Return
That familiar smell of earth.
So I'd made it back alive again—to the garrison. Every time, it felt like I was walking the line between life and death.
Jeon Taeho. The sort of man I never wanted to face again. And yet I would have to, sooner or later. Cha Seoyoon and the kids, though—them, I was looking forward to.
It hadn't ended cleanly. The unease still clung to me. You can't tie up every matter in the world with a neat bow. I couldn't afford to look entirely away from what I'd lost and let slip, but I would set my focus on what I'd protected, and on what I'd gained.
"Hnnnngh... Caaaptaiiin."
Hana latched onto the captain like a slime.
"You have worked hard, you have."
We'd been questioned for two days straight. I'd thought we'd be gone in no time, but of course we were parties to the incident ourselves. Being investigated was only the natural course. We'd said our goodbyes to Seoyoon and parted just like that, and coming straight back had left things a little awkward. When it actually came time to leave, though, the reluctance had shown.
The captain had told us to speak exactly as it was, without softening a thing—what had happened, whom we'd met, what deals had been struck. Similar incidents, she'd said, were already breaking out not only in the Yellow Zone but here and there besides. After the Great Catastrophe of Iceland twenty years ago, there hadn't been a major incident worth the name. Lately, though, people were saying the currents had gone strange. Did that have something to do with why the captain kept being summoned to headquarters and to Pandora? A vague unease rose in me.
"Jaehee."
The captain called me.
"Yes."
She said my name, then looked back and forth between me and Hana without a word. She started to speak, swallowed it, and opened her mouth again.
"You did well."
"At what."
I felt awkwardly pleased for no good reason.
"Are you not curious about the faction you faced?"
Honestly, I was. But was it even information we were allowed to know? If she told us, good. If not, that was a shame, and nothing more.
"Of course we're curious."
"The name, at least, I suppose I may tell you."
"The group you faced is a group called Paradise and Remnants."
The captain's face twisted, as if the very name were something she wanted nothing to do with.
"A cult. We are working under the assumption that a massive corporation stands behind them."
"You've gotten yourselves tangled up with troublesome people."
"Well... weren't they people we were going to have to face anyway?"
Ones we would have met someday. Better to think of it as meeting them early. The captain was quiet for a long while.
"Do you not resent me?"
"Even now, I can send you somewhere else."
In the eyes that held mine so firmly, there wasn't a shred of a lie.
"Captain, going through all this has made you soft."
A little irritated, I scrunched one eye and stepped in close. Whether my momentum cowed her or not, she started to retreat—and then stopped.
"You were fated to come here. You were fated to walk this path."
"That kind of talk? I hate it more than anything. You didn't make me walk this road."
I bent my knees until our eyes were level.
"Entering the training academy, joining the White Night Team—all of it was my choice. You're the one who shouldn't be thinking about going anywhere."
The moment the words left me, I flicked her on the forehead.
Dodge? At this range, reflexively avoiding something like—
Thwack!
Aaaagh....
"Y-you brat!"
"I understand well enough. I asked something I need not have."
Somewhere in the captain's sulking, fist-clenched expression, satisfaction seemed to spread.
"You're not going to ask me?"
From the corner, Hana spoke up, sounding hurt.
"I—I was about to ask, I was."
Flustered, the captain was stumbling over her words.
"Forget it."
Her ponytail whipped around as she turned away. She was pouting.
"L-let us go together! I'm sorry!"
"You're pouting."
"I am not."
"You are, though."
"I said I'm not!"
With her cheeks puffed up like a blowfish, anyone would have thought she was pouting. I wanted to poke one with a finger. Poke. She'd only pout harder, wouldn't she? I held back.
We were heading for the office, trading pointless chatter, when I noticed the door stood open. The captain, who had been coming along well behind us, was at it in an instant.
"Jaehee, Hana—get behind me."
Readying herself to draw her sword, she eased the door open.
Creeeak—
The door stopped mid-swing, then flew open with a bang. The captain's face crumpled something fierce.
"Come in."
What in the world was going on?
"Captain! It's been ages, hasn't it?"
An unfamiliar voice reached us. We hurried into the office.
Silver hair, drawn up high into an off-center side-tail. She was sitting there all alone atop the office desk, her expression overflowing with ease.
"So you two are our captain's new friends?"
Legs crossed, one foot ticking idly back and forth—this wasn't ease put on for show.
"Why's your face like that, Captain? Don't you like me?"
"I don't."
The captain headed for the sofa without so much as a glance her way. No insignia on the uniform, and the weapon at her hip was a mass-produced model. Could a low-grade Librarian talk to the captain like that? She had to be in disguise. Obviously.
Should I poke at it?
"You. What grade are you?"
For a moment, silence filled the room. A shoe slipped off the ticking foot and hit the floor with a slap. I thought I faintly heard Hana swallow. The captain stopped mid-step as well. The corner of the mysterious silver-haired woman's mouth climbed, terrifyingly—the look of someone who had just found prey.
"Me? Grade 99."
The foot started ticking again. I couldn't back down here. I'd started it. I was seeing it through.
"Grade 99? Since when does a Grade 99 drop the honorifics with a Grade 4?"
I forced my voice, which wanted to shake, under control and got the words out. Silence filled the room once more. At some point the captain had turned her head, and her face was pure shock.
"Puahahaha!"
The mysterious silver-haired woman clutched her forehead and burst out laughing.
"You've got nerve."
She came down off the desk and walked toward me. I held her gaze to the very end. So what. If it bothers you, go ahead and pull my rank...!
"Choi Suah. Enough."
"This isn't the time for you to be loitering around here, is it?"
"And why would you think that?"
Choi Suah turned her head, glancing at the captain.
"If you've nothing to say, leave."
The captain's manner felt, somehow, like she was being bothered.
"Aww, just a little longer."
In an instant she vanished from in front of me—and there she was, pressed up against the captain, rubbing her cheek. What kind of sequence was this?
"Wh—why do you keep rubbing my cheek!"
"Because your cheek is soft, Captain. That's why."
On that, I agreed.
"I came because I missed you, so why are you being so cold?"
When the captain said nothing, Suah turned her head toward us.
"You two watch yourselves as well. She'll up and leave without a word. Just abandon you."
Seeing our startled faces, the captain pushed Choi Suah away, looking troubled.
"Your words...! Put it like that and they'll misunderstand!"
"Then if I ask you to come back, will you?"
She was smiling, but there was seriousness beneath the words.
"You know I cannot go back."
"And even if I could now, I will not."
"Because of them?"
Suddenly she was glaring at Hana, and the killing intent was no ordinary thing. Hana widened her eyes, refusing to lose—and it felt less frightening than watching a cute puppy.
"Enough. Go back now. Truly."
"It was nice seeing you, even for a moment. I'll go."
Even as she stepped out the door she was smiling and glaring, and the pressure felt worse than any aberration I had faced until now.
Hana let out a breath.
"Whew... I thought I was going to suffocate and die...."
"Who even is she, exact—"
"Shh."
The captain cut her off.
"She most certainly has her ear to the door, listening to every word. Wait."
Killing her presence, the captain crept up to the door.
Bang!
"I told you to go, you brat!"
"Ah! Caught me. I'm really going! Haha!"
The captain drew out a long sigh, looking more exhausted than I had ever seen her. She dropped onto the sofa and spoke.
"She was a member of my old team. Twisted as she's become, she isn't a bad kid."
Twisted. I understood what that meant at once.
"But get tangled up with her the way I am, and it becomes this much of a nuisance. Jaehee, it seems she has already marked you. You have my condolences."
Condolences...?
"Still, it has been a long time since I saw Suah that flustered. That line of yours was good, Jaehee. It was."
The captain laughed, hearty and unburdened, as if something had finally cleared.
"Captain, what on earth have you been doing all this time?"
Hana sat on the sofa opposite and asked.
"I will tell you for certain. Later."
"It is not something you ought to know just yet."
"It must be frustrating for you too, not being able to say. I get it."
Hana sank back into the sofa as well. What a mess. I ought to sit down too.
"Jaehee. Hana."
The captain was sprawled across the sofa.
"Go and rest a while. About a week."
Come to think of it, when had I last rested properly? Even the leave I'd been given after the first operation, I'd spent entirely on training. Maybe I should rest.
"Should we?"
"Yes. That is a relief."
"If you had said you would not rest, I think I would have worried instead...."
Tired, apparently—she was still talking while lying down.
"When you rest, you must know how to rest properly. Hana, do you understand?"
"Yes. I think I'm a bit worn out too."
Without thinking, Hana braced her back against my shoulder. I felt drowsy.
"Did Seoyeong-unni go take the Grade 3 Observer exam?"
Hana turned her head to ask, and the distance between us was precarious.
"Yeah. If she passes, we'll have to congratulate her."
Talk of a celebration brought that incident back to mind. This time, nothing would actually happen. Right? Needless anxiety rose, but I was too drowsy to chase it any further. What was the point of worrying over something that hadn't even happened?
The captain came out to see us off as we left the garrison.
"Jaehee, you said you were returning to the orphanage?"
"Yes. I should go see Grandpa and the kids at least once."
Maybe it was this incident. For no particular reason, I found myself wanting to see them even more.
"Good. Go and come back safely. Hana, you still have not decided?"
"I'm planning to stay home for now, but there's nothing much to do."
Hana scratched her head.
"What are you going to do, Captain?"
"Me? Well... that is the thing."
The corner of Hana's mouth curled.
"Then come to the amusement park with me!"
The captain dodged the charging Hana on pure instinct now.
"Get over here! Where are you going!!"
"G-get away! And stop rubbing my cheek already!"
"This one and that one—I said stop rubbing!"
Someday, I ought to rub it myself. If I went for it, would she actually jump out of her skin? Hana ran well enough, but the captain, small as she was, ran impressively too. The two of them would sort it out.
Dandelion Orphanage.
My hometown. My home.
A homecoming, after far too long.