Here is the translated text:
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Spacystro. A group that invades developed planets in the universe to acquire technical resources needed for navigation by sailing through various regions of space. Although they are called space pirates, their methods of invasion are quite peaceful.
Their goal is not material resources but technical ones, so they must preserve the technological capabilities and civilization of the planet itself and invade to secure the energy needed for navigation.
While sailing through space in search of a planet where they can settle, it’s not easy to find a habitable planet without civilization.
One of the countless fleets of Spacystro, the 6th Fleet. It consisted of three main ships, each of which was enormous with a length of 150km, a width of 25km, and a height of 5km.
Each main ship had a societal system on a national scale, allowing one to glimpse the lives of various people from different regions. Given that Spacystro’s military engages in space travel and invasion activities, they hold important positions within Spacystro.
“…”
Unable to wake up due to deep sleep, he frowned at the sound coming from afar.
“Wake up.”
He heard a familiar voice clearly in his ear, but his body didn’t follow suit. He fidgeted slightly.
“Wake up!”
Startled by the woman’s loud reprimand, the young man who was deeply asleep on the bed jumped up.
Without even thinking about tidying up his messy black hair, the young man stared at the void with wide eyes and slowly turned his head to the side.
Standing there was a woman in a long black braid wearing the black uniform that proved she belonged to the Spacystro military. The black suit inside her uniform could be seen, and the rank insignia on her uniform indicated she was a regular soldier.
“What time is it?”
The young man, still looking flustered, asked the woman standing next to him about the time. As she moved her fingers as if tapping something in the air, a hologram appeared in that spot.
Inside the hologram were the time, weather outside, and temperature.
“Lucky. I’m not late.”
The young man who was scheduled to start work in the morning felt relieved knowing he hadn’t overslept and scratched his messy hair before getting out of bed.
“Were you on duty last night too?”
“Yes, in the evening. Thanks to that, I got off work late.”
The young man stretched and opened a large capsule placed on one side of his room. Inside were several sets of black uniforms and his casual clothes. He took out a uniform and threw it onto the bed.
Without hesitation, despite the woman right beside him, he undressed and the woman, used to this, helped him tidy up his messy desk.
“You’re not that sleepy just because work got delayed, right?”
“I overslept watching a drama.”
The young man, now in his underwear, entered another capsule instead of the one containing his clothes. After some manipulation inside, he ended up putting on the same suit that the woman was wearing under her uniform.
Then he came out of the capsule and put on the uniform.
“Again? Why do you keep watching something boring?”
“You’ll understand when you see it. How ridiculous it is. It’s about a spy who falls in love with the person they’re supposed to be monitoring and starts dating, does it make sense?”
Despite regularly watching the dramas, the young man found the content ridiculous and chuckled as he put on the rest of the uniform. His hair was still messy, and the woman frowned and approached him.
“Don’t go out like that! You’ll get scolded again by the captain.”
“So what if I wash up at the hangar later?”
“Isn’t it your fault if you get scolded again for going out like this? Think about my position too. Because of you, I get scolded too.”
“Sorry.”
The young man smiled and apologized at the woman’s grumpy tone, sitting quietly as she helped him tidy his hair.
After quickly straightening themselves up, the two left the room and headed towards the hangar along the corridor.
Two members of the aviation team from the first main ship of the 6th Fleet of Spacystro, although they had different duties, worked at the same location and always went to work together. The young man, who was rather disorganized, received daily help from the woman, who noticed his many shortcomings.
Their routine was long-standing, so sometimes the woman would complain, but she never outright disliked it.
“How long are you going to watch that drama?”
“There’s still a lot left. And besides, there’s nothing else to watch.”
Preferring indoor activities over outdoor ones, the young man had received hardware filled with dramas from a friend he had befriended during a previous invasion and had been engrossed in them for months.
Due to staying up late watching dramas, he had even been late for work a few times, and recently the woman had become more attentive to waking him up.
“Are you not flying today?”
“No. We’ve left the asteroid region.”
At the mention of the asteroid region, the young man’s eyebrows narrowed, and the woman awkwardly smiled, unsure of what he was thinking.
“How many engines broke down?”
“Number 5 and Number 22.”
The woman scratched the back of her head, which she had just tidied up, and the woman shouted “Hey!” and made her stop, then tidied up his messy hair again.
“Going to work already?”
As the two walked towards the hangar, they were startled by a familiar voice from the opposite direction and saluted.
“Good morning, Captain!”
The woman, who wore a long platinum blonde hair with an eye patch on her right eye and held the position of captain of the aviation team they belonged to, greeted them lightly.
“A, why do you look so angry even before starting work?”
“No, no!”
“I know. It’s because of the engine breakdowns on Numbers 5 and 22, right?”
“Engine breakdowns?!”
Realizing how much work there was, A was shocked and looked at the woman beside him, who had not told him about the engine issue. She awkwardly smiled and avoided his gaze.
“Don’t say too much to the kids at the hangar.”
“Yes!”
Esmeralda, after greeting them lightly, passed by A and Siera, and the two saluted respectfully to her, who had a much higher rank than them.
Only after Esmeralda had passed did they relax and their shoulders dropped.
“See? It was good to tidy up properly.”
Siera said that they had met the captain and that it was good they had tidied up properly. But A, squinting his eyes, pressed Siera’s head with his finger.
“Why did you leave out talking about the engines?”
“Haha… let’s hurry to work!”
She was a pilot in the aviation team, and A was an engineer. They often worked together on the job, and since they had known each other for a long time, they frequently discussed work matters.
Knowing Siera well, she knew that A was stressed in certain areas. Since she knew he could fix things properly, she often laughed at his stressed-out expressions.
“It’s my fault for making you wake me up this morning.”
“That’s a heavy sin indeed.”
Knowing he couldn’t win against her with words, A gave up on nagging and walked sluggishly towards the hangar.
After walking for a while, they arrived at the hangar. Siera went to her fighter jet, and A went to the changing room. Someone entered the changing room as A was taking off his suit to change into maintenance gear. They exchanged greetings.
“Good morning, A.”
“Yeah. Has Kirk come?”
Kirk, a bulky man with black hair, entered the changing room and stood in front of his capsule, putting away his uniform and taking out his maintenance gear.
“Didn’t you start your shift last night?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No reason, the girls were talking about you.”
“My name? Probably not a good thing, so don’t tell me.”
“Alright.”
Knowing A’s infamous reputation for being difficult to work with, Kirk closed his ears to the gossip about him.
Kirk smiled at A, who frowned and looked annoyed at what he found amusing.
“Anyway, damn it. Something happened yesterday in the asteroid region…”
“I heard. The engines on Number 5 and Number 22 broke down, right? Hahaha! Serves them right.”
Unlike A, who was despondent about the engine breakdown, Kirk was excited. This was because their responsibilities were different. Even though they were both engineers, they mainly dealt with different fighter jets. A and Kirk belonged to different engineering teams, so they handled different fighter jets.
Of course, Numbers 5 and 22 were under A’s team’s responsibility.
“Damn it. If any screws go missing from your area later, I’ll know it’s you.”
“Sure, I’ll suspect you if anything goes wrong.”
Laughing, Kirk walked away, and A, who had changed into maintenance gear first, came out of the changing room and headed toward the damaged fighter jets.
Yawning widely, Siera said she was going to take a shower, but since she hadn’t washed her hair, she scratched her messy hair and put her hand in her pocket.
The moment they reached the hangar where the fighter jets were stored, A saw the crowd gathered around the damaged Numbers 5 and 22 and his eyes widened. From the tool bag on his side, he took out a wrench and threw it.
Clang! The sharp metallic sound echoed. The wrench hit the fighter jet squarely, and everyone gathered around it were startled by the sudden loud noise.
“What are you all staring at?! Never seen a broken fighter jet before?! Get out of here!”
People murmured and moved away when they saw it was A who had thrown the wrench. A young man who happened to be there shook his head at A, who was chasing the two running away.
“Idiot. Where will you get sick if you speak calmly?”
“If engineers stand around a fighter jet that doesn’t need fixing, they deserve to be scolded.”
Klugger, who belonged to the same engineering team as A, was somewhat accustomed to A’s hypersensitive behavior during repairs and sighed.
“So the kids will curse you from behind.”
“Let them. I won’t hear it anyway. They’ll smash my head with a wrench.”
Klugger muttered “Crazy guy” under his breath, seeing A’s angry expression. A heard it but didn’t respond and glanced at the fighter jet, preparing for inspection.
“Weren’t you on standby last night? Aren’t you going home?”
“Checking in. There are things to hand over.”
After the roll call began, after a brief inspection, Cruger, who had been on standby in the early morning, handed over the handover details before starting to inspect the fighter jet engines with a few teammates.
A little later.
“A!”
Hearing the voice from behind, he looked up from the engine and down at the fighter jet below.
There were two young men in pilot suits. Seeing them, A frowned.
“Sorry. I didn’t think about overheating and drove too fast.”
They were none other than the pilots of the broken Numbers 5 and 22. A smiled gently.
“It’s fine. It happens when you fly in the asteroid region.”
Then he picked up the wrench he had just used to check the engine. The two pilots, sensing the unease, were backing away slightly, and A jumped down from the fighter jet.
“Come down! You bastards!”
“No, you crazy guy! I’m sorry!”
“If you’re sorry, die!”
A raised his voice, veins bulging, and threw the wrench he was holding at the two men. After picking up the deflected wrench, he chased after the two running full speed.
