Black Badger

The summoner’s gaze didn’t leave the ceiling that looked perfectly ordinary.

I followed his eyes upward—and felt a chill crawl up my spine.

I sensed a creature.

But the presence was impossibly faint. If Kairos hadn’t lifted his head first, I would never have caught it. Even now, I wasn’t sure whether it was real or just a sensory hallucination.

Chime—

“You shouldn’t make noise.”

Kairos scolded the empty-looking ceiling.

The bell sound cut off abruptly.

“Are you shy about coming down?”

How is he even talking to it?

“Fine. Then stay put and behave.”

Everyone stared at Kairos in shock.

The man withdrew the gaze he’d been pouring affection into, then casually turned his attention to the people seated around the conference table, as if nothing had happened.

Orange eyes, shining like the sun.

Kairos flashed his characteristic bright smile and declared,

“It’ll be quiet now, so you don’t need to worry!”

The conference room exploded.

Questions poured out as if something had burst. Only the TF members and a handful of top leadership kept their mouths shut.

Voices erupted from all sides.

What do you mean, summoning? Then there’s nothing like that in the subway right now? Where is it, then? What does it look like? You’re saying the Creature that ate our comrades is right above our heads? Could it be a different individual? Why say this now? How is this even possible?

The only reason no one stormed out in fury was because the Supreme Commander and the Personnel Director were present.

That had to be why those two were here.

Amid the chaos, Kairos delivered a clean, orderly explanation about the creature and the summoning.

When he finished, Yehyeon spoke.

“The one that lures living beings with sound and sucks out their moisture?”

The moment his husky voice rang out, the commotion died completely.

Kairos answered politely.

“Yes. It can assimilate with its surroundings like a chameleon, so you won’t be able to see it clearly.”

“You’re planning to use this against the Remnant Wraith.”

“It’s a lethal counter for low-intelligence Creatures. If they sing and try not to listen, they can escape the lure of sound. But most Creatures are bewitched by the bell before they even think to try.”

“You reported beforehand that you’d summoned more than one Creature.”

“There are two or three more. I left them elsewhere so as not to startle anyone.”

Just imagining what he might have tamed was already unsettling.

With a troubled mind, I interlaced my fingers and brought them to my mouth, refining the faint creature presence I could sense.

I hadn’t even realized this was a Creature until now. I knew how to escape it, but even in the Empire it was regarded as a bizarre existence that couldn’t be explained by magic. They’d even made a chilling nursery rhyme to warn children about it....

How did he manage to summon this?

“Fire Dragon Lord.”

While I was reeling, Yoow’s low growl snapped me back.

I jerked my head up and looked at my subordinates.

“This isn’t the end of your plan, is it?”

Yoow looked like he was a breath away from strangling Kairos.

I regretted seating Yoow next to the summoner.

But Kairos—who’d earned the nickname “Fire Dragon Lord” in the Empire after summoning a fire dragon—didn’t flinch.

“I was just about to explain the details.”

“If that thing turns out to be the main act, I swear—this looks worse than children’s make-believe.”

Yoow’s blunt mouth was the reason he lost favor with nobles every single time.

Of course, the strategist had neither the intention nor the desire to fix it.

“If you’re saying you’ll rescue him with a plan worse than dangling catnip in front of a cat, I’d rather drag you straight in front of Kyle. That’d keep him occupied longer than successfully luring the Remnant Wraith! I don’t care about your life—but what’s on the line here is Hildebert’s head!”

“Yoow. Lower your voice.”

“I know.”

The moment I frowned and spoke, Kairos answered calmly, without changing his expression.

Then, before Yoow could explode further, he launched straight into the operation briefing.

The outline was this:

While negotiations were underway, Kairos—along with the Remnant Wraith lure team (composition still undecided)—would wait at the Wraith’s pit.

If I were kidnapped, they would immediately awaken the Remnant Wraith.

They would then bewitch it using the bell-sound Creature and sprint toward a pre-installed portal device. (They planned to use a car.)

Pass through the portal device.

Arrive in front of the enemy’s main base.

Use the Remnant Wraith’s energy cannon to tear open the base’s defenses.

Through the breach, the Black Badgers would infiltrate the enemy lines. Meanwhile, the lure team would guide the Remnant Wraith back into its pit.

For reference, if I was not kidnapped, they would not awaken the Remnant Wraith.

In that case, after returning, they would look for a way to infiltrate the enemy base without taking on a risk as great as the Wraith....

It was a concise, intuitive plan.

Yoow was furious.

“Is your head full of muscle?!”

That was harsh.

“Have you been so distracted by Creatures that you never learned common sense? You don’t see the potential disasters scattered through every single stage of that plan? If you’d taken this to the Empire and called it an operation, you wouldn’t have a head left on your shoulders! You think kidnapped Hildebert will be sipping tea and chatting about the hardships of being a knight commander with Kyle until you arrive at the enemy base!? You think they’ll be having a pleasant afternoon until Kyle hears the Remnant Wraith attacked his headquarters?!”

“Well, what can we do? There’s no alternative, and no way to stop Hilde.”

Kairos calmly looked up at Yoow, who had leapt to his feet again.

Arms crossed, the summoner’s orange eyes met the strategist’s head-on.

“Of course I don’t expect kidnapped Hilde to be fine. You yourself branded a seal into his body the moment you kidnapped him, didn’t you?”

Insane.

The strategist froze solid.

Beside him, Igor blinked, and Rose clapped a hand over her mouth. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The conference room turned icy.

Conversation collapsed. Everyone stared at Yoow and Kairos. Seniors who didn’t know the details whispered, ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Ro, ignorant or not, looked intrigued—‘Oh, are they fighting?’ Yun, who knew, looked delighted. ‘What, an internal split?’

Ignoring it all, I rolled my eyes.

Do I stop this?

Or just let it pass naturally?

Before I could decide, Kairos added one more line.

“Haven’t I often told you to keep your mouth shut if you don’t have an alternative?”

The summoner kept smiling.

“If you have improvements, I’m happy to hear them. You’ve planned kidnappings yourself—surely the holes stand out to you.”

Good grief.

If this continued, they’d really fight.

Of course, the outcome was already obvious. Color had completely drained from Yoow’s face.

I should stop this quickly. Igor and Rose seemed to be enjoying the spectacle far too much.

“Jack....”

I was about to soothe him when Yehyeon spoke up.

“You’ve all heard the main framework of the plan.”

All eyes in the room turned to the Supreme Commander.

The chatter cut off.

Swiftly steering the mood away from a brawl, the commander spoke calmly.

“It’s a big gamble, but if it succeeds, the gains will be substantial. However, the biggest issue is Hilde’s life once he’s kidnapped....”

“Do we really have to send him out?”

Another voice cut in.

It was the voice of someone who had remained silent until now. My eyes widened as I turned to Jonathan Kudo.

I wasn’t the only one startled. Everyone except Aide-de-Camp Ska and Ricardo reacted in shock.

Even Richard Green’s eyes went wide. A rare sight.

I understood, of course.

Jonathan had probably never spoken in a meeting like this—and shouldn’t have, ever.

“Can’t we lure the Remnant Wraith without sending him to the negotiation table?”

The senior who’d stunned everyone looked at Yehyeon and continued clearly.

“I don’t understand why we’re pushing Hildebert into negotiations while ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) treating his kidnapping as a near certainty.”

“Because nothing changes unless he goes,” Yehyeon replied flatly.

“We won’t recover the hostages, and the situation won’t resolve. But the moment he enters negotiations, in the best-case scenario we get the hostages back safely and Hilde remains unharmed. Even if things don’t go smoothly and Hilde is kidnapped, we still get the hostages back. After that, we may be able to rescue Hilde and break through the enemy’s defenses.”

“We could lose all the hostages and have Hilde kidnapped as well.”

“Yes. But if Hilde doesn’t go, nothing changes.”

Yehyeon explained while staring into empty space.

His voice was so devoid of emotion it sounded almost bored.

“We can’t afford to avoid risk and simply wait for them to launch another attack.”

The commander rolled his eyes toward Jonathan.

“And we don’t know who will die in that attack.”

“.......”

“Civilians could die.”

In a tone like he was explaining how to operate a device, the commander continued.

“We have to prevent that.”

Jonathan clenched his teeth and lowered his gaze.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

In the soundless space, Yehyeon let out a deep sigh.

“Kyle will probably take Hilde somewhere other than the main base, right?”

I nodded.

“Yes. He’ll never bring me to the main base. He knows perfectly well it would be a catastrophe if I escaped. He’ll confine me at a prearranged location.”

“So you don’t even know where you’ll be taken? You have no idea when your head might roll, or how long a rescue would take?”

“I’ll endure. If he successfully kidnaps me, I doubt he’ll kill me right away. That’s just not his style.”

I answered Asil’s interrogation calmly.

He would never let me go easily.

Above all, he wouldn’t kill someone as close to the leadership as I was without interrogating me first. He’d want to extract every scrap of memory in my head.

Kyle’s side has mages. Summoners, too. Before cutting off my head, they’d put spells on me—or shove me into the Voice of Dreams.

Until there were no memories left to vomit up.

When I explained this plainly, a few people nodded in understanding.

Jonathan Kudo, however, didn’t smooth his furrowed brow.

Yehyeon changed the atmosphere.

“This is only the skeleton of the plan.”

His voice was astonishingly emotionless.

“From now on, revise and refine it, and submit a report by midnight tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?

“And before we wrap up, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”

At Yehyeon’s question, Yoow narrowed his eyes.

The transition was quick but natural. The commander lightly ignored the strategist’s ‘what now?’ expression.

He asked,

“The ashen calcification of a body part—do you know of any treatment?”

Ah.

I barely managed to swallow the sound that almost burst out.

Shu’s leg—just as she’d said, rehabilitation wasn’t going well.

The air sank heavily.

The murderous edge vanished from Yoow’s face.

“Unless you have a treatment spell from an exceptional archmage, there is no way to cure calcification,” the strategist replied darkly.

“The Empire failed to discover any alternative. There won’t be pain, and as long as the joints haven’t stiffened, the limb can be moved by external force.”

“So voluntary movement is impossible?”

Shu’s voice echoed through the conference room.

“Even with continued rehabilitation, it won’t recover?”

Everyone looked at Shu.

The small Badger seated beside Ami. My direct senior. An anomaly with extremely low portal compatibility.

Because of that anomaly, she’d been kidnapped by Kyle’s side—and, for reasons unknown, subjected to excessive transference by Kyle himself.

Both legs, from thigh to ankle, had turned ashen gray.

With calm blue eyes, the senior looked straight at Yoow.

He answered with a conflicted expression.

“To the best of my knowledge, yes. The key point is that this is to the best of my knowledge. My opinion may be wrong.”

“Thank you.”

Shu bowed politely.

“That helped a lot.”

“In the long run, Shu. We can keep approving medical leave. If you want a leave of absence, that’s fine too. We’d prefer you not resign, but... if you do choose to resign, after decommissioning your enhanced body, we’ll provide rehabilitation until you can adapt well to a civilian body—”

“No.”

Shu cut Ju off mid-sentence.

Her face was calm. Expressionless, as usual, with little emotion showing.

Seated in her wheelchair, the senior spoke steadily under everyone’s gaze.

“I’m not considering resignation.”

Then she added,

“If it stays immobile, I’ll cut the hardened legs off.”

My jaw dropped.

Others stared at the young Badger in shock.

Unwavering eyes fixed on Yehyeon.

“And I plan to get prosthetic legs implanted.”

Her voice was composed—never timid.

“Then I’ll be able to run again.”