Black Badger

It would be better if we could prepare in advance.

He wasn’t an easy opponent like he used to be. I’d only watched him up to the point where he became a politician wielding a moderate amount of influence.

But Colton Wiseman now held power stronger than anyone else.

What should I do?

As I considered it with a calm face, Ska spoke.

“Next is Sukhoi. She became a top-ten Elder about five years before Falcon took Magnus out.”

This one’s later than I expected too.

But I wasn’t that surprised. Until I ran into Yekaterina at that social gathering, I’d never seen her, never even heard her name. Meaning, before the First War, she must have been a complete small fry.

Hardliner or moderate?

She probably hadn’t even had enough clout to voice an opinion.

“I don’t know when she received age-stasis, but anyway, during the chaos of the First War, she rapidly expanded by devouring faction after faction.”

Yekaterina’s style of political warfare was more complicated than Colton’s—yet also simpler.

Complicated in the sense that there was no system.

Simple in the sense that failure led directly to death.

In any case, it was the kind of past I’d expected.

“Nothing particularly special.”

Right.

“If you want to be picky, the only odd thing is that the quiet period after she entered the power game was strangely long.”

I blinked and looked at Ska.

Catching my gaze, Ska smiled faintly.

“Up until before the First War, people didn’t even know her name. And yet she clearly has razor-sharp political ability. If you insist on finding something strange, that’s it. After the war, she climbed step by step and settled stably into the second rank.”

I put Yekaterina on my hold list too.

She wasn’t innocent.

No one who sat in an Elder’s seat could be clean.

Still, her handling required more thought. Do I remove her together with Colton? Do I remove Colton and put her in his place, using her influence? Do I take her hand in order to take Colton down?

As more time passed, I’d see factors that would let me decide.

While I was thinking, Ska moved on to Erich Erhart.

“He’s the youngest of the three.”

He looked like it.

“Has it been about thirty years since he took that seat?”

“Huh?”

That young?

“Then he only claimed an Elder seat six years after Yehyeon became Supreme Commander?”

“Yeah. Honestly, he’s not that much older than Yehyeon. Maybe six or seven years older.”

Are you serious?

“Even Erich’s first hound, Shashinsky, was conscripted in the First War and received an enhanced body. His friend Spitfire didn’t go to war because of his family backing. So you can roughly guess the age range.”

“That’s surprising. Just from the vibe he gives off, he looks much older than Shashinsky or Yehyeon.”

“There’s a huge difference between having a body that ages and one that doesn’t.”

That was true too.

“Spitfire was famous even before he got an enhanced body. He came from an extremely influential family.”

“So how did he become an Elder?”

“You know his taste is twisted.”

Of course I do.

“And you know he’s naturally gifted at creating followers. It’s the result of money, strange sexual desire, and talent all mixed together. In the first place, he’s not interested in power itself—he’s interested in what power can get him.”

“He likes sponsoring miserable people in whatever way he feels like.”

“Right. I heard he received age-stasis before he ever became a top-ten Elder. He appeared like a comet, cut down the third-ranked Elder on the spot, and took that seat.”

The entrance was very him.

Dramatic, maybe. Or irregular.

The moment I thought of Erich Erhart, I let out a sigh.

For the effort it would take to cut his head off, what I’d gain would be small.

And considering his age, it was ambiguous to call him an enemy of my kin.

Sometimes, he was the most repulsive of the three...

But since he could become a card I’d use before taking Colton down, I pulled Erich Erhart out of my revenge list for now.

Ska smiled.

“Was that helpful?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I hadn’t expected to get this kind of information.

It was a very useful conversation.

Chewing over the new information, I recalled that unpleasant season back then—when I was eliminating political enemies.

Thinking about it, I could understand why even people like Ska and Yehyeon kept getting beaten up by Jaeyeon. If someone lies in ambush with intent and strikes, there’s nothing you can do.

And you can’t exactly report it.

Back then, I too had taken full advantage of being unregistered, and I’d gone around diligently cutting hardliners’ throats.

Remembering that exhausting process made my throat go dry.

I let out a long breath and rolled my eyes around, looking for water.

Ska watched me closely.

“What do you need?”

“Water....”

The moment I spoke, something surged up.

“Cough!”

“What the—?!”

A lump of something like blood spilled out of my mouth.

Ska jolted to his feet in shock.

“Hilde!”

His face hardened as he rushed over.

“I’m calling the doctor, so don’t move.”

He hit the nurse call button.

Then he shoved my shoulder down when I tried to lift my upper body. Surprise and fear filled the eyes looking down at me.

It’s just the bloody phlegm that was stuck in my throat coming out.

I wanted to say that, but I couldn’t. Ska roughly wiped the blood off my throat and jaw with a tissue.

The hospital room door opened and nurses ran in.

Jonathan came in with them.

“Ska!”

He snapped at Ska the moment he saw him.

“You kept a patient who just woke up for way too long!”

“Yeah. My fault. I pushed him.”

“No, I’m fi—”

Mmff.

My mouth was blocked.

As the nurses wiped the bloody lump off my lips without hesitation, my mouth got physically covered.

I really wanted to say I was fine. That it wasn’t coming up from my insides, it was just stuck in my throat. But I failed.

After handling the situation smoothly, the nurses left the room—after wiping me clean and helping me change my top.

The moment they were gone, Jonathan sat down between me and Ska, cutting off our conversation.

He didn’t even allow me to open my mouth.

“Now.”

I’m not sleepy, though....

“I’m going to watch you, so shut your eyes and sleep.”

The glare he shot me reminded me of a cat that had found prey.

But I really am fine.

I want to check my phone too.

And talk more—

“Hildebert.”

Mm.

No use.

“Please sleep.”

I obeyed.

I gave up and closed my eyes—and when I opened them again, it was morning.

***

I couldn’t call my kin over, afraid my emotions might spill over.

But emotions don’t spill over through a phone.

So I tried to contact them.

I especially wanted to call Kairos, but it was harder than I expected.

First of all, everyone who came to visit banned me from touching my phone.

“You can’t even sit up properly—what phone?”

“I’m addicted, okay.”

“Next time, come up with a more convincing excuse.”

When I opened my eyes in the morning, Asil was there.

He set my phone down far away from me and nagged.

“You don’t even use your phone much usually.”

The former police officer was skilled at caretaking.

He helped me quickly while I couldn’t move properly. Gave me water, wiped sweat off with a damp towel, and helped me eat the hospital meal.

He answered my questions readily too.

“Yeah. He was down there.”

He held back about the general mood inside Black Badger, but he did tell me about Kairos.

“He was sitting in the lobby holding something like a white kitten.”

“He’s still in the lobby?”

“I saw him when I came up. Want me to tell him to go home when I head down later?”

“Yes.”

I nearly begged.

“Please say it strongly. Why the hell is he doing that down there?”

“Because he’s worried about you.”

But Asil brushed off my pleading like it was nothing.

“I’ll tell him. Whether he listens is another matter.”

He told me about Kairos’s eye as well.

At a glance, it didn’t look like there was any problem. He wasn’t wearing an eye patch, and nothing looked twisted. It was just that he couldn’t see out of his left eye.

Since he could still see with his right, he’d laughed and said it wouldn’t interfere too much with daily life.

After delivering that gut-twisting news, the senior left, and after lunch Ricardo took over.

Ricardo quietly closed the hospital room door.

“What’s that jelly?”

Ska laughed as he looked at the bag dangling from Ricardo’s left hand as he walked in.

Ricardo narrowed his eyes and shot Ska a sidelong look.

That green gaze swept sharply over the bandages wrapped around Ska’s forearm.

“Got it on the way~....”

“From who? Ami?”

“Winter....”

Senior Bobby?

I blinked, thinking that was an unexpected answer.

The man who’d entered stopped between my bed and Ska’s.

Then # Nоvеlight # he turned his head and looked down at me.

A blank face with no trace of a smile.

I smiled faintly.

“Senior.”

“...Why....”

If I apologized, he’d get angry.

By now, I knew him well enough to know I couldn’t say out loud, as an apology, what I’d done when I lost control.

And I also knew apologizing would only make him feel worse.

So instead of apologizing, I played a small joke.

“As expected, you’re popular.”

One of Ricardo’s eyebrows lifted.

Ska chuckled under his breath.

“Looks like Winter still hasn’t given up on you?”

“Huh?”

I was joking.

Startled by Ska’s reaction, I widened my eyes and looked back and forth between the aide and Ricardo.

What.

Is Senior Bobby actually flirting with Rick?

Maybe my confusion showed on my face, because Ricardo let out a huge sigh.

The senior dragged a chair over with his foot and sat down, muttering.

“She’s always hitting on men who are her type~....”

“Huh? Seriously?!”

“It’s not fake. It’s been over ten years since he started putting up a brick wall. But she’s probably not actually trying to date him. Seems like she just enjoys that kind of tension.”

“Want some~?”

Ricardo sat down and held the jelly bag up in front of my eyes.

Still slightly dazed as I mentally reviewed the Colosseum mission, I turned toward the crinkling sound.

A bag of jelly with colorful gummy worms printed on it came into view.

It looked tasty.

“Can I even eat this....”

“Of course.”

I was better than yesterday.

I’d eaten breakfast and lunch hospital meals with no problem. So one jelly should be fine.

“I want it.”

I answered immediately.

Ricardo snorted, tore the bag open, and handed me a jelly.

After dropping it into my hand, he turned toward Ska and started talking about Ska’s place—something about cheese in the fridge, so it seemed Ska had asked Ricardo for something.

Half-listening to their quiet conversation, I bit into the jelly.

Blue and pink...

“Aaagh!”

At my scream, both men snapped their heads around.

“What is it?”

“What?”

“Sour!”

My mouth shriveled up—sour!

Shivering, I hurriedly swallowed the jelly in my mouth.

Ugh, sour!

Sour!

“It’s too sour!”

I hate sour food.

That’s why ever since I was young, I didn’t eat fruits I wasn’t sure about. I hated that tongue-shriveling sensation, and I hated the taste.

I don’t like sour fruit, and I don’t like sour desserts either—but this jelly was far more sour than any of those.

It was truly horrible.

Shivering, thinking I wanted to throw the remaining piece away immediately, I—

Ricardo got up and walked over to my side.

“You’re doing this because the jelly’s sour~?”

“Yes... Why is it so sour?”

“You’re not hiding that you’re sick or something, right?”

“Not at all.”

Why would Senior Bobby give Ricardo something like this?

Maybe Ska’s got it wrong. There’s no way she’d hand someone something this sour as “flirting.” If you ask me, Bobby just dumped it on Ricardo.

Or is it a tiny revenge for his brick wall...?

Hearing the senior’s voice, I came back to myself.

“You can’t eat sour stuff?”

I nodded.

“Who likes sour things?”

“I eat it fine~....”

“I don’t.”

It tastes bad.

Frowning, I glared at the piece of jelly in my hand.

“It’s nasty.”

“Give it to me.... I’ll throw it away~.”

I’d appreciate that.

I quickly tilted my hand and placed the jelly onto Ricardo’s outstretched palm.

After dropping it onto his palm with a soft plop, I lifted my head to thank him.

I was even going to add an apology for freaking out too hard.

But Ricardo’s scowling face made my words stick in my throat.

His brow was furrowed.

Why was he suddenly mad?

Startled, I blinked.

He was totally fine a minute ago.

I wasn’t hiding being sick, and nothing had changed—so why was he angry?

In that flustered moment, Ricardo spoke in a low voice.

“You avoid contact with other people to an abnormal degree....”

It was a voice painted neatly with anger.

“Just like Fiscer said....”