself—even more to himself.

With his sharp, handsome features, he looked like a perfect model soldier the government would use as recruitment propaganda. That perfectness was only marred by a single, long horizontal scar on his neck, as if someone was trying to slice his throat in the past. But for an esper and a soldier, that kind of scar actually looked like a badge.

If it wasn’t for the prior knowledge about his identity, and the bold ’HAN, J’ in his uniform’s nametag, Zein wouldn’t associate this man with Trinity’s free-spirited chief researcher at all.

To not ended it as a mere speculation, Zein asked him straight. "Are you Han Shin’s older brother?"

The pensive face broke a raised brow, and a well-mannered smile was drawn. "They told you about me?"

"Just in passing,"

The smile turned into a smirk then, and Zein felt like he could finally see more resemblance between the brothers. "Who did you hear about me from?"

Zein tilted his head. "Does it matter?"

"There’s a difference between a cheeky younger brother and an academy junior,"

Oh—when he talked like that, the man didn’t feel so strict anymore. They conversed while watching the rest of the squad and the guild members wrapping up the raid. "Bassena seemed to hold you in high regard," Zein said.

It was quite bizarre for him. People said Radia Mallarc didn’t get along with Han Joon, but the vice guildmaster of Trinity respected the man, and the other founding member was a family member. He smelled some history behind this, but Zein wasn’t the type to actively find out about that kind of thing.

Han Joon let out a subtle smile in response. "Being respected by someone in higher rank only makes me feel weird," he said. But there was no inferiority in his tone, and Zein could even feel a trace of pride. "But why are you here?"

Zein tilted his head at the question, so the esper elaborate further. "There’s no way Radia would send anyone over, especially since I’m the one being deployed here."

Was their relationship that bad to the point that they avoided each other? Zein saved his question inside his head, as he observed the Captain’s calm, impassive face. "It’s just a coincidence. I was getting an examination there," Zein pointed at the medical center which had slowly undone the lockdown process.

"Hmm...what luck," again, the subtle smile that seemed as if he knew something more played on the handsome face. "Well, thank you for your cooperation," the man reached out a hand, which Zein took for a shake. It was a firm yet friendly hold and Han Joon smiled, wider, and somewhat mysterious. "Nice meeting you at last, Zein."

With a simple nod, the Mobius Captain walked away, just in time for the chauffeur’s appearance, who was panting hard as if he was just having a marathon.

"A-are you alright, Sir?" the man asked with a bated breath. "The headquarter ordered me to take you back immediately."

"Mm," Zein nodded, following the chauffeur who profusely ushered him back to the car. But his eyes still followed the imposing back of the Captain, who was walking back to the van. The man no longer had any countenance of the casual, lighthearted man Zein talked with earlier, but the strict and firm leader of the government military unit.

But at least he called Zein by his preferred name, unlike the Trinity Guildmaster.

So the man also knew his name, Zein thought, finally remembering that he never mentioned his name to the esper. "Han Joon," narrowing his eyes, he muttered the name before entering the car. "What a confusing fellow..."