Someone thought that forgetting someone was not as quick or easy as they imagined. When a person who deeply entered their heart and shared many moments left, the feeling of loss was immense, and it was impossible for most people to forget that person in just a month.
Moreover, for those who believed there were no trustworthy people in the world, the disappearance of this person felt like an instant collapse of all daily routines, leaving them alone in the memories they shared.
Even someone who never felt lonely before felt the loneliness immensely when they lost a connection they had once made. This loneliness was incomparable to what they hadn’t been aware of before.
Not everyone feels this way, but most people need time to process their feelings after a breakup, whether it’s in a good or bad direction. Overcoming a breakup takes time, especially when the separation wasn’t clear-cut and there was no choice involved.
Some say that time heals everything. Indeed, time resolves most emptiness and loneliness. However, time doesn’t solve everything.
“…”
It had already been a month since A disappeared. Yellow stayed in the room playing games and didn’t go anywhere. Without anyone to meet, they didn’t go out, and even their remaining plans vanished.
The thought of going to an arcade didn’t occur to them either. They no longer believed they could find A at the arcade where they first met.
Over the past month, while thinking about him and cursing, the realization of being alone in the spacious house erased even the negative thoughts towards him.
Sitting on the sofa and playing games, Yellow habitually looked at the empty seat next to them. Whenever they did, they remembered A playing games beside them.
Sometimes they laughed at absurd game progressions, sometimes they responded harshly with rough words, and sometimes they spent happy times as lovers.
The house felt even larger than ever before, now that they were alone.
“Maybe I should clean up a bit.”
She was not good at surviving independently. Usually, she postponed cleaning and did only the bare minimum of household chores.
A always nagged her to clean when he visited her house, and Yellow acted as if it didn’t matter each time. But whenever he nagged, she felt emotions she had never experienced before.
She turned to the gaming world to avoid reality and found joy in games. The happiness she found in games gave her satisfaction, and living without facing reality seemed possible until A suddenly appeared.
He quickly became a significant part of her life, bringing about many changes in her thoughts. Although Yellow found it hard to express herself, she enjoyed the time spent with him.
Gradually, Yellow found enjoyment in playing games and spending time with A, realizing that this was the happiness she had never felt in reality before.
If A visited the house at least every two or three days, those days felt good. On days when he didn’t come, she felt bored all day and couldn’t enjoy playing games.
This pattern continued for a month.
“Maybe I should clean up?”
With dark circles under their eyes, Yellow scratched their disheveled yellow hair with their nails and stood up from their seat, looking at the delivery containers scattered around the room.
“If he comes again, he’ll surely nag.”
Thinking this, Yellow smiled and started tidying up. They no longer felt negatively about it; in fact, they didn’t feel anything.
What remained was the longing for A and the uncertain thought that he would definitely return.
A was a Spacystro. He was a friend and a lover, and he was also a member of the enemy faction that Yellow mercilessly attacked every week. A had meetings with the HunterKiller members, including Yellow.
Thus, Yellow wanted to see him even more. They wanted to hear the answer to their unresolved question through A.
‘Was A really lying to me?’
Just the thought that A, whom they loved so much, might have no feelings for them at all made a part of their heart ache.
They regretted not expressing their feelings to A, which they couldn’t do because of their inability to express themselves.
In the past month, Yellow’s feelings hadn’t changed dramatically. The longing for A hadn’t grown stronger, nor had the negative thoughts about him intensified.
Instead, the longing for A hadn’t disappeared, and their feelings toward him remained unchanged. They simply continued to miss him steadily over the course of a month.
They couldn’t recall the last time they went out. The only reasons for going out were to buy food to eat with A when he came, or to check out new games.
But now, without A, there was no reason for Yellow to engage in any activities.
They felt as if they had lost the purpose of life, as if everything was meaningless.
While ordering delivery food, they looked at the pile of garbage with a hollow gaze. The old garbage pile emitted a foul smell, and Yellow headed to the kitchen.
“Everything gets dirty as soon as you turn your back. Clean up, please. Clean up.”
Speaking to themselves as if A was nagging them, Yellow began separating recyclables into a large plastic bag they brought from the kitchen.
“Sometimes I do clean up. You should praise me a little.”
Yellow wasn’t always lazy about cleaning. A didn’t visit on weekends, and when he came after the weekend, Yellow would tidy up the house in anticipation of seeing him.
However, A, who wasn’t satisfied with Yellow’s lack of survival skills, still nagged. Feeling sad that A didn’t praise them, Yellow grumbled but continued cleaning.
“I guess I’ll nag a bit more.”
Recalling the last time they cleaned was two weeks ago when the team members came, Yellow wondered what A would nag about. They didn’t smile.
Holding the garbage bag in their hand, they sat down, burying their face in their knees.
Nothing had improved. The unchanging longing persisted throughout the month, making the continuous time painful.
“A…”
Still sitting, they called out the name of the person they loved most in the world, but received no response.
‘If A weren’t here… If we can never meet again… Wouldn’t it be better to end it all?’
Shaking off the sudden thought, they stood up when their pocketed smartphone vibrated.
Seeing the message that appeared on the screen, Yellow froze. Two weeks had passed since they last talked, and Red had sent a message to the HunterKiller group chat.
Water was running from the sink filled with dishes, and Yellow, wearing rubber gloves, washed cups and plates as usual.
“You’ve worked here for a long time, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
In reality, A had quit his part-time job at the cafe, and the owner had hired a new part-timer to fill the gap in the kitchen staff.
Several people had come and gone in the past month, and most of them quit immediately upon hearing that one of the workers was a Hyper-human. After the incident, people’s perception of Hyper-humans worsened, and no one wanted to work with them voluntarily.
When this situation persisted for several days, Pink asked the owner,
“Wouldn’t it be fine if I just hide the fact that I’m a Hyper-human?”
The owner firmly replied,
“Anyone who quits because of working with a Hyper-human, no matter how pretty or handsome they are, is not needed.”
The cafe owner, a middle-aged woman, was well aware of the current situation involving Hyper-humans. She knew Pink felt burdened by it, so she acted normally.
All the other cafe part-timers, who had worked with Pink, now understood the situation to some extent and could view it rationally. The part-timers also acted as usual.
However, the new ones were different. Those who previously showed no interest in the Hyper-human situation now expressed strong disdain after reading articles in various media. Instead of indifference, they showed even stronger hatred towards Hyper-humans.
“What if I quit…”
Pink didn’t want to cause trouble for the cafe where she had worked for a long time. The cafe had previously offered to keep her on despite her intention to quit, so she didn’t want to be a burden.
When Pink brought up quitting, the owner frowned and puffed out cigarette smoke.
“Are you crazy? Where can I find a girl with such looks like yours?”
The owner prioritized appearance when hiring at the cafe and never hid it. They always emphasized that attractive and handsome people were preferred.
To the owner, Pink was a pretty and capable colleague who had worked at the cafe for a long time. While they mentioned appearance to hold onto her, the reason for keeping Pink wasn’t solely based on appearance anymore.
“Don’t say you’re quitting unless you have to. I’m already regretting not having you at the counter.”
Though grumbling, Pink sensed the owner’s genuine concern and quietly answered “Yes” with a trembling voice.
After that, Pink acted normally at the cafe, maintaining her confident and energetic demeanor as before.
If the new part-timer avoided mentioning Pink’s association with Hyper-humans, Pink accepted it calmly and told them to leave. Seeing Pink act somewhat normally, the owner felt a bit relieved.
Time passed, and the owner hired a new part-timer for the kitchen. It was a tall, well-built young man who said it was fine even though Pink, a Hyper-human, worked there.
While showing the new part-timer the ropes, Pink recalled Red’s text from two weeks ago. The message suggested meeting again after two weeks for a conference.
‘I’m a bit scared.’
The truth about A’s affair with the HunterKiller members remained undisclosed. Seeing A in a suit confirmed he belonged to Spacystro.
However, the definitive answer to whether A had deceived them by meeting everyone at once remained elusive.
If they had seen photos of A meeting members alternately, the answer would have been clear. However, they didn’t want to confront the truth revealed by the guerilla team.
Even if the truth was ugly, they wanted to know it directly from A and hadn’t wanted to discuss it until then.
Although they hadn’t discussed it, they could sense everyone felt the same. Each member thought the same, and this prevented them from wanting to meet and discuss the matter.
Meeting and discussing with the members would likely confirm all the negative thoughts they had harbored.
“Amazing. It’s not easy to work in one place for a long time.”
Smiling, the young man doing the dishes moved half a step closer to Pink, subtly pressing against her.
“It’s not easy to find jobs elsewhere, so we have to work hard where we can.”
Realizing he was approaching, Pink moved half a step away to avoid him.
She managed to prevent even a millimeter of contact and sighed, unsure of what to do with his obvious gaze directed at her chest.
“What’s wrong?”
Ignoring him momentarily, she placed down a dish she had wiped.
“I’ll go get something from the warehouse, so finish washing the dishes.”
“Oh, okay.”
Putting down the dishcloth, Pink opened the door connecting the kitchen to the warehouse and went inside.
While checking the items to be taken out, she thought, ‘I should tell the boss to cut this guy after today’s work.’ Just then, the warehouse door she had closed earlier opened again.
“What about the dishes?”
“The heavy lifting must have been too much.”
The young man who had left the dishes with Pink chased her into the warehouse and slowly approached her.
Taking a box from a shelf, Pink tried to hand it to him, but he didn’t take it.
“By the way, does Yura have a boyfriend?”
Despite the sudden question, Pink sighed, finding it ridiculous.
“Why do you ask? It has nothing to do with work.”
“I thought someone like Yura would have a boyfriend. You’re pretty and in good shape… Would you go on a date if you have free time?”
It was incredibly ridiculous. Even in the black-and-white TV era, such lines wouldn’t have been used. Pink wondered how he thought he could attract any woman with such a statement.
‘Does he think he can get away with this because she’s pretty?’
The owner’s standards for hiring part-timers were high, and Pink, as a woman, admitted that the young man had a face women would like. However, it wasn’t Pink’s taste, and his recent remarks made her even more reluctant to interact with him.
‘Did he think he could treat Hyper-humans lightly?’
The young man’s assurance that working with Hyper-humans was fine didn’t inspire confidence. Sensing his gaze still fixed on her chest, Pink concluded he had come to the kitchen with the sole intention of using her body.
‘I don’t want to jump to conclusions based on my own thoughts…’
Sometimes, conclusions drawn alone aren’t accurate, but the young man’s gaze was so blatant that she couldn’t help but believe it.
“How about next week? Let’s grab dinner…”
His hand slowly reached out to Pink, and she threw the box she was holding at him.
As she reflexively tried to catch the box flying towards her, Pink grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted it.
“AAAAAH!!!”
With a crunching sound, his scream echoed through the warehouse. Coldly, Pink looked at him suffering and said,
“You don’t get to call me by my name casually, and you don’t get to touch me casually. So, mind your own business.”
The last image Pink remembered of A was vivid.
Indigo made unreasonable demands, and Pink, thinking it was better to endure her own suffering rather than let her sisters and brother experience humiliation, tried to take off the suit. A, even as he was losing consciousness, told her “No.” His gaze and those words gave Pink the conviction that A hadn’t toyed with them.
After work, whenever Pink returned home, they spent hot nights together. Despite the situation, A cherished Pink, who had hugged him several times.
Pink, recognizing that A valued her as a person rather than just her body, tried to accept Indigo’s unreasonable demands to save A. This convinced Pink that A deserved to be saved.
Thus, amidst complex thoughts, Pink could firmly conclude one thing:
No matter how passionately A had embraced and loved her, and even in critical moments, he had cherished her body. No one else would be allowed to defile it.
Pink wouldn’t permit anyone other than A to have her.
“She belongs to someone else. Even if you give me a truck full of them, I’d refuse.”
Looking coldly at the fallen young man with the same icy stare she had never shown A, Pink kicked the warehouse door open and left.
“Boss! A new hire got hurt moving stuff!”
“What?!”
Arriving late at the warehouse after hearing Pink, the boss could roughly guess the situation by seeing the fallen young man. The angle of his twisted arm clearly indicated it wasn’t from lifting heavy objects.
“He’s badly hurt. I’ll call an ambulance right away.”
“That girl… That girl!”
Approaching the writhing young man on the floor, the boss crouched down and whispered,
“What do we do? There’s no CCTV in the warehouse.”
Leaving the counter, he asked the part-timer to call an ambulance and followed Pink out the back door.
Sitting in the shade, the boss lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke.
“What happened?”
“He tried to touch me.”
“Well done.”
The boss smoked the cigarette, burning away slowly, saying nothing more.
On Monday evening, as Red announced a meeting, the sun dipped, painting the sky in golden twilight. The HunterKiller members stood in an alley, waiting silently for Red.
It was an unfamiliar place they had never been to before. Red glanced at the gathered members.
“Let’s go in.”
“Where are we?”
Curious about the residential area where no proper meeting place was visible, Yellow asked.
Red paused briefly.
They had assumed they would gather at Yellow’s place after the meeting was called. However, Red later sent an address, saying this was the meeting point.
“Let me show you inside.”
Leading the way, Red entered a building. The members, watching her closely, followed her up the stairs. At a door, Red entered the code and opened it.
The members entered the house, and without Red needing to speak, they knew where they were. Familiar clothes drying on the rack, underwear, and his lingering scent in the air.
For the first time, the HunterKiller members gathered at A’s house.
