Origin (23)

*Tsk—*

The door closed quietly. Weak footsteps echoed, dragging along.

My vision moved from the ground up. Soft curves unmistakably marked the figure as female, and soon, red hair and red eyes filled the ceiling.

The owner of the color more like ruby than blood or fire was Licorice.

"Haa..."

Letting out a deep sigh, Licorice collapsed into a chair. Despite the passage of time, her brow furrowed at the persistent sense of déjà vu.

'This is strange.'

The mineshaft she had entered with Hyun-woo felt strangely familiar. As if she had been there before—not just once, but several times.

But she remembered that the town had been completely destroyed. With all the work she already had, she didn't have time to worry about a collapsed first-generation colony, let alone pass anywhere near this place.

So what was this sensation she was feeling now?

She was confident that she knew most—though not all—of the things about Titan. Not 99 percent, but maybe about 90 percent. Still, contrary to what she thought and believed, she knew nothing about this town.

'Was that missing 10 percent really that significant?'

Honestly, after the current situation began, there's been nothing but unknowns. She was unaware of the pureblood supremacists' schemes and what they were trying to accomplish here.

Fortunately, she was at the central tower surrounded by a bunch of Alpha Series security robots, or else she could have died, caught in the pureblood supremacists' suicide bombing.

'... What was I planning to do there?'

Licorice though she was waiting for something—or someone. Was it Hyun-woo? Or maybe some people she hired? She remembered saying something while sending the hacking tool to Hyun-woo, but she couldn't recall the details. That bothers her.

'The first root.'

Licorice remembered clearly the voice that echoed in her head. It was definitely her voice. An older voice, no, maybe a younger one—it overlapped so much she couldn't estimate the age.

Was this the effect of brief exposure to the blue crystal ore's waves, as Hyun-woo suggested? Since the voice in her head was her own, it was possible.

Hyun-woo might think of her as a hothouse flower, but she had lived a pretty rough life by her standards. She had handled dangerous tasks even if she hadn't ever done menial work.

'I've handled plenty of ore myself...'

For a moment she almost persuaded herself, but after thinking back, it seemed that whenever contact with ore came up, she usually sent Beta.

Beta— her custom robot designed with double-layered dimension coating, made to withstand exposure to the waves for a significant amount of time. Licorice spared no expense on the coating, regardless of the cost-effectiveness.

She muttered inwardly that maybe Hyun-woo had a point. She could count on one hand the times she was directly exposed to ore.

'Then what's this feeling?'

If the voice in the mineshaft was just her imagination, or just the effect of the waves, then why—now that she was resting, far from the shaft and any residual waves—did she still feel strange?

After hearing that voice, she kept thinking of Hyun-woo. It felt almost like someone was forcibly pulling her attention. It was always been vaguely like that, but lately, it was getting worse.

Since when was it? When she first revealed her face to Hyun-woo? When he threw himself to protect her? Or when she first told him her name?

Sometimes, she felt so strongly that Hyun-woo belonged to her that she surprised herself.

'It's not like that between us.'

There's nothing sentimental between Hyun-woo and Licorice. Just business partners tied together by a debt of gratitude. That's what she thought—really, truly.

Hyun-woo. The man she discovered in a back alley after detecting suspicious activity. The look of utter confusion on his face when she appeared with Alpha was priceless.

The image of him on the verge of tears, claiming he remembered nothing, is still vivid in her mind. Seeing him, Licorice thought his circumstances were very much like her own past.

Because she too once opened her eyes in a strange place, just like Hyun-woo. But in her case, she had security robots at her command and scattered knowledge that resurfaced naturally, so it wasn't exactly the same. Hyun-woo had nothing but the clothes on his back.

Licorice should compare apples to apples. She run Titan like it's her own backyard; the difference was night and day with a guy whose only asset was his looks. She hadn't wasted any time on someone so insignificant. Or so she believed.

Yet, even so, when she came to her senses, she was already instructing Alpha to take care of Hyun-woo.

Licorice hadn't meant to. The first time she acted contrary to her intentions, it felt distinctly foreign. Since it had come to this, she decided to indulge a little whim.

Titan, after all, is a very capricious satellite. Isn't it only fair to be impulsive in such a place? She had wanted to own a dog for a long time, anyway.

He was a bit big for a pet, but raising him this way once couldn't hurt. If the dog didn't recognize its owner and tried to bite, then she'd show him who's boss. With that thought, Licorice granted Hyun-woo a new identity, at a price—just a little above what she'd have quoted anyone else.

So time passed, and there they were.

People can't be trusted. Only robots that obey their master's commands can be relied upon. That's what she used to think, but now, her opinion had shifted a little.

How many times now had she caught herself thinking that maybe, just maybe, she could trust Hyun-woo, who always came when called?

Licorice suddenly remembered when she first realized a human body could be as sturdy as a robot. Even the way he became forceful to protect her wasn't so bad.

On the contrary—

'Am I crazy?'

Her face suddenly flushed, and she cleared her throat out of nowhere. Anyway, though a lot has happened in the meantime, neither her condition nor the situation was good for reminiscing right now.

'My head hurts...'

Maybe she'd feel better if she just figured out the cause of this déjà vu, but to make matters worse, there's suddenly suspicious communication from the refinery, and my headache only intensified.

Licorice slapped her cheek lightly to focus her scattered nerves. She decided to set aside thoughts of the first root for now. There were too many urgent matters immediately before her to dwell on it.

Right now, she had to figure out whether the message from the refinery was genuine or not.

'I should see if Hyun-woo wants to have dinner together later.'

Licorice tapped the hologram window overflowing with data and attempted to connect to the mining base Heaven, forcibly suppressing the pointless thoughts that kept trying to rise. To prove her worth.

Before long, the only sounds left in the room were coffee being sipped and hologram windows being tapped.

***

"All right, check it."

Licorice handed me something. It happened just as I came out of the shower after finishing tough work.

I paused mid-drying my wet hair and asked quietly,

"... Have you been waiting this whole time?"

"Huh? Me? Waiting for you? No! Not at all! I just happened to run into you!"

Licorice, having acted like she'd accomplished something, suddenly became flustered and stumbled over her words. I glanced at the seat where she'd been sitting.

"Looks like you were sitting there for a while? The wall there is damp. And now that I look, I think your clothes are a bit wet too."

"What?!"

Licorice hurriedly checked the seat and her own body.

"I was just joking."

"... Are you crazy?"

She shot me a cold glare in response. With her dark circles, it looked pretty fierce. I was unfazed; I'd seen looks like that often enough.

I let out a small sigh and told her to wait a minute. I went back into the bathroom and came out holding a fresh towel soaked in hot water. With all the water squeezed out, the towel was just warm to the touch.

"Come with me."

"H-huh? Where are we—"

I led her to the nearest room—my room. Well, "led" is less coercive than 'dragged', so let's stick with that. At first, Licorice resisted, but after a bit, she quietly followed, holding onto my sleeve.

I sat Licorice down on the bed, then gently pushed her. Normally, she'd glare and shout what the hell I thought I was doing, but to be so easily pushed over—she must've been completely exhausted.

I carefully placed the warm towel over Licorice's eyes, who looked tense. She visibly flinched at the same time as she shrank back.

"... What is this?"

"What do you mean? I'm giving you a hot compress. It isn't too hot, is it? It probably cooled down a bit on the way."

"It's just right—but, I mean, why are you doing this...?"

"You really have to ask? Did you not even look in the mirror before coming out? You look terrible."

I gently scolded Licorice. She protested faintly that it wasn't that bad, but she completely looked like someone who'd been up all night doing who knows what in secret.

"I told you not to push yourself. Of all people, you should know best that overdoing it won't fix everything all at once."

"Are you scolding me? You? Scolding me?"

Licorice looked at me like a betrayed Roman emperor.

"I'm saying this because I'm genuinely worried. Unless you actually want to be scolded?"

As I furrowed my brow, Licorice fell silent. Instead, her hands fidgeted, her fingers twitching like a little kid.

I waited wordlessly for the hot compress to do its job, and gradually, Licorice seemed to relax, as if she wasn't so uncomfortable anymore. When the towel's warmth had faded to a tepid heat, I removed it.

Her red eyes, which had looked so dry and parched, regained some of their light. At least the hot compress wasn't useless. I figured she was finally in good enough condition to talk.

"Feeling better?"

"... Yeah."

"So, what did you give me earlier?"

"What do you think? The refinery system interference results."

After wiping away the residual moisture at her eyes, Licorice manipulated her bracelet and finished sending the file she hadn't managed to deliver earlier.

The refinery and Heaven's central systems were still locked down. What she'd managed to recover this time was the base facility damage log.

"A significant portion of the refinery facility was destroyed. Since it's classified as a top-priority facility, the system keeps logs no matter what, even if it's locked, so we were able to find this out."

"The pipelines are pretty badly damaged too."

About half the facility was marked in red. There wasn't a single green section and only a few yellow patches in between. We couldn't say for certain what happened, but it was easy to guess there'd been fierce fighting.

"I'll need to investigate further, but there's a chance the energy running through the pipelines could backflow to Heaven's core. So, the message might not be entirely fake."

"But it's still a trap, right?"

"Most likely. I also found evidence that the system lockdown tightened right after the message was sent to us. It's blatantly suspicious. Basically, if we want to know more, they're telling us to come in person."

"You heaven't told the others yet, have you?"

"That's true, but why?"

"Then let me handle it. You should rest."

"... I could do it."

"Rest."

When I spoke a bit more forcefully, Licorice's spirit instantly wilted.

"... All right."

Just as I was about to leave, Licorice stopped me.

"And, hey. This is a bit off-topic, but... I'm sorry for talking so lightly about you having to take risks. I didn't mean to make light of it."

"I know."

It wasn't as if this was my first time dealing with Licorice. Her eyes widened a bit at my words, then returned to normal.

"... Really?"

"Of course. Don't overthink it. I know you're not that kind of person."

"You know a side of me I don't even know myself. Well, then I have to live up to that trust. I'll think some more about how to handle the refinery issue—try to make it just a little bit less dangerous."

"I'll be counting on you."

Before we knew it, it was evening. As our conversation ended, Licorice, finally succumbing to her fatigue, covered her mouth and yawned long. She wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye and naturally lay down on my bed.

Why was she lying on my bed when it was time to head back? Before I could say anything, Licorice stared at me. Apparently she had a last word.

"Hyun-woo, when you get a chance, let's visit the mine again. With me. Next time, we'll gear up properly."

"The mine? Hm..."

Considering how on edge she'd been ever since the visit earlier, going together might not be the best idea, but as long as we prepare, it should be fine.

"Sure. It's not a problem. Next time, I'll brace myself—wait, what? Licorice? Are you asleep?"

Her only answer was the slow, sleepy sound of breathing. She was definitely asleep.

"Why is she sleeping here..."

This is my room. I couldn't hide my disbelief. My room only had the basics; it was hardly Licorice's preferred style.

So I thought about waking her, but when I saw how soundly she was sleeping, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I recalled the anxiety hidden in Licorice's eyes. God knows what she was so uneasy about, but at least here, I wanted her to rest in peace, so I let her be.

"... I'm going to end up as public property at this rate."

I muttered nonsense just for the sake of it, then grinned. Maybe because she was asleep, her usually fierce eyes looked softer.

Since the bed was taken, the only spot left was the chair. It looked like I'd be sleeping in a chair tonight. How could I wake her when she was sleeping so deeply and peacefully?

I sent the data Licorice had found ahead to Celestia and quietly left the room, making sure not to disturb Licorice.

***

The next morning.

"... Why did you two come out of there together?"

【(ﾟдﾟ；)】

I met Nadia as I was yawning after a sleepless night. Carry's expression was one of pure shock. At the end of that look was Licorice, her appearance disheveled.

I maintained my composure.

"Just to clear up whatever you're thinking, you've got the wrong idea."

Nadia dropped the bread she'd brought for breakfast, obviously unconvinced by my words. The rolls rolled across the floor. Still frozen, Carry used his sub-arm to quietly pick up the fallen bread.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Good luck, bud.Hmm, Lobelia = Licorice?【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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