Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Eric Airhart (1)
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“Did he tell the truth?”
Gilbert, Ye-hyeon’s second aide, muttered.
The Supreme Commander nodded slowly.
“He knows how important Hilde is.”
Then, after a brief silence, he continued.
“And by his own standards, Falcon truly thinks of Hilde as his friend.”
“Surprisingly, it seems that way. Even though he’s the type who wouldn’t hesitate to kill a longtime friend if they crossed him.”
“Yeah. The only one Falcon would never kill with his own hands is Jaeyeon.”
Ye-hyeon replied to Sca’s response as if talking to himself.
His thoughtful gaze drifted into empty space.
“He won’t allow Jaeyeon to die…”
The conversation paused there for a moment. Ye-hyeon rested his forehead on his interlaced fingers and sank into thought.
A heavy silence settled over the command staff office.
The only sound in the office was the alarm announcing the arrival of a report.
It was only after a long silence that the Supreme Commander spoke in a heavy voice.
“It seems that thing has fully awakened.”
There was no mistaking it, given the organized and hostile ambush.
“Let’s reclaim our territory before the year ends.”
The aides affirmed his words with silence.
***
Hilde was sick for three days.
The surgery had gone well, but the fever showed no sign of breaking. Samuel said it was probably due to stress. Not portal aftereffects, just something like a cold.
Even with an enhanced body, extreme stress could trigger abnormal reactions.
So on the third day of Hilde’s hospitalization, Ami visited his room without much expectation of seeing him in his right mind. She knew many people had been in and out, but the room was empty when she arrived.
A spacious single room.
She closed the door behind her and sat in the chair by the bed.
Then, without much thought, she played a game on her phone, ding-dong-ding-dong.
“Ah…”
Until the junior, who had been lying still, suddenly turned toward her.
“Ami…”
“Eek!”
Ami was so startled she nearly dropped her phone.
She sprang back reflexively, clutching her pounding heart, and stared blankly at him. Hilde was looking up at her with half-open eyes.
His white hair clung to his sweat-soaked skin.
Ami stared blankly for a moment before snapping to her senses.
“Hilde! You’re awake!”
She reached out to press the nurse call button.
But before she could, Hilde grabbed her arm.
“I’m fine.”
He mumbled.
“I was just going to sleep a bit more.”
“Oh, got it. Sleep more. I’ll get out of your way.”
“Ami.”
Ami blinked and leaned down to meet Hilde’s eye level.
“Yeah?”
“Was I in a coma for two years?”
Ami’s round eyes filled with puzzlement.
She looked at her sweat-drenched junior and nodded.
“Yeah. Your fighter jet crashed.”
“In the final battle?”
“Right. The last battle of the First War. I blacked out looking at the approaching ground, and when I opened my eyes, two years had passed.”
The rookie gazed up at Ami with an inscrutable expression.
Ami wondered why he was asking this, but figured it was natural to be curious if he’d heard it from someone. She didn’t mind. She could tell him everything from start to finish if he wanted.
The junior, who had been silent, asked another question.
“Who took care of me…?”
“Ye-hyeon Oppa and Yoon Oppa did. The Choi Family mostly handled financial support.”
As she spoke, memories from that time flooded back vividly.
It was now a long time ago. But it still felt like last month whenever she recalled it. Ami smiled as she traced those days.
“When I woke up, I didn’t even know two years had passed. But the moment Ye-hyeon Oppa saw me, he burst into tears. He cried so much I thought Yoon Oppa had died at first.”
She giggled.
“But he was fine.”
“What about Yoon’s reaction?”
“Youngest Oppa? He didn’t cry, but he stayed by my side for a long time. And he kept waking me up out of the blue while I was sleeping, which was exhausting.”
Of course, she had never forgotten the kindness they showed her, not even for a moment.
The fact that they hadn’t given up on her comatose self for two years. The devotion of squeezing in nursing care amid their grueling schedules that left no time to sleep.
The affection carried in the arms that embraced her upon waking.
The hands that tirelessly lifted her up, even as she stumbled and fell repeatedly while relearning to walk.
Hilde’s subdued voice pulled her from her reminiscence.
“I’m sorry.”
Ami’s eyes widened.
“Why are you sorry?”
Hilde didn’t reply.
Instead, he smiled faintly. It was a somehow sorrowful smile. Hadn’t he smiled like that even when fending off Ricardo’s interrogation outside the core?
Ami observed her still-weak-looking counterpart and added.
“It’s fine. It didn’t bother me at all. Those two did all the hard work. When I woke up, Ye-hyeon Oppa had become a national hero. I was shocked.”
“Was he Supreme Commander back then?”
“No. Aide at the time.”
“Did he take the position because he wanted to?”
It felt like a question he couldn’t ask others.
Ami smiled wryly and answered.
“Probably not. There were a couple others more qualified, and Ye-hyeon Oppa kept saying he wished one of them would take it. But because of that video, he ended up as Supreme Commander. It gave him the perfect justification.”
Hilde’s expression darkened.
Ami clearly saw something like guilt flicker in his striking golden eyes.
Why was this junior acting like this since earlier?
It wasn’t something to be so sad about. Others said things like, “Waking up after two years is a miracle,” or “It was lucky a video survived and made you a hero.”
His reaction was strangely peculiar.
She looked at her fidgeting junior and said.
“You’ve honestly remembered something, haven’t you?”
Hilde choked.
He coughed painfully.
Startled by the stronger reaction than expected, Ami hurriedly added.
“Sorry. Calm down.”
“…I’m sorry. But not everything has come back.”
“Got it?”
Truthfully, she hadn’t planned to pry.
It didn’t seem like something she needed to know. Ami knew how to respect those boundaries. Like how she never pried into Lee Ye-hyeon’s father, Lee Seung-hyun’s identity, even after meeting him. She decided not to be curious about Hilde’s past either.
He didn’t seem eager to talk about it anyway.
She just felt sorry seeing him suffer like this.
“You don’t have to say anything.”
He was the type who could shake off most troubles and move on, yet here he was struggling so much. Maybe, as Ricardo said, it was PTSD, and bad memories had resurfaced. She couldn’t guess what kind of past it was.
Either way, she didn’t want to see him in as much pain as last time.
Ami resolved to treat him better.
To this peculiar junior…
“But Hilde sometimes feels weirdly like an oppa.”
The thought slipped out as a mumble.
Hilde blinked at her words.
His unforgettable golden eyes widened briefly before he smiled faintly.
“Little kid.”
“No.”
Ami scowled at Hilde’s words.
“I’m 71 now. A grandma.”
Hilde burst into laughter.
Then he said no more. After that low chuckle, the exhausted junior began to nod off again. Ami stayed silent and still until he fell asleep.
She left the room once his breathing became regular.
Pondering why being called “little kid” by Hilde didn’t bother her much.
⁕⁕⁕
Should we have sunk along with the world?
I remembered often pondering that back then.
I never confided in anyone. But at some point, I started thinking it often. Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped into the portal? Maybe I should have accepted fate and turned to ash with the old world?
Maybe the tragedy began the moment we set foot on Earth.
But I always reached the opposite conclusion.
It was a foolish, arrogant thought. Every living being is born with the right to rebel against approaching death, to stand again, and to seek a path to life. The struggle to find a way to survive could never be a sin.
So I never regretted leading people to Earth.
What I regretted was…
“Oh, you’re awake.”
I reluctantly lifted my heavy eyelids at the unwelcome voice.
And stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.
“I didn’t expect you to come all the way here.”
“You’re supposedly very ill.”
The voice sounded distinctly cheerier than last time.
“I was worried, you see.”
“You don’t need to pretend. You just came to see me miserable.”
“Oh dear, you really despise me!”
He was quick on the uptake.
But he wasn’t the type to get offended by my contempt. If he were ordinary, he wouldn’t be sitting in that seat to begin with.
Ha…
I dragged it out as long as possible before grudgingly turning my head.
Platinum blond hair came into view.
A handsome middle-aged man impeccably pulling off a flashy three-piece suit today as well. He sat in the chair, beaming.
The hospital corridor outside was eerily quiet.
The presence of his minions standing guard outside was palpable.
Their master’s smile widened the moment our eyes met.
A smile filled with genuine ecstasy.
“Prometheus! You look much better!”
“You really are one of the top perverts out there.”
“Ah, I hear that a lot.”
Don’t reply so shamelessly.
“Nice to see you after so long.”
“Yes.”
“Really… Ah, now I finally get why Falcon treats you special. Ha… I want to slap my past self for overlooking you.”
“No, you still don’t get it. He’s a psychopath, but not some deviant with weird tastes.”
“Since Suhoi’s first minion is your disciple, you’re connected to her side too.”
Eric Airhart, the third powerbroker of Center Core, was a master at ignoring others’ words.
They were all like that up there.
Colton was no different, nor was Suhoi. I’d never expected their undivided attention anyway, so I just kept a sullen expression.
They found it unfamiliar when their words were interrupted.
Eric’s ash-gray eyes gleamed.
“I felt like the only one without a connection to you, so I came to make one.”
“Do we have to make one?”
“I really want to.”
“I guess I don’t have a say.”
“Haha.”
Look at that laugh.
The smile of a complete powerhouse. Truly irritating types. I rolled my eyes, reminded of Colton’s smile, the smiles of the enemies he’d executed, and the imperial family I’d served alongside Kyle.
“There’s nothing bad about having a connection with me. Why would I harm Falcon’s friend and Ye-hyeon’s man?”
“I just want to live like a normal rookie. I already attract trouble just by existing.”
“Then live like a normal rookie.”
“I mean, make your special connections with someone else.”
“What if I help you uncover your past?”
I bolted upright.
My head spun for a moment. My vision distorted, and nausea surged.
But I ignored the dizziness.
Swallowing the vertigo, I propped myself up on my arms and stared at the man before me.
The one who loved seeing the sick.
The deviant who got thrills from pulling the unfortunate out of misery.
The powerbroker following Colton Wiseman and Yekaterina.
Eric Airhart.
“How exactly would you help?”
I asked quietly, and Eric smiled brightly.