Black Badger

A red laser was pointing at me.

Why did he turn this on?

Blinking, I looked at the senior in front of me.

The senior, too, stared at me with wide eyes.

We stayed like that for a while.

Both of us frozen in place, unable to move. Standing upright in the forest that had fallen silent after I bloomed the sword flower, we simply stared at each other.

The beeping laser-pointer sound and the clear voice of the AI.

Only after the AI repeated the warning three times did Jonathan open his mouth.

“What is this?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I had no idea what I was supposed to say.

Standing there speechless, I heard Jonathan press further.

“Hildebert.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why is this reader pointing at you?”

There was not a crack of space in his voice.

I could tell he had tensed his entire body. His tension stabbed sharply against my skin.

I exhaled a cloud of white breath.

There was no way a clumsy lie would work on this person.

Not only would I be made a fool, but... I didn’t even want to lie to this man.

So I simply stood silently.

Then, in Jonathan’s trembling eyes—an understanding dawned.

And anger.

And denial of reality.

“Deny it.”

He growled the demand.

“Deny the result.”

“Senior.”

Looking at his burning eyes, I answered quietly.

“I am not in this organization with a false resolve.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

Jonathan jabbed the reader hard into my chest.

I neither moved nor changed my expression.

I simply blinked and stared at the furious senior.

No—was he in pain?

“I told you to deny this result.”

“If it were in front of other seniors, I might have denied it however you wished.”

If this had happened in front of Jason Trevain or Dawson or Lucia—those I wasn’t particularly fond of. They hadn’t given me any affection anyway.

But this person was different.

And I did not have the confidence that I could hide it forever. If I could have deceived everyone until the end, I would have lied easily.

Since it would be revealed eventually anyway, then rather...

The reader pressed even harder against my heart.

“Does the leadership know?”

His voice was dangerously low.

“Yes.”

“And the squad members?”

“Only this squad knows the truth.”

I lowered the hand I had kept on my sword’s hilt.

“It was the leadership’s decision.”

“Why would they make such a decision?”

“Because I turned my back on the kin outside the Core.”

I murmured as I looked at Seba’s ruined corpse.

“As you saw.”

“Where did you come from?”

Jonathan didn’t spare Seba’s body a single glance.

He didn’t respond to my words, either. He didn’t take his eyes off me. As if refusing even to blink, he glared, growling.

Muscles taut with violent emotion.

I let out a long breath.

“From outside the portal.”

“Why?”

“I lost the home I lived in and came seeking a new one.”

Jonathan kept silent for a moment.

He studied me with an unreadable expression, then added:

“The knights from back then.”

“Yes?”

When “back then”?

For the first time, I lost track of the context. I had no idea what time he meant, nor why knights were suddenly being mentioned.

I tried to guess, but a sharp pain stabbed my chest.

The creature reader glowing red.

“Were you their leader?”

At the next question, I let out a bitter laugh.

And at the same time, I understood his earlier mutterings. Just as I had glimpsed a part of his past, he too had glimpsed a part of mine.

During that mission when we suddenly became close.

Laughing bitterly, I answered.

“Yes.”

Puhk

I got hit.

I had expected it, but it still hurt. I flew in the direction of the blow and tumbled across the snowy ground.

A numbing pain and cold swept over my body. My vision flipped.

Tastes like blood. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Before I could spit out the blood filling my mouth, the next punch came.

Puhk!

Puk!

Puk!

The punches rained down.

It was a different kind of beating from Ricardo’s.

Ricardo had struck me with all his strength and then walked out of the infirmary. His fuse had blown for a moment and then come back.

But Jonathan’s fuse simply blew.

The violence didn’t stop. It poured down endlessly. Just like the time he had lost his senses upon hearing Richard Green’s words.

Coughing, I endured the storm of blows. Through the blurred vision, I saw his wedding ring gleaming. Jonathan was pounding me with the fist wearing his wedding ring.

A fitting reaction for a man who had lost everything and been destroyed by war.

If I kept this up, I really would die—I’d better run sometime soon.

Thinking this, I curled my body and lay there.

His wedding ring slipped off and rolled away.

I’ll have to give that back later.

As I watched the blood-stained ring roll across the snow, a sharp voice pierced my ears.

“Jonathan!”

Urgent footsteps.

The sound grew louder fast, then the violence suddenly stopped.

I slowly closed and opened my eyes.

Riq?

“Talk to me.”

The green-eyed senior seized Jonathan’s arm forcefully.

Through my blurred vision, I saw them approach. Far away, familiar figures were running toward us. Ami, pale as death, and Yun with his brow faintly furrowed.

Ricardo held tightly onto Jonathan, who was trying to shake off his grip.

Muttering something quietly, Ricardo dragged Jonathan to the opposite side from me.

Ami, her face completely drained of color, ran over and dropped to her knees in front of me.

“Hilde.”

She murmured blankly, then reached out and pushed my hair behind my ear.

Her wide eyes were filled with shock.

“Why... how... did all of this happen because Kudo hit you?”

“Ami.”

I gave a bitter laugh.

“I’m sorry. I stupidly forgot the existence of the reader.”

A strong hand grabbed my upper body and pulled.

My vision flipped. My body screamed from the rough handling. A low sound slipped out of me, but she showed no mercy.

I reached out quickly, picked up Jonathan’s ring, and was dragged along.

Yun propped me against a pine trunk.

The shooter knelt on one knee and examined my condition.

Ah.

“One moment.”

Seeing him rummage /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ through his pocket, I raised my palm urgently.

He arched one eyebrow, saying nothing.

I turned my head and spat out the blood in my mouth, then pleaded.

“I don’t want to go through suction.”

“Then don’t.”

Yun answered dryly.

What?

Wasn’t he about to force it on me?

Blinking in confusion, I watched as the shooter took out first-aid instruments.

The urgency gone, I smiled faintly and received the treatment obediently.

Sniffle.

Huh?

“Ami?”

As I was receiving treatment quietly, I turned toward the sound—and saw a shocking sight.

“You’re crying?”

Why?

Flustered, I looked at Ami’s face.

Ami sat crouched beside Yun with eyes reddened bright red.

Failing to suppress her tears, the senior mumbled while looking at my clothes.

“You look like you’re in so much pain.”

“I’m fine. Are you crying because the wounds look painful?”

“I was shocked.”

Yun shot a sideways glance at his younger sister.

“Do you even know what you look like right now?”

“I really am fine, Ami. And Senior Kudo... didn’t he lose his fuse once in front of Senior Richard too?”

I couldn’t look away from Ami wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

Why is she crying in such a heartbreaking way.

I checked my left hand for blood, then pushed her hair behind her ear again.

Ami sniffled and said:

“That time Richard said something stupid first...”

“And now I got caught stupidly being a Titan.”

“Are you saying you just sat there getting punched like an idiot?”

Yun snapped with annoyance.

I blinked and turned my gaze to the shooter.

The senior kneeling on one knee, treating my wounds skillfully. A crease had formed between his neat brows. I stared at the folded brow.

“Are you angry?”

Instead of answering, Yun sighed.

I gave an awkward smile.

“Senior would have blocked the punches, right?”

“I’d have hit back.”

“I thought so. But Senior Kudo has every right to be angry. He lost someone precious in the war... You said it yourself last time. If Yehyeon or Ami had died in the war, you wouldn’t have let me go.”

“So you’re saying you just sat there getting beaten until you looked like this? Sometimes you’re just as hopeless as Yehyeon.”

The shooter grumbled and roughly rolled up my combat uniform sleeve.

I widened my eyes and looked at him.

This is the first time I’ve heard him complain about Yehyeon.

Does that mean I’m inside his line now, or is he just so annoyed that he’s speaking without filtering?

But... doesn’t he usually speak without filtering anyway?

After a brief thought, I gave a bitter smile.

I had shown an ugly sight, so I should apologize.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t look remorseful.”

“I truly am sorry for worrying everyone. And... well... thinking about punching Senior Kudo back in that situation is something only you could think of...”

“Do you think someone like Choi Ami would just sit there getting punched like you?”

“Me?”

Ami, her round eyes much calmer now, raised her voice.

Yun didn’t reply and kept wrapping the bandages.

Maybe she wasn’t expecting her brother to answer; Ami thought for a moment, then said:

“If it were me, I’d try my best to dodge and ask him to listen to me.”

Cute.

Very Ami-like behavior.

“But Yehyeon-oppa would probably just sit there getting hit like Hilde...”

“If I thought I was going to die, I would’ve run, you know.”

“You call that an excuse?”

Yun stood up swiftly.

The treatment was done.

Tilting my head, I looked up at the shooter lifting me, and smiled faintly.

Facing these two siblings always helped untangle the twisted pace inside me.

Not that the ache inside had gone away. Jonathan’s eyes full of hatred hurt far more than his fists.

His gaze had hurt more deeply than the blows he dealt.

But thanks to these siblings, I didn’t lose my way in the maze of self-loathing.

Hiding both gratitude and guilt, I grinned.

The shooter didn’t accept my cheeky gaze. Instead, as if my smile annoyed him, he frowned and grabbed me by the collar.

The man hauled me up roughly and slung my arm over the back of his neck with irritation.

“Oppa! Be gentle! Hilde is a patient!”

Yun did not listen to Ami.

***

Ricardo walked out from the darkness after a long while.

He was alone.

Jonathan had probably returned to where Chen and Ro were.

Sitting by the firewood waiting for the Choi siblings who had gone to look for the other squad members, I smiled at the senior approaching with a troubled expression.

He approached quietly and stopped at my side.

Many emotions were contained in his green eyes, but I couldn’t decipher them.

Hands thrust into his pockets, Ricardo simply looked down at me for a long while.

I looked up and waited for him to speak.

But since he didn’t seem likely to start, I broke the silence with a faint smile.

“Ric.”

I showed him the ring in my hand.

“Please return this to Senior Kudo.”

Ricardo’s eyebrow curved inward.