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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Sunday afternoon. A seat inside the convenience store.
Beep!
The sound of the barcode scanner beeped from the counter as another customer’s items were rung up. I sat in a chair, looking through Red’s textbook.
It was too late to turn back time; I’d already set things in motion. I couldn’t ignore her sparkling eyes as she approached me during a lull in customers.
She was convinced I had some knowledge of her major, and I couldn’t refuse her request to help her study, especially since she was exhausted from her coursework and upcoming exams.
“Here, have this.”
Reading her textbook was surprisingly interesting. I learned what level of knowledge was currently being taught to newly graduated students on Earth, and that deep space technology was still in its early theoretical stages.
As I was engrossed in her book, she came over from the counter and offered me a drink. I bowed my head without thinking.
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry. For suddenly asking you like this.”
“No, it’s fine. I have plenty of time…”
I couldn’t escape the situation since I’d agreed to help her study at a nearby cafe after her shift ended. While I found myself reading her textbook, there was no one to blame, so I decided to use this opportunity to monitor her more closely.
“Do you work in a related field?”
“Yes, well. That’s right.”
In hindsight, it would have been better to say no.
I actually did have knowledge of deep space navigation technology, and I couldn’t think of a good excuse, so I just answered her question directly. My answer further piqued her curiosity.
“I haven’t been studying this for long, so I’ve never actually met an expert.”
“This is my first time meeting a student, too.”
Of course it was. There was no way I, a Spacetroe soldier, would have the opportunity to meet an Earth university student, let alone one studying the basic levels of the knowledge I possessed.
It was more surprising that Red, of Team Hunter Killer, was a university student studying deep space technology. I could tell from her appearance that she was young, but I hadn’t realized she was a freshman, barely an adult by Earth standards.
A customer entered the convenience store, and she greeted them and returned to the counter. I could feel her gaze occasionally flicking towards me, and I looked back at her textbook. There were notes scribbled throughout, and in the corner, there was a doodle of a Spacetroe soldier being beaten up.
“…”
Since all Spacetroe minions wore the same uniform, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the figure being hit in the drawing was me.
Time passed, and the sun began to set. A male clerk entered the convenience store to take over Red’s shift. After the handover, she changed into casual clothes—a white blouse and jeans—and walked over to me.
“I’m off.”
“Okay.”
I gathered her books and followed her out of the convenience store. I continued to follow behind her as she walked towards the cafe. Walking right next to her felt strange, and following from behind made it easier to observe her.
However, Red didn’t leave me alone as I trailed behind. Every time a gap opened between us, she stopped and waited for me to catch up.
Perceived closeness was a scary thing. I’d been watching her for over a month, but it was surprising that she wasn’t more wary of someone she’d only spoken to for the first time two days ago.
Then, on second thought, there was no reason for her to be wary of me. More precisely, there was no need for her to be. She was Red of Hunter Killer, protecting Seoul. Her physical abilities were strong enough to take down even us, who came from outer space, in one hit. So, from her perspective, if I, an ordinary-looking man, happened to be strange or did something suspicious, she could easily subdue me.
“I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Hong Yu-bin, 20 years old.”
“Okay.”
I already knew her name. It was on her nametag. While I had guessed her age, I now knew for certain that she was 20.
I could feel her occasionally glancing at me as we walked side by side, and even a monkey could understand that she wanted me to introduce myself.
“A. 25 years old.”
“A? Are you a foreigner?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
I hadn’t bothered to create an alias since I had no intention of getting involved with Earthlings. I didn’t want to seem suspicious by hesitating while trying to come up with a fake name, so I blurted out my real name. The 25 years old… I just picked an age that seemed appropriate for my appearance from an Earthling’s perspective.
“That’s surprising. I thought you were only one or two years older than me.”
Apparently, I looked younger than I’d claimed. While there wasn’t any particular advantage to appearing younger to Red, it didn’t feel bad either.
“So, you’ve graduated from university?”
“Yes.”
“Did you go to a university abroad?”
She had said it was her first time meeting someone so far ahead in her major, and it seemed to be the truth, judging by the stream of curious questions she directed at me.
“Yes.”
“Where did you go?”
I could only give short answers to her questions. Longer responses meant less time to think, so I kept my answers brief while formulating replies to her potential follow-up questions.
“MIT.”
According to the information I’d gathered, MIT was the most prestigious engineering school on Earth. Since it was located outside of Korea, it also fit the bill of a foreign university. However, that answer only fueled her curiosity further.
“You went to such a prestigious school, so why are you here?!”
It wasn’t a malicious question. She was genuinely curious about why I was here. Was the university I mentioned really that impressive? I just picked a famous name.
“Well, there are various reasons.”
“Oh.”
She nodded, accepting my answer without prying into my personal circumstances. Her gaze seemed to hold a hint of respect, which made me feel even more uncomfortable.
“Is it okay for me to learn from an MIT graduate?”
Naming the most famous school seemed to have backfired. Since it was generally a difficult university to get into, Red seemed to think that learning from me was an imposition.
“It’s okay.”
I didn’t know the level of knowledge at MIT, but considering Earth’s overall technological level, they were definitely behind us in deep space technology. Therefore, there wouldn’t be any problems with the level of knowledge, and since she had no way of verifying whether I was actually an MIT graduate, there was nothing to worry about.
We arrived at the cafe. As we went inside and found a seat, she offered to buy coffee and headed to the counter. I offered to pay, but she insisted, saying she was the one asking for help, and made me sit down.
At the cafe, her questions were incredibly basic. I answered them as she asked.
There were some differences in terminology between Earth and outer space, but I could figure those out, so it wasn’t a problem. She seemed to think anything I couldn’t immediately translate was more advanced knowledge, so when I explained it using Earth terms, she understood right away.
“Learning from an MIT graduate… amazing, oppa.”
I almost spat out the coffee I was drinking and started coughing.
“Ack!”
“Are you okay?!”
Startled, she quickly handed me tissues. I wiped the spilled coffee while coughing and looked up.
“Uh, uh? What?”
“I said it’s amazing…”
“No, after that.”
“…Oppa?”
“Yes, why suddenly…”
“Because you’re 25. You’re older than me, so I called you that… Ah! Was it too sudden?”
It was sudden, but I couldn’t help but be surprised by the word I’d heard for the first time in my life. While our language shared several similar words with Earth languages, I’d never heard the word “oppa” before, even in our own language.
At this level of familiarity, it wasn’t a matter of perceived closeness; Red, Hong Yu-bin, was just the type of person who naturally got close to people without hesitation. She was the complete opposite of me, who felt quite uncomfortable getting close to others.
“Ah, it’s okay. I was just a little surprised.”
“Really? Is this the first time you’ve heard the word ‘oppa’?”
“Yes, it is.”
To Red, I was a foreigner who graduated from MIT. She probably assumed I’d never encountered the word “oppa” because I was a foreigner. Whatever the reason, it was true that it was the first time I’d heard it.
“Oppa.”
I wiped my mouth, startled, and turned to look at her. Our eyes met, and Red chuckled.
“I thought you were weird because you came to the convenience store at the same time every day. You’re a really interesting person.”
I didn’t recall doing anything particularly interesting, but Red seemed to find me amusing.
“This is a bit shameless, but could I ask you for help with my studies when you have time? I can’t offer much, but I can compensate you.”
I preferred to keep my distance, but getting closer meant I could observe her more closely. In other words, there was no reason to refuse. I could do it without accepting compensation, but that would be even stranger, so I decided to agree to her request.
“Sure, if you’re okay with it, Yu-bin.”
“Just call me Yu-bin.”
“Okay, Yu-bin.”
“I meant you could drop the formalities, but maybe it’s because you’re a foreigner? You sound like a robot.”
Red couldn’t stop smiling every time she spoke. Finding it difficult to suddenly become informal, I scratched my head awkwardly and then decided to just go for it.
“Okay. Then I’ll speak comfortably. Yu-bin.”
“Okay. Since I’m younger, I’ll drop the formalities gradually.”
There were all sorts of people in the world. Earth had its share of variety, but there was even more diversity in the universe. I thought I had met many different kinds of people, but even after all this time, Red was a new type.
Her demeanor was so different from when we fought that I wondered if it was really the same Red who beat me to a pulp. Learning more about her would make for a good report.
“It’s already been two hours.”
Following Red, who checked her smartphone mid-conversation, I also turned on my phone screen. As she had said, two hours had passed since we arrived at the café and started studying. I gathered my things to leave.
Stepping out of the café, the humid summer air hit me. Thinking back to last year’s weather, it was bound to get even hotter… Korean weather was truly strange. While distinct seasons were nice, the summers were scorching, and the winters were freezing. I had been to planets with far harsher environments, but I had worn specialized suits then, so I hadn’t been directly affected by the temperature like this.
Having settled on Earth for 20 years, we had to blend in and hide our identities, which meant we couldn’t wear our suits and had to experience the changing climate directly.
“It’s hot. It’s going to get even hotter.”
Red, seemingly sharing my thoughts, fanned herself with her hand and voiced her opinion. Agreeing with her, I nodded.
“Thanks for helping me out even though I asked so suddenly.”
As she said goodbye, she suddenly held out her smartphone to me.
“?”
Wondering what she was up to, I remained silent. Red, looking at me, firmly uttered two words.
“Number.”
It felt like more had happened today than in the entire month I’d been watching Red. There was a lot of information, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I took her phone and entered my number.
Red then called me to give me her number. Looking at her number displayed on my phone, I felt a strange sense of accomplishment, like I had achieved something significant.
“Thank you. Is it okay if I contact you during the week?”
“Yes… uh, it’s okay.”
“Thank you! I’ll contact you again.”
Seeing her genuinely happy, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction at having someone rely on me, regardless of whether my actions were right or wrong. However, I quickly reminded myself that I was supposed to be monitoring her, so I said goodbye first and left.
Red called out to me again, but I just waved and went on my way. She seemed to be heading home, too.
As soon as I got back to my room, I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, and habitually turned on my phone. I’d missed a few calls while checking Red’s earlier call. It turned out Ruche had called 10 times.
I hadn’t given her my report on today’s surveillance and had even ignored her calls, so I figured I was in for a scolding. I called her back.
“Hey!!!”
Sure enough, Ruche yelled as soon as she answered.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were calling.”
“Are you kidding me?! I always called you on your surveillance days!”
“I’ll definitely answer next time. Please calm down.”
After fuming for a moment, she seemed to remember the purpose of her call and calmed down. In a much calmer voice, she asked about my surveillance.
“So, nothing special today?”
There was a ton of special stuff. Today was overflowing with reportable information, unlike the past month. Yesterday wasn’t much, but today was definitely full of things to report. Just as I was about to speak…
“Hold on. I have another call. I’ll get your report later.”
Another call seemed to have come in, and Ruche hung up.
“…I wonder if she’ll be okay?”
I thought it might be better to compile everything that had happened while getting closer to Red into a single report. Since today’s report was already out the window, I decided to put it on hold for now.
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