Chapter 225: Breakthrough (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 225: Breakthrough (1)
There are days when you just don't want to think about anything. But as life rarely goes as planned, the world refused to give me even a moment to just zone out.
I told myself several times that I needed to get moving, but my backside showed no sign of leaving the chair.
My hand was idly scrolling the mouse, and my gaze was fixed on empty space rather than the monitor.
"Hey."
I glanced up at Theo, who was calling me with a sigh. Already fully prepared to leave, he was staring intently at me, seeing as I showed no intention of moving.
"Aren't you getting up?"
"I should."
Even though we had important business ahead, I couldn't find any motivation. Part of it was the lack of progress in finding Gainsborough's whereabouts, but my drive had plummeted even further after checking the recent schedule.
"You're the one who said we should go as soon as visitations were allowed."
"I know. We have to go."
Let me correct myself. It wasn't just the schedule that killed my motivation. It was the fact that the schedule was going to interfere with the investigation.
Twice a year, Spacetro conducts training to evaluate combat capabilities. There was a training session in the summer, which was when I coincidentally ran into my girlfriends who happened to be vacationing in the same area.
Now that January had passed and the cold winds were dying down in early February, another training schedule had been set. Team 3 had gone through a major incident, and the world was in an uproar for various reasons, but that didn't mean we were exempt from training.
"Do you think he'll be able to return to duty before February?"
"Isn't it impossible?"
Training was all well and good, but Team 3 currently lacked a proper combat structure. While Luche was in command, we needed someone to firmly establish a system among the soldiers.
The team ran fine under Luche's direct command, but the moment her leadership was absent, everything became disorganized. Since the team hadn't been together long, their teamwork was still lacking.
The problem was that there was no one in the team right now capable of anchoring that teamwork.
Kruger was the only one who had filled that role, and his help was desperately needed to improve our cohesion. However, since Kruger had only recently woken up in his hospital bed, the chances of him returning before training were slim to none.
Evaluations are cold and heartless. The fact that Team 3 had been through a lot wouldn't be factored into the combat training assessment. I was worried about whether we could even get a decent evaluation with the team in its current state.
Team 3 had always achieved high marks in training until now. If we failed to perform well even there, we would lose our identity entirely.
With so much already on my plate, this added worry made it impossible to find any enthusiasm.
"Let's just go for now."
Sitting here staring at the ceiling wasn't going to solve anything. I packed my laptop and stood up to go see Kruger.
"Senior! You're late."
When I stepped outside after packing my things and putting on my coat, Alt and Roy were already waiting, their eyes sharp.
"Stop squawking."
I lightly brushed off their complaints and climbed into the car provided by Headquarters. Theo took the driver's seat, and I sat in the passenger seat. Alt and Roy naturally took the back, and the car, filled only with men, headed toward the hospital.
Perhaps because I had been surrounded by women for so long, the all-male atmosphere felt unfamiliar, yet at the same time, it offered a different kind of comfort compared to being with my girlfriends.
"Don't cause a scene when we get to the hospital, you two."
Alt and Roy, who were naturally energetic, had been raising their voices in the back since we started. I warned them because I expected them to do something conspicuous at the hospital, but they weren't really listening.
"Still, I'm glad Kruger woke up. I wondered if he'd even wake up before the invasion of Earth was over."
"Tell me about it. When they said visitations were banned, I thought something might be wrong, but the ban was lifted pretty quickly."
Theo and I, who had been with Kruger for a long time, had viewed his recovery as a very distant prospect. Although there was nothing physically wrong with him, there was no telling when he would wake up.
Spacetro's technology is incredible, but anything related to the brain remains shrouded in mystery. This is true not just for Spacetro, but for every civilization in the universe.
Even the scientists who create Bioroids say there is much they cannot understand during the process of developing a Bioroid's brain.
Fortunately, Kruger had woken up, and the thought of seeing him conscious after so long gave me a strange sense of anticipation. It had been a while since Theo and I reunited, but it had been ages since Kruger and Theo met, and even longer since the three of us were together.
We had all shared the responsibility of looking after Alt and Roy, but this was the first time all five of us would be together, which added to the excitement.
"I wonder what he'll say when he sees Alt?"
"Won't he start by asking why he tanned himself like that?"
The Alt I knew was originally a young man with blond hair and fair skin. When we reunited, he had tanned his skin to a deep bronze, and everyone who saw him after the long hiatus reacted with, "Why did you tan like that?"
When I later asked him why he did it, I got the very simple answer: "Because it makes me look tough." Alt, who loved experiencing different cultures, mentioned he had become obsessed with anime in Japan. I suspected one of the characters he saw there had skin like that, which prompted the change.
"100%."
We shared idle conversation, speculating on Kruger's reaction. The car didn't stop until we reached the hospital.
The hospital was bustling with people coming and going. Having run into Silver from Team Special Force here before, I stayed alert, wondering if she might be around every time I visited. Today was no different; I scanned the surroundings for any sign of Silver as we headed to the hospital room.
When we opened the door and entered, Kruger, who was sitting up in bed reading a book, looked up at the sound. Our eyes met.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm dying to move around."
Sitting there without an oxygen mask or an IV, Kruger looked like he had lost some weight compared to when he was active, but overall, he looked very healthy.
"You look like you're doing alright."
"Senior!"
Alt, who was behind me, greeted Kruger loudly, and Kruger's brow furrowed the moment he saw him.
"Why is he so tanned?"
When the exact reaction we expected came out, Theo and I let out small chuckles. After a brief cough, I sat in the chair next to the bed.
"Here's your stuff for now."
"Thanks."
I handed him a shopping bag containing his smartphone and a few other items. After he took them and set them aside, the next thing I handed him was a tablet.
When Kruger had contacted us after waking up, he had requested his belongings and a file summarizing the recent situation if we came to visit.
Since I had been organizing a lot of information during my recent investigations, I had prepared the data so he could grasp the situation immediately. Kruger silently scrolled through the content on the tablet.
"Team Guerrilla has vanished since the terror incident, signals are being detected at the radio base, and there's even an embezzlement case at the Earth Defense Union... A lot has happened while I was asleep."
"Because of all that, we haven't even been able to have a proper duel. It's been total chaos."
Except for the radio signal detection, everything else was something I had been looking into. I complained as if venting all the fatigue I had felt.
"Everyone's been working hard. I guess that means Alt hasn't had his debut match yet?"
"He didn't participate in the last duel at all. Teamwork was already a mess, and I thought adding Alt into the mix would just complicate things further."
I was the one who had suggested not putting Alt into the duel immediately. While teamwork was the main issue, I used the excuse that he hadn't been in Korea for very long.
Everyone knew it was a teamwork issue, but they accepted my reasoning. Since the last duel didn't proceed properly anyway due to the crowds, Alt hadn't participated.
Since it was a decision made by the team leader, Alt had accepted it humbly, though he was still frustrated about not being able to join a duel yet.
"In the old days, he would've thrown a fit to fight."
"Well, I've learned a bit of professionalism myself."
Alt was one of the most bellicose people I knew. It was only natural for him to be frustrated at being kept from fighting. As Kruger said, if it had been the immature Alt of the past, he definitely would have ignored orders and jumped into the duel anyway.
"Oh, by the way, did you guys hire a caregiver for me?"
Alt and Roy, who didn't know much about his hospitalization, didn't even understand the context, but Theo and I, who knew the situation to some extent, tilted our heads at the mention of a caregiver.
"No. Was there a caregiver?"
"Uh... no. Never mind. I was just wondering."
"The hospital staff probably handled the cleaning and stuff."
Seeing him dodge the question, I wondered if he had felt something was off because the room was being kept tidy.
Kruger didn't say anything more about the caregiver. When a silence fell over the room, Kruger turned his attention to the laptop I had brought.
"What's the laptop for?"
One might think I was just carrying it, but Kruger, knowing I didn't usually lug things around, seemed to instinctively sense that I had a purpose for bringing it.
"I have a favor to ask."
I turned on the laptop, which I never would have brought if I were just here for a social visit. I raised the over-bed table and placed the laptop on it.
"Can you crack the encryption on this?"
It was the encrypted file related to Gainsborough.
In the past, Kruger and I had created a hacking tool to dig into the data of the suits we used. I did most of the programming, but Kruger was involved because he was far superior to me when it came to encrypting or decrypting files.
Since Theo was also seeing the encrypted data for the first time, he looked at the laptop with Kruger before looking up at me.
"Is this what you found using that hacking tool?"
At the mention of the hacking tool, Kruger, who had been staring at the laptop, also looked up. Both of their gazes were fixed on me.
"Hacking tool? What are you talking about?"
"The one you two made back in the day. He asked me to find it for him a while ago."
Was it a mistake to show this in front of Theo, who had helped me find the tool? Having grasped the general process, Kruger looked back and forth between me and the monitor, then checked the tablet I had given him again.
He did this a few times.
"Hey."
His voice, calling me calmly, sent a cold sweat down my spine.
"You've gone and done it, haven't you?"
It was too late to play dumb; Kruger and I had been through too much together. Of course, the one wearing an exhausted expression wasn't the one asking the question, but Theo, who had realized that something extraordinary was brewing once again.
"It's not exactly 'doing it'... should I say I'm just planning something?"
Even though I knew it wouldn't work, I habitually tried to gloss over it. Theo and Kruger sighed simultaneously, as if they had coordinated it.
"This."
He pointed at the laptop.
"And this."
He pointed at the tablet.
"They're related, aren't they?"
The timing of me bringing it was perfect, but seeing Kruger immediately deduce that the situations were linked made me realize I really couldn't hide anything from this guy.
"Alt. Roy."
"Yeah?"
"Could you guys step out for a moment?"
Alt and Roy, who had been silently reading the room, seemed to realize this wasn't something they could get involved in. They didn't argue and left the room after glancing at us.
I felt bad for excluding them after we all came together, but Alt and Roy had never handled data-related work, and I couldn't drag them into something that didn't immediately concern them.
Theo, Kruger, and me.
Silence filled the room now that only the three of us remained. The two of them waited for me to speak.
Could I explain the current situation to them while keeping as much of the truth hidden as possible?