Chapter 79
‘What does that mean?’
Anschel desperately called out to Ender, but there was no answer. As soon as the call ended, Anschel rushed outside, even though the darkness made it difficult to see even a step ahead.
Outside the container, an unexpected figure greeted Anschel. Black hair and black eyes—it was Koryoin. He saluted with the same mischievous smile he had worn during the day.
“I, uh, don’t have a place to sleep. Would you let me stay, Lieutenant?”
“Um…”
Anschel stopped his hurried steps toward Harriet and looked down at Koryoin who had appeared before him. Like a playful younger brother, Koryoin slipped into Anschel’s container without the owner’s permission. He removed his military boots while speaking.
“Isn’t it too much? Taking away my home just because I deserted for a bit.”
Most soldiers demoted to this place, except for Harriet, stayed in military-issued containers. Though not without inconvenience, they were state-of-the-art with bathrooms included, making them rather comfortable spaces once you got used to them.
Anschel hesitated, looking down at the phone in his hand, then followed Koryoin into the container. After shaking his head and removing his torn uniform, Koryoin turned toward Anschel and grinned.
“What did Colonel Ender say?”
“…How did you…”
“I haven’t properly introduced myself. Nice to meet you, senior. I’m Second Lieutenant Koryoin Ko from Ender’s special unit.”
“Wait, what…”
“Please, sit down.”
As Koryoin urged him to sit, Anschel unconsciously sat down in the chair opposite him. The old chair creaked noisily.
Koryoin maintained his playful smile as he pulled the string for the fluorescent light in the container. Each time he moved the string, the light swayed back and forth, showering dust down.
“Wait, what…”
Anschel wore a confused expression. When Anschel had checked Koryoin’s military record during lunch today, his rank was clearly Sergeant, lower than Harriet’s. But now Second Lieutenant? Anschel glared at Koryoin with a wary expression.
Ender’s unit was a small unit where every soldier was an ability user. The number did not exceed 200 people, each with outstanding abilities, and consequently, the maintenance cost was considerable. As Ender’s aide, Anschel had already completed identifying the personnel within the unit, and had been checking the unit members directly for the past three years.
“You’re saying you’re a member of Ender’s unit that I don’t know about?”
“That’s right. It happened a year ago.”
Koryoin spoke with a broad smile, spreading his delicate features across his small face. Anschel looked down at Koryoin, who was still smiling cheerfully even in this situation, with a confused expression.
Until noon today, this deserter had been teasing Angela, acting friendly with Harriet, and laughing playfully. Now he suddenly claimed to be a watchman sent by the Colonel. It felt like his head was about to explode.
“But…”
“I was one of Dante’s dogs. I lost my parents when I was two and was locked in a research facility, where I was experimented on like a dog without ever seeing sunlight. When Dante discovered my ability, he took me in elsewhere, but that place was just as dog-like. Then, just when I thought I would die from radiation exposure, it was the Colonel who saved me.”
Koryoin spread both hands and let out an exaggerated laugh like someone telling an interesting story. But Anschel’s complexion wasn’t good as he listened to Koryoin’s words. He now knew how test subjects were treated in Dante Maxim’s research facility. Suddenly, the smile disappeared from Koryoin’s face.
“Perhaps you and I are similar, Lieutenant. Working like a dog under Dante who killed your parents, being used, and then saved by the Colonel.”
“…No way.”
“That’s right. My father was also a mechanic on the Ellikiss. My ability is paternal, you know.”
“But… why desert?”
Koryoin shrugged at that. His playful face had completely disappeared, and his true character seemed to be gradually emerging, darkly sinking. He looked like he wanted to kill someone as if they were a toy just to feel better.
“You know that Colonel Ender demoted the Chief to this rural village to protect him, right?”
“…Yes.”
“I came here a year ago by order to protect the Chief. But I had to run away after just a few weeks. Do you know why?”
According to the records, he had deserted because he was bored, and Harriet believed that too.
“After staying there for a few days, I realized.”
Realized what?
Anschel glanced at the dark window outside and swallowed his words. The night sky was densely packed with stars, but the mountain path at night was so dark you couldn’t see a step ahead.
“There’s a Dante spy here.”
Anschel could now understand why Ender McGuire had said such things. He had hoped it wasn’t true, but the world was colder and harsher than he had thought.
Anschel checked the materials he had collected all night and those brought by Koryoin, and his face became desperate. By then, day was already breaking.
Chirp chirp-
The mountain birds announced morning with their chirping, and the early sun peeked out, shining through the small window that was the only one in the container. Koryoin, who had said that staying up all night was his job, rubbed his eyes with a face that said he was dying of sleepiness.
“By the way, the report mentioned someone named Prince Ann of the merpeople. Where is he?”
“…You call merpeople ‘someone.'”
“The constitution has a clause stating that merpeople are another race of humans. It’s obvious, you know.”
Anschel laughed painfully and took an electronic cigarette from his pocket. Though he needed to move quickly as time was running out, his head was throbbing, and his body wouldn’t listen, as if floating above the clouds. Koryoin silently waited for Anschel, who was blankly smoking his e-cigarette.
“They’re not here. They all went to Jayden’s hideout. They plan to meet with two merpeople there and then go to the Eastern Sea.”
It had already been several days since Ann and Lime had left to meet up with the two merpeople who had nearly been hunted by Dante.
“What are you planning to do now?”
“…Their target is Harriet-nim. We’ll take him and leave this place immediately.”
“Good idea. I’ve prepared a helicopter.”
Koryoin grinned like a prankster and whispered to Anschel as if they were the only two here.
“But it’s such a textbook answer, it’s boring.”
“Then what would be an amusing answer?”
“You should have said, ‘Let’s shoot that bastard dead.'”
This guy isn’t right in the head either.
Anschel stood up with an absurd feeling. To be honest, he couldn’t fully trust Koryoin either. He still hadn’t received a clear confirmation from Ender, and Koryoin could even be Dante’s pawn.
With everyone being suspicious, he couldn’t kill one side just based on the other’s words. First, he needed to evacuate Harriet, who was also Ender’s shackle, and then think about what to do next.
Anschel walked behind Koryoin, staying vigilant so he could subdue him at any moment.
“So you’ve been trying to identify the spy all this time?”
As he locked the container and stepped outside, Koryoin made his already large eyes even rounder, as if asking what Anschel was talking about.
“I told you already. I was researching nuclear weapons.”
“…?”
* * *
Click-
The door opened, and light gradually entered the dark room. Harriet opened his closed eyes and welcomed the visitor. As if he had fully expected this, he reached out his hand toward the figure standing hesitantly at the door. Then a black-furred kitten approached cautiously.
“I’m curious.”
And Harriet opened his eyes. His white eyes were dreamily relaxed. Slowly blinking, Harriet raised his upper body and picked up the phone at the edge of the bed.
He must have fallen asleep while talking to Ender. Harriet, who had been dreaming about the past lately, put his hand on his head and tilted it sideways. He heard the sound of his heart sinking and lowered his head, but nothing was broken or had sunk anywhere.
Guilt?
Harriet had read books to understand Alcita, but he was confused because he couldn’t empathize with any of them. The books said that when feeling guilt, one’s chest would feel heavy and seem to sink.
Harriet smiled as if troubled and got up from the bed. Looking down at the phone that had shut down due to a dead battery, Harriet looked around for a charger.
Checking the clock, he saw it was close to work time, though still early. Even though he knew that going to work would just mean lying around with nothing to do, Harriet got up with a strange sense of duty. He gave up on finding the charger and went to the bathroom to look for his toothbrush.
Thud, crash-
Being absentminded, he accidentally hit the shelf with his head. Something on the shelf fell to the floor. Checking what had broken with a loud noise, he saw it was an egg-shaped ornament Ender had given him as a gift. Inside, a broken machine lay scattered, crackling with electricity. It was the listening device Ender had given him.
“Oh no.”
Harriet stroked his chin with a troubled face.
Ender had said he drew strength from listening to this…
Thinking about how his cute junior would be dejected made him feel very sorry. It was a senior’s duty to fulfill any request from his cute junior.
While thinking such unnecessary thoughts, Harriet sighed as he stroked the shattered listening device that had fallen to the floor.
I should take it to Anschel and ask if it can be fixed. He’ll make a very displeased face, but he’ll still do his best to look into it.
When he opened the door and went outside, a familiar aircraft was sitting right in his front yard. It was a helicopter.
“???”
Not understanding why there was a helicopter in his front yard, Harriet lowered his eyebrows in a frown, wondering if he had been so absent-minded that he hadn’t heard the noisy propeller sound.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
