Black Badger

Ami jumped to her feet and hurried after Yoon.

"Oppa!"

She chased after her much taller older brother, her shorter strides struggling to keep up.

"Oppa! What's wrong with Hilde?"

Yoon didn't respond.

He headed straight for the underground parking lot. Ami doggedly followed the unresponsive man. Asil and Iho trailed behind them.

In the underground parking lot, the headlights of Yoon's black sports car flashed on.

The sports car, set to autonomous driving mode, began backing out.

Ami dashed over and flung open the passenger door.

"I'm coming too!"

"Me too~."

Ricardo, who had taken the elevator and arrived at the same time as the siblings, said.

He grinned at Yoon, who was climbing into the driver's seat, while holding onto the passenger door.

"Mind if I hitch a ride, sunbae~...?"

"Get in."

Yoon started the engine without a care that the door was still open.

Ami looked up at Ricardo.

"Rick, I'll sit on top!"

"Sure."

Ricardo didn't hesitate.

He settled into the passenger seat first. Then he pulled Ami onto his lap.

Ami squirmed to get comfortable and glanced back at Iho, Asil, and Shu, who was riding a hoverboard.

"Follow us on your own!"

Vroooom!

The car took off before they could even close the door. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Ricardo reached out and slammed the passenger door shut with a bang.

"Isn't this illegal?"

"We can say a creature appeared...."

As Yoon floored the accelerator and asked, Ricardo flashed a smile.

Yoon snorted but didn't argue. In reality, when creatures appeared, badgers weren't bound by ordinary laws. And many badgers, like Ricardo and Ami right now, took advantage of that to commit minor violations. It was one of the reasons most police officers despised badgers.

But no one was concerned about the law at the moment.

As the pitch-black car sped across the road, Ami, lounging comfortably in her seat, turned her head toward her brother.

"Tell me now!"

Yoon ignored his little sister's words once more.

Keeping his eyes forward, he fiddled with his phone using one hand.

Even without looking, the screen changed smoothly.

The call tone rang out through the car's Bluetooth connection.

An unsaved number blinked on the display.

Ami and Ricardo quietly watched the number appear.

The ringing stopped.

[Darling♡]

A man's voice, dripping with affection, flowed out.

Ami's eyes widened in surprise, and as Ricardo blinked, the cloying voice continued.

[Calling me first? I'm touched. Why? Want to go on a date after so long?]

"Didn't you get that kid's abdomen treated?"

Yoon said what he had to say.

The sports car raced down the road, exceeding the speed limit.

The man's voice echoed in the car, its exhaust roaring loudly.

The previous sweetness was gone, replaced by a rough, delinquent tone.

[You sure know how to ask for a lot, huh? Can't even say thanks.]

"The culprit."

[Those cult followers must've taken him.]

The person on the other end of the phone snickered.

[It's always a spectacle, watching your rivals team up like limbs, working in perfect sync.]

"Not your doing, then?"

[Fuck, hey!]

Yoon's dry question made the other man explode in irritation.

[I saved him and even erased the forehead brand for him, and now this? I'm so wronged. Every time something happens, it's always my fault, right?]

"Yeah."

[Damn it, last time it was PTSD from his own dad. And you go on a tirade blaming me? It's bullshit. I tell you every time, that pathetic guy you hang around with being such a weakling isn't something I can fix....]

Click.

The call ended.

Yoon tossed his phone aside carelessly and pressed the accelerator harder.

Vroooom! The car hurtled down the road with a deafening roar.

Ami and Ricardo sat quietly for a while.

Red light from the sky poured through the window.

Ami broke the silence.

"Darling?"

Yoon didn't react.

Undeterred, Ami leaned forward.

"What do you mean he saved him? And what's this about a culprit? Something happened to Hilde last night, right?"

"Sit properly. If I slam the brakes now, you'll fly out and die."

The man replied curtly and focused on driving.

He didn't speak again until they reached the testing center.

*

The chaotic testing center.

As soon as the vehicle stopped, the passengers jumped out. Their destination was clear: an ambulance parked among the soldiers clearing the area.

Tom and Hesi had moved the dazed Hilde into the ambulance.

Ami and Ricardo rushed over and examined Hilde's wounds.

Ami's mouth fell open in shock, speechless.

Ricardo stared at the injuries with sharp, pale eyes for a long moment.

Only after the medical staff said, "Sit down, the ambulance is about to leave," did the man finally speak.

"What the hell is this?"

"Oppa!"

Ami, on the verge of tears, turned to Yoon, who was on the phone with Samuel Han.

"Oppa! Explain!"

Yoon pocketed his phone.

With his tearful sister clinging to his clothes, he approached Hilde. Hilde lay on the bed, receiving IV fluids. As the ambulance started moving, the hanging IV bags swayed.

Sweat- and water-soaked hair.

Yoon looked down at his groaning deputy mentor, eyes closed.

"Satisfied now?"

Hilde narrowed his eyes.

He looked up at the people with yellow eyes and smiled faintly.

"I'm sorry."

"He was kidnapped last night."

Yoon told Ami, who was sobbing.

"Ye-hyeon will make the announcement soon. Be cautious of radical anti-badger groups."

"Kidnapped?"

Hesi asked blankly.

Tom, wiping tears with the back of his hand, widened his blue eyes.

"Kidnapped?"

A shocked silence filled the ambulance.

Hilde closed his eyes again, and everyone stared at Yoon, speechless.

Tom stammered.

"Hilde was kidnapped?"

"So the kidnappers did this?"

Ami didn't bother wiping her streaming tears.

"To someone who did nothing wrong? Just because he has an augmented body?"

Yoon pressed down on Ami's head.

But he didn't look at her. Instead, he gazed at his deputy mentor, who had already lost consciousness.

The paramedics had rolled up the T-shirt and treated the wounds. But that wouldn't be enough.

Scars would remain.

Burns like this were deadly.

Yoon, who had witnessed Ye-hyeon's treatments hundreds of times after they were ruined, could easily gauge the prognosis. Even Ye-hyeon, with his exceptional recovery, struggled to heal such wounds completely. Jae-yeon had beaten Ye-hyeon in highly creative ways during rampages. He'd used heated brands like this multiple times.

So Hilde's wounds would leave at least faint traces.

Come to think of it, Jae-yeon's anger toward Ye-hyeon was somewhat connected to Hilde.

Yoon thought coldly.

To be precise, it was connected to the Titans.

Once he learned the full story, this unique man's eyes would fill with guilt again. Hilde was the type. Objectively, it wasn't Hilde's fault at all. It wasn't even certain if Hilde had been in the core when Jae-yeon rampaged.

But he was the leader of the Titans.

The original sin of leading his people to set foot on Earth.

That sin doggedly followed Hilde.

"Did you make him take the exam in this condition?"

An angry voice rang out.

Yoon looked up at his junior.

The sharp junior with deep green eyes.

Yoon replied coldly.

"He insisted."

"Does he not throw tantrums like this every day?"

"And his forehead was fine, so I thought the abdominal wound was treated too. Ye-hyeon's furious about it."

"Forehead?"

Ricardo asked sharply, furrowing his brow.

"Was his forehead branded too?"

Yoon affirmed with silence.

Ricardo let out a hollow laugh. Ami plopped down next to Tom. She stared at Hilde with wide eyes and her mouth set in a straight line, then tears fell.

The IV bags swayed with every bump of the vehicle.

The ambulance headed to headquarters, where Samuel Han, the skilled doctor, was. Too many people were aboard, making the air stuffy quickly.

Hesi's anger-laced voice mixed into the heavy atmosphere.

"Did you catch the culprits?"

Yoon nodded half-heartedly.

"They'll be properly punished, right? How did they kidnap him? Did they hire someone with an illegal augmented body while preaching anti-badger rhetoric?"

"Who knows."

Yoon said, looking at Hilde.

He responded because he was thinking the same thing. Who kidnapped Hilde. Most would simply think, "They hired illegal augmentees," but the truth wasn't that simple.

Hilde had regained enough skill to surpass most seniors. Few could kidnap someone of that caliber without a trace.

To be exact, very few.

What was the reason?

The ambulance continued racing, carrying Yoon's anger over the near-loss of one of his own. It sped over uneven ground before merging onto a paved road.

Everyone sank into their own thoughts, silent for a while. Only the sounds of Ami and Tom wiping their tears filled the quiet.

Then Hesi, who had been frantically scrolling through his phone with reddened eyes, shouted.

"He was kidnapped because he's a new recruit?"

Heads turned.

Hesi was reading an emergency notice from high command.

"So it could have been any of us? He was kidnapped in our place?"

"Cut the stupid talk."

Everyone was startled by Hilde's voice.

Heads snapped toward him.

Hilde said in a hoarse voice.

"It's not your fault at all."

"You should have told us if something like that happened!"

"Why stubbornly push through like an idiot?"

Ricardo's sharp voice came from beside the furious Hesi. Hilde looked up at the ceiling with tired eyes and smiled bitterly.

He murmured as he closed his eyes again.

"My friend...."

"What?"

"I can feel him... coming...."

It was like sleep-talk.

No one responded to the seemingly out-of-context mutter. But Ricardo caught it and picked it up, while the two new recruits stared at the speaker in bewilderment.

Ami stood up.

She placed a hand on Hilde's forehead.

"He's burning up."

Ami muttered, sniffling.

"He's delirious from the fever."

"I want to hold the sword too...."

The feverish mutter continued.

"...Ray...."

Then the man lost consciousness.

The group observed the new recruit, who was breathing raggedly from the fever and pain.

The ambulance sped on, carrying the speechless people. Dusk had fallen in the wake of the sunset. The ambulance weaved through vehicles yielding to its siren.

Tom muttered to himself.

"Who's Ray?"

No one answered.

*

Whoa. I passed the exam.

Just that made me feel good. After throwing such a fit at Ye-hyeon, failing would have been mortifying.

Colton would have given me a pitiful look too.

That was my first thought upon waking.

It hurt terribly, but my mind felt relieved. Now, all that was left was to regain my strength through training and clean up my mess. As a regular badger, I could leave the core more freely.

I should go out alone and search for traces of my kin.

With that thought, I lifted my heavy eyelids.

Burns really were the most painful injury....

"Uh."

I let out a sound at the sight that greeted me upon opening my eyes.

Eyes turned toward me.

My eyes widened at the completely different scene from what I'd seen before.

Staring blankly at the people in my view, I said.

"A funeral?"

Smack!

I got hit on the head.

It stung, but with all the tubes dangling from my hand, I couldn't easily rub the spot.

The head pain offset the burn pain, I thought positively.

Rationalizing it, I apologized.

"I'm sorry."

Yoon didn't respond.

The high command members, dressed in sharp black suits and looking down at me, didn't either.

The private room held three high command members and Yoon. All in neatly tailored suits, they stared down at me with an ominous atmosphere.

Ah....

This was bad. They were all really pissed.