Black Badger

What had the mentor been off doing?

At this age, waiting around like a lost chick for Yoon's return was ridiculous.

Yoon must have thought the same and left his post.

He figured that since we'd all grown old enough, we'd handle dealing with the new recruit on our own.

Isaac Lane looked at me and smiled amiably.

"You're as handsome as the rumors say."

"Thank you."

I rubbed my neck and smiled faintly.

Without letting that light smile fade, I got off the motorcycle. It didn't seem like we'd be moving from here for a while.

Yoon had told me to find a place suitable for fighting creatures, but he'd designated the Badger to oversee it all and then left.

The others showed no intention of taking the initiative.

"Even this falls to me, the youngest?" As I pondered that, the senior approached with a smirk.

The senior gave me a push.

What the hell was this guy's name again?

"Do you smoke?"

I stared blankly at the man who blew cigarette smoke right into my face.

"No."

"You're hopeless then."

Cigarettes didn't taste like much anyway.

I couldn't understand why people bothered inhaling and exhaling such unstimulating smoke.

I didn't voice my inner thoughts.

Instead, I looked down at the cigarette he suddenly offered.

"Put it in your mouth and suck."

Forcing a cigarette on me?

I stood still, gazing at the cigarette.

As expected, no one stepped in to stop him. After standing motionless for a while, I slowly reached out and took the cigarette.

If I acted like I was reluctantly accepting it, he'd probably be even happier.

I clumsily put the white cigarette in my mouth.

"Forcing a cigarette on a junior."

Dawson poked the man in the back while grinning.

"What era's hazing is this?"

Should I cough or something?

Thinking that, I inhaled the cigarette.

I pretended to choke a couple of times, and the seniors chuckled in delight.

I watched them laugh maliciously and then blew out a puff of smoke.

"You really don't smoke?"

The senior called Lucia Kwon approached.

Her improper grip on the gun told me a lot.

"You look like you've been smoking for ages..."

"Is that so? Thank you."

I smiled amiably and replied.

I pretended not to notice Dawson and his friend instantly frowning and furrowing their brows. It was somewhat satisfying.

Moreover, the distance to the creatures had narrowed before I knew it. They definitely eyed our vulnerability. These ones weren't particularly influenced by their kin.

But they were smart enough to sniff out stupidity like nobody's business.

If they attacked, I'd draw my sword no matter what anyone shouted.

As I placed my hand on the scabbard, this time a familiar face approached.

Familiar, but someone I'd never spoken to.

"Hildebert."

Silver hair and pale skin.

"Stay by my side."

People turned to Silvia in a daze.

The seniors' surprise was evident. Leonard's blue eyes widened hugely. Dawson and his friend hadn't raised their visors, so they couldn't see her face, but both stared at Silvia in shock anyway.

Isaac also widened his eyes and looked at Silvia.

Lucia slowly turned her head.

I was the only one not surprised.

Silvia, who had approached silently with her helmet tucked under her arm, stopped in front of me.

"Did you hear that properly?"

"Yes."

I looked at the expressionless, pale-faced senior and let out a long laugh.

"I'll do that."

It wasn't surprising. She'd been outside the core with me before.

It meant she knew I attracted creatures.

She clearly liked that trait of mine. It meant more things to hunt.

Her transparent, glass-bead-like eyes held a familiar hunger.

"What is it?"

Dawson really had no fear.

"Sharing you half and half by keeping you close? I didn't know you were into that."

"As if!"

Leonard answered on behalf of the dismissive Silvia.

The moment I detected the glee and curiosity in his voice, despair washed over me. Stop. I didn't want any more attention from these weirdos!

I screamed silently, but the world wasn't on my side.

"I thought something was up when Yoon showed that weird possessiveness, but now even Silvia's interested."

Leonard approached, his blue-glowing eyes filled with delight.

"You're an interesting one, aren't you?"

Leonard came close and grinned.

Seeing that somehow off-putting smile triggered a visceral rejection. But I managed to suppress the urge to step back.

"Not at all. Just a uniquely featured new recruit."

I laughed.

"Really, nothing special..."

Thud!

The senior tumbled.

It was the one who'd quickly offered his motorcycle to Yoon. He let out a yelp and toppled forward.

You didn't notice that coming?

It wasn't small; it was a larva the size of a person's waist. Sighing, I drew my dagger, but the seniors ran in the opposite direction from the fallen one.

Everyone except me, Silvia, and Leonard.

Was this real?

"Newbie!"

The fallen senior reached out.

"Help me up!"

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

The larva exploded.

Silvia shot at the swarming ones.

I yanked the senior up and surveyed the situation.

Huge larvae poured out from the wooden building.

They weren't targeting me. There must have been a larva nest inside the building.

Creatures were everywhere.

Harpies circled in the night sky.

A pack of apes blocked the road we'd come from, and inside the building where the seniors had fled, a couple of heavy presences lurked.

From the direction Yoon had vanished, toward the road swallowed by darkness, I sensed a suffocating number of creatures.

And the presence of my kin too.

"Let's get inside the building!"

Even so, the senior quickly reloaded his gun as soon as he stood and fired at the stampeding larvae pouring out like a herd of water buffalo.

"You bastards, if you're in, you should provide support!"

"What kind of thing is this."

Leonard laughed and lowered his visor.

Whoa, he had a grenade.

I quickly backpedaled.

Silvia could handle herself, so I just grabbed the unreliable bootlicker's collar and dragged him.

Boom!

The larva swarm scattered.

A rain of their fluids and proteins fell.

But the bootlicker didn't even get to finish his curse.

Boom, thud, boooom!

He tossed grenades like a game of catch.

The thrown grenades slipped neatly into the building where the larvae poured out.

I watched the building collapse in the explosion, crushing and bursting the larva swarm.

Meanwhile, bored with the larvae, Silvia shot down the harpies overhead.

A harpy plummeted to my feet.

"The ape pack isn't approaching."

I muttered while dodging the falling harpy.

Leonard, who had playfully shot the remaining larvae, looked up.

"Those don't come to us much."

"Oh, really? They're more harmless than I thought."

"Not sure about you. They just avoid me, Silvia, and Yoon specifically."

Aha.

I looked at the creatures that looked like indistinguishable monkeys, gorillas, or chimps and grinned.

Smart guys.

They seemed better than the seniors who'd run off.

"Aaaah!"

A sharp scream came from the seniors who'd fled into the building behind.

"Something's stuck to the wall! On the wall!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Only the bootlicker senior reacted to the gunfire from inside the building.

The sociopathic pair, man and woman, didn't blink. Silvia, having shot down all the circling harpies through their foreheads, turned.

She spoke in a bored tone.

"Why aren't those things coming after you?"

Leonard's gaze flew over, pinning me.

Thanks to the entity that approached lazily, I could pretend not to notice that intense stare and change the subject with a smile.

"Impressive."

Yoon looked at the messed-up squad and commented flatly.

"You're back in less than ten minutes, and already getting hazed."

"Hazed?"

"It's when they kill nearby things to avoid the dirty work and save their energy."

Ah, so that's why they ran—not out of fear.

As I blinked in realization, the bootlicker senior dashed straight to Yoon.

This guy was something else.

"Senior! I'm so glad you're safe!"

He looked ready to drop to his knees beside Yoon.

"I was really worried!"

Yoon completely ignored him.

The mentor passed the man as if he were invisible and approached us. He stopped in front of us, looking like he hadn't even drawn his weapon once.

Yoon turned his gaze to the building the seniors had entered.

"Kwon-pye didn't accidentally shoot anyone dead, did she?"

"Kwon-pye?"

"That trash Lucia Kwon."

Aha.

I gauged the presences inside the building and slowly shook my head.

"They're all still there."

"Too bad."

The mentor sounded genuinely disappointed.

"That's the one achievement she could hope for."

"Friendly fire?"

"The term's too harsh; let's call it mistaken shooting."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Squad leader."

It was Leonard who interjected with a bright tone.

Yoon and I stared blankly at the blue-eyed Badger waving his hand limply.

The lone cheerfully insane one.

"You've had a hard time."

"You're consistently repulsive too."

"Thank you."

The senior brazenly took it in stride.

He raised his visor, smiled brightly, then looked at the squad leader rolling his eyes.

And asked clearly.

"But when do we start our main duties?"

*

Finally, I learned everyone's names. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The bootlicker senior's name was Jerry Jones.

The one who'd stuck to Ye-hyeon like glue at the year-end party.

He praised Yoon, who used the master key to unlock the five-story building.

So that's why he'd left; the mentor had gone to fetch this. The master key had been made for firefighters to use in emergencies, apparently stored in a box somewhere in the city.

I had no idea how Yoon had found that box.

Anyway, he used the master key to open the building's door.

After opening a structure that probably hadn't been touched in decades, he gave a brief explanation.

"Usually, night is more dangerous, but there's an unclassified creature in B-6 Zone that crawls out to sunbathe."

We were currently in Zone 7, and most of the seniors were likely in Zone 5.

Zone 6 lay between them.

That's why we'd stopped in Zone 7.

"So if the mission drags on until sunrise, don't go to Zone 6. Though it'll probably end before then."

After the explanation, positions were assigned.

He didn't explain to the squad members, but this was to block the creatures targeting me.

Naturally, no one's personal opinions were considered.

"First floor: Lucia Kwon. Jerry Jones. Joe McDonald."

"Squeak!"

"Ah."

"Third floor: Isaac Lane. Gale Dawson. Mashu Sarin."

Sarin was the senior I'd nearly run over with the motorcycle.

"Fifth floor: You two handle it."

Yoon pointed curtly at Leonard and Silvia, as if he didn't even want to say their names.

Leonard nodded with a smile. Silvia just blinked. The others kept their mouths shut beside them. Everyone except Leonard and Silvia seemed dissatisfied with the assignments.

They just couldn't voice it.

Even if they did, no one would listen.

"Rooftop: Me and Hildebert."

Yoon finished his final instructions and looked up.

"Questions?"

Naturally, no one without the tact to ask would...

...exist.

Lucia Kwon raised her right hand straight up, eyes wide.

"Are we not having dinner?"