Black Badger

It was too scary.

So I couldn't even run away. I just nodded, praying that the conversation wouldn't get too difficult.

What on earth was he going to say?

Was he going to ask why I was calling him over something as trivial as dealing with a pathetic creature?

I steeled myself amid the trembling fear.

But the words that followed shattered my resolve.

"Shall we head to my place first~?"

My jaw dropped.

It was completely unexpected.

Why....

Why all of a sudden?

I stared blankly at the senior with my mouth agape as he smiled casually. The tall senior wore an ivory short-sleeved shirt and glasses with transparent frames. He seemed to be off-duty.

Someone who was sometimes even scarier than Yoon in a certain way.

The response slipped out reflexively.

"Can't we go to a café?"

"Yeah~. No...."

"A restaurant with private rooms?"

"That won't work either~."

Terror and despair tightened around my heart.

Ricardo's long eyes curved into a smile as he watched my reaction.

"The car cleaning's done, so let's take my car...."

"Now... right now?"

"If you don't have any plans~."

I didn't, but I wanted to say I did.

But if I got caught lying, I'd really be in deep trouble.

I nodded, failing spectacularly at controlling my expression.

The senior with green eyes smiled brightly.

The man didn't hesitate and immediately started walking. The hospital lobby, bathed in warm summer sunlight, suddenly seemed eerie. Was calling him during a mission such a huge mistake? No, I'd already committed an unforgivable sin, and this was just me pouring fuel on the fire.

If only I had my phone, I could've sent an SOS to Ami or Yoon.

It was that desperate—even Choi Yoon felt missed.

With my head down and mouth shut, the senior's voice came.

"I was going to call the little two-tone kid too, but she's on a long-term mission starting today~."

"Shu?"

"She said she'd contact me directly as soon as she gets back~...."

What for?

I couldn't follow the context of the conversation. Ricardo couldn't possibly be interested in games. And for past stories, she wasn't part of the Task Force.

What kind of talk would warrant inviting Shu to his home?

But I didn't ask, and Ricardo didn't explain.

As the senior with green eyes headed to the underground parking lot, he muttered to himself.

"That kid's pretty unique too...."

She did have a distinctive aura.

Once she was back, I should take her to the game center that Colton set up.

With that thought, I forced my reluctant feet to move.

*

The green car was spotlessly clean.

Ricardo blocked my attempt to bring up the cleaning cost with a single gesture. I had to settle into the passenger seat with the feeling of being led to the slaughterhouse.

It was noon, with summer sunlight pouring down.

Lost in a daze as I stared out the car window, the senior asked.

"Lunch-?"

I replied in a stiff voice.

"I haven't eaten. But I'm fine."

"Well.... Yeah.... An empty stomach might be better~."

"Yes?"

What?

Why bring up something like John Mullen would say?

He wasn't planning to sell me off somewhere right after we got to his place, was he...?

I expressed my shock with a flushed face, but the senior didn't even glance back.

There was no further conversation. Ricardo focused on driving and stayed silent for a long time. I, with my mouth hanging open in a stupor, had to awkwardly compose my expression and look away out of embarrassment.

Lacking the nerve to speak first, I sat quietly until the car reached its destination.

The car arrived at a quiet residential neighborhood, forty minutes from headquarters.

It pulled into the most well-maintained garage among them.

A neat house came into view.

The lower part of the exterior wall was made of red basalt, and the upper part seemed built with white lime and plaster.

It was a clean, stylish house fitting for the senior.

"...Excuse me."

I muttered as I followed Ricardo.

"Your house is really pretty...."

The senior tossed his car keys, landing them neatly on the wall hook.

As I slipped into slippers like he did, my eyes caught a game console that didn't match the modern interior.

In front of the ashen sofa stood a marble table. A low table that surely only held an ashtray, now with a monitor and game console on it.

I blinked.

"Is that game console Shu's?"

"Yeah.... You'll be playing it soon~."

Me?

This was From E.

I walked to the table and picked up the game console, and the screen woke from sleep mode, displaying the title. I was at a loss for words upon hearing the familiar BGM.

Ricardo returned with a glass of water.

"You can at least have some water~...."

"Ah, thank you."

"You heard about the Easter egg being found~?"

"Yes. I heard they couldn't fully solve it to the end."

"Sit down...."

Ricardo pointed to the sofa.

"Let's talk after you see that...."

What was all this about?

I had a mountain of questions, but I didn't voice them. I was used to following orders without explanations anyway. Yoon was always the quiet type too. I had a year's worth of experience rolling under him.

After sitting on the sofa, I moved the controller.

The senior sat next to me.

"Load the most recent save~."

I did as he said.

In High Castle, I picked up the split bow of the Imperial Clan, broken in half, and went to the statue. After placing the item and praying, the basement appeared.

Up to this point, I'd just been purely excited, without much thought.

Even when I entered the temple with its unique atmosphere and saw the row of statues, I was simply enjoying it.

But the moment I pressed the book on the altar, I forgot how to breathe.

[When your successor aims your blood oath at you]

Ricardo took the controller from me.

"I'll input the answer~."

A date appeared on the screen.

Eight digits. The date I'd looked up online and couldn't forget since.

Entering it, words began to appear on the blank book.

I read down the text without properly breathing.

Forgetting everything but the words.

Immersed in Eve's words that rang in my ears.

*

The sentences didn't continue further.

I stayed still, staring at the unmoving screen.

Then I realized I wasn't breathing right.

My breaths were shallow.

I bent at the waist to inhale the lacking oxygen. But the situation didn't improve.

My breaths kept coming short, accompanied by a ringing in my ears.

I couldn't breathe.

"Put this over your mouth and breathe."

Someone roughly pulled my shoulders back.

In my narrowed vision, a brown paper bag appeared.

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth."

I grabbed the bag with trembling hands.

It felt like the other person was still holding me—gripping my shoulder, or maybe placing a hand on my back.

No? Was it the bag they were holding? 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Why was I holding the bag?

My mind wasn't working.

Breathing gradually became easier, though. I forgot how to move and just inhaled and exhaled. My constricted vision slowly widened.

Memories flooded back too.

I failed to persuade Ray. I thought there was still a chance to convince him. So I hoped we might prevent the disaster.

But history didn't flow that way.

What words had I used to try to persuade him?

That still didn't come to mind.

What I remembered was facing my kin in the vast lab.

With weapons aimed at each other. Bloodstains were vivid on the hems of those facing me. Kyle and his followers must have killed several researchers on their way here. My supporters and I, who chose my side, couldn't stop the disaster. We didn't have the capacity.

But we could still turn it back.

For now....

"Please."

The plea wasn't accepted.

And so the war began. I recalled the sensation of gritting my teeth and unleashing a sword slash at the charging kin.

A memory that even Dream's Voice couldn't unearth.

Fragments I'd only partially recalled even in the subway.

"Bathroom."

Muffling my mouth, I muttered, and someone roughly pulled me up.

Urk.

As soon as the toilet came into view, I vomited my guts out. Luckily, there was nothing in my stomach. It was so nauseous I felt like I could puke up my entire gut.

I heaved out watery gastric acid for a while.

My vision blurred with physiological tears.

Struggling to catch my ragged breath, I muttered.

"I'm sorry."

"Just finish puking it all out~."

The other person replied, patting my back.

"I brought you here knowing this would happen...."

With trembling hands clutching the toilet, I emptied my stomach a couple more times.

I had to stop puking now. I was being a burden, so I needed to pull myself together. But as soon as the sensation of taking a kin's life resurfaced, my stomach flipped. The once-white lab was covered in chunks of muscle, organs, and skin.

I....

"Where did I go wrong?"

I'd successfully maintained balance for decades.

"Where should I have done what...."

"Well. Maybe it couldn't be stopped in the end~."

No.

"If I'd handled it right...."

"If you'd handled it right?"

"Then the war...."

"Wouldn't have happened?"

Someone asked firmly from the side.

It was a voice laced with refined anger.

"You think you could've stopped the war? That it was possible just with your actions?"

Who knew the right answer.

If I could have turned back time. If I could have returned to the past with my memories and chosen only the correct paths, maybe the disaster wouldn't have happened. Maybe I could've prevented the kin-slaying and the war with my handling.

Because in the end, pointing the sword at kin was my choice.

Eve.

The scientist who needed neither fame nor money.

The genius who firmly believed our meeting with humanity was a blessing.

Thus, the woman who abandoned her name, hometown, and bonds, carrying goodwill and hope, spent a long time with me. Just as I watched Colton age, I watched Eve age too. The genius scientist, known only within the controlled lab, never gained fame or wealth but was always happy.

Nol highly valued her pure passion....

"I have to go."

Muttering as I gripped the toilet and stood.

"I need to go do K...."

"Bullshit."

Someone grabbed me roughly.

Then dragged me to the sink. My whole body was shaking so much I couldn't resist properly.

Water splashed onto my face as I stopped in front of the sink.

The other's large hand roughly washed my face. Amid the chaotic sensations, I flailed without regaining my senses.

Until the person who cleaned me up dragged me fiercely out of the bathroom.

My dragged body was thrown onto the bed.

"Sleep well~."

A blanket covered me up to my head, hiding the voice's owner.

"If you try to crawl out, I'll knock you out for real, so stay put~...."

He finished speaking, turned off the light, and walked out of the room.

Exhausted and lying there, I listened to the fading sounds. The door closing. Footsteps moving away from the closed door. Cleaning up around.

Picking up shards of broken glass....

As those sounds faded, my consciousness cut off at some point.

*

When I woke, the surroundings were dark.

I stared up at the ceiling, tinged in bluish darkness, for a long while.

Then I slowly got up and went outside.

Stumbling as I searched for the homeowner. It wasn't hard—just follow the sounds.

Ricardo was in the kitchen, half-heartedly shaking a frying pan.

"Senior...."

"You're up~?"

He replied without turning around.

"Then stop dawdling and set the table...."