Chapter 35: Safety Zone (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 35: Safety Zone (5)
When people converse, they naturally look into each other's eyes. Even if they don't, they remain conscious of the face, the part of the body most frequently observed during a conversation.
Because of this, unless a person has some other glaringly obvious physical trait, people tend to remember others by their facial features.
The face is the focal point of visual attention the moment two people meet; even a tiny blemish is quickly noticed by someone meeting you for the first time.
“…….”
However, it isn't easy to bring up a facial injury when it's out of the ordinary. Typical injuries include things like a small scratch or, in a man's case, a nick from shaving. But what constitutes an atypical injury? Something like a bruise that clearly looks like it has a story behind it.
A Superhuman’s recovery speed is faster than an ordinary person can even imagine. For Green, a Superhuman, to have a visible bruise on her face meant the injury had occurred very recently.
And I couldn't bring myself to ask about the bruise on her face.
Perhaps it was because I had just finished investigating Superhumans before coming here. The thought that something terrible I couldn't even fathom might have happened to her made it impossible to open my mouth.
Green and I are in a hostile relationship. However, even if we are enemies, I hold no ill will toward her. We are merely opponents clashing over the matter of invasion; the feelings and thoughts I have for her are no different from those I have for any other person.
“It’s cool today, isn't it?”
At her soft voice, I tried to shift my gaze from where it had been blankly fixed on a tree. Fearing I might look at her face, I quickly looked back at the tree.
“It is.”
After giving a brief reply, I agonized over what to say next. I wasn't in a position where I had to keep the conversation going, but I felt that if I didn't say something, I would end up blurting out a question about her face.
“Do you come to the park often?”
“Yes. I come here whenever I have nothing else to do.”
Then, I remembered what Yubin had told me a few days ago—that Green had recently been reluctant to go home.
She doesn't want to go home, and there’s a bruise on her face. As these dark thoughts overlapped, a grim picture I didn't want to imagine began to form in my mind. I shook my head to dispel the thoughts.
Green was staring at me as I sat there shaking my head, and I could feel her gaze on me.
“Are you alright?”
Was she worried that I was sick? At her concerned voice, I finally turned my head. My eyes met her green pupils, which looked like a lush forest, and then my gaze drifted to her cheek. The blue bruise was vivid.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just had something on my mind.”
“Ah.”
For some reason, she seemed to be walking on eggshells around me. She gave a short reply and turned her gaze back to the trees. It was only natural for her to find this strange. A person she had briefly brushed past the other day remembered her, and now, by chance, they were meeting again and sharing a conversation.
Honestly, it wouldn't have been strange if she thought I was a suspicious person and left immediately.
I found myself blankly staring at her profile as she gazed at the trees. Regardless of the circumstances, someone who was practically a stranger bringing up a facial injury would be unpleasant, so I decided not to think about the bruise anymore.
“I work near here.”
Once I pushed the thought of the bruise aside, I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I just let whatever came to mind spill out. Was I worried about being seen as a suspicious person? I wasn't even sure why I said it.
“Do you work at a company?”
“Yes. Just a small firm.”
The scale of it is actually enormous, but there was no need to mention Spacetro. Since I was just rambling, I didn't pay much attention to what I was saying.
“Overtime?”
“Yes. I’m on overtime, but I stepped out for a moment.”
Right. A person working at a nearby company stepping out briefly during overtime was the most mundane answer possible.
“You work even on the weekends?”
“Ah… there isn't much of a boundary between weekdays and weekends for me.”
In fact, I do less work on weekdays and cram it all into the weekends. If you could call it "work," my job two days ago involved getting blasted away by Green’s spear.
“That sounds tough.”
“No, the people at work are good people, so it’s fine.”
Though my job involves physical pain, I believe there are many good people at my workplace, Spacetro. Luche cries at the drop of a hat and is particularly cranky with me, but I can feel that she cares for me and our colleagues. I can also tell that the Branch Manager looks out for his subordinates.
“Work, huh…”
She trailed off as she spoke the word. From what I heard from Yubin and Yura, the atmosphere at her workplace, the Earth Defense Union, had been improving lately—but that probably only applied to those two.
The reason I could predict this was that whenever Yubin or Yura talked about Hunter Killer, they only talked about each other. It wasn't that they never mentioned other team members, but it was mostly Yubin saying things like how someone was doing this or that today.
Of course, since they didn't use specific names and I didn't know their real identities, I couldn't distinguish who was who, but it was certain that those mentions were far less frequent than when they talked about chatting with Yura.
“Do you work?”
“Yes. I work at a small company, too.”
This moment is always the most nerve-wracking. Asking a question while pretending not to know the answer, even though I already have a good idea of what she does. I have no confidence in my acting, so I find myself getting tense, worried I might slip up and get caught.
“I’ve been at my job for three years, but I’m still a bit awkward with the people there.”
Green had made her debut as a member of Hunter Killer a few months before Red. There wasn't a huge gap in time, but I clearly remembered that Green had arrived a bit earlier.
“Is there something uncomfortable about it?”
“I’m the type who worries too much about what others think. And the people at work don't exactly have the most welcoming personalities…”
Green suddenly flinched at her own words. She looked at me, waved her hands dismissively, and spoke hurriedly.
“But they aren't bad people! They’re all kind. It might just be me failing to get close to them…”
Worried that her words might make her teammates look bad to a complete stranger, she forced a smile. I simply nodded without a word.
“I’ve been like this since I was young, so I’ve never been good at making friends.”
Yura had described Green as being a bit spacey, but to me, she seemed like someone with a lot on her mind. Because she overthinks when dealing with others, her reactions are delayed, which likely leads people to perceive her as spacey.
And she seemed like the type to dwell on the fact that her reactions were slow because she was thinking. That was just my take, of course; there was a higher probability that Yura’s assessment of her being "spacey" was more accurate, given she had known her much longer.
However, seeing her sitting here lost in thought, my judgment that she was a deep thinker didn't seem entirely wrong either.
“Why don't you try having some personal conversations?”
“Personal conversations… like what?”
I had suggested personal conversations, but I hadn't expected her to ask for examples, so I needed a moment to think. Since I’m not the type to worry about what others think, I tried to imagine what kind of personal topics people like that might discuss.
I didn't know much about Green, so I couldn't just suggest anything recklessly.
“Maybe something that happened yesterday?”
“Every day is pretty much the same.”
There are indeed people whose lives follow the exact same pattern every day.
“Then how about asking them if anything happened to them?”
This seemed to give her some food for thought, as Green fell into a brief silence.
“Come to think of it, two people at work have become much closer recently.”
I wondered if she was about to reveal something I didn't know about Hunter Killer, but it turned out to be the very thing I knew all too well: that Yubin and Yura had gotten close lately.
To think the topics were so limited. I couldn't even imagine what the atmosphere in Hunter Killer had been like before.
“One of the older girls keeps asking the other if she has a boyfriend.”
“!!”
I hadn't eaten or drunk anything, yet I felt like something was stuck in my throat. I cleared my throat to hide my fluster and continued listening to Green. Honestly, I couldn't help but be concerned when I was being talked about in my absence.
“But, I think that older girl recently got a boyfriend too.”
“Does she seem different than usual?”
“A lot… I guess? She works somewhere else too, and she seems much brighter when she talks about that place.”
That Yura. Was she really that happy about becoming friends with me?
No, looking at her during her part-time job today, it seemed she had already decided in her heart that I was her boyfriend, not just a friend. This makes it even harder for me to give her an answer….
“Watching them makes me want to join in, but I don't have anything to say about things like that.”
“Listening is important too. For every person who speaks, there needs to be someone to listen.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. If you just listen well, they’ll probably get excited and keep talking.”
I could say this with confidence because I knew Yubin and Yura. Both had bright personalities, and Yura in particular loved to talk so much that she’d get excited and keep going if you just gave her a little encouragement. It would be a relief if she just didn't go around declaring me her boyfriend.
“When they talk about something, just chime in and react. As you do that, more topics might come up, and the other person might have more to say.”
“Yes. I’ll try that next time.”
Was she happy at the thought of being able to talk with the two who had grown closer? Green smiled. She looked much better than when she had that vacant, lost-in-thought expression, so a smile formed on my lips as well.
“Ah, I haven't even introduced myself properly. I’m Kang Eunha.”
“I’m A.”
“A?”
When Green introduced herself first, I blurted out my name without thinking. She tilted her head at the unfamiliar name.
“I lived abroad for a while.”
One thing I learned from meeting Yubin and Yura is that when people question a strange name, telling them you lived abroad makes them accept it immediately. How should I put it? It’s like a cheat key that resolves any doubt instantly.
“Wow! You’re the first person I’ve met who lived abroad.”
“Really? If you actually see me, there’s nothing particularly special about it.”
It’s a bit awkward to say it myself, but I’m a very ordinary person. Even if I lived abroad, I have the face of an East Asian from Earth, so I don't look like a foreigner. To Koreans, my name is just a bit unusual. As proof, Green didn't have much of a reaction when I said there was nothing special about me.
As we chatted and introduced ourselves, I felt time slipping away. I checked my watch and saw that the last train was approaching.
“I should get going now.”
When I stood up and offered my farewell, Green looked at me with a smile and gave a slight bow.
“Yes. Thank you for talking with me today. I hope we can meet again.”
“My workplace is nearby, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other as we come and go.”
I didn't make a firm promise to meet, but we bid each other farewell with the hope of seeing each other again, and I headed toward the station to go home.
Left alone, Green continued to gaze at the trees. She checked her watch; it was well past 11 PM. Thinking she should head home soon, she stood up from the bench.
The moment she stood, a sigh escaped her lips automatically.
“I have to go.”
Muttering softly to herself, she walked with heavy, listless steps toward her home.
Green’s house wasn't that far away. It was an old villa located about a five-minute walk from the park. Arriving at the building, she opened the worn front door and stepped inside.
The musty smell and the thick scent of alcohol permeating the house made Green knit her brows.
A man was snoring on the unkempt living room sofa. Green killed her footsteps and slowly approached him.
After confirming he was sound asleep with no sign of waking, Green went into the master bedroom, brought out a thin blanket, and covered the man on the sofa. Then, she turned her gaze to the living room, where liquor bottles were rolling around.
“He drank more.”
She began to tidy up, picking up the bottles one by one.
As she stepped on a bag on the floor, it made a rustling sound. At the sound of the sleeping man shifting, Green tensed up, focusing all her senses on him.
The man shifted but didn't wake up. She checked his condition.
“Dad?”
She cautiously called out to the man—her father. Knowing he was deeply asleep, she resumed her cleaning.
The bruise on her left cheek throbbed with pain.