Chemical Bonds (1)
My consciousness rose to the surface like bubbles in water. At the same time, the surrounding scenery unfolded before me like a panorama. Yet the place where my mind had awakened was neither the northeastern garrison nor the Cradle. Out of nowhere, I found myself in the middle of an elegant café.
I couldn’t move my body at all, as if I were tightly bound by chains. The only thing I could do was roll my eyes back and forth to observe my surroundings. Plush sofas were arranged throughout the space. Warm, dim lighting cast highlights on each seat like spotlights. From an amplifier tucked in the corner, elegant classical music flowed softly.
Suddenly, my eyes caught the year and date on a calendar in the corner. 21XX, X Month, X Day. Exactly three years before now. Was I in the middle of a dream? Why was I drifting in this twisted space-time? No matter how much I groaned and pondered, no proper answer came. I remained chained, simply wasting time.
-Ding-a-ling~
After some unknown stretch of time, the cheerful ring of a doorbell sounded, followed by the creak of a door opening. Then came the sharp click of heels—someone was approaching.
“Ugh~cha!”
With a soft thud as someone plopped onto the sofa and let out a small, adorable sigh, a woman’s voice that sounded quite young reached my ears. Once settled, she suddenly spotted something and cried out in surprise.
“What? I’m not first? When did you get here?”
“…A week ago.”
In the seat directly across from her, which had been empty moments before, another woman now sat. Her voice carried a natural grace that practically dripped from every word. She elegantly crossed her legs and took a silent sip from the cup in her hands.
“Ehh… that long? You must’ve been bored…”
“Not really. I was so busy getting used to this body that I didn’t even notice the time passing. It’s not bad…”
The woman across from her raised her left arm, twisting it this way and that as she offered her strange assessment.
“What about me? Me? Aren’t I super cute? How do I look? How do I look?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Tch. You’re so half-hearted!”
The indifferent response made the woman beside her puff up in genuine frustration. Though I couldn’t see her face, I could easily imagine her cheeks puffed out in a sulky pout.
“…”
The woman facing her didn’t bother to reply. Time continued to flow. From the side came the sound of someone humming a tune. Occasionally, she tapped the table impatiently, as if bored.
-Ding-a-ling~
“Oh! You’re already here. You came early, huh?”
“Hello~”
-Ding-a-ling~
“What? You two came together?”
“Hehe, we ran into each other on the way!”
-Ding-a-ling~
“Huuu… I’m late… I overslept…”
-Ding-a-ling~
“Last place! Last place is here!”
“She says she’s late~”
The sun and moon rose and set over and over. With each cheerful ring of the doorbell that came once or twice a day, new voices joined in, gradually filling the empty sofas. From children to mature adults—the voices of many different ages filled the space noisily. At a rough count, there were easily seven or eight people. And every single voice belonged to a woman.
“…Is this everyone in this group?”
After another long stretch of time, the first woman—who had remained silent until now—spoke again. Her mature, graceful voice resonated between the gentle strains of music.
“It feels like a few are missing. Where’s Spica? And Polaris?”
As if searching for them, she glanced around at the still-empty sofas. Then her gaze lingered unusually long on the spot where I was located.
“Spica said she didn’t want to come. She wants to stay human. She said she’ll live her whole life as an ordinary girl, so don’t look for her or call her.”
In response to her question, a woman with a lively voice shook her head lightly.
“She said we should grant her final wish or something… That’s what she told us before she left. Anyway, that kid’s a bit weird. Maybe it’s because she possessed a corpse instead of a living body…”
“Poor Spica. Still, she won’t be able to refuse her will forever. What is she going to do later…?”
The voice sounded genuinely sorrowful.
“What if she ends up spilling everything…?”
“It’s fine. Even if she wants to, she can’t do anything anyway. You know that.”
The graceful voice gently quelled the timid one’s worries.
“Actually, it might be for the best. She could become an unexpected variable. After all, the authority rests with me, the Alpha entity. So what about Polaris?”
“Umm…”
At the graceful woman’s question, the timid voice that had stayed silent in the corner raised her hand and began to speak hesitantly.
“When I was still in my egg, I was close to Polaris… I think her egg might have cracked…”
“What? What do you mean?!”
“H-huuuuu…”
“Sigh, you’re scaring her so much she can’t even speak. Come on, take a deep breath and calm down…”
“Hoo, hoo, hoo…”
After being soothed, the timid woman finally continued.
“I could feel her biological signals the whole time she was asleep… but a few years ago, they suddenly cut off… If the signal stopped like that, it means her egg must have cracked…”
“How on earth…”
Someone muttered in a dejected voice.
“Shouldn’t we look for her now?”
“What’s the point? If her egg cracked years ago, she’s probably already dead. Even if she woke up, she wouldn’t have been able to adapt…”
“What do we do…? Polaris was the strongest star in this group… Without her…”
“What are you talking about? Whether someone’s here or not doesn’t matter. We just do what we have to do.”
The graceful woman’s voice cut off the worried one sharply.
“Enough. Let’s talk about work. What are each of you?”
“Search unit under the National Army Barrier Guard, rank of Staff Commander.”
“Night stage singer.”
“Eastern circuit healer.”
“Nun.”
“Low-ranking member of the southern branch of the People’s Liberation Front.”
“I’m a flower shop owner.”
“Pfft… flower shop owner…”
“Hey! Why are you laughing? What’s wrong with being a flower shop owner?!”
“I’m…”
It felt like a scene from childhood, when everyone introduced themselves in class. Once all the introductions were finished, the first graceful woman gave a small, satisfied nod.
“Not bad. You’ve all inherited your memories, right? Then…”
“…Wait.”
“Why?”
The woman who had introduced herself as a member of the Barrier Guard stopped her. At her serious tone, everyone seated turned their ears toward her words.
“…Tsk.”
“What? What is it?”
“The Great Adversary… is still alive.”
At her words, the warm atmosphere shattered in an instant. A chilling silence descended over the entire space.
-Grind…
The graceful woman occupying the head seat ground her teeth fiercely.
“That can’t be… How…? I clearly saw a fatal blow land directly on the core…?”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. His name is on the active roster in the military database.”
The soldier woman nodded as she answered.
“Still, it does seem he sustained critical injuries. He doesn’t appear to have his former strength. It’s not exact, but he’s definitely less than half as strong as he was in his prime.”
“Even so, we can’t let our guard down. Considering he ruined our great cause… we must eliminate him for certain. What is his current condition? Make an inference.”
“Mostly rage and hatred. There are traces of resignation and despair as well. Beneath that lies lingering attachment and lamentation toward the past. And regret.”
“If we just dangle a little bait, he’ll bite right away.”
“I’ll do some groundwork from behind the scenes. If the Great Adversary still holds a grudge against us, the moment he finds any trace, he’ll definitely try to follow it.”
It was the voice of the woman who had introduced herself as the eastern circuit healer.
“I’ll cross beyond the barrier. Demons? Still, these guys seem to have higher particle affinity than those monkeys. We might even be able to make them submit to us, just like taming demonic beasts.”
“I’ll have to head back down south. If things go well, we might be able to use the inferior species’ remnants.”
“I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing. Surprisingly, the night stage has a lot of connections to those in power. If I play it right, I might be able to dig deep into their circle.”
“…Good. Then I’ll prepare to deal with the Great Adversary. I’ll have to make him a grave. I can’t repeat the same mistakes my sisters made.”
The woman at the head seat, who had finally regained her composure, nodded.
“Will it be alright…? No matter how weakened he is…”
“Don’t worry.”
It was the graceful woman’s confident voice.
Crack.
A sound like glass cracking echoed noisily from all directions. Soon, with a shattering noise, the illusion that had covered everything began to dissolve. The already rusted and broken amplifier produced no sound at all. The table placed in the center of the sofas was rotten and crumbling, on the verge of collapse. Through the gaping holes all around, the sound of wind and waves rushed in unfiltered. The walls once decorated with elegant famous paintings and warm-toned wallpaper had vanished without a trace.
I turned my gaze to the right. A pure white sandy beach and waves foaming as they broke came into view. In the distance stood old buildings reduced to nothing but skeletons, looking as if they might collapse at any moment. The direction from which the sea was visible was not west, but east. It told me that this place was still part of the unreclaimed territory of the old civilization.
I turned my gaze forward again. With a swift sound, the face of the graceful-voiced woman instantly morphed into someone else’s. There sat a woman with clear, blue eyes. Yet despite her kind appearance, the only thing filling her face right now was a smile brimming with malice.
“He won’t be able to move a single inch. I can guarantee it.”
A fresh breeze tickled my ears. The repeated sensation of something rough licking my lips pulled me back to reality. When I slowly opened my eyes, I saw a small creature with cream and amber fur diligently licking me with its tongue.
“Ttangkong… ah…?”
-Meow~
Ttangkong lightly bit my lip. Her expression seemed to scold me for waking up so late, or perhaps she simply looked angry. I looked around. The scene definitely resembled a hospital room. I felt like I had been dreaming about something just now. The only thing I could remember was the face of some woman wearing a wicked smile that didn’t match her kind appearance at all. I didn’t even know her. Was that some kind of ridiculous dream…?
“…Ugh.”
As sensation returned, throbbing pain began to bloom from various places all over my body. Maybe because I had just regained consciousness, my memories felt incomplete. I groaned as I tried to figure out the source of the pain.
-Mrrp~
Ttangkong cried as if begging to be petted. I tried to lift my right hand for her, but for some reason it wouldn’t move at all. Feeling as if something heavy were pinning it down, I turned my head.
What I saw there was someone I had never even imagined.
“Zzz… zzz…”
Yeon Minha was leaning her upper body against my hospital bed, fast asleep. Her face was filled with an exhaustion that didn’t suit her noble features at all. She looked exactly like someone who hadn’t slept properly for days. The sweet floral scent that filled the hospital room felt familiar—and now I realized it was the scent that always came from her body.
Beside her lay a water canteen filled to the brim and a white towel that showed signs of repeated use. For a moment, my heart sank with a heavy thud. I quickly checked whether my mask was properly in place, but the familiar texture covering my face stably brought a sigh of relief.
My right hand still refused to move at all. It felt as if it were tightly bound inside something. Just as I gave up and tried to lift my left hand to pet Ttangkong instead—
“…?”
I suddenly realized the reason behind the strangely natural sensation I had been feeling for a while. I tilted my head in confusion. Where my body touched Yeon Minha’s… I felt no discomfort at all.