Black Badger

Are they really fighting?

It really looks like they are. Pulled away from Yun by Bobby’s hand, I stared with my mouth open as Samjin—no, Gregory—took a stance and drew his fist back.

I don’t exactly know how good Gregory is at fighting, but he doesn’t seem better than Yun, does he?

What kind of confidence makes him charge in like that?

“Is Senior Gregory actually good at fighting?”

“Even if he is, is he good enough to beat Senior Yun?”

I lowered my head and whispered to Bobby. She covered her mouth with her palm and replied quietly.

“He can do that because that senior really has anger-control issues.”

“...What?”

Was she exaggerating, or was that for real?

As I glanced over in doubt, Gregory swung a fist at Yun.

Paaang!

With a sound like the air tearing apart, Yun caught the fist with his palm.

Then he laughed long and twisted his body, slipping past the punches one after another.

A continued standoff. Gregory gained nothing. Compared to Yun’s light, relaxed footwork, Gregory’s movements were heavy and saturated with rage. He was so unnecessarily angry that it was actively interfering with his attacks.

Bobby leaned to my ear and explained.

“Whether someone’s stronger than him or weaker than him, once he gets angry his fuse blows and he gets classified as a dangerous individual. Jason always covers for him and keeps him in line, that’s why it’s fine, but honestly, he’s even more dangerous than Senior Yun. A long time ago, the Commander-in-Chief even tried to have his enhanced body scrapped.”

“That bad?”

I answered while thinking. Strange. Why do I use honorifics properly for Yun and Gregory, but call Jason Trevain just Jason?

...Don’t tell me?

But I didn’t want to know any more, so I focused back on Yun and Gregory’s fight.

Calling it a fight was embarrassing.

Yun was openly enjoying toying with Gregory to his heart’s content. You could practically see steam building up over Gregory’s head. From where I stood, it looked like Yun had thrown the ashtray just for fun. The man must have been incredibly bored.

Ah.

Senior Samjin—he’s about to throw something.

Panting with furious breaths, the man grabbed the beacon that had been sitting on Yun’s desk.

He threw it!

Ttak!

“Gasp!”

The onlookers sucked in their breath.

“Jooooooohn!”

The scientists’ desperate screams.

Why is that guy even there!

No, wait. I’m the idiot. This was the same person who hadn’t even bothered to protect himself when a portal opened and Creatures poured out in droves. There was no way he’d clear out just because Yun and Gregory were fighting.

For reference, the beacon Gregory threw landed a direct hit on John Mühlen’s jaw.

John toppled sideways like a cactus.

Thud!

“Jooooohn!”

“Müüüühlen siiiii!”

“Oh my god, what about his head!”

“Senior.”

“What.”

The scientists screamed, Bobby covered her mouth in shock, and I ran over to the fallen giant. Yun flicked his head around and looked at his collapsed colleague.

He arched a brow, visibly puzzled.

“You didn’t drag him out?”

That was something a shooter who had never expected John Mühlen to evacuate on his own would say.

I knelt on one knee beside the unconscious genius and checked his pulse.

“I’m sorry. His presence is so faint I forgot about him.”

[John!]

Martin screamed as he zipped overhead.

[Good heavens, John! I’ll contact the hospital wing!]

“Is his head okay? It sounded brutal when he fell.”

“His pulse is fine. Yun, I’ll take him.”

“Sure.”

Yun replied indifferently, blocking half of Gregory’s punches and dodging the rest.

“I’ll finish this and follow—”

“You fucking bastard, acting like you’re something special!”

Paaang!

Yun blocked Gregory’s swinging fist.

At the same time, a booming voice rang out.

“You big idiot!”

It was Giacomo Ro.

It was only after hearing that thunderous shout that I realized Giacomo Ro had entered the science wing—the door was broken.

John Mühlen’s guardian... sort of.

“How dare you lay a hand on such a weak-ass colleague...!”

Ro seemed to have some kind of radar that detected John’s danger. I watched the curly-haired senior charging in, shouting “Which bastard did this!” and Ami at the entrance, eyes wide as she tried to take in the situation, and let out a bitter smile.

“Senior Ro.”

I smiled bitterly as I watched him barrel over.

He must be coming to take care of John.

“He is unconscious, but it doesn’t look life-threatening. He just fell very noisily, so if you come with me to the hospital—”

“You son of a bitch!”

Thud!

Ro’s fist flew straight into Gregory.

“You bastard! You bastard! You bastard!”

“The hell are you, you bastard!”

“What the hell is this now.”

Watching Gregory get beaten by Ro, Yun muttered dully.

“I was saving him.”

That was how the fight ended.

If it had just been Yun and Gregory, the science wing probably wouldn’t have been destroyed. Maybe just the area around Yun’s desk.

But once Ro lost it and started pounding Gregory, the damage became considerable.

Only after Gregory lost consciousness did everything end. His squadmates took ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the unconscious Gregory and John to the hospital wing. I’d thought Ro would follow, but instead, the senior who’d beaten Gregory over John stayed behind, wandering around the science wing.

In the meantime, Bobby ran away, saying Choi Yun scared her. Jaeyeon vanished to go get her nails done, ignoring my shout that she was way worse than Yun.

Yun was listening to what Ami was saying. Ami chattered away, and the shooter quietly looked down at her.

After helping the scientists clean up the wrecked science wing, I walked over to the siblings.

At some point, Yun and Ro had snatched the giant acorn Ami was holding, and every time Ami reached out, they tossed it to each other, playing catch.

What are you doing, elementary schoolers?

As I approached in disbelief, someone entered the science wing.

The moment I saw who it was, I nearly screamed.

“Kai.”

Forgetting to call him Blackjack, I ran straight to my kin.

“What happened to you?”

“Hilde. It’s been a while.”

His voice was hoarse.

I stared blankly at the fatigued handler, then blinked and grabbed Kairos by the shoulder.

“How long have you not slept? Have you been eating properly? My god, I should have gone to the Center.”

“I’m just a bit tired. Are you heading back now?”

Dark circles hung deeply under the handler’s eyes. It looked like he hadn’t shaved that morning; short, prickly stubble covered his jaw. His voice cracked as he spoke, and fatigue dripped from every movement.

This was the first time I’d ever seen Kairos like this.

We weren’t as close as the knights, or Kyle, or Rei, but we still shared a long enough history. Since I’d often been at the Imperial Palace, we’d faced each other over many years.

And yet, Kairos had always been meticulously maintained, brimming with vitality.

Even more so during competition season. He used to say that as a pro, his physical condition could never collapse.

A man whose life had been utterly free of health rumors...

“It must be worse than I thought.”

I muttered in a grim voice.

“If they let you get this bad without sending you home.”

“Mm. We’ll talk details once we reach the cabin. By the way, I heard you didn’t exactly finish your mission unscathed either. You don’t look great yourself... shall we go back?”

“Let’s take Yun’s car.”

Even if it was ninety-percent autonomous driving, I couldn’t hand the wheel to someone in that state.

“Get some sleep on the way.”

Kairos nodded with a weary smile.

***

On the way back in Yun’s car, Kairos slept in the back seat as if he’d passed out.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I kept glancing back the entire ride. The handler lying there with his eyes closed like a corpse kept bothering me. Yun ignored my concern and focused on driving. He seemed lost in his own thoughts as well.

It was only after we arrived at the cabin that the shooter broke the silence.

“For two weeks, don’t think about anything useless. Just rest.”

As Kairos bowed his head slightly in thanks and got out of the back seat, Yun added,

“In two weeks, you’ll probably have to go out again.”

“Yes.”

I answered obediently and headed toward the cabin.

“If anything happens, call immediately. And... tell Yehyeon to get enough sleep. Not that he’ll listen.”

“I was planning to return to headquarters anyway.”

Yun said as he rolled up the driver’s window.

“You rest.”

And I did.

To be precise, I was too shocked by Kairos’s condition to have the energy for idle thoughts. With his eyes barely staying open, I stuffed the handler into the bed on the second floor of the cabin. Even though his own house was five minutes away, Kairos had insisted on staying at the cabin. Just to close his eyes for a bit, he said.

Naturally, I didn’t wake him.

This cabin is so cramped that there aren’t even doors, except for the bathroom. Setting aside Igor, who has no home, and Yoow, who’s tied up, I honestly don’t understand why Kairos and Deltei keep squeezing themselves in here.

Anyway, since Kairos was on the second floor, I dragged Yoow down to the first.

The strategist, whose attitude had stabilized enough to be left alone.

He stared at me as I opened a delivery app and debated dinner with Igor, then spoke.

“The Badger side has been noisy lately.”

Without taking my eyes off the screen, I replied.

“Yeah.”

“If Kyle’s side proposes negotiations, don’t accept. They have no intention of peace or a ceasefire. The fact that they’d propose negotiations at all means it’s a trap.”

“I know that. But the Badgers they captured still haven’t been released.”

As soon as I returned to Center Core, Leeho and Jin Silver’s faces kept surfacing in my mind.

“Unless there’s a breakthrough, I’ll have to step in myself.”

Yehyeon told me to rest for two weeks, but there was no way I could rest easy. Not with familiar faces being held by Kyle’s side.

I hadn’t been told anything about how this kidnapping case was progressing. Yehyeon and Yun would never tell me, and Ami only told me to rest as well.

‘And if someone grabs you by the collar and starts swinging fists again, make sure you dodge.’

She looked up at me and enunciated clearly.

‘If you knock them out by hitting the jaw, I’ll say I saw them trip and knock themselves out.’

Unable to resist, I patted Ami’s head—and earned a sullen glare.

Anyway. The point is, this isn’t a situation where I can rest comfortably. Even though Gregory never finished what he was saying, he must have come to the science wing for the same reason as Karsten. Rumors were spreading steadily.

Looks like I’ll be standing in front of the recognizer soon.

Dinner arrived sooner than expected. As Igor unpacked the delivery food on the wooden table, I seriously debated whether to wake Kairos.

Deltei would be coming tomorrow.

Maybe I should just let him sleep until morning and feed him a proper breakfast.

As I was thinking, Milk’s cry echoed from the second floor.

The sound of waking its owner.

I let out a bitter smile and went upstairs.

“If you’re tired, sleep more.”

“Doesn’t seem like Milk will allow that.”

Kairos smiled faintly and got up from the bed.

“If I don’t want to get hit by this kid’s energy cannon, I’d better get up.”

What a convenient excuse. Coming from someone famous for training his handlers strictly.

If he hadn’t been like that from the start, he wouldn’t have been able to handle Milk this well. The fact that Milk had never once destroyed the cabin, despite his frequent absences, was proof enough.

The skilled handler came downstairs with the white monster perched on his head.

“Igor! You’ve worked hard. Thanks for updating me on the situation by message.”

“What’s wrong with him now?”

When Kairos greeted Igor brightly, Igor raised a brow in confusion.

“Getting exploited at work?”

The handler who’d been ground down like crazy at the video center only spoke after dinner.

After the dishes were done, as I spread out the folded yo on the living room floor. As I was thinking I should move the massage chair Colton had given me somewhere else, since I kept having to house these hulking guys, Kairos broke the silence.

“Valdez contacted me.”

I slowly straightened and looked at Kairos.

The handler cradled Milk in his arms, stroking its tail.

He looked straight into my eyes.

“He says he’s willing to negotiate, and that he wants you to come out to the negotiation table.”

Yoow spat a curse in the imperial language.