Encounter (3)
"Are you saying this with the Commander's removal in mind? With stripping her of the post altogether?"
"Do you mean you have no faith in the Security Bureau's personnel vetting?"
"Have you already settled on a concrete plan for the confirmation hearing?"
The reporters all opened their mouths at once, and the questions came pouring out.
Lee Sera answered none of them. She only watched them with the look of someone turning a thought over, and the corner of her mouth lifted, just barely.
"I won't be answering any questions for the moment. That said, I don't particularly distrust the Bureau's system."
The Commander. It was only the person she couldn't trust.
"Then, Miss Lee Sera, do you strongly hope the Commander of the Seoul Security Bureau will be replaced?"
"Mm... that..."
But going so far as to drive the Commander out...
There was no need for that.
I... I don't really know.
Lee Sera said what was in her heart, exactly as it was.
"I'm not hoping for a replacement. I only wonder whether she's a properly vetted appointment, and how she managed to climb all the way to that seat."
The thought alone made her skin crawl.
...A disgusting person. Nothing to her but a face and a body, and yet she had run wild with absolute arrogance, wounding everyone around her.
...And she had trampled Sera's pride underfoot.
She would make her pay for that. Without fail. As she was now, she could. She had grown that strong.
...Why, though?
There was nothing especially wrong with her body. No particular change at all. Nothing about her was different, so why had she grown this strong?
"Do you intend to hold the hearing in public?"
"...Yes."
Lee Sera answered after a hesitation. By regulation, the personal details of Bureau personnel were never supposed to be exposed. And besides, once that information got out, the people of this country would tear into the Commander with a truly relentless hunger. That much was obvious. Until she stepped down. No—even after she stepped down, they would keep tearing until the day she died. Like piranhas.
...Had she gone too far? Was this really all right?
A shadow settled over Lee Sera's face. Setting aside the wrongs the Commander had committed, wasn't she herself doing something far too cruel?
...No.
Lee Sera had grown stronger. She had finally reached the very peak, by proving her ability cleanly and completely. So this much... surely it was all right.
She worked hard to justify herself. If she didn't go this far, the Commander would never repent her own faults. It couldn't be helped. That was all it was.
...Is that really true?
Once the excitement ebbed a little, reality finally came into view, and Lee Sera called out in a rush.
"I think I'll bring this to a close for today. Well then—"
She left the endless stutter of shutters behind her and forced herself to turn away.
"Just a moment! One more word, please, Miss Lee Sera!"
"What about the exact schedule for the hearing..."
"Everything you've just said—have you discussed it with the Bureau internally..."
Lee Sera clenched her right eye shut.
And then—
CRACK!
Every camera still spitting shutter-sound shattered at once.
"Ah..."
She watched the reporters stand there, utterly stunned, and then climbed slowly into the helicopter. Now she had proved it. Truly, no one could stop her anymore.
Father.
Not even that man.
"......"
I think I understood why the Bureau had been empty.
"Wake up, Security Bureau!"
"Dismiss the criminal Commander at once!"
"Respect the units' human rights!"
I glanced out past the window. A considerable crowd had gathered in front of the Bureau building, shouting exactly that.
I'm not a criminal, though...
Even so, I wasn't entirely unhappy about it. So many people, gathered in one place, raising their voices for Lee Sera. It was a sight utterly unlike the original game, where the Bureau had collapsed under contempt, sneers, and mockery.
Will I even make it home in one piece?
I had been walking slowly down the corridor, and there truly wasn't a soul. They must have left only a skeleton crew for upkeep and sent everyone else home. ...I could guess whose judgment that had been.
Luna.
She's probably still here alone.
Could I find her? I had to find her and explain, somehow—that I hadn't gone so far as to commit a crime. ...Because only then would I be able to keep this seat.
I stepped into the elevator, and I was just about to head for the top floor.
"Hello, Commander."
Someone spoke with their body tucked out of sight, back resting against the wall.
"You shouldn't go up right now. The higher-ups are in a meeting."
"......"
I walked back out of the elevator and looked toward the voice.
There's... no one?
Looking more carefully, that wasn't true. I lowered my gaze, slowly, and there she was—a unit with a small frame. Kwon Ari stood with a faint smile.
"Don't look down at me. I don't like it."
"......"
I turned my eyes elsewhere.
Kwon Ari was a girl with hair as white as snow and blue eyes, uncommon in Korea. The youngest unit in the Security Bureau. In the original, she only begins to join the protagonist from the middle of the story onward.
"Commander."
I nodded.
"You don't really know me, do you?"
I knew her well. There hadn't been many points of contact between us, but even so, as Commander, I had every unit in the Bureau committed to memory. I was about to shake my head.
"Commander."
"......"
"You really are amusing."
Her face brightened, bright and loose, as if she had just seen something terribly entertaining.
"Was everything Sera said true? Really? Did you actually run wild in front of people like some unhinged brat?"
I started to shake my head—and then I looked into Kwon Ari's eyes. There wasn't a trace of malice in them. There was even a faint chance she felt some goodwill toward me. I was about to deny it completely.
Then I nodded.
I confirmed it with my own body. I told her, yes, that had happened. ...Even though it never actually had.
"Then is that true too? You put your hands on Sera? In a way she hated?"
No. That one, at least, I truly meant to deny.
"Then would you like to try it on me, too?"
"......"
Kwon Ari leaned in, slowly. She tipped her hips back just a little, emphasizing a comparatively modest cleavage, and with her head cocked she came up at me from below, drawing nearer by degrees.
Why is she doing this...?
I retreated several steps in a hurry and pulled out my smartphone.
I wrote it and held the screen up for her to see.
"Ah. You really can't speak. Commander."
She said it with that faint smile again.
"Commander."
"......"
"If you had laid a hand on my body just now, I was going to use that as evidence and drive you out completely. By showing it to the people outside."
Click.
Kwon Ari took out her phone and snapped a picture of me.
"And."
A thin, vicious sound, as if the wind itself had been sheared.
"Nnh..."
My cheek stung. It felt exactly as if it had been sliced open. Only when red blood began to run did I finally understand.
Her ability.
"I was thinking of cutting your hand off, too. Commander."
Kwon Ari was still smiling.
"I always pay back exactly what I'm given. And I always return exactly what's done for me. Do you understand what I'm saying, Commander?"
Lee Sera. She was immensely popular with the other units, because she looked after them so well. So—
"I don't want to treat you like a person."
Kwon Ari's voice changed. The smile was gone. What remained was a voice with nothing in it but dryness.
"Don't you feel any guilt? How many people have you hurt?"
"......"
Another shear of wind, and this time a small wound opened on my shoulder.
"......"
A hole had been torn through the shoulder of the suit I was wearing. And I don't even have the money to get it mended...
"Answer me, Commander. What on earth were you thinking, letting things come to this?"
"......"
"Commander."
Kwon Ari's finger pointed toward the window in the outer wall.
"Those people out there. If I threw you into the middle of them right now, what kind of reaction do you think they'd have?"
...I don't know. It wouldn't end well.
"They'd tear you to shreds and kill you, don't you think? And if that happened, I wouldn't have to stay locked up in here either."
"......"
"If not that—well, your face really is beautiful, Commander. Those people know that part very well, so... who can say?"
Tap, tap. She prodded my lower stomach with her fist as she said it.
"There's another way. Right here."
"Ah—ngh..."
"Go on, say something. Ah. That's right. You can't."
I fought to hold back the tears that wanted to spill.
"Commander. Since you earned this post with your body, couldn't you send those people away the same way? I'd like to go home, too."
...No. That really isn't it. With no way to refute her, it was suffocating. It really isn't...
"I'm joking, Commander. Did you enjoy that?"
"......"
"Instead, there's something I'd like to say to you seriously."
Kwon Ari cocked her head.
"Please apologize."
"......"
"Apologize to Sera. Apologize to those people. Come now, it isn't too late."
I gave a small shake of my head. Eyes narrowed, I looked at Kwon Ari. How dare you. Do you even know who I am, doing something like this? I mouthed the words as if I were snapping them at her.
If I let another slur slip—something like trash—this girl, too, might be wounded the way Yerin had been. I know better than anyone. Kwon Ari. A girl who spits venom on the outside, and is truly fragile within.
In that moment—
"Commander."
Thud. Kwon Ari shoved me with both hands. I lost my balance and fell backward.
"You're someone words don't reach. Take this."
"......"
What she held out was...
A bandage.
"Put one on every place you're hurt. Your face, especially."
Kwon Ari's hand moved slowly toward my cheek.
"A scar would be a problem, wouldn't it? Here. I'll put it on for you."
"......"
What was she intending?
"I always pay back exactly what I'm given. Commander."
Honestly, I was a little afraid.
"There's no one here, is there? Commander. Right now it's only the two of us."
"......"
"Which is why—"
Another shear. This time my thigh was cut, clothes and all.
"You're going to end up with quite a few wounds, so put the bandages on properly. Otherwise you'll scar."
I flinched. The moment I understood, and squeezed my eyes shut—
Ding.
The closed elevator doors opened.
"C-Commander?"
Kim Hana. The medical officer had appeared.
...Ah.
I still hadn't thanked her. I looked up at Kim Hana's face. ...Her color had gone a bloodless blue.
Why...?