Ch.27Succubus! (2)

#027

Dexter’s phone rang as he was waiting by the coffee machine after leisurely finishing his lunch.

“Hello, Dexter speaking.”

-It’s me. Have you finished lunch? You have time to talk now, right?

Dexter smiled slightly as he heard Agent Himena’s voice, unable to hide her excitement.

“Yes, I do. Where should I start explaining from?”

-From the beginning!

“It’s quite a long story, is that okay?”

-Even if my shift starts, I can just say I have a preliminary briefing and slip away for a bit!

Dexter chuckled at her blatant intention to play hooky from work and replied.

“It’s not long enough for you to skip work, so that’s fine. Well, there’s this place called the Succubus Planet…”

Dexter was in the middle of explaining about the Succubus Planet and its inhabitants.

-Wait a second… Kyaah!

“…Agent Himena?”

Confused by Agent Himena’s sudden scream, Dexter called out to her, but a different voice answered instead.

-This isn’t a secure line… Who am I speaking with?

It was a man’s voice, similar in age to Agent Himena’s, and even to Dexter, it sounded quite serious yet gentle.

“I should be asking who you are.”

-What kind of ci—

-Give that back! How dare you snatch my phone while I’m talking to my informant?

The man’s voice cut off, and Agent Himena’s sharp voice returned.

She had apparently snatched her phone back.

-If you do this again, I’m really going to report you to HR!

Dexter heard the man mumbling something after Himena’s words, but he couldn’t make out what was being said.

-Why does Mr. Rascal need to see my informant?

As the man mumbled again, Himena continued with an incredulous tone.

-Information leak? Are you joking with me? I have no intention of hanging out with you, Mr. Rascal, so please go away. Now.

-…Just let me know who that guy is.

-What the hell… Ah, I didn’t say anything. I’ll handle this myself, so could you please just not worry about it?

Even through the phone, Dexter could tell that Agent Himena was quite angry.

-See you later.

-See what? Looking like a scoop of butter… Ah, Mr. Hughes, I’m sorry… He’s a senior from another department, and he has absolutely no manners whatsoever…

“Mouse what?”

-Ah, I meant he has less manners than an eyelash.

Dexter chuckled at Himena’s slip of a curse word that she hadn’t managed to filter.

“That’s fine. People say things when they’re angry. Why don’t we just talk over dinner after your shift ends? It’s a bit awkward to start explaining everything from the beginning again.”

-That works for me! But won’t you be tired, Mr. Dexter?

“I’ve got energy to spare. Besides, I have two days off starting tomorrow, so it’s fine. I’m more concerned about you being tired.”

-I’ll be fine! Then shall we meet at 7:30 in front of Kindred Hospital? I heard there’s a Korean BBQ restaurant in front of the hospital.

“Uh… sure. Meat sounds good. See you in front of the hospital later.”

‘Korean BBQ?’

While Dexter knew about sushi or Kung Pao chicken, Korean BBQ was something he’d never heard of before.

During the time Dexter was forcibly sent to space in 2000, Korean restaurants could only be found in Koreatowns unless you were in major cities like New York.

After hanging up, Dexter searched for “Korean BBQ” on his phone’s search engine.

“Oh… interesting, very interesting.”

Korean BBQ involved placing burning charcoal on each table with a grill on top, where thinly sliced raw meat or marinated meat was cooked.

“I didn’t know places like this existed.”

His interest was piqued.

After getting a cup of coffee from the machine, Dexter headed to the infirmary, where he saw Jesse exercising more skillfully than yesterday.

“Mr. Hughes, is Mr. Blueberg really a beginner? Just two days ago, he was screaming that he was going to die.”

The day shift nurse was watching Jesse exercise with wide, surprised eyes.

“Maybe he’s a natural at exercise? His talent is finally shining through.”

“Really? But how could he be that good?”

“Of course, miracles can exist in this world, right? He used to be skinny, but now he’s in such a healthy state.”

“When you put it that way, I guess so…”

The nurse nodded awkwardly at Dexter’s words.

Of course, the physical correction device helping his body recover played a big role, but Dexter didn’t care and covered for Jesse with his lie.

As Dexter approached Jesse, he stopped his exercise, grabbed a towel hanging on the wall, and wiped the sweat from his face as he came over.

Except for his face, the rest of his body was still drenched in sweat.

“When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

Dexter glanced behind him to see where the nurse was.

Seeing that the nurse had momentarily gone into the examination room with some documents, he spoke to Jesse.

“Wasn’t the exercise difficult today?”

“No. Maybe it’s because of the massage, but it’s much easier to move? It really seems super effective.”

Dexter nodded at Jesse’s words and briefly opened the door to the room.

The hot air from the room was filled with the scent of Jesse’s flesh.

Dexter stroked Jesse’s head once, gave him a light kiss on the lips, and closed the door again.

Jesse, no longer shy, naturally looked at Dexter with his hands on his waist as Dexter smiled and said:

“See you later.”

“Huh? Where are you going today?”

“I need to meet someone for dinner tonight. I have some preparations to make beforehand, so I probably won’t be able to come into the room much.”

Jesse was a bit disappointed but didn’t show it, nodding and saying in a small voice:

“Can’t be helped, I guess. Good luck with your preparations.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

Dexter smiled at Jesse once more and went into the examination room. Jesse drank from the water bottle on the table and slowly thought:

‘Who is he meeting?’

From Jesse’s perspective, it didn’t seem like someone related to the prison, but rather someone completely different.

‘Who could he be meeting that requires preparation?’

As Jesse didn’t know much about Dexter, he could only wonder.

Soon, Dexter came out of the examination room, waved goodbye, and left the infirmary.

Jesse waved back and thought:

‘Is he meeting a woman?’

* * *

As Dexter drove his pickup truck to the front of Kindred Hospital, a familiar black Chevrolet Cruze was waiting in the hospital parking lot with its engine running.

Dexter parked next to the black Chevrolet Cruze, rolled down his window, and whistled.

-Tweet!

The side window of the black Chevrolet Cruze slowly rolled down, and a grinning woman greeted Dexter.

“You’re here? Let’s go quickly. I’m hungry.”

“If you’re hungry, we should hurry.”

“Zen Korean BBQ House,” located across from the hospital, was a neat, white-finished one-story restaurant that was quite busy despite it being a weekday.

As the two entered the restaurant, a receptionist approached with a list and asked:

“Do you have a reservation?”

“Yes, it should be under ‘Joaquina.'”

Agent Himena said, scratching behind her ear.

“Just a moment… Yes, I’ll show you to your table.”

The employee led the way, with Himena and Dexter following behind. Dexter whispered:

“Your last name is Joaquina?”

Himena responded with surprise:

“What? You didn’t know my last name?”

“All I know is what I heard from Steve back then.”

Himena felt a bit hurt that Dexter didn’t even know her last name despite knowing each other for some time.

But thinking about it, she realized there was no need to feel hurt.

She had never told him her last name.

“Ah, that makes sense… I never mentioned it.”

The two sat down at their table, guided by the employee, and Himena said to Dexter:

“Of course, I made the reservation under a fake last name. My real last name is Ribero.”

“Himena Ribero…”

Dexter repeated it a few times, then nodded.

“Nice, Ribero.”

“Are you going to call me by my last name?”

“No? I’m already calling you Agent Himena.”

Dexter shrugged.

“Why, should I drop the ‘Agent’ part too?”

“Oh, really?”

“Why not? I might have been too familiar, though.”

Himena leaned back in her chair at Dexter’s words and said:

“So you’re saying we’re distant?”

“Not at all. If we were, I wouldn’t joke around with you. What do you take me for?”

Himena pouted at Dexter’s quick response.

“You really don’t miss a beat.”

“I’ve been living this life for years. You’ve got a long way to go to catch up with me, Himena.”

Dexter shook his head at Himena and started looking at the menu on the table.

First were the appetizers.

“Japchae? Or is it pronounced ‘jabchae’? Is this good?”

“Yes, it’s like pasta with soy sauce, if that makes sense? It’s delicious. The KFC here, Korean Fried Chicken, is also good. It’s chicken with sauce, slightly spicy but sweet. It’s the best.”

Himena pointed at the menu with a thumbs up.

Moving to the beef section of the main menu, Dexter noticed an unusual item.

“Zen Signature Galbi?”

“No, it’s ‘gal-bi.’ It’s seasoned beef with bones, salty and sweet… How should I describe it? Anyway, it’s delicious.”

“Is everything delicious?”

“I’m telling you, everything is delicious, really.”

Dexter chuckled at Himena, who seemed to have visited multiple times based on her explanations.

“I thought Himena would only go to restaurants where each menu item costs $100, but it seems you frequent places like this too. Like that Chinese restaurant last time.”

“What do you take me for? I can enjoy humble food too, you know?”

Dexter giggled at Himena’s slightly offended tone.

“Humble?”

“…Well, my family is quite wealthy.”

Himena pouted again at Dexter’s comment and said:

“You must have heard about it, right? That my family is well-off.”

Dexter vaguely remembered hearing something when he first met Himena, while he was with Steve.

“I heard they were influential enough to parachute you into your current job.”

“Um… it’s a bit awkward to say this myself, but yes, we are quite well-off.”

Himena covered her mouth with one hand to prevent others from hearing.

“How well-off?”

“If we shut down one of our businesses, two or three small countries might collapse…?”

Himena spoke so casually that Dexter was just nodding along, but then he realized the scale of what she was saying.

After a moment of surprise, he nodded.

“Oh, so you’re living modestly now by comparison.”

“Right. At first, I made a lot of mistakes because I didn’t know better. Now I’m living without drawing attention.”

Himena grinned.

When he first met her, he thought she was just an ill-mannered, silver-spoon agent who only knew how to curse, but she was actually just a rookie employee who didn’t know much about the world.

She had a strong sense of pride from being raised well, but surprisingly, she also had a hot-tempered side.

‘Seeing how she asks me for favors, she seems to know when to be humble too.’

She wasn’t a bad person, and sometimes showed the innocence of a young professional, which allowed Dexter to have comfortable conversations with her regardless of social status.

Himena called over a passing waiter to order the items she and Dexter had chosen, then rested her chin on the table and said:

“I thought working at my current place would mean meeting alien… ahem. Meeting those people often, riding spaceships, having exciting adventures. That’s why I begged to get in.”

Himena lowered her voice to prevent others from hearing.

“It sounds like the reality is different.”

“Exactly. Every day I’m just looking at paperwork, mountains of work, never even seen a spaceship, and that jerk from another department tries to hit on me every time we meet… it’s really fu— I mean, extremely frustrating.”

Dexter nodded at Himena’s complaints and said:

“Of course you’d be upset when reality differs from your expectations.”

“Right. I can overlook other things as just part of the job, but that guy is really… He’s the one who snatched my phone earlier.”

“What’s his name?”

“Rascal. He’s known for being mannerly and gentle in other departments, but for some reason, with me, he’s like… trash I need to keep my distance from.”

Just from hearing about him, he seemed like a decent person, but Himena had a particularly harsh assessment of him.

“Really? When I heard his voice earlier, he sounded quite normal, though his reaction was a bit strange.”

“Exactly, he seems normal only on the surface…”

Himena tilted her head as she spoke.

Soon, the appetizers—japchae and chicken—arrived, and Dexter took a bite after serving some on his plate.

Dexter had expected it to be like the typical stir-fried noodles sold at Chinese restaurants, but it was less greasy and had a healthier taste.

“Hmm. Both the taste and texture are interesting.”

“Right? I come here often when I get the chance.”

As the two were eating and talking comfortably, someone approached.

“…Correctional officer?”

Someone was standing next to Dexter.

The problem was that Dexter recognized the voice.

“Rascal? What are you doing here…?”

It was the man Himena had been cursing about, the one who had tried to take her phone to talk to Dexter.

“When I asked you for coffee, you said you didn’t have time… but the guy you’re meeting is just a prison guard?”

“Rascal, what kind of rude thing are you saying? Lower your voice.”

There was quite a bit of anger in Himena’s voice.

When Dexter looked up, a very handsome young man was looking at him with a sneer, just as his voice had suggested.

The problem was that Himena probably couldn’t see this expression from her angle.