Black Badger

I decided that I would be the one driving Yehyeon’s car.

Once we got in, Yehyeon had calmed down considerably. I fastened his seatbelt for him, then connected my phone to the car.

Driving the Bentley out of the parking lot, I called Kairos.

[Captain.]

“We need to go to HQ Hospital, so keep Yoow locked in the cabin.”

I gave the order without any preamble.

Kairos answered that he would do so without asking questions. I could also hear Igor cursing in the back as he dragged Yoow away.

With two of them there, I could relax a little.

I ended the call and pressed the accelerator.

Driving fast with the hazard lights on, the silence broke when Yehyeon spoke in a cracked voice.

“Hilde.”

“What?”

“Thank you for coming.”

His eyes were bloodshot, but he seemed calmer now.

“If I were alone, I wouldn’t have been able to pull myself together for a long time.”

“Are you okay now? If I had blocked him earlier, none of this would’ve happened.”

“You caught Yoow. One person cannot do everything.”

Yehyeon opened the glove box and took out a container of chocolates.

A piece of chocolate went straight into his mouth.

“Is that why you apologized to me? Because it bothers you?”

Well. A mix of this and that...

I chewed the chocolate without answering right away, and Yehyeon let out something like a small scoff.

He can scoff, huh.

I blinked. Then Yehyeon swallowed the chocolate.

“You didn’t accept me lying down because of guilt, right?”

I almost slammed on the brakes.

Barely regaining my senses, I matched the timing with a red light and brought the car to a stop.

The moment the car halted, I jerked my head toward him.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Then don’t hold any kind of guilt toward me from now on.”

With his head lowered, Yehyeon scrolled through the messages from his subordinates.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. The root cause of my problems is my father... and all the leaders failed to stop the war back then.”

“Yeah.”

“And don’t feel guilty about anything concerning Yoow, either.”

It didn’t seem like he was listening to my answer.

Or more precisely, he didn’t seem to believe it.

The childlike crying from earlier had vanished completely; now he spoke with all the fear and shock stripped away.

“If you keep that up, then I’ll apologize every time Yun causes trouble.”

“No.”

How did the conversation jump to that?

“Our positions are roughly similar, aren’t they?”

“...I don’t think they’re similar...”

I didn’t know which side that insult applied to more.

If this were before Yoow twisted himself beyond recognition, I would’ve thought this was too big an insult to him. Having seen what he’s become, I couldn’t easily claim it was an insult to him now.

If anything, it felt more like an apology to Yun...

I pulled out of the stoplight while thinking, and Yehyeon added:

“And I need to give you an order.”

“Yes?”

His voice suddenly turned brutally businesslike.

So it was official business. I rolled my eyes to check the profile of Yehyeon, now emotionless.

“Yes. Please speak.”

“All Creature extermination happens under my command.”

His large, dark eyes looked straight at me.

“So the blood of every Creature you’ve killed since becoming a Badger is on my hands.”

I was speechless.

I simply gave up and switched the car into autonomous driving. The black Bentley smoothly reduced speed and merged into the traffic flow.

Lee Seunghyun... Samuel must be treating him well by now.

“Including humanoid Creatures. I’m the one who sent you onto the battlefield, telling you to kill them.”

Ah.

A few hours ago, I had said this exact thing to Yoow...

And now, surprisingly, I was hearing the exact same words from Yehyeon. It was a bizarre situation, and so naturally a bizarre feeling followed—one I couldn’t quite identify.

It wasn’t until the Badger HQ came into view that I came back to myself.

“Yes.”

I pushed aside whatever feeling it was—whether it was gratitude or sadness, I couldn’t tell.

“I understand.”

“Good.”

He turned his head back toward his phone.

He didn’t speak for a long while. I could hear him replying to various messages. I also returned my attention to driving and entered the Badger HQ.

After parking, I went to check on Lee Seunghyun’s operating room.

Sukhoi already knows...

“Did you ask my father to provide escort?”

A quiet voice caught my attention.

I nodded. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“If I told you, I thought you’d notice the escort immediately. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No. You definitely would’ve been found out. When it comes to anything involving my father, I’m terrible at keeping a straight face...”

With a bitter murmur, Yehyeon got out of the car.

“Don’t be too shocked when you see him.”

See what?

I wanted to ask, but there was no time.

As soon as he stepped out of the car, Yehyeon switched into work mode. The gunshot incident had already spread everywhere, and it looked like he was being flooded with calls.

He said he would put out the most urgent fires and return later—he wanted me to tell him the details about Yoow once he was done.

I agreed and headed to the operating room.

Fortunately, the surgery finished quickly and safely. Samuel emerged looking exhausted and blinked when he saw me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, we know each other.”

Samuel shot me a look that said, How do you know him?

But soon he looked away and explained the situation plainly.

He said the man had a sturdy body. If he stayed hospitalized for two weeks, he could leave without any issues.

I thanked him and turned away.

As I walked toward the patient room, realization washed over me. Thinking about it now—Lee Seunghyun had an enhanced body. Earlier I’d been in such a rush that I transferred him to HQ without thinking, since that’s where enhanced bodies can be treated. But he wasn’t a Badger, and he didn’t even have a registered ID.

Why didn’t the doctor ask any questions?

“Hilde!”

“Yes!”

Still confused, I tilted my head—and Samuel yelled behind ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) me.

I turned my head, and the doctor threw something at me.

Thunk.

“Give him this if Lee Yehyeon starts having seizures.”

“Excuse me?”

I caught the pill bottle midair and blinked.

The doctor shoved his hand into his white coat pocket.

“If he starts having seizures from fighting his biological father, give it to him.”

Oh.

So he knows.

Shock hit me for a moment.

But it passed quickly. Thinking back, Samuel had said things before that hinted he knew about Jaeyeon. He once said something about him being the one who regularly turned Yehyeon into rags.

Right. Come to think of it, he was one of the people who witnessed the birth of the Black Badger organization.

He probably knows far more than I imagine.

“Thank you.”

It was just like him to not ask how Lee Seunghyun and I knew each other.

“I’ll bring you deer-antler liquor next time.”

Unlike with the roll cake incident—where he had yelled, “Don’t need it, brat!”—this time he replied, “Ah, yeah! I’ll look forward to it!” and trudged out of sight.

***

Lee Seunghyun woke up soon after.

By the time he opened his eyes, I was firing off a barrage of questions to my kin in the Igor-Kairos-Hildebert-Deltei group chat.

For reference, Yoow had passed out again from Igor’s knife-hand strike.

[Rehab Chat / Me: You tied him up properly?]

[Rehab Chat / Igor: y]

[Rehab Chat / Igor: can I break his legs?]

[Rehab Chat / Me: If you don’t want to take care of a guy who can’t walk going to the bathroom, don’t.]

[Rehab Chat / Deltei: Why is there such a huge massage chair in this tiny cabin?]

[Rehab Chat / Deltei: But it’s really good.]

[Rehab Chat / Deltei: How much is this?]

[Rehab Chat / Kairos: They won’t come today, right? How’s the soldier doing?]

[Rehab Chat / Kairos: I heard the Commander is safe. The reports are accurate, right?]

[Rehab Chat / Me: Accurate, and Lee Seunghyun’s surgery went we—]

Just as I was typing, I felt the patient waking up.

I jumped to my feet and approached him.

“You okay?”

Cold, pitch-black eyes rolled toward me.

“Sukhoi contacted us. They said to rest for two weeks and return to duty.”

I told him the thing he’d be the most curious about first.

His eyes shifted back to the center. As expected, that was what he’d wanted to ask.

And he seemed to have nothing else he wanted to know.

A quiet stillness settled.

I let out a sigh and pulled over a chair.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry you had to go through this because of my kin.”

“I simply fulfilled an escort mission.”

A stiff, emotionless reply.

His voice wasn’t too hoarse, which relieved me.

I’d performed first aid on time and got him into surgery quickly, so I didn’t expect major complications—but still, the wound was deep, so I had worried. Hearing his voice, I agreed with Samuel—he’d be fine in two weeks.

A blessing in misfortune.

I gave a faint, bitter smile and poured water into the cup on the side table.

“It’ll be uncomfortable, but I’ll stay a little longer before leaving.”

My junior merely let out a small sigh and didn’t protest.

Seems I’m not hated that much yet.

Smiling faintly, I looked back at the group chat.

I scrolled through the accumulated messages. Deltei, after discovering the massage chair’s price, was now in shock. Igor, in true Igor fashion, was reading messages instantly but never responding. Kairos was explaining everything that had happened after I rushed to the Glasshouse.

Reading his coherent summary, I threw in questions here and there.

In the middle of that, the hospital room door slid open.

Yehyeon came in.

“Commander.”

I stood up to greet him.

But throughout entering and closing the door, his eyes were fixed solely on Lee Seunghyun.

Meanwhile, despite his son entering, Lee Seunghyun didn’t spare him a single glance—just stared at the ceiling.

Wow.

What now.

The air was already suffocating.

I darted my eyes left and right, gauging the atmosphere.

Should I leave? Should I not sit here like an idiot and sneak outside quietly?

Yeah, I should give them space, right?

When?

Now?

Now?

I cautiously began to rise, when Yehyeon spoke.

“You go around getting pathetically beaten up by Jaeyeon, and now you let some nobodies shoot you three times?”

?

My jaw dropped and I froze in place.

Wait...

...Yehyeon?

“You even knew there would be an attack.”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, get out.”

Lee Seunghyun answered gruffly.

There was no emotion at all. He didn’t even turn his gaze. Just lying there, spitting out dry words.

Hmm.

Well, at least he didn’t snap back in irritation over the rudeness—that alone was a relief by his standards.

But the kid’s voice sharpened.

“Why did you accept the mission to guard a son you wouldn’t care about whether he lived or died?”

I forgot entirely about leaving.

“You never care about anything outside the missions assigned to you.”

“Lee Yehyeon. I said get out.”

“You hate me, don’t you?”

Yehyeon didn’t stop.

“You think I’m the bastard who killed my mother, don’t you? Then why did you accept the escort job? Wouldn’t it have been easier on you if I’d just been hit by a few bullets?”

“Yehyeon, that mission was som—”

“It would’ve been easier on you if I died!”

Lee Seunghyun didn’t react—only rolled his eyes.

“Why are you doing something you’ve never done before?!”

Yehyeon shouted, voice cracking with fury.

“Why put on useless hypocrisy?! Sometimes you think it would’ve been better if your friends had killed me!”

Crash!

The water cup beside the side table flew through the air.

It struck Yehyeon’s head with perfect accuracy. The glass shattered.

My mouth hung open as I stared—at Yehyeon, drenched in water and glass shards, and at Lee Seunghyun, crushing the bed rail with his hand.

My junior had sat up, growling.

“Get out.”

His voice alone made my skin crawl.

“Right now.”

Bang!

And so Yehyeon did.

He spun around and walked out of the room.

The door slammed. Glass fragments clinked on the floor. Water pooled on the ground.

The heavy silence was broken only by Lee Seunghyun’s ragged breathing.

I didn’t come back to myself until the sound of Yehyeon’s footsteps faded in the distance.

Good god.

Even Kysis didn’t talk back to his father like that...

“Seunghyun.”

Picking up the broken glass shards, I called his name. He rolled his eyes toward me.

Cleaning quickly, I spoke:

“Don’t ever throw anything at the kid again.”

He didn’t answer.

I didn’t expect him to.

Wrapping the shards in tissues and placing them on the side table, I gently pushed his shoulder.

He lay back down without resistance, and I pulled the blanket up to his shoulders. Then I added more nagging:

“And don’t tell him to get out.”

“Aren’t you leaving?”

He opened his eyes and glared at me.

That was it for today’s conversation.

I exhaled deeply, told him I’d come back later, and walked out of the hospital room.

***

“We’re fucked.”

I went straight to Yun’s hospital room.

“What do we do?”

“Hilde!”

Ami was in the room as well.

“Hi! What’s going on?!”