Black Badger

I had just come down from the recording floor.

I was planning to get lunch somewhere in the busy streets near Black Badger HQ. I’d been thinking of going to a place that supposedly tasted the closest to Lexic noodles.

I parked in the underground lot and was heading out of the building.

And then—what the hell is this.

“John Mühlen? Why would he...?”

[He’s fighting a Creature right now!]

...What?

[At this rate he’s really going to die!]

What on earth happened.

I was at a loss for words.

[What do we do? Yun isn’t answering his phone. I called and called... I think he’s in the middle of a portal experiment. Please help! At this rate he might really die!]

“Please calm down for now.”

I was curious how things had gotten this bad, but pressing for details could wait.

First: location.

“Where is he?”

Hiroshi sent me his location.

It was really close.

Right in front of HQ. Very near the science wing—one of the container areas where they store equipment. Looked like a Creature had appeared there.

If I ran, I could be there in under ten minutes.

I memorized the route and shoved the phone away.

And then I leapt straight out onto the street.

“Ah!”

As I sprinted toward the GPS point, eyes turned toward me.

“It’s Hilde!”

“That Badger!”

“White hair!”

“Isn’t he that yellow-eyed Badger?”

Even though it had been a while, passersby still recognized me.

It had eased a lot, yes—these days I could at least eat out without choking on it. But people still stared, and I always had to ask whoever I was eating with for understanding in advance.

Fortunately, I was getting used to those looks.

Ignoring the murmurs and shutter sounds, I kept running.

The soft noon sunlight that eased the winter chill.

White breath trailing behind me as I ran toward the container warehouse.

The destination came into view quickly.

“Senior Mühlen!”

Why is he lying there like an old tree trunk!

As I got close enough to see clearly, I almost jumped.

John Mühlen was sprawled helplessly on the ground. Beside him were shards of broken asphalt, a punctured container, a toppled truck—and a huge slime.

A slime?

...Focus on the person first.

Ignoring the writhing slime, I sped up.

Seeing John Mühlen lying motionless on the gray pavement made anxiety dig its claws in. He was face-down, stretched out straight, and some kind of weapon—couldn’t tell if it was a bazooka or a rifle—lay tossed beside him.

Why does the weapon look so over-the-top.

You don’t need a bazooka for a slime...

No. Focus on the person first.

Humans can’t gauge another human’s condition by instinct alone, so panic pushed up my throat.

Sliding the last bit on my knees, I knelt by John Mühlen.

“Senior!”

I grabbed his wrist and shouted urgently.

“Are you all right?”

No answer.

His pulse was strong enough. I rolled my eyes around, looking for more information.

...

Is that blood?

Seeing the pool of blood gathered around his head made my insides go cold.

Anyone could tell it was his own. From the placement and the amount, his head must have split open.

I hurriedly rolled him onto his back and checked his face.

Judging from the blood, his forehead had been torn.

Since he had an enhanced body, the wound had already healed. Judging from the amount of spilled blood and the pattern, it hadn’t been deep enough to be fatal.

He must have hit his head on those asphalt chunks.

I let out a breath of relief.

“But that slime doesn’t look like it would’ve punched a hole through a container.”

I muttered while looking down at the thoroughly unconscious John Mühlen.

Well, it was big, sure.

But slimes weren’t threatening Creatures. At least, not when they were just wobbling alone on a road like that. If you got close they might throw punches and pose a danger to civilians. And if they got absorbed by a Creature with the right affinity, they strengthened that Creature—so we usually cleared them out pre-battle.

But they were also called training Creatures for teenagers—pretty easy to handle...

“And this somehow broke a container.”

I picked up the bazooka-like thing rolling around and inspected it.

“Slimes don’t take well to explosive rounds.”

Even if he’d landed a hit, the slime wouldn’t have taken fatal damage.

Chemical attacks or cutting attacks worked better. Not that bullets didn’t work at all—but you needed sustained, precise fire for them to get through.

Looking at the scene around me...

He must have landed one hit, which did nothing, and then the second shot missed badly and blew a hole in the container instead.

It was a godsend he hadn’t fired a regular gun. There were civilians peeking at us from afar—stray rounds could have hit them. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Anyway, I needed to deal with that thing and then get him to a hospital.

“Why did he even come out here in the first place?”

I muttered, taking my eyes off the slime.

I lowered my head toward the fallen “star of the scientific division.”

Blue eyes.

“Ah! You startled me!”

If you’re awake, say something!

“Are you all right, sir?”

John Mühlen... didn’t answer.

He just stared up at me.

With a face that said he didn’t quite understand why he was here.

Honestly, I didn’t know why he was here either.

Even if I asked, he wouldn’t answer.

He had his eyes open and didn’t look too bad, so I’d clear the slime first and think later.

“I almost died.”

John Mühlen suddenly said.

I looked down at him.

“Fortunately your head is still attached, sir. How does your body feel?”

“....”

Mühlen brushed his forehead with a long, white, sharply-jointed hand.

After confirming the wound was gone, he lowered his hand.

He didn’t reply, but I was satisfied. He didn’t seem to have trouble moving.

“Please return to HQ.”

Mühlen blinked.

Slowly blinked a couple times. Without answering, without moving, he closed and opened his eyelids again.

Once or twice more.

Once more.

Again...

...Hm?

What the.

Did he just pass out?

“No way.”

I shook him lightly, unable to believe it.

“Sir?”

But what I was seeing was real.

John Mühlen had fainted. Like an AI that had abruptly powered down. Like a delicate orchid wilting in a cold breeze.

He went pale and still, eyes shut.

Seriously?

I was so dumbstruck I forgot how to move.

After a while, I finally snapped out of it.

Shaking my head, I laid him back down properly and covered him with a windbreaker.

“What an unbelievably weird human...”

“MELDEEEEEEEEEE!”

A familiar voice rang out.

With it came an overwhelming presence barreling in. Instinctively I turned, hand going to my sword grip.

And then I saw Giacomo Ro charging toward us.

Wearing his Black Badger combat suit, dragging behind him a Creature that had to be at least level 6—curly-haired senior, sprinting like a madman.

He didn’t even seem to realize the Creature was chasing him like crazy.

“Who’s the bastard!”

Giacomo Ro was furious.

“Who’s the bastard who pushed this idiot to do this!!”

Yeah, I’d like to know that too.

But separate from pure curiosity, this situation was... not good.

That thing he was dragging looked extremely bad.

Watching the senior approach fast, I held my palm out.

“Wait a second, sir.”

Don’t bring a Creature like that near a slime.

That mannequin-looking Creature with eyes stuck in all its joints was a nasty one. Worse: it had good affinity with slimes—if it ate one, it got stronger.

Then things got genuinely troublesome.

Why would he drag something like that all the way here.

“Senior Mühlen is fine!”

“Why was the kid unconscious then!”

Ro wasn’t listening.

“Hold on just a little, Melde!”

There’s nothing to hold on for.

“I’m coming, Melde!!”

...Fine. I’ll handle the Creatures.

I gave up trying to speak to seniors. And gave up trying to organize the situation before fighting.

Trying to talk was my mistake to begin with.

Smiling faintly, I drew my sword.

I needed to take out the slime before the mannequin-thing ate it.

Then I’d deal with the mannequin.

I was hungry, so I planned to finish quickly.

Ignoring the fainted John Mühlen and the truly responsible Giacomo Ro, I gripped my sword and charged at the Creatures.

***

“Don’t go to the command office right now.”

After I ended up eating lunch in the cafeteria, I headed to the science wing.

As I opened the heavy door and stepped inside, Leeho—who had come to watch the recorded video of “Star’s first dispatch”—gave me serious advice.

“Commander is absolutely furious.”

“Yes, thank you. But furious at who exactly?”

“At John Mühlen.”

Senior Leeho slurped down the coffee in his paper cup.

“Sounds like he was just stunned at first. But the more reports he heard, the more dumbfounded he got—until finally he got angry.”

“Fair enough.”

“They say Senior Mühlen is getting obliterated in his office. Commander hasn’t raised his voice this much since the Personnel Director Ju vacation incident.”

“Did you hear what exactly he said?”

“He asked if Mühlen understood how important his role is. Said if he dies it’ll cause huge issues for Core and portal management. Said geniuses like him aren’t ten a penny. Asked if he realized how discouraged young scientists who look up to him would be if he died like this...”

So... aggressive worrying?

“He told him he knows he lives with his brain switched off most days, but at least think enough to keep himself alive.”

Great. I was not going anywhere near the command office today.

“Shit.”

Just as I made that vow, Yun walked in from somewhere, radiating gloom.

“Why the hell did you answer your phone?”

He’d clearly been yelled at by Yehyeon too. His face said it all.

I grinned and poked at my mentor’s nerves.

“Got yelled at?”

Yun’s cold eyes flipped toward me.

“What’s that look you’ve got?”

“This mushroom hat? The lab folks just gave it to me. And also these pink glasses, this coin earring, and this bracelet with the carnivorous-plant charm.”

“And the chocolate in your hand?”

Leeho asked as he saw me cheerfully holding it.

I snapped the giant chocolate bar cleanly in half with a sharp crack!

“I got it from a student who came up to me on my way back after subjugating the Creature.”

“Stop taking anything people hand you.”

Yun said flatly.

“You don’t know what’s in that crap you’re shoving into your mouth.”

I just smiled.

I figured I could at least tell when someone’s eyes had gone crazy. It’s not like I «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» blindly trusted my instincts—but still.

Some brave scientists saw Yun and shouted, “Director Yun, watch ‘Star’s first dispatch’ video!”

Yun glared at them bleakly.