"I’M DONE lining them up, kid."
"Thank you, sir."
"You can just address me casually, you know? How do you address older males in Korea again? Is it ’hyung?’ You call Ki Gayoon that way, after all."
Yuno gave 17 a look of disbelief. "Have some conscience, sir. You’re an ’ahjussi’ and not a ’hyung.’"
"Noh Yuno, has anyone ever called you ’rude?’"
"All the time, sir."
"I wonder how you survived for this long with that mouth of yours."
Yuno just ignored 17’s whining.
After all, he was busy inspecting his ’patients’ now.
I don’t want to admit this, but having 17-nim around is really useful.
The world’s #1 Esper pulled out three long tables from his Inventory.
Apparently, those tables are Items that were meant to keep the ’zombies’ unconscious.
I don’t know where 17-nim got these super convenient Items, but this is probably why the System sent me here.
"Kid, what are you going to do with those zombies?"
"I’m going to extract their Artificial Cores," Yuno explained, his eyes glued to the Status Window that popped up in front of him. "The System said these poor humans were ’zombified’ due to being implanted by Artificial Cores. My bet is that the Artificial Cores didn’t match the bodies of these people."
"Artificial Cores exist?"
Yuno just nodded because he was busy reading his Status Window.
[Welcome to your Inventory, Guide Noh Yuno.]
Oh, wow.
Of course, just like any other Awakened Person, Yuno had been using his Inventory from the moment he manifested as a Guide.
It’s super convenient, after all.
However, seeing the lists of the items stored in his Inventory was pretty embarrassing.
Do I really own this many BL books and merch?
Fortunately, the lists for the items and Items (as in stuff from dungeons) in his Inventory were separated.
Hence, Yuno ignored the items and went straight to check the Items.
It was practically empty since he was a Guide, and Guides were not usually allowed in dungeons.
The Items I have were gifts from Sajangnim and my Esper friends.
There was two Items there that he didn’t remember owning, though.
First was a pair of <Surgical Gloves.>
Second was a transparent <Safety Glasses.>
Yep, those were the bland names of the Items.
"Am I supposed to use them?" Yuno asked the System out loud, causing 17 to stop bombarding him with questions. "But I can extract Cores with my bare hands, and I can see them just fine with my naked eyes before."
[This case is different, Guide Noh Yuno.
The Artificial Cores have a virus in them after they had been literally touched by the Virus itself. We don’t want to get you infected.
So, please wear the Items provided.
The <Surgical Gloves> will protect you from getting infected, while the <Safety Glasses> will help you see the virus.]
Oh, that actually made sense.
"Alright," Yuno said, opening his hands. "Please hand them to me now."
***
"IS YOUR little test not over yet?" Ki Gayoon asked the System impatiently. "Can’t you send me to Noh Yuno already?"
"And please leave Noa-san’s body already," Haru added, clearly starting to get annoyed at this point. "How long are you going to stay there anyway?"
Right?
"Just a little bit more," the System said casually. "Noh Yuno and 17 are working great together. Their abilities complement each other well."
"Tsk."
Haru looked at Ki Gayoon with pity in his eyes. "You’re really being replaced, Gayoon-san."
"Yah," Gayoon complained. "Do you want to die?"
Haru just shrugged before avoiding his gaze.
***
IT KINDA burns...
Yuno was glad that the System provided <Surgical Gloves> to him.
This isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
Fortunately, the <Surgical Gloves> also served as a barrier.
The virus— shaped and colored like little broccolis— avoided his gloved hands.
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