Five days have passed since Leah arrived in Asterum.
It had been five days since Caligo swept through Asterum.
The members began to repair the Asterum one by one.
Some of the urgent parts were restored by Noah's magic, but most of the hard-hit areas needed the love of the Fleas.
Because of this, the members of Playb went on air almost every day.
I took turns communicating with Terra, taking her condition into consideration, but it seemed like it would take quite a while for Asterum to completely recover.
The satellite of Ha-min that the Caligos visited was no exception.
On days when there was no broadcasting, Ha Min spent most of his time restoring the system.
When I returned to the hideout after working on system repairs late into the night, I always ran into Raea in the hallway.
She went out somewhere late almost every day.
The day I returned to find Raea, who had gone out to close the crack, she, as expected, didn't say anything.
Everyone wondered why he was taking such a hardline stance, but no answer came.
Eunhoman followed Raea around without paying any attention to her.
As if trying to compensate for the time that has passed.
"Raa! Have you ever been to Cyberpunk?"
Raea was never bothered by Eunho, who approached her without warning with an innocent smile.
Even her usually blunt face would become relaxed when she was with him.
"No, not really. I wanted to go."
"Once Asterum is fixed, I'll take you back to where I used to live. It looks almost like a cyberpunk movie!"
"Okay. Let me see your house too. I'm curious about how you live."
"Of course! If you come to my house, I'll make you some delicious pasta. It'll probably be so delicious that you'll want to live here."
When Eunho smiled confidently, Raea also smiled.
Ha-min, who was sitting on the sofa across from her, was amazed by Ra-ah.
She was so different now that I couldn't believe she was the same person I saw in the cube space a few days ago.
Is this the power of Eunho?
If it were Eunho, wouldn't he know why Raea is being so stubborn?
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
As the night deepens and the streets of Asterum are bathed in darkness.
On this day, too, Ha-min returned to the hideout exhausted from staying late at the satellite.
As I walked down the dark hallway, illuminated only by the moonlight, the only sound I could hear was the dull thump of my footsteps echoing against the ceiling.
Even though the hallway wasn't that long, the door felt so far away because of the quiet stillness that had settled in.
There was always someone across the hallway.
A person who slowly walks towards you, but then passes you by without saying a word and goes somewhere.
What on earth should I say?
Since seeing Raea like that that day, the two of them have never had a proper conversation.
Ha-min swallowed his words because he felt like it would be awkward no matter what he said.
I didn't want to care, so I tried to focus on recovering the satellite, but I couldn't shake it off because I kept seeing it every day.
The appearance of a new character in Asterum, which had only five members, was a noteworthy event.
But it wasn't just because of that that Ha-min was concerned about Rae-ah.
"Ms. Raea."
After thinking for a while, Ha Min called out to Raea, who was a step or two closer.
Fortunately, Raea stopped walking at Ha-min's call.
When he finally met the amber eyes slowly looking up at him, he felt a lump forming in his throat.
I was so frustrated with myself that I was speechless whenever I stood in front of this person.
"You're going out today too."
"huh."
"...Can I ask where you are going?"
Although Ha Min asked cautiously, he wasn't really expecting an answer.
Because she had never said anything properly to me before.
"Go see the crack."
"why?"
But contrary to expectations, Raea gave a more refreshing answer than expected.
Ha Min decided to be a little more courageous.
"Because I have to find a way to close it."
"...I thought you knew how to close it."
"If I had known, I would have closed it a long time ago. There would have been no need to tell you."
Ha-min began to get a little angry at Rae-ah, who was avoiding his eyes and saying things that seemed to push him away again.
How dare you not even discuss something so important.
Even with Eunho hyung.
I tried to understand why this person was so cold and tried to solve everything on his own, thinking there must be a reason, but I couldn't help but get angry at his one-sided attitude.
Ha Min tried his best to suppress his overflowing emotions.
"Why don't you trust us so much?"
Raea raised her head again and looked at Ha-min's eyebrows, which were slightly frowning without her knowing.
The eyes, which were dark and black in the darkness, were looking straight at him, but were shaking slightly.
"It's not that I don't trust you. It's because I do. You..."
Suddenly, Raea stopped talking, closed her eyes, and lowered her head.
It was hard to tell whether she was holding back tears or suppressing her anger.
Hamin's frown softened and he began to check her mood, but fortunately the silence didn't last long.
"What I want is... your safety."
"Then please explain a little more so I can understand, Miss Rae."
"It's okay if you don't understand."
"I'm not okay."
As I looked into Ha Min's deep, straight-eyed gaze, it became increasingly difficult to lie.
How nice it would be if I could just let it all out.
But that would hurt both you and me.
The air trembled at the sound of Raea's small gasp.
"okay."
So Raea closed her mouth again.
Ha Min had no choice but to settle for this much.
At least I know he's not a bad person, so that's enough for now.
"Are you going to see the crack today too?"
To ease the tension, Ha Min changed the subject to a routine question.
But somehow, Raea's face only hardened further.
"I was going to do that... but I guess I'll have to go somewhere else."
"Cube space?"
Leah's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Fortunately, I felt that the atmosphere in Raea had become a little more comfortable than before.
Ha-min's body, which had been tense and tense, also relaxed a little.
"...huh."
"I've been wanting to ask this for a while now..."
Wouldn't you answer now?
"How did you get to the cube space?"
But contrary to expectations, Leah's lips were tightly shut again.
Just as Ha-min was about to give up,
"...I woke up there too."
Raea said something that Ha Min had never thought of.
"Like you."