Chapter 156: Quintessential A (11)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: Quintessential A (11)
Yura, who had wanted to spend a passionate day together after our long time apart, showed her disappointment when she heard my thoughts. However, our relationship wasn't one built solely for physical intimacy, and perhaps because she understood that I still had a lot on my mind, she didn't push me.
That didn't mean her disappointment vanished entirely, so it seemed Yura also needed time to process things. A conclusion didn't reach us immediately, and since I couldn't exactly rush someone to finish their thoughts, we both spent a lot of time deep in reflection while we were together.
After spending that rare one-on-one time with Yura, I told her, "I'm planning to meet Hayoung tomorrow."
I informed each of them who I was meeting next every time I saw one of them, but since I wasn't saying it to the same person, I couldn't seem to get used to it no matter how many times I did it. The parties involved reacted as if it were nothing, but their nonchalant responses actually made me feel more self-conscious.
Every time I finished my day, returned home, and lay in bed, I felt that I wasn't as mentally high-strung as before. On one hand, I considered it a relief, but I braced myself with the thought that this peace could shatter in an instant the moment I let my guard down.
"Tomorrow is Hayoung, and the day after is Su-ah."
Since I didn't know what we would end up doing, I only planned the meetings for now.
I’d meet Su-ah on Saturday, rest for a day on Sunday, and then start the weekday cycle again, meeting them one by one in rotation.
As I kept thinking about this rotation based on Earth standards, I started to feel like I was committing a grave sin, but it wasn't like I could stop now.
For the time being, I had to keep meeting them like this while constantly gauging my girlfriends' moods and the overall atmosphere. Since this was the path I chose, I had no choice but to bear the weight of it.
I should start planning for next week soon, I thought, and as I turned my head, the scenery of my room caught my eye.
"I need to start getting ready to move out, too."
By order of the Team Leaders, I had to move, and I needed to look for a new place. Since I was meeting my girlfriends every day, I had to carve out time from an already non-existent schedule to go house hunting.
Originally, I had planned to live at the new Headquarters for a while and take my time looking for a place, but meeting my girlfriends made the timeline feel much tighter. Since I wasn't in a desperate rush, I figured I could stick to the original plan for now.
Thinking about houses reminded me of Su-ah’s offer to come to her place. Looking at my personal situation alone, it wasn't a bad proposal at all; in fact, it was a suggestion I’d be grateful for.
Su-ah’s home was a massive penthouse, more than three times the size of a normal house, with plenty of rooms. Since we were in a relationship and Su-ah hated leaving the house, living there would undoubtedly be an ideal environment.
However, there were a few problems. The first was the issue regarding my other girlfriends. Not long after we agreed to distribute our time together equally, if I moved into Su-ah’s house, the balance of that equal time would inevitably crumble.
That would surely lead to complaints, and if I made a plan to satisfy those complaints, other grievances would arise. It was a thought I’d had before, but reflecting on it again, it was best to take measures to avoid creating predictably bad situations in advance.
The second problem was that I was a member of Spacetro. My girlfriends had already found out everything, so I had nothing to hide from them, but within Spacetro, Luche was the only one who knew my current circumstances.
Ultimately, in the process of moving and living my life, there might be instances where I’d have to report my situation to Spacetro. Even if such a situation didn't arise, there was a high probability that Spacetro would discover my current status.
In truth, being discovered wasn't a problem in itself—provided that the Spacetro high command took no action despite knowing I was dating the members of Hunter Killer.
But the probability of that was remarkably low. Specific orders would inevitably come down from the Spacetro higher-ups, and in that process, there was a chance my girlfriends would be harmed.
As a Spacetro soldier, it was right to contribute to Spacetro’s interests, but I had worked this hard specifically because I wanted my girlfriends to be happy. I couldn't let all of that go to waste in a single moment.
Putting the idea of moving into Su-ah’s house on hold for now, I headed to Hayoung’s place with a slightly lighter heart.
When I rang the doorbell, I heard a voice from inside. I entered the passcode on the door lock and went in to find Hayoung standing by the door, wearing an apron.
"You're here?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
Seeing Hayoung greet me with a bright smile, my first instinct was to bury my face in her chest.
Because Hayoung always embraced me so tenderly, there were many times when I felt my heart find peace in her arms. Even though she was the shortest among the Hunter Killer members, it felt like she was the one holding me.
However, not knowing Hayoung’s current mood and this being our first one-on-one meeting since the group gathering, I felt a bit hesitant to act as I usually did a month ago.
In that moment of hesitation, Hayoung, who had been staring at me, spread her arms wide.
"Why are you being so cautious?"
Seeing Hayoung speak as if inviting me into her arms with that same smile, I realized she had instantly clocked my hesitation.
There was no way I could hide it, so I followed my instincts and lowered my body to sink into her embrace.
The moment I buried my face in her chest, Hayoung stroked my hair and looked down at me with a smile.
"You were gauging my mood, weren't you?"
"Yeah, I was."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't know what to do."
Hayoung, who had been stroking my hair, took my cheeks in her hands, made me look up, and kissed my forehead. The familiar feeling of my heart being enveloped in warmth caused all the tension I’d carried since entering to melt away.
"You can just act like you always do. Honey, you haven't eaten yet, right?"
"No. I figured you'd want to make me something if I came over, so I skipped it on purpose."
Since it was right around the transition from morning to afternoon, I knew there was a 100% chance I’d be eating at Hayoung’s house. One might ask if I should be thinking about food in this situation, but I could at least be certain that she wouldn't let me go hungry.
"Sit and wait. I'll have it ready in a jiffy."
As she said, I sat quietly and waited for the meal to be prepared. I stole glances at Hayoung humming in the kitchen, watching her back, and every time she turned her head, our eyes met.
Each time, she simply offered a smile and continued cooking. A short while later, we sat across from each other and ate the meal she had prepared.
Hayoung’s cooking was as delicious as ever. Perhaps because I hadn't eaten anything since waking up, the food went down easily, and I felt a satisfying sense of fullness.
"Thanks for the meal. It was great."
"You must have been really hungry. You ate so much."
"I was hungry, and I just really liked eating your food again after so long."
"I'm glad you're satisfied."
We sat across from each other at the cleared table, a drink in front of each of us, enjoying the post-meal leisure.
"Honey. Can I ask you something?"
When I spoke up cautiously, Hayoung looked at me with wide eyes, tilted her head, and replied, "Sure. Ask me anything."
There was no longer any need to feel awkward or to over-prepare myself; I brought up what I was curious about immediately.
"On the day we all gathered... at first, you agreed to me seeing everyone, right?"
"Yes, I did."
Hayoung seemed to realize what I was about to say, but her expression didn't change much.
"But then you said you'd think about it more... How do you feel now?"
"Hmm..."
Whether she couldn't think of what to say or she already had an answer but didn't know how to phrase it, Hayoung hesitated to speak.
Seeing her close her eyes and sink into thought made me nervous; I felt a cold sweat breaking out. After a moment of reflection, she opened her eyes slightly, looked at me, and let out a small chuckle.
"Why are you so tense?"
"Because you looked like you were thinking really hard."
"Of course I'm thinking hard. My boyfriend is seeing other members at the same time, and we're talking about it."
She was absolutely right. Even if polygamy was common in space, I had never seen a polygamous relationship that didn't show traces of deep concern.
At the time, I had dismissed such things as irrelevant to me, but now that I was in the thick of it, every moment was a series of tense encounters.
"Still, I'm just happy to have you here, so don't be too nervous. I won't say anything that's too hard for you to hear."
"Okay..."
Despite Hayoung’s words intended to reassure me, I couldn't help but feel anxious. I felt like this tension wouldn't be easy to let go of for a while.
"To be honest..."
Finally, the answer to my question came, and I hung on every word that left Hayoung’s lips.
I was even more nervous because Hayoung was the one who had initially said polygamy was okay, only to change her mind and say she needed to think. Since Hayoung was someone who usually only showed me her gentle and kind side, I couldn't predict what she’d be like when angry, which made me focus even harder.
"I'm in favor of it, too."
"Then why...?"
If she was in favor, why did she say she needed to think about it more? Hearing my question, Hayoung continued.
"Honestly, I did think about it for a bit, but I still love you. The moment I saw you at the house, I didn't feel anything other than how happy I was to see you again."
Perhaps remembering that day, Hayoung wore a faint smile as she reminisced.
"The month you were gone was very hard for me. Even if I couldn't see you every day, I always thought you were by my side and believed we would definitely meet again. But when you suddenly vanished, my mind just went blank."
Seeing her hands tremble slightly, it seemed she had suffered a great deal of heartache over the past month. I couldn't even begin to fathom the depth of that pain. Just because Hayoung had a kind and gentle personality didn't mean she didn't suffer during hard times.
"So, I thought it would be better to see you alongside everyone else and have you around longer than to lose you entirely. However..."
She lifted her gaze, which had been lowered slightly, and I saw my reflection in her eyes. I momentarily flinched at Hayoung’s gaze, which seemed to pierce straight through me.
"It bothers me that Pink spoke first."
"Huh?"
That was it. Hayoung hadn't said she’d think about it because she disliked the idea of a harem or polygamy. It bothered her that Yura (Pink) had been the first to speak up in favor of it.
She had anticipated that Yura being the first to accept the polygamous arrangement was a move to seize the initiative, and in fact, that was exactly why Yura had spoken first.
The problem was that I wasn't the only one who had sensed that in that situation. Hayoung had felt it too, and perhaps the others had as well.
"I felt like if I said polygamy was okay right then and there, I’d just be following Pink’s lead. I'm sure Pink loves you a lot too, but I feel this way because I love you, regardless of what Pink thinks."
"So it was because Yura spoke first."
I knew Yura’s first move would carry some weight, but I hadn't imagined that even Hayoung would read that move and withdraw her opinion for the time being.
Thinking back, I had seen the members exchanging glances several times during that group meeting.
If there was a massive battle of wits going on every time that I hadn't noticed, then the overall atmosphere was likely much heavier than I thought.
My meetings with them were important, but I also hoped there wouldn't be any infighting among the members. However, they weren't dolls that moved according to my wishes. Their emotional changes were the result of my actions; I might be able to prevent a collision of those emotions, but I couldn't control the emotions themselves.
At any rate, I now knew Hayoung’s thoughts. I just had to make sure Yura didn't get to claim priority just because she expressed her opinion first.
In the first place, there wasn't supposed to be a hierarchy among them, but it seemed the parties involved thought differently.
"Honey. Who are you meeting tomorrow?"
As I was nodding in understanding of Hayoung’s words, she stared at me and asked about my schedule for the next day.
Since we had talked about who I’d met and what I’d done until yesterday while we were eating, I thought she would have already guessed I was meeting Su-ah.
"I'm going to meet Su-ah."
"So you're meeting Yellow."
The atmosphere felt strange for some reason. Should I say she seemed unsatisfied?
It was a vibe I had never seen from Hayoung before, so I couldn't guess what state she was in.
"Who did you say you met yesterday?"
"Yesterday... Yura."
"So you met Pink."
It had bothered me strangely on the day we all gathered, but I had pushed it out of my mind, thinking it wasn't a problem I could solve that day. I wondered if Hayoung was feeling the same way.
Just in case, I cautiously asked her while gauging her reaction.
"...Does it bother you that I call the other members by their names?"
".........No, it doesn't."
Hayoung replied while avoiding my gaze. It was the first time she had acted like this, but seeing her now, I could be certain.
She definitely felt some type of way about it.
To be precise, she was pouting because I called the other members by their names so familiarly.
The fact that she was okay with me seeing multiple people but got upset over me calling the other members by their names was cute, but it was so unexpected from Hayoung that I couldn't help but let out a laugh.