Chapter 33: The Silence After You.

Clang-!

The glass cup slipped from her fingertips and shattered on the floor.

Her hand flinched and stopped over the broken glass shards.

Yunia blankly stared at her fingertips, which were faintly trembling.

‘This is….’

Glass shards scattered messily on the floor.

The mistake, uncharacteristic of her, was due to the foreboding that had suddenly crept up the back of her neck.

She felt a sense of unease that something very bad was happening at this moment.

That premonition had suddenly run up her spine, causing her to freeze for a moment.

‘But why now….? What’s wrong….?’

In fact, for her, such intuition was not something to be dismissed as mere luck.

Yunia was a special existence.

A body with inhuman power latent due to the essence of the Queen fused within her. The operation of that immense magic power and authority occasionally gifted Yunia with something beyond mere intuition.

The unconscious prediction, the senses beyond that, were so accurate that they couldn’t be dismissed as mere feelings.

For example, such unease often followed by something really bad.

But Yunia cannot know the details of the inside story properly.

It was only an inexplicable sense of crisis. A vague yet urgent feeling that if she didn’t take some action, she might really miss something important….

Yunia swallowed a hollow laugh inside.

‘Ha, what…’

Even such a clear intuition could be wrong.

It was her first experience not being able to trust her feelings.

But it was right that it was wrong.
Because there was nothing that Yunia would regret losing now.

Even this inexplicable anxiety was meaningless.

A world where only the memories of the most precious person are buried, even if everything is shattered, it doesn’t matter at all…….

‘No, stop. Let’s not think about this. Because I promised.’

Her power is for helping others.

Even though the precious person has left, the teachings are still the milestone of her life.

Yunia struggled to swallow the thoughts that surged up.

For a while, she suppressed her emotions and shook off the uneasiness that had been cast in her heart.

The sense of loss that always pressed on her heart in a familiar way is also just ignored.

As always.

After a while, the sound of knocking that broke the silence was heard from outside the office.

Yunia looked at the clock. Knowing that the person she had called had arrived on time, she called them in.

“Yes, come in.”

Then, after a while, a beauty in a suit with her silver hair neatly tied up opened the door.

“Hello, Director.”

Her name, who came in with a low greeting, was Maylen Schopenhauer.

She is the leader of the Special Task Force 1, which is in charge of investigating ability-related crimes, especially in the [Encroachment Flood Damage Management Bureau].

She was also the person to whom Yunia had previously entrusted the investigation of someone’s identity.

This meeting was also to receive a report on the progress so far.

Regarding the results of the investigation into the activities of Stella’s Guild Master, Linesha Apelberry.

But before getting to that main point, Maylen paused for a moment.
Her gaze naturally went to the floor.

At the sight of the broken glass shards scattered as they were, Yunia belatedly gestured.

Her light gesture triggered a flow of blue magic power.

The broken fragments disappeared without a trace as if they had crumbled with it.

At the sight, a strange light flickered beyond Maylen’s expressionless eyes for a moment.

She had also realized that she was a magic power awakener.

The use of magic power was as natural and delicate as breathing.

Originally, magic power is an energy with explosive properties.

It is a power that can produce results far superior to any human ability, but it is also difficult to handle, so most awakeners have no choice but to refine it and use it in the form of martial arts, magic, or unique abilities.

But just now, Yunia created magic power with just a simple will, not even a formulaic form, or even an incantation, and achieved what she wanted.

The use of power, which is different from ordinary ability users even though it seems trivial.

Indeed, while feeling the aspect of her name value being metaphorical in everyday life, Maylen managed her expression and brought up the main point that she had come for.

“As you requested before, Director, here is the data summarizing the recent activities of Stella’s Guild Master ‘Linesha Apelberry’. Would you like to check it?”

And she took out several pages of documents organized from her arms and handed them over.

Yunia’s eyes were drawn to the photo attached to the very front page of the data.

A photo taken from afar. The familiar figure in it was Linesha, the subject of the investigation.

But next to her, another woman with light brown hair getting into the same car caught Yunia’s attention.

“This person is…”

“Colonel Seril Olson, commander of the 77th Reconnaissance Regiment. She is the person Linesha Apelberry has most recently contacted.”

When she turned the data, a brief profile of the person was presented.

“… I think I’ve heard that unit name a few times before.”

As Yunia is also a war hero of the Great War, she was not ignorant of the composition of the Defense Forces. Especially the 77th Regiment was quite famous.

The elite unit of the Central Command that performs high-level reconnaissance and strike missions. The commander of such a place must be a talented or promising elite who is trusted by the upper echelons. Perhaps promotion to general would have been guaranteed if there were no disqualifications.

Yunia inferred the core of the information she recalled.

A private meeting between the direct line of the giant military company Apelberry Company and an officer who can represent the intentions of the upper echelons of the Allied Forces Command. What is the purpose of that meeting?

Several recent issues flashed through Yunia’s mind.

“Could it be related to the military corruption of the Allied Forces’ upper management and defense companies that I investigated before?”

“The possibility exists.”

That guess may be a scandal that could greatly shake the political situation within the Allied Government, which has been relatively stable since the end of the war.

But… it was still just a guess with insufficient clues-,

Above all, it was a part that Yunia didn’t need to get involved in.

Because the reason why she wanted to investigate Linesha’s activities directly was not this…

Surely there was something in the intuition that had pierced Yunia at that time.

That day’s intuition that had followed since she received a call from someone who had suddenly become close to an enemy for almost several years.

[“I suddenly thought of you and called. Are you doing well?”]

That voice, the tone beyond the call, the hidden intentions….

‘Surely, something more-’

An unknown feeling stuck to the back of Yunia’s neck with uneasiness even at this moment.

As if she was missing something important…. The current sensation, which was gradually spreading to an unbearable unease, had a somewhat familiar aspect.

However, she was uncomfortable because it was a memory she didn’t want to recall.

Because it was similar to the time when she had to send away the most precious person.

She didn’t know why she was getting such a feeling now…

The memory of that day, which was difficult enough with just a similar feeling, made Yunia feel rapidly exhausted, and she soon chose to dismiss the person and be alone.

“Thank you for your hard work. Continue the investigation and report immediately if there are any special issues.”

“Yes, then I will see you next time, Director.”

Soon, the silence pressed down on her surroundings.

Yunia briefly closed her tired eyes.

Her office, which was only for her, was particularly large, so the silence was even deeper.

It was a silence that she was familiar with.

Since the days when the most precious person was not with her in the peace she had regained after the war. The feeling of fatigue that never went away had been following her.

She was getting tired little by little. In fact, it had been like that for a long time.

She had been living without knowing what to do. Holding onto the empty hole in her heart. She had just been moving forward without direction by inertia.

As the teacher taught her, she fought without giving up.

She worked tirelessly for the people.

Because of that, everyone called her a hero.

They told her that they admired the things she had done.

But… the moment the person she wanted to share all of that with disappeared from her side, it felt meaningless.

So now…. She really didn’t know anything anymore…

Yunia wanted to ask one last time.

‘Please teach me, Teacher.’

What should I do now?

What should I live for beyond this?

I really don’t know.

You didn’t teach me that the world without you is only gray.

So… can’t you tell me again even just once?

Am I really doing well?

Just once, please pat me and tell me that I’m okay and that I did well, like you used to.

Then I can cheer up again…

Because I will really try much harder without giving up.

Can’t you hug me just once?