Black Badger

I wished he were a ghost instead.

A ghost John Mullen wouldn't have had the power to drag me back to that hell.

But was this really happening? The reality that this man had come all the way to the staff quarters in the old building on a weekend?

A resigned smile escaped my lips.

Tom and Hesi stood frozen in place, staring blankly. Ami clutched her cheeks. It was a reaction as shocked as mine.

Having seen John Mullen the longest, it must have hit her even harder.

Mullen fixed his blue gaze on me.

"You..."

Thwack!

?

With a dull thud, Mullen collapsed to the floor.

We all stared wide-eyed at the same spot.

As the tall man fell, a familiar face came into view. Curly hair and his trademark striped T-shirt.

It was Giacomo Ro.

"That creepy bastard."

He said, his hand still sharply positioned like a knife edge.

"Ah, damn, that old indigestion's finally going down. Ever since I was locked up for three days because of that guy, I've wanted to snap his neck."

Ro furrowed his thick brows, glaring at the unconscious man.

Hesi and Tom gaped at their senior in disbelief.

"Three days?"

"Because of those damn parasitic plants."

"Parasitic plants?"

Their cohort mates muttered in confusion.

But I wasn't surprised. I knew well enough by then that the man passed out there was exactly the type to pull something like that.

A genius scientist slumped on the threshold like a deflated plastic doll.

I was glad Ro had gotten his hands dirty and taken care of Mullen for me.

Ro stared at Mullen sullenly before lifting his head.

"Hey, Peanut."

He was calling Ami.

Ami snapped out of her dramatic, theatrical expression. She blinked her round eyes a couple of times.

"Woof."

"Why are you here?"

"Playing a game."

Ami regained her composure.

"Hilde's really good at games, so we were teaming up to beat a boss I couldn't clear alone."

"A game?"

Ro craned his neck back and scanned the room.

I ignored him and kept staring at the unconscious Mullen. It was a relief he was out cold, but it didn't improve my mood.

This creepy obsession... I should have realized from the start that he wasn't the type to accept my refusal.

The moment he vanished from sight, I needed to contact my mentor right away.

As I thought that, Ro sauntered over.

"Hey."

He stood in front of me.

I looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

A pleasant Saturday morning with sunlight streaming in. How did this senior know to come here?

Ro rested his chin on my arm.

"I always wanted to beat the crap out of that guy someday, and thanks to you, I got to do it."

His voice was serious.

"Normally, when John was about to die, someone would say something about a national trial and stop me."

"National trial."

Ami interjected with a blank face.

Ro ignored her.

"You're a really useful guy. I like that."

"Thank you."

It felt like the first day when the HR director said something similar.

But it didn't matter. I was just grateful that Ro had personally driven Mullen away.

A cool breeze blew in through the open window. Mixed with the wind was the sound of our characters dying to the boss's attack. We were so close to finishing it off—just one final blow. But it wasn't too hard, so we'd clear it next time.

"Take Mullen with you."

Ami said to Ro.

"But why did Mullen come here? I really thought I was seeing a ghost."

"To experiment on him."

Question marks seemed to float above Tom, Hesi, and Ami all at once.

I let out a hollow laugh at their bewildered expressions.

"Experiment? What experiment?"

"Oh, right, you said last weekend you had somewhere to go."

"Did Hilde do something stupid again?"

"Again?"

I put on a falsely hurt expression and quietly pondered how to explain the situation. I could be honest with Ami, but these two knew nothing.

After some thought, I just blurted it out without context.

"I got an invitation to be a test subject and said sure."

"Huh?"

"Again!"

Hesi furrowed his brows and exclaimed, while Ami let out a shriek.

Tom just stared at me like he had no idea what I was saying.

Now knowing how foolish my choice back then had been, I chuckled and showed them my empty palms.

"I was an idiot. I'm reflecting on it intensely."

"Why would they invite you to be a test subject...?"

Tom asked slowly.

I smiled neutrally before explaining.

"Because my mentor's Yoon, so unluckily I crossed paths with that guy?"

"Ah, what unnecessary connections!"

Ro, having lost interest in our conversation, hoisted up the unconscious scientist.

Ro wasn't tall. So Mullen's legs, draped over his shoulder like a wet rag, dragged on the floor. He could have adjusted for a more stable carry, but Ro didn't care if the scientist's limbs scraped the ground as he walked away.

Thud-thump-scrape.

The scientist's arms and legs banged against the threshold and walls.

The unconscious scientist and Ro vanished from sight, making strange noises as they went.

"Is that okay?"

"Right? There was that huge noise earlier too."

When I asked Ami, Hesi poked his head in, joining the conversation. He seemed to be referring to the sound when Ro struck the back of Mullen's neck.

It had been huge.

Ami stared at where Ro had disappeared, her mouth a straight line, before answering.

"Probably. Yoon oppa sometimes hits the back of Mullen's neck like that too."

"My mentor does?"

"Sometimes he tries to set off chemical bombs or something."

Their cohort mates stared at Ami in astonishment.

Tom, gazing at her youthful face, said,

"Isn't that guy the super famous scientist from the textbooks...?"

"Genius types are always a bit weird, I guess. My brother isn't normal either."

Ami replied breezily.

Then she looked up at me, who was nodding vigorously beside her. Our eyes met in the air.

She stared at me with her round, cute eyes before saying,

"Don't do anything stupid from now on, and stay off that guy's radar, Hilde."

Of course. The moment Monday rolled around, I planned to report this to Yoon.

*

As soon as Monday arrived, I reported the weekend's events to Yoon.

"He came all the way to the dormitory?"

Yoon showed a rare surprised expression.

Then, as if something was funny, he pulled up one corner of his mouth in a grin.

"Looks like he's really hooked."

"Save me."

I shot him a desperate look.

He cleanly sheathed the sword in his hand. It was the one I'd been using since last week.

Ever since returning from outside the Core, I'd been practicing swordsmanship with Yoon nonstop. He insisted it was to hold onto my memories. I enjoyed the sparring too, so I had no complaints. No complaints, but last week, I hadn't even nicked the hem of Yoon's clothes.

Yoon had evaluated it like this:

"You're definitely used to greatswords, but your dulled body can't keep up with the memories."

He was never one to mince words.

"It'll take a month to draw out your full potential. Don't even think about going out on missions for that month."

So today, I'd come to the training hall ready to roll around again. Just like last week.

The only difference was realizing that Mullen's obsession wasn't ending. Judging by what happened two days ago, he'd definitely come looking for me this weekend too.

I approached the man with his dry, rough expression.

"Please save this poor soul from John Mullen's rampage, senior. I didn't realize your sincerity all this time."

"Fine. You've finally recognized your benefactor."

Yoon shamelessly accepted my earnest plea.

His unchanging expression while saying that was so typical.

The high-ceilinged place where he'd fought those mushrooms like an idiot. Unlike me in protective gear, he wore a black T-shirt and light joggers.

"I'll try dumping some other research tasks on him, so wait. He needs something else to catch his interest."

"Can't you just talk him out of it?"

"You think that'd work?"

"No. What if a higher-up orders him to stop?"

"You think he'd listen?"

"No. What about threatening him?"

"You think that'd work?"

"No. What the hell is that guy? Some sociopath?"

"No. Unlike me, he does have a conscience. It's just way off from what normal people have."

He did seem like that.

John Mullen seemed to have a completely different sense of good and evil from normal people. He viewed the world in a way utterly unlike ordinary folks.

Amazing. So he did feel pangs of conscience sometimes.

According to my mentor, unlike him, the guy did have one...

...

Wait a minute.

"It sounds like you're saying you don't have a conscience, senior."

"What? Didn't Ami tell you?"

Yoon asked lightly, like he was inquiring about the lunch menu.

"That there's a congenital abnormality in my brain."

I wished he'd at least emphasize when dropping a bombshell like that.

I stood there for a long time, trying to process the monumental fact my mentor had tossed out casually.

Meanwhile, Yoon drew his sword cleanly in front of me. A long, thin blade.

He said only two badgers out of all these knew how to use a sword "properly."

Jonathan Kudo, who used a Japanese sword as his main weapon. Lee Ye-hyeon, who said he'd formally learned swordsmanship from someone.

Yoon himself only knew the basics. If my skills surpassed his later, he'd hand me over to Ye-hyeon.

But the man who was wielding that long sword was plenty threatening to me.

I looked at my mentor's neat features and said,

"Are you a sociopath?"

"That's what people usually call it."

"Won't you discard your augmented body?"

"Already committing insubordination?"

Yoon replied lazily, pointing the sword tip at me.

The white light gleamed at the blade's edge.

"Yeah. You need the skill to pull off insubordination. Draw yours."

I drew my sword without a word.

*

Time passed like that. On weekdays, I trained with real swords alongside a mentor who innately didn't know conscience. On weekends, the genius mad scientist whose moral compass was worlds apart from normal people dropped by persistently.

Mullen didn't give up easily. More precisely, he hadn't found another research subject as intriguing as Hildebert Talev. He came every weekend, got knocked out by Ro's hand chop each time, and vanished from sight each time, slung haphazardly over Ro's shoulder.

I suffered. While Ro's evaluation of me kept rising, Hesi solidified his prejudices about genius science students. Tom started suspecting there was something off about me. Ami worried about me steadily.

And Yoon...

"Stay at my place this weekend."

On the day before the fourth weekend, the day I finally heard from Yoon that it was time to send me back out on missions. (I still hadn't nicked his hem.)

My mentor issued the order in his flat voice.

"You need to disappear from John's sight."

"It feels like I'm imposing too much..."

"I'm getting sick of this too, so just obey quietly."

His voice held genuine irritation, and I didn't have the guts to ignore it.

My mentor lit a cigarette and showed me a series of numbers on his phone screen.

"I called a taxi, so pack your stuff and take it on time. Don't leave there all weekend. I'll end this by this weekend for sure."

Hearing annoyance in the voice of someone usually emotionless was terrifying. It was even scarier with the blood-dried knife in his hand that had my blood on it.

I followed Yoon's instructions.

*

A house so vast it always drew admiration no matter how many times I saw it.

As Yoon said, the house opened its doors to me readily. A subtle darkness settled on Friday evening. I deliberately avoided looking at the spot where the cabin had stood and entered my mentor's home.

The house, which I'd visited a few times, was quiet.

A spacious ceiling and an open living room view.

The long sofa in the living room and...

Huh?

Someone was sleeping on the sofa, covered in a blanket.

"Ami?"

I'd heard Ami might return from outside the Core today.

I cautiously approached the sofa. I stopped there, gazing at the blanket rising and falling rhythmically.

Why sleep on the sofa?

"Ami. You asleep? It's late—go to bed and sleep till morning..."

"Mm."

A muffled voice came.

The moment I heard it, I froze in place. I stood there blankly, forgetting to speak.

The blanket, which had been rising and falling steadily, twitched. Like someone stirring from a light sleep inside.

The person wriggling soon sat up, lifting their upper body from under the blanket.

It became clear who was under there.

Beside my frozen self, he sat on the sofa with eyes closed, still drowsy from sleep.

Then, after a long moment, he narrowed his long eyes and looked up at me.

"Hilde?"

"...I'm truly sorry, Commander."

"Mm."

My workplace's top boss mumbled.

"Hello."