The weather, which had been unusually hot for mid-September, quickly cooled down within a week. As people embraced the crisp autumn air, their outfits gradually became longer, signaling the change of season.
Before heading to work ahead of the match, I had a conversation with the Milky Way, and one of the topics was none other than Hyper-humans. I didn’t harbor any particular prejudices or narrow-minded thoughts about Hyper-humans, but as I got to know the HunterKiller members, a curiosity had grown within me that I wanted to address.
While I could ask this question to everyone except Yubin, who hadn’t yet revealed to me that she was a Hyper-human, I felt that the Milky Way would give the most heartfelt answer.
“Milky Way.”
“Yes?”
As I called her after finishing my preparations to leave the house, she tilted her head, standing there to greet me.
“Can I ask you something about Hyper-humans?”
“Sure, you can ask.”
Even though she said it was okay, I was still a bit nervous about outright asking about Hyper-humans. There was a fear of being exposed, but more than that, I was worried that my careless question might hurt her feelings.
However, since she said it was okay, I decided to ask without hesitation.
“People don’t have a very good perception of Hyper-humans, right?”
“Yes…”
Perhaps because she, as a Hyper-human, knew this better than anyone, she nodded with a bittersweet smile.
“But I’m curious why you continue to be active in HunterKiller despite that.”
I’ve traveled to various planets aboard the Spacystro spacecraft. There are a few behaviors that humans exhibit when they encounter advanced alien civilizations, and most of them fall within a certain range. Of course, conflicts between inhabitants of the same planet also occur frequently.
I’ve seen cases of extreme discrimination against specific races, like on Earth. But I’ve never seen the discriminated race continue to work tirelessly for the sake of the planet’s inhabitants.
“It’s…”
My gaze fixed on the Milky Way as she cautiously opened her mouth.
“If I work hard, maybe someday someone will see Hyper-humans in a positive light. I’m sure the other members think the same way.”
When I heard her answer, my first thought wasn’t admiration or awe, but rather, if I were in the same situation, could I give my all for Spacystro? Someone might see the actions of Hyper-humans as natural. But it’s definitely not easy.
Enduring extreme discrimination while protecting the land where I was born and waiting for the day when people would view us favorably? It’s hard to say for sure without experiencing it myself, but one thing is clear: the HunterKiller members who continue to be active as Hyper-humans share the same thoughts.
“And because I worked hard, you appeared, didn’t you?”
Her sincere words, delivered with a smile, made me think a lot. Although my initial reasons for approaching her were different, now I genuinely wish for her and the others to feel even a little bit of happiness. It seemed that my feelings and the actions stemming from them had positively influenced the HunterKiller members.
After parting ways with the Milky Way, I headed straight to the Spacystro headquarters. What happened last night was last night. Today’s match was a match, and I planned to approach it without letting personal thoughts interfere.
But now that I had connections with all the HunterKiller members, it was inevitable that I had some thoughts. While I had no complaints about settling things peacefully, I knew that repeating the same actions would eventually reach a limit. It had been a full 20 years since the matches began, and I had been participating for half that time, 10 years.
What could be done to improve the current situation?
“A.”
Lost in thought, I arrived at the headquarters. Just then, I ran into Klugger and Jack.
“You two came together?”
“We met up front.”
Without exchanging formal greetings, the three of us—Klugger, Jack, and I—entered the headquarters and headed to the third floor. We went into the usual locker room and found numerous boxes piled up inside.
“What’s this?”
Klugger, who approached first, inspected the boxes, and just then, the locker room door opened.
“Are you all here?”
The person who opened the door was none other than Luche, and we were sure that she was the only one who could explain the origin of the boxes. Of course, there was something to say first.
“What if you just open the men’s locker room like that?”
“You weren’t changing!”
Luche’s face turned red as she shouted, and I chuckled, then quickly changed the subject to the boxes.
“What are these?”
“Look at the boxes. Your names should be written on them.”
“Huh? It’s true. Our team members’ names are written here.”
Jack, who found the box with his name on it first, looked at Luche as if asking for permission to open it, and Luche nodded in approval.
Jack immediately opened the box, and inside was another metal case for storing equipment.
As Jack touched the box, a green light appeared, and a message reading “Recognizing” popped up. Soon, the message changed to “Recognition Complete,” and the box began to open, revealing gloves and shoes with a design reminiscent of armor.
“Whoa! What’s this?!”
Excited about the new equipment, we all turned to Luche, who was smiling with pride.
“It’s the new equipment we got because of our good training results.”
“…….”
We were speechless, and Luche, who expected an immediate reaction, simply watched us.
And then, a beat later, the reaction came.
“Whaaaaaaa!!!”
The most excited one was none other than me. I had been waiting and wondering when the new supplies would come, and getting new equipment as a reward for training performance made me ecstatic.
“What’s going on?! What’s happening?!”
The teammates who arrived late hurriedly opened the locker room door at the sound of the commotion. It didn’t take long before everyone was cheering excitedly about the new equipment. For us, who consistently maintained the lowest performance at the Seoul headquarters, it was unclear how long it had been since we received equipment that was distributed to the entire force.
“Hey! Can we win with this?!”
As Ban tried on the gloves, he looked as excited as a child receiving a birthday gift, but we all fell silent for a moment.
“……There’s a slight possibility, I guess?”
“Maybe we’ll do well, maybe we won’t.”
Getting new equipment was great, but it didn’t mean our abilities would increase exponentially. Moreover, since we had always lost to the HunterKiller team, the image of defeating them still didn’t seem realistic even with the new equipment.
“Why the sudden mood drop?! Everyone, get changed!”
Luche, trying to boost morale, shouted and left the locker room. Even if victory wasn’t certain, the new equipment would definitely have an impact. With our spirits high, my Team 3 teammates and I noisily changed into our suits and put on the gloves and shoes.
The gloves were made of the same material as the suit, with metal decorations covering the fingers, the back of the hand, and the forearm. The shoes were based on work boots, with metal accents all over. They were a bit heavy, but not enough to be a problem.
Although they were described as decorative, the metal parts covered the areas mainly used for attack and defense, so overall attack and defense capabilities would significantly improve. When we put on the helmets, the process of accessing the data from the gloves and shoes synchronized with the suits appeared before our eyes.
“These new features are amazing.”
Our team, which had been fighting in a semi-analog way, finally got to experience advanced technology again.
“There was even more impressive stuff out in space.”
“That was ages ago.”
Once the data access was complete, the clunky metal parts of the gloves and shoes tightened, transforming into a perfect fit, and we examined them, feeling a sense of stability.
“Can we expect a little more from today’s match?”
I asked Klugger, who was standing next to me as we took the elevator down. Klugger, who had taken off his helmet, looked into the void for a moment, then turned to me with a smile on his face.
“I think it’s okay to be a little optimistic.”
Feeling as if we were back in the days of being in space, Klugger and I were brimming with excitement. When we arrived in the underground area, we ran into Team 4, who were also discussing their new equipment.
“What’s up? Is Team 3 heading to a match?”
The window of a van rolled down, and Siera, sitting in the passenger seat, leaned out.
“Yes. Do you have a match today, Team 4?”
“Yeah, that’s how it turned out.”
Klugger saluted first. Since there were subordinates present, he asked politely, and Siera responded casually to me.
Suddenly, I was reminded of Team Guerilla, Team 4’s opponent. Perhaps Klugger felt the same, as he fell silent.
“Work hard, and make sure Luche doesn’t cry.”
“It’s always like that, so don’t worry about it.”
Seeing the subordinates so excited about their new equipment seemed to lift Siera’s spirits as well.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
I patted Klugger on the shoulder, and we headed to where Team 3’s old van was parked. Daniel, the driver, was already sitting in the driver’s seat, looking at his phone, and I tapped the window to greet him.
“What’s up, Daniel? Why do you look so down?”
“……You guys got new equipment.”
I accidentally let out a sound of realization. Unlike us, Daniel wasn’t a combat soldier. For us combat soldiers, new weapons meant new equipment, but for Daniel, who was in charge of driving, his equipment was none other than the vehicle.
I glanced at the old van and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.
“Hey! Don’t worry. We got new equipment, right? If we perform well, maybe we’ll get a new car, too.”
“Yeah, if we win.”
It wasn’t a sarcastic remark about our long streak of losses. Even Daniel couldn’t imagine our team defeating the HunterKiller team. Unable to confidently say we would win, Klugger and I got into the van.
We sat in the back seats, waiting as our teammates arrived one by one and got in. Finally, Luche took the passenger seat. As usual, the van was packed to the brim with men, leaving no room.
But today, the mood was better than usual. I kept saying it, but it was because of the new equipment. While we had occasionally been given experimental weapons to use, those were hardly considered supplies.
But now, with practical equipment that could be used on the field, we were finally able to sharpen our fighting spirit once again.
We happily rode in Daniel’s van to the day’s match location. The venue was a wide construction site in Seoul’s Gangseo District, an empty lot with only some construction materials scattered around and no buildings yet.
Since it wasn’t a place where people usually went, there was no need to control civilians, so the match could proceed more smoothly than usual.
And then, we encountered an unfamiliar scene at the match location. The faces were familiar—so familiar that they couldn’t be anything else. But the scene itself was utterly foreign.
During matches, teams are occasionally swapped due to scheduling conflicts. But this didn’t apply to our Team 3. Whether it was because we always lost, or for some other reason, while there were adjustments to the match schedule, our opponents were never changed. So, we couldn’t help but be taken aback.
Luche, too, seemed completely unprepared for this situation, staring wide-eyed at the scene.
“You’re here?! You damn bastards!”
A group of men, wearing suits made of the same material as the HunterKillers but without helmets, were standing there. And their faces were all too familiar to us.
How could we forget the faces of those who ruined our long-awaited dinner gathering?
Even with our helmets fully on and our gazes fixed on the enemy, I could feel the atmosphere among my teammates shift.
For the first time in 10 years of matches, we were facing Team Guerrilla.
