Black Badger

The man was wearing a bulletproof suit.

Conveniently, he also had handcuffs for restraining us. We made good use of those. After securing the unconscious subordinate, we sat him in a corner of the room.

Before we could decide whether to wake him or not, a minor scuffle broke out.

The issue: who would hold the gun.

Jaeyeon volunteered himself.

“You’re out of your mind if you think I’m handing a weapon to a lunatic.”

Yun immediately refused.

I didn’t want to hand it to Jaeyeon either.

When I nodded in agreement, Yun extended his hand toward me.

“I’ll take it. Give it here.”

“What about that psychopath?”

Jaeyeon jumped to his feet.

“You want to give a gun to a sociopath? To the guy who threw the first punch for no reason just now?!”

And so, I ended up holding the gun.

The only sane one among us—someone unlikely to start shooting people without cause.

The lunatics eyed me with visible discomfort as I holstered it.

“Like giving glasses to a blind man,” Jaeyeon grumbled.

Yun sighed as he watched me fumble awkwardly with the holster.

“Let’s hope you’ve improved since last time.”

I doubted it.

If anything, my skills had rusted over the years—I hadn’t used a gun in ages. I was sure I’d only gotten worse.

But I didn’t have the courage to admit that to Yun.

So instead, I smiled faintly and changed the subject.

“Are we going to wake him?”

No one disagreed.

We roused the unconscious subordinate.

He woke up the moment Jaeyeon slapped him across the face.

Blinking wide like a frightened rabbit, he looked up at us.

Yun stood behind the crouching Jaeyeon, gazing down coldly.

“You know him?” Yun asked, nodding toward me.

The subordinate stared blankly.

“No, sir...”

Quick on the uptake, he stammered politely.

“This is the first time we’ve met... who are you?”

“Forget it,” Yun replied curtly.

The subordinate blinked in confusion while Jaeyeon smirked.

Then Jaeyeon reached out and grabbed the man’s chin.

“You know me, though, don’t you?”

Fear flickered in the subordinate’s eyes.

Apparently, Jaeyeon’s reputation was notorious among the Elders’ subordinates—and for good reason. If I were a lower Elder’s underling, meeting Jaeyeon would be my worst nightmare.

But thanks to his notoriety, getting information was easy.

We learned that we were inside the mountain sector A-14 of Center Core—specifically, Patrick Yates’ mansion. Right now, we were in the basement of the main building.

This storage room was located on B3. Levels B2 and B1 were split between a parking area and an archive room.

Yates’ office was on the fifth floor—apparently, he was there working at the moment.

“What about stealing a car from the parking lot and driving out?” I murmured with my arms crossed.

“Think that’ll work?” Jaeyeon clicked his tongue. “We’ll get blown to bits the second we drive out of there.”

Probably true.

But since we were in the mountains, we’d need transportation to escape properly.

As I lowered my head, lost in thought, I noticed Yun frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

Bathroom break?

He looked up with irritation in his voice.

“I just suddenly feel like shit.”

“Huh? Why?”

“No idea.”

Yun sounded genuinely puzzled.

I blinked, studying him.

Was it because he realized how messy this had gotten? Or some kind of intuition?

Hard to tell. I decided not to dwell on it.

Getting irritated was natural in a situation like this. Maybe the sheer disgust of sharing air with Jaeyeon had finally hit him.

I turned my gaze toward Jaeyeon, who was toying with the bound subordinate.

“All right, here’s an idea.”

Both of them looked at me.

“Jaeyeon, you disguise yourself as that subordinate.”

Jaeyeon’s eyes narrowed.

He stayed silent for a long while.

Not a good sign—but I knew it was an efficient plan.

Yun, in fact, nodded and said, “Good idea.”

He rarely gave compliments.

“I don’t like it. He’s too ugly,” Jaeyeon finally said, wearing a sly, drawn-out grin.

He slapped the captive’s cheek lightly, again and again.

“You really want me to ruin my handsome face with that?”

“You made this mess, so you clean it up. You’re the reason Yun and I ended up here.”

“You can’t escape without me?”

“That’s right.”

I answered shamelessly.

“I can’t live without you.”

Yun shot me a look that said, Unbelievable.

Jaeyeon looked like he was about to vomit. I ignored both of them—and the bound subordinate’s bewildered, disgusted stare.

The pale room fell silent.

After a short pause, Jaeyeon finally stood.

“Fine, fine. Since you begged so nicely, I’ll do it.”

“How about we just bury him here instead and leave? Perfect spot for it.” Yun’s voice was completely sincere.

“It’s a tempting idea,” I said sadly, “but I’d rather not trouble Yehyeon with paperwork.”

“Privacy,” Yun muttered. “Don’t look.”

While Yun was seriously proposing to kill Jaeyeon and I was politely declining, Jaeyeon cheerfully walked to a dim corner.

He stopped where three walls met, hung his head, and began muttering under his breath.

It wasn’t pleasant to listen to, so I followed his advice and looked away.

A few minutes later, a perfect replica of the captured subordinate stood before us.

“Excuse me,” he said stiffly. Even his voice had changed.

He’d taken the man’s clothes and belongings, wearing the uniform and carrying his ID and phone. The transformation was flawless.

“What about him?”

The disguised Jaeyeon looked down at the half-naked captive.

“Kill him and bury the body?”

“That’s the cleanest way,” Yun agreed.

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Why were they suddenly in sync?!

I stopped them before they could “dispose of” the trembling subordinate like recycling waste.

“There’s no need to kill him.”

“Still acting like an amateur?” Jaeyeon snarled, brushing my hand off his shoulder.

“You think he’s some innocent victim?”

“We can just hide him somewhere. Murder’s overkill.”

“He’s too big to hide,” Yun replied coolly. “We’d have to cut him up to make him fit.”

I exhaled deeply.

The subordinate was shaking violently. He knew they were serious. He knew exactly what kind of men Jaeyeon and Yun were.

I suddenly missed Yehyeon and Colton terribly.

Pressing my fingers against my throbbing temple, I sighed.

“Then just cut out his tongue,” I said finally. “If you’re worried about being discovered.”

The gagged subordinate thrashed and made muffled noises.

Jaeyeon chuckled, Yun narrowed his eyes.

“Look at this saint pretending to be merciful!”

“Or we could just bury him alive. I mean, he’s already given us useful info—it feels wrong to outright kill him.”

I approached the captive, loosening the necktie gag. The man’s terrified eyes followed my every move.

As I dropped the tie to the floor, he stammered,

“M-my tongue? You’re going to cut my tongue out...?”

I looked down at him calmly, my expression unchanging.

After a long pause, I smiled faintly.

“If you give us more escape tips, I’ll bury you alive with an air hole.”

And if you can tell us where to do it, even better.

***

“Frappuccino!”

Ami shouted the moment she came out of surgery.

“My Frappuccino!”

“It wasn’t pure Grindream, so recovery rate is good. No vital organs were hit.”

Samuel spoke without looking up from his tablet.

His curt tone meant it wasn’t serious. Ska’s tense expression relaxed the instant he heard that.

“She’ll be discharged in a week. Just don’t make a scene—let her rest for seven days.”

“Yes, understood. Thank you, Doctor.”

“My shirt’s ruined too,” Ami mumbled, lying on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling.

Her tone was gloomy.

“It was my favorite striped shirt...”

Ska ignored every word, pushing the bed down the corridor himself. The sound of the wheels echoed faintly. Ami, half-dozing, woke up as soon as they entered the private room. Then, in her usual cheeky tone, she started wondering when she’d be allowed to eat normal food again.

After going through something like this, that untouched Frappuccino suddenly seemed more delicious than ever.

But Ska didn’t respond to her chatter.

He looked down at her with a troubled face.

“It’s gotta be the Half-Badger group,” he muttered.

“No.”

Ami’s babbling stopped.

“It looked like Hilde was the target.”

“What?” Ska’s voice jumped.

“Hildebert?”

The aide stared at her in shock as she explained.

Yehyeon had already been contacted.

He’d tried to reach Yun, but the phone was off. Hilde’s phone, too, was switched off—no way to contact either of them. Ska cursed quietly and left a flood of messages and voice mails so they’d see them the moment they left the party.

He’d also called someone else.

Someone who needed to hear this before anyone else.

That person arrived at the hospital not long after receiving the call.

“Ami~...”

Ricardo entered the room, dragging out his voice.

“Been a while...”

“Rick!” Ami grinned brightly.

“You got here so fast! I was bored, perfect timing!”

Smack!

A soft flick landed squarely on her forehead.

Ami widened her eyes, covering her forehead with both hands, staring up in confusion at the man with green eyes. Ricardo sighed, rubbing his brow.

“Is Senior Yun on his way?”

“I ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) called, but his phone’s off. Hilde’s too. They both had meetings today with some sensitive types—maybe that’s why. Anyway, I left messages.”

“Ah.”

Ricardo’s voice sounded displeased.

He fell silent, his gaze still sharp, then muttered to himself,

“What the hell are those two doing at a time like this...”

***

Yun, Jaeyeon, and I—and the nameless subordinate—were busily digging into the ground.