Here is the translated text:
“Jittery, I followed after Luche who had rushed off in a hurry. Suddenly, memories from the past came flooding back.
Even though it was a long time ago, I remembered the days I spent with Ati, who was Luche back then. Smiles would often appear on my lips as I walked.
I felt that now I should properly talk to Luche and find her. However, there was no way for me to track her down since she had run off so fast that I couldn’t even keep up with my eyes.
I looked around uncertainly, wondering if she had gone through the emergency exit either up or down. If she went up, it would be easier to find her, so I decided to go up first.
I climbed up the stairs of the building which was seven floors high, checking each floor’s emergency exit but found no sign of it being opened. Since I didn’t think Luche would have gone into another office from the one she fled, I continued all the way up to the roof.
I scanned the wide rooftop and even checked the terrace below, but I couldn’t see any trace of Luche.
“She must be really angry.”
Suddenly, I thought Luche might not want to see me because she was angry. After all, she hadn’t recognized me even after ten years under my command, so it’s understandable that she could be upset.
Though Luche hadn’t told me anything for ten years, it wasn’t something that could be judged solely by reason. Even if Luche hadn’t said anything, it was true that I failed to recognize her for ten years. The fact that I couldn’t recognize her due to her changed appearance was also a rational judgment.
Looking back, Ati and Luche’s personalities were very similar. They sometimes showed inflexibility, but they always did their best at work. While they seemed strong on the outside, upon closer inspection, they weren’t always like that.
The only difference was that Ati didn’t cry much, while Luche cried occasionally. These traits might have made it hard for me to recognize Luche as Ati.
But thinking about it, nothing had really changed. I didn’t see anyone resembling Luche when I looked down from the rooftop, so I concluded she must be inside the building. I opened the emergency stairwell door and entered again.
As I went downstairs, I wondered where Luche could be hiding.
This thought led me to recall memories from the past. Ati and Luche. Though they were the same person, the time spent with these two was vastly different.
The time I spent with Ati was merely a few months, whereas with Luche, it was ten years. But the memories I recalled to find Luche were those of just a few months, and I kept going down to the underground parking lot.
“Theo.”
As I approached Theo, who was working in a corner of the vast underground parking lot, he suddenly asked why I was down there.
“Where is the new car for Team 3?”
“There’s a spot where cars are parked by team. There should be a new minibus there. Why do you need the car?”
“I just wanted to take a look. Don’t give me a hard time.”
Following Theo’s guidance, I headed in the direction he indicated.
Team 3 originally used an old van that was always crammed full of people. That vehicle was completely destroyed during the last terrorist attack and became unusable.
Naturally, Team 3 received a new vehicle, and I walked toward the sky-blue minibus I saw in the distance.
I came down to the underground level to find the bus because it reminded me of a memory from the past.
During the period when I was in charge of Ati and was confined, I spent a lot of time with her every day. Sometimes we had fun together, but we also quarreled frequently.
Since Ati always came to my room, whenever we fought, she would rush out of the room. There were times when I didn’t chase after her, but I often went to find her when I felt I was at fault.
Back then, I searched the entire command center, which was much larger than the current headquarters, desperately looking for Ati. There were days when I spent an entire day searching but still couldn’t find her.
Then I started to wonder where Ati might go, and I went to the hangar, the place she was most familiar with.
At that time, Ati’s private jet, which had appeared in the movie “Predator” and gone through various processes, couldn’t be recovered, and Ati was given a new private jet.
Every time I opened the cockpit of the new private jet, Ati was always inside.
I opened the door of the new bus and looked at the back seat, and there was Luche.
“!”
Seeing me, Luche was startled, and I gave a helpless smile as I approached her.
“You haven’t changed at all since before.”
Ati would also be startled when I opened the cockpit door and scolded her. Seeing Luche with the same gaze as I saw Ati, I realized how many different faces she had.
“What? Why are you here?”
“I came to find the superior officer who stormed off during our conversation.”
I approached Luche, who was avoiding eye contact, and sat in the seat right in front of where she was sitting.
Neither Luche nor I spoke. For Luche, this situation of meeting me, who never changed, must have been difficult, but I hadn’t known Luche was Ati at that time.
I couldn’t easily start talking to the person who knew I was once Ati.
I had met Luche countless times, but now that I knew she was Ati, I didn’t know what to say to her first.
Feeling more tense than expected, I even thought it might be better to talk about girlfriend stuff with Luche.
“…When did you realize?”
Luche cautiously brought up the topic first. Even though we had met countless times, it felt like a long-awaited reunion, and I sweated nervously, trying not to show my tension.
“A while ago, Roy hinted it to me. I noticed when I talked with you, Luche.”
“That dog guarding the house…”
Luche cursed Roy in the same manner she did when she first met him, and a smile came to her face as she recalled the old memory.
“Weren’t you hoping I would notice?”
Turning her head, she asked, and Luche immediately avoided my gaze when our eyes met.
“But that’s true…”
Watching Luche answer in a small voice, I felt she was the same as usual with me but slightly different from Ati.
“But you’ve changed so much compared to before.”
“What do you mean?”
“Before, you used to speak more monotonously and didn’t care much about trivial things.”
“People change over time. You said so yourself.”
When I first met Ati, and when we parted ways.
Both Ati and I had changed. We weren’t entirely different people, but we had become somewhat softer in personality.
I acknowledged that our actions were somewhat extreme before, and looking back, I realized that my current personality was greatly influenced by that time.
Luche must have gone through many experiences after returning to the research facility, spending much more time than I did with me. Therefore, it’s natural that she has changed.
“Yes.”
Smiling, I agreed with her, and after some hesitation, I looked at her again and asked.
“Are you angry?”
“Huh?!”
Surprised by my question about anger, Luche looked at me, and for the first time, I could see her eyes clearly. Even from just her gaze, I could feel her complex emotions.
Of course, my mind was equally complicated.
“No, I thought you might have left because I couldn’t recognize you for ten years…”
“I’m not angry. Why would I be angry if I didn’t even say anything?”
“Then why did you storm off?”
Even though I mentioned Ati out of nowhere during our conversation, it didn’t seem like enough to make her leave. When I asked her why she left, she lowered her head and didn’t answer immediately.
Her face turned red, almost like steam rising from a kettle, and I didn’t want to provoke her further, so I remained silent.
“…I felt embarrassed.”
“What?”
“I felt embarrassed!”
I felt embarrassed too. Luche was Ati, and I had been her subordinate for ten years without realizing it. It was incredibly embarrassing that I couldn’t recognize her despite being right next to her for ten years.
But thinking about why Luche would feel embarrassed, I couldn’t come up with any reason.
“Why?”
Carefully, I asked, and Luche lowered her head again, slowly opening her mouth to answer.
“I acted like a know-it-all every time, but now that I know, I feel good. But my previous actions overlap…”
Listening silently to Luche, who was shaking her shoulders as she spoke. Until now, I wished she would recognize me, but not being able to recognize her for such a long time must have made my wish fade.
And while treating me like a typical subordinate, she realized my identity, and she couldn’t control the complex emotions she felt at that moment.
“After ten years of not knowing, I thought it might have been better to bring it up myself…”
Luche’s shoulders continued to shake as she spoke, and her voice began to tremble slightly.
“But if I had brought it up first, the senior might have been disappointed, thinking I was hiding something.”
Luche, who was already sobbing, was lowering her head and shedding tears one by one. I had seen Luche cry many times, but seeing her cry in this atmosphere made me feel uneasy.
“Huh?! No, why would I be disappointed? I couldn’t recognize you either.”
To calm her down, I stood up and sat in front of Luche, aligning our eye levels.
“My appearance and voice have changed, so it was right for me to bring it up first.”
Even though I was right in front of her, Luche kept her head down and continued to shed tears.
“I did say I would remember, but it’s true that I couldn’t recognize you first. It’s not just your fault, Luche.”
Trying to soothe Luche, I said everything I could think of, and she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
“I changed my appearance hoping you would recognize me and like me, but without explaining, staying silent, I wish I had continued to recognize me. It feels foolish.”
The plea she was making turned into self-deprecation, and I looked at Luche’s appearance again, considering her words about appearance. Despite having spent ten years with her, I hadn’t noticed anything strange, but perhaps there was something I missed.
“Why do you say that?”
Unable to find an answer, I cautiously asked, and Luche, who had been looking down, lifted her face, and our eyes met.
“It was from a drama I watched.”
“Drama?”
During the time in space, watching dramas was my hobby. Through dramas, I could peek into the civilizations of many planets and examine their cultures.
In truth, I got into the habit of watching dramas to pass the time, and there were countless dramas I watched while traveling through space. Of course, I watched dramas even during the time with Luche, who was Ati.
However, because I watched so many dramas, I remembered living with Ati, but I couldn’t recall any specific dramas we watched together.
“That spy story!”
Hearing the word ‘spy,’ I started recalling old memories and let out a “Ah!” sound.
I watched a drama before and after Ati arrived. It was about a spy who fell in love with the enemy they were monitoring… Now that I think about it, this sounds exactly like my own story.
Anyway, I had watched such a drama, and only now did it come to mind. Looking at Luche, she resembled the female lead of that drama.
Ash-gray hair and a pure appearance. Moreover, she used the character’s name directly from the drama.
“Yes, you’ve given me so much.”
Luche must have made this decision after much deliberation. The woman who had received education from me wanted me to recognize her, so she copied the appearance of the actress I liked at the time.
Suddenly, I realized why Luche chose the appearance of the actress I liked. If she wanted me to recognize her, it would have been easier if she kept her original appearance.
As I thought this, Luche looked at me with a blank expression.
“Why are you using formal language?”
“What?”
“Why are you using formal language?!”
For the past ten years, I used formal language, and was it wrong to use it with a superior?
