Huhh. I gasped and opened my eyes with a deep inhale. I could feel my heart pounding uncomfortably hard in my chest.
“Suho?”
A familiar voice called out to me. I turned my sweat-drenched face to the side. It wasn’t the school-uniformed Min Yugeon I saw, but a far more mature version of him. He looked down at me with a stiff expression that seemed tinged with worry.
With trembling eyes, I scanned my bedroom. I remembered coming home after the demonstration at the lab, drinking wine with Min Yugeon, and then falling asleep.
…So it was a dream. It must’ve started from reminiscing about our childhood right before I drifted off, which then morphed into a dream.
But unlike how it began, it ended with the one memory I wanted to avoid the most. The bitter aftertaste it left behind made me clench the blanket in my fist. That’s when the side of the bed sank.
It was the weight of Min Yugeon climbing up and sitting beside me. He gently pulled me into his arms, lifting my upper body into his embrace, and slowly rubbed my back.
“Relax. Breathe slowly.”
His voice was lower than usual, soothing. Only then did I realize I hadn’t been breathing.
“……”
I exhaled slowly. At the same time, the tension that had taken over my body started to ease little by little.
Min Yugeon patted me as if to say good job. He softly massaged my shoulders and the back of my neck until the tight muscles were fully relaxed, and carefully peeled the damp strands of hair stuck to my cheek.
I lifted my head from his calloused hands. He looked like he already knew what kind of dream I’d had.
The memory of losing my family—all of them—still haunted me from time to time, showing up in the form of nightmares.
“Feeling a bit better?”
Min Yugeon met my eyes and asked. I nodded and let my head fall gently against his chest.
As I slowly calmed down, I could faintly hear his heartbeat thudding in contrast to mine. A pang of guilt hit me, realizing I might’ve woken him up.
“Did I wake you?”
My voice came out rough and broken. Though we had separate bedrooms, Min Yugeon had always been a light sleeper—he’d come running the moment I started whimpering from a bad dream.
“No. I wasn’t asleep. Just couldn’t fall asleep tonight.”
He brushed it off like it was nothing, casually toying with my ear. His warm touch eased the chill from my cooled skin.
The drowsy comfort of his warmth made my eyelids grow heavier and heavier.
“Hey.”
Suddenly, Min Yugeon broke the silence.
“Wanna go visit your parents tomorrow?”
“……”
“It’s been a while since the last time.”
I looked up at him.
I hadn’t forgotten to visit my parents regularly, but it was true that quite a bit of time had passed since the last visit.
“You have work tomorrow.”
“I’ve got a buddy I trade shifts with when needed. I just have to ask.”
“There’s no need… I can go alone.”
“But I want to see them too.”
He answered seriously, and I didn’t really have anything to say in return.
“…Alright.”
At my reply, Min Yugeon’s lips curled into a faint smile. He leaned in until our foreheads touched.
“Then let’s head out first thing in the morning.”
“Yeah.”
I let my limbs go limp and sprawled out. Even though he was all muscle and hard to the touch, there was a cozy warmth about his embrace that made me want to stay there.
Despite my tall frame—not quite as tall as his, but still—it didn’t seem to weigh on him at all. He pulled me in closer by the waist with ease.
We stayed like that in silence for a long while.
“…Okay, that’s enough.”
I was sinking into that drowsy warmth, on the verge of falling asleep again.
“Hm?”
“Go back to your room.”
Just as I tried to lift myself from where I lay slumped in his arms—
Hm…
With a short hum, he suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around me, making it impossible to move. Then he rolled us across the bed in a single smooth motion.
Now lying face-to-face with him, I frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“I think I’ll sleep here tonight.”
I fell silent for a moment at the words he offered, eyes gently closed.
“You have your own room. Why stay here?”
“I just… feel like I should.”
“No.”
“Ahh, I’m too sleepy to move. Feels like I’m gonna pass out any second.”
With an exaggerated yawn, Min Yugeon tightly shut his eyes, pretending to fall fast asleep. The way he suddenly went limp made him look less like he’d drifted off and more like he’d dropped unconscious.
It wasn’t a particularly awkward situation. Min Yugeon knew that if I was left alone to fall asleep after a night like this, the nightmares would come back. So he tried to stay by my side whenever possible.
Whether it was to help me rest easier or just to offer comfort, he slowly slipped his arm away from around me and laced his fingers through mine. The way his thick fingers slid between mine gave me a strange sense of security.
“Sleep well.”
He still had his eyes closed, but didn’t forget to say it.
“……”
In the end, I couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
***
The place where those at eternal rest lay. Min Yugeon and I stood side by side before my parents, whose remains were kept together.
“I’m here.”
“Me too. Hope you’ve been doing well.”
Min Yugeon chimed in cheerfully. It came naturally—he’d never once missed accompanying me on memorial days.
I turned my eyes away from him and stared at my mother and father.
Mom. Dad. Yesterday, we had a demonstration at the lab. Thanks to Cat, everything went smoothly. It was an interim reveal before moving on to the next stage… Made me think of the demo you both once planned.
I wonder. What would it have been like if you’d done it with Rai? …Whatever training you had in mind, I’m sure it must’ve been tough. He was never the type to listen easily.
I bowed my head slightly, lowering my gaze to the polished floor beneath us.
The day my parents died is also the day we lost Rai, so whenever I came here, I couldn’t help but think of him. But unlike with my parents, there was nowhere I could go to see Rai.
There’s no such thing as a memorial space for a monster on a ship.
A dead monster is nothing more than a resource for research. The living are studied alive, and the dead are studied dead—either way, information is extracted. Usually, it’s to help humans develop new methods of handling them.
That’s the fate of any monster captured on the surface and brought aboard. No one felt pity for creatures that had nearly driven humanity to extinction.
But the truth is, Rai didn’t disappear like that. Though he had been killed instantly by the assault squad—and by all rights should’ve been transported to the lab like any other specimen—I’d sensed it beforehand. And so, when the Captain showed up at the scene, I begged her to release Rai’s body outside the ship, intact.
It was a belated apology and a silent mourning, for never having told Rai he had the right to fight back. To protect himself—even if that meant harming soldiers.
That day, the Captain said nothing. She just did as I asked.
“……”
I lifted my head again and looked at my parents.
Not just about Rai—but old memories, recent events… Pouring out everything one-sidedly, receiving no reply, made me realize naturally that the things in my dream really belonged to the past.
The resignation I had once felt long ago slowly washed over me again, like a tide sweeping through my mind.
…I think I finally understood why Min Yugeon brought me here.
With my heart finally at ease, I turned to look at him. He had been quietly watching the urns, but sensing my gaze, turned his head toward me.
“What is it, Suho?”
“…Just. Thank you.”
“…Huh?”
I closed my mouth and left the question unanswered. I could almost hear my father’s tearful voice, saying, Our Suho has such a good friend. And if I really had heard it, I wouldn’t have been able to deny it.
Back when I’d suddenly lost my entire family, I was practically a corpse myself. Holed up in the shelter the ship authorities had arranged for me, I would throw up day after day until I passed out from exhaustion. I didn’t even attend my own graduation. Didn’t step outside once.
The one who took care of me during that time… was Min Yugeon.
Min Sanghan had also helped with my parents’ funeral and checked in on me now and then, but if it hadn’t been for Min Yugeon, who stuck by me like we shared one body… It might have taken me much, much longer to face reality again.
Back then, Yugeon had his own problems—he was at odds with Min Sanghan and probably just as messed up inside— Yet still, he made it his mission not to leave me alone. He set everything else aside to be by my side.
Even now, the memory of that made me feel indebted to him.
“Shall we head back?”
“Yeah.”
We bowed to my parents, then turned away.
There was no one else around inside the solemn memorial hall. We were walking quietly, saving our words for when we got outside, when—
Footsteps echoed nearby. Heavy shoes, probably with a heel, clacked sharply against the hard floor and cut through the silence.
Something about the sound was familiar. Military boots?
I turned toward the source of the sound as it drew closer.
Just as I suspected—a tall soldier. Black hair fell naturally over his face, contrasting with his skin. His expression looked both angry and indifferent, strikingly handsome yet exuding a vibe that made it difficult to approach.
The insignia on his uniform caught my eye in passing—Colonel.
He kept his eyes straight ahead as he walked, but then glanced toward me. Our gazes met—cold, slate-colored eyes—and I instantly realized this wasn’t our first time seeing each other.
“……”
“……”
But we weren’t close enough to greet each other.
The soldier and I passed by in silence.
