After Indigo’s face was torn apart, two weeks passed. The sudden change in teams and an unprecedented victory occurred, but nothing had changed in the past two weeks.
It wasn’t strange that something hadn’t changed; it was just one of many battles happening worldwide, and a team’s single victory wouldn’t make a difference.
For two weeks, I continued to meet my women, HunterKiller members, and conducted investigations on hyper-humans from headquarters. There were no dramatic changes during this process.
“Hey.”
The sudden replacement of the HunterKiller Team with the Guerrilla Team was attributed to a communication error, and the competition proceeded as usual. For two weeks, we were walking the path of defeat again. Moreover, due to some ridiculous reason for the team change, the condition of the HunterKiller members was unusually good.
“Hey.”
From our perspective, there was no point in questioning the team change. Although team changes rarely happened, they occasionally occurred, and for the 3rd Team, this new change allowed them to win for the first time. From our team’s perspective, it was a good thing.
“Hey!”
“What?”
When I was lost in thought and sitting quietly, Klugger approached me and called out loudly. Startled by his voice, I turned my dazed face towards him, and Klugger was looking at me with narrowed eyebrows.
“Why are you standing there like that when I call you?”
“Oh, I haven’t slept much these days.”
“Because of the investigation?”
“I guess so.”
“What do you mean by ‘I guess so’? Either it is or it isn’t.”
Even I felt that what I said wasn’t smooth. As Klugger said, I hadn’t been sleeping well for several days. Not sleeping for a day or two doesn’t affect physical strength much, but I hadn’t slept properly for about a week.
Meeting and spending time with HunterKiller members and staying up late contributed to this, but even if I stayed up late, I usually got enough rest. However, recently, I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about schedules, and even if I fell asleep, I would wake up after a few hours.
I thought it would be fine soon, but the worry of being discovered anytime and the pressure to keep track of the schedule constantly weighed on me. Additionally, as I expanded the scope of the data to investigate, my thoughts increased, and now even when I was with someone, thoughts about the schedule and investigation kept creeping up.
“But why?”
“It’s lunchtime, let’s eat.”
“Oh… I’m not hungry.”
Klugger, who serves as the leader among the 3rd Team soldiers, went to work to check the competition schedule and wanted to have lunch with me, but unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time. Fortunately, today, I didn’t have any appointments with Milky Way or SuA, so I had time to check the data, and if I don’t verify it today, I might not find time again.
“Then I’ll eat with Kirk. It’s good to work hard, but take care of your body too.”
“Okay.”
Klugger headed toward the elevator, and my gaze followed him back to the computer monitor.
The situation of the data investigation was the worst. While I had gathered some information, finding the relevant details within 20 years’ worth of data was not easy.
I knew that Earth Defense Union experimented on children without secondary sexual characteristics, but I still couldn’t find the related data.
I confirmed that there were frequent replacements of hyper-humans in the early stages of their appearance, and I formulated several hypotheses, but I couldn’t find solid evidence.
Perhaps, there might be classified data above level two in the current server database, but to view it, I need permission through Seira’s account, and then I must go to the Spacystro command center.
Or, there might be no more information in the Spacystro server database. If so, the only way would be to access the Earth Defense Union’s database, but there’s no way to do that.
Even though I was dating HunterKiller members and everyone except Yubin revealed themselves to be hyper-humans, going to the Earth Defense Union Seoul Branch to access the database doesn’t make sense.
The remaining option is hacking, but it’s the most dangerous and difficult method. Spacystro and Earth use completely different information systems. Hacking is possible, but it requires an enormous amount of work, which I can’t do alone.
“!”
As my thoughts grew, a headache suddenly hit me. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t come up with a solution. If all else fails, I should go to headquarters to access the classified data first.
But for that, I need a reason. Using a makeshift warp device, it’s quick to get to the spaceship, but I need a pretext. Even if I say I’m checking the data for investigating hyper-humans, Luche, who is sharp-eyed, will immediately see that there’s more to it.
If I reveal that I am dating HunterKiller members? That won’t work either.
Firstly, I haven’t obtained reliable information. Reporting now would only label me as someone who has been idling around with HunterKiller members. Of course, I can accept this. Even if I get scolded or disciplined, finding matching data would be the best outcome.
However, without confidence in finding anything, and with the second reason, I can’t report.
The second reason is that it would put HunterKiller members in trouble. Although it might be the worst scenario for me as a member of Spacystro, I have chosen my path. HunterKiller members. I wish for my women, who have walked a tough path, to find happiness.
If I revealed that I was dating five members, countless things could happen. I can’t predict what will happen among those many events, and perhaps the worst-case scenarios I imagined could all occur simultaneously. That much I must avoid.
“!!!”
Bowing my head due to another headache, I realized it was because I hadn’t slept properly. Taking a break would help… but it wouldn’t.
“Ugh!”
When I lifted my head, someone approaching me startled me. Turning my head at the familiar voice, Luche was looking at me with wide eyes.
“Luche. What’s the matter?”
“No, I saw you lying down and wanted to startle you… aren’t you eating?”
“I’m checking some more data. How about you?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Luche pulled a chair next to me and sat down. She often came to check on me while I was reviewing data.
“Did you find anything?”
“Not really. No results yet.”
“There’s a lot of data.”
Luche grabbed the mouse and scrolled through the data I was reviewing.
“An old news article?”
“Yes. This is from 13 years ago. I’m verifying personnel affiliated with the Earth Defense Union Seoul Branch at that time.”
“At that time, many articles were published when competitions took place.”
Although I had already reviewed this data, I checked again in case I missed anything. Luche scrolled through it quickly and stopped.
“You know, there were many hyper-human replacements back then.”
“Yeah. I wasn’t present at the scene then, but I often checked the data from the command center.”
“Huh? Can you access that? I couldn’t before.”
Back when I worked at the command center, I often reviewed reports when I had free time, but there were many restrictions, so I couldn’t access all the data. I could check some data on hyper-humans, but I didn’t know about specific replacements back then.
“You have limited access because of the penalties you received.”
“Oh, right.”
Due to various penalties, including insubordination, although I had the same rank as other soldiers, I had limited access to some data, including viewing certain materials. But…
“How did you know about my penalties?”
“Huh?… Well… because I’m your superior! I know everything about my subordinates.”
Thinking back, I realized I was assigned to the 3rd Team 10 years ago when Luche, who was appointed as the team leader at the time, selected me. Naturally, she would have checked the personnel records of the selected soldiers, including my penalties.
“But you picked us well.”
“That’s because we had good achievements.”
Now, even though I play the role of losing in every competition, I did have some achievements when I was in space or before coming to Earth to invade other planets.
“I know this article.”
As I opened another file, Luche pointed at an article on the screen with her finger. It was from 17 years ago, the year when hyper-human replacements became active, and the year with the highest number of replacements.
“When hyper-humans were replaced globally, the command center was in chaos.”
“Worldwide?”
Looking at Korean articles, I hadn’t considered foreign occurrences, so the news of global hyper-human replacements was new to me.
“Hold on.”
Suddenly remembering something, I closed the window and searched for other data. An article stated that due to the rapid decline in public opinion on hyper-humans, wages paid to them were covered by national taxes to prevent long-term issues.
When I checked with Seira, we confirmed that replacements had occurred until five years ago, and since then, there had been fewer noticeable replacements.
The issue was that the first replacements happened three years after hyper-humans appeared, and the article about wage payments coincided with that year.
Until now, I thought hyper-humans were rapidly replaced in Korea due to regional characteristics and personnel adjustments. But if it happened globally, it meant there was a common factor among all hyper-humans, and due to this factor, the wage payment method was changed to be covered by national taxes.
While it was a hypothesis, it was a convincing argument. Even if it lacked credibility, given the current situation, it was the extent of my deductions.
“Yes. When hyper-humans were massively replaced, the wage payment method also changed.”
LuChe nodded beside me.
“Do you know anything specific?”
“I don’t know the specifics, but before the massive replacements, existing hyper-humans left the field. Replacements began after that.”
Listening to LuChe, I rechecked the data. With clues, it was quick to find the relevant data. As she said, before the replacements, existing hyper-humans were removed from the list, and new ones were introduced, creating a brief gap.
And according to her, this phenomenon likely occurred simultaneously worldwide.
“Hold on…”
My muttering drew LuChe’s attention.
Unaware of her gaze, I pieced together the puzzle in my mind.
The year when hyper-humans were massively replaced coincided with changes in the wage payment system, indicating that it became difficult for the Earth Defense Union to pay wages, which was one of the reasons for deploying hyper-humans.
Such hyper-humans were born through experiments conducted internally by the Earth Defense Union, and parents of children with suitable genes were given substantial rewards.
While I couldn’t precisely determine the amount, it was enough to make SuA’s parents’ business successful.
Going back to the previous point, existing hyper-humans left the field, and after a brief gap, many new hyper-humans were reintroduced. The number of hyper-humans removed and reintroduced was nearly equal.
And until five years ago, replacements were frequent. So, where did the replaced hyper-humans go?
Suddenly, I remembered a news article related to Indigo. His deeds, which were not frequently reported, were verified firsthand.
There was a need to control articles about misbehaving hyper-humans. Then, was Indigo a valuable hyper-human? No, unless he was part of the HunterKiller Team or SpecialForce Team in the Seoul Branch, there wasn’t a compelling reason to protect him.
Yet, the reason to control media and suppress articles about him was manpower shortage.
With no suitable replacements, retaining current members was a common practice in many small businesses. However, not replacing members in the Earth Defense Union, which holds significant authority, indicated a lack of personnel.
So, where were the numerous hyper-humans replaced annually over the past five years?
No, I shouldn’t think about it. Clearly, there were other reasons for the replacements and changes in wage payment methods.
It was escapism. The answer was already in my head. Whether my conclusion was correct or not, it was the only hypothesis I could formulate now. Still, I wanted to find other answers. No, I needed to.
“…All dead?”
But Luche’s words brought me back to reality. Slowly turning my head, Luche was pale, staring at an article on the monitor, then our eyes met.
Yes. Over the past ten years, countless hyper-humans were replaced. Surely, hundreds of thousands of hyper-humans no longer exist in this world.
