Black Badger

The seniors didn’t speak for a while.

I didn’t bother to break the silence first. They needed time to organize the information I had given them.

Silence filled the entire room.

Everyone looked like they had a thousand things to say, but no one spoke. Leaning against the lectern, I waited for them to digest the information.

Once again, it was Yun who opened his mouth.

“That’s going to be the key factor in your war against your own kind.”

“Yes. I believe the leadership is thinking the same.”

“There are more Children of the World Tree?”

“As far as I remember, there were several on both sides. But no one can maintain rampage for long. There’s no one who can control their body for over five hours.”

It wasn’t called rampage for nothing.

Unless one reached a certain realm, it was nothing more than a suicidal act of burning one’s body to death.

“Then they’ll try to hunt you down.”

Yun pointed it out in the tone of someone reading from a report.

“If they kill you, there will be no one left who can hold back Kyle. If he chooses to, Kyle could enter the Core and rampage through the teleportation array.”

“Enter the Core?”

Sophia snapped her head to him.

It was the first time I had seen her speak to Yun directly. Sophia and Yun disliked each other. But they were professionals who never let their attitude interfere with missions.

Even someone like Yun had lines he didn’t cross.

He didn’t look at her, but answered in a neutral voice.

“The teleportation array that the student and Hilde fell through a few months ago. Since they were pulled out of the Core, there is no guarantee something can’t come into the Core.”

A reasonable point.

That was why the science division had gone into emergency mode. The leadership knew this as well. It never made it to the news, but I heard countless scientists — including Yun — had been working nonstop on portals and dimensional research.

Sophia glared at Yun with a face that clearly didn’t want to believe any of this.

Ricardo glanced between Kyle and me with an unreadable expression.

Ami pressed her lips together before finally speaking.

“Hilde. Tell us if it’s too much. It feels like your wounds haven’t healed.”

“I’m fine.”

The answer came reflexively.

Then I smiled faintly.

I can smile properly again now.

Relieved that I could smile like usual, I added gently:

“Thank you for worrying. I really have gotten much better.”

“I know that look.”

Ami muttered, sulky.

What look?

“Hilde, you’ve heard that a lot, haven’t you? People telling you to talk if you’re struggling. And you didn’t get better, so at some point you just gave up, right? That’s the look of ‘I won’t get better anyway, but I should at least thank the people who say I should try.’”

...What.

This junior-looking senior.

At some point I had begun to think of her like a kid sister. Which made it even more shocking that she saw straight through me.

Ami grumbled in a pouty voice:

“You’re just like Yehyeon-oppa.”

“Ah.”

I didn’t know what symptoms Yehyeon dealt with.

“Is Yehyeon like that?”

“Yeah.”

I knew he was on medication. And that the things he endured weren’t things one simply “got over.” But I didn’t know what difficulties he dealt with in daily life.

I should pay more attention when I return.

If I get the chance, I’ll ask carefully.

Ami added quietly:

“But I don’t get tired.”

It was almost to herself.

“Even if there’s no improvement, I’ll keep listening.”

That made me laugh again.

Not the sharp laughter from earlier — a normal laugh, because her muttering was honestly funny.

She’s really a cute person.

Ami widened her eyes, clearly not expecting me to laugh this time.

I smiled softly.

“Thank you. I’ll try.”

After that, I gave the necessary explanations and wrapped things up. Everyone looked like they had more to say but held back.

I appreciated that consideration and filed the report to the leadership. Yun’s gruff nagging accompanied the entire process. As soon as the report ended, Trevor dragged me off. I ended up doing miscellaneous chores with him until the entire day passed.

We would leave the next morning.

“Senior. I saw something like a face on the ceiling — do you know what that was?”

That evening we ate lamb.

While gnawing on lamb ribs, I asked. Trevor stirred the charcoal half-heartedly.

“That’s a ghost that shows up around here sometimes.”

“What?!”

Ami dropped the lamb she was about to grab.

“A real ghost?!”

Interesting.

But if it appeared often, there was probably nothing to worry about. I simply said, “I see,” calmly, and kept eating.

Ami stared back and forth between Trevor and me like she couldn’t believe our reactions.

“A real ghost?! Really?!”

“Rather than a face... didn’t it look more like some weird mask?”

“Yes, yes. Pale and smiling.”

“That thing’s been around since before the war. I’ve seen it a couple times myself.”

“Why are both of you so calm?! And Hilde, you said you’ve never seen a ghost before!”

Well. I doubt any of our squad members would be startled by a ghost. They’d probably react as calmly as I did.

Didn’t she throw punches the moment she saw a scout?

Trevor likely felt the same — he didn’t answer her. Grumbling that the water was empty, he stood up.

Holding the canteen, he vanished from sight.

I tossed the rib bones into the bin and answered plainly:

“Death is the end, after all.”

This lamb is delicious.

“I don’t believe in ghosts. I think the face stuck to the ceiling was just some creature that fell from another dimension. But if someone with real resentment dies and becomes a ghost... I don’t think that would be particularly scary either.”

I reached for another lamb rib.

As I moved it to my plate, I noticed the sudden silence around me.

What?

Did I unknowingly eat too many ribs?

I lifted my head cautiously and saw the seniors staring at me.

“Why?”

Ami asked.

I blinked.

“What do you mean?”

“Is it because they’re already dead that you’re not scared? Or is it because you can cut that black ghost too?”

“The former.”

I laughed quietly.

“And none of the people I’ve cut down have ever come to find me.”

“That’s because you absorbed their sins so completely there weren’t even souls left to come after you.”

“Not just them.”

When Yun chuckled and added that, I answered with a small smile:

“On my homeworld or on Earth, I’ve gotten enough blood on my hands to fill a river. But nothing has ever appeared. None of those who left before came back to visit.”

Ami blinked.

Ricardo put down his spoon. With his hands free, he narrowed his eyes and studied me, but I couldn’t guess his thoughts.

Kai also squinted at me.

Feeling awkward, I placed a rib on Kai’s plate.

The blue-eyed senior let out a small laugh.

“I wasn’t hinting.”

Then that’s a relief...

“You killed humans too?”

I was about to tell Kai to enjoy the food, but Sophia broke the silence.

Both Kai and I turned our heads.

Across from me, her cold black eyes fixed directly on mine.

“You’ve killed humans on Earth too?”

Her gaze was always sharp enough to pierce.

Without changing my expression, I looked over her pale face.

Then I smiled faintly.

“Yes.”

Ami’s mouth fell open.

“I won’t lie about it.”

But Ami was the only one surprised. Yun didn’t even look up from his plate. Ricardo kept his eyes on me but resumed # Nоvеlight # eating.

Kai remained still, his gaze locked onto Sophia.

The senior at the end of his blue stare asked:

“Was there a human you thought might come back even after dying?”

“There was.”

The woman who told me, “We all live under the nuclear blade of Damocles. You are no exception.”

A woman whose blood would probably run blue if stabbed — the highest authority of her era.

The one even Colton could never break.

The Ice Empress.

“But she didn’t show up either.”

“I see.”

Sophia answered calmly, eyes returning to her plate.

“So ghosts really don’t exist.”

“Or maybe I just can’t see them.”

“It would’ve been nice if at least a distorted ghost came back.”

She lowered her gaze and murmured:

“So really... when you die, that’s just the end.”

Ah.

That’s bad.

I pressed my lips together.

Sophia stabbed her meat with a fork, expressionless as usual.

Watching her quietly eat, I spiraled into worry.

Should I say something like, “But I don’t have magic or spiritual sense, so I can’t be sure,” even now?

While I fidgeted, Kai nudged my arm with his elbow.

“Finish eating.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And eat one more.”

The blue-eyed man placed another rib on my plate.

I’m grateful...

Touched by the senior’s kindness, I finished my meal diligently.

All while Ricardo stayed silent, and Ami stared at me wide-eyed.

***

The next day, we departed from the Round Tower.

Crossed the mountain and reached Zone C. Crossing the mountain wasn’t difficult — we’d rested well. We’d eaten good lamb, slept enough, drank water, washed, and were fully prepared to complete the mission.

Climbing a winter mountain was tiring, but there was no thunder-dragon perched atop the peak.

The mission proceeded smoothly.

Right up until we reached the target point.

Even as Kai and Yun skillfully installed the portal device, everything went well.

But things always fall apart in an instant.

“—Cough.”

“Oppa!”

Ami’s scream, filled with terror.

Kai urgently chambering his gun.

Sophia shouting that she would cover.

The smell of blood.

Warm red liquid poured into my hand. Near my ear, I heard my mentor’s ragged breathing.

I caught him as he collapsed, slowly going down to one knee.

My voice barely came out.

“Yun.”

Ricardo ran over immediately and knelt.

He fumbled for a tourniquet, but I couldn’t even bring myself to help — I only called his name again.

“Yun.”

“...I...”

He leaned his brow against my shoulder and coughed blood.

Then, in a ragged, hissing voice, he said:

“I... told... you... cough... to kill that thing....”

Hekate.

The enemy appearing out of the fog.

The comrade I arrogantly spared back when I lacked resolve.

And Valdez.

Kyle’s left arm.

The mage he treasured.