Encounter (2)
"……"
When she opened her eyes, she was on a bed in the medical room. She shoved herself upright at once. Why was she lying here?
Ah. It came back to her. She had been on her way out, just as Luna had told her to leave—and then her side had begun to hurt with a strange, vicious sharpness. She had collapsed, twitching on the floor, and her consciousness had snapped off like a blown fuse.
Now that she was awake, her body was perfectly fine. She lifted her clothes and checked her side; there wasn't a single wound. If anything, the long sleep had left her feeling clear-headed and refreshed.
But she had no time to stay like this. Quitting time was already upon her. She had to get going.
Otherwise I can't make my shift.
The shop owner was a truly kind person. They had taken her on for the night shift even though she couldn't speak.
Ah… right.
She glanced around. Kim Hana. Where was she?
I don't see her…
Leaving a note of thanks before she clocked out would be enough. She stepped out of the medical room and was just about to board the elevator when it hit her.
"…Ah. Aah."
She had forgotten. Why was everything so quiet? The alarm had definitely gone off.
Lee Sera?
What had appeared was nothing less than a B-rank Angel. No matter how strong Lee Sera was, she couldn't have won a fight like that easily.
S-surely not…
Surely. Surely. Surely. Was the silence because—surely—
She spun, frantic. There was no one she could grab and ask. She yanked out her phone and, hands shaking, searched Lee Sera. Angel appearances in Korea were not an everyday thing; every single one was splashed across the headlines. Search the name of the unit who had gone out to subjugate it, and she would know how it had ended. She prayed, desperately, that Sera was safe.
And then—
From the headlines, the subjugation had ended in success. She tapped one of the articles. The first thing that came up was a photograph: at the heart of a massive crater punched into the asphalt, a blue-haired woman stood with cold, unbowed composure. Lee Sera. In the picture she had her arms folded, looking down into the crater.
She wasn't hurt. Not at all.
A hand went to her startled chest, and a breath of relief slipped out of her.
"Whew…"
Thank god. She studied the photo attached to the article more closely—the enormous hole Lee Sera had driven into the ground, the police line strung around it, the people in white protective suits, loaded with equipment, climbing down inside. The whole scene was captured, clear as day.
She really had won.
The worse the relationship, the more drastically subordinate units' stats increase.
She hoped she had been even a little help. What a truly good ability. She was sincerely grateful to have been given something like this.
"……"
The immediate crisis was over. What she needed to pay attention to now—
Ah…
It was a little underhanded of her, but Sera had done so well. Maybe she would peek at the comments. First she checked her surroundings: the twelfth-floor corridor outside the medical room. No one was around, but she might still get caught, so she slipped into the restroom to look.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, she scrolled through them. This much was fine to read. No—as Commander, she absolutely had to. It was how she would know what people thought of Lee Sera.
…And just looking makes me happy.
"Heh. Hehe."
The laugh came on its own. It wasn't only her. Other people had come to know Lee Sera's strength—her beauty. Praise for Sera poured in without end. And then, in the middle of it, she found a comment that felt wrong.
"…Huh?"
Strange. What was this supposed to mean? This time she tried different keywords. Security Bureau. Commander. Two words, and the articles came flooding in.
[Exclusive] Unit Lee Sera's Shocking Exposé: "The Security Bureau Commander Habitually Interfered"
[Field Interview] Lee Sera, Who Soloed a B-Rank Angel: "Without the Commander's Interference, I Would Have Been Faster… The Command Structure Needs Reform"
[Photo] "The Enemy Within Was More Frightening"… Lee Sera, Savior of Seongdong-gu, Lashes Out at the Parachuted Security Bureau Commander
Wh… what?
She couldn't get a grip on it. Why were articles like this pouring out all at once? She opened the one at the top, and a video appeared. Click. Lee Sera stood on a platform with a resolute face, coated in dirt and dust, up on a dais thrown together for the occasion. Dozens of microphones crowded around her. An interview.
The reporter in the video picked up the instant she finished.
Right before deployment? I'd like to ask what kind of problem that was.
On the screen, Lee Sera let out a single sigh. Then she looked straight ahead and spoke, unflinching.
She doubted her own ears.
"Wh…?"
No. That wasn't right. She had never done that. Her mind went white. Her breathing quickened. Calm down first. She paused the video and drew one breath after another, over and over, until at last she felt a little steadier. It had to be a misunderstanding.
…It has to be.
Lee Sera might have misunderstood her. The two of them got along terribly, after all. It was more than enough reason to misread her. …Even so, it was all right.
Physical contact. At those words, the reporters in the video began to murmur.
Questions crashed in all at once.
"N-no…"
Th-this wasn't it. She had never done anything like that. Not once. And physical contact—that was a crime. Sexual harassment. A line that must never be crossed. She had never crossed it. She couldn't have. Every time she wounded someone with words, it felt like a needle driving through her chest. How could she ever have done a thing like that…
I-it's a misunderstanding.
That was what she told herself. Her hands shook so badly that the phone slipped from them.
"Ah…"
The screen shattered. She didn't have the money to fix it.
"…Disclosing personal information would be impossible under internal regulations. But there is one thing I can state with certainty."
Strength entered Lee Sera's voice.
…It was true. For Yerin, whose hatred of her was still thin so soon after becoming a unit, she had assigned the safest mission she could find—one with almost no chance of success.
…Was that real? Had it wounded Yerin that badly? Enough that she had cried by herself?
"……"
She had nothing to say. All of it was true.
I'm sorry, Yerin.
She wanted to apologize. Her voice would not come. And she must not apologize. She picked up the phone with its cracked screen. On it, Lee Sera went on, her tone even harder.
"And so I wish to say this, here and now."
…Words she could not let pass.