Black Badger

Trevain stared at the old man with a horrified expression.

“What the hell is this guy even talking about?”

Exactly my thought.

Thinking that I didn’t care about any “legendary doctor” nonsense and just wanted to hand this man off to someone else, I answered,

“It seems he hit his head and is experiencing hallucinations.”

“Oh.”

Trevain understood.

“So he’s barely hanging on, huh?”

“More or less.”

“Hey.”

Samuel looked at us in shock.

“You two really have no filter in front of a patient!”

“Hallucinations?”

The old man snorted.

“You’re calling it hallucinations without even trying to hide that head and those eyes?”

“Sir. Please calm down, and let’s start with treatment.”

“Stop pretending and do what you’re supposed to do, Michael!”

“Hey. You let your hair grow out like that, so maybe he thinks someone came down from heaven to see him off.”

Rolling my eyes, I walked toward the van with its doors thrown wide open, when Trevain pointed at my hair.

I arched an eyebrow.

What on earth was he talking ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) about....

Looking at my head, Trevain said,

“How long are you planning to keep growing that?”

I stared at my senior.

“I’m too lazy to cut it, so I’m just going to leave it.”

“Want me to cut it for you?”

What is wrong with him all of a sudden?

I looked at my senior without managing my expression.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what he was getting at. In the Empire, people of all ages and genders growing their hair was completely normal, but I also knew very well that on Earth, men with long hair weren’t common.

Let alone in a place like the military.

Still, short hair was a hassle to maintain.

I tried a small act of rebellion.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t get in the way during missions.”

“Do you not know military service regulations? Didn’t you learn about maintaining proper appearance?”

“...Aide-de-Camp Ska’s hair is fairly long too, isn’t it?”

“Are you the same as the aide-de-camp? And yours is way longer. You’re such a mess that even innocent civilians are getting the wrong idea.”

“Cut it out, you bastard!”

Thud! Samuel smacked Trevain hard on the back.

Thank god he was there.

Even Jason Trevain became obedient, in his own way, in front of Samuel Han.

This time too, the blond senior quietly shut his mouth.

The doctor pointed at the van.

“Get in! Is this really the time to be bickering?!”

I bowed deeply in gratitude to Samuel and quickly got into the van.

They laid the old man down, and I shoved myself into the very back seat.

The moment I leaned my head back there, sleep came crashing over me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open at all. Someone sitting next to me seemed to be talking about Mario or something, but I couldn’t answer.

I didn’t want to think about legendary doctors, Michael, or Olivia.

I just wanted to forget everything and sleep.

Curling up as a chill washed over me,

I was exhausted....

The van started moving.

I thought I heard someone calling my name.

It felt like someone was tapping my shoulder.

Thinking all of it was annoying, I sank into a sleep I couldn’t possibly resist.

***

I opened my eyes.

A ceiling stained with sunset light.

This wasn’t Center Core. There was a window with the sea visible through it.

After pushing my upper body up, I stared blankly outside.

The faint afterglow of the setting sun left shimmering streaks across the ocean.

The room wasn’t large.

A room with two beds, including mine. The bed under the window looked like someone had been lying there. Maybe they’d gone to the bathroom—it was empty now.

Wrinkled sheets and a shirt casually draped over the bed rail.

It seemed like a makeshift infirmary inside an emergency Core.

I took in the glimmering light on the water, then turned my head.

Samuel was—

“Awake?”

“Doctor!”

Seeing the person stepping over the threshold, my face relaxed.

The man in a doctor’s coat was holding a pad in one hand.

It wasn’t the pad stamped with the familiar Black Badger mark that I knew. Where the Black Badger insignia should have been, there was the logo of an unfamiliar corporation.

The doctor walked up beside my bed.

“You’re on meds, so don’t get up. Just sit. I’ve already filed all the reports.”

“Is this inside an emergency Core?”

“Yeah.”

Samuel placed the back of his hand on my forehead.

“We’ll head back soon. Once the portal recalibration is finished. Most of the civilians have already returned. Everything’s wrapped up, so focus on recovering with a clear mind.”

“Yes. Thank you for letting me know. That’s a relief.”

“Your fever’s gone down a lot.”

“Trevain is....”

“He’s resting somewhere in the building. Probably in the lounge.”

I see.

It really does seem like everything’s settled.

We couldn’t save everyone, but at least no one died to Creatures. The damage wasn’t as bad as we’d feared.

Thinking it was a blessing in disguise, I leaned back against the bed frame.

Just as Samuel said, I wasn’t nearly as cold as before—my fever must have dropped a lot.

“They say we’ll need to wait a good four more hours, so get some more rest.”

“I feel like I’ve slept enough.”

“Still, lie down. You’ve got a slight fever left. If you can’t sleep, just lie there and check your phone or something.”

“By the way, what happened to the old man from earlier?”

I picked up my phone obediently as I asked.

A smooth space where the sound of waves faintly drifted in. The lamp in the corner filled the room with warm light.

The doctor pointed to the bed next to mine with his pad.

“He’s right next to you.”

“Yes? Huh. Then the person who used this bed was that doctor?”

“Yeah. The guy you found at the most unbelievable timing. Luckily, his injuries were minor. Once we stitched him up, he was perfectly fine. He complained a bit, then stepped out just now to get some water.”

“Ah.”

I answered lightly.

Then I noticed Samuel watching me with a troubled expression.

He looked like he had something to say. And it was obvious it wasn’t good news.

I smiled bitterly.

“Did he say anything strange?”

“I don’t know why your immunity has dropped.”

The doctor spoke in a heavy voice.

“We discussed your exam results back and forth.... Neither he nor I could find anything unusual. Still, don’t be discouraged. Let’s look at this long-term. Recovery always takes time.”

“Yes.”

I replied with a faint smile.

There was no way that doctor hadn’t said something about Michael, or about coming to kill himself.

Thinking that Samuel completely ignored all that and just did his job as a doctor felt very like him. And the fact that not gaining any new medical insight bothered him the most was also very much him.

As I let out a small laugh, the doctor scratched the back of his neck with an unhappy expression.

“Yehyeon sent you here to rest and recover, but still....”

It couldn’t be helped....

“He’ll be pretty disappointed. You didn’t get the clue you were hoping for. He said he’d check your medical records one more time later, though.”

“But did he really treat me without resistance?”

It was strange.

Up until I lost consciousness, he’d been shouting, ‘Kill me, Michael!’

Had there been some kind of change of heart?

As if he’d read my confusion, Samuel snorted.

Pulling over the chair between the beds, he sat down.

“I cleared up the misunderstanding, roughly.”

Huh?

How? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

“He seemed kind of embarrassed about how badly he’d misunderstood things.”

“...That’s impressive. He didn’t seem like the type to listen.... And Doctor, just how much do you actually know?”

“I know enough. As much as I need to. But I really don’t know why your condition isn’t improving.”

“You said we should give it time and wait for my body to recover.”

An unfamiliar voice cut into the conversation.

I turned my head to look at the person who had entered the room.

The old man we’d just been talking about was standing near the threshold, looking at us. A piece of gauze was stuck to his forehead, and he was holding a bottle of water in one hand.

As expected, he was a complete stranger. I had no sense of what he did or how old he was.

I kept my mouth shut, worried that speaking first might startle him.

The old man grumbled as he came inside.

“Didn’t I say it hasn’t even been two months? Ordinary people take years to recover from injuries that severe. Don’t rush it—just wait.”

Years?

I didn’t think Kyle would wait for me that long.

“And like I said earlier, I was Luca’s attending physician, not the attending physician for people like Michael. It’s not like I know anything special. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Please stop calling me Michael. I’m asking you.”

“I don’t know what else to call you.”

“Hildebert Taleb.”

I introduced myself bluntly to the doctor sitting on the bed, my voice curt.

“Please call me Hilde.”

The old man stared straight through me.

He carried a completely different air from when he’d been shouting in agitation, telling me to kill him.

The two of us leaned back against our respective beds, looking at each other. I could feel that we were both finding the other strange.

There was so much I wanted to ask....

I broke the silence first.

“May I ask your name?”

“Sajid.”

Samuel looked up from his pad.

“Are you Indian-born? You’re still active—have you ever considered coming to work at Black Badger headquarters?”

“I retired long ago. Can’t you see all the wrinkles on my face? How much more do you plan on working an old man to the bone?”

“Then why did you refuse age-stasis?”

At Samuel’s question, Sajid and I both froze at the same time.

We widened our eyes and looked at Samuel.

The foremost authority on enhanced-body treatment.

The most famous doctor in Center Core spoke calmly.

“There’s no way the offer of age-stasis didn’t reach you.”

“...Did you accept that offer happily?”

Sajid asked.

Samuel let out a short laugh.

“No. I put it off for a long time. I only accepted it reluctantly after the Second War broke out. My older brother said this—there’s probably no act more human than living a long life for the sake of saving others.”

“Was your brother a doctor too?”

“He was a schoolteacher. He was killed by a Creature shortly after the Second War ended.”

Ah.

I thought of Samuel’s handkerchief.

The old handkerchief with the initials J.S embroidered into it.

Was that his brother’s?

Of course, I didn’t dare ask directly—and there was no chance to, either.

Sajid let out a sigh.

“I see. But I was an only child. And I never intended to live this long, nor did I ever want to live forever.”

“I understand that to some extent.”

“Besides, I don’t have any talent for saving people.”

What does that mean?

Perhaps thinking the same thing, Samuel raised an eyebrow.

Sajid let out a heavy sigh.

But he didn’t explain right away. He pressed his lips together and stared at some point in the room.

The man idly fiddling with the water bottle with his long fingers only broke his silence once the room was completely drenched in sunset light.

“Everyone except one of the Lucas died.”

Ah.

“They couldn’t withstand the side effects of the enhanced body. Do you know that age-stasis, rapid regeneration, and overwhelming strength each require separate procedures?”

“Of course.”

I didn’t know.

But I nodded, pretending I did, just like Samuel.

Sajid continued.

“I was the doctor assigned to observe those who received the final procedure first—those people called Lucas.”

“So the Lucas refers to the ones who were the first to receive the strength-enhancement procedure?”

“That’s right. They were the final product of the enhanced human project the upper echelon dreamed of. The last chapter of a plan to create humans comparable to Titans.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

But I didn’t say anything. The doctor, who had lived in hiding for a long time, had begun to pour out the words he’d kept sealed inside.

He was finally loosening what he had bound so tightly.

A slight tug, and the thread would snap, spilling everything he had been carrying alone.

“They believed there had been sufficient experimentation before implantation. At least, that’s what those who performed the implantation surgery believed.”

“Weren’t you the one who performed the implantation?”

“No. I was the doctor who cared for those who had undergone it.”

Then his focus must have been more on recovery....

“At first, the surgery looked like a resounding success. But six months after implantation, rejection reactions began to appear. I performed countless surgeries, holding down those writhing in pain. But with the exception of one person, they all died and were buried on this island.”

So that’s why he shut himself away here.

I remained silent, watching Sajid’s unsteady finger movements.

He continued.

“Why do you think this resource-less island was allowed to be surrounded by a Core? Why would they enclose this empty island with a translucent barrier? This Core was the upper echelon’s expression of apology and gratitude. So that at least in death, they could rest in peace. Humanity owed you all a debt.”

“What happened to the lone surviving Luca?”

When I asked, Sajid’s gaze, which had been drifting through empty space, settled on me.

I closed my mouth and waited for his answer.

“What happened to him? He survived.”

“Yes.... Right. You already said that.”

“What I mean is that he truly survived. Through the rejection reactions that caused unbearable pain, and through the First War.”

What?

Surely not until now—

My eyes widened, and Sajid added,

“I don’t know whether he survived the Second War.”

“Ah....”

“But the important thing is that he survived. He was the only one who endured pain that couldn’t be dulled even by seething inflammation and narcotic painkillers. A result born of miracle and an almost unbelievable strength of will. Among those who received enhanced bodies, he had the fiercest eyes of them all.”

The doctor’s gaze, tinged with remembrance, drifted far away.

In contrast, my eyes crumpled.

Trying to imagine the pain the Lucas must have endured made my stomach churn. Calling it Luca or not, this was human experimentation.

I wasn’t naive enough to believe such experiments had never happened.

But facing a doctor who had watched the test subjects with his own eyes made it all feel real.

A man who had seen the victims of human experimentation die—no wonder he threw everything away and hid himself....

“He had a son.”

Sajid spoke.

“His wife died after giving birth. He said that neither he nor his wife had parents, so there was no one to take care of the child. I heard it while performing his twenty-first surgery.”

Samuel inhaled sharply.

I, on the other hand, forgot how to breathe.

No way....

This—

“He confessed that he’d never grown attached to his son and had left everything to a nanny, and that he intended to continue doing so. But when he became an enhanced-body candidate, the nanny happened to quit. He didn’t have the time or money to find a new one. So he asked acquaintances to look after his son for a short while.”

My jaw dropped.

My hands trembled faintly.

Ah.

“That’s when it happened. A predictable story. After that incident, they said the child would lose his mind in terror whenever someone other than his father entered the house.”

Sajid clenched the water cup tightly.

“So he had to survive and return—for his son to live.”

Every word stabbed sharply into me.

“He said that while he himself had survived without parents, his child wouldn’t.”

The doctor murmured.

“The man who begged to be kept alive just until his child reached adulthood was the only one who returned alive.”

I let out a soundless sigh.

“The only one who said his son wouldn’t last a year if sent to an orphanage was the one who survived in the end.”

Lee Seunghyun.