“What’s this?”
It was strange. The flowing atmosphere was completely different from what I had thought.
While someone was anxious about not knowing what kind of incident might happen.
I could accept that we moved by high-end vehicle on the way to the airport. Although it’s also strange if you say so, but it’s somewhat understandable if you think they used existing vehicles instead of arranging separate ones.
After arriving at the airport, we boarded a spaceship belonging to Spacystro. From here, I started to feel something was off.
They arranged a private plane usually used by high-ranking officials, not a regular flight or troop transport ship. Throughout the journey to the spaceship, I felt extremely luxurious and comfortable in an environment I couldn’t adapt to.
I wondered what they intended to do with me, going to such lengths.
The atmosphere would surely change once we arrived at the spaceship.
But one sentence betrayed my thoughts.
“We will guide you to the hotel first.”
Again, I moved by a high-end vehicle and ended up staying at an expensive hotel that I had never visited during my time working for Spacystro.
It was a spacious room with more than enough space for a single person, which made me think of SuA’s house, which is also luxurious. However, it can’t be compared to a hotel where everything is set up and ready.
“Are we really staying here?”
I asked the agent who showed me to the room with a stunned voice while looking around the spacious room.
“Yes. You’ve been through a lot coming here, so you can rest comfortably for two days.”
Through a lot? I came in such a spacious environment that I could stretch out my legs; I don’t understand what kind of hardship they’re talking about.
I thought I’d be called up immediately after a day of arrival, but now they tell me to rest comfortably for two days.
“As for the call from higher-ups…”
“The details will be given two days later. Goodbye.”
The agent politely answered my question about the call and bowed before leaving the room.
I stood still in the spacious room, forgetting even to hold the handle of my suitcase.
“Is it to give me an award? Or to let me enjoy my last rest before punishment?”
Knowing that I was brought here for no good reason, everything about the current situation felt uncomfortable.
When I muttered to myself in a daze, as if to snap me back to reality, my smartphone rang.
Startled, I took out my smartphone from my pocket and confirmed it was a call from Yubin, then answered it right away.
“Yeah, Yubin.”
“Brother! What’s this? The room is huge!”
Judging by her voice, she seemed pleased with the room.
“You should rest for two days. Relax while you’re here.”
“Really? No special message from higher-ups?”
“I asked, but they said they’ll tell us two days later.”
“Two days later? If that’s the case, there’s nothing we can do. I’ll unpack and come to your room. Send me the room number.”
“Yeah.”
After ending the short conversation, I realized that being restless wouldn’t change anything and entered the room to open my suitcase.
Unpacking and putting things away is work, and so is tidying up later, so I sat on the bed with the suitcase open and looked out the window.
The bright daytime scenery inside the spaceship made me forget that I was on a spaceship, and I couldn’t believe I was back.
Even though we departed at night due to jet lag, we arrived in the afternoon instead of the next morning, but I didn’t even think about taking a light sleep to adjust.
“But this is…”
My gaze, which was blankly staring out the window, turned back to the room.
Although discipline hasn’t been finalized, the atmosphere was more like treating a VIP than dealing with someone who might receive punishment.
“Oh! I’m suffocating.”
Even though I knew worrying wouldn’t help, I felt suffocated and shouted loudly in the room.
Just as if timed perfectly, someone knocked on the door right after I shouted.
“Huh? Is it over already?”
Thinking that Yubin, who said she would unpack and come, was already here, I opened the door without any suspicion.
Then, to my surprise, there were Yura and Siera together.
“What’s the deal with both of you?”
If only one person had come, I wouldn’t have noticed, but since it was two people, especially Yura and Siera, whose feelings towards each other weren’t good, I couldn’t help but look suspiciously.
“We met just now.”
Yura said tersely, seeming unhappy about meeting Siera. Siera looked equally displeased.
“I heard we should rest for two days. Don’t you need to guide me around the spaceship tomorrow?”
Looking directly at Yura, I slowly raised my eyes and thought.
Even though it was okay to rest, there was no mention of wandering outside.
The atmosphere didn’t seem controlling, but going out with girlfriends would likely draw attention.
Even though there are people who don’t recognize us in Korea, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious on Spacystro’s spaceship.
Most importantly, there’s somewhere I need to go first when I arrive on the spaceship.
“I’m sorry. I probably won’t be able to date this time. I have somewhere to go.”
“Somewhere to go? Where?”
My gaze shifted from Yura to Siera.
I could guess why Siera came, and seeing her unwavering expression when our eyes met, she came for the reason I expected.
“Aren’t you going too?”
“Yes, since we have the time.”
“Where are you going? Can’t I go with you?”
“To see my parents.”
At that, Yura closed her mouth. Although she wasn’t giving hints, Yura, who already knows that her parents are gone, wouldn’t take the news lightly.
“It’s a bit far from here, so we plan to leave early in the morning and return in the evening.”
Going out with girlfriends isn’t bad, but since it’s a long trip, I hope they get plenty of rest.
Considering I may not have another chance to visit the spaceship, it might be my last opportunity to go with girlfriends, but there’s no problem if I don’t go.
I heard that in Korea, visiting the graves of a lover’s parents or grandparents is common. There’s no such custom on Spacystro.
Above all, there wasn’t a suitable mode of transportation for group travel.
“Ai’s parents… It might be good for me to visit them too.”
“If you want to go, it’s fine to go together. But it’s quite far, so we’ll be tired.”
“That’s okay.”
I don’t mind if we don’t go together, but I don’t have the intention to stop anyone who wants to go.
If we all go together, that’s fine.
“What’s this? Where are we going together?”
Just as I was saying this, Yubin, who came down from upstairs, asked what was happening, having only heard the last part.
Since I was going to tell everyone anyway that we would visit the graves tomorrow, it would be better to go together.
The next day. The sun rose.
After spending a long day, we went to visit the graves and went to bed early. We left the accommodation and rented a minivan from a nearby car rental company.
Me and my girlfriends, Siera and Luche, totaling eight people, got into the van. It had been a long time since I held the steering wheel.
“Brother, you’re driving?”
My girlfriends watched me holding the steering wheel for the first time with curious eyes.
In Korea, I can’t drive because I don’t have a license, but I have a driver’s license that is valid on Spacystro. Besides, I had a lot of experience driving, so I was confident in handling the car.
We drove for several hours. Despite the high-rise Spacystro spaceship having a vast ceiling-like expanse, it was divided into floors.
The place where my parents’ gravestone was located was situated after traveling through several floors for a while.
Even though we left early in the morning, we didn’t arrive at the military cemetery until the afternoon, where gravestones of those who died in war or battle were erected. My girlfriends became silent, and Siera and I bought a flower from a shop near the entrance and led the way.
After passing numerous gravestones, we arrived at a small gravestone about waist-high. We placed the flower we bought on the gravestone and stood side by side, saluting the gravestone.
Although there are certain rituals when paying respects on Spacystro, as a member of the military, Siera and I chose to salute.
“How do you pay respects in Korea?”
After finishing the greeting, I asked the girlfriends behind me who were watching. I had done this before, but I couldn’t remember the exact details, and when I asked about paying respects, the girlfriends stepped forward.
The girlfriends lined up in front of the gravestone and bowed twice, then stood up and bowed their heads in respect.
“Originally, we would burn incense and pour alcohol.”
“I see. Yes, Dad, Mom.”
Speaking softly while looking at the gravestone, my voice didn’t sound lively. Even though countless years had passed since I lost my parents, I still felt the same.
“…It’s a memorial monument?”
While I quietly looked at my parents’ grave, Hayang whispered to Siera from behind.
“Yes. We couldn’t secure their remains.”
Before Siera could answer, I responded first. It seemed better to hear it directly from someone else rather than through others.
“So, we come to pay respects. Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m paying respects to my parents.”
This memorial monument was created to honor my parents, but their remains or traces are nowhere to be found, only stones.
“Still, it feels better to pay respects this way, so I come whenever I’m on the spaceship. Before, I visited less frequently when I worked on the spaceship, but now thinking back, I rarely visited often.”
Until I met my girlfriends, I joined Spacystro with the thought of avenging my parents. Reflecting on it, I didn’t visit the memorial monument very often, and I wonder if I was truly fighting for revenge.
“Mama, Papa. I messed up. They said they’ll tell me tomorrow, but I’m scared because I don’t know what will happen.”
Even though I said it didn’t feel like paying respects, when I came to the memorial monument, words I wanted to say to my parents automatically came out.
Seeing me talk to the memorial monument, my girlfriends didn’t utter a word. It felt like they were waiting for me to have a conversation with my parents.
“My name is Luche. I’m a junior who gets coddled by seniors, and now I’m a superior to the senior.”
After exchanging a few words, Luche stepped forward and introduced herself to my parents’ memorial monument. Following suit, everyone introduced themselves and paid respects to my parents, and seeing everyone’s respectful gestures, I felt a lump in my throat.
“As you can see, I’m doing well. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but please pray that nothing happens.”
I don’t have a religion. I don’t believe in the existence of gods.
I think that humans end when they die, and that praying for the dead is nonsense.
Even so, standing in front of my parents’ memorial monument, I find myself saying these words.
“I’m leaving now.”
After a brief farewell, I turned my back on the memorial monument.
Although it was a habitual visit to the graves, it felt relieving to be in a place where I thought my parents existed.
“Brother.”
While leading the way down the slope of the cemetery, Yubin ran up from behind and grabbed my hand.
“Tomorrow will be fine. Things will be fine in the future too.”
“Yeah. Let’s eat something before we go.”
There was no other conversation, and it was just a visit to the graves, but it felt like a good choice to go together.
The next day.
After the military security department’s request in the morning, I changed into a Spacystro uniform and got into the car.
My girlfriends didn’t come along. Only I rode in the car and headed somewhere unknown through unfamiliar roads, eventually arriving at a military court.
Although I’ve received many punishments before, this was my first time at a military court.
Following the agents’ guidance, I entered the courtroom and stood at the defendant’s seat.
Gradually, lights came on in the dim courtroom, and the people sitting on the judges’ bench, which was higher than the defendant’s seat, took their seats.
There were familiar faces. Though I saw them for the first time, they were faces I knew as a soldier belonging to Spacystro.
There were a total of eight judges seated. Three elderly people or four middle-aged people, and one young person.
Standing at the defendant’s seat, feeling the gaze of all eight of them on me was incredibly tense. Cold sweat dripped down.
Eight judges were looking down at me from eight directions above my head.
The thought naturally came to mind that this might be the end. After feeling tension for a long time, the judge seated in the center of the bench in front of me struck the gavel.
It was the Chief Commander of the Spacystro Infantry.
“From now on, we will begin the interrogation regarding Ai, a member of Team 1 of the 3rd Division of the 1st Ship of the 6th Fleet of Spacystro.”
“…Interrogation?”
I thought that since I was in the courtroom, they would determine my guilt and impose legal penalties.
With a stunned voice, I asked in response to the mention of an interrogation here.
