Episode 2 - Lee Siyeon
I drummed my fingers busily across my phone screen. The message had come from the supply team I used to report to every day. Yet unlike my light tapping, each new bubble rising up the chat poked my heart like a needle.
I stopped my finger just above the send button. In truth, only my heart was racing ahead of reason. When I thought about it calmly, the team leader hadn’t said a single wrong word. They couldn’t let the raid team’s supplies be delayed even slightly because of me.
“This is actually driving me insane… If it’s like this, even if I wanted to work…”
That was the end of the conversation that kept running away. Still, I had so many things I wanted to say. All the things I, a non-combat ability user, was supposed to do for them.
I kept typing.
Container 17 has the high-concentration atomic shells loaded, so please be careful.
And make sure the cargo-exclusive portal device layout is uploaded properly…
Also, it’s the day the association’s facilities team is scheduled to visit…
I wrote for a long time. I knew. To the team leader, I was probably just one of many faces that passed by. I had already passed, but doing this at least eased my mind.
“What for?”
Lee Siyeon spoke in a completely deflated voice. I answered calmly. The bright energy she had shown earlier had already vanished somewhere between the lines I was typing.
“You open your mouth and the first thing out is sorry, sorry.”
“You’ve already done everything there is to be sorry for.”
“Again.”
It sounded like she was covering her mouth with both hands. Picturing it made her strangely cute.
“Pfft.”
I really do have a hopelessly optimistic personality. I had ended up laughing at her expression just now. It was funny to think that an S-class ability user strong enough to make you question why she was even inside my inventory would act like this. In my head, people like her were supposed to be like superheroes from movies.
The adorable gap between hero and this…
“Yeah. In the end, we’re all just people.”
When I had glanced inside the inventory earlier, I caught a glimpse. No, I saw it clearly. Lee Siyeon. She was an S-class ability user affiliated with the First Raid Team. The insane combat unit that had shoved every giant monster rampaging across the globe back into the Purple Hole. And the uniform worn only by S-class members of that team. She had been wearing it.
In fact, the moment I first heard her voice, I had suspected. There was no mistake. She was the kind of person whose story still circulated among people because it was so shocking.
One day, urgent news broke that the First Raid Team had sent a rescue signal from deep inside the Purple Hole. At the time everyone thought it was nothing serious. Given that team’s reputation, they figured the elites would handle it. I had taken a sip of beer while watching and switched the channel.
But the next day, the rescue team sent to the First Raid Team issued their own distress call. The association had thrown together a makeshift team. Sensing something wrong, the Ability Users Association dispatched a properly organized squad. Yet, absurdly, that squad also sent a rescue signal. Another team went in, another signal came out. It kept repeating.
I genuinely thought the news had turned into a comedy show. Every team that entered vanished like some surprise event. There were even rumors that the association was pulling an April Fool’s prank early.
The final rescue team had probably been scraped together after the association begged retired S-class users. In any case, that last team took the risk and opened a portal from deep within the Purple Hole. The transmission was too faint for a movement portal, but people came pouring out. They scrambled through like they were fleeing for their lives. Their terrified faces, frantic footsteps, and trembling bodies were broadcast live across the world without missing a single frame.
I sat in front of the TV that day, swallowing hard as I watched. I couldn’t imagine what kind of monster they had provoked so deep inside the Purple Hole that they wouldn’t even look back while running. But no monster appeared.
Lee Siyeon, charging at the reporter after blowing away her own team. In that instant her figure appeared on live television, every news channel cut out. Apology statements flooded the airwaves calling it a broadcasting accident. Strangely, the very next day, celebrity scandals erupted nonstop.
The association’s official statement always came in the same dry tone: “This rescue signal was an error caused by a malfunction in the portal device, leaving the teams stranded.” Nobody believed it. The final image captured on that live feed—the clear shot of Lee Siyeon obliterating the First Raid Team and rushing toward the people around her—had been burned into the world’s memory. The association had taken down every copy of the footage, but if you searched “Rescue Team Blender” on YouTube, one or two raw cams were probably still floating around.
“Siyeon.”
She didn’t answer. She was definitely reading the mood. After finishing the chat with the team leader, I had simply lain there staring at the white hospital ceiling with an oddly enlightened expression. For a full thirty minutes I hadn’t said a word, just stared blankly.
What was I supposed to do? It felt suffocating. It was like fighting with a girlfriend who didn’t even exist. No matter what I said, she would only shrink back and apologize. I had no idea what first words could break us out of this stifling atmosphere.
Another thirty minutes drifted by. We still hadn’t spoken. I just scrolled mindlessly on my phone. I could feel the emotions she had left inside my heart slowly growing heavier. The feelings she had poured toward me when she first grabbed my throat—apology, guilt, pity. Right now those feelings were like awls stabbing both of us at once.
Because of me…
…Please… please endure it…
Those were the words Lee Siyeon had whispered in her heart to a nameless stranger. Yes. I didn’t know exactly what her ability was, but she must have been terrified of the monster that had devoured her while raising her.
<Sorry, murderer.>
Of course I had lost a great deal, but looking back now, the nickname had been overly emotional. What if the person hearing it felt pain from the very awl I had thrown? What if they forced themselves to smile because they felt sorry? Was that truly what I wanted?
If so, then I was no different from a monster. I had hurt someone. No matter the result, the process mattered too. The house had been destroyed, but it wasn’t intentional. She had choked me, but she had also begged me to endure. Yeah, it was stupidly optimistic, but still.
Right now she existed inside my heart. That much was certain.
“Siyeon. I’m sorry.”
“You’re listening, right? I apologize for calling you a murderer.”
“No, I was being emotional.”
“Anyway, I’m sorry…”
“No… I’m more sorry.”
“Anyway… I’m even sorrier… I apologize…”
“Yes…. I’m sorry I couldn’t die for you… Even now I feel like I could die from how sorry I am… I’m sorry…”
At the very end I lightly mimicked her tone. I heard a small, surprised puff of laughter from her.
“Ha… Did the mirror therapy help a little?”
“If you realize it, then please stop saying sorry to me. I feel like I’m going to hear it in my dreams when I sleep, you know?”
It felt like I could see her smiling brightly. As expected, she was prettiest when she smiled.
“I was talking about your voice.”
“Are you trying to swear at me?”
“It would actually have some reverse charm if you swore in that voice.”
After that she fell silent, seemingly deep in thought. I closed my eyes and quietly peeked into the inventory. She stood with her arms crossed, pondering, then suddenly raised her index finger with an expression that said ‘Ah!’
No… this kind of thing…
She seemed to have tried delivering it in her own version of a cool tone. It really didn’t suit her at all.
“Did you… just swear at me?”
I covered my eyes and laughed like I was watching my nephew’s adorable antics at daycare. After thinking so hard, that was all she came up with…
“Wow… seriously… pfft… You really do have a pure soul… pffft…”
“No… pffft… It’s funny…. Jinx.”
I copied her clumsy attempt at a cool tone and laughed again.
“Huh?”
A sudden attack by dropping the subject. I hadn’t seen that coming at all…
Uh… maybe the gap-moe charm wasn’t necessary after all.