Black Badger

"Did he tell the truth?"

Gilbert, Ye-hyeon's second aide, muttered.

The Supreme Commander nodded slowly.

"He knows Hilde's importance, after all."

Then, after a brief silence, he continued.

"And from Falcon's perspective, he truly considers Hilde a friend."

"Surprisingly, it seems that way. Even though he's the type who wouldn't hesitate to kill a longtime friend if things go wrong."

"Yeah. The only one Falcon would never kill with his own hands is Jae-yeon."

Ye-hyeon murmured in response to Ska's words, almost to himself.

His thoughtful gaze drifted into the air.

"He won't allow Jae-yeon to die..."

The conversation paused there for a moment. Ye-hyeon rested his forehead on his interlaced fingers and sank into thought.

A heavy silence settled over the High Command Office.

In the office, only the alarm announcing the arrival of a report could be heard.

It was only after a long silence that the Supreme Commander spoke in a heavy voice.

"It seems that thing has fully awakened."

The organized and hostile ambush left no room for doubt.

"Let's reclaim the territory before the sun sets."

The aides affirmed his words with silence.

*

Hilde was ill for three days.

The surgery had gone well, but the fever showed no signs of breaking. Samuel said it was probably due to stress. It wasn't portal aftereffects, just something like a cold.

Even with an augmented body, extreme stress could cause abnormal reactions.

So, on the third day of Hilde's hospitalization, Ami visited his room without much expectation of seeing her junior in his right mind. She knew many people had been coming and going from the room, but when she arrived, it was empty.

A spacious single room.

She closed the door behind her and sat in the chair beside the bed.

Then, without much thought, she played a game on her smartphone, tapping away idly.

"Ah..."

Until her motionless junior suddenly turned toward her.

"Ami..."

"Eek!"

Ami was so startled she nearly dropped her phone.

She jolted back reflexively, clutching her pounding heart, and stared blankly at him. Hilde had his eyes half-open, looking up at her.

His white hair clung to his sweat-dampened skin.

Ami stared blankly for a moment before snapping out of it.

"Hilde! You're awake!"

She reached out to press the nurse call button.

But before she could, Hilde grabbed her arm.

"I'm fine."

He mumbled.

"I was just trying to sleep a bit more."

"Ah, okay. Go back to sleep. I'll stay out of the way."

"Ami."

Ami blinked and leaned down to meet Hilde's eye level.

"Yeah?"

"Were you in a coma for two years?"

Ami's round eyes filled with puzzlement.

She looked at her sweat-soaked junior and nodded.

"Yeah. My fighter jet crashed."

"In the last battle?"

"Right. The final battle of the First War. I blacked out watching the ground rush up at me, and when I opened my eyes, two years had passed."

The newbie looked up at her with an inscrutable expression.

Ami wondered why he was asking this, but it was the kind of story that might pique curiosity if someone had heard about it. She didn't mind. If he wanted, she could tell him everything from start to finish.

The junior, who had been silent, asked another question.

"Who took care of the nursing...?"

"Ye-hyeon oppa and Yoon oppa did. The Choi Family mostly provided financial support."

As she spoke, memories from that time flooded back vividly.

It was now a long time ago. But it still felt as fresh as last month whenever she recalled it. Ami smiled as she traced those days.

"When I woke up, I had no idea two years had passed. But the moment Ye-hyeon oppa saw me, he burst into tears. He cried so much that at first, I thought Yoon oppa had died or something."

She giggled.

"But he was fine."

"What was Yoon's reaction?"

"The youngest oppa? He didn't cry, but he stayed by my side for a long time. And for a while, he kept waking me up unexpectedly while I was sleeping, which was tough."

Of course, she had never forgotten the kindness they showed her, not even for a moment.

The fact that they hadn't given up on her comatose self for two years. The devotion of squeezing in nursing care throughout two years of grueling schedules that left no time to sleep.

The affection carried in the arms that embraced her upon waking.

The patient hands that tirelessly helped her stand, even as she stumbled repeatedly because walking felt so unfamiliar.

Hilde's subdued voice pulled her from her reminiscence.

"I'm sorry."

Ami's eyes widened.

"Why are you sorry?"

Hilde didn't respond.

Instead, he gave a faint smile. It was a smile that seemed somehow sorrowful. Hadn't he smiled like that even when Ricardo was pressing him outside the core?

Ami observed her still exhausted-looking counterpart and added.

"It's okay. It didn't bother me at all. Those two did all the hard work. When I woke up, Ye-hyeon oppa had become a national hero. I was shocked."

"Was he the Supreme Commander back then?"

"No. He was an aide at the time."

"Did he become it because he wanted to?"

It felt like he was asking a question he couldn't bring himself to ask others.

Ami smiled wryly and replied.

"I don't think so. There were a couple more people with the talent for it, and Ye-hyeon oppa kept saying he wanted one of them to take the position. But because of that video, he ended up as Supreme Commander. It gave him the perfect justification."

Hilde's expression darkened.

Ami clearly saw something like guilt flicker in his vivid golden eyes.

Why had this junior been acting like this since earlier?

It wasn't a story worth being so sad about. Others said things like, "Waking up after two years is a miracle," and "It's lucky a video survived, turning you into a hero."

His reaction was strangely peculiar.

She looked at her fidgeting junior and said.

"You've honestly regained some memories, haven't you?"

Hilde choked.

He coughed painfully.

Surprised by the more intense reaction than expected, Ami hurriedly added.

"Sorry. Calm down."

"...I'm sorry. But not all of it has come back."

"Yeah?"

Truth be told, she had no intention of prying.

It seemed like something she shouldn't know. Ami knew how to respect those boundaries. Just like how she never pried into his identity even after meeting Lee Seung-hyun, Ye-hyeon's father. She decided not to be curious about Hilde's past either.

He didn't seem eager to share anyway.

She just felt sorry for how distressed he was.

"You don't have to say anything."

He was someone who seemed like he could shake off most troubles and bounce back, yet here he was, struggling this much. As Ricardo had said, maybe it was something like PTSD, with bad memories resurfacing. She couldn't guess what kind of past it was.

In any case, she didn't want to see him in as much pain as last time.

Ami resolved to treat him better.

To this peculiar junior...

"But Hilde sometimes strangely feels like an oppa."

The words slipped out as a murmur.

Hilde blinked at that.

His unforgettable golden eyes widened for a moment before he gave a faint smile.

"Kiddo."

"No."

Ami furrowed her brow at Hilde's words.

"I'm 71 now. Call me grandma."

Hilde burst into laughter.

Then he said no more. After that low chuckle, the exhausted junior began to doze off again. Ami stayed silent and still until he fell asleep.

She left the room around the time his breathing became regular.

She pondered why being called "kiddo" by Hilde didn't bother her much, a small question lingering.

⁕⁕⁕

Should we have sunk along with the world?

I remembered often pondering that in the past.

I never confided it to anyone. But at some point, I started thinking about it frequently. Maybe I shouldn't have jumped into the portal? Should I have accepted my fate and turned to ash with the old world?

Perhaps the tragedy began the moment I set foot on Earth.

But every time, I reached the conclusion that no, that wasn't the case.

It was a foolish and arrogant thought, and every living being had the right from birth to rebel against impending death, to rise again, and to seek a path to life. The struggles to find a way to survive could never be a sin.

So, I never regretted leading people to Earth.

What I regretted was...

"Oh, you're awake."

At the unwelcome voice, I reluctantly lifted my heavy eyelids.

And for a while, I just sullenly stared at the ceiling.

"I didn't expect you to come all the way here."

"I heard you were terribly ill."

The voice sounded markedly more cheerful than last time.

"I was worried, you see."

"You don't have to pretend. You came to see me in my misery, didn't you?"

"Oh dear, it seems you thoroughly despise me!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He was quick on the uptake.

But he wasn't the type to get upset over the contempt I threw at him. If he were ordinary, he wouldn't be sitting in that position to begin with.

Ha...

I dragged out my defiance as long as I could before reluctantly turning my head.

Platinum blond hair came into view.

A handsome middle-aged man in a flashy three-piece suit pulled it off impeccably. He sat in the chair, beaming.

The hospital corridor was eerily quiet.

The presence of the retainers standing outside the room was palpable.

Their master widened his smile the moment our eyes met.

It was a smile filled with genuine ecstasy.

"Prometheus! You look much better!"

"You're one of the biggest perverts I know."

"Ah, I hear that a lot."

I thought he shouldn't respond so shamelessly.

"It's nice to see you after so long."

"Yes."

"Really... Ah, now I finally understand why Falcon treats you specially. Ha... I want to slap my past self for overlooking you."

"No, you still don't get it. He's a psychopath, but not some deviant with weird tastes."

"As the first retainer of the Guardian, and since your disciple is involved, you're connected to the Guardian's side as well."

Eric Airheart, the third powerhouse of Center Core, was a master at ignoring others' words.

They were all like that up there.

Colton was no different, and the Guardian would be the same. I had never expected attentive listening from them, so I just kept a sullen expression.

They found it unfamiliar for their words to be interrupted.

Eric's gray eyes gleamed.

"It felt like I was the only one without a connection to you, so I came to make one."

"Do we really need to create that?"

"I really want to."

"I suppose I don't have a say in refusing."

"Haha."

I thought that laugh was infuriating.

It was the smile of a complete superior. What an irritating bunch. Recalling the smiles of Colton, the enemies who met their end by his hand, and the imperial who Kyle and I served, I rolled my eyes.

"Creating a connection won't harm you at all. As Falcon's friend and Ye-hyeon's man, why would I hurt you?"

"I just want to live like a normal newbie. My constitution seems to attract trouble even when I'm minding my own business."

"Then live like a normal newbie."

"I'm saying, please form any special bonds with someone else."

"What if I help you find your past?"

I bolted upright.

My head spun for a moment. My vision distorted, and nausea welled up.

But I ignored the dizziness that came over me.

Swallowing the vertigo, I propped myself up on my elbows and stared at the man sitting before me.

The one who loved seeing the sick.

The deviant who derived pleasure from pulling the unfortunate out of their misery.

The powerhouse following Colton Wiseman and Yekaterina.

Eric Airheart.

"How exactly would you help?"

When I asked quietly, Eric smiled brightly.