Black Badger

You had a private bank safe.

You also knew the safe’s password. The kid and the fat one. Though between then and now, they probably changed the password.

Anyway, From A would be inside that safe.

And other important things.

I went through the list of existing private banks — there weren’t many — and asked:

“Can I open an account here?”

Kairos lifted his head.

He stared straight at me.

“In a private bank? Why?”

“Well... I think it’d be good to see the place in person. Whether I rob the bank or pretend to be You’s proxy and get into the safe, I need access.”

“It happens to be where my account is too.”

Oh!

As expected, a former F1 champion really was something else. My face brightened as I watched my fellow kin petting Milk.

Kairos smiled faintly.

“Sorry to ask this, but... how much money do you have, Captain?”

“My assets?”

Well, I had gone from penniless to wealthy thanks to selling cider.

I disclosed my financial status honestly to my kin.

Kairos’s orange eyes curved upward.

“Impressive! You haven’t even been back that long and you’ve already made that amount. But for the private bank... you should probably visit under the pretext of checking my account.”

“You just told me ‘you’re too poor to sign up there’ in the gentlest way possible.”

I wasn’t wounded, but I was a little sad.

Though he was probably right. Wasn’t this the kind of bank Colton or Yekaterina used? They’d never let someone like me open an account.

It was fortunate I had a wealthy kin. I really didn’t want to beg from the Elders if I could avoid it.

Wait. Would Yun also have an account there?

While I pondered, Milk climbed onto my lap.

I smiled softly and stroked the fluffy tail.

The beast handler spoke again.

“And I doubt you could rob it anyway... and going in as his proxy won’t be easy either. Their identity verification is extremely strict.”

“Who assisted You? When I was gone, someone must have helped him with administrative tasks.”

“Deltei, mostly. But whenever it came to the bank, he always went himself. Never entrusted anyone else with it.”

“It can’t be literally impossible to rob.”

The problem was that my skills were rusty, and if I got caught, it would cause external political trouble.

Not just for me. Yehyeon would definitely get dragged into it with me, and from there things would spiral. This wasn’t like the old days before the war, when I slit the throats of hardline humans one by one.

Physical breaking-and-entering was unrealistic now.

Not that there were zero methods.

Rose must have had a reason she could figure out You’s safe number.

But finding Rose and asking her directly would be the shortest route.

I said I intended to target the safe only after tracking down Rose.

Then, as Kairos nodded obediently, I showed him the USB.

“Let’s open this.”

“What is it?”

“Data extracted from You’s PC, apparently.”

Spitfire had sent it by delivery a while ago.

For various reasons, I hadn’t opened it until now. With the situation literally burning at my heels, I finally decided to open it. Reflecting on my past laziness, I sat down at the computer.

Kairos came to stand behind me.

I inserted the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° USB and opened the files.

A list of files streamed across the screen.

Their names were composed of # and numbers. Starting from #1 onward in order.

I clicked file #1.

Photos spilled open.

“Wow.”

The sound slipped out involuntarily.

“Amazing,” Kairos murmured quietly.

Silence followed.

We stared at the screen, neither of us able to break the stillness.

Just past noon. Only the sound of the mouse wheel scrolling — drdrdrdr — filled the cabin.

A tiny scrollbar.

Videos so numerous they made the scrollbar shrink to a sliver.

Every photo file contained the exact date, month, and time compulsively written on it.

0914-11:35, 0915-15:27, 1006-17:50...

There were video files too, stored like 1103-14:03~16:42. Everything from thirty-second clips to two-hour recordings.

And all of it was about me.

Either CCTV footage he gathered, or photos covertly taken while he hid somewhere nearby.

All the data had been collected starting two weeks after the article came out: “Newbie Badger Rescues President of Cureus Corporation and Civilians.”

The USB should contain everything up until the day his computer was hacked.

Kairos pointed to the first video file.

“It roughly lines up with when You disappeared.”

“No.”

I failed to suppress the voice bursting from deep in my gut.

“What the hell is wrong with him. Does he love me?”

“If that’s true, the method is extremely misguided.”

Kairos gave a short laugh.

“You really should be careful, Captain. His condition seems even worse than expected.”

“Why is he like this? Wouldn’t it be more straightforward to just show up and punch me in the face?”

How did someone break down this badly?

Stupefied, I stared at the countless images of my own face. I expected hatred. I expected screams of resentment. I did not expect this.

I already knew he had control-freak tendencies. I knew that even before we arrived on Earth.

But I never imagined it would manifest like this.

Crazy bastard...

No wonder I didn’t sense him approaching. His surveillance hadn’t started only right before the kidnapping — it had been constant.

“Let’s check the other files.”

After sitting there stunned for a while, I finally pulled my mind back together.

“Looks like he didn’t only film me.”

And my guess was right.

File #2 contained photos of Ami. Not collected as obsessively as mine, but still. Hers were heavily concentrated in the month she was stabbed, and after she was stabbed, the data stopped abruptly — and that fact seriously aggravated me.

Whatever it takes, I’ll catch him.

#3 was Ricardo’s file, #4 Tom’s, #5 Hesh’s, #6 Yun’s, #7 Shu’s.

But Ricardo’s and Yun’s data stopped abruptly after a certain month. Whether he gave up or something else.

Shu had the sparsest file, while Tom and Hesh had thicker ones than Ami. That too irritated me. He’d stabbed Ami once — so the next targets he intended were clearly Tom and Hesh.

I have to find Hesh Lyle today.

Of course, You only had one pair of eyes and twenty-four hours each day; so the other people’s folders didn’t even amount to one-fourth of the volume of mine.

“I don’t get it. He could’ve just shoved a knife into my stomach.”

Muttering, I clicked the last folder.

#8. Yehyeon.

Inside were twice as many photos as Tom’s and Hesh’s combined.

“Let’s check the ones he took of you.”

Kairos approached, doing a dry face rub, and placed his hand on the mouse.

“We might be able to identify the locations he shot from.”

“...Fine.”

A sensible attitude.

“Let’s go through from the beginning. Grab a chair. This’ll take a while.”

Kairos nodded.

He pulled up a chair, sat down, and we began the painstaking task of opening each photo and video one by one.

Video after video. Photo after photo. Every moment he had captured.

Until the sun began to set.

Milk whined that he was hungry.

***

We prepared to go to the hospital.

Dinner was simple.

Immersed in the data, we had cleared our heads while eating. After dinner, I took care of the backlog of tasks. I coordinated schedules with the beast handler, set a coffee appointment with Ska, sent a message to my master telling him what time I’d come visit even though he hadn’t replied, and told Hesh he absolutely had to meet me today or tomorrow at the latest.

Once everything was done, I got ready to leave and looked into the beast handler’s orange eyes.

“Are you not angry anymore?”

I asked carefully.

While reviewing the data earlier, he’d caught sight of the mark stamped on my forehead.

I hurriedly closed the window, but it was too late. Kairos had already taken in the situation. His reflexes were far too fast.

In the Empire, I’d rarely seen him angry.

But the beast handler had been furious.

‘Why do you hide things like this every time?’

‘What’s the point of telling you...? It only makes you worry.’

Nothing looks more pathetic than whining to your subordinates.

But my protests didn’t work.

Fortunately, after some coaxing and appeasing, he calmed down. Things were peaceful by dinner.

Still, just in case, as I put on my shoes, I checked the red-haired man’s expression.

Kairos snorted lightly.

“Go safely. I have plenty to do right now, so we’ll talk later.”

“Oh. You have more to talk about?”

“I’m planning to stay here tonight.”

The beast handler smiled and waved his hand.

Milk stood at his feet, tilting his head back, whining, piiuu.

I gave an awkward smile in farewell. Grabbing the car key, I stepped outside and squeezed myself into the driver’s seat. I didn’t think too deeply about how Kairos had deliberately avoided giving a clear answer.

Either way, he wasn’t going to nag right now, so it was fine.

I pressed down on the accelerator and sped toward HQ.

After parking in the underground lot, I went straight to the hospital room.

A private room where Yun was admitted.

Where he’d stay for at least two weeks.

“Yun.”

I knocked, then opened the door.

“How are you feeling?”

Yun turned toward me.

The room was filled with the pale light of the fluorescent lamp. Under that light, the cold and dry eyes staring back at me landed like a blade. He didn’t look much different from usual. Except his skin was paler.

He didn’t look good.

“If you’re tired, I’ll leave soon. If you want to rest, just say so.”

“Sit.”

Okay.

I closed the door and obediently sat in the chair beside the bed.

After unbuttoning my coat, I offered the bouquet I’d bought on my way here.

“A get-well gift. You can’t eat anything anyway.”

“Touching.”

With a voice devoid of even a speck of emotion, my master accepted the tulips.

The man looked over the bundle of bright yellow tulips with disinterest.

Then he spoke.

“Did you see the article?”

Fast.

“Yes. About the attack on the Commander-in-Chief.”

“It’s the same guy, right?”

“Yes.”

“You said you’d bring him in alive.”

“I did. And I will.”

“Just words?”

“I was investigating on the way here.”

“With whom.”

“Jack Black. We’re reviewing the material Spitfire provided.”

“That perverted cult leader would never hand over all the data.”

“Probably not.”

I laughed bitterly.

I already knew. I’d never expected Erich Erhart to give me everything about capturing You. He wasn’t a philanthropist.

But even partial data was useful.

I briefed Yun on everything we’d uncovered so far.

He quietly listened, then shoved the tulips aside onto the bedside table.

“For the two weeks I’m stuck here, Yehyeon will appear at least twice in public.”

“Yes. I know. We’ll protect him as best we can, so don’t worry.”

“You two?”

“I contacted my student.”

Ah, he won’t understand it that way.

I rephrased it.

“I contacted Lee Seunghyun as well.”

Yun’s brow folded.

His eyes narrowed, giving me a look that said he couldn’t believe my brain truly functioned inside my skull.

The man pushed the IV line aside and turned toward me.

“You call that a plan?”

“No. That’s a precaution in case of the worst scenario. We’ll run the capture operation before Yehyeon has to appear publicly.”

I placed my interlaced hands on my knee.

Then, watching Yun’s eyebrows twitch, I stated the operation title.

“Namely—”

It had contributed to provoking Kairos’s anger earlier. But in the end, he couldn’t think of an alternative either, so he’d approved it.

A simple, straightforward concept anyone could understand.

“Using Hildebert Taleb as bait: the Carrot–Taleb Plan.”

Yun shot me the most exasperated look imaginable.