A Rival Takes Flight
AKIRA
"Oh, this is bad..."
Inside the one-room apartment, sealed off behind thick blackout curtains, darkness still clung to every corner despite the sun hanging high in the sky.
In that dim space, where the shapes of objects could barely be made out in the pale white glow leaking from a monitor, a woman let out a long, heavy sigh all alone.
The person talking to her from the other side of the planet sent the message with complete confidence.
The woman, who had been lying there clutching her pounding head against a migraine, slowly pushed herself upright and moved her fingers across the keyboard.
"Haa..."
Akira let out a relieved breath, thinking the situation wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been.
If other people had found out, things would have gotten messy very quickly.
"Pfft..."
The white-haired woman gave a snort of laughter and tapped out her reply.
With the chat finished, Akira quickly rotated the monitor to face her and opened a web browser.
Without the slightest hesitation, her eyes raced over the list of the fastest flights available, moving with frightening speed.
Her hands worked just as quickly, flying across the mouse and keyboard a few times before she had even fully settled her mind.
Before long, a message confirming her plane seat reservation had appeared on the screen.
"Nice..."
Dr-r-r-rk—
Pushing back her gaming chair, Akira stood and looked around her own one-room apartment, a complete disaster area littered with clothes and baggage.
Finding what she needed in this mess was going to be a pain, but her face showed nothing but calm. After all, she was used to this kind of scene.
"If Iris is making her move first, I can’t just sit on my hands."
In the darkness, her red eyes gleamed like blood as her lips curved faintly.
"I’m Arisugawa Akira. If there’s something I want, I’m the kind of person who has to take it."
And just like that, another figure across the sea began to move.
Of course, the one at the center of it all was still sleeping soundly in Iris’s arms, completely passed out.
.
.
.
.
"..."
How embarrassing.
The instant I woke up, the memory of last night floated up in my head, and my face heated on its own.
I’d gone and said things so shamefully that it sounded like I was some little kid begging my mother for attention, all while dead sober.
"Ahem..."
It felt like something very important to me as a man had been damaged.
At least Iris wasn’t beside me when I woke up, which was a small mercy.
If she had been, she might have seen me convulsing in humiliation and kicking the blanket off like an idiot.
I carefully pushed myself up in bed, glancing toward the slightly open bedroom door.
Iris was probably in the living room or the kitchen.
"Sss..."
I managed to get out of bed, but for some reason my feet refused to move.
Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could keep my expression under control if I saw Iris’s face right now.
As I wrestled with whether I should leave the room at all, overwhelmed by this creeping shame—
Yank.
"...Ah."
"You’re awake?"
Before I could reach any conclusion, the door opened and Iris’s face peeked in through the gap.
As always, her expression was serene, with no sign of agitation whatsoever.
If there was any difference, it was that her eyes looked a little tired.
"Have some cereal for breakfast, then. I’ve already eaten, so don’t worry about me."
"Oh, uh... yeah."
"Then I’ll go wash up first."
Iris delivered exactly what she meant to say and disappeared beyond the doorframe.
Her reaction was so much calmer than I’d expected that I somehow ended up the one feeling awkward.
Then again, what exactly were we to each other?
Weren’t we comrades who had lived, slept, and fought together for three years on the battlefield?
When things were hard, it was only natural to lean on each other.
If a grown adult wanted to cling to your side until he fell asleep, then in a relationship like ours, that shouldn’t be embarrassing at all.
...Probably?
"...Let’s eat first."
I shoved the useless thoughts aside and decided to fill my stomach before anything else.
I’d just clear my head until Iris finished washing up, that was all.
.
.
.
.
"...!!!!"
Inside the bathroom, sealed off completely from the outside world, Iris let out a silent scream.
Just recalling the way she had happily ravaged Seong-hyeon’s body while he slept last night was enough to make her whole body burn hot.
She had been suppressing her urges on purpose so she wouldn’t wake him, lying right beside him and already feeling the limits of her patience.
So seeing him wake up and appear so defenseless had naturally sent her heart hammering out of control.
"...If I stay quiet, it’ll be fine, right?"
Swallowing her heated breaths over and over, she murmured softly with a dazed look in her eyes.
Slowly, Iris’s hand drifted downward.
It took quite some time before the tightly shut bathroom door opened again.
.
.
.
.
After the brief morning incident was somehow put behind us, I lay sprawled on the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Ugh... I don’t want to stream..."
"And here I thought you were the one always singing about how much you wanted to do internet broadcasting. What wind blew that way?"
Sitting near my head and watching the news play on TV, Iris seemed intrigued enough to ask.
"I’m tired. Just tired. There’s a lot more to it than I thought."
Constantly having to pull out new content and fresh stream material was brutally difficult.
I had to keep talking so the audio wouldn’t go dead, react with the right amount of exaggeration, and keep an eye on the viewers’ responses at all times.
No wonder it drained a person’s energy and mental stamina.
And on top of that, the game stream I’d thought was actually a pretty good idea had gone wrong from the very beginning.
I’d gotten too absorbed in a war simulation game and started spewing harsh curses without any filter at all.
Then, of course, there was the bonus prize of collapsing from exhaustion the second the broadcast ended.
"...This is insane."
I still had to explain why I’d abruptly ended the stream yesterday, too.
I had no idea how to put it into words.
More than anything else, the biggest problem was that I wasn’t confident I could maintain my usual energy if I turned the stream on again.
"If you’re finding it that difficult, why don’t you take a day off?"
"...Should I?"
Deep in thought, I was tempted by Iris’s suggestion and looked over at her with round eyes.
"If you push yourself too hard, it’s bad for your health. Even on the battlefield, troops are rotated in and out."
"Well, I have been running the stream pretty hard lately."
I hadn’t missed a single day since the day after I got back to Korea.
For someone still adjusting to a cramped basement room and a time difference, I really had been doing well.
"Yeah. Let’s rest today."
People always say you should row while the water’s in, but if the rower is too exhausted to move, you won’t make any profit at all.
It would be best to recharge properly this time and get back at it tomorrow.
Just thinking about taking a day off made a smile spread across my face.
It was the exact same feeling as having an operation canceled right before deployment!
While I sat there grinning to myself, Iris carefully called out to me.
"Then, Leader. Do you have any special plans for today?"
"Huh? No, why?"
"If it’s all right with you, would you go out with me?"
"Go out?"
Surprised by the sudden suggestion, I adjusted my posture and sat up. Iris cleared her throat and continued.
"Well... since this is my first visit to Korea, I’d like to look around a bit... and try a few different foods."
"Ah."
Come to think of it, ever since Iris came to our house, I’d been busy streaming, so we hadn’t had any reason to go outside.
Imagining her killing time in this unfamiliar basement living room with nothing but TV and her phone made me feel a little guilty for no reason.
"Sure, let’s do that. I should get some fresh air and take a walk anyway."
Wanting to properly show Iris around Seoul while I had the chance, I nodded.
As expected, maybe she’d been feeling cooped up all this time, because she suddenly stood with a bright smile on her face.
"Ah! Then I’ll get ready right away!"
She dashed into the room with quick, excited steps so she could change clothes.
Seeing her act like that when she was usually so rigid and businesslike made me feel strangely cheerful too.
"So, where should we go...?"
On impulse, I pulled out my phone and started searching online for sightseeing spots.
If we were going out, I was going to make sure it became a memory she’d never forget.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at Tokyo International Airport.
A woman dragging a suitcase arrived in a place packed with travelers buzzing with excitement and the anticipation of their journeys.
With her face hidden beneath a black cap and mask, and dressed in a black jumper over tight-fitting tights, she drew suspicious looks from passersby, who instinctively gave her a wide berth.
Whether she noticed the stares or not, the white-haired, red-eyed woman—Arisugawa Akira—strode through the crowd and headed straight for the boarding gate.
The passengers who were already waiting were showing their tickets and crossing the boarding bridge.
"Just wait a little longer, Leader."
Akira muttered as she took a proud step toward the plane.
"I’m coming to protect you from that fox bitch real soon."
The enormous storm that would threaten Seong-hyeon’s peaceful daily life was slowly drawing near.