Seira rubbed her dry eyes and woke up from her bed. She wrapped herself with the blanket feeling the cold air inside the room.
Living in an apartment near Seoul, she had a day off from work and idly wondered what to do today while staring out the window.
“It’s cold.”
Since she didn’t have any specific plans, she decided to start by having a cup of coffee. She left her bedroom and crossed the spacious living room to reach the kitchen. She inserted a capsule into the coffee machine and turned on the power.
While waiting for the coffee to brew, she went to the window and looked down at the road where cars were passing early in the morning. Usually, she would stretch and plan to sleep in on her day off, but today was different.
She had something to worry about. Just a few days ago, Seira hadn’t noticed that her long-time friend A was on the same team as Team Leader Luche, who was Ati. It was only recently that A found out everything.
In the office, Seira acted casually when talking to A, but not knowing Luche’s identity was a good excuse for Seira to postpone making a decision about her feelings.
In reality, it was just an excuse, but not knowing Luche’s identity was a convenient shield for Seira, delaying the need to act immediately.
Now that A knows everything, Seira can no longer use this convenient excuse.
Her head felt cold since the day after A found out about Luche.
Even when dining with other team leaders, Seira felt like her head was as hard as a rock. Whenever she thought about how to proceed, someone seemed to put a brake on her thoughts.
She glanced at her smartphone as if mesmerized. It was still early morning, around 9 AM, and she wondered if A would answer if she called now.
With hope, she sent a message to A.
“… Not seeing it.”
Seeing the ‘1’ next to the message didn’t disappear, she thought A might still be asleep. She heard the coffee machine signal that the coffee was ready and headed to the kitchen.
After eating and watching TV, she realized it was already noon. She checked her smartphone again, but the ‘1’ next to the message was still there.
“How long has he been sleeping?”
A knew well that he couldn’t manage himself properly without Seira’s intervention. However, since Seira became a team leader 10 years ago, a strange distance grew between them, and Seira stopped intervening in A’s life.
Although she couldn’t completely ignore him, she started speaking more bluntly to him.
Only recently did she realize that her blunt manner stressed A out. Even though Seira felt her actions hadn’t changed much, the growing distance was evident through subtle changes in behavior.
On the day she realized her actions stressed A, he nearly lost his life due to a severe injury and remained unconscious for two weeks on the spaceship.
After A regained consciousness, they toured the spaceship together, collecting data. During this process, Seira felt like she had returned to the past.
She tried to maintain a similar distance after returning to Seoul, but it didn’t work out as planned. She worried that A might do something reckless and get hurt.
Seira hadn’t directly interfered with A’s actions since 10 years ago. Now, she couldn’t check on him as frequently or worrylessly as before. Although she could, her heart wasn’t willing to move.
There was also the rank difference between team leader and ordinary soldier, and she feared that intervening might stress A out.
Even sending a single text in the morning made her hesitate, and worrying about causing stress was another concern.
Time passed, and the text she sent to A remained unread, unchanged.
“What are you doing?”
Frustration mixed with her self-talk, and Seira decided to call A. The phone rang for over a minute, but A didn’t pick up.
‘Is he deliberately avoiding my call?’
With this thought, the next emotion Seira felt was frustration, not sadness or worry.
“Are you ignoring my call?”
Even though it’s been 10 years since she last directly intervened, Seira’s feelings towards A haven’t changed.
To be precise, her feelings haven’t changed since she lived in Moosung as a child until now.
“What are you doing?”
Seeing her phone with no callback, her initial frustration began to turn into worry. She called A again, but he still didn’t pick up.
She left a message, made a call, left another message, and called again. This cycle continued until the sun was setting.
Seira’s worry turned into anxiety. She knew A wasn’t the type to party recklessly or drink with friends.
He preferred to stay at home, minimizing external activities. This was the first time she felt this anxious.
When A first mentioned investigating the hyper-human, Seira felt uneasy. A, who usually wouldn’t take initiative unless something directly involved her, suddenly started investigating the hyper-human.
However, since she hadn’t interfered for quite some time, she couldn’t say anything about his investigation.
She stayed silent, except for telling him not to do anything reckless, and helped him investigate the hyper-human, fearing he might get into trouble.
When she realized her words caused A stress, A was ambushed by the hyper-human he was investigating, suffering serious injuries.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
Angered by the thought that A might feel stressed by her worries, Seira threw her phone on the sofa and started looking for clothes in her wardrobe.
‘I’m not obsessed, and I’m not overly concerned. I just wanted to check on him since it’s a day off, and he hasn’t responded.’
Putting herself under a self-hypnosis, Seira got dressed, picked up her thrown phone and wallet, and left the house.
She kept trying to contact A on the way to his house, but all she heard was the voice indicating the phone was off. She gave up and decided to visit him directly.
She knew A’s address well, even though she had never visited. She stood in front of his door and saw the locked door.
Though she had never asked for his password, she already knew the kind of password he would use.
She entered the password, and the door opened as expected.
Seeing light inside, she was sure A was home.
“Hey! Why aren’t you answering your…?”
Before she could finish her sentence asking why he wasn’t answering, she saw a stranger in front of her. Though not a complete stranger, she felt nervousness spike.
As soon as she raised her hand, Seira’s sword appeared, and Red drew her own sword. Seira moved faster, and their swords clashed, pushing Red back into the house.
“Why are you here?!”
Seira squeezed the door handle, demanding an explanation.
“Isn’t this your fault? What happened to A?!”
Red, who was officially not supposed to be there, was clearly an intruder in a member’s home. This justified Seira’s right to attack her.
Seeing Seira, Red hesitated. Although she understood why Seira came, she couldn’t comprehend the reason.
To Seira, Red’s presence seemed like an unauthorized intrusion by a hyper-human, which was understandable given that a high-ranking member of Spacystro had suffered significant damage from the hyper-human just a month ago.
“Why should I tell you?!”
Red pushed Seira away forcefully. As A’s girlfriend and someone who had plans to spend the day with him, Red felt she had done nothing wrong.
She didn’t see any reason to explain anything related to A to Seira.
While knowing Seira was higher-ranked as a team leader, she didn’t think there was a need to share personal details.
“Regardless of Spacystro’s domain, this is a civilian area. You know it’s not beneficial to escalate things.”
Red tried to calm Seira, but Seira’s eyes were on the verge of losing control.
“Why are you here? Because of you… because of you!”
Hatred towards the hyper-human gradually rose within Seira. She had traveled many planets and experienced various emotions, but she had never seen such severe injuries to A before.
On Earth, it was different. The prolonged conflict with the hyper-human didn’t bother her, but breaking the rules led to A’s severe injury. This was unprecedented for Seira, and it made her view the hyper-human negatively.
Finally, Seira gripped her sword and swung it at Red.
It had only been a week since A returned to Seoul, and she couldn’t shake the thought that he might have gotten entangled in something due to the hyper-human.
Red quickly rolled to avoid Seira’s sword, and Seira’s sword sliced through the living room table.
Holding half of the cut table, Seira threw it at Red, but Red wasn’t going to let it hit her. She sliced the table with her sword.
“What are you doing?!”
Seeing furniture damaged by her hands, Red was furious. She couldn’t stand seeing cherished memories destroyed since she started spending time with A.
“Can’t you stop?”
She rushed towards Seira to subdue her. While dodging Red’s attack, she tried to counterattack, but Red’s sword quickly aimed at her.
Giving up on the attack, she stepped back, but Red continued to approach and swing her sword.
In the small one-room apartment, she managed to perform powerful strikes despite the constraints.
The swinging swords cut through the room, with one person attacking while the other dodged, and then attacking when the other dodged.
She backed up two steps and reached the kitchen, where Red’s sword sliced through the sink, causing water to gush from the broken pipe.
When water splashed onto her face, Seira kicked Red. Knocked into the bathroom, Red quickly regained her stance and lunged out, swinging her sword at Seira.
During the fierce battle, they both seized each other’s weaknesses and struck with all their might. Their swords collided forcefully, falling from their hands and hitting the floor and wall.
Noticing a gap, they engaged in a bare-handed brawl. They no longer listened to each other and were consumed by the desire to knock the other down.
Arriving at her apartment, she sensed movement inside.
“Already here?”
Upon entering, she charged her phone and intended to call Yubin, only to find Yubin had arrived first.
She must have tried to contact her, but she hadn’t charged her phone or missed the call. Realizing she needed to apologize, she pressed the door lock code.
“Yubin… Ah?”
Calling Yubin’s name, she paused upon seeing the inside of the apartment.
Everything was broken, and water was gushing from the pipes, flooding the floor.
“Don’t touch me. If you don’t let go, I’ll really die!”
“What are you saying? Let go first, you damn woman!”
Yubin and Seira stood in the middle of the room, grabbing each other’s hair and yelling at each other.
My choice in response to this scene was to escape from reality.
‘What is this? Like a hidden camera prank?’
