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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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The weather, which had been unseasonably hot until mid-September, cooled down rapidly in a week. As the cool weather arrived, people’s short sleeves grew a little longer, and one could feel the changing of the seasons.
Before heading to work for the duel, I had a conversation with Eun-ha, and one of the topics was none other than superhumans. I didn’t have any particular prejudice or narrow-minded thoughts about them, but I wanted to resolve a question that had arisen while getting to know the Hunter Killer members.
Although I could have asked anyone except for Yu-bin, who had not yet revealed her identity as a superhuman to me, I felt that asking Eun-ha would yield the most heartfelt answer.
“Eun-ha.”
“Yes?”
Having finished getting ready to leave the house, I called out to Eun-ha, and she, who was standing to see me off, tilted her head.
“Can I ask you something about superhumans?”
“Yes, you can.”
Although she said I could ask, I was still a little scared to ask directly about superhumans. There was a fear of being found out, but a bigger worry was that my insensitive question might hurt her.
But since she had said it was okay to ask, I decided to ask Eun-ha without hesitation.
“The perception of superhumans isn’t very good, is it?”
“No…”
Perhaps because she, as a superhuman, knew this better than anyone, she nodded with a slightly bitter smile.
“I was just curious why you all continue to work as Hunter Killers despite that.”
I had traveled to various planets on a Spacetroe ship. There were a few behaviors that humanity exhibited when faced with a foreign power with overwhelmingly superior technology, and most did not deviate from that scope. Of course, there were also occasional conflicts among the inhabitants of the same planet.
I had also seen cases of severe discrimination against specific races, like on Earth. But I had never seen a case where the discriminated race continued to roll up their sleeves and step forward for the inhabitants of that planet.
“That’s…”
My gaze was fixed on Eun-ha as she cautiously opened her mouth.
“If I work hard, maybe someday someone will see superhumans in a good light. I’m sure the other members feel the same way.”
The moment I heard her answer, rather than thinking she was admirable or amazing, the thought that came to me first was, if I were in the same situation, would I be able to give my all for Spacetroe? Some might see the actions of the superhumans as a given. But it was by no means an easy task.
To protect the land where you were born while facing severe discrimination, and to wait for the day people would see you in a good light? It was difficult to say one thing or another about a situation I hadn’t experienced myself, but one thing was certain: the Hunter Killer members who were consistently active as superhumans all had the same thought.
“And because I worked hard, you appeared, oppa.”
Her sincere words, delivered with a smile, gave me much to think about. Although the reason for my initial approach was different from now, I now wished for them to feel even a little bit of happiness. I felt that my feelings and the actions that stemmed from them had had a somewhat positive influence on the Hunter Killer members.
After parting with Eun-ha, I headed straight to the Spacetroe headquarters. Last night was last night, and today’s duel was a duel. It was my belief that I should not have personal thoughts during the duel.
But now that I was in a relationship with all the Hunter Killer members, I couldn’t help but think a little. I had no complaints about dueling in this peaceful manner, but it was clear that the repetition of the same actions would eventually reach a limit. The duels had been going on for a whopping 20 years, and I myself had been dueling for 10 of those years.
What was the way to improve the current situation?
“A.”
As I was lost in thought and arrived in front of the headquarters, I ran into Kruger and Jack, who had just arrived.
“You two are here together?”
“We met in front.”
Without any need for greetings, Kruger, Jack, and I entered the headquarters and headed to the 3rd floor. We entered the usual locker room and found a large number of boxes piled up inside.
“What’s this?”
Kruger, who had approached first, looked at the boxes from all sides. Just then, the locker room door opened.
“Is that all of you?”
The person who opened the door was none other than Ruche, and we, certain that she was the only one who would know the origin of the boxes, looked at her. Of course, we had something to say first.
“How can you just open the men’s locker room like that?”
“You weren’t changing!”
Looking at Ruche, who was blushing for no reason and shouting, I laughed once and immediately changed the subject to the piled-up boxes.
“What are these?”
“Look on top of the boxes. Your names should be written on them.”
“Oh, you’re right. Our team members’ names are written here.”
Jack, who had found the box with his name on it first, looked at Ruche as if asking if he could open it, and Ruche gestured with her chin as if to say go ahead.
Jack immediately opened the box, and inside was another metal box for storing equipment.
As Jack watched and touched the box, a message saying “Recognizing” appeared on the box, which was glowing green. Soon, the message changed to “Recognition complete,” and the box began to open. Inside were gloves and shoes designed to resemble iron armor.
“Whoa?! What are these?!”
Excited by the new equipment, we all looked at Ruche, who was smiling proudly.
“We got new equipment because of the good training results last time.”
“…….”
We were speechless, and Ruche, who had expected an immediate reaction, just looked at us.
And a beat later, the reaction exploded.
“Woooooow!!!”
The most excited person was none other than me. I had been waiting for new supplies, and I was just so happy that we were given new equipment as a result of our training performance.
“What?! What’s going on?!”
The colleagues who arrived late hurriedly opened the door and came in at the loud noise from the locker room. And it didn’t take long for everyone to be cheering with excitement over the new equipment. I didn’t know how long it had been since we, who had always maintained the lowest record in the Seoul headquarters, had received equipment that was supplied to all soldiers.
“Hey! Can we win with this?!”
At the words of Ban, who was trying on the gloves and was as excited as a child who had received a birthday present, we all fell silent for a moment.
“……The chances have probably gone up a little, right?”
“If we do well, maybe we will, maybe we won’t.”
It was nice to get new equipment, but just because the equipment was better didn’t mean our abilities would increase exponentially. Moreover, since we had been defeated every time by the team called Hunter Killer, we couldn’t picture ourselves winning against them even with the new equipment.
“Why is the mood suddenly down?! Everyone, go change!”
Ruche, trying to boost our morale, shouted loudly and left the locker room. Even if we couldn’t picture a victory, the new equipment would surely have an effect. My 3rd team colleagues and I, our spirits high, changed our clothes noisily and put on the gloves and shoes over our suits.
The gloves were made of the same material as the suit, and the parts covering the fingers, the back of the hand, and the lower arm were covered with metal decorations. The shoes were based on work boots and were covered with metal decorations all over. They were a little heavy, but not enough to be a problem.
Although I called them decorations, all the metal-decorated parts were the body parts mainly used for offense and defense, so our overall attack and defense would increase significantly. Soon, when I put on my helmet, the process of accessing the data of the gloves and shoes, which were synchronized with the suit, appeared before my eyes.
“It’s brand new, so the functions are amazing.”
Our team, which had fought in a semi-analog way, was able to experience science and technology for the first time in a while as we looked through the added functions one by one.
“When we were in space, there were things much more advanced than this.”
“That was a long time ago.”
When the data access was complete, the metal of the gloves and shoes, which had been clattering like iron armor, tightened and transformed to fit our bodies perfectly. I examined the gloves and shoes, which felt stable and secure on my hands and feet.
“Can I look forward to today’s duel a little?”
I asked Kruger, who was standing next to me as we went down the elevator. Kruger, who had taken off his helmet, looked into the air for a moment in thought, and then a smile spread across his lips as he looked at me.
“Wouldn’t it be okay to look forward to it a little?”
Feeling like we had gone back to our days in space, Kruger and I were extremely excited for the first time in a long time. When we arrived in the basement, we ran into the 4th team, and they were also talking about the new equipment they had received.
“What? Is the 3rd team going to a duel?”
The window of a van rolled down, and Seira, who was in the passenger seat, poked her head out.
“Yes, is the 4th team also dueling today?”
“Yeah, we are.”
Kruger saluted first. Since there were subordinates present, he asked her politely in formal speech, and Seira answered me familiarly.
Suddenly, the thought of the 4th team’s opponent, Team Guerrilla, came to mind again. Kruger must have felt the same, as he became quiet.
“Work hard, and make sure Ruche doesn’t cry.”
“It happens all the time, so don’t worry.”
Seira also seemed to be in a good mood today, perhaps because she saw her subordinates excited about their new equipment.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
I patted the shoulder of the still-standing Kruger, and we headed to where the 3rd team’s old van was parked. In the driver’s seat, Daniel, the driver, was already sitting and looking at his smartphone. I knocked on the window and greeted him lightly.
“What? Daniel, why do you look so down?”
“……You guys got new equipment.”
I let out an “Ah” without realizing it. Daniel, unlike us, was not a regular combat soldier. For us combat soldiers, new weapons were new equipment, but for Daniel, who was in charge of driving, his equipment was none other than the car.
I looked at the old van for no reason and patted the shoulder of his dejected-looking face.
“Hey! Don’t worry. We got new equipment, right? Who knows, if we get good results, we might get a new car.”
“Yeah, if we win.”
He wasn’t being sarcastic about our long history of defeat. Daniel, too, couldn’t imagine our team winning against Team Hunter Killer. Since I couldn’t bring myself to say that we would definitely win, Kruger and I got in the car.
As we sat in the back seats and waited, our colleagues came down one by one and got in the car. Ruche got in the passenger seat last. The car, which was, as usual, over capacity, was so full of men that it was hard to find any empty space.
But today, we were in a better mood than usual. The reason, as I keep saying, was the new equipment. We had occasionally received and used experimental weapons, but that could hardly be called a supply.
But since we had been properly supplied with equipment that could actually be used in the field, we were able to steel our resolve for the first time in a long time.
We excitedly rode in the car driven by Daniel to today’s duel location. Today’s location was a large construction site in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, an empty lot where no buildings had been erected yet, with only some construction materials placed here and there.
Since it wasn’t a place where people frequented, there was no need to control civilians, so I thought the duel would proceed more smoothly than usual as I got out of the car.
And we were greeted by an unfamiliar sight at the duel location. The faces were familiar. We couldn’t help but be familiar with them. But the scene itself was endlessly unfamiliar.
During duels, teams were sometimes switched due to scheduling. But our 3rd team was not one of them. I didn’t know if it was because we always lost and they didn’t want to pit us against other teams, but we, who had never had our opponents changed even if our duel schedule was adjusted, couldn’t help but be flustered.
Ruche also seemed completely caught off guard, as she was staring at the scene with wide eyes.
“You’re here?! You fucking small fries!”
A large number of men, wearing suits of the same material as the Hunter Killers but without helmets, were standing there. And we couldn’t help but be familiar with their faces.
How could we forget the faces of those who had brutally ruined our enjoyable team dinner?
Even as we put on our helmets and faced the enemy, I could feel the atmosphere among my colleagues change drastically.
For the first time since the duels began 10 years ago, we were facing Team Guerrilla.
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