Black Badger

It was too clean and pristine. And it seemed to be two stories high. It looked like a neat wooden villa.

Something felt off. Were they really giving this to me for free?

I was flustered by the situation that didn't add up when the car came to a stop.

"Get out."

Yoon spoke without any intention of getting out himself.

"I'll park the car and grab the documents."

I quickly got out of the passenger seat. The sleek car drove off as soon as I stepped out. I lifted my head and took in the scene unfolding before me.

It was a beautiful street. But it was also a street devoid of any presence—a wide, immaculate road lined on both sides with grand houses. In front of them stretched flawlessly maintained lawns. I regretted not being able to describe the scent of wealth wafting from the street.

This meant that little cabin had to be expensive too, naturally.

What was this? What was going on?

It was so good that it felt suspicious instead.

I slowly made my way to the front of the cabin. The unexpected luxury made me feel intimidated, so I moved cautiously.

That's why I didn't notice someone approaching.

A familiar husky voice called out.

"Hilde."

I jolted in surprise.

"Eek! You scared me!"

"Sorry."

The other person looked startled too, their eyes widening.

As soon as I confirmed it was Supreme Commander Lee Ye-hyeon, I straightened up like I'd been splashed with water. I didn't forget to quickly bow my head.

"Commander. Uh, I'm really sorry."

"No."

Ye-hyeon changed his expression, and finding my flustered apology amusing, he narrowed his eyes with a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Sorry for startling you. I was heading inside when I saw you two coming.... How was your first day?"

"Ah, yes. Thanks to Senior Yoon.... I had a good dinner too."

"You got a proper expensive meal, right?"

"Yes. It was really delicious."

"Good. Glad to hear it. How's your body holding up?"

"Fit as a fiddle."

He smiled at my quick response, his hands still tucked into the pockets of his suit pants.

He was a man whose presence alone was commanding. But unlike the authority exuding from his posture, the smile he gave was incredibly gentle, creating a peculiar atmosphere.

Even his kind smile didn't put my mind at ease.

"I heard you're taking the cabin."

I nodded at his calm voice.

"Yes. I'm worried about how to repay such a huge favor."

"You don't need to think that way. Yoon was planning to demolish the cabin recently because it was costing money. If you move in here, it'll be convenient for him since his deputy mentor lives nearby, and he won't have to spend money tearing it down. It's beneficial in many ways."

So that's why he was going to demolish a cabin that looked this pristine.

I was curious but didn't ask, and Ye-hyeon didn't add any explanation. He just stood there watching me.

A cool evening breeze blew.

"Did Yoon tell you about the administrative details?"

I nodded.

"I memorized them all."

"Good. Don't mention it first unless someone asks."

"Yes."

I answered steadily and looked at him.

"Commander."

"Here to apologize?"

His gentle question left me at a loss for words.

As I stood there speechless, caught off guard, Ye-hyeon gave a faint smile. Unlike the gentle smile from moments ago, this one carried sadness and the weight of experience.

I stared blankly at my superior and said,

"If you don't like apologies, at least accept my thanks."

Ye-hyeon's wry smile lingered.

"Hilde. Don't feel too burdened. Even if you occasionally forget or slip up on your fabricated past, there will always be ways to smooth it over. Memories are unreliable things, after all."

"Still, you could have avoided creating situations where problems might arise in the first place."

At my words, Ye-hyeon's inscrutable wry smile deepened. Seeing that expression made it hard for me to hold back.

"Like scrapping the augmented body. Or just letting me die when I was being chased by a creature."

"That wouldn't be something a human would do, would it?"

"It might seem that way short-term.... But I was someone who couldn't even remember what I looked like. Without a sense of who I was, treating me as a potential threat and eliminating me isn't unreasonable, is it?"

"You're a good kid."

The Supreme Commander spoke in a soft but firm voice.

"Even if your memories return, that kind nature of yours won't disappear."

His final words eased the turmoil in my unsettled heart for a moment.

The feeling of owing him a great debt didn't fade. He was the highest authority in the Black Badgers, and the final decision to make me an official Black Badger had been his.

I must not forget this true kindness.

The moment I resolved that, a low, cool voice came from behind.

"Supreme Commander."

Ye-hyeon turned his head.

"Yoon."

"Heading home?"

My mentor approached slowly. In his hands was the stack of documents he'd mentioned grabbing earlier.

The Supreme Commander nodded and gave a faint smile.

"Just now. Speak casually."

"You said you'd say hi to the newbie before going in."

Yoon switched from formal to casual speech in an instant.

I could see Ye-hyeon raising an eyebrow. His hands were still in his suit pants pockets.

"Why not call him by name instead of 'newbie'?"

"He won't mind."

"Still, it's not courteous to the other person."

"I'm really fine with it."

I hesitated but interjected into the conversation. Their gazes turned to me and lingered.

"It doesn't matter what you call me. From your positions, I'm just a green newbie anyway. I even struggled with that mushroom."

"Mushroom."

Ye-hyeon uttered the word as if recalling something he'd forgotten, then sighed.

"Yeah, the mushroom.... What were you thinking?"

"Ami must have mentioned it? But he focused well for three hours and eventually killed it. Without any special shock. In the meantime, I was able to gauge what basics I needed to teach him."

"Three hours?"

Ye-hyeon asked back in a voice that didn't hide his shock.

"You let the kid get hit by tentacles for three hours straight?"

"I told him he could quit anytime if he wanted, but he didn't. HR Director Kang Joo is the one who assigned me as his mentor."

"It's really okay, right?"

At the Supreme Commander's question, thrown my way as he turned his head, I nodded hurriedly.

"Yes. I'm perfectly fine. And really, he said I could stop anytime if I wanted."

"If it's not okay, don't hold back—tell someone right away. Anyone. If Yoon is hard to approach, then Ami or Ro. Not just today, but from now on too."

"I'm great at whining when I need to. Don't worry."

At my quick reply, Ye-hyeon's troubled expression relaxed. The furrowed brow smoothed out, and the gentle smile returned.

The handsome superior let out a chuckle.

"You probably won't even remember if you whined or not."

"Hmm.... That's a sharp point. But somehow, I have a feeling I'd be good at whining."

"He's fine, like I said. You can tell if he's holding back. Hey, take this."

Yoon spoke bluntly and handed me the documents.

I quickly took them. I scanned them quickly with my eyes to see what they were. As I did, I reconfirmed the exploding affection I felt toward my dry mentor.

These were the cabin transfer documents. The ownership had been transferred to me.

"I love you, Mentor."

"Your feelings are showing."

"I didn't think I needed to hide them."

Ye-hyeon laughed out loud.

Every time he laughed, the intimidating presence born of his experience and sorrow faded away.

After that, the three of us checked out the cabin. Its condition was surprisingly good.

Pushing open the door let in a scent of wood. A small shoe rack and entryway. After taking off my shoes and stepping in, I saw the living room at the end of a short hallway. There was an old beanbag, and a frayed but round and cute carpet laid out. Turning right showed the kitchen, and turning left revealed stairs leading to the second floor. It was a loft.

"It's cozy and really nice."

I greeted them sincerely, but my senior and superior looked at me awkwardly.

Soon, they withdrew. They said that seeing the house right as you open the door made it feel like their own home. After a long day, they told me to rest easy and disappeared.

Naturally, the one who told me to rest easy was Ye-hyeon.

For the first time in a while, I was left alone.

Suddenly, immense fatigue weighed down my entire body.

I staggered to the bathroom, and I fell asleep without even remembering how I washed up.

*

I woke up from what felt like passing out, and it was 7:30 a.m.

I shot up and quickly showered. After bursting out of the bathroom, I opened the fridge. As my mentor had said, it was stocked with basics.

Milk, eggs, cheese, bottled water, several retort foods. Bread and cereal.

I roughly ate some cereal and put on suitable clothes from what I had.

There was still time before I had to go out to meet Yoon.

Not knowing what to do, I stood there blankly and then picked up my phone. I sank into the old beanbag and turned on the phone.

After hesitating, I went on the internet.

I typed 'Lee Ye-hyeon' into the search bar. There was no special reason. I just thought that for him, at least, something might come up if I searched....

No.

He was incredibly famous.

I took in the photo and bio prominently displayed in the search results. He seemed to be a regular in the news. There were tons of articles, and seeing the person I'd met just last night on the internet felt strange.

Once my schedule eased up, I should read through these slowly.

As I thought that and slowly scrolled down, a particular title caught my eye.

[Does it make sense that the head of Black Badger, which isn't even a private company, hasn't changed?]

It seemed like a community post title.

I steadily clicked on it to open the post. It was like a thread with comments piling up one after another.

[It's gone beyond stale to rotten.]

[Exactly, how long is that guy staying in that position? Isn't there a term limit?]

[This world is ruled by invisible Big Brothers! Don't be fooled by the puppet president!]

[Until he dies, that's his term.]

[Abnormal]

[Maybe he's just that good, so he stays. Don't you remember they tried changing it as an example once and regretted it?]

[That was because the new guy was historically trash.]

[Having no fixed term is definitely a problem.]

[Absolute power corrupts inevitably!]

[Wasn't there a successor to Ye-hyeon? Not the current handsome Braids head.]

[Saul? He died a few years ago.]

I didn't understand everything, but it was clearly provocative.

I decided to ask Yoon about the parts I didn't get later and hit the back button.

As I looked through the posts one by one, another title grabbed my attention.

[Did you see the creature appearance at Badger HQ this time?]

I clicked it.

[Rumor has it that it escaped from the lab under HQ.]

[The intrusion path was fully disclosed. No weird conspiracy theories pls.]

[First intrusion in Zone 1, and of all places, attacking HQ? That's suspicious.]

[Must've had a brain, that creature.]

[Didn't look like it though.]

[Why isn't the Supreme Commander making an official statement?]

[One minor injury, and it's an HQ staff member. Would they?]

Is that about me?

My heart pounded. The comments continued below.

[Rumor is he got injured trying to save a kid.]

[Badger? Civilian?]

[Seems like a civilian employee. Or a visitor. Badgers were seen carrying someone bleeding as they ran.]

[What were the Badgers doing?]

[With Badgers crawling all over HQ, a civilian getting injured? Ridiculous.]

[It wasn't a big injury.]

[LOL, look at HQ's level.]

They did everything they could.

Even though these were light comments from people on the internet who didn't know the truth, it twisted my gut knowing the reality.

But I couldn't exactly post rebuttals, so I just scrolled down and read on. Inaccurate info and speculative comments. People criticizing the Black Badgers and others defending them.

Being the internet, there were plenty of unfiltered words.

The further I scrolled, the more colorful the comments became.

[How long are we going to treat Ye-hyeon like a hero of the chaos?]

[But seriously, why hasn't he changed? Why? Why? Why?]

[Dictator.]

[Decades of dictatorship, it's time he stepped down.]

[Honestly, isn't he the biggest beneficiary? From nobody to that position in an instant.]

[Agree. You're all being fooled. Who really benefits from creatures?]

[Here come the conspiracy theories again.]

[Of course. Humans never actually landed on the moon, right, folks?]

[Ye-hyeon is a creature.]

What was that last one?

I let out a snort and read the next comment.

[But where'd that pretty boy come from? Why no info on his family?]

[No AMP.]

[Who's the pretty one?]

[┗Ye-h, Ye-hyeon.]

[Creatures are just a means; we're under dictatorship right now.]

[But seriously, no hometown at all is weird.]

[Didn't he die in the war?]

[No, his pre-war school and stuff is all there, just no parents' info.]

[He appeared out of nowhere and got that title; too suspicious.]

[He earned it by killing a Tier 10 creature with his bare hands. There's video of it; what are you doubting?]

[Does that mean they hand out titles like that?]

There's video?

I should look it up later.

[What if a human was experimented on and turned into a creature?]

[What are you saying?]

[We're all being deceived. Ye-hyeon is just the identity; the rulers keep changing.]

[Honestly, we've seen him too long... that face is tiresome... doesn't even age...]

[He's actually CGI lol.]

[He is handsome tho.]

[Reality: adopted heir from a chaebol family banging a homo.]

[┗Ye-hyeon is gay?]

[┗Dunno, but he's pretty.]

I furrowed my brow and scrolled down. The content dragged on.

[Isn't he involved in the death of the previous commander?]

[The previous commander died of old age.]

[That's what they announced.]

[Just hate looking at him. Pretending to be democratic and noble lol.]

[But the timing of this creature outbreak is too suspicious. I think it's connected to Assemblyman Airheart.]

[How many times has a creature outbreak coincided with a political scandal?]

[The creature originated in the Badgers' research wing, right?]

[Stop with the baseless conspiracies; you're derailing the Ye-hyeon dictatorship talk.]

[Honestly, the Black Badgers being created right after a creature outbreak is suspicious. The timing is too perfect, isn't it?]

[They handled it well, and you're still bitching.]

[America and China were probably researching augmented bodies overseas. Don't derail. What does that have to do with now?]

[These types probably think humanity should've gone extinct.]

Thud thud thud!

The sound of someone knocking on the cabin door made me jump up from my seat.

"Yes!"

"Come out."

My mentor's cool voice came through.

"We need to make you somewhat usable as quickly as possible."