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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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I’d called Oppa to go to the bookstore. Seeing him standing outside after exiting the subway, I couldn’t help but shake my head.
Beige cargo pants and a blue checkered shirt. He was wearing such questionable clothes that I almost wondered if I should pretend not to know him.
However, I needed study guides, and I couldn’t ignore him just because his fashion sense was atrocious, so I called out to him as he stared blankly at Gwanghwamun Square.
“Oppa!”
I suddenly remembered that I’d only told him the time and place without mentioning where we were going. We went to the bookstore together and looked through the study guides.
I was grateful that he came out, even though a sudden request from someone he barely knew might have been bothersome, and he helped me find books as if it were his own task. It felt wrong not to compensate him for his help, but my finances weren’t in the best shape.
For now, I needed to find a study guide, so I browsed through the books, intending to leave the bookstore quickly. Then I could figure something out.
After we bought the study guides and stepped outside, Oppa’s outfit, which I’d forgotten about while focusing on the books, caught my eye again. I unconsciously frowned. We weren’t close enough for me to comment on his fashion, which made it even more frustrating. I wanted to fix his sense of style somehow.
After leaving the bookstore, I treated Oppa to a meal. It was one of the few ways I could show my gratitude, since I couldn’t afford to take him to a fancy place. I took him to a nearby Chinese restaurant.
“Because I’m grateful. So grateful.”
Oppa smiled and thanked me, even though it wasn’t a big deal. I thought he was a kind person.
I felt drawn to him because he was somewhat clumsy but kind, and he never complained. More than romantic feelings, I felt a sense of guilt for not being able to repay him properly.
I couldn’t even fathom how much it would cost to get tutoring from someone who graduated from the world’s most renowned engineering school. Yet, he was grateful for a simple meal at a Chinese restaurant. I felt both apologetic and thankful.
It wasn’t until I went to the restroom after ordering our food and looked in the mirror that I realized I was wearing white. I wasn’t even particularly out of it, yet I had somehow ordered jjambbong while wearing white.
I needed an apron. When I returned to our table, I saw an apron placed on my chair, and my gaze immediately went to Oppa.
“In case it splatters.”
“…Thank you.”
It might have been a small gesture for him, but I was happy he’d been thoughtful.
“If I can get free meals like this, I should ask you for a lot of help.”
“You’ll bankrupt me.”
Oppa joked as we ate, but I wondered if he was being serious. I knew the gap in our knowledge was immense, so I responded half-seriously.
After the meal, we parted ways. Back home, I took out the study guide Oppa had chosen for me.
He’d said it was well-summarized and perfect for my level, so I started reading right away. I lost track of time, and it was late by the time I finally showered and went to bed.
From the next day, I contacted Oppa more frequently. I couldn’t help it; I had a lot of questions after buying the study guide. However, I couldn’t just contact him during the day, knowing he had work, so I marked the parts I didn’t understand while studying and asked him about them all at once in the evening.
[Oppa, what are you doing?]
[Just hanging out. What’s up?]
[You know right away when I text, don’t you?]
I’d start the conversation like this and ask Oppa whatever I was curious about, and he’d always answer immediately. His prompt replies led to more frequent exchanges, and we even started talking about personal things.
Mostly about me, though.
[Well, I’m constantly being nagged at work. They just sit around while I do all the work.]
Oppa would laugh, sympathize with my excessive workload, and listen to my complaints. I compared the low attendance rate at Hunter Killer meetings to group projects and talked about the Alliance work as if it were another part-time job.
Since he wasn’t involved, I couldn’t tell him anything about the Alliance work. It wouldn’t be appropriate.
The next day, I had exams. I took exams from morning till afternoon. Besides “Deep Space Technology Theory,” Oppa had helped me with several other subjects, and despite the short study period, I felt like I did well.
[I took the exam today, and I think I did well.]
[That’s good to hear. Did anything I taught you come up?]
[Of course. I was able to solve them thanks to you.]
I couldn’t help but smile whenever I texted with Oppa. I felt like he cared about me. He offered a sense of comfort I couldn’t find at school or at the Alliance.
[So, what are you going to make me buy you this time?]
[I’ll let you know when I get paid lol]
Time flew by as we texted, and I opened my textbook again, remembering I still had to study. While texting was fun, I couldn’t put off studying with exams right around the corner.
The exams went well. Again. I took the “Deep Space Technology Theory” exam, and most of what Oppa taught me appeared on the test. While I knew the scope of the exam beforehand, the high accuracy of his predictions was surprising.
[Oppa, are you secretly a professor at my university?]
[What are you talking about? lol]
[Everything you told me came up haha]
Tomorrow was the last exam, and I had a duel scheduled for the afternoon, so it was going to be a busy day. Feeling relieved that I’d overcome a major hurdle, I chatted with Oppa a little longer than usual.
[Are you ready for tomorrow’s exam?]
[I should probably study now.]
It wasn’t until Oppa mentioned it that I remembered I still had studying to do. I hurriedly started studying, and the thought of tomorrow’s duel made my head spin.
Oppa never contacted me first, and I only contacted him at night, so there was no need to mention what we did during the day. He seemed to be working during the day, too.
I finished studying and went to bed early to prepare for the busy day ahead.
The last exam didn’t go well. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but I was worried that I wouldn’t get a good grade. After leaving the university, I headed straight to Alliance headquarters.
I arrived just in time for the duel. I joined my teammates, who were already there, and we rode our motorcycles to Namsan Park.
Spacetroe was already there. We evacuated the civilians before the duel. There were some kindergarteners, and Spacetroe, surprisingly law-abiding for invaders, made sure the children were far away from the duel site.
I didn’t know the name of this particular Spacetroe team we always fought. We just called them Spacetroe. We’d faced other teams a few times, but none were as intensely serious as this one.
While we always won because of our individual abilities, I couldn’t understand the branch manager’s insistence on reassigning our achievements, considering how fiercely these guys fought.
“Yah!”
Ruche, the enemy executive, pulled out a staff I’d never seen before, and it clashed against my sword. I thought I’d blocked it easily, but a shockwave pushed me back.
“Bringing a strange weapon… Blue!”
I called for backup, and Blue, from a distance, aimed her gun at Ruche and fired.
A flash of light shot towards Ruche, but she deflected it with a shockwave from her staff. I was certain it was a troublesome weapon and decided I had to destroy it.
When the soldiers around Ruche were all down, our team’s attacks focused on her. It was many against one, but there was no time to discuss fairness. If we started losing, Seoul, Earth, would fall into their hands.
“Why don’t you just surrender?!”
As I faced Ruche with my sword, the fallen Spacetroe soldiers got back on their feet, and my teammates engaged them.
A shockwave coursed through me as I locked swords with Ruche’s staff, but I held my ground.
One of the soldiers who’d gotten up threw his sword at me. I almost couldn’t dodge it because I was locked in combat with Ruche, but her staff broke under the pressure of my attack.
The thrown sword grazed my helmet. I punched the soldier who charged at me after throwing his sword, right in the face.
I was exhausted from withstanding the shockwaves from the staff, but I put all my strength into the punch, aiming for a one-hit KO, and it worked. I saw the soldier fly back and was about to approach Ruche, who looked devastated by her broken staff, when my body stumbled.
“Retreat!”
A Spacetroe soldier shouted, and the remaining soldiers quickly retreated from the duel site, carrying their fallen comrades and Ruche.
“…Let’s go back, too.”
Exhaustion from the fight hit me all at once, and I didn’t have the energy to do anything else. At my suggestion to return, my teammates turned towards their motorcycles.
Back at Alliance headquarters, everything was as usual. Blue and Green had already left, and Yellow and Pink were finishing up and getting ready to leave. I was about to head home, feeling aches and pains all over my body, when…
“Red, the branch manager wants to see you.”
“Suddenly?”
We were supposed to report to the team leader, not the branch manager, on the day of the duel. I’d just finished reporting to the team leader, so the branch manager’s summons made me uneasy.
I knocked on the branch manager’s door and entered. The white-haired branch manager sat at his desk, looking through documents.
“You called for me?”
“Yes. I heard you won the duel today.”
“Yes.”
The thought, What is he going to say now?, wouldn’t leave my mind.
I wished he’d stop talking about reassigning our achievements.
“There was a new weapon on the enemy side this time?”
“It wasn’t exactly a ‘new weapon,’ but it was something we hadn’t seen before.”
I had reported on Ruche’s staff, of course, and just talking about it made me feel drained. My muscles felt completely exhausted after enduring those powerful shockwaves, like after an intense workout.
“Why didn’t you secure it?”
“Excuse me?”
It was one of the things I’d heard since joining the Alliance: securing the enemy’s tools and equipment. But that only applied when it was feasible.
“If it was a new enemy weapon, you should have secured it and brought it back.”
The purpose of securing enemy items was to analyze Spacetroe’s technology. However, in the past 20 years, the Earth Defense Alliance had never successfully secured any of Spacetroe’s equipment.
Whatever technology they used, the secured items would quickly disappear, and we couldn’t figure out the cause, so we were stuck.
Many scientists had tried to figure it out, but the overwhelming technological gap presented a limit to what our current intellect and technology could achieve. Apparently, many scientists had even quit, feeling despair at the difference in technology.
“Securing items is only done when it’s feasible. Attempting to secure items and increasing the risk of defeat or injury to team members would result in a significant loss.”
The branch manager, who had been looking at his documents, looked up at me with a sharp gaze. I hated that look.
“Aren’t you the team that always wins? How could there possibly be a scenario where you experience a loss?”
I wanted to throw the branch manager, who only knew how to sit and talk, in front of the Spacetroe enemies and show him how intense they were.
He was right; we always won. But we never became complacent. Spacetroe were invaders, enemies, villains, who came to Earth to conquer it. But it was also true that they fought with a desperate intensity for their own survival.
Did the branch manager even know, or want to know, the fatigue we felt after facing them every time?
“Failing to secure an objective right in front of you… I suppose this could be considered underperformance.”
He spouted such nonsense. Every time I heard it, I felt disillusioned and wished someone would do something about him.
Why?
Why?
Why?!
Why did I have to listen to this after fighting so hard for Earth and winning?
“You may leave if you have nothing else to say.”
There were so many things I could say to refute him. I knew I should speak up.
But I didn’t want to say anything to a man who spouted such nonsense, obsessed with reassigning achievements.
Fatigue weighed heavily on my shoulders.
For the first time in my life, I experienced it. Even when you had the perfect means to refute something unfair and dirty, the disillusionment of not wanting to see the other person as human made you give up on the conversation.
“I’ll be going then.”
It hurt. I didn’t know if it was my body, my head, or everything. I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the pain.
It felt like the pain shifted whenever I tried to locate it. My head felt muddled, and my body felt heavy. I wanted to go home and rest. I wanted to go back to where I could rest.
“Yu-bin.”
As I walked aimlessly, a familiar voice called out to me on my way home. I slowly lifted my gaze, feeling like I was about to collapse.
“Oppa?”
He was there. Had he just stepped out for a bit? Dressed in comfortable sweatpants, hands in his pockets, he was looking at me.
“Oh, hi.”
I hadn’t expected to run into him. I usually bought food from the convenience store, so what was he doing here?
“This is a coincidence. Running into you like this.”
“I was just coming to buy some things after work.”
It seemed Oppa was also finished with work. I should remember that for future text messages.
“Aren’t you going to the convenience store today?”
Did he want something different from convenience store food? While it filled you up, it would be better for his health to eat something more nutritionally balanced.
“Why would I go when you’re not there?”
……….
I felt my eyes widening as I stared at him. I’d never felt so flustered. Oppa, who had been looking at a signboard as he spoke, turned his gaze to me, and I couldn’t meet his eyes, so I looked away.
“…If you have time, do you want to grab something to eat?”
The thought of going home to rest vanished as if it had never existed.
He usually didn’t contact me first and only joked about eating together, so why now?
Why was he saying this now, with a smile, when I was feeling so down?
The fatigue in my body and the stress in my head disappeared instantly, and I couldn’t hide my smile.
“Yes, I’d like that.”
“I’ll treat you. Let’s go.”
Oppa led the way, and I walked beside him as we headed to a restaurant.
As we sat waiting for our food, I noticed Oppa rubbing his cheek.
“Are you hurt?”
It wasn’t a place you’d easily injure. How did he hurt himself? Such a klutz.
“Yeah. I bumped into something while spacing out.”
“How do you bump your cheek like that?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was such a perfectly clumsy thing for him to do.
“Hold on.”
I had a disposable ice pack in my bag that I’d packed before the duel. The ice had mostly melted, but it was still good enough to soothe the pain.
“You carry that around?”
“It’s disposable. I packed it just in case, but I didn’t end up using it. Put it on the sore spot.”
I gave him the ice pack. As he held it to his cheek, he stared at me. Was something wrong? His gaze made me self-conscious.
“Yu-bin, next to your eye.”
“Huh?”
Was there something on my face? I took out my hand mirror and saw a small cut. It wasn’t very noticeable, but it had left a small scar.
“Oh? When did that happen?”
“Hold on.”
Oppa suddenly got up, went to the counter, and came back with some ointment from the owner.
“Apply this to the cut, and here.”
He then took out a flesh-colored band-aid from his pocket.
“You carry this around too?”
“I get hurt often because I’m clumsy.”
I burst out laughing again, remembering him saying he’d bumped his cheek while spacing out.
“What’s so funny?”
I couldn’t stop laughing at his genuinely confused expression.
“Nothing. It’s just that I can see why you’d say you get hurt often because you’re clumsy.”
“Oh? Is that how I’m perceived?”
I could clearly picture him hesitating and fumbling around the convenience store, trying to decide what to buy. Memories of him coming to the store for over a month flooded my mind.
“Well, oppa, you always fumble and hesitate when choosing things at the convenience store.”
“I’m not really a clumsy person.”
It was amusing that he wasn’t aware of it. I felt more comfortable with Oppa, whom I’d only known for a little over a week, than with people I’d known for years.
“Sure, sure, whatever you say.”
I tried to suppress my laughter, but I couldn’t. We continued our conversation in a playful tone until we finished our meal.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Yeah, get home safe.”
We said goodbye in front of the restaurant. I wanted to talk more, but I didn’t want to impose on him, so I held back.
I watched him walk away, then turned to head home.
It would be a lie to say that all the stress and frustration from earlier had disappeared, but seeing Oppa had made me feel much better.
“Ah~ that was fun.”
I hummed to myself as I walked home, my steps light. I wondered how I should contact Oppa tomorrow, then remembered I had my convenience store shift.
“It’s already Friday.”
Oppa would come to the store at the usual time tomorrow, right?
Ah, I couldn’t wait to see him again.
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