Meal
"Ah…."
It was a hot day.
Kim Hyun-seok, a returning college student who had endured Gangwon-do's heat and cold for a full year, still found it difficult to fully withstand the Seoul summer that seeped in from outside the platform.
The temperature outside hovered above thirty degrees, and his skin felt sticky as if someone had left a humidifier running. If Gangwon-do's heat was a sharp, stinging sunlight, Seoul generously doused it with humidity exceeding ninety percent.
He had no intention of filtering his thoughts. It was a day so miserable he barely had the energy to lift his phone.
After glancing around to confirm no one was nearby, he muttered under his breath.
"This weather is fucking ridiculous, man…."
There were still over ten minutes until the subway arrived.
He considered ducking into the convenience store inside the station, but even if he bought something, waiting inside for ten minutes still felt like too much.
"Just tough it out with pure grit" — that was a phrase he'd heard constantly not long ago. But did he really have to endure this weather with pure grit now that he was back in society?
The only consolation was that he wasn't the only one suffering.
The text glowing on his phone screen. Watching the comments pile up one by one, he was able to forget the sweltering heat and tedious wait — if only for a moment.
Seeing the phrase "desert fox" briefly catch his eye, he ran a simulation in his head. If a desert fox Awakened existed… it would still be hot. Foxes aren't hairless, after all.
Anyway, what was he talking about? Simply put, it was this:
Very rarely, in this world, there existed people who possessed animal characteristics.
Officially, they were called Ancients, but in society they were referred to as Awakened, or more simply, beastmen.
Well, even so, their appearance was just tails or ears — and if they were lucky, both at once. They were just a bit stronger.
"Ugh, I can't take it anymore."
He had briefly wished he could become an Awakened, if only to endure this shitty heat a little better, but that was hopeless.
His body moved on its own.
He pushed the convenience store's glass door lightly, and it swung open with a soft chime. Ice-cold air rushed in through the gap.
His wallet was about to get a bit lighter, but whatever. It had been a while since the world became one where you bought time with money. Buying a drink gave him the right to stay inside the convenience store for a while — roughly the same thing, if you thought about it.
It didn't take long for the cold, sweet drink to slide down his throat. Feeling his body's engine start moving again, he lifted his phone once more.
Another mess today. But on the other hand, these were the same old topics he saw every day.
Having spent a considerable amount of time in the Awakened gallery, he was a seasoned lurker — skilled enough to predict what topic would follow once one died down.
He clicked into one post that caught his eye.
"Ugh."
His phone screen naturally went dark. It was nothing short of a coliseum.
But unfortunately, if you could call it that, this was always how it was. They fought over all sorts of reasons every day, and when the fighting died down a bit, they talked about famous Awakened from the internet — that sort of thing.
So he hadn't stayed in the cyber-world beyond the screen for too long either.
But today, a slightly different curiosity was gently tickling his mind.
"A snake…."
A possibility he had never considered before.
He tried to imagine it, but no clear image came to mind. To begin with, those types weren't well-represented in the gallery, and crucially, there were only tiger-related Awakened in Korea.
I don't know.
He breathed softly and stepped carefully outside the convenience store. A considerable amount of time had passed.
The platform was still hot, but more bearable than before.
As he watched the subway pull into the station and waited for the screen doors to open —
"Huh?"
Naturally, yet someone appeared who completely stole his gaze.
A woman crossed paths with him.
Her skin was white, but not pale — it was vibrantly, healthily glowing. Long, straight black hair with a faint blue tint contrasted naturally with her skin, yet both shared the same vitality.
But the sharp, pointed ears poking out from between her side hair were undeniably alien.
Her sharp gaze quickly swept over his body from head to toe, and their eyes met. Kim Hyun-seok had to feel an inexplicable chill. Her gaze was like sapphire, cut and set directly into her face.
But that wasn't the important part.
"Wow…."
A long snake's tail extended naturally from her hip, coiling and uncoiling freely.
He drew in a deep breath without realizing it. She tucked her tail into her coat pocket and naturally pulled out her phone, then spoke softly.
"Can I help you?"
"N-no, no, no."
A voice that was lower than expected, yet carried both visibility and femininity. But precisely because of that, it burrowed gently into his ears.
She began to slowly disappear from his field of view.
"Student, if you're getting on, hurry up!"
"Ah!"
Oh.
His attention had been dragged over there, and he almost missed the subway that had just arrived. Whether it was because he'd rushed on board, or for some other reason, Kim Hyun-seok's heart was racing.
At the entrance where she had gotten off — a place he might never see again — he drew in another deep breath.
…For some reason, the faint scent of gunpowder, cleaning solvent, and lubricant — smells he could only have encountered in the military — was lingering in the air.
"Thank you."
"Thank you! Enjoy your meal!"
Rustle, rustle.
She found a suitable seat, put the toast in her mouth, and chewed thoughtfully.
Eggs, finely chopped cabbage, ham, sweet sauce, bread — all mashed together in her mouth and sliding down her throat. The warmth and crisp texture felt through her fingers.
She had eaten five before leaving earlier, and another batch after returning, yet her stomach was still demanding more food.
Perhaps because she had spent too long maintaining equipment at the safe house, the smell of cleaning solvent and lubricant still clung to her hands and body.
She had washed her hands with soap three times, but unfortunately, there was no shower room inside the safe house.
Let's see, roughly three or four hours, right?
"Hmm."
This is delicious. A taste you can't find in America.
She suddenly missed the food trucks overflowing in Central Park. Speaking of which, were there many Awakened there? It felt like just yesterday she had seen someone carrying multiple halal food platters from a food truck, eating alone. I hope they're doing well in Chicago.
She thought this while focusing on her snack. Unfortunately, after a few bites, the toast was quickly gone. She wiped her mouth with the provided napkin and threw the empty wrapper in the trash.
Meanwhile, a pungent smell was rising from her clothes that even the toast couldn't mask. It would be nice if changing clothes would get rid of it.
But it would be naive to think the smell wouldn't have soaked into her clothes — she had been through this too many times already.
She had suspected this would happen from the moment the inside of the machine gun and semi-automatic sniper rifle she had almost completely disassembled was pitch black. She had fired a lot in a short time. There was no choice, though.
If you mindlessly rack a .338, it ends up like that.
Truthfully, there was also the feeling that she hadn't done a thorough cleaning in a while.
Since she wouldn't have another chance to shoot for a while, she had cleaned even the firearm accessories thoroughly, and used an airbrush to blow dust out of every corner of her tactical vest and other gear — and before she knew it, it was already three in the afternoon.
Until she met the senior members again — no, at least until she found a clue about what she was supposed to be doing here — these were firearms she would never see again.
…Every time she stroked a gun, she missed them so much….
As she exited the subway station, unfamiliar sights greeted her. Various apartment buildings and commercial complexes she didn't remember stood tall, showing off their presence. Most had glass curtain walls.
Glass windows — even when unbroken, they allowed you to identify enemy positions and fire from inside the building… no, that's not it. Not a good memory.
Urban warfare in a major city always ended up like that.
Recalling not-so-good memories, she walked toward her home under the sunlight pouring down from the high sky.
Anyway, no matter how humid today was, wasn't the sunlight a bit too harsh? Should she wear something like a shawl from now on?
"Still, at least this much…."
At least it was a relief that it was summer. If it had been winter, it would have been much harder. Digestion gets worse and all that… I think heating bills will be high in winter. I don't want to relive what happened in Brooklyn.
Anyway, for some reason she couldn't quite explain, her adaptation to returning to society was remarkably fast.
When she had been walking on dirty asphalt littered with trash, corpses, snow, mud — or lumps of all those things mixed together halfway — keeping her finger on the trigger guard had been a form of rest.
She had nearly been shot in the head hundreds of times while letting her mind wander.
Being able to think about what to eat for breakfast and lunch while walking was quite a luxury.
After walking a bit, she could already see the apartment she lived in across the commercial street.
And below it.
[The Real Tiger's Pizza Shop]
…What is that? Did that exist?
To be honest, she had been staying inside her apartment for the past few days, so she didn't know much about the surroundings, but the shop name certainly stimulated her curiosity.
There were more people in front of the shop than she expected. She had considered ordering a few pizzas to go, but it turned out to be a restaurant that took up an entire floor of the building.
…Is the light off?
"Ah, break time…."
So this existed too. When she had been active as an operator, there were so many people who tried to take care of her just by seeing her face that it felt strange in reverse.
So are those people in line waiting to go in as soon as business resumes? Quite a lot of people.
How much tip should I give here… no, wait, do they even have a tipping culture here?
Truthfully, even when she had been in New York, she had rarely been to restaurants — her fingers could count them. To begin with, there hadn't been any proper restaurants at the Manhattan HQ. Just a cafeteria-type place.
But while she was confused, the distance to the restaurant was steadily closing.
Curiosity was the problem, after all.
And so, her first neighborhood exploration since returning had begun.