Chapter 171: Little by Little, Slowly (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 171: Little by Little, Slowly (6)
When our conversation stalled due to our mutual confusion, I first took a moment to process the meaning behind what Roy had said. Working under a former junior—that meant someone from a later recruitment class than mine was now my superior.
There were countless people in the Seoul Branch from later classes than me. In fact, excluding the Team Leaders, there were so few people from earlier classes that I could count them on one hand. For all intents and purposes, almost everyone was my junior in terms of seniority.
However, Spacetro maintains a horizontal structure within the same rank, so a difference in recruitment class doesn't establish a hierarchy among soldiers of the same grade.
If that was the case, "working under a junior" meant that one of my superiors was from a later class than me. Among the Team Leaders, the only one more junior than me was Luche.
But there was one expression that bothered me. Roy hadn't just said "later class"; he had used the word "junior."
In my entire life, I’d only ever had a "senior-junior" relationship with three people. One of them was Roy, who was standing right in front of me. So, did "working under a junior" mean Roy was being promoted to a rank above mine?
When I checked the new team list, there was no such information. I had seen Roy’s name and confirmed he was still a regular soldier. Or was there something I had missed?
"Is Alt coming in as a Team Leader?"
"No... No, he's not."
One of the three people who called me "senior." Alt—a former Bioroid, current Kaijin, and someone who hadn't even entered Korea yet—was the very first person to call me that.
I wondered if Alt, who was scheduled to join Team 3 soon, was coming in at a higher rank, but Roy reacted as if he’d made a mistake and tried to end the conversation right there.
"What is it? If you're going to bring it up, explain yourself."
"It's nothing. Really, it's nothing. I should probably get to work."
Scratching his head, Roy hurriedly made his escape. Watching his retreating back, I replayed his words in my mind.
Among the people Roy might call my "junior," there was one more besides himself and Alt. There was A.T., the last Bioroid I had met and for whom I had served as a lifestyle instructor. However, it had already been twenty years since I last saw her.
The last I’d heard of her was that she had passed her final tests after returning, become a Kaijin, and then transferred to a different fleet.
Since she’d become a Kaijin, her appearance would have changed, so I had no idea what she looked like now. More than anything, it had been over twenty years; I hadn't thought about her in a very long time until just now.
"What was he trying to say? Now I'm just curious."
I went through Roy's words one by one, but I couldn't make them fit. The pieces simply didn't form a logical structure, and forcing them together only resulted in nonsense.
Roy was always saying random things anyway, so I dismissed it as another one of his baseless ramblings. I stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.
When I stepped out onto the third floor, the sight of the new office greeted me. Unlike the previous headquarters, this was a new building, so everything was clean and well-organized.
On one side, I saw the door to the locker room for changing into suits. Taking in the overall layout, I made my way toward Luche’s office.
In the end, I hadn't figured out exactly what to say or how to say it. I decided I would just tell her the truth and knocked on the door.
"Come in," I heard Luche’s voice from inside. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Luche was sitting at her desk, looking at her computer. The moment the door opened, our eyes met. Her eyes widened, and she immediately stood up. Thinking she might throw something at me, I flinched and took a step back.
"What? Why are you at work?"
She seemed surprised to see me suddenly show up after she’d ordered me to take a full rest. I told myself I couldn't let her rattle me before I’d even started the conversation I came for, so I tried to maintain as calm a demeanor as possible.
"I just wanted to see the new headquarters. Are you busy?"
"No. Not particularly. But you should be resting at home."
"It's already been a week since I got back to Korea. I was getting restless just sitting around."
I hadn't rested for a single day during that week, but I didn't have the guts to say, "I've been seeing my girlfriends for the past seven days," so I acted as if I’d had more than enough leisure time.
Speaking in our usual manner, I walked into Luche’s office and sat on the sofa. After checking her computer for a moment, Luche came over and sat on the sofa opposite me.
"Have you looked around the headquarters?"
"No. I ran into Theo, Team Leader Angelica, and Roy outside, and came straight here."
Perhaps my sudden visit was quite flustered her, as Luche couldn't maintain eye contact. Her restless hands opened the small refrigerator beside her. She pulled out a drink and set it in front of me. I said, "Thank you," and opened it to take a sip.
"The building is nice. Isn't it a bit too remote, though?"
"The consensus was that instead of hiding in the city again, we should move somewhere secluded to avoid prying eyes. This recent incident caused such a stir that moving around in the city would draw too much attention."
When we moved the previous headquarters, we could stay in the city because there was almost no public interest. However, after the terror incident, interest in Spacetro had spiked, so they seemingly decided to avoid setting up shop in the middle of the city.
Understanding the reason for the remote location, I nodded, my wandering gaze drifting toward the window. A vast natural landscape stretched out outside. As I took in the view, I felt Luche staring intently at me.
Realizing it was finally time to bring that up, I felt a cold sweat break out on my back.
"Everyone looks busy. I guess it'll be a while before the construction is fully finished?"
I couldn't bring myself to start the real conversation out of sheer nerves, so I brought up another topic about the headquarters. Luche looked momentarily stunned when I asked the question just as she was about to say something herself.
"Yeah. Most of it is done, but there's still a lot left to do."
Then, a heavy silence settled over the office. I knew I had to say it. The expression Luche had worn when I first told her the truth wouldn't leave my mind.
It seemed Luche was also finding it difficult to bring up the topic of my girlfriends, as she was gauging my reaction. We both sat there, wondering how to start.
The silence stretched on. Deciding that I couldn't let this awkward atmosphere continue any longer, I resolved to just spit it out, come what may.
"I haven't heard anything yet... do you know when the duels will resume?"
"There haven't been any directives regarding the duels yet. It seems they're still holding internal meetings, so I expect we'll hear something soon."
The reason I hadn't received any orders wasn't just because I was on leave; it was because the higher-ups hadn't made a definitive decision yet.
"...What should I do?"
The probability of the team in charge changing when the duels resumed was very low. Team 3 would fight Team Hunter Killer again, and I intended to give it my all if we fought. I knew I wouldn't be able to beat my girlfriends anyway.
However, Luche, as the Team Leader, might feel differently. That was why I brought up the duels first. At my question of what I should do, Luche let out a long sigh.
"First, let me ask. Since when?"
Luche was asking when I had started a romantic relationship with Team Hunter Killer. Even though I was technically reporting on the enemy, it felt strange, like I was telling Luche about my private dating life.
"The first one I met was Red. It was a little less than two months after I started the surveillance."
"That was right when I was constantly calling you to check in on the surveillance, wasn't it?"
"It was after your calls started to quiet down..."
Luche, who remembered the situation perfectly from when I first met Yubin, sighed again upon hearing that things had happened after her check-in calls became less frequent.
With her sighing so much, I felt like all I’d heard since entering the office was the sound of her exhaling in frustration.
"And you're seeing all of them now?"
"Yes."
"Did you meet them after coming to Seoul?"
"They were all at my house the day I returned. So..."
I then told Luche what had happened over the past week—who I had met, what we talked about, and what I planned to do moving forward.
Of course, I didn't mention Hayoung and Su-ah bringing up the idea of defecting, nor did I mention that I’d had sex with everyone. The former was for their safety, and the latter was because there was no need to go into such detail.
"Why didn't you report it?"
"At first, I wanted to find information that was actually worth reporting."
"And after that?"
I was at a loss for words. I had resolved to do my best for my girlfriends, but I couldn't exactly say to my boss, "My girlfriends' safety is more important to me than Spacetro's work."
"If you don't want to say, fine. It's your love life."
"Was it... okay that I didn't say anything?"
Since I was seeing the enemy, I knew it was something I had to disclose eventually. I had just been procrastinating, trying to figure out the best way to report it without causing trouble.
Hearing her say it was fine made me think I might escape punishment. But the moment those words left my mouth, Luche’s eyes sharpened, and she glared at me.
"Sure. If you had just gotten involved and were only dating, it might have been fine. It's not like people haven't fallen for each other during invasions before. But."
Luche stopped mid-sentence, still glaring. I wanted to look away, but I felt like if I did, she would tear me to shreds. So, I stood my ground and met her piercing gaze.
"Your assignment was surveillance. I'll give you a pass on Blue, Yellow, and Green since they were outside your scope. But you were specifically assigned to monitor Red and Pink. Shouldn't you have reported those developments as they happened?"
It was only after hearing Luche’s rapid-fire scolding that I finally lost the ability to look her in the eye. As I looked down and listened to her, I began to hear a hint of sorrow in her voice.
I could always feel that Luche trusted me to some extent as her subordinate.
Because we spoke comfortably without strictly observing formalities, I often forgot, but that very lack of formality was proof of her trust.
And though no harm had come to the mission I was entrusted with, the fact that I hadn't reported the progress must have been a huge disappointment to her.
As a soldier and a subordinate, I knew I was in the wrong. Even so, the fact that my girlfriends were precious to me hadn't changed. Even if it disappointed Luche further, I was going to tell the truth about everything today.
However, seeing Luche huffing in anger, I felt too guilty to speak immediately. As I watched her get angry with a trembling voice, a certain image from the past flickered in my mind.
She had been shorter than Luche, with a different hair color and a slightly different face. But the vibe was identical.
I remembered a girl I used to bicker with constantly while I was on probation, and the thoughts triggered by Roy’s words earlier began to click into place.
The scattered thoughts in my head aligned like puzzle pieces, even as another part of me tried to deny it. I told myself it made no sense.
But the puzzle was completing itself much faster than my denial could keep up. The moment I looked at Luche, I spoke reflexively.
"Of all people, why would you not report properly to me—"
"A.T.?"
My voice was small, a stark contrast to Luche’s shouting, but that one name was enough to make her stop dead.
Working under a former junior. My former juniors were Alt, Roy, and A.T. Only three. And Alt and Roy didn't fit.
The person at headquarters who was from a later class but held a higher rank was Luche.
So, Luche was A.T.? I had assumed that couldn't be the case.
The biggest reason was the amount of time I’d spent under Luche. Ten years.
A whole ten years. If Luche really was A.T., it meant I had been her subordinate for a decade without ever realizing her identity.
Furthermore, it meant Luche hadn't revealed her identity to me for over ten years, which also didn't make sense... Anyway, right now, I was being scolded by Luche for my own mistake.
It has to be her. No, it can't be.
The two thoughts crossed paths, but this wasn't the time for that discussion.
"Ah. I'm sorry. That just slipped out..."
"...!"
The moment I apologized, intending to listen to the rest of what she had to say, Luche bolted out of the office with a loud clatter.
"Huh?"
Seeing Luche sprint out of the office, I was certain. There was no logical reason.
It was just that images of Luche from the past flashed through my mind, along with countless events that had happened over the years.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
If I had to give a reason, it was 'intuition,' and the scream Luche let out from outside confirmed my suspicion once and for all.
Luche was A.T.
"Aaaaahhhh!!!"
And I, too, screamed right then and there.