—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
On a quiet Saturday afternoon, four subway stops from my apartment, there was a bustling neighborhood, always crowded regardless of the time of day. A 15-minute walk from there led to a quieter area, where a cozy café stood.
This café, which also sold pastries, occasionally saw a surge of customers thanks to active promotion on social media. However, due to its remote location, it was usually empty on weekdays. That didn’t mean it was always packed on weekends, though. Customer traffic was erratic, with significant fluctuations even on Saturdays and Sundays. As proof, the cafe was nearly deserted on this Saturday afternoon, making me worry if they could even afford the rent.
So, why was I here?
I was currently doing dishes with Pink of Team Hunter Killer.
“Sigh…”
“Already sighing on your first day?”
Just being around her, with her unpredictable energy, was tiring.
To explain this situation, we need to go back three days.
“Pink?”
“Yeah, I’ve roughly identified her location.”
Last week, Ruche had told me she was changing my surveillance target. After a week of observing Red, I had nothing substantial to report, so she decided to switch things up. I also found it increasingly uncomfortable to monitor Yu-bin while simultaneously being close to her, so I agreed to the change.
“So, we’re going there now?”
It was a weekday afternoon. I’d been called to headquarters and found Ruche in civilian clothes, suggesting we go somewhere. I was dragged along, clueless, onto the subway, where she finally told me my new target was Pink, and we were on our way to her location.
“Couldn’t you have told me that earlier? I was wondering why I even bothered wearing this wig.”
Ruche was wearing a black wig to hide her ash-grey hair and had toned down her usual heavy makeup. It had been so long since I’d seen her in civilian clothes that I’d forgotten how plain she looked.
Today, she was wearing a black knee-length skirt, a white t-shirt, and a denim jacket.
“But do you need to go yourself? You just gave me the location for Red and sent me on my way.”
“I’m not sure about the exact location. Do you have a problem with that?!”
I looked out the window, avoiding Ruche’s glare, which resembled that of an angry alley cat. She frowned at my blatant disregard.
“Stop frowning. You’ll get wrinkles.”
“I’m younger than you, so it’s fine.”
“Yes, yes.”
Ruche was my superior and the executive in charge of our team, but she was the youngest among us. Since we were in a hierarchical organization, age wasn’t important, and I’d never cared about it, but sometimes, when she acted childish, we couldn’t help but feel protective of her.
“And stop wearing such heavy makeup. I’ve told you so many times it makes you look older.”
“It adds to the atmosphere!”
Ruche was also self-conscious about being the youngest and often wore heavy makeup during duels to compensate. We’d told her countless times, but she wouldn’t listen. Today, with her lighter makeup, she looked 10 years younger.
“That ‘atmosphere’ of yours makes you look even less mature.”
I hadn’t meant to nag, but once I started, I couldn’t stop. I was usually the one being lectured, but on rare occasions, like this, I became the nag.
“Look, it’s been 20 years since we arrived on Earth, and you haven’t changed at all.”
While Earthlings and our kind shared a similar physical structure, there were significant differences in our biological rhythms and lifespans. Earthlings changed significantly in appearance after 20 years, but we barely aged.
The advantage was that we maintained our prime physical condition for a long time. The disadvantage was that our mental development was slower compared to Earthlings, perhaps due to our overflowing physical energy.
Of course, there were individual differences, so I couldn’t generalize, but Ruche, in particular, hadn’t changed much in the past 20 years.
“And when we lose a duel, you always cry. What’s the point of telling you not to cry when you just end up crying anyway? It makes it hard for us to treat you like a proper superior.”
I continued my nagging until I noticed Ruche had fallen silent. I turned my gaze from the window to her.
“Sniffle, sob!”
Ruche was looking down, hiccuping. It was a sign that she was about to cry, and I immediately regretted my harsh words.
Ruche wasn’t mentally strong. She wasn’t easily broken, but she often cried when someone she was close to pointed out her flaws, even if she was aware of them.
While I’d only met her in person after arriving on Earth, we’d often communicated while working on the ship during our space travels, so we were the closest within the team.
While our long acquaintance made us comfortable with each other, it also meant I was the most likely to trigger her tears.
“I was joking! Joking. You’re very mature, Ruche!”
I immediately backtracked, trying to console her, but even Ruche knew I wasn’t being serious.
“Forget it…”
This was bad. If she sulked, it would last for days. We were on our way to find my new surveillance target, and things wouldn’t go smoothly if Ruche was upset.
“You’re the best, Ruche! You’re so amazing!”
Being on the subway, surrounded by people, limited my vocabulary. I felt ridiculous, but that wasn’t important right now. I had to stop Ruche from crying.
However, nothing I said seemed to work, so I had to resort to my last resort.
“Sigh…”
This was a desperate measure that required deep breaths and mental preparation. I’d used it once before and hadn’t wanted to use it again.
Steeling myself, I placed my hand on Ruche’s head, who was showing signs of tears, and started stroking her hair.
“No, our Ruche is so amazing.”
Ironically, this method—treating her like a child—worked best on Ruche, who hated being treated like one. I felt my heart cringe and goosebumps rise; it went against my nature. But I knew it worked, having done it once before under pressure from my teammates. As I said, I had been trying to avoid this—treating her like a child—because it felt incredibly awkward.
“…”
Ruche’s hiccups gradually subsided, and she quietly kept her head down.
“I’ll buy you ice cream when we get off the subway.”
She didn’t answer, just nodded.
No matter how revealing her clothes or how heavy her makeup, it seemed impossible to erase the childish side of this emotionally fragile Ruche, at least not in the next few years.
Finally, after buying Ruche ice cream, things started moving.
“It’s this way.”
The summer sun beat down on us, and I was sweating just from walking. The thought of having to walk this route every time for surveillance made me nauseous.
After a 15-minute walk from the station, we found a cafe nestled among several buildings.
“It’s there?”
“Yeah, I wonder if she’s inside.”
We peeked inside, trying not to look suspicious, but the interior, where the counter was located, wasn’t clearly visible from outside.
“Wait a minute. They won’t recognize us anyway, right?”
“…Right?”
Ruche looked completely different, and they’d only ever seen me in my suit during duels, so there was no way they’d recognize me.
“Let’s go in as customers. That would be the most natural.”
“Okay.”
Still feeling a bit nervous, we entered the café. The clean, brightly lit interior had a pleasant atmosphere. Ruche and I walked towards the counter.
No one was there, so we called out, and someone slowly emerged from the back. Pink hair, light purple eyes, and a mask covering half her face. But from her eyes and demeanor, we knew she was Pink of Hunter Killer.
“Where is everyone?”
Pink, looking around outside and seeing no other employees, came to the counter.
“Can I help you?”
She greeted us with a professional smile, and we tried to order as naturally as possible.
“Iced Americano, please…”
I couldn’t call Ruche by name, so I just placed my order and looked at her. Ruche, looking even more nervous than I was…
“I’ll… uh, iced chocolate! Please.”
She wasn’t any better at maintaining her composure than I was.
“Okay. I’ll let you know when your drinks are ready with the buzzer.”
We paid, took the buzzer, and sat down at a table.
“What are you doing? Trying to look suspicious?!”
“Look who’s talking! Why did you hesitate like that?!”
We started bickering quietly. Knowing this argument would inevitably end in my defeat, I surrendered first.
“I won’t do it again. If there is a next time, that is.”
“Why do you always say such unlucky things?”
“Do you know how nerve-wracking surveillance is? I never know when I’ll get caught and my head chopped off.”
“There’s a no-killing rule!”
Sensing the conversation escalating, I raised the white flag again.
Ruche was right; killing was forbidden, so we absolutely couldn’t harm each other. But it was still frightening.
While I was now in a relationship with Red, things could have turned out very differently.
“Fine. We’ve confirmed she’s here. So, I’ll be in charge of monitoring her from now on, right?”
“Yeah. Do you have a plan?”
Just as Ruche asked, the buzzer went off, and I got up to get our drinks. Pink was at the counter. Avoiding eye contact, I tried my best to avert my gaze.
“Thank you.”
As I turned to leave with the tray, something caught my eye. A handwritten sign posted below the counter: “Weekend kitchen help wanted.”
I memorized it and returned to the table with the drinks.
“How was it? Do you think she suspected anything?”
“If she did, do you think I’d be sitting here?!”
I snapped at her ridiculous question, keeping my voice down. After a moment of thought, I decided to just ask Ruche, who was right in front of me.
“Ruche, can I get a second job?”
“Huh?”
She must have thought I was crazy. Of course, without any context, my request to get a second job sounded absurd.
“I want to work here.”
It wasn’t that I had a brilliant plan. There was a Korean saying, “To catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger’s den.” To properly monitor my target, I had to infiltrate her workplace. It was a bit reckless, but my experience with Yu-bin had taught me something.
A single conversation yielded more information than countless hours of covert observation.
Of course, I hadn’t obtained any game-changing information while monitoring Yu-bin. But I’d learned that the nature of my relationship with the target significantly impacted the information I could access.
So, I applied, interviewed, got accepted, and was told to start the next day…
And that’s how I ended up in this situation.
“This morning, too, as I was coming to work, I felt someone staring at me again.”
Pink was unlike anyone I’d ever met. She was excessively sociable, and watching her chatter excitedly was like watching a hyperactive, pink-haired puppy. I didn’t mean that in a good way.
Her excessive sociability was such that she was now recounting the events of last night and this morning to me, someone she’d essentially just met, since there was no way she’d remember me as a customer.
‘This feels wrong.’
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
