Chapter 34 - That Video

I should have checked who it was before waking him...

I lamented my own stupidity. I should have remembered that the commander-in-chief lived here too. Barging into my superior's home and waking him up—no subordinate could be more hopeless than that.

I quickly lowered my eyes and apologized.

"I'm terribly sorry."

"For what?" Yehyeon murmured, his head lowered and his eyes closed.

He was plainly still half-asleep. Seeing him like that doubled my guilt.

Still berating myself, I apologized again.

"For waking you, sir. I'm sorry. Please don't mind me. Go back to sleep."

"Mm."

His voice thick with sleep, Yehyeon flopped back onto the sofa.

Silence returned instantly. Watching him lie there with his eyes closed, I backed away ever so carefully.

I'd just slip quietly into the guest room beside the entrance.

"Oh."

Yehyeon's eyes opened halfway.

"What brings you here, though?"

"Ah."

I stopped dead in the middle of retreating like a thief. Looking at my superior as he stared blankly at the ceiling, I answered.

"Well, Yun told me to come use the guest room. He said the house would probably be empty. I didn't realize you were here. I'm sorry. I'm already imposing enough..."

"Is something wrong with the old building?"

My superior sat up again. The guilt was killing me. Having raised his pale body, Yehyeon pressed his hands firmly against his eyelids.

I chose my words carefully.

"There's nothing wrong with the old building, but I've run into a small problem with Mr. Mühlen. So..."

"Mühlen?"

Yehyeon's eyes widened. They were already large, and now they grew larger still.

"John Mühlen?"

"Yes, sir. It's because I did something stupid. It's nothing serious, so please don't worry about it."

"Did he happen to say he wanted to experiment on you, and you said yes?"

Was he psychic?

I stared at my superior dumbly.

"How did you know?"

"Just had a feeling."

I'd better never lie to this man.

Yehyeon slowly peeled himself off the sofa. His white shirt and black trousers were rumpled, presumably from sleeping there. He paid it no mind, though, and walked slowly across the living room with sleep still in his eyes.

I didn't dare move from my spot. He shuffled diagonally across the living room, then stopped and looked at me.

"Have you had dinner?"

I hadn't, but I was afraid that if I admitted it, he'd offer to make me something. Before I could answer, though, Yehyeon spoke.

"I can tell from your face you haven't."

I really had better never lie to this man.

He resumed his loose-limbed shuffle. The sound of his bare feet on the spotless floor echoed through the living room. Even his walk said he was off work. Everything about him had gone limp.

Was this what they meant by saying he was so mild he was practically a pushover?

The pale man drooped his way across the spacious house and opened the refrigerator. With his head buried inside, he asked,

"What do you like?"

"No, Commander. I'm really fine."

"I haven't eaten either."

"Then let me order something."

"Sure. Order whatever you want. My card's on the table."

Yun. Please come home soon.

After confirming once again that my superior didn't mind what we ate, I deliberated before settling on sliced raw fish. I tried to pay with my phone, but Yehyeon firmly insisted that I use the card on the table.

Unable to argue any further, I promptly ordered from the raw-fish restaurant he recommended. Estimated arrival for the full set meal: thirty minutes...

"I'll sleep a little longer. Make yourself at home."

Yehyeon headed for the sofa with his eyes half-closed. I nodded and dashed into the guest room.

The moment I shut the door, I let out a sigh of relief at being alone. This was where I'd stayed that bleak night when the cabin was destroyed. Having been here once before made it feel fairly familiar.

In the bluish darkness stood a chair and a single simple bed.

I walked over quietly and sat in the chair. Without turning on the light, I checked my phone. People newly freed by the weekend had left me messages.

[Recruit Chat / Heshy: I'll bring all my game cartridges from home this week, so let's try again next week!]

[Recruit Chat / Tom: Have a good trip home. Hilde, I hope you escape your stalker in one piece...]

[Recruit Chat / Tom: Though I don't know why he only does this to you.]

[Ro: that bastard come by again?]

[Blocked Number: Looks like you've forgotten absolutely everything?]

What was this?

I stared down at the message from the blocked number. Among the message notifications on my screen, that last one was strange.

What the hell? Was this the same person who'd sent that crazy message last time?

But that one had come with a number. An unfamiliar one, but still...

They were probably different people. Whoever had used this number before me must have had a lot of problems.

Frowning, I tapped the notification. Several messages had arrived from the blocked number.

[Blocked Number: Did you really forget everything?]

[Blocked Number: No way. Not after what you've done.]

[Blocked Number: Oh, surely you haven't forgotten it all. You must remember something.]

[Blocked Number: Or don't you?]

[Blocked Number: Did you really forget everything?]

[Blocked Number: Really?]

[Blocked Number: Fuck]

[Blocked Number: You can't do this to me, of all people]

[Blocked Number: Remember, you crazy bastard!]

Who are you?

Who exactly are you? Have we met?

I was dumbfounded by the messages, which went from one-sided doubts to a sudden outburst.

They gave me goosebumps, too. Whoever had sent them, and for whatever purpose, the sender certainly seemed out of their mind.

And it was all just so strange.

Should I change my number?

The messages probably weren't meant for me. But the fact that I'd lost my memories too left me uneasy. If these kept coming, I'd have to bring it up with Yun or Ami.

In any case, there was nothing I could do right now.

I closed the mysterious conversation and began answering the ordinary messages, trying to remember what I'd forgotten, just as the unknown sender had demanded. After sitting with my phone for a while, I sprang up at the clear ring of the doorbell.

I ran to the front door to make sure my superior wouldn't have to get up from his peaceful sleep on the sofa.

* * *

"There's banana pudding."

Sadly, Yun was running late, leaving me to eat raw fish alone with my highest-ranking superior. Still looking half-asleep as he chewed, Yehyeon spoke out of the blue.

"Have one later. It's good."

"Oh! Yes, sir. Thank you."

"How are things with Yun?"

I nearly spat out the soybean-paste soup I was drinking.

The question caught me off guard and sent a chill through me. Judging by his expression, he still seemed to be switched off. But that didn't change the fact that he was my commander-in-chief.

I quietly set down my utensils.

"Better than I expected."

Yehyeon blinked his large eyes once. After watching me for a moment, he let out a soft laugh.

"That's a relief. And it sounds like a genuinely honest answer."

"Yes, sir. I thought you wouldn't believe me if I said it was wonderful, so I gave you a completely honest answer."

"Good."

"Yes, sir. And we really are getting along better than I expected. Though I don't know what Yun thinks of me. He was the one who first suggested I try using a sword..."

"A sword?"

Yehyeon's chopsticks stopped in midair on their way to a slice of flounder. Mine stopped too, just as I was about to pick up some salmon sushi.

Was he surprised? Had Yun not reported it to him?

We remained frozen for a while, looking at each other. Yehyeon was the first to break the stillness. Keeping his eyes fixed on me, he smoothly moved only his arm.

Watching my superior resume using his chopsticks, I thought back to a month ago.

That video.

The video that had earned him the title Hero of a Troubled Age. The man who'd faced the level-ten creature in that video, the one everyone had supposedly seen, was now sitting right in front of me, slowly picking up a slice of flounder.

I watched Yehyeon swallow the fish, then broke the silence.

"Commander."

"Yes?"

"I watched that video."

The switch flipped on.

The change was quite visible. The posture of the man leisurely swallowing his fish transformed in an instant. Not a trace of sleep remained in his eyes. His chopsticks were set firmly on the table, all languor gone.

His gaze was unreadable.

Yehyeon waited for me to continue. Looking into those black eyes, steeped in experience and unfathomably deep, I spoke.

"Do you..."

"Go ahead. Ask me anything."

"That creature..."

There was so much I wanted to ask that I felt dizzy inside. But the question that finally emerged from the tangle in my head wasn't whether I was the level-ten creature, or whether he knew anything about me.

What I asked was,

"Do you know why that creature hesitated?"

What was that emotion that flitted past?

It showed for only the briefest instant. I would never have caught it if I hadn't been paying such close attention.

The emotion that welled up in Yehyeon's eyes and vanished was so powerful that I didn't dare ask another question, even though he hadn't given me a clear answer.

"Did you start practicing with a sword after watching that video?"

"No, sir. Yun told me to try using one the first time I went outside. I watched the video because other people mentioned it... Oh. Yun said I clearly knew how to use a sword, but not well enough to send me out, so I shouldn't even think about going outside for a month. I've stayed inside sparring ever since, right up through today."

"Good work."

Which part, exactly, was he praising?

I was puzzled, but once again I couldn't ask. Yehyeon had lowered his eyes, looking lost in thought. Then he picked up a piece of fried food with his chopsticks and quietly added,

"Let's spar sometime, too."

"Oh, yes, sir. It would be an honor. Actually, Yun did say he'd ask you to spar with me if I surpassed him in swordsmanship. Though I don't know if that day will ever come."

"It will."

I couldn't tell whether that was encouragement or something else. After staring at the round curl of fried shrimp for a long while, Yehyeon added,

"If you beat me in swordsmanship, I'll give you that sword."

The commander-in-chief spoke in a contemplative voice. The fried shrimp held between his chopsticks split neatly in half.

"The sword from the video. I have it."

For a long while, I couldn't find anything to say either.

We ate dinner in silence for a long time, until Yun came home looking refreshed, having successfully put an end to John Mühlen's stalking.