Origin (18)

Nadia gazed back and forth between Licorice and me as we squabbled across the central antenna. Carry, who had tried to come in with her, peeked from behind when Nadia abruptly stopped and didn't enter right away.

She looked like she'd just woken up. Traces of sleep still lingered in her green eyes. I thought she said she wasn't yet able to move around, but maybe, like me, she had recovered faster than expected.

As I was thinking that, Soda Milk's tail puffed out a bit and tapped the air with a snap. That meant something was bothering her, but I couldn't quite tell what it was.

It wasn't that nothing stood out—rather, there were too many things, this and that, all at once. As I called Nadia's name, trying to say something, she beat me to it by stepping forward a beat faster.

She smiled brightly, as if nothing had happened.

"Hyun-woo, what are you doing here? And with that woman, too."

"What?"

Was this a signal to forget past events? I took it that way and let my guard down for a moment. Still, I felt I ought to ask about her condition.

"Nadia, did you sleep well?"

"I didn't sleep very well."

"Okay, glad you sl— Oh, you didn't..."

Something was off. I quickly collected myself again. Nadia looked at me, urging me to hurry up and speak, so I opened my mouth.

"I came here to check the records left in the residential area."

"And why are you trying to find those records?"

"That is..."

I told her everything that had happened in the workshop, without leaving out a single detail. The moment I suddenly mentioned that I knew the monster's name, a crack appeared in Nadia's calmly—more precisely, seemingly-calm—face.

Several emotions simmered beneath her surface, now surfacing at last.

I projected the writing Carrot had scanned onto the hologram window. I showed her the letters that read 'Blue Eye', but Nadia said she couldn't read them either—they were a completely unfamiliar script.

The revelation that I alone knew characters no one else recognized—it led her to the same conclusion as I: my connection to pureblood supremacists.

For a moment, Nadia licked her lips, then strode decisively toward me. And then, she just walked right past me.

"...?"

"Move aside. Let me see for myself."

Nadia even pushed Licorice out of the way. Taking the cube-shaped core part, she began to feel around the base of the central antenna. With a click, the inner circuit board was revealed.

"Simply fitting the core part in doesn't make it work. There's an order to it. It's a kind of barrier to prevent unauthorized communications."

"You really know your stuff, don't you?"

The knowing tone in Licorice's voice hinted at Nadia's past. Despite teasing her by calling her 'Woof-woof', there was always a trace of pity in the way Licorice looked at Nadia.

I hadn't realized that for long, but Nadia had surely known from the start. That must be why she always reacted so sharply to Licorice.

It felt odd, thinking that Licorice knew a Nadia from before I did, but I had already decided—I would wait for Nadia to open up herself, unlike Licorice.

"... Yeah, well."

After a brief hesitation, Nadia quickly finished her work. She didn't use any tools, just a few more clicks, and the antenna started working correctly.

As she stood up, she flicked her tail, brushing it across the floor.

"What we have here is basically a replica of what was in the sector communications control room, so baseline output isn't bad. But since it's not the official model but an imitation, energy consumption has increased. With the current town's power, it'll only reach up to 200 km."

"That's nowhere near enough to break through the communications blockade. Still, if we really push it, we might be able to reach the Archive."

"The Archive?"

Archive. It was a term I'd heard in passing last time. My interest piqued at the unfamiliar name, and as Licorice was about to explain before Nadia arrived, she continued.

"There's an Archive that stores all of Titan's data. It's managed not by the SSTC, but directly by Titan's system. Above that, there's Earth's government. 75 years ago, after the Immortality Experiment on Mars, this system was newly added. It operates independently from the Store System."

An independent system meant it ran autonomously—governed strictly by its own rules, without human intervention.

Briefly explaining, Licorice turned to Nadia.

"That 200 km is assuming the town stays as it is, right?"

"That's right."

"Then what if we shut down all facilities?"

"It'd need calculation, but if we turned off even essential life support, maybe 400 km at best."

"Still not enough... From what I know, the Archive is quite far away."

Licorice stroked her chin in thought. She needed at least 600 km. Even diverting all energy to comms wouldn't reach that far.

That number couldn't be right. Titan was the largest blue crystal deposit—how was the comms range so short? It was all because of the blockade.

The blockade pressuring the entire satellite had shortened communication range.

"No choice, then. I'll just have to push myself harder."

"Will you be okay?"

"Not really. The Archive is like a vessel of information. If a colony on the satellite gets caught in a disaster like this, even if everyone dies, its records can survive. Think of it as working like the ring we wear."

Licorice said that even she had never touched the Archive before. It was like a box guaranteed to hold a treasure, but the moment you accessed it, the system interpreted it as a firewall breach and triggered self-destruct.

"... Self-destruct?"

I shot her a nervous, questioning look. Licorice just shrugged. If it weren't true, she'd have said so. It seemed it was, in fact, real.

"Then shouldn't we avoid messing with it?"

"This is a special situation. The satellite's sealed. I can take a shot at it. The self-destruct signal is sent from an orbital satellite, so even if the Archive tries to blow itself up, if it doesn't get the code, it shouldn't... go off immediately?"

Why did her answer waver like that out of the blue? I felt anxious again. At any rate, she said she'd try to use her array tech to find a way to connect to the Archive.

It sounded anything but easy. Concerned, I voiced my worry, and Licorice just curled a corner of her mouth upward, twisting her hair absentmindedly.

"You bet your wish as collateral. I've got to act accordingly—I always collect my dues, you know that, right?"

I knew that. Knew it all too well—that was the problem. I wanted to cancel even now, but doing so would leave no guarantee of my safety. All I could do was shiver, hide my nervousness, and pretend to stay calm.

Still, my trembling voice was a giveaway.

"... What wish do you plan to make?"

"Something beyond your wildest imagination."

"Just let me live."

"Of course. Stating the obvious—of course you'll live. Why would I kill you? That would void my wish, wouldn't it?"

Licorice grinned slyly. She already seemed strangely excited, as if thinking over what wish to make.

"... Wish?"

Nadia looked up at me, clearly confused, and seeing that, Licorice waved her hand, shooing me away.

"Clueless as always. Anyway, go when told. I'm not offering twice. Stay now, and you'll rot here with me."

"That's a bit much..."

"What? That reaction's actually kind of annoying."

"I'll go!"

Grabbing Nadia's hand, I made a quick escape from the comms room. Carry, who'd been watching everything like a statue, followed us out.

Out in the hallway, I heaved a sigh of relief and grabbed Carry straight away. It was time—I needed to ask why he recorded that video.

"Carry, don't we have something to talk about?"

【( °ᗝ° ).ᐟ.ᐟ】

Maybe he'd forgotten, because Carry's face said he had no idea what I was talking about. My prey was caught and ready to be trimmed and cooked—but my way was blocked. It was Nadia.

"That's my line, Hyun-woo. Don't we have something to talk about? I think I've waited enough for you to tell me what you should. Don't you think?"

"Ah."

It turned out I was the one in the trap, not Carry.

【ꉂꉂ(ᵔᗜᵔ*)】

All it took was her small hand grabbing mine—I couldn't move an inch. Carry laughed heartily, but I just gritted my teeth and mumbled to myself. No one in this situation was truly scary, though—everyone's faces just seemed to say "Give it your best shot."

【(„• ֊ •„)੭】

"Carry...!"

"Lee Hyun-woo."

"Ah, uh, yeah."

Her voice dropped, stern and cool, laced with the message, 'How long are you going to drag this out?' Nadia even used my family name—I hurried to stick by her. If I'd just stayed put, at least I'd have saved face—but now, even that was gone.

I wondered where she was taking me, but before long, we arrived at Nadia's room. Only after confirming Carry was the last to come in and close the door did she sit me down on the bed.

The bedding was somewhere between tidy and messy. Judging by how long she'd been awake, there was still a lived-in feeling.

I sat obediently on the bed as she wished, glancing around the room. It was almost identical to mine—as expected, since we lived in the same building, practically as neighbors.

'Nadia's not one to decorate, either.'

She had raised a small ornamental plant in a glass case back in the residential area, but hadn't brought anything else. Both of us preferred minimalism over extravagance, so the room's design hardly differed.

The one difference was scent. There was an oddly sweet smell filling the room, surrounding me with the feeling of Nadia's presence.

Sniff, sniff—

Startled by the sudden sound of sniffing, I wondered if I'd been too obvious. But the culprit wasn't me—it was Nadia.

She was circling me, softly sniffing, so focused that she probably didn't notice how close she was getting.

Just when I thought we might end up pressed together, Nadia's upper body leaned in and her soft chest brushed me slightly—a moment later, she looked annoyed.

She piled the bed's cushions around me, then rubbed them thoroughly—all to ensure her room's scent would rub off on me.

"Here."

Finally satisfied, Nadia handed me a brush. Her tail wagged gently behind her.

I instantly knew what she wanted. She hoped I'd keep my promise to brush her tail once we returned to town.

When I took the brush, Nadia deftly seated herself in front of me. Since the shielding had been deployed, the town's temperature had stabilized, and we could wear lighter clothes.

It was more comfortable, but had an unexpected side effect: seeing more bare skin than in a suit-wearing lifestyle.

Maybe it was the black T-shirt, but her exposed skin looked especially pale. Where it should've been a blank, white canvas, red marks stood out sharply.

Some were from her struggle against the Blue Eye; others, older wounds that still hadn't fully healed. Seeing them, my mood sank.

I tried not to show it as I quietly began brushing Nadia's tail. Its fluffy, silky texture filled my hands.

Though beastmen's fur stayed clean automatically, neglecting it would still let it tangle. That's why such brushing—by oneself or another—was a necessity.

Swish, rustle— With each careful, gentle brushstroke, her soft-furred ears twitched.

"Nadia, how's your body today?"

"Bit late to be asking, isn't it?"

Her voice sounded relaxed and faint, a little tired. Nadia giggled. Though her words were a tease, she seemed happy—her tail twitched in my hands.

"Sorry..."

"That's not what I wanted to hear."

Having said that, Nadia just waited for me to speak. I brushed her tail, gathering my thoughts at the same time. As the tangles in her tail loosened, my own hesitation slowly fell away too.

There was no longer any urgent danger, no need to flee. For once, we had time.

Time for Nadia to wait for me, time for me to organize two days' worth of pent-up thoughts—and in the meantime, to quietly brush her tail.

Such rare moments—they might not come again. I couldn't even be sure they would.

Yet, despite all that, my mind still lingered in that moment: the face-off with the Blue Eye.

I decided to be more honest with myself. If I could, it would be here, in front of Nadia—no one else.

And at that moment, we were alone.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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