Reunion (2)
I stared straight ahead.
An old strip of lighting flickered faintly, barely holding on.
Beneath it, at the far end of the long laboratory corridor, she was standing.
The Commander of Nightfall.
She looked exactly as she had the last time I saw her, a year ago, before she vanished.
Pink hair drifting in the stale air, and a faint smile resting at the corner of her mouth.
A careful, warm smile — the kind that quietly dissolves a person's guard.
"Hello, Closer. And..."
Her gaze slid slowly to the side.
The way she looked at Kang Yurim was soft.
The kind of warmth that only someone who has protected another person can carry in their eyes.
"You too, Yurim."
I couldn't get my mouth to work.
I had a mountain of questions, but no idea where to start digging them out.
Where should I even begin...?
Where have you been all this time?
Why were you in a place like this?
Or should I ask... why you left us in the first place?
But the words wouldn't come.
I didn't know what to say first.
She simply kept watching me in silence, as if she were prepared to accept whatever I chose to say.
"Commander...."
After all that circling, all I managed was that one word.
At the sound of it, she gave a slow nod.
"Yes. It's been a long time, Closer."
"......."
"And Yurim... it seems you found her just in time, thankfully."
The Commander's gaze drifted to the side again.
Kang Yurim was still clutching the hem of my coat, eyes wide and round.
"Um... unnie, is it really you? Is it really you?"
"It is. I'm the unnie you remember. The one who snuck snacks with you every night and argued about whose power was the coolest — and you always said you didn't need a power at all, that you wanted to grow up to be someone who helps people."
The Commander went on.
"I remember everything you said back then. You told me, 'This is the first time I've ever felt this good just talking with someone.' Remember?"
The rims of Kang Yurim's eyes reddened.
A small, suppressed breath climbed up her throat, and she only nodded, biting her lip.
Before long, she turned her eyes to me.
"You have a lot you want to say, don't you? I understand. I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, for disappearing without a word... But..."
Drawing a steadying breath, she continued in a low voice.
"I had to. There was a reason I had no other choice."
"Can you tell me that reason now?"
When I asked carefully, she shook her head.
"I'm sorry... I still need a little more time. There are things I still have to do."
"...."
She was still an unreadable person.
Setting aside the fact that she never appeared in the original story — I simply couldn't get a read on the heart of the woman standing in front of me.
"Aren't you carrying far too much on your own?"
At those words, a smile flickered across her face, just for an instant.
"You always start with that line, don't you? It's fine. I can hold out."
"Holding out alone isn't the same as being fine."
"....."
She didn't answer.
Instead, she silently turned her gaze away.
Perhaps because I'd hit the mark.
"So you've been here all along?"
Kang Yurim spoke up.
"Yes. Until now, I've been staying here under the cover of a temp employee. Though I'll have to leave soon, of course."
Kang Yurim glanced around.
It was an underground lab that had already been mostly stripped of its equipment.
Cold bare floors, exposed wiring, faded markings along the walls.
One look was enough to tell it was no place for a person to live.
She asked again, a trace of unease in her voice.
"You've been living here alone? In a place like this?"
"Being alone isn't so bad. It leaves plenty of time to think."
At that, Yurim dropped her head for a moment.
Her face was mixed with guilt. The Commander watched her quietly, then reached out and rested a hand gently on top of her head.
"You've grown so much since I first saw you. Back then... you were just a tiny little thing."
She stroked Yurim's hair lightly. Under her touch, Kang Yurim blinked, her cheeks flushing pink.
"You're staying with Nightfall?"
"Yes..."
"How is it? Are you getting by all right?"
"Yes... I'm doing well. It was a little strange at first, and everyone seemed so scary..."
Kang Yurim dipped her head slightly, then slowly lifted it again to meet the Commander's eyes.
"Thanks to Closer Oppa, I can control my power now, too. I missed you so much, unnie... but it's okay now. Because I get to see you again like this."
Hearing that, the Commander smiled quietly.
"Then... will you tell me why you were staying in a place like this? Is that off the table too?"
"No, I can tell you that. Honestly, it's the reason I stayed here this long in the first place."
"Then..."
"Before that, though..."
The Commander cut off my words.
"It seems we have another guest."
Thud.
Something rang out behind us, a metallic sound carrying a faint vibration through the floor.
reflexively spun around, and the Commander looked back as well.
"Found you...! Closer!"
It was Valkyrie.
Augh... that girl. She's here again.
I'd expected this situation.
I just hadn't expected her to chase us down this fast.
Her sheer stubbornness, at least, I might genuinely have to respect.
"So that's Valkyrie. First time seeing her in the flesh."
"Yes, well — there have been quite a few misunderstandings."
Which really are misunderstandings.
The first meeting, I can grant her that one.
Understandable, even. She was dragged into an explosion because of me — that part is fact.
But everything after that has been painted entirely under the name of "misunderstanding," hasn't it?
Like this absurd frame that I kidnapped Kang Yurim and brainwashed her.
As I sighed quietly, the corner of the Commander's mouth lifted slightly.
"People say a sense of justice looks a lot like persistence."
"For a sense of justice, she comes at you rather frighteningly, though."
Anyway — she's here for me, right?
In that case, I had to protect the Commander.
Her combat ability was practically nonexistent.
When I raised my arm and pointed at the Commander, her brows knitted into a thin line.
"Taking a hostage, how cowardly—!!"
"......."
She's out of her mind. Genuinely.
When did I ever take a hostage... actually, no. From her point of view, I suppose that's exactly what it looks like.
Frankly speaking, the Commander's whole aura didn't exactly scream innocent bystander either.
Just as I was thinking maybe we should settle this properly, right here and now —
the Commander gently lowered my raised arm and stepped toward Valkyrie.
"Hello. I believe you said you're the A-Rank hero, Valkyrie?"
"Who... are you?"
Eyes brimming with wariness.
Her gaze sharpened, and light began gathering at her fingertips.
"You're staff in this area... no. That can't be right. You were with Closer just a moment ago. Are you... one of them, too? On his side?"
The Commander nodded without a word.
"Won't you... talk with me?"
"I have nothing to say to you."
Valkyrie's murderous glare swung toward me.
"Do you have any idea how much trouble I've been through because of that guy?"
Why is it me again? What did I even do?
"I see... so that's how it is."
The Commander hesitated a moment, then turned her body toward me.
"Hmm... Closer?"
"...Yes."
reflexively raised my hand.
If we're fighting... then I guess it can't be helped.
With that thought, I readied myself to manifest my Psychokinesis — but the words that left the Commander's mouth pointed in an entirely different direction.
"Would you close your eyes for a moment? You too, Yurim. Just for one minute."
"I'm sorry — what?"
What is she on about all of a sudden?
"Just do as I say for now."
"Underst...ood."
I had no idea what she was planning, but she wasn't the type to say things without reason.
Yurim and I exchanged a glance, hesitated briefly, and nodded.
The last thing I saw was her reaching her hand out toward Valkyrie — then I shut my eyes.
Somewhere in that one minute, I caught the faint murmur of a small conversation. And when I carefully opened my eyes again —
"All right. I understand."
Valkyrie, weapons already dismissed, was standing before the Commander.
"I'll... hear you out."
....?
What... what on earth did she say to her?
The atmosphere had unmistakably changed from moments before.
The tension, the hostility — even her suspicion of the Commander had all somehow come loose.
No, come to think of it, "melted away" might be the better word...
"What... exactly did you do?"
At my cautious question, the Commander tilted her head just slightly, then answered with that familiar smile.
"Who knows? Your eyes were closed — perhaps everyone is free to imagine whatever they like."
The protagonist — the girl who knows nothing but justice — showing that kind of attitude toward a villain?
I couldn't get a read on it at all...
"Let's call it... a conversation, for now."
When the Commander added that, Valkyrie stayed silent, her face still stiff. But the aggressive edge was gone.
The spear of light had vanished, and her signature armament was likewise dismissed.
Did she brainwash her or something...?
Just as that thought formed, Valkyrie turned her head toward me.
"Don't take this to mean I trust you. Because one of these days, I'm going to throw you in a cell."
"....."
...So that much hasn't changed.
"For now, I'll withhold judgment. It's... ambiguous at the moment."
"Ambiguous how...?"
"I can't tell yet whether this person is an enemy."
Her gaze shifted to the Commander.
"If she's an enemy, then everything just now was an act."
"And if she isn't?"
"Then..."
She paused mid-sentence, looking at the Commander once more.
"It means she's a far more complicated person than I ever imagined."
"....."
Well... at least it means we're not fighting. That's a win, I suppose.
And right now, there was something more important than all of this.
"Then... please tell us. Why you were in a place like this."
I turned my head to look at the Commander.
It was a question that could no longer be dodged.
The Commander said nothing for a while.
She only quietly studied our three faces, one after another.
"About half a year ago, I came into this place as a temp employee. To put it simply, it was an infiltration. And during my time here, I watched a great deal — and thought a great deal."
With those words, the Commander's gaze drifted slowly toward the end of the corridor.
"This underground section is one of the Association's affiliated laboratories, shuttered just recently. Until a short while ago, it was also the place where Yurim was kept."
At those words, Yurim lowered her head slightly, and Valkyrie broke the silence.
"You mean human experimentation."
"Hmm... something like that."
An ambiguous choice of words.
She neither denied it outright nor admitted it plainly.
"Though... honestly, I wasn't all that shocked. Organizations on the scale of the Black Society do far worse things than this on a regular basis. So even if it was the Association, I figured a place like this might exist somewhere."
The moment those words ended, Valkyrie's expression hardened completely.
"You... you're saying that like it's just the way things are?"
"I never said it was the way things should be."
The Commander answered without even turning her head.
"But saying it's not strange, isn't that the same as accepting it?"
Force crept into Valkyrie's voice.
"You know this place belonged to the Association, don't you? And they experimented on a child — and you saw it, and you weren't even shocked?"
"Not being shocked doesn't mean I accepted it."
The Commander spoke quietly, but Valkyrie didn't stop.
"Then why didn't you make it public right away? Someone like you... you would have known it was wrong!"
"......"
The Commander didn't answer.
A very brief silence passed, and Valkyrie shouted again.
"Answer me...!"
That was when it happened.
"Into the Association..."
Her mouth opened quietly.
"Into the Association... something has seeped in."
The air went cold.