[- Name: Seo Rae-ah
Date of birth: February 19, 2002 Gender: Female
Height: 166cm Appearance:
Hair Color: Black, Silver Ability: Telekinesis ]
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.
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The only new thing I learned from the basic information was that she was the same age as Bambi.
Having seen up to that point, Ha-min skipped over the beginning and middle parts where Rae-ah's past was described in detail.
He had to stop scrolling halfway through because he wanted to see what happened after she woke up in the cube space, but he couldn't stop scrolling because he was afraid that he might accidentally see something that Raea didn't want others to know.
At the bottom of the material that eventually arrived, there was a brief description of her recent activities.
[...Investigation underway to close the crack. - 2025.01.31 22:46~]
The recent content wasn't as specific as I'd expected. This meant that nothing worth documenting had yet occurred.
Ha Min started scrolling up little by little and started to find the time when Raea woke up from the cube.
"what's this..!"
Strangely, the contents of her book, from the time she awoke from the cube until she arrived in Asterum, were so badly damaged that they were barely legible. It was as if important information had been intentionally obscured in case someone saw it.
Could this be what they were secretly doing on the satellite? But this file definitely wasn't in the search or browsing records.
He'd decided to look at the material to learn more about the enigmatic person, but instead, he felt like he'd only gotten more questions. Ha-min didn't give up, determined to carefully skim through the remaining sentences.
"The road to Asterum is open, but I refuse the offer to cross over..."
It was the most recent of the damaged parts.
It seemed to be the time when Hamin was gathering Star Shards and sending himself and the members of the play group to the Asterum he created with the developers.
About two years ago. By then, Raea had already awakened from the cube.
But during that time, Ha-min also spent time in the Cube space, so why did we never meet?
Only the developers could have suggested that I go to Asterum, so if you already knew about her, why didn't you tell me?
Feeling uneasy, as if something was wrong, Ha Min hurriedly scrolled up and found the first damaged part.
[The wave that he created by waking up from the cube struck the entire space of life.]
"...January 11, 2020..!!! You woke up in 2020? That was 5 years ago!"
By 2020, it was roughly two years before Ha-min woke up in the cube. It was much earlier than expected.
Of course, since Asterum did not exist at that time, Raea was probably trapped in the cube space without being able to go to Caelum like the previous Hamin.
Moreover, since the developer had created a program that could interpret the Asterum language after Hamin had attempted direct contact, it was said that he had been alone for at least two years and one month without meeting anyone.
In a dark and empty place.
The history of Raea's cube space was very different from what I had imagined.
If I woke up in the cube space, the developers would have noticed and sent me straight to Asterum, so I guessed that it must not have been long since I woke up.
In severe cases, he might have woken up on the same day Caligo barged in.
If this were true, Leah's reserved nature would immediately make sense. She probably hadn't been able to converse with anyone for a long time.
[Wandering through the space of life, seeking others. -2020.01.11 2:12~2020.06.30 13:44]
[Lying alone in the living space without any activity. -2020.06.30 13:45~2021.09.02 08:31]
The rest of the content was almost entirely damaged and unreadable.
Ha Min leaned back against his chair, his upper body, which had been leaning forward while reading intently, tilted back. His eyes were still fixed on the screen, filled with broken letters, but his thoughts weren't there.
I couldn't even begin to imagine the despair Leah must have felt when she woke up without knowing what was happening, wandered aimlessly through the space of life for about six months looking for someone, and finally gave up.
What would it have been like to spend a year and two months just holding on to your breath in a place where you couldn't even die?
Records after September 2nd, 2021 are unknown, but it is likely that he was alone the entire time.
So where has she been for the past three years? Why did she refuse to come to Asterum?
I learned about Raea, but paradoxically, it felt like there were more things I didn't know.
I should have focused more on Caligo now, but it wasn't going as well as I wanted.
Hamin sighed softly and closed the broken data window, which now contained nothing more. He then selected Raea's data code from the table of contents below.
It was more like a checkup, just in case, rather than anticipating new information. The screen quickly became filled with illegible text.
".. wait for a sec."
Surprisingly, something immediately came to mind as soon as he saw Raea's data. Ha-min quickly found the crack's data code and placed it next to Raea's.
"What the heck is this.."
The structure of the two codes was somewhat similar.
Although it was said to be a part, it was actually almost half, a considerable amount.
Everything in this world has a data code.
In particular, for the Asterum people, data codes functioned similarly to DNA. Beings who are related by blood or otherwise related to one another often exhibit similar structures.
However, the crack is neither human nor alien, and its exact identity is unknown, so it was nonsensical to say that Leah and Data were similar.
I still don't know what this means, but it wasn't an ordinary thing.
"..Who the hell is this guy?"
-
One evening, when the sun had completely set and the streetlights were starting to come on one by one, Bambi was sitting alone in a cafe, leisurely reading a book.
It was no surprise that he would come to a cafe as soon as he could rest, as one of his favorite things to do was to enjoy his thoughts in a quiet cafe with soft music playing.
About thirty minutes later, perhaps because he'd been working and was already feeling tired, Bambi put down his book early and stretched. Judging by the yawn he was feeling, it seemed best to read the book later.
I yawned loudly, wiped a tear from my eye, and opened my eyes to find that it was already completely dark outside.
Should I go running?
As I was lost in thought, I suddenly saw the back of someone kneeling in the darkness outside the window, where not even the streetlights could reach.
It was Raea, who was smaller than him.
It was far away so I couldn't see clearly, but something seemed to be wrong.
'I'll have to check.'
Because he is someone precious to Eunho.
My first impression wasn't very good, but I couldn't ignore the situation that needed help.
Bambi picked up the book on the table and quickly went out of the cafe.
The February air was still chilly, but since the sun had just set, the temperature hadn't dropped so low that his breath was steaming. Bambi, dressed a little lightly today, shivered slightly from the cold.
As I strode closer to Leah, I could see her back heaving rapidly. It was clear she was panting.
Bambi quickened his pace and began to walk as if he was running.
"Miss Raea, are you okay?"
Leah, clutching her chest and bowing her head, struggled to catch her breath. She looked up at Bambi. Bambi quickly knelt down on one knee and lowered himself to meet her gaze.
His pale face was drenched in cold sweat. It couldn't have been the heat of the weather that made him sweat.
"It's okay... Just..."
The words "It's okay," barely managed to escape between gasps, sounded more like a distress signal to Bambi.
"I'll take you to Yejun hyung. He used to be a doctor."
Since I didn't know where or how it hurt, I didn't know how to help right away, so the only thought that came to mind was to take him to Yejun.
He put the book he was holding down on the ground and turned his back to Leah, placing one of her arms on his shoulder to carry her.
But before she could properly carry him, Leah grabbed the hem of Bambi's pants with her trembling hand. It was a sign that she didn't want to be carried.
Bambi turned around again and faced Leah, who still looked a bit tired.
"Ugh... Huh... Just... Leave me alone... It's not a fatal disease..."
Bambi insisted that it would get better with time and that there was nothing to be nervous about, so she had no choice but to give up on going to Yejun.
Leah told him to leave her behind, but he couldn't leave someone who was struggling like this.
Bambi just stayed by her side and waited to see if things would really get better with time.
After about ten minutes, Leah's breathing gradually began to return to normal. She definitely felt more relaxed than when I first found her.
Even though she wasn't completely better yet, Raea struggled to get up from her seat.
"I think I still need to stay a little longer."
"..Okay, I can move."
This is really something. I'm like that too, but somehow this person seems even worse. To pretend to be okay like this... He could have rested a little longer, but Bambi watched him walk away, still staggering slightly, and thought about it five hundred times over whether he should support him or not.
I started to feel uneasy, wondering if I could really let him go like this alone.
"Keep it a secret from Eunho."
But after walking a few steps, Leah looked back again. Her face still looked anxious, but somehow it was a little softer than usual.
"all right."