|
Things kept moving forward in a blur.
It seemed the mortician had prepared Sion's body. I knew all too well what an untouched corpse looked like.
A dead person truly looked dead.
But Sion just looked like he was sleeping peacefully.
I stared down at him for a long time.
Then, pulled along by the hands of my seniors, I was taken to the hospital.
I went through a frantic examination, got an IV hooked up, was laid in a bed, and dragged off to a private room.
During all that, I spoke to the seniors who had stayed by my side.
"I have something urgent to report to the Supreme Commander."
Ami answered promptly.
"Rest up."
Once again, I arrived at that familiar private room—the same place I'd been admitted to before.
This place was starting to feel like another home.
As I stared at the ceiling, I organized the report I needed to give when my superior arrived.
I passed the time that way, and soon the High Command entered.
Ricardo and Kal stood to greet them.
Ye-hyeon lightly returned the greeting.
"Good work. Mind stepping out for a bit?"
Neither of them was the type to argue.
Soon, only I and the High Command remained in the room. The Supreme Commander and his aides had already changed into crisp suits. Ominously, all three were dressed in pitch-black attire.
Even their neckties were black, which was definitely odd.
But now wasn't the time for questions.
I swallowed my doubts and spoke as soon as Ye-hyeon approached the bed.
"Sequoia said something strange during the standoff."
The three members of High Command looked down at me silently.
I reported the details of what had happened.
The report wasn't long. Ye-hyeon, who had been standing with a stern face, moved immediately after I finished. It seemed he judged that acting right away would yield more benefit than additional questions.
He nodded and strode quickly out of the room.
The two aides followed behind.
"Gilbert. Contact the Science Department."
The brown-haired aide nodded.
As the door opened, the sounds of the hallway poured in.
The crisp footsteps faded away.
Only then did the tension ease, and sleepiness came crashing over me.
I'd passed on the most urgent matter, so now I could rest.
I watched the men walk away, and drowsiness pulled me under.
*
When I woke, Shu was there.
Shu?
Shu Diamond?
"What brings you here...?"
"I have something to tell you."
Shu looked down at me with her usual expressionless face.
"But it might be better to tell you later."
"Huh?"
Was this a dream?
I blinked, still groggy and trying to shake off the haze.
Why couldn't I get my bearings?
But it didn't feel like a dream. The dull pain in my abdomen, numbed by the anesthetics, lingered. A faint smell of disinfectant tickled my nose.
I forced my heavy eyelids open.
"What's that? Is it about the From Alphabet Series?"
"Not exactly, but something came to mind while looking into that series."
"What is it?"
Her blonde hair ended in pink tips.
Her light blue eyes matched her two-tone hair well. Though she was the youngest among the official Badgers, she always showed a maturity beyond her years.
I'd never seen her smile.
I waited for her to continue, lost in that irrelevant thought.
But Shu said no more.
"Rest."
"Huh? I can really hear it now."
"No."
She replied coolly and got down from the chair.
She pulled out her phone and tapped at it, and her hoverboard floated up to her eye level.
Shu grabbed the hoverboard and tucked it under her arm.
"It's a long story, so I'll tell you next time. Contact me when you're discharged."
"Got it... Wait, don't you have any questions about the From Alphabet Series?"
"I'll ask those after you're discharged, once I've said what I need to."
She spoke in riddles.
Then she dropped a bombshell.
"I think I might know how you ended up in front of us."
"Huh?"
My voice shot up.
"In front? In front of the seniors? You mean my first appearance?"
"Yeah. I have a bit of an idea how that happened."
"How did it happen?"
I bolted upright in bed.
A stabbing pain crossed my abdomen, but I ignored it. If I could, I'd have jumped out of bed entirely. My memories before the war were spotty, but everything after was a complete blank.
A pure white void of time.
We hadn't pushed too hard to uncover the truth—me, Yoon, or High Command—since it didn't seem that important.
I must have looked desperate. But Shu showed no particular reaction.
Instead, she replied in an even calmer voice.
"Contact me when you're discharged."
"...At least a hint."
"Look into portal malfunctions."
Shu said that briefly and vanished from the room.
"There are more interesting stories than I thought."
With those final words, Shu disappeared from view.
*
I needed to look into portal malfunctions.
That thought filled my head as soon as treatment ended the next day.
But I couldn't follow through.
High Command summoned me right after I got clearance for walks with the IV stand—though discharge was still too early.
Not to the High Command office, but to a place I'd never been before.
Yoon said he'd guide me there.
And sure enough, Yoon entered the room as soon as I got the message.
"Let's go."
True to form, the mentor gave no further explanation.
"We need to drive a bit."
Where the hell was it?
I was curious but didn't ask. I'd already learned that following Yoon would reveal the answer soon enough.
But could I go with the IV?
That question resolved itself naturally. I followed Yoon to an ambulance. It was the one he'd driven.
"You're not in bad enough shape for this."
"Ye-hyeon was too worried about you."
The mentor replied gruffly and started the engine.
"We could have gone yesterday, really. But he was dead set on not calling you until Samuel gave the all-clear."
So they had planned to summon me yesterday originally.
Why call me to a place that required a drive for whatever they wanted to say?
I sat on the edge of the ambulance bed, reflecting on the Territory Reclamation War. So much had happened, but after days cooped up in the hospital, the fact that we'd reclaimed the territory felt like a fleeting dream.
Come to think of it, I hadn't watched the news since being admitted.
I hadn't even properly checked my phone.
"Yoon."
Before turning on the phone in my hand to check messages, I asked quietly.
He didn't turn around.
"What."
"Any casualties on the Badger side?"
"Thirteen."
Ah.
"Compared to the previous reclamation battle, that's a small number."
His follow-up didn't seem aimed at comforting me. It felt more like stating facts.
The facts were suffocating, though.
I hesitated briefly.
"Any among the dead that I might know...?"
"No one you know."
The mentor replied in a low voice.
I let out a deep breath of relief.
It was a cowardly reaction, but I couldn't help it. With my mind eased, I immediately sank into thought. Various emotions stirred, but I didn't dwell on them.
Instead, I objectively assessed my situation and methodically listed what I needed to do.
Sion's funeral
Investigate Sequoia's "success" comment
Find the From K easter egg
Acquire and play other From Alphabet Series entries
Look into portal malfunctions
Ask about one-third of the kin
To Colton....
As I finished mentally noting that, the ambulance stopped.
Yoon flung open the driver's door.
"It's the Footage Center."
I grabbed the IV stand and stepped out.
"I didn't realize it wasn't in the Research Wing. I thought it was somewhere there."
"Different security level."
The mentor answered dryly and walked toward the building.
"You wouldn't have access normally, so you couldn't get in. Don't go poking around alone."
It was a very plain building.
Gray walls that looked unpainted. Uniform, monotonous square windows. I'd been lost in thought the whole way and hadn't noticed, but the building seemed tucked away in some mountain valley.
The area was thick with greenery.
A chain-link fence separated the greenery from the Footage Center grounds. Smooth roads paved within the site.
We walked the deserted road into the building.
Ye-hyeon and Gilbert were on the third floor.
"Hilde."
A spacious room. Countless monitors, and a massive walnut desk big enough for ten people. Chairs matching the desk's design were placed around it. Ye-hyeon looked up from there.
He'd been staring at one of the wall-covering monitors.
"Sorry for calling you before discharge."
I said it was fine and sat in the chair he pointed to.
Yoon closed the door behind him and sat beside me. As the heavy door shut, the outside noise cut off completely.
Silence enveloped the room.
The conversation began.
No preamble.
"We still haven't figured out what the Titans did."
Ye-hyeon leaned back in his chair and pointed to one screen with his hand.
"We've combed through all the battle footage shot after the barrier fell, but found nothing significant."
Ah. So that's why he brought me to the Footage Center.
He must have wanted to show me the videos. It could probably play in the High Command office too, but maybe he planned to display a lot across multiple screens.
The quality wasn't great, due to dust and explosions.
I narrowed my eyes at the screen Ye-hyeon indicated, and his words continued.
"One of the hardest parts of this war is the lack of intel on the enemy."
True.
That was one source of Kyle's confidence.
As I listened to Ye-hyeon, I recalled a memory fragment. As he pointed out, the fact that "we know about humans, but humans don't know about us" formed the basis of Kyle's confidence. In reality, humans only knew about absorption and transference, not the various creatures.
I agreed with Kyle's point.
I'd even helped him keep the kin in line.
The problem was, I had no idea what they'd done now.
"You're looking at me puzzled because you have no guesses either, right?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"No. Thank you for reporting quickly."
With that, Ye-hyeon asked if I could give a more detailed account.
He ordered me to explain everything I remembered from the second engagement. It must be tough, he added with a hint of concern. Seeing the worry and guilt on his pale face, I gave a small smile.
He didn't have to feel that bad about it.
Leaving a faint smile, I followed the order.
Once I finished explaining, I relaxed my body lazily.
Silence returned.
"Hilde."
A long while later, the response came.
Once again, Ye-hyeon broke the heavy silence.
The man slowly emerged from his thoughts.
I watched him unclasp his hands. His freed hands slowly rested on his lap.
Finally, his large eyes met mine directly.
"I think the kin you saved are inside the Core."
The owner of those eyes dropped that bombshell.