The bombing at the Olympic Bridge instantly heated up the media. Numerous journalists rushed to cover the story, and testimonies of witnesses who claimed to have seen Team Guerrilla at the scene surfaced everywhere. The prosecution began analyzing CCTV footage, and all members of Team Guerrilla, except for Indigo, who was severely injured, and Gainesboro, who went missing, were subjected to investigation.
Team HunterKiller, which had been in the vicinity at the time, couldn’t avoid the investigation either. Since all the team leaders at the Spacystro Seoul Branch were absent, the confrontation didn’t take place, and Team HunterKiller, which had returned to headquarters, found themselves surrounded by reporters and in a state of chaos.
Ultimately, Team HunterKiller was cleared of any involvement in the bombing and, after a long interrogation, were allowed to return home. However, that wasn’t the end of it. Insults targeting the hyper-human responsible for the terror attack and collapse of the Olympic Bridge, one of the bridges over Seoul’s Han River, flew from all directions, and all hyper-humans, including those in HunterKiller, couldn’t hold their heads high.
On the day of the incident, the HunterKiller members had to undergo an investigation without being briefed by their team leader upon their return to headquarters, and they only managed to go home by the evening of the next day.
Red, walking with heavy steps and an empty gaze, arrived at A’s small rented room after a long walk.
As summer completely passed, the days grew shorter, and the time that had been bright just a few weeks ago had turned dark, with streetlights illuminating the now shadowed streets.
Red, who had pulled her hat low over her face in case anyone recognized her, noticed the convenience store where she worked not far away. Originally, she was supposed to work in the afternoon, but due to the investigation, she had to skip work and planned to go to work on time the next day as she entered the one-room building where A lived.
The building she entered every day felt unfamiliar. The events that had just occurred yesterday—everything that happened so suddenly and passed just as quickly—felt like a dream.
“That’s right. It was a dream.”
That was the conclusion Red reached. Everything that happened yesterday was a dream. The person she saw wasn’t A, and A would be at home as usual.
They had a slight argument two days ago, but if she talked it out and apologized, A would forgive her.
Yes. When she opens that door, A would be lying on the bed, using his smartphone, just like usual.
She entered the door lock code and opened the door.
The room was dark with the lights off, and only the light from outside illuminated the interior. There was no sound, no warmth—only the lingering scent of A, who had been here until yesterday.
“Oppa?”
Could he be hiding and waiting somewhere?
With that thought, she opened the bathroom door. The moment the door opened, the vibration caused the water droplets clinging to the showerhead to fall, but there was no sign of anyone.
If A wasn’t in the bathroom, where there was no space to hide, then there was no need to search further. She closed the bathroom door and looked again at the empty room with no one in it.
“Did he go to work today?”
She thought about whether he was coming home late because of work or if he would stay out tonight like yesterday, but amidst all her thoughts, there was nothing about what had happened yesterday.
Red wanted to believe it. Even though she had seen it with her own eyes, she didn’t want to accept yesterday’s events as real. The A she had trusted and given her heart to had deceived her and all the other HunterKiller members. She wanted to believe it couldn’t be true, but even as she thought that, she knew she was in denial.
She decided to sit quietly and wait for A to come home. If he came back at dawn, surely she would see him if she stayed awake and waited.
When she heard footsteps in the hallway, Red’s attention snapped to it, and she jumped up from the bed and rushed to the door. She quickly opened the door, thinking A had arrived, but it was her neighbor, who flinched in surprise at the sudden movement and made eye contact with Red.
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
Disappointed that the person in front of her wasn’t A, she apologized and closed the door, going back into the room.
“It can’t be…. It can’t be.”
She muttered to herself, denying everything she had seen yesterday and wishing A would come quickly. But the more she denied it, the more the situation came back to her. Especially the looks in the eyes of the members when they saw A’s face.
Eyes that seemed to say, “Why would you do this?” Each of them had strong thoughts about A. The more she thought about it, the more one thought stuck in her mind.
“Did he really deceive us?”
If all the times they spent together were lies, if all the times they said “I love you” to each other, desired each other, and intertwined their bodies were all just lies to deceive her, then who could she believe?
To Red, A was the only person in the world she could trust and the only one she loved. Although she had known the HunterKiller members for a long time, the feelings she had built with them were more like camaraderie. Moreover, their closeness had only started recently, and it was thanks to A that she got along well with the members.
And in Red’s mind, the series of conversations and situations that had happened began to piece together. The days A stayed out or came home late without telling her were the days he met with other members. Because on those days after A came home late or didn’t come home at all, in the meeting the next day, one particular person would talk a lot.
She never once thought they were talking about her boyfriend. Why had she never mentioned her boyfriend’s name until now? It was an instinctive action to protect what was hers from others.
For a hyper-human, forming relationships with others isn’t easy, so it’s natural to be curious about someone who forms a relationship with another hyper-human. Even though she had a boyfriend, when she heard the members’ stories, they sounded really interesting.
The HunterKiller members all thought the same thing. They were glad that the other members’ boyfriends were good people. Not knowing that it was all the same person.
“Oppa.”
She wanted to shake off all the negative thoughts in her mind somehow, but it wasn’t as easy as she wished. All she wanted was for A to come home quickly. If A had really deceived them, she would have preferred it if he came and told her himself.
She missed him too much to end everything without hearing a single word from him.
And so, a full day passed.
After waiting all night for A, Red finally left for work at the convenience store, looking at the front door where no one had entered. The media was still hot, and various articles about hyper-humans continued to be posted in real-time.
It wasn’t just Red who went into work over the weekend. Pink, who had undergone investigations and rested until Friday, went into work at the café kitchen. The owner and the other part-time workers, even though they had heard about the incident involving hyper-humans, treated her as usual without saying anything.
She was a little worried, but since the atmosphere was as usual, Pink relaxed and began her kitchen work. She too had thought about A all night.
Maybe she would see him over the weekend. Surely he would come in for work, she thought, not sending a text and waiting for A’s work hours on Saturday.
It might have been better to text and communicate, but if she sent a text and got no reply, her mental state would have fallen apart already, making it impossible to wait for his weekend work arrival.
In the quiet café, she worked while waiting for A to arrive, and before she knew it, A’s work hours had passed.
“He’s a little late today.”
Work hours had passed a bit, and A still hadn’t arrived. He must be a little late because of something, she thought, calming her anxious heart, when someone entered the kitchen.
She turned her head with wide eyes and saw who had entered, only to meet the café owner who had just come into the kitchen.
“A’s late. Did something happen?”
“Ah, no. Nothing…”
“Okay? Alright.”
The owner, knowing that A was always punctual, wondered if something had happened since A hadn’t arrived yet despite the work hours having passed, but when Pink said nothing was wrong, he nodded and returned to the counter.
Maybe he couldn’t come today because of the serious injury from yesterday?
She thought A might not be able to come to work today, and in that thought, she didn’t recall the fact that A was meeting with all the HunterKiller members and was, in fact, a member of Spacystro.
As some time passed, a part-time worker who was working at the counter went to the back door of the kitchen for a break and saw Pink alone in the kitchen and tilted her head.
“Is A not here yet? That’s unusual. Did you fight?”
“Huh? No, no.”
They had fought once before, and the part-time workers knew about that. In the kitchen, it was just A and Pink working, and if there was a problem between the two, they could immediately tell from the changed atmosphere.
“…Well, he wouldn’t skip work just because he fought with his girlfriend.”
“Huh?!”
It was true that A and Pink were dating, but it wasn’t publicly known at the café. They had decided not to let anyone know because if word got out among the staff that the two working in the kitchen were dating, it might affect the work atmosphere.
But obviously escaping others’ eyes, Pink would hug and kiss A whenever she got the chance. A knew that Pink was doing it away from others’ eyes and didn’t stop her when she expressed her affection.
Keeping it a secret from the café staff, Pink freely expressed her affection towards A. So when she heard “girlfriend,” she couldn’t hide her flustered expression.
“Yeah, you’re dating, right? Did I get it wrong?”
They had never explicitly told others “we’re dating,” but the café staff just assumed it as fact, so it was possible that they weren’t dating.
“Yeah, right? You two are always sucking face in the kitchen.”
Just then, the café owner passing by the front of the kitchen overheard the conversation and said with a scowl.
“Ah, you knew?”
Thinking they had kept it secret all this time, Pink’s face turned red knowing the counter staff knew all along.
“Of course I knew. You two would always make out in the kitchen when there were no customers.”
The café owner, who didn’t discriminate against hyper-humans, was happy that Pink had a proper boyfriend in A. He thought of Pink as just a regular girl and thought highly of A, who worked with her, so even when they acted lovestruck in the kitchen, he would smile proudly seeing that.
“So, is A coming today?”
“Ah, that…”
Flushing at being found out, when A’s name was mentioned, her face turned back to a worried expression. Knowing something was up, the owner said,
“Alright. I won’t ask more about it, but tell A to be prepared when he comes back to work.”
“Yes.”
Seeing Pink’s usually bright demeanor look so sullen, the owner decided not to press about A anymore.
It was clear from the atmosphere that they hadn’t fought but something had happened that couldn’t be talked about. Having seen A work weekends for the past months, the owner trusted A and thought there was a reason he couldn’t come or talk about it.
Left alone in the kitchen, Pink did the cleaning and went to check the storage room for things to restock.
On one side, A’s uniform was hanging, washed and clean. And the unease she had forgotten a little while working sprouted in Pink’s mind.
If A never returned, what would happen to her? A was the only person she needed, despite her joking around every day. Thinking she might never see A again suddenly made tears stream down her face.
“Ugh… sob… sob!”
Sniffling, she hugged A’s uniform hanging on the rack and collapsed to the floor. The lingering scent of A, mixed with detergent and fabric softener used in washing, permeated the uniform.
Just holding his clothes made it feel as if he was there, but in reality, there was no one else. There was only Pink, hugging her lover’s clothes, crying alone.
“A… sob! Hurry… hurry back… sob!”
She wanted him to come back quickly and hold her. To drink together, kiss, and spend a hot night together. Each time A hugged and kissed her, Pink felt that his affection for her was real.
She believed there was no lie in the way A loved her.
So please, come back and prove it. That he loved her as deeply as she loved him.
