Meaning: If you wished to be loved, love.

Seulgi was a busy woman, and she technically worked overtime nearly everyday without the compensation. But it was something that came, she guessed, with being a self-employed millionaire entrepreneur for a game company that she rarely visited in person. Not that it mattered, because Day Two Games was, in paper, owned by Jisoo, the only person who knew of her true identity and basically the Alfred to her Batman. Okay, so the busy woman working overtime part wasn’t necessarily a result of her startup.

The town knew her as Bear, and she was of great renown due to the natural calling she received on a daily basis. Being one of the few surviving members of a lost colony located at the Earth’s core, Seulgi was built to preserve life, just as all of her guardian-like ancestors before her and just like all fifty-three others of her colony who were forcefully expelled to the surface of Earth due to a viral outbreak that wiped out most of her kinspeople. They were the ones who controlled species’ populations and preserved innocent lives. Humans included.

She was sure that the others that were sent up with her were probably in different biomes trying to clean up the mess that humans had made, cursing them for their greed. But from the moment Seulgi laid eyes on a girl, bruised and staring numbly out at a river from a bridge, she knew that she was meant to help people. They were the species she was meant to preserve.

Yeri ended up living in Seulgi’s place, even though they barely communicated. Seulgi was out too often fighting crime and rescuing people in difficult situations, mainly within her town. She occasionally travelled to other cities and countries when contacted by a member of her colony who happened to chance upon unfortunate events while trying to revive who-knows-what, but the humans seemed to have caught on that Bear resided in one place most of the time, and it was dubbed her hometown.

At first, the attention was unexpected but welcomed: Seulgi enjoyed that the people who she saved knew of her and appreciated her presence. To see a species thrive was great in and of itself, but to have them convey that gratitude was something unique to animals only. But she soon realized that in their minds, she was a fantasy and someone who should be kept a mystery at all costs. Her existence was a ization of their imagination and they didn’t really want to know who she was under the mask, jokes about her true identity aside. She was an instrument; she was the other.

The two people who seemed to like her as more than a millionaire CEO or Bear were Jisoo and Yeri, but the latter didn’t even know that Seulgi was a millionaire CEO or Bear. To her, the superhero was just a weird older woman who provided a fancy living space and left at odd times throughout the day. And Jisoo probably wouldn’t have cared much about Seulgi either, had Seulgi not bribed her to keep shut by making her the biggest shareholder of Day Two Games.

Bumping into Irene was unexpected but welcomed: Seulgi hadn’t really known what to expect when the pretty woman walked up to her and asked if she wanted to grab a hot drink together after commenting on how hot it was (not that Seulgi would know since she used to live at the Earth’s core and rarely felt pain or temperature changes). Initially, Seulgi had been afraid that she found out about Seulgi’s identity and was going to do an exclusive interview or something, but it seemed that Irene genuinely loved learning about and trying to empathize with people. Something buzzed in her veins at the sincerity in the woman’s eyes, and Seulgi knew that given the chance, she could probably love Irene as more than just a member of the species she had to protect, just as Irene loved her, without conditions.

When she heard the cry of an old man caught in a fire, she knew that the meeting had to come to an end. Irene seemed confused; she seemed like she wanted to hold on. Seulgi hesitated, even despite knowing that seconds lost were equivalent to lifetimes of mistakes.

“I…”

I would like to see you again, she had wanted to say. But the people who met Seulgi were always those who were in danger, and she didn’t want to jinx the woman in front of her, giving her a look of genuine disappointment at her departure. Seulgi had to bring her mind back to the cries of help reaching her ears, focus on saving her species.

“It was nice meeting you. Stay safe.”

The words that left did so subconsciously, and only after saying the same thing to the old man she pulled out from the third floor of a burning apartment did she realize that she should’ve said something else.

-------

She was half-disappointed, half-glad that she didn’t meet Irene after that. It would’ve been awful to see her in a dangerous situation, and Seulgi really wasn’t looking forward to facing the ghosts of her blunders when she bid her farewells as Bear in the case that she did have to save Irene. But perhaps she spoke too soon, because she found herself pulling Irene out of all sorts of situations, some of them downright outrageous. It made her wonder if Irene’s actual job consisted of getting into trouble. The thought made her frown.

When she met Irene yet again after a particularly stupid road rage incident, Seulgi knew there was no way out of the rabbit hole called Irene. Not when the woman called out her name, her real name. Not when she smiled like she found a long-lost lover and took the mask off of her face. Not when the small hand on Seulgi’s head shook in fear from being strangled just moments prior but the pale face in front of her tried to be brave. Not when Irene confirmed that she wanted to know Kang Seulgi and not Bear, thus granting Seulgi’s deepest desires.

Seulgi sold her life away that day. To a woman named Irene. After pulling her mask back on, dropping the man off at the police station at lightning speed, and returning to where Irene stood waiting for her, Seulgi, for the first time, gave her number to someone other than Jisoo. Even Yeri didn’t have her number. But there was no way she could turn down the shy smile Irene flashed at her, the cute voice asking if she was available on the weekend for an actual date. Like, date date.

“I can’t guarantee that something won’t come up, but otherwise, I’m all yours.”

Irene’s smile widened. “I think I like the sound of that. Very much.”

-------

Of course, Seulgi ended up having to stop a car from careening off of a cliff halfway across the country in the middle of their date, but when she returned, readjusting her loosely-fitting clothes over her outfit, Irene was waiting patiently, adorably holding the tiny candle near Seulgi’s food so that it would stay somewhat warm.

They started dating not too long after that.

Seulgi told her honestly about Day Two Games and Jisoo and Yeri. Irene never asked her about her origins, and for that, Seulgi was glad. She was surprised, however, to find out that Irene actually knew Yeri. As well as the doctor Seulgi had found for Yeri’s chronic pains and the crazy woman who had a crush on the doctor. Irene sure seemed to know a lot of people, yet she never ever exposed Seulgi’s secret to anyone. And for that, Seulgi loved her even more.

“Seulgom,” Irene called, referring to the affectionate nickname she’d given Seulgi by combining her superhero name with her real name. “Didn’t you say that Yeri graduated from college last year?”

Seulgi hummed as she felt Irene hug her from behind. “Yeah. I was thinking that maybe I can plug her in as an intern at my company soon.”

“Gosh, it’s already been seven, eight years since I first met her.” Irene peered over Seulgi’s shoulder. “Is that the new game your company is releasing?”

“Mmhmm.” Seulgi handed her phone to Irene to let her try playing. “I was thinking that maybe I can introduce you to her soon. If you haven’t told her that we’re dating yet.”

Irene shook her head as she took the phone. “Do you two even talk? You said that she doesn’t have your number either. And she doesn’t know where you work.” The blogger let Seulgi readjust their positions on the couch so that she was reclined comfortably against the superhero’s front. “You’re like Batman. So mysterious. So rich.”

“Ugh, I’d rather not be compared to a traumatized billionaire with an affinity for his phobia.”

“Fine, fine. You’re my super teddy.” The superhero teddy bear referenced by Irene, bought by Seulgi, sat at the head of Irene’s bed for the nights when Seulgi had to go around saving people. Irene seemed to like it more than her actual girlfriend at times.

The two had been meeting exclusively at Irene’s place and for the most part hiding their relationship from everyone around them, in part due to Seulgi’s paranoia of accidentally being caught in the process of returning to a date. She was lucky that no one caught the lining of weapons along her duty rig under her dress shirt at the first date. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen forever.

“Um, Irene?” Seulgi sat up straight, making Irene straighten up as well. “Duty calls.”

Irene stopped the game and returned Seulgi’s phone to her. “Where is it this time?”

“China. NingNing seems to be near a factory collap