Roy first thought about the meaning of what he had said when the conversation stopped due to their unclear reactions towards each other. When working under a junior before, it meant that someone with a lower rank was above him.
There were countless people with lower ranks than me in the Seoul Branch. In fact, there were barely any people above me in rank except for team leaders, so almost everyone else would be considered below me in rank.
However, within Spacystro, the same rank maintained a horizontal structure, so differences in seniority didn’t determine hierarchy among soldiers of the same rank.
If he was talking about working under someone who was also his junior, it meant there was someone with a lower rank than him among the superiors. Among team leaders, only Luche had a lower rank than him.
But there was one expression that bothered him. Roy had used the term “junior” instead of “subordinate.”
In my life, I have only formed a senior-junior relationship with three people. One of them was Roy, who was right in front of me. So, if he was saying he was under someone else, did it mean Roy was moving up in rank?
There was no such information in the new team member list I checked. I confirmed Roy’s name and that he was a regular soldier like me. Or could it be that I missed something in my confirmation?
“Alt came as a team leader?”
“No… No.”
One of the three who called me ‘senior.’ Alt, once a Biroid, now a monster, who hasn’t entered Korea yet, was the first to call me ‘senior.’
I thought Alt might be joining our third team at a higher rank, but when I asked, Roy seemed to realize his mistake and tried to end the conversation.
“What is it? If you bring something up, explain it.”
“No, it’s nothing. I’ll head off to work.”
Roy scratched his head and hastily left, and watching him hurry away, I recalled his words.
Besides Roy and Alt, there was one more person who could be considered my junior. The last Bio-Roid I met, Ati, whom I trained, but it has been twenty years since I last saw her.
The last time I heard about her, she had become a monster after passing the final test and then changed her affiliation to another unit.
Since becoming a monster, her appearance must have changed, and I don’t know what she looks like now. More importantly, having not seen her for over twenty years, I had forgotten about her until now.
“What was I going to say? Making people curious.”
Although I thought about Roy’s words one by one, they didn’t fit together. It was impossible to make sense of them, and forcing them together just made a strange context.
Considering how much nonsense Roy usually talked, I assumed this was just another meaningless comment and got on the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor.
When I entered the third floor, I saw the new office layout. Unlike the previous headquarters, which was an old building, everything here was clean and neatly arranged.
I saw a changing room door for suits and moved towards Luche’s office, observing the overall layout.
I hadn’t properly organized what to say or how to say it, so I decided to speak the truth and knocked on the door.
Inside, I heard Luche say, “Come in,” and after taking a deep breath, I opened the door.
Luche was sitting at her desk, looking at a computer. As soon as the door opened, our eyes met. Luche’s eyes widened, and she immediately stood up, making me step back in surprise.
“Why are you here? Did you come to work?”
I had given a rest order, but seeing her show up suddenly made me feel surprised. I needed to stay calm despite not starting the conversation about why I came today.
“I came to see the new headquarters. Are you busy?”
“No, I’m not too busy. Just resting at home.”
“It’s been a week since I arrived in Korea. I feel restless if I keep resting.”
Though I hadn’t taken a single day off in a week, I didn’t want to mention meeting my girlfriends. Instead, I acted like I had taken more rest than necessary.
I walked into Luche’s office and sat on the sofa. Luche briefly glanced at the computer and sat across from me.
“Did you check out the whole headquarters?”
“No, I met Theo and Team Leader Angelique outside, and Roy inside, then came straight here.”
Seeing me arrive unexpectedly seemed to unsettle Luche, who couldn’t look me in the eye and started fidgeting with a small fridge next to her desk. She handed me a drink and said, “Thank you,” as I opened it.
“The building is nice, but isn’t it too far from the city center?”
“We agreed to move to a remote area to avoid attention. This incident is too noisy, and being in the city center would draw too much attention.”
Previously, the headquarters could be in the city center because there wasn’t much public interest. But after the terrorist attack, the attention towards Spacystro increased, so it was decided to relocate to a less conspicuous location.
Understanding the reason for moving to a remote area, my gaze drifted to the window. Outside, a vast natural landscape could be seen. Feeling Luche’s stare, I felt the urge to bring up the topic.
“It seems everyone is busy. Will it take longer to finish construction?”
Unable to bring myself to talk about it due to nervousness, I mentioned the headquarters instead. Luche paused, seemingly about to speak but stopped when I asked a question.
“Yes. Most things are done, but there’s still a lot left to do.”
The silence filled the room. I knew I had to start the conversation. The expression on Luche’s face when I first told her the truth still lingered in my mind.
Luche was hesitant to bring up my girlfriends, and we both were considering how to approach the topic.
The more we hesitated, the longer the silence grew. Realizing the awkwardness, I decided to just say it.
“I didn’t receive any orders, but when did the competition start?”
“There haven’t been any instructions regarding the competition. They’re probably discussing it internally, so there might be news soon.”
My lack of orders wasn’t because I was resting but because there was no clear decision from above.
“…What should I do?”
The team I was assigned to wouldn’t likely change for the competition. I would fight again as a HunterKiller, determined to give it my all. Even knowing I couldn’t win against my girlfriends, I was prepared.
But Luche, as a team leader, might think differently. So, I brought up the competition first and asked what to do. Luche sighed deeply.
“Let’s start with when did it begin?”
Luche asked when I started dating HunterKiller, which felt odd since it felt like I was talking about my love life.
“I first met Red. It was two months after I started surveillance.”
“You were receiving confirmation calls around then, weren’t you?”
“Since Luche’s calls became less frequent…”
Luche, who remembered exactly when I met Yubin, sighed again upon hearing that things happened after her calls decreased.
The more Luche sighed, the more I felt like I had been hearing her sighs since entering the office.
“Are you seeing everyone now?”
“Yes.”
“Did you meet in Seoul?”
“On the day of my return, everyone was at our house. So…”
I recounted the events of the past week to Luche, including whom I met and what we discussed.
Naturally, I didn’t mention Hayang and SuA’s talk about defection or our intimate encounters. The former was for their safety, and the latter didn’t require mentioning.
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“At first, I was trying to gather enough information to report.”
“Then what about after?”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it. While I wanted to do my best for my girlfriends, I couldn’t tell my boss, “I value my girlfriends’ safety more than my work.”
“If you don’t want to, it’s fine. It’s your personal matter.”
“Is it okay not to mention it?”
I thought it was inevitable to report eventually since I was meeting the enemy. However, the idea that there might not be any punishment made me hesitate.
But the moment I said it, Luche looked at me sharply.
“Indeed, if it were just a casual relationship, it wouldn’t matter. But there were others involved during the invasion. Yet…”
Luche paused, still staring at me. I felt like avoiding her gaze, but doing so might lead to a harsh reprimand.
“Your job is surveillance. Blue, Yellow, and Green are outside your scope, so it makes sense. But Red and Pink are within your scope, so you should have reported it timely.”
Listening to Luche’s rapid-fire speech, I couldn’t meet her eyes. As I listened, her voice seemed to carry sadness.
From the way we spoke informally, I could tell Luche trusted me to some extent.
Even though she trusted me enough to delegate tasks to me, the lack of reports on completed tasks would have disappointed her.
As a soldier and subordinate, I acknowledged my shortcomings. But my girlfriends remained important to me, and despite the disappointment, I resolved to tell the truth today.
Seeing Luche’s agitated state, I felt guilty and couldn’t speak up immediately. Hearing Luche’s trembling voice made me recall a familiar scene.
She was slightly shorter, had different hair color, and a slightly different appearance, but her demeanor was familiar.
Recalling the girl I used to quarrel with often when I was under discipline, I realized the pieces were fitting together based on what Roy said earlier.
While my thoughts were piecing together like a puzzle, another part of my mind rejected it, thinking it made no sense.
But the puzzle was assembling faster, and the moment I saw Luche, I instinctively spoke.
“Why didn’t you report properly if it wasn’t someone else?”
“Ati?”
Her quiet voice contrasted sharply with Luche’s loud one, but those words were enough to stop Luche.
Someone I worked under who was also my junior. There were only three: Alt, Roy, and Ati. Neither Alt nor Roy applied.
The person with a lower rank but higher rank than me was Luche.
So, Luche was Ati? I thought it was impossible.
The main reason was the time I spent under Luche. Ten years.
Ten whole years. If Luche were really Ati, I would have served under her for ten years without knowing her true identity.
Moreover, the fact that Luche never revealed her true identity to me for over ten years made no sense. Regardless, I was currently getting scolded by Luche.
It must be true. Right?
Two thoughts crossed my mind, but now wasn’t the time to discuss it.
“Oh, sorry. I just blurted out something irrelevant…”
“…”
Apologizing to Luche, I realized I needed to hear the rest of what she had to say. But the moment I apologized, Luche stormed out of the office with a loud noise.
“Huh?”
Seeing Luche leave, I was certain, although I didn’t know why.
Just the memories of Luche from the past days flashed through my mind, along with countless events.
“Arghhh!!”
If I had to provide a reason, it was intuition, and the scream I heard outside further confirmed it.
Luche was Ati.
“Arghhh!!”
And I screamed in that very spot.
