Chapter 77: Late-Summer Sea, Training, and... (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 77: Late-Summer Sea, Training, and... (2)
The day of the long-awaited trip finally dawned. The members of Hunter Killer gathered early in the morning and boarded the bus. Perhaps because it was a three-day, two-night trip—and because some of them had never been on a vacation before—everyone had packed their suitcases to the brim.
"You said it takes about an hour, right?"
"Yeah. Once we get off, it’s just a short walk to the pension."
Answering Blue’s question, Red checked the pension’s location and their arrival time on her smartphone one last time.
After loading their suitcases into the bus's luggage compartment, the five women sat in a row in the very back. They were in a state of half-tension, half-excitement at the prospect of their trip.
"Yellow. Want one?"
Blue pulled a piece of candy from her bag and held it out to Yellow, who was sitting by the window. Yellow took the candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
"We’re out in public. Shouldn't we avoid calling each other by our codenames?"
At Yellow’s remark, everyone turned to look at her. Startled by the sudden attention, Yellow blinked, but the others quickly understood her point. For five people who had mostly experienced the downsides of being Superhumans, drawing attention to themselves by using codenames in public was unlikely to end well.
"Then what should we do?"
"We have to use our real names."
Pink spoke as if it were no big deal, but calling each other by their real names was harder than it sounded. They had been a team for at least three years, and for some, as long as five. They had used their real names only in the very beginning; since then, they had never addressed each other as anything other than their codenames.
Part of it was the sheer embarrassment of the intimacy, but mostly, the members of Hunter Killer were simply too accustomed to their aliases.
"Fine. Let's just do it. Let's use our names."
Everyone agreed with Red’s decision, but the problem was that they all fell silent immediately afterward. It would have been nice if someone broke the ice, but starting the "embarrassing" practice of using real names wasn't easy.
"Give me a candy too... Hayoung-unni."
When Red finally summoned the courage to speak, her voice was stiff, as if she were reading from a textbook. The members froze as if someone had pulled their power plugs. Meanwhile, Red, having taken the plunge, felt her face turning as crimson as her hair.
"You don't have to add 'unni.'"
Blue, the eldest, said as she handed a candy to the awkward Red. Since they had lived in a flat hierarchy for so long, hearing "unni" was even more awkward than hearing her real name, despite the eight-year age gap between her and Red.
The reason everyone had hesitated at Red’s words was that they were all thinking the same thing. The fact that Red—the team leader but also the youngest—had used the term "unni" meant she intended to call everyone "unni." The other members, not confident they could ever get used to that, didn't know what to say first.
Fortunately, Blue stepped in and said the honorific wasn't necessary, and the others quickly chimed in with, "Yeah, you can drop the 'unni.'" It was an embarrassing situation for everyone, but thanks to Red breaking the ice, the conversation finally began to flow.
And so, after traveling for over an hour by bus, they arrived at the pension, only to be told:
"Uh... I don't see a reservation under the name Hong Yubin."
They had found the right building, but their names weren't on the list. Red was deeply flustered by the news that the five-person room she thought she’d booked wasn't reserved.
"It’s not there? That can’t be... I definitely made the reservation."
She hurriedly pulled out her smartphone to show the pension owner the name of the place and the transfer record. Meanwhile, Blue and Yellow looked around the entrance.
"This isn't it, is it?"
"Yeah. I don't think so."
Looking at the surroundings, the two confirmed that the scenery was different from the photos they had seen when booking.
"What happened?"
Clearly, a mistake had been made somewhere. Since the situation wasn't clear yet, Yellow and Blue decided to wait for Red.
"Ah. This reservation is for the pension on the inner island."
"Excuse me?"
"There’s a pension with the same name further in. Sometimes people get confused and come here by mistake."
"Is that so?"
It turned out they had arrived at a pension with the same name as the one Red had booked. To get to the actual destination, they had to take the bus for another hour.
Having finished her check, Red approached the members waiting outside. Now that they could finally find out what was going on, they waited for her to speak.
"I'm sorry. The pension we booked is further inside."
Upon hearing the explanation that they had come to the wrong place, the members exchanged glances.
"Really? Then should we go catch the bus?"
As Blue spoke, patting the dejected Red on the shoulder, Yellow checked the time for the next bus.
"The bus comes in thirty minutes. Let's just wait patiently."
Thinking they just needed to find the right place, the members headed back toward the bus stop they had just left. On their way out, they saw a bus that had arrived while they were waiting for Red.
"Looks like that bus came to the wrong place too."
"If only we had a car, we could have just driven there."
Pink lamented their lack of a vehicle in response to Blue’s comment, but since a car wasn't going to manifest out of thin air, they pushed their regrets aside and headed for the stop.
*
There is a saying that if you do bad things, you get punished. I happen to agree with that sentiment. The fact that I am deceiving the members of Hunter Killer and intentionally maintaining relationships with them will undoubtedly return to me as a punishment one day. I’ve told myself I will accept that moment humbly when it comes.
However, that moment is not right now.
"Why is Spacetro here?!"
The members of Hunter Killer, completely unarmed, stood at the entrance of a small mart, clenching their fists and eyeing Luche and me warily. To be precise, they were wary of me, and I hurriedly buttoned up my Hawaiian shirt.
"And you’ve even brought a civilian with you. Are you stooping to kidnapping now?"
I looked at Luche, wondering what Yubin was talking about as she glared at me with furrowed brows.
Luche always wears heavy, mismatched makeup during duels. She says it’s because she doesn't want to give Superhumans the impression that she’s weak. The makeup is so thick—with eyeliner and shadow so heavy it completely alters her eye shape—that it’s hard to tell she’s the same person if you compare her before-and-after looks.
"A civilian? Are you blind?!"
The Hunter Killer members flinched at Luche’s voice. Her physical appearance was a bit different from what they knew, but they couldn't forget that voice. It was the familiar voice they heard during every duel. Their gazes shifted toward Luche.
"The Team 3 Executive?"
"Yeah. Why are you people here?"
Luche was equally flustered. She had just stopped by the mart to buy some drinks while on the island for training, only to run into the Hunter Killer members she traded blows with every time. It would be weirder not to be surprised.
"You don't need to know that, do you?"
"And I don't think you need to know why we're here either."
As they stared each other down, it felt as if sparks were flying between their eyes.
"E-hem! Let's go."
I gave Luche a silent, pointed look just as she was about to blurt out my name. She couldn't see my eyes through my mask, but she definitely felt my gaze. She cleared her throat and pulled on my sleeve, leading me out of the mart.
Information on Spacetro’s rank-and-file soldiers is not disclosed to the public. The reason I wore a mask was the same—it was an internal organizational rule for various operations.
Because of this, even during duels, we only move according to the Team Leader's orders and never speak loud enough for the Hunter Killer members to hear. When acting as a group, we wear helmets or masks to prevent the leak of personal information, just like now.
"Are they following?"
Once we were out of the mart, Luche asked me. I looked back. All five members were staring intently in our direction, but they weren't following us.
"It looks like they're on vacation."
The members each had suitcases, likely having just gotten off the bus. I informed Luche of the vacation theory based on the luggage. More importantly, if the island with their pension was different, why were they here?
"A vacation? Must be nice."
I didn't think Luche—who was wearing a windbreaker over her swimsuit while her subordinate carried bags full of drinks—was in any position to say that, but I didn't voice the thought for fear of being hit.
"Let's be careful. Even if we aren't dueling, running into Hunter Killer isn't a good thing."
"Yeah. We just need to stay on guard until tomorrow's training."
Luche and I arrived at the beach with the drinks and headed straight to where the Team Leaders were gathered. I brought up the encounter with Hunter Killer. I wondered if we needed to be on high alert, but surprisingly, Esmeralda’s reaction was mild.
"Just leave them be. They probably came here to rest too."
"Is that okay? What if they're here to gather intel?"
"Oh, please. You said they had suitcases, right?"
"Yes."
After confirming once more that they had travel suitcases, Esmeralda shrugged.
"We're here for training, and they're here to play. We just happened to run into each other. We can't exactly do anything rash because of the rules anyway, so wouldn't it be best to just ignore each other?"
It made sense. Especially since I, who knew their situation best, realized that running into Spacetro on their very first group trip must feel like the worst luck in the world to the Hunter Killer members.
"Then should we just ignore them for now?"
"Yeah. Neither side can attack the other right now anyway."
Since I had to follow orders, I decided to do as I was told.
One of the reasons I had thought the Spacetro-exclusive lodging looked like a pension business was because it was tucked slightly away from the main row of pensions. Even compared to the others, it didn't stand out and blended perfectly into the atmosphere.
There are so many pensions here; surely we won't run into them again.
I tried to think that way, but then a conversation I’d had with Yubin before the trip flashed through my mind, sparking a sudden curiosity.
"Angelica-nim."
"Hmm? What is it?"
Angelica, who had been lying down, pushed her sunglasses up to her forehead at the sound of my voice.
"What was the name of the pension closest to our lodging?"
"I think it was the Sky Ocean Pension."
I let out a deep sigh.
The night before the trip. After finishing my packing, I was having dinner with Yubin, who had come over to my place. I asked her one more time to confirm her plans.
"Yubin, what did you say the name of the pension you're going to was?"
"Huh? Sky Ocean Pension."
I never imagined there would be another pension with the same name here.
With a heavy sigh, I felt a gaze from a distance and looked up. The Team Leaders followed my line of sight. The Hunter Killer members, who were walking along the road above the sandy beach toward their pension, were staring fixedly at us.
"Well, this is a stroke of bad luck for everyone."
Just then, I felt a vibration in my pocket and pulled out my smartphone. A text message had arrived. The sender was none other than Yura.
[This is crazy. I came on a trip and Spacetro is here.]
Looking at the text, I let out another hollow sigh and looked up. I could see Yura’s brow furrowed as she watched us from afar. While she was relaying the situation via text, she was glaring at us with a fierce expression in person.
My emotions were a mess, but one thing was certain: if I messed up and got caught here, it would be a disaster. I vowed once again never to take off my mask and sent a reply to Yura.
[Why are they there? Unless they do something first, just ignore them.]
And the moment I hit send, a thought occurred to me—something I hadn't considered while frantically dealing with the Hunter Killer members.
To keep my identity a secret, I had given each member slightly different pieces of personal information. For example, Hayoung knew me as an office worker who worked every day, while Yubin knew me as a freelancer who usually had plenty of free time but had recently become busy.
Even for this trip, each member had a slightly different understanding of what I was doing. I thought I had created a web of lies that could hold up, but the problem was that they all knew the same basic personal details.
My name, my age. And my physical appearance, which I couldn't change. Fortunately, I hadn't posted any photos on my messenger profile, and we hadn't taken any photos together yet, so there was no risk of them sharing a picture. However, one slip of the tongue, and they would realize I was connected to all of them even before they discovered my true identity.
Only then did I realize the dangerous tightrope I was walking. I resolved to keep my wits about me from now on.