Black Badger

“Do you think he’s actually capable of apologizing sincerely?”

After a long silence, Yun finally opened his mouth.

“For starters, I can’t do something like that.”

“You don’t have a conscience, sunbaenim.”

I couldn’t hold back and shot back immediately.

“That guy at least has one.”

Yun snorted.

He folded his arms and turned his gaze toward Yoow. Naturally my head followed. Deltei holding on to Yoow, and Kairos blocking Yoow with an arm.

Kairos tilted his head slightly in greeting toward Yun.

Yun didn’t return the gesture.

As always....

“You really like those guys that much?”

“...What?”

I blinked at the unexpected question.

“Why are you suddenly—”

“You want to go this far to give the bastard who stamped your abdomen a ‘chance,’ is that it?”

The kin all visibly flinched at the word stamped.

I gave a bitter smile.

“It’s not easy to forget everything we went through together.”

“And the pain of getting abducted the night before your promotion exam and branded—that you forgot?”

“...Are you angry about that too?”

Yun, who had been studying Yoow carefully, turned his head and looked at me.

“Of course I am.”

Oh.

My eyes widened.

Oh....

“You cared about me that much?”

Yun made a face like, What kind of question is that.

“Then what do you think the reason was for me stopping for two full minutes?”

“...Just... as a human being... you know... naturally...”

The way I was talking made me feel stupid.

“Courtesy... two minutes is short... supervisor–junior relationship... like... senior–junior bonds...”

“Are you going to keep talking?”

“...No.”

I answered instantly.

Then I looked at Yun with eyes full of emotion.

“I’m seriously touched.”

And I was being sincere.

“I had no idea you cared about me this much.”

“You’re more oblivious than I thought.”

This is the first time I’ve ever been told something like that.

No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t that I lacked awareness—this person was just too... unusual. But I didn’t bother saying that out loud.

Instead I just beamed at my supervisor.

“So since you care about me, does that mean you’ll accept his apology?”

“Because I care about you, shouldn’t I be smashing that bastard’s head in?”

“If he refuses to reflect until the end, I’ll let you break him. But not the head. He’s got too much valuable information in there.”

“...Fine then.”

Shockingly, Yun agreed without resistance.

“I’ll return it exactly as you received it. Two brands on the abdomen, one stab with a knife. As for his attempted murder of Yehyeon—since you’re pleading, I’ll overlook it.”

...He’s serious.

And considering Yun’s usual personality, this was him being lenient for my sake. If I argued any further, I’d lose everything.

Don’t respond. Change the subject.

I pressed my lips into a straight line before forcing up one corner.

“So, you’re giving me some time for now, right?”

Yun nodded without hesitation.

I let out a reflexive sigh of relief—then he folded his arms and added,

“But keep this in mind. No matter how messed up I get, I would never go so far as to brand your abdomen.”

The kin stiffened again.

I pretended not to notice, and Yun’s smirk grew sharper.

“Yehyeon, too. And Sordi, that guy you’re so fond of. And Choi Ami.”

“People break in different ways.”

Yun snorted.

“I don’t know if that kind of violence should ever be considered ‘within acceptable limits.’”

“Can you even recognize where the limits of violence are?”

“It depends on how long the recovery period is, doesn’t it.”

“Ah.”

“And your little lackeys—despite knowing the circumstances, they want to just leave him alone?”

“I stopped them.”

Yun’s scoff deepened.

It was a laugh that said, Stop them? And that counts as leaving him alone?

I smiled bitterly. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what he meant. And I was grateful that he, of all people, was acting this way.

What bothered me was the kin watching this exchange—they were the ones who would be hurt by it.

They were only following my choice. None of this was their fault.

To wrap things up quickly, I stepped closer to Yun.

“Thank you for being considerate. You were discharged less than a day ago—let’s go home. I’ll drive.”

Yun didn’t bother refusing.

I led him out and sent a quick signal to the kin with my eyes. I’ll come back—wait a bit and I’ll finish dealing with this.

Thankfully, they all understood.

We stepped outside, crunching through the thin layer of snow.

Near Igor’s half-destroyed house sat a jet-black Lamborghini, calmly waiting.

I activated my insurance with my phone and slipped into the driver’s seat.

As I got in, a heavy sigh escaped me before I could stop it. Yun, getting into the passenger seat, let out a low laugh.

“You really live like an idiot.”

I hit the accelerator and replied,

“I can’t seem to fix it.”

A quiet snort followed—as if he agreed completely.

I gave a faint smile as I drove to the cottage across the road.

After dropping Yun off, I took my own car and returned to Igor’s house.

There, instead of cursing as usual, I found Yoow shrinking back—clamping his mouth shut every time I got close.

Kairos offering Igor a proposal to live together for a while.

And Deltei, wiping tears with the back of her hand the moment she saw me, mumbling apologies for reasons unknown.

***

I wrapped up the catastrophically ruined “discharge event” as best as I could and went home.

Then I received the notification of the Elders’ meeting location.

The horrendous meeting day arrived. I dragged myself up with deep sighs and changed clothes.

I put on the single suit I owned, fastened the gifted watch, and got into the car.

I spent the entire drive sighing.

Even the location was ridiculous.

[Private Property]

“Who are you?”

The moment I approached the private property, the guards stopped me.

“Badger? Black Badger?”

“Yes. I was invited to the meeting here at 5 p.m.”

“Your name?”

“Hildebert Taleb.”

“No, I mean—the name of the person who invited you.”

Oh.

For a moment I couldn’t decide what to say, so I blinked slowly.

If I gave a codename, they wouldn’t understand.

But was I supposed to say their real names? Unlike before, I wasn’t involved in any political operations here on Earth anymore. It was harder to make the right call.

Shouldn’t they have told me this sort of thing in advance?

As my silence dragged on, the guards’ faces grew irritated.

HOOONK!

The car behind mine pressed its horn.

I turned on my hazard lights and prepared to pull aside the moment they signaled, then answered,

“Erich Erhart?”

The guard replied flatly,

“No one by that name lives here.”

What?

Who handled this?

I grimaced faintly.

“...Yekaterina.”

“She’s not here either.”

“Wiseman.”

If this didn’t work, I’d just go home.

“Colton Wiseman.”

The guards’ expressions changed instantly.

Looks like that name got me in.

I turned my gaze forward with mild annoyance—only for the guard to lean down and whisper,

“He doesn’t live here anymore either.”

What?

I snapped my head toward him with an incredulous stare, and the guards startled, taking a step back.

Colton’s name still carried that much weight, it seemed.

Even thinking that, I couldn’t stop the breath of hollow laughter slipping out.

I looked up at the guards.

“First, let the car behind me go through. I’ll call the person directly.”

Did Jaeyeon screw things up again?

“And once I get confirmation—let me—”

“Hey!”

BANG!

A car door slammed. An irritated shout followed.

The guards and I turned our heads at the same time.

I blinked and stuck my head out the window.

“What are you dragging around for?!”

The owner of the voice was stomping toward us.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“Sorry, sir! We’ll let you through right away!”

“You know how busy I am—”

A man in his late forties, # Nоvеlight # looking like steam was about to blow out of his ears, approached with a furious stride.

The moment he made eye contact with me, he suddenly stopped talking.

...What?

Is he one of the Elders? I widened my eyes a little, studying his face.

Anyway—I should apologize.

“Sorry. I’ll move my car right away.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

“...Wait. Aren’t you that guy?”

“...Sir?”

“That Badger from the broadcast!”

A finger jabbed toward my face.

“The kid who saved that high schooler!”

Ah. So that’s why he recognized me.

I nodded politely—then, out of nowhere, he grabbed my door handle and yanked.

What the...?

Confused, I still got out of the car obediently.

“Is something wrong?”

A photo? An autograph?

“If you want a picture, we can—”

SMACK!

My head snapped left.

The guards gasped in horror.

I blinked slowly, eyes closing and opening once.

I stood there frozen, soundless. Too absurd to even move.

Wait.

He knows I’m a Badger—and he just punched me?

With that pathetic level of skill?

With that featherweight fist...?

I was so baffled I couldn’t even move my head back for a moment.

The only reason my head did turn was because I let it rotate to avoid breaking his hand.

If I hadn’t gone with the motion, his knuckles would have shattered.

Regardless, the man—clearly suffering from severe anger issues—began to shriek.

“Brat! Think you’re hot shit just because you got a little famous?!”

“Sir! Please calm down! We’ll open the gate right now!”

“People like you need to learn humility! You thought you could get in here because you bought a nice car? Thought the guards would bow and pass you right through?!”

“Sir! The gate is open! You can go in now!”

“You thought showing your face would be enough? Thought every Center Core citizen would recognize you?!”

“Sir!”

“Know your place!”

HOOOONK.

A short horn.

“Is that what you’re doing?”

A brief question followed.

Still stunned from the man’s fluffy punching, I instinctively turned toward the voice.

And there he was.

Colton, staring at me with eyes cold enough to crystallize breath.

Emotionless as ever—but this time unmistakably wearing an expression of disbelief.

“...Hey!”

I couldn’t hold back a little hop of shock.

“You!”

“Heeek!”

The guards screamed louder than before.

The unfit middle-aged man froze where he stood.

I ignored him completely and strode toward Colton’s car.

“What kind of half-assed job is this?!”

Colton lifted a brow—wordlessly asking, What’s the problem?

I explained the situation with irritation and frustration.

And without acknowledging Jaeyeon laughing beside him, I snapped,

“You should’ve given them my plate number beforehand!”

“You didn’t get the message I sent? To say the name of the fourth Elder?”

“If I’d gotten it, would I be standing here like this? I didn’t get anything from your subordinate!”

“I sent it myself.”

“...What?”

Seriously?

I scrambled through my phone in a panic.

There they were—unread messages.

Sent by Colton yesterday.

...Oh.

I hadn’t checked them because I didn’t want to read anything from him, and had put them off. I had no idea that information was inside.

Feeling sheepish, I rubbed my forehead.

Then I met the eyes of the friend who turned away with a scoff.

“...Sorry. I never imagined you sent it personally.”

“Try reading what people send you, will you?”

Colton replied like it was nothing, then tilted his head—ordering me to get in and move.

The window rolled up as his car began to pull forward.

I apologized through the rising glass, flustered, but Colton ignored me—muttering to himself,

“You did the same thing right before you disappeared. Some habits never change.”

Ah.

My eyes snapped open at the quiet murmur.

Memories rushed in.

Right before I disappeared.

Right before all contact was cut.

The very last person I had exchanged messages with.

And the person whose messages I had ignored simply because I was too irritated or too busy.

How could I have forgotten that?

I watched his car grow smaller in the distance, feeling hollow.

Come to think of it—

Colton Wiseman was the last person who knew anything about my final whereabouts.