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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Work days make break times feel incredibly short. The same ten minutes feel long when you’re working and short when you’re resting. As if someone were intentionally manipulating time.
I only went out three days a week: for duels, and for my weekend part-time job.
Originally, it was just the duels. Checking on the convenience store while monitoring Yu-bin didn’t really feel like work.
But since starting the part-time job, even though I had significantly more days off, the weekdays felt short. Even on my days off, all I could think about was work.
My shift at the Café started at 2 PM on Saturdays. It had been three weeks, and Pink became more talkative with each passing week. Maybe because of our brief argument last week, she was especially chatty today.
“And then the cat suddenly rolled over and showed me its belly, like it wanted me to pet it.”
“I see.”
She was talking about a cat she’d met after work yesterday. From what I gathered, she’d only spent about 10 minutes with the cat, but she’d been talking about it for an hour.
If I didn’t respond, she’d pressure me to, and if I gave a perfunctory answer, she’d take it as encouragement to talk more. Either way, the outcome was the same, so I chose the less tiring option and gave minimal responses.
“So, I petted it, and it loved it! Look!”
She stopped preparing ingredients, took out her phone, and showed me pictures of the cat.
“Yeah, it’s cute.”
I wasn’t interested in animals, so I gave a noncommittal response and continued preparing fruit for the juice orders. I needed to finish this quickly to get some rest.
“Your responses are so boring!”
I thought she was finally going back to work when she put her phone away, but she smacked me on the back, complaining about my lack of enthusiasm. She seemed to forget her superhuman strength sometimes.
“Yeah, I’m a boring person. Now let’s prepare the ingredients.”
Work felt like actual work this week. Pink was talkative and often mentioned Hunter Killer, but she never revealed anything important. She’d made up with Yu-bin, but since she rarely attended meetings, it was unlikely she possessed any valuable information. My motivation waned.
My lack of motivation affected my work. I didn’t need this part-time job to survive.
But working this hard to gather information and coming up empty-handed made me feel like I’d chosen the wrong path. And Pink, my surveillance target, wasn’t even working tomorrow.
“You’re not coming in tomorrow, right?”
“No, I’m meeting some friends.”
“Friends?”
I was surprised she had friends who could tolerate her boisterous personality.
“Yeah, they work at a company, and we’re meeting up after a long time.”
Since office workers couldn’t meet during the week, they’d decided to meet on Sunday, the less busy day of the weekend.
Her words made me curious.
“Do your friends know you’re a superhuman?”
She stopped working, looked up in thought, then shook her head.
“Probably not. I haven’t told them. I didn’t used to be so open about it like I am now.”
I doubted she’d flaunted her superhuman abilities in school, given the societal prejudice superhumans faced.
I felt a sense of unease, but since she was meeting up with them after a long time, they must be close friends, so they’d probably be accepting even if they found out, I reasoned.
Even if I felt uneasy, there was no need to offer unsolicited advice. There was nothing to gain. We’d argued and made up last week, and I didn’t want to upset her again so soon.
“Shouldn’t you tell them?”
“They’re my high school friends. They’ll find out eventually. It’s not too late to tell them later.”
Pink resumed her work, and I helped her.
The next day, as expected, Pink didn’t come to work, and I arrived early to help the owner with the opening preparations.
She explained the procedures in detail, in case there were any changes to the schedule and I had to open the café in the future. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be working here. If Pink quit, I’d have to quit, too, and if my target changed, I’d have to leave as well.
Still, since I was currently employed, I decided to learn everything properly.
The quiet morning passed, and the afternoon shift arrived. She usually worked the evening shift and closed theCafé, so we’d only exchanged brief greetings before. I knew her face and that she’d been working at the cafe for about six months.
“Hello.”
She greeted me first, so I nodded in response. With Pink gone, I started working a little more diligently.
The evening shift worker had more experience at the café than I did, so there were no problems, and now in my third week of weekend shifts, I was starting to get the hang of things and could handle most tasks independently.
However, I couldn’t shake the feeling of demotivation. I felt like I was just going through the motions, forgetting my true purpose.
“A, are you and Yu-ra dating?”
“Huh?!”
I turned around, surprised by the part-timer’s sudden question as I was washing dishes.
“No. I just heard you guys have good chemistry and work well together. And you seem less energetic with Yu-ra not here.”
It was true that I felt less energetic without Pink. How could I be motivated when my primary target wasn’t around?
The part about good chemistry and teamwork was a misunderstanding. Pink was the energetic one; I’d never actively engaged with her enthusiasm.
And the teamwork was probably because I was still new, so Pink often helped me out, which might have been misinterpreted.
“No, you’re mistaken.”
“I see. I was just wondering.”
I wasn’t sure what she was wondering about, but it seemed like there were strange rumors circulating within the café. The owner hadn’t said anything, so she probably dismissed them as gossip.
“Good work today.”
My unmotivating shift finally ended. I changed clothes and headed towards the subway station. I felt this happy just from finishing work; I wondered how good it would feel to go home after winning a duel.
Even though Yu-bin was my girlfriend, I still wanted to win against her in our duels.
“It’s hot again today.”
I checked the weather forecast and sighed, seeing no rain in the near future. The summer days were long, the sun was scorching, and the heat lingered even after sunset. It’s going to be a hot summer, I thought as I approached the subway station. Just as I was about to enter…
“What?”
I saw familiar pink hair on the bench outside the convenience store next to the subway entrance.
Pink, who’d skipped work today to meet her friends, was slumped over, face down. I couldn’t see her face, but there was no one else with such vibrant pink hair, so I recognized her immediately.
“She’s back already?”
I thought she’d be out all night, catching up with her friends, but she was sitting here alone, before sunset.
Since my surveillance target was right in front of me, I couldn’t just go home. I walked over to her, intending to at least say hello.
“Kwon Yu-ra, what are you doing?”
I called out to her, and Pink lifted her head slightly. I could smell alcohol on her breath.
“Ooh! Ah-ssi~”
Her demeanor changed instantly as she saw me. She raised her voice and sat up.
“You smell like alcohol. Were you drinking in the afternoon?”
I’d assumed she’d be drinking until late at night, but it seemed she’d already had her fill and come here to pass out. I should have just gone home.
“Yes! I was drinking alone because I was feeling down!”
I looked at the bottles in front of her, puzzled. Two empty soju bottles and a bag of chips.
“I thought you were meeting your friends.”
I texted Yu-bin, saying I’d be late, and sat down across from Pink. It seemed like this was going to be a long story.
“I did. I did…”
Her voice suddenly lost its energy, and she slumped forward, resting her arms on the table, staring at me.
“I told my friends I was a superhuman, like you said.”
It was just the beginning of her story, but seeing her state, I already knew what was coming.
“They said I was disgusting.”
A wave of disgust washed over me at her words. To me, humans and superhumans were the same, just Earthlings. I understood feeling uncomfortable around someone different, but would you feel that way towards a close friend? I didn’t understand.
“What was disgusting?”
“I don’t know. They just said I was disgusting…”
She reached for one of the empty soju bottles, as if wanting another drink, and I took it from her and placed it under the table.
“Wait here.”
I went into the convenience store, and she watched me. I came back with two bottles of soju, sat down, and placed one in front of her, keeping the other for myself.
“Drink.”
She was my surveillance target, but that wasn’t important right now. We’d spent the past three weekends together, laughing, talking, and even arguing, and we’d developed a rapport. If I were an ordinary Earthling, we probably would have become friends.
And seeing her drink alone, hurt by others, didn’t sit well with me.
“Cheers!”
Pink opened the bottle, filled her plastic cup, and raised it for a toast. I opened mine and clinked the bottles together. I wasn’t a big drinker, but Pink needed someone to talk to over drinks.
“So, what happened?”
“What do you mean? I flipped the table and left.”
It was a typical Pink response. However, seeing her dejected expression as she stared at the table, I figured she’d probably just left without causing a scene. Even though they’d expressed disgust towards her, they were still her friends, after all.
“Don’t dwell on it. They’re not your friends.”
I clinked my bottle against her cup and took a sip. Pink grinned at me, downed her drink in one gulp, and refilled her cup.
“Now I have no friends.”
She sighed deeply and took another drink.
“There’s me, you know. Me.”
Pink was definitely a high-energy person, more than I could handle. While I was generally more subdued than most, I didn’t dislike her for it.
Honestly, I’d even considered that it might be fun to have a friend like her. Putting aside my surveillance mission, my personal feelings towards her were positive. That’s why I was happy when she made up with Yu-bin, and why I readily forgave her when she apologized to me. I’d also apologized, feeling partially responsible for our argument, and she’d responded cheerfully.
“Huh?”
All I could offer her was my friendship. At least the café staff and I didn’t judge her. I could be unbiased because I was from Spacetroe, but she also had the people at the cafe.
“And the people at the café.”
“Right, there are people who like me.”
She smiled at me.
“Hee hee, so we’re friends, right?”
“Yeah, we’re friends.”
We clinked our cups again and drank. I couldn’t heal the hurt she’d experienced or fix the situation, but I could listen.
If you asked if this was also part of my surveillance, I couldn’t deny it. But my anger at how she’d been treated was genuine.
We were on opposing sides. But perhaps because we were enemies, I understood the burden of responsibility she carried.
While I might curse her for being a superhuman and beating us in every duel, I was genuinely angry that people who didn’t know her or even try to understand were judging her for fighting to protect Earth.
We continued drinking, and before I knew it, we’d finished three more bottles. Pink, now quite drunk, slumped over the table.
“Hey.”
I tried to wake her up so we could go home, but she didn’t respond.
“Kwon Yu-ra.”
“Mmm…”
She stirred slightly at her name but showed no sign of waking up. It was getting late, and I needed to go home.
“Time to go home.”
If I knew her address, I could have put her in a taxi, but all I knew was the general direction she’d gone after work. She wasn’t likely to sober up anytime soon, so I had to take her home. She’d probably wake up on the way.
“Hey, wake up.”
I hoisted her onto my back and started walking.
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System Notification 