Chapter 9: The Calm Before The Storm

Perhaps because my body already knew the pleasure, just the feeling of his lips sucking on mine sent a tingling sensation between my legs.
Hannah’s body instinctively tensed as his tongue slowly licked its way down her neck.
And before she could push him away, the short kiss ended there.

“I was thinking of playing around a little more. But like you said, we’re not the type to see each other privately.”

A voice, low enough to give her goosebumps, brushed past her ear, and Zakar straightened his back.
The moment the man who had casually brushed his hair back let it fall across his eyes, he took the lighter from her hand with a familiar expression—the face of someone who had lost interest.

“Let’s never see each other again, Captain Hannah Tara.”

Suppressing a strange urge to check her empty hand, she lowered her arm.
The sound of footsteps was followed by the sound of the door opening.
Then, as if he had remembered something, the man turned his head and said his final farewell.

“Sleep well.”

It was raining outside.

As I had the foolish thought that he wouldn’t have an umbrella, I turned around and saw only a shrinking shadow.
Click.
The door closed, and inside the house, only the dead man’s song and she were left.
Her neck throbbed as if she were really sleepy.

• I think I’ve said this several times already, but I didn’t hear anything. It was a situation where it would have been weirder to hear anything over the sound of gunshots and that, that terrible explosion.

It was the answer that finally came back from the victim she had contacted.
Hannah leaned her back against the cold wall, confirming with her own ears the answer she already knew.

• I don’t want to recall it again, so please don’t contact me anymore… Just thinking about the person I lost is hard enough for me… If cooperation wasn’t mandatory, I wouldn’t have even taken this call.

“I’m sorry. I won’t contact you about this again in the future. Thank you for your cooperation until the end, even though it must have been difficult.”

The call ended with the woman’s deep sigh.
A week had passed since the bridge incident.
She was able to get away with just submitting a written explanation for her excessive response because the autopsy results had confirmed that an Abaddon had indeed been inside.
It was definitely in the corpse, and it had spoken the contents of the email.
Hannah, I’m back. My lover and my betrayer.
Given the empty inbox, it was safe to assume there had been no reaction to that kiss yet.
‘The military is involved in this?’
‘Is Zakar’s information really reliable?’
While lost in a headache-inducing train of thought, the woman’s voice from the phone call continued to buzz in her ears.

• Just thinking about the person I lost is hard enough for me…

“Are you done with your call? I’m going to starve to death at this rate.”

A clear voice brought her back to her senses.
Turning around, she saw Cassie, who had been waiting, looking at her with a face that said she was about to die of hunger.
Cassie, a medic, was someone she had met during a leadership training course a while ago.
Since the medical battalion building was next to the special operations command, they sometimes ate together when their schedules aligned.

“I just finished. Let’s go.”

“Is it about that incident you mentioned last time? The civilian case?”

“Yeah. I thought I heard something, but since the survivor says she didn’t hear anything, I guess I’ll have to wrap it up here. After asking this much, she’ll probably contact me later if she remembers anything.”

As she started walking towards the cafeteria, she heard a noncommittal ‘hmm’, and then Cassie linked arms with her and asked cheerfully.

“You haven’t been getting any air lately, have you?”

She clearly thought it was because the anniversary of Ian’s death had just passed.
Hannah answered dismissively.

“I get it every day. There was a strong wind advisory for the Rain River today.”

“Ah, you know what I mean.”

“Why? Are you going to set me up with another guy?”

“Isn’t it a waste? You’re so pretty at this age. I’m so jealous of how tall and slim you are without even trying.”

For the past few months, Cassie had been dying to set her up with a man.
She knew it all came from a place of concern, but it could be annoying at times.
Hannah, with a deadpan expression, put a fresh lettuce salad, beef steak with mushroom sauce, and mashed potatoes on her plate, letting Cassie’s words about her being a workaholic go in one ear and out the other.

“I’m worried you’ll end up with some weirdo. I’m not trying to be discriminatory, but the men in Sector 17 are so open… I have to say this even if I get treated like an extreme conservative. You have to be careful about s*x. You know? God gave women’s bodies a disadvantage.”

She had just picked up her knife to cut her steak when a memory she had been trying to forget flashed through her mind, and she froze.
In the light-swallowing darkness, the moment when the sound of breathing was amplified several times, the swaying dog tags…
‘When will it be completely erased?’

“You really, I just thought of someone. He’s an installation artist who creates works related to the Abyss…”

It was then that she saw three people entering the officer’s section.
Hannah furrowed her brow and turned her head away before making eye contact, then moved her knife.
Watching the neatly cut meat, she opened her mouth.

“Not for a while. I’m going to be busy with the reorganization.”

She had just confirmed the rumored reorganization of the unit on the internal intranet that morning.
Two new companies had been created, and the number of personnel had been increased to 100 per company.
Considering her rank and experience, it was highly likely that she would be appointed as a company commander.
As if hurt by her curt refusal, Cassie pouted, and Hannah pushed a yogurt towards her.
Then, she briefly caught sight of Zakar sitting at the opposite table.
‘It’ll be the same for him.’
After rolling around in some company, he would be the first of his peers to get a major’s rank, as befitting his background.

“If you have someone you want to introduce me to, do it after I get discharged.”

“Huh? Discharged?”

“It’s my fifth year, and I’m thinking I’m slowly reaching my limit. Ah, I forgot to ask, how were Private Howard’s regular check-up results? He was properly exposed to X-rays last time.”

She naturally shifted the conversation to radiation sickness and finished her meal.
Cassie, who persistently chirped, asking if she was joking and what she planned to do after being discharged, was left behind with her stray thoughts at the tray return.
Until she left the cafeteria, she never looked back at the table where Zakar was sitting.

Hannah, do you know where the word ‘rival’ comes from?
It’s derived from the old common language word for river, ‘rivus’. Jealousy and rivalry only arise between people who drink from the same river. If you drink from a different water, you don’t get jealous. Humans only become intensely aware of each other when they are similar, when they drink from the same water. That’s why I sometimes found myself unbearably envious of Zakar.

Excerpt from a letter Ian sent to Hannah in 2032, while he was away on a military education program in the Free Zone.

Summer is dyed green, and the cicadas are singing.
It’s July.
Since the reorganization began, she had been incredibly busy.
Major Müller became the battalion commander, and Hannah took over his company commander position, becoming responsible for the 2nd Company.
Most of the new personnel were soldiers who had never even held an emitter before, so she had to re-establish the training plan from the basics.
This proved that Major Müller had been doing a lot more than he let on.
From training the soldiers to equipment, supplies, and budget confirmation, he had handled every element perfectly, except for being gentle with the soldiers.
In fact, from a certain perspective, even that might have been in the realm of perfection as the leader of a progressive barracks.
She saw Zakar once a week at the officer’s meeting.
As the commander of the 1st Company, she only exchanged official talk with him during the meetings.
As if nothing had ever happened.
They would make eye contact fleetingly and play a kind of poker game.
There were no winners.
Both he and she were masters at hiding their expressions.
Sometimes, when a wrist with a watch and a firm hand came into her field of vision, which was fixed on the documents, her gaze would be stolen for a moment.
But that was all.
The email still doesn’t come.
There are no new clues about the 13th Military Science Research Institute either.
As time passed, the realist inside her woke up and whispered.
That the email was just a nasty prank, that Zakar’s information was ridiculous, and that she had misheard the corpse’s voice due to extreme stress.
She considered replying, but then she thought that might be the trap and reserved her judgment.
Still, it was a relief to have one place to catch her breath in the midst of this busy life.

“Come to think of it, the number of occurrences has suddenly dropped. It’s almost as if they know about the reorganization and are giving us time to train.”

“Watch your mouth, Maya. In any field, saying things are leisurely is an invitation for trouble.”

Hannah warned, taking her eyes off the picture in her locker.
Through the window, she could see the new soldiers holding their emitters with tense faces.
The hot weather is exhausting, but the swaying green leaves shine beautifully only in this season.
Reckless and brave, as if it doesn’t matter if they get burned by the scorching sun, how long will that passion burn?