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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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People naturally make eye contact during conversations, and even if they don’t, they’re still conscious of the other person’s face.
Therefore, when remembering someone, unless they have a particularly distinctive feature, we tend to remember their facial features.
The face is the most visually prominent part of a person, and even minor blemishes are easily noticeable, especially when meeting someone for the first time.
“…”
However, it’s not easy to bring up a facial injury, especially if it’s not a typical one. Typical injuries might include a scratch or, for men, a shaving cut. Atypical injuries, on the other hand, are things like bruises, which clearly suggest a story.
Superhumans healed incredibly fast. Green, a superhuman, having a bruise meant she’d been injured recently.
And I couldn’t bring myself to ask her about it.
Was it because I’d just been researching superhumans? The thought of something bad happening to her, something I couldn’t even imagine, made it difficult to speak.
Green and I were enemies. But I didn’t harbor any ill will towards her. We were opponents in a battle for planetary control, but my feelings and thoughts towards her were no different from those towards any other person.
“It’s cool today.”
Her soft voice made me want to look away from the tree I’d been staring at, but I didn’t want to see her face, so I kept my gaze fixed on the tree.
“It is.”
I replied briefly, then wondered what to say next. While I wasn’t obligated to make conversation, I felt like I had to, to avoid mentioning her bruise.
“You come to this park often?”
“Yes, I come here sometimes when I have nothing to do.”
I suddenly remembered Yu-bin mentioning that Green had been reluctant to go home lately.
Reluctant to go home, and a bruise on her face. The unpleasant implications made me shake my head, trying to dismiss the thought.
Green was staring at me as I sat there, lost in thought, shaking my head, and I felt her gaze.
“Are you okay?”
Was she worried I was feeling unwell? Her concerned voice made me turn my head, and our eyes met, her green eyes like a lush forest. My gaze then drifted to the bruise on her cheek. It was a dark, purplish blue.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just thinking about something.”
“I see.”
She seemed to be studying my reaction, and I gave a short reply and looked back at the tree. Her curiosity was understandable. I had remembered her from our brief encounter two days ago and was now talking to her again, a stranger.
Honestly, it wouldn’t have been surprising if she’d considered me suspicious and left.
I stared blankly at her profile as she looked at the trees. I knew she wouldn’t want a stranger asking about the bruise on her face, so I decided to drop it.
“I work near here.”
Having dismissed the thoughts about her bruise, I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Was I worried about seeming suspicious? I wasn’t even sure why I’d said that.
“You work at a company?”
“Yes, at a small company.”
While the scale of our operation was massive, there was no need to mention Spacetroe, so I just gave a vague answer, not really thinking about what I was saying.
“Working overtime?”
“Yes, I’m on overtime, but I stepped out for a bit.”
It was a typical response, someone working overtime at a nearby company taking a short break.
“You work weekends, too?”
“Well… I don’t really have set weekdays or weekends.”
I actually worked less on weekdays and more on weekends. My weekday “work” involved getting beaten up by Green and her team.
“That sounds tough.”
“No, it’s okay. My colleagues are good people.”
While my work involved physical pain, I considered the people at Spacetroe, my workplace, to be good people. Ruche, despite her frequent crying and short temper, cared about me and my colleagues, and I felt the same from the branch manager.
“Work…”
She trailed off, and I wondered about her workplace, the Earth Defense Alliance. Yu-bin and Yu-ra had said the atmosphere was improving, but it was probably just within their small circle.
I could assume this because both Yu-bin and Yu-ra only talked about each other when discussing Hunter Killer. While they occasionally mentioned other team members, it was usually just Yu-bin saying things like, “So-and-so was like this today.”
Of course, they didn’t use names or specifics, so I couldn’t tell who they were talking about, but it was clear they talked about each other far more often than anyone else.
“Do you work?”
“Yes, I work at a small company, too.”
This was always the most nerve-wracking part. Pretending not to know what the other person did, even though I already knew. I wasn’t a good actor, and I always worried I’d slip up and be exposed.
“I’ve been working there for three years, but I’m still not close to my colleagues.”
Green had revealed herself as a Hunter Killer a few months before Red while the timeframe wasn’t significantly different, I distinctly remembered Green appearing first.
“Is there something wrong?”
“I tend to be a bit reserved. And my colleagues aren’t exactly the friendliest…”
She seemed to realize she’d said too much to a stranger and quickly added,
“But they’re not bad people. They’re all good people, it’s just… I’m not good at making friends…”
She forced a smile, worried she’d given a stranger a negative impression of her team, and I just nodded without replying.
“I’ve always been like this, so I’m not good at making friends.”
Yu-ra had described Green as an airhead, but I thought she seemed more like an overthinker. Overthinking made her responses slow, which might have been misinterpreted as being airheaded.
And she seemed to dwell on her delayed reactions. It was just my observation, and Yu-ra’s assessment, having known Green much longer, was probably more accurate.
But seeing Green sitting here, lost in thought, suggested my assessment wasn’t entirely wrong.
“How about trying to have more personal conversations?”
“Personal conversations… like what?”
I hadn’t considered what kind of personal conversations to suggest and thought for a moment. I wasn’t a reserved person myself, so I couldn’t think of any examples and I didn’t know Green well enough to suggest anything specific.
“Like what you did yesterday, for example.”
“Every day is the same.”
Some people did live monotonous lives, with the same routine every day.
“Or how about asking them about what they did?”
Green seemed to consider this, lost in thought for a moment.
“Actually, two of my coworkers have become closer recently.”
I thought she was about to reveal some internal Hunter Killer information, but it was just the story of Yu-bin and Yu-ra becoming friends, something I already knew.
Their conversations were so limited. I couldn’t imagine what the previous team dynamic had been like.
“One of them kept asking the other if she had a boyfriend.”
“!!”
I felt a lump in my throat, even though I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything. I coughed, trying to hide my surprise, and continued listening. I couldn’t help but be self-conscious, hearing them talk about me.
“And it seems like the other one also got a boyfriend recently.”
“Is she acting much differently?”
“Much… I guess? She has another job, and she’s been more cheerful when talking about it.”
That Yu-ra… was she that happy about being friends with me?
Or rather, judging by her behavior at work today, she seemed to have already decided we were more than friends. This made answering her question even more difficult…
“I want to join their conversations, but I don’t really have anything to contribute.”
“Listening is also important. Conversations require both a speaker and a listener.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. They’ll probably be happy to talk if you just listen attentively.”
I could say this with confidence, knowing Yu-bin and Yu-ra. They were both outgoing, and Yu-ra, especially, loved to talk; she would be happy to chatter away with just a little encouragement. As long as she didn’t suddenly declare me her boyfriend, everything would be fine.
“Try agreeing with them and adding to the conversation. That might lead to more topics and encourage them to open up more.”
“Okay, I’ll try that next time.”
Green smiled, perhaps encouraged by the prospect of being able to join their conversations. Seeing her smile, a much better expression than her previous blank stare, made me smile, too.
“Oh, I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Kang Eun-ha.”
“I’m A.”
“A?”
She tilted her head at my unusual name after she’d introduced herself.
“I lived abroad.”
One thing I’d learned from Yu-bin and Yu-ra was that mentioning living abroad was a quick way to explain an unusual name. It was like a cheat code for deflecting questions.
“Wow! I’ve never met anyone who lived abroad!”
“Really? I’m not that unusual.”
While I wouldn’t say it myself, I wasn’t a special person. Even though I’d lived abroad, I looked East Asian, so I didn’t stand out as a foreigner. The only unusual thing about me, from a Korean perspective, was probably my name. As proof, Green didn’t react to my comment.
Our brief conversation had made me lose track of time, and I checked my watch, realizing it was almost time for the last train.
“I should get going.”
I stood up and said goodbye, and Green smiled and nodded.
“Okay. Thank you for talking with me today. I hope we meet again.”
“I work nearby, so I’m sure we’ll run into each other.”
We didn’t make any concrete plans, but we expressed our hope for a future encounter, and I headed towards the station.
Green remained on the bench, looking at the trees. Or rather, at the wind. She checked her watch; it was well past 11 PM, and she decided to go home.
She sighed as she stood up.
“Time to go.”
She muttered to herself and slowly walked home.
Her apartment wasn’t far, a five-minute walk from the park, an old villa. She opened the worn front door and stepped inside.
A musty smell, mixed with the strong scent of alcohol, made her frown.
A man was sleeping on the living room sofa, snoring loudly, and Green tiptoed towards him.
After confirming he was deeply asleep, she went to the bedroom, grabbed a thin blanket, and covered him with it, then looked around the messy living room, littered with empty bottles.
“He drank more again.”
She started picking up the bottles one by one.
She accidentally stepped on a plastic bag, the rustling sound making the sleeping man stir, and Green froze, her attention focused on him.
He settled back down without waking up, and she checked on him.
“Dad?”
She whispered, then resumed cleaning.
She felt a throbbing pain in her bruised cheek.
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