Why had I forgotten about portals?

Even as I swallowed at Yun's chilling words, I couldn't take my hand off the photograph. Ah. Why had I forgotten this existed? Why had I focused only on creatures, on the war, on Kyle?

Looking at my training officer's expressionless face, I forced out the words.

"Why did you take this picture?"

Only Yun's eyes moved.

"I took it on the first day of the war."

"Was there a reason?"

"Why? Remember something else?"

He answered my question with a question.

I hesitated, then closed my mouth. I couldn't easily put the words drifting around inside me in order. And I hadn't remembered everything. I couldn't remember the beginning or the end.

The beginning and end of my time on Earth.

Of course, Yun didn't look inclined to help. He'd presumably called me over to interrogate me. I bit my lip, then replied in a subdued voice.

"I'd like to compare what the commander tells me with my memories."

"Ah, good."

He seemed satisfied with my suggestion.

"That's efficient. Saves us doing this twice."

He said Yehyeon wouldn't be coming until the night after next. He was busy: his brief hospitalization had kept him away from work, and an audit and other things happened to overlap with it.

Yun warned me that we'd be hearing my story as soon as Yehyeon returned, so I was to stay put and rest in the cabin until then. In other words, don't go far. Wait close by.

"Just take your rehab slowly. Get some shooting practice in while you're at it."

"I really do practice diligently almost every day."

"I'm telling you to practice shooting, not just your swordsmanship."

So he knew I usually only practiced with my sword. I clicked my tongue inwardly, then turned away. Meekly agreeing, I went back to the cabin.

* * *

When I heard Yehyeon had arrived, I went next door at around ten that night. I found him sitting on the sofa in a T-shirt.

"You're here?"

"Hi."

Yun ambled out from farther inside, and Yehyeon looked at me, blinking sleepily. My superior looked so much like a college student that I was taken aback, but I quickly collected myself.

I entered with a bow and held out a bag containing a walnut pie I'd bought at a place renowned for its food.

"Sorry to intrude so late. It's not much, but I brought this for you to share."

"You didn't have to bring anything. Thank you. We'll enjoy it."

"Sit."

While Yehyeon peered into the bag and thanked me warmly, Yun pointed firmly at the sofa. I quietly obeyed.

The conversation didn't begin immediately as Yun had hoped. My superior, who looked even thinner in his black T-shirt, slowly made his way to the kitchen. He was clearly going to slice and serve the walnut pie I'd brought, so I took the hint and sprang into the kitchen. Yun followed, grumbling.

That delayed things a little.

It wasn't until Yehyeon and I were seated on the sofa, each holding a plate with a slice of walnut pie, that we were finally ready to talk. Yun gave a small sigh and drank his coffee.

"You won't sleep if you drink coffee at night," Yehyeon chided through a mouthful of walnut pie.

Yun lowered his cup sulkily.

"It's not as if this conversation is going to help me sleep soundly."

He wasn't wrong. I smiled bitterly, but kept eating my walnut pie with gusto. The place deserved its reputation. The crust was exceptionally crisp.

Yehyeon kept munching away too, apparently enjoying the pie. Then, without warning, he got straight to the point.

"What would you like me to tell you first?"

A piece of walnut nearly went down my windpipe.

"Or would you like to go first, Hilde?"

These people seemed to have a knack for going straight for the heart of things without warning. I quietly set down my fork and considered for a moment, looking at the two seniors sitting across from me.

During the two days I'd spent waiting for Yehyeon, I'd taken some time to sort through my recovered memories. The ones that had burst forth when I faced Colton, the fragment that had resurfaced in the subway, and all the other scraps I'd recovered as I went about my days.

I confess I'd had to wipe tears from my eyes a few times.

After pressing my lips into a thin line, I struggled to answer.

"I'll go first."

"Sure. Whatever you're comfortable with."

"Where should I start?"

"The beginning and the end," Yun said in a low voice.

Of all things, he had to choose a question I couldn't answer. I gave my training officer a bitter smile.

"I can't remember the beginning or the end. I mean, I don't remember how I came to Earth, or how the war broke out."

"Really? Then do you know exactly what you are?"

"Even before I met Col—Falcon, I mean, I was aware I wasn't human."

Kyle had always made that clear. In my memories, he got along well with humans, just as I did—we didn't look all that different, so blending in wasn't difficult—but he always kept an emotional distance. Even though we seemed no different from them apart from our eye color, he'd steadfastly insisted we were a different species.

For one thing, we'd discovered how to obtain eternal life before we ever arrived on Earth. More precisely, we had secured the privilege of never growing old.

"Isn't that a privilege everyone has longed for since the dawn of history?"

"So those stories floating around online about high-ranking officials conducting human experiments weren't just baseless rumors," Yun murmured, never taking his eyes off me.

"Not that I'm particularly surprised. You don't remember anything about the experiments?"

"No. But I do remember spending a lot of time somewhere obsessively white."

And that I'd often played games there. But I had no memories of being experimented on or participating in experiments. I suspected something like that had happened, and I simply couldn't recall it, judging by Eric calling me Prometheus and the things Jaeyeon had shouted during that rampage.

I also remembered Kyle arrogantly tossing his black hair back over his shoulder and speaking of "our generosity toward humanity."

Yun gave a minute nod. Yehyeon was eating his pie without any change in expression.

He must really like it...

"Any other traits?"

My training officer's cold voice brought me back to my senses.

"That can't be all. By that logic, Badgers aren't human either."

"No. There is actually something that makes us distinctly different from humans..."

I'd only remembered this after waking up in the hospital. To be precise, it had come back to me on the drive here in Yun's car after I woke up. My senses were now fully open. My sharpened five senses no longer overwhelmed me.

And as that sense returned, I'd come to understand what Colton had meant by "your kind's most distinctive trait."

I could now sense which direction my kind were in.

"No human has ever fully understood it. As far as I remember."

"It's a sense we don't have. Of course we can't fully understand it. Then can you sense where this Kyle you've been talking about is right now?"

"When they're far away, I can only get a rough sense of direction..."

Still, that didn't mean I couldn't sense him. Without a word, I pointed behind them.

Yehyeon and Yun both looked behind them. Then, in unison, they slowly turned back.

Silence settled over the living room for a moment. Yehyeon didn't seem particularly surprised, but Yun studied me with narrowed eyes. His gaze utterly devoid of warmth, my training officer said something chilling.

"I'll have to open you up."

"Commander."

I immediately turned to Yehyeon and sent out an SOS.

"Please save me."

"Yun, no," Yehyeon admonished briefly.

"That's a crime."

A brief exchange followed, Yun insisting he could open me up and close me again without any trouble, and Yehyeon refusing to allow it. With their conversation as background noise, I sank into thought.

All right. We'd come this far. Now it was time for the conclusions I'd drawn from these facts to wash over me. Memories had swept in like a tide after my five senses opened up. As I traced them, the scattered puzzle pieces fell into place.

The humanoid creature that had faced Yehyeon in the video. Its seemingly burning eyes with their inverted colors, and the black veil swirling around its body. The way the humanoid creature I'd encountered beneath the subway had stirred and regained consciousness.

I spoke slowly.

"Commander."

"What is it?"

"Did you already know Titans existed when you faced the level-ten creature?"

Yehyeon watched me quietly with his large eyes. The ticking of the second hand struck my ears. The high ceiling made the room strangely chilly. I sat still, waiting for my superior to break the silence.

This house always smelled of cool wind.

Yehyeon broke the silence in an unreadable voice.

"Only in very fragmentary terms."

His voice remained emotionless as he continued.

"My father forced me into that situation."

"What?"

Yun raised his voice. Brow furrowed, he glared at Yehyeon beside him.

"What the fuck is this now?"

"Sorry. I didn't think it was particularly worth mentioning. You never specifically asked, either, so I kept quiet."

"Why are you bringing up Lee Seunghyeon all of a sudden? What's the connection between him and the rookie?"

"Hilde and my father knew each other."

That was true. The problem was, all I could remember was that Lee Seunghyeon had been a soldier recruited from Korea. I was certain we'd met face-to-face and spoken, but nothing else would come back.

Would hearing about Lee Seunghyeon bring back anything more? I watched my seniors go back and forth, then told them the truth plainly.

When I asked him to tell me a little about Lee Seunghyeon for that reason, Yehyeon's face stiffened slightly.

"All right. I'll do my best. Though I don't know my father all that well myself..."

"I'm sorry for asking about something so personal."

"No, it's all right. In fact, I'd been thinking I ought to tell you someday..."

Even as he said it, Yehyeon hesitated. The pale man pressed his lips together, then slowly began.

"I'll tell you a little about my father."

Beside him, Yun gave a quiet snort. I'd been focused on Yehyeon, but my eyes widened in surprise at what Yun said next. Raising his coffee cup, my training officer announced:

"The Legend of the Shithead Dad. Coming soon."

"Yun!" I cried, horrified.

"That's an insult to his family!"

"I know."

"It's all right."

"He's always like this whenever my father comes up." Yehyeon smiled with his eyes closed and waved a hand in unconcern. Beside him, Yun sipped his coffee as though nothing had happened.

Looking at the two of them, I grew a little afraid of hearing the story that would follow.