Childhood Friends, and a Promise Not Kept
I was born and raised in the Empire, a citizen through and through. But looking at my face alone, few people would have believed it.
Black hair, black eyes.
I had the East Asian features so rarely seen in the Empire, and that was all it took.
My roots lay in the far reaches of Asia.
Han Yooseong.
As the name suggests, my father was Korean. My mother, however, was Japanese.
My father had been a famous Hunter, and when the Empire extended an offer, he immigrated. I was born not long after.
Now I was the only East Asian student at the 7th Imperial Middle Academy.
These days, if someone said something about my appearance, it didn't bother me much — but it hadn't been that way when I was little.
I had shrunk into myself back in my kindergarten days.
You look different from us.Your name is weird.
Because these were words from small children, they were all the more blunt and unfiltered for it.
Seeing me struggle to adjust to life here, my mother had apparently even considered taking me back to Korea.
That was when a child reached out her hand to me.
"Let's play together, Yooseong!"
A girl with blue hair.
Noel Lapis.
She was the one who grabbed the hand of a boy who couldn't fit in with the other kids and dragged him all the way to the playground.
After I became friends with Noel, a great many things got better.
One after another, Sage and then Erika came into my life, and before I knew it, more than ten years had passed.
The four of us, living in the Empire's northern region, had all enrolled at the same academy in the Imperial Capital, and that friendship carried on to this day.
Lunchtime.
The four of us had gathered, as usual, at our regular spot in the school cafeteria to eat. That was when Noel, sitting across from me, spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.
"Now that I think of it, your birthday's next week."
"Oh."
I had completely forgotten.
Had this year already slipped by like that?
"What's with that reaction? It's your own birthday — don't tell me you actually forgot?"
"I don't really make a big deal of it."
Noel widened her eyes into round circles, then broke into a bright grin.
"That's so like you. So then, do you have anything you'd like, Sir Yooseong?"
She even put on a mock-refined tone on purpose.
"Not really."
"Oh come on, like that's possible. Think harder."
"You can't just spring that on me……"
"Something you've wanted for a while? A place you've wanted to visit? Or, y'know, you could just ask me for something?"
"What's that last one supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like?"
This girl was always laughing, always cheerful.
Watching her smile, I couldn't help but feel my own mood lift along with it.
If it hadn't been for Noel, I might not be here at all.
Ten years ago, I might have chosen Korea, unable to overcome the shadow that had settled in my heart.
If that had happened, I never would have met Sage — or Erika either.
Just then, the girl quietly eating beside me — Sage — carefully opened her mouth.
"Um……"
I turned my head, and through the curtain of green hair I could see a flush of color on Sage's cheeks.
She fidgeted with the fork in her hand before continuing.
"It's summer, after all. ……My relative who works at Blue Waterpark gave me some admission passes."
Noel's eyes went wide across the table.
"Blue Waterpark?"
Her tone made it sound almost too good to be true.
Given that reaction, it must have been a pretty famous place.
"Isn't it insanely hard to get a reservation there? Your relative works there?"
Excited, Noel leaned halfway across the table.
I really wish she wouldn't do that while we're eating. People were watching, too.
"Hey, Noel. Calm down."
"Ah, sorry."
Only after hearing me did Noel sit back down with an embarrassed laugh.
Sage smiled a little at the sight of her, then went on.
"And there happen to be exactly four passes. Since it's your birthday, Yooseong…… I thought maybe we could all go together."
When she finished, Sage looked at me hesitantly.
"What do you… think?"
It seemed like she was asking for my approval, but someone else answered first.
"Sounds great?"
Noel's eyes were sparkling.
"I've wanted to go there forever. I've entered the ticket lottery every single time and failed every single time."
Anyone could see she was enthusiastically in favor.
Sage gave a sheepish smile at her friend's reaction, then looked at me again.
"Yooseong, and you…?"
"Are you sure you can just hand these over like that? Those passes have to be pretty hard to come by, don't they?"
This was the kind of place Noel had complained about failing to book, time and time again.
It felt a little wrong to casually burn through four invitations to a place like that.
"It's fine. I got them so I could go with my friends. Unless…… do you not have time?"
"No, it's not that."
Time was the one thing I had in abundance.
Still — was it really okay to accept like this?
Before I could even finish my answer, Noel took the conversation and ran with it.
"Then it's settled! Next Sunday is Yooseong's birthday, so we go that day. Everyone's okay with that, right?"
"Hold on!"
The one who cut in out of nowhere was the red-haired girl sitting beside Noel — Erika.
Her striking red hair tied back in a ponytail, she had said nothing until now, quietly eating her meal.
But apparently she'd been listening to every word of the conversation.
"Hm? What is it, Erika?"
"A waterpark means…… th-that we'll be wearing swimsuits, does it not?"
"It's a pool, so obviously."
"A-are you all… going to be fine with that?"
"Fine with what, exactly?"
Noel blinked, as if she had no idea what Erika meant.
Then she caught sight of Erika's reddening face, and the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward as something seemed to dawn on her.
"Ahh, so that's what this is."
"That's what what is?"
Erika, the subject of it all, narrowed her eyes.
"You're embarrassed, aren't you? About showing your figure in front of Yooseong? Well, I suppose they won't be handing out school-issued swimsuits at a waterpark. Heh heh heh."
"……Who told you that? Why would I feel embarrassed about a swimsuit in front of him?"
"You deny it that hard, it just gets more suspicious."
"I do not! Hmph! No matter how much he stares at me, I feel no shame whatsoever. I simply do not wish to be seen by other men!"
Amused by Erika's attitude, Noel kept teasing her relentlessly.
"So does that mean you're not coming, Erika? I guess I'll have to find someone else for that last pass?"
"I never said I wasn't going."
"Then what is it? What is it, hmm?"
Pressed by Noel, Erika suddenly whipped her head toward me.
"Han Yooseong!"
"What."
"I-I am absolutely not going because it's your birthday. These are precious tickets that Sage worked hard to arrange, so I am simply going out of necessity, nothing more."
Even at a time like this, the girl just couldn't be honest.
But I decided not to turn it into a contest of wills and simply let it go. At times like this, the bigger person has to be the understanding one.
"Yeah, yeah. Got it."
"What is with that attitude?"
"What do you mean? I'm just saying I accept your explanation."
"My explanation? I have no need for your acceptance!"
"Then why did you even explain it to me?"
"Quiet! It's mealtime."
Watching the two of us go at it, Noel and Sage burst out laughing.
An ordinary day, same as always.
Right up until then, I had believed that next Sunday would come around just like it always did.
The 7th Imperial Middle Academy was a fully residential boarding school.
The next morning.
I was still half-asleep, eating breakfast in the dormitory dining hall, when my gaze drifted, without thinking, to the screen mounted on the wall.
It was the kind of news I would normally have let pass right by.
But the moment I saw the face on that screen —
every trace of drowsiness vanished.
It was my father.
My father.
Beneath the photograph of him in full uniform, a red banner scrolled past: [Brigadier General Han Dohyun, Commander of the 7th Special Hunter Brigade — Suspected of Colluding with the Demons].
The dining hall around me was noisy, but I couldn't properly hear a word of it. For a long while, I just stared at the screen.
Colluding with the demons.
My father?
It was absurd.
He was a man who never once spoke of military affairs, even at home.
From that day on, the entire academy buzzed with nothing else.
"That's him, right?"
"Brigadier General Han Dohyun's son."
"They say he really did collude with the demons."
"Military prosecutors went as far as an arrest — there has to be something real behind it, don't you think?"
Every time I walked down the hallway, I heard variations of the same words.
At the 7th Imperial Middle Academy, there was exactly one East Asian student: me.
The whole school already knew my face, and now the news about my father was stacked on top of it — so the whispering followed me wherever I went.
But those three were different.
Noel, Sage, and Erika had come over to our house constantly since they were little. Of course they had known my father for years.
"There's no way your dad could ever do something like that!"
That was what Noel, blue-haired and unshakable, told me.
"The truth can never stay hidden. That's what I believe. So don't worry too much, okay?"
"……Noel."
"I'm sorry — anyone can say words, right? I want to actually help you, and…… all I've got to offer is stuff like this."
"That's not true."
I took Noel's hand. Even if everyone else turned their backs, as long as this girl stayed beside me, I could stand back up.
Noel wasn't the only one. The others comforted me in their own ways, too.
Sage called me out somewhere private — and suddenly popped something into my mouth. It was chocolate.
"Is it good?"
"……Yeah."
That was my answer, but honestly, I could barely taste the sweetness spreading across my tongue.
Sage studied my expression, then held out the paper bag she'd been hugging to her chest.
"They say when you're feeling down, eating something delicious helps a little. Too much…… stress isn't good for your body, either."
Inside the bag was everything — chocolate, cookies, every kind of snack imaginable. I could feel the heart Sage had poured into choosing all of this and bringing it to me.
Every single item was something I had once said was delicious. Thinking of how she must have dug through her memories, one by one, to pick these out for me — I was truly, deeply grateful.
"This is…… all I can really do for you."
"Thank you, Sage."
The most surprising one was Erika.
When she saw the blank look on my face, she suddenly grabbed me by the head and pulled me into her arms.
"Erika…?"
"What is with that pathetic expression?"
She wasn't scolding me.
"……I'm sorry."
"Why in the world are you apologizing? You have done nothing wrong. There is no doubt your father has been slapped with a baseless accusation. All the more reason… you must keep your head on straight."
Her tone was no different from usual — but I could feel the worry buried inside it.
Thanks to those three childhood friends, I didn't fall apart.
At least, not then.
Contrary to my hopes, the case surrounding my father refused to die down.
As time passed, the investigation only widened.
Military personnel connected to my father were questioned one after another — and among them were faces I had seen at our house many times over.
Every day, the news poured out some new accusation.
The way people looked at me at school began to change, little by little.
And then the time came.
The Sunday we'd all been waiting for.
The day of my birthday arrived.
But on that day, the four of us never made it to Blue Waterpark.