After a hectic night, I woke up refreshed the next morning and headed to the hospital.
I distinctly remembered entering the room with Yura and Eunha, making it three of us, but when I woke up in the morning, we were all sharing the bed. I vaguely recall everyone else coming into the room just before we fell asleep…
When I moved into SuA’s house, we bought new furniture. Just in case, I went for the largest bed size. While it might be a bit cumbersome to clean, considering that my girlfriends might visit, buying a large bed was by no means a bad decision.
Recalling last night’s events, I couldn’t help but marvel at Yura’s energy and let out a wry smile at Eunha’s gaze, which was no less intense than Yura’s. It might sound like it was all tiring and exhausting, but spending time with my girlfriends is neither tiring nor exhausting.
In fact, sharing those heated nights with them gave me a lot of strength. It was a moment where I could physically prove my love for them, and while it felt good, I could never imagine feeling otherwise.
Of course, it’s true that sometimes I do feel a bit intimidated by their energy. There are moments when I wonder if I’ll be able to wake up the next morning, but since I always manage to get up just fine, it seems I’m still not at an age where my body can’t handle it.
“A.”
Arriving at the hospital, I looked for Esmeralda near the entrance but thought she might be in the smoking area, so I headed there. At the same time, Esmeralda, who had been smoking in the designated area, spotted me and waved. I gave her a slight nod in return.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“No, I just got here.”
Her long blond hair was neatly tied, and her bangs, as usual, covered her right eye.
Dressed in a black long coat, she stood there smoking, exuding an aura reminiscent of a tough figure from a dark organization. Any ordinary person might not even dare to approach her.
As I quietly observed her, I thought, ‘If she were a stranger, I’d never have been able to strike up a conversation.’ Just as I was thinking that, Esmeralda noticed my gaze and tilted her head.
“What? Does it look weird?”
“No, you just look cool smoking.”
“Really?”
I smiled back as she gave a soft smile. While she slowly finished her cigarette, I glanced up at the hospital building.
‘We won’t run into her, will we?’
I was reminded of the last time I came here with Yubin and ran into Silver. Surely we wouldn’t cross paths twice, I thought, hoping that today’s visit with Esmeralda would go smoothly.
“If only we’d brought Theo along, there’d be someone to smoke with.”
“It’s fine. We came together last time, what’s the point of doing it again?”
On our way into the hospital after finishing her cigarette, I mentioned Theo to fill the silence, but she simply shook her head.
“Theo’s equally uncomfortable around me.”
Her gaze was sharp, but there was no sense of intimidation in her gentle eyes. The way Esmeralda looked at me seemed unchanged from before.
“Does it show that much?”
“I’m not a fool. I can tell.”
“…Sorry.”
“No need to apologize.”
It was clear that I was scared and uncomfortable around her. I knew she’d notice, but hearing it directly made me feel apologetic.
However, she brushed it off as if she understood, leading the way to Klugger’s room.
This was my third visit, and it was Esmeralda’s second, so we had no trouble finding the room.
After climbing the stairs and standing outside Klugger’s private room, I glanced around, just in case Silver was nearby. Esmeralda opened the door, and we entered the room together.
Fortunately, Silver wasn’t around today.
“…”
As soon as we entered, Esmeralda stood beside Klugger’s bed. I also looked around at the same time.
“Maybe the hospital staff came and went?”
“Probably.”
There was a strange feeling in the room. The room of a coma patient would usually have doctors and nurses coming in and out daily to check on their condition.
However, what Esmeralda and I felt wasn’t something so ordinary. There was a sense that someone had been in the room, tidying up and lingering around Klugger.
Ever since the terrorist attack, we’ve remained on high alert. Even as we told ourselves it was just hospital staff, neither Esmeralda nor I could shake the unease.
“There’s no sign of any malicious interference.”
The thought that someone who knew Klugger’s true identity might have accessed the room occurred to me. I even checked under the bed, but nothing seemed amiss.
“Maybe we’re just being overly sensitive. Could’ve just been a cleaner.”
“Probably, right?”
Since no harm had come to Klugger and it was simply a strange feeling that someone had been there, we decided to drop our guard.
“When is he gonna wake up?”
“I wonder. I hope he wakes up soon.”
Klugger’s physical condition showed no signs of trouble. He was simply unconscious, maintaining a comatose state. There was nothing we could do but wait for him to wake up naturally.
If there was a way to wake him, I’d have slapped him awake immediately. Unfortunately, there’s no technology in this world to rouse a sleeping brain.
Not even Spacystro, with technology far beyond Earth’s, or civilizations superior to Spacystro, have yet developed the means to fully understand the brain of a living creature.
Since such technology doesn’t exist anywhere in the universe, the only thing we could do for now was wait.
“You and Klugger sure got into a lot of trouble.”
“Yeah. Theo was always the one cleaning up after us.”
“I think Siera handled more of it than Theo.”
“…True.”
Standing in front of Klugger, Esmeralda and I were briefly lost in memories.
Despite the uncomfortable relationship with Siera now, recalling those old times brought a smile to my face.
“I don’t think we ever had a peaceful day during our time at the aviation academy.”
“True. Especially your trio—you even changed your specialties.”
“It’s because of my persistence that Klugger and Theo went along with me.”
Long ago, when I was under Esmeralda’s direct command, Klugger, Theo, and Siera were all part of the same batch. We all started as regular combat personnel, became fighter pilots, and later, Klugger, Theo, and I switched to engineering.
There were many events along the way, and we even nearly lost our lives. Reflecting back, there are many spine-chilling memories. But maybe because so much time has passed, even those perilous moments now bring a smile.
“The biggest was when we were under Ati, right?”
“Yes… I just recently found out that our team leader was Ati.”
“Yeah. I heard.”
As expected, the story had already circulated among the team leaders. Seeing Esmeralda stifle a laugh as she talked about it made me feel embarrassed. If there were a place to hide, I would have done so immediately, but the empty private room offered no hiding spots.
“I never thought it’d take ten years.”
“I couldn’t believe how it took that long either.”
Luche looked nothing like Ati, so not recognizing her earlier wasn’t strange at all. But now that I knew the whole story, whenever I saw her, I couldn’t help but wonder how I missed it.
“You two seemed quite close.”
“We were. I thought of her as the younger sister I never had.”
That’s why it’s all the more embarrassing that I didn’t recognize her.
How much would Esmeralda, my direct superior at the time, have laughed seeing me fail to recognize Luche?
“…How’s Siera been recently?”
The sudden mention of Siera caught me off guard. I stopped talking, and Esmeralda, who had been looking at Klugger, raised her head.
“Just the same as before. There’s a comfortable part of it, but still, there’s a certain distance.”
I couldn’t tell Esmeralda the truth about my situation just yet, so I answered that it was no different than before. Even as I spoke, I felt a part of me feeling uneasy for lying.
Esmeralda quietly listened, then gave a small “Okay,” and put her head down again.
“I’ve known Siera for a long time, but you and Angelique have known each other for even longer.”
“True. Among our batch, it’s just the two of us left.”
Realizing the topic I’d brought up to change the mood had backfired hit me as soon as Esmeralda answered. Given her history, this likely made things even more uncomfortable.
“How’s Angelique? She still can’t resist you.”
“I’m grateful. She always takes care of me.”
As I talked, I kept an eye on Esmeralda’s expression. She was looking at Klugger’s heart rate monitor without much reaction, but keeping this atmosphere wasn’t good.
“I’m always thankful for how you take care of me too.”
“…Though it’s different with me and Angelique.”
That’s true. Esmeralda and Angelique are different people.
But I could instantly tell her intent wasn’t just about being different individuals.
Lost in nostalgia, Esmeralda’s voice trailed off, but my mood sank deeper.
Recalling Esmeralda and my past, old events from long ago resurfaced.
As time passes and age increases, the once-troublesome past often becomes drinking conversation material. However, there are stories that no matter how much time passes or age increases, they never become laughable.
The mood got heavier than expected, and words failed me.
Esmeralda, struck by the old memories, noticed my silence and turned her gaze to me from the heart rate monitor.
Her bangs covered her right eye so I could only see her left, but our eyes met.
“…I’m really gonna get angry.”
As I struggled to let out the words that had been boiling deep within, Esmeralda’s bangs shifted in startled surprise.
Hidden behind her bangs, her right eye—originally a red iris, but now a green prosthetic eye—was staring at me.
“…Sorry.”
Did she realize she’d misspoken? With a low voice, she stood up, apologizing to me.
“It’s probably because of the coma, but I can’t stay long for a visit. Want to go eat something?”
“Sure.”
I answered briefly. Following Esmeralda out of the room, I closed the door behind us, and she remained silent as we left the hospital.
In the Seoul branch now, only a few know the old stories of the current team leaders. Excluding those involved, only me, Klugger, and Theo know these ancient stories—a very select few.
So, while I’ve been with the Seoul branch for a long time, the colleagues who joined later or didn’t work with us back then don’t know Esmeralda’s past.
Personally, it’s not a memory I wish to dwell on, so unless brought up, I don’t think about it. But today, that old memory resurfaced despite my wishes.
