Chapter 26: Pink, But Not a Slut (12)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 26: Pink, But Not a Slut (12)
Words exert a profound influence on people. Even after hearing ninety-nine insults, a single sincere compliment can lift one's spirits; conversely, even after ninety-nine compliments, a single mindless slur can leave a lasting wound.
Baseless vitriol born of envy, jealousy, and hatred leaves scars on the human heart that can never be washed away. Words spoken carelessly by one person often become a devastating blow to another.
Yura, who had been sobbing sorrowfully for a long while, remained silent even after her tears subsided. Since it wasn't a situation conducive to conversation, I simply sat beside her and waited in silence.
Having seen the trust she once built shattered, Yura was likely terrified that the new trust she was building with me would vanish as well. Perhaps she didn't even place that much weight on our bond. However, she didn't know how to fill the void in her heart once she had lost everything and had nowhere left to go.
That was why she held onto me as I prepared to leave. She reached out with a weak, trembling hand that lacked any shred of certainty.
In truth, he might loathe Superhumans too. She was probably thinking something like that right now.
Yura couldn't bring herself to say a word, fearing that the reality she had struggled to create would crumble the moment she spoke. If this newly formed friendship with me was actually just a dream or a delusion, then all she had left was the sense of betrayal from the people at the cafe and her own wounded heart.
I continued to hold the hand she hadn't let go of even while crying, and I could feel it trembling. She bit her lower lip hard, then finally lifted her head from the floor to look at me and forced a smile.
"Sorry. For grabbing you so suddenly."
Her expression, smiling as she usually did, only looked more tragic. I couldn't know everything she was thinking. What was going through Yura’s mind right now?
"I'm okay now. You'll miss the last train."
"Are you really okay?"
At my low-voiced question, Yura’s eyes wavered, and she couldn't meet my gaze. She seemed to be thinking incessantly, unable to find any certainty within herself.
"…No. I’m not okay."
Seeing Yura admit she wasn't okay while trying to force a smile actually made me feel relieved. There was no need for her to act tough. It was better for her to say it hurts when it hurts, and that it’s hard when it’s hard. Because, to me, she looked both pained and exhausted.
Much calmer than when she was sobbing, she turned her head with a stiff expression toward the window where rain was still falling. Her hollow reflection stared back from the glass.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Perhaps it was easier for her to turn the blame on herself. To believe that other people were blameless and without fault. It might be better to think that her actions had inconvenienced others and that everyone was just being considerate by not saying anything to her face, rather than accepting that she was being shunned and denied simply for being a Superhuman.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
But I didn't want to let her think that way. At the very least, during the month or so I had watched her closely, she hadn't done a single thing wrong. On the contrary, she deserved nothing but praise for working hard, teaching the new guy well, and brightening the atmosphere.
As someone who had been right there beside her, I didn't want to let her negate her own actions. It might have been a selfish move on my part, but this was one area where I couldn't just "be considerate" and let it slide.
"Who told you that you did something wrong? I certainly don't see it. I don't know what you could have possibly done wrong. If anything, you haven't received nearly enough credit for how well you've done."
She had been staring out the window, but now a faint smile touched her lips as she turned back to me.
"Really?"
Though her mouth was smiling, a single tear escaped her eye. I pulled a tissue from the box on the table and wiped it away.
"Really. Who was the one who taught me the ropes? Who was the one who cleaned up after my mistakes? And who was the one who drove off the difficult customers?"
Even as I spoke and looked back on the time we spent together, I couldn't find a single thing she had done wrong.
"The bad ones are those women who talk trash behind people's backs. You aren't bad at all."
"Yeah…"
Sniffling, she took the tissue from my hand to wipe her eyes. Without realizing it, I squeezed the hand I was holding a little tighter.
"I'm sorry. For keeping on crying."
"It's fine. Cry as much as you want and get it all out."
To be honest, I didn't like that Yura was shedding tears over women who insulted her. Those people weren't worth the grief. But that was just my opinion; Yura’s heart was different.
For six months, or perhaps longer, she believed her colleagues at the part-time job had accepted her, but they hadn't. To hear the people she trusted badmouthing her the moment she was gone—who could truly understand that sorrow?
"I'm sorry…"
Suddenly, I felt a lump in my throat, and I gripped the hand she was using to wipe her tears.
"Don't apologize. Did you do something wrong to me?"
Her wet eyes widened as she looked at me, her voice trembling.
"I thought I might be a nuisance… and if I didn't apologize for doing something wrong again, you might hate me…"
Her voice was shaking, and tears were streaming down her face. As I thought, Yura was terrified of me disappearing too. She felt like everything she was doing right now was a mistake, and she feared I might turn my back on her because of it.
The joyful side of Yura I saw while drinking together today was a bit different from her usual bubbly self. Usually, she was the one creating a fun and energetic atmosphere, but while we were drinking, it felt like she was truly enjoying the pleasant mood herself.
I liked seeing that. Seeing someone bright and positive gives you strength, and that person's radiant image lingers in your mind. That version of Yura, enjoying herself more than usual, had been etched into my memory, and I thought it would be nice to see it more often.
But when a bright and active person's heart breaks, they become incredibly fragile. I couldn't force her to always be strong and full of life. Everyone has moments when they become weak.
In that case, in this moment where her strong heart had crumbled and left her vulnerable, who could Yura lean on?
"I don't find you a nuisance, and I don't hate you. So don't apologize to me. You haven't done a single thing wrong."
When we met as enemies, I felt she was simply strong. When I got closer to her for surveillance, I felt she was flawless. But she was in a more precarious state than anyone. Yubin was like that, and now Yura was too.
I felt a surge of anger toward the Earth Defense Union. What on earth were they doing while these women were becoming this fragile?
When I spoke to Yura in a firm voice, she continued to cry until her sorrow finally exploded into a loud wail.
"I gave up so much! I didn't do the things I wanted to do and worked so hard to endure just to be accepted by people! Now I don't know… how much more I have to do for people to like me. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know anything anymore…!"
Slowly, Yura began to tell me her story. From the moment her transformation into a Superhuman first appeared, to stories about her parents and her friends. And everything from when she first came to the cafe until today.
For her, the cafe was the first place in her life that had accepted her. In a life where being a Superhuman meant being shunned as a matter of course, they hadn't turned her away. For someone who had never even had the chance to try and be recognized as a person, she finally had an opportunity to work for it, and she worked harder than anyone.
And she believed. She believed that her efforts to fight to protect the Earth while receiving a wage that barely covered her living expenses, and her efforts to be recognized not as the Superhuman "Pink" but as the human "Kwon Yura," would one day be acknowledged by people.
But reality had refused to accept her.
"It's okay. You're doing great."
As someone who fought against the Superhuman Pink and worked alongside the human Kwon Yura, I could feel how hard she had tried more than anyone else. I acknowledged her. She was stronger, more fierce, and worked harder than anyone.
If the world refused to acknowledge someone who had made such a desperate effort that she was now weeping uncontrollably upon being rejected, then it was definitely the world that was wrong.
To me, saying a few words to validate her efforts was nothing. I was simply saying what I felt. But for Yura, who was being recognized for her hard work for the first time in her life, it was everything.
She held my hand and wept uncontrollably again. These were different from before; they weren't tears of sorrow from being shunned by those she trusted, but tears shed over the fact that her long-standing efforts had finally been acknowledged.
I didn't know if that emotion was joy or the hollow realization that such words were actually so simple to hear. All I could feel was that my words had reached her.
I waited again until she calmed down. After crying for a long time, she looked completely drained, as if all her energy had vanished. I brushed aside her damp bangs.
"Go and wash up. How long are you going to stay soaked like that?"
She simply nodded without a word but remained sitting still on the sofa.
"I'll stay with you tonight."
"…Huh?!"
Yura, who had been sitting listlessly, snapped her head up in shock at my words. She stared at me with wide, rabbit-like eyes. Fearing she was getting the wrong idea, I gave her a light flick on the forehead.
"Don't get any weird ideas."
"Then… staying together means…?"
"Are you confident you won't be anxious if I go home?"
She started to say something but then pressed her lips shut, seemingly losing her confidence.
"See? If you're that anxious, I'll stay until tomorrow evening, so stop imagining things and go wash up."
"Okay."
Embarrassed by her misunderstanding, she stood up from the sofa with a flushed face.
She went into the master bedroom to grab a change of clothes, glanced back at me sitting in the living room, and then quickly ducked into the bathroom. I turned my gaze back to the rain falling outside the window.
"The last train is gone anyway."
It was a distance I could easily cover by taxi, but I was too worried to leave her like this. Even though I was supposed to be on a surveillance mission, I felt like I was learning more about her psychological weaknesses than her physical ones.
As my mind gradually grew more analytical, I began to piece together everything I had heard from Yura.
I knew the atmosphere within the Earth Defense Union was bad, but initially, I thought it was just due to simple differences in personal opinions.
However, the Earth Defense Union was only paying the Superhumans an amount that made it difficult to maintain a basic livelihood. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the internal atmosphere was warping because of that.
There might be people in the Earth Defense Union who truly fought to protect the Earth. But there is a limit to how much one can give their all and work hard without proper compensation.
Spacetro’s peaceful invasion method didn't oppress them, and as the invasion itself became prolonged, many people had stopped feeling anxious about it.
In that situation, the demand for continued effort without just compensation was being forced upon them, and I concluded that this was the factor disrupting their internal morale.
"I'll need to look into the Superhumans."
Until now, my investigation into Superhumans had only focused on their abilities and technology as enemies. But through Yura, I realized that the public perception of Superhumans hadn't changed much even now, twenty years after they first appeared.
There had to be a clear reason for that. Public anger and hatred usually manifest when a specific individual causes a negative social issue.
It seemed like a good idea to use this opportunity to investigate issues related to Superhumans. It wasn't intentional, but I had found something worth reporting.
I was so busy organizing my thoughts that I didn't even realize how much time had passed until the sound of the bathroom door opening made me turn my head. Yura had finished washing and changed into pajamas, her hair wrapped in a towel.
"You're pretty."
"Huh?"
I was the one surprised by how flustered she looked at my offhand comment. She must have been so out of it that she didn't even remember how she usually reacted.
"Why are you so surprised? You're the one who usually asks me if you're pretty every single day."
"Ah! Right. That's right. I am pretty."
She nodded with a red face, went into the bedroom, and then poked only her head back out into the living room.
"You should wash up too."
"I don't have a change of clothes, so why bother?"
I'd just have to put my rain-soaked clothes back on anyway, so it seemed better not to wash at all.
"I'll see if I have any oversized clothes."
"Do you really think your clothes would fit me just because they're 'oversized'?"
"Just wash up anyway! You can't sleep in those clothes."
I was startled by her sudden shouting. I nodded reflexively, and Yura went back into the bedroom, saying she was really going to find something.
Since I couldn't sleep in rain-soaked clothes as she said, I decided to wash up first. I probably wouldn't find anything that fit, but I'd worry about that when the time came.