## Chapter 317 – 31.RK…(11)
+++
I returned to the hangar.
The base was so massive that it took quite a bit of time just to get there.
But I was still excited.
It would be stranger if I wasn’t excited after seeing Baekseol’s unbelievable performance.
No knight or mecha I had ever imagined or seen before had ever shown such movements.
Even now, thinking about it gives me chills.
The sight and emotion of her disappearing for a moment and then reappearing in the same spot in a second, with all the enemy units around her exploding like fireworks… words can’t even begin to describe it.
‘Baekseol. You deserve it. You deserve to be the first commander of my knight order…!!’
And if something like the Muyeol Corps is ever created in the future, Baekseol will naturally be its marshal!
The excitement I feel now is worth that much.
Chiiik.
Pshiiiiiiiiik….
Baekseol’s personal mecha, G85-00001, which had filled us all with awe and amazement, reappeared in the hangar.
When I first saw it here, it had an overall white feel, but now the exterior was all red-hot, with hazy steam rising from all over the machine.
“Whoa….”
Moreover, the devices set up to manage the mecha were spraying water to cool down the exterior, but the sprayed water vaporized before it even touched the surface, completely filling the huge hangar with steam.
It was hotter than I thought, so we ended up evacuating for a while.
After spraying water and removing the steam for about 10 minutes, we re-entered the hangar.
The mecha’s red-hot exterior had returned to its original pure white appearance.
Clang.
With that sound, the cockpit opened, and the pilot, Baekseol, appeared.
“…Baekseol?”
But she didn’t look so good.
Just like the mecha’s exterior, which had turned red-hot and was spewing steam, Baekseol looked pretty much the same.
First of all, the inside of the cockpit looked very humid, and Baekseol was drenched in sweat, even from a distance.
Her skin was also all red, and she kept exhaling.
Her eyes were half-closed, indicating that she was quite exhausted.
Something… happened…?
“…She overdid it.”
“Huh?”
Seeing that, Gominyeong smirked and clicked her tongue.
“I knew it. The performance was too unbelievable. I thought that level of movement would only be possible with a 9th generation.”
“What do you mean….”
“The movements just now were beyond what an 8.5 generation machine could handle, regardless of the pilot’s specs. I’ll have to open the black box to know for sure, but it seems she forcibly maneuvered by enduring as much of the G-force as possible herself.”
“That’s… possible? Enduring the G-force instead.”
G-force is about gravity, right? The force acting when moving.
But how can you endure that instead?
“Theoretically… it’s possible with a super-high-performance personal mecha that can deploy an extremely powerful anti-gravity field. But that’s just theoretical… and in the first place, enduring that much of the mecha’s burden yourself…”
I was so dumbfounded that I looked up at Baekseol.
Staff members or robots wearing thick heat-resistant suits were lowering Baekseol.
“So… the performance from earlier was the result of Baekseol forcibly maneuvering by taking on the damage that the mecha was supposed to endure?”
“Yes.”
“…Why did she go that far?”
She could have shot them all down even with normal movements.
“She wanted to impress you, Muyeol.”
“!”
“I’m the one who provided it, but you were planning to give her a personal mecha anyway, weren’t you?”
“That’s… right….”
If Gominyeong hadn’t covered the costs, I would have paid for Baekseol’s personal armaments and personal mecha with my own money.
No matter how much it cost.
“She probably wanted to show the best possible movements to the lord who trusts her completely and provides her with the maximum support she can get.”
“Baekseol….”
“For a toy, that’s a great mindset.”
Gominyeong said with a smirk.
It seemed to be the first time she had smiled at Baekseol.
“She’ll probably need treatment and rest for a while. The same goes for the mecha.”
“Ah….”
Baekseol was admitted to Korea Medical, which was located in the Militarys headquarters.
+++
“Lord….”
When I found her hospital room, Baekseol was lying on a white bed.
She was a knight who showed such a powerful force, but lying in a patient gown, she was unmistakably a frail woman.
When she saw me enter, she tried to get up.
“It’s okay. Stay lying down.”
“Ah….”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
She also bit her lip almost to the point of bleeding.
“…I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For showing you such an unsightly 모습…. I’m sorry.”
It seemed she was blaming herself.
She wanted to impress me, but as a result, she ended up in a hospital room.
It was a bit of a funny situation.
“Yeah. I heard your mecha needs to be inspected for a while too.”
“Ugh…. I, I’m sorry….”
Still.
Tok.
“You were excellent, Baekseol.”
“…!”
Her heart was definitely conveyed.
That struggle to show me her best self, even melting her own body.
I definitely felt it.
“Lord…!”
I could feel a faint heat from the hand I placed on her forehead.
I heard from the researchers that she had overdone it quite a bit and her fever was quite high, but thankfully it was much more stable now.
“It was the most amazing sight I’ve ever seen.”
“!!”
Baekseol’s eyes widened.
She always had a dignified face, so that unfamiliar look was kind of cute.
“I’m really proud that you’re my first knight, Baekseol.”
“Lord…! Th, thank… you…!”
Her wide eyes distorted with emotion.
“I was going to stay for a few days anyway, so take this opportunity to get some rest. There’s nothing seriously wrong.”
“Yes… Lord….”
“Rest well.”
I patted her lightly and left the hospital room.
Just before I left, Baekseol covered herself with the blanket for some reason.
Outside, Gominyeong, who had followed me all the way here, was reading documents, having already received a briefing.
It seemed to be about Baekseol’s personal mecha and Baekseol herself.
“Even though she overdid it, the fact that such movements are possible is a great achievement. I hear that if your knight gets on a 9th generation, she’ll be able to do the maneuver from earlier without much burden.”
“…So, is it because it’s an 8.5 generation that she’s having such a hard time?”
“To be exact, she can breathe a little because it’s an 8.5 generation. If it was an 8th generation, the mecha wouldn’t have been able to withstand it and would have collapsed, and the pilot wouldn’t have been safe either. Of course, this is based on a 26.8 meter monster.”
“….”
I… see.
It was quite a reckless act.
“A knight needs to have this much spirit.”
“Is that so….”
“I had an interesting sight for the first time in a while. It’s not a bad feeling.”
Gominyeong was also smiling a lot today.
The last time she gave Baekseol her personal armaments, she was completely cold-blooded.
That meant Baekseol had scored some points, right?
‘Good job, Baekseol. Now it’s my turn.’
Baekseol had shown such a sight even with an 8.5 generation-based personal mecha.
Her desire to show me her best and strongest self, even melting her own body, was now my turn to grant.
“Minyoung, you said you had something to tell me earlier. I’ll do it now.”
“H, huh? Now…? At this timing?”
“Yes.”
I had made up my mind.
There was no wavering.
What I had to do was clear.
Gominyeong looked around, then coughed for no reason.
“I see…. You’ve made up your mind. Okay. If you’re that sincere, I have to listen.”
She showed a strange expectation and looked around.
Then, she led me into an empty hospital room.
“Stay outside.”
“Yes.”
She left all the secretaries and staff outside and checked the door lock several times.
“Hoo….”
And took a deep breath.
She turned around with a serious face.
But rather than her unique dignity and sharpness, she had a face with a strange heat and desire.
“Muyeol.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll check one more time.”
“?”
“Are you sure you can say that to me? And are you going to do it now?”
She’s….
Thinking about me a lot.
She probably doesn’t even know what I’m going to say.
Her consideration makes my heart even firmer.
“Yes. I’m going to do it now. And it’s something I can only say to Minyoung.”
“Th, that’s….”
Her cheeks flushed and she slightly averted her gaze.
She always looked at me and smiled when we had sex, but at this moment, I was about to confess that I could actually make a superconductor….
‘Huh? Wait a minute.’
Confess?
“You’ve really… made up your mind.”
“….”
N…o. Wait.
Isn’t it?
Could it be.
Could it be that she’s misunderstanding that I’m about to make some kind of confession
Or propose
Or something like that….
“…♥.”
…Isn’t it?
“Actually, I,”
My head was incredibly complicated, but my mouth started talking on its own.
I couldn’t possibly back down from the atmosphere I had already created and my determination.
“I can make a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor….”
“Yeah. I’ve been thinking that too. There will be many difficulties, but you and I… what?”
Gominyeong’s face turned serious.
“….”
“….”
The atmosphere froze rapidly.
