Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: New Phase (3)
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Why had I forgotten about the portal?
I swallowed hard at Yoon's chilling words but couldn't tear my eyes from the photo. Ah. Why had I forgotten this thing even existed?
Why had I only focused on the creatures, the war, and Kyle?
I stared at my master's expressionless face and forced the words out.
"Why did you take this?"
Yoon only moved his eyeballs.
"I took it on the first day of the war."
"Was there a reason?"
"What? Did it jog something else in your memory?"
He answered my question with a question of his own.
I hesitated, then shut my mouth. The thoughts swirling in my mind wouldn't sort themselves out easily. And not everything had come back to me. I couldn't remember the beginning or the end.
The beginning and end on Earth.
Of course, Yoon didn't seem inclined to help. He'd probably summoned me just to interrogate me.
I bit my lip, then replied in a subdued voice.
"I want to cross-check what you're telling me with my memories."
"Ah, good."
He seemed satisfied with my suggestion.
"Efficient. No need to do the work twice."
Ye-hyeon wouldn't arrive until two days later, at night.
He'd been away briefly for a short hospital stay, and with audit season overlapping, he was swamped.
Yoon had laid down the law: as soon as Ye-hyeon got back, we'd talk, so in the meantime, I was to stay put obediently in the cabin. Don't go far—wait right under their noses.
"Take it slow with rehab. Might as well practice your shooting while you're at it."
"I really practice diligently almost every day."
"Don't just do sword practice—do some shooting too."
So he knew I usually only did sword practice.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and turned away.
Then I meekly said I would and returned to the cabin.
***
I heard Ye-hyeon had arrived and visited the neighbor's house around 10 p.m.
There, I found him lounging on the sofa in a T-shirt.
"You're here."
"Hello."
Yoon sauntered out from inside, and Ye-hyeon blinked at me with sleep-heavy eyes.
Startled by my superior's college-kid vibe, I quickly pulled myself together.
I bowed my head as I entered and offered the bag of walnut pies I'd bought from that famous spot.
"Sorry to bother you so late. It's nothing special, but please share."
"You didn't have to get anything. Thanks. I'll enjoy it."
"Sit."
Ye-hyeon peered into the bag and thanked me breezily, but Yoon pointed firmly at the sofa.
I obeyed meekly.
Things didn't start right away as Yoon wanted. It was because my superior—who looked even leaner in his black T-shirt—ambled slowly toward the kitchen. Anyone could see he planned to slice up the walnut pies I'd brought, so I dashed to the kitchen ahead of him, and Yoon grumbled as he followed.
That delayed the start a bit.
Finally, after Ye-hyeon and I sat on the sofa with plates each holding a piece of walnut pie, the mood was set for talking.
Yoon let out a small sigh and sipped his coffee.
"Coffee at night will keep you up."
Ye-hyeon nagged as he chewed his pie.
Yoon sullenly set down his cup.
"We're not talking about anything that'll let you sleep soundly."
He wasn't wrong.
I gave a wry smile and kept munching on the pie. No wonder it was famous—the crispiness was on another level.
Ye-hyeon seemed to like it too and kept eating steadily.
Then he threw a fastball out of nowhere.
"What should I start with?"
A walnut nearly went down the wrong pipe.
"Or do you want to go first, Hilde?"
There must be something about these people that lets them zero in on the core without warning.
I quietly set down my fork. I glanced briefly at the seniors sitting across from me, pondering.
During the two days waiting for Ye-hyeon, I'd organized the memories that had resurfaced. The ones that flooded back when facing Colton, the fragments that returned in the subway, and the shards I'd pieced together in daily life.
To be honest, I'd wiped away tears that welled up a few times.
I pressed my lips into a thin line before finally answering.
"I'll go first."
"Yeah. Take it at your pace."
"Where should I start?"
"The beginning and the end."
Yoon said in a low voice.
Of all the questions, he picked the one I couldn't answer. I gave my master a bitter smile.
"I don't remember the beginning or the end. Meaning, I don't recall how I ended up on Earth, or how the war broke out."
"I see. So do you at least know exactly what you are?"
"Before meeting Col... I mean, Falcon, I was already aware I wasn't human."
Kyle had always made that point crystal clear.
The Kyle in my memories mingled well with humans, just like me—our appearances weren't so different, so blending in was easy. But he always kept an emotional distance from them. Even though we looked no different aside from eye color, he stubbornly insisted we were a different species.
Because we'd already found a way to attain immortality before arriving on Earth.
More precisely, we'd seized the privilege of not aging.
"It's the privilege everyone has dreamed of since time immemorial."
"So the rumors online about high-ranking officials' human experiments weren't total nonsense."
Yoon muttered without taking his eyes off me.
"Not that surprising, though. Nothing else about the experiments comes to mind?"
"Yes. But I do remember spending a lot of time obsessively in a white place."
I also remembered enjoying games there.
But no memories of being experimented on or participating in experiments remained. Maybe something like that happened, and I just couldn't recall it. I could guess from Eric calling me Prometheus, or from what Jaeyeon screamed in her frenzy.
I also remembered Kyle arrogantly tossing his black hair over his shoulder and referring to it as "our gift to humanity."
Yoon nodded faintly. Ye-hyeon kept eating his pie without a change in expression.
He really must like it....
"Any other traits besides that?"
My master's cold voice snapped me back to attention.
"There has to be more. By that logic, Black Badgers aren't human either."
"Yes. There's actually one way we're markedly different from humans...."
This was something I only remembered after waking up in the hospital room.
More precisely, after opening my eyes there and riding in Yoon's car to this place. Now my senses were fully open. The sharpened five senses no longer overwhelmed me.
And in regaining those senses, I finally understood what Colton meant by "your greatest trait."
Now I could sense where my kin were, and in which direction.
"No human has ever fully understood this. As far as I remember."
"Humans lack that sense, so of course they can't. So, can you sense where this Kyle guy is right now?"
"If they're far away, I can only get a rough direction...."
But I could sense them.
Without a word, I pointed behind the seniors.
Ye-hyeon and Yoon both turned around at the same time.
Then they slowly turned back forward.
A brief silence settled over the living room. Ye-hyeon didn't seem too surprised, but Yoon narrowed his eyes, studying me.
My master fixed me with a gaze devoid of any warmth and said something ominous.
"Guess I need to open you up once."
"Commander."
I whipped my head toward Ye-hyeon, sending an SOS.
"Please save me."
"Yoon, no."
Ye-hyeon scolded curtly.
"That's a crime."
A short exchange followed: Yoon saying he'd open me up briefly with no issues and close me right back, and Ye-hyeon refusing to allow it.
I sank into my thoughts, letting their conversation fade into background noise.
Okay, we'd gotten this far. Now it was time for the conclusions I'd drawn based on this fact to come flooding in. After my senses opened, memories had poured in like the tide receding. Tracing them assembled the scattered puzzle pieces.
The humanoid creature facing off against Ye-hyeon in the video. Its blazing reverse eyes and the black curtain swirling around its body. The humanoid creature I'd encountered under the subway stirring back to life.
I spoke slowly.
"Commander."
"Yeah?"
"Did you already know about Titans when you faced off against the Rank 10 creature?"
Ye-hyeon looked at me quietly with his large eyes.
The ticking clock hands beat against my ears. The high-ceilinged space felt eerily cool.
I sat still, waiting for my superior to break the silence.
This house always smells faintly of cool wind.
Ye-hyeon shattered the silence in an inscrutable voice.
"Only in fragments."
His following words held no emotion either.
"My father pushed me into that position."
"What?"
Yoon raised his voice.
He scowled and glared at Ye-hyeon beside him.
"What bullshit is this now?"
"Sorry. I didn't think it was worth mentioning specifically. You never asked, so I kept quiet."
"Why's Lee Seung-hyun coming up all of a sudden? What's that got to do with the rookie and Lee Seung-hyun?"
"Hilde and my father knew each other."
That much was true.
The problem was, all I could remember was that Lee Seung-hyun was a soldier dispatched from Korea. We definitely met face-to-face and talked. But nothing beyond that came back to me.
Maybe hearing about Lee Seung-hyun would jog more memories.
I watched the bickering seniors and conveyed the facts honestly.
Ye-hyeon stiffened slightly at my request to tell me a bit about Lee Seung-hyun.
"Got it. I'll try my best. I'm not an expert on my father either, but...."
"Sorry to ask about personal matters."
"No. It was something I figured I'd have to talk about eventually...."
Even as he said that, Ye-hyeon hesitated.
The pale man clamped his mouth shut, then slowly spoke.
"I'll keep it brief about my father."
Yoon let out a low scoff beside him.
I'd been focused on Ye-hyeon, but his next words made my eyes go wide in shock.
My master lifted his coffee cup and said,
"The Legend of Gabi, coming soon to theaters."
"Yoon!"
I yelped in horror.
"That's a dad joke!"
"I know."
"It's fine."
He always does this whenever his father comes up. Ye-hyeon closed his eyes in a long blink, smiled, and waved it off casually.
Yoon sipped his coffee like nothing happened.
Seeing my seniors like this, I grew a little afraid of what was to come next.