Black Badger

I figured that once I returned to Center Core, I’d find some time to drop by.

But after hanging up the call, as I buried my face in my hands with a restless heart—

Lee Seunghyun walked into the room.

Samuel and I were both startled.

“Uwaaaagh!”

Samuel screamed and threw his pad.

For reference, the doctor had heard everything Seunghyun was saying as well.

The doctor, who had been scrunching up his face by the second before eventually beating his chest in rage like an orangutan, went pale at the sight of the man entering with a blank expression.

“What the hell is this crazy—!”

I sympathized with his outburst.

“Why the hell is that here! Did you call him over?!”

“Why are you already here?”

Dumbfounded, I stood up.

“How did you get here?”

“The portal’s been stabilized.”

Seunghyun answered flatly.

“You can talk after we return, or you can say it here. Either way is fine.”

I stared straight at Lee Seunghyun.

A man standing in a room dyed in pale dawn light.

When all my memories had been wiped, I’d thought Seunghyun and Yehyeon were brothers. Just looking at their faces, it was hard not to assume they were blood-related.

That fact irritated me now.

Back when I observed things from a distance, I hadn’t noticed it.

Now, the sense of rejection made my mouth bitter.

It was the same feeling I always had when I saw someone indifferent to the suffering of the weak.

Suppressing the turmoil in my gut, I pointed to the sofa across from me.

“Sit.”

Lee Seunghyun obediently followed.

“Doctor. Would you step out? Or you can stay. Either is fine.”

“I’m too pissed to leave him here and walk out.”

Samuel replied.

Seunghyun didn’t react. He simply sat on the sofa and looked up at me standing opposite him.

I took Lee Seunghyun in with my eyes.

Someone who grew up in violence and never properly grasped the weight of his own sins.

Because his nature wasn’t inherently evil, I felt pity for his upbringing—but the disgust provoked by his transgressions was stronger.

I set aside the myriad emotions and thoughts that had surfaced as I listened.

Then I sighed.

“From now on, don’t speak to Yehyeon first. Don’t even look at him.”

Seunghyun quietly looked at me.

Then answered.

“Yes.”

“Everything you did to Yehyeon was abuse.”

I murmured it like a whisper.

“Whether you loved that child or not... no one ordered you to abuse Yehyeon. Don’t try to rationalize that wrongdoing with your mental defects.”

“Did it sound like I was trying to rationalize it?”

“It didn’t sound like it. It was rationalization.”

Seunghyun looked up at me without changing his expression.

He seemed unable to understand which part of his explanation counted as rationalization.

A man excessively indifferent to violence directed at himself and violence inflicted on others.

The fact that he was still employed in a profession that uses violence didn’t help. Over nearly eighty years, Seunghyun had neither recognized the problem nor changed himself.

To begin with, perpetrators always take the situation far more lightly than victims do.

And perpetrators always attach reasons to their actions.

“People always attach reasons to everything they do.”

I said quietly.

“That doesn’t lessen the sin. It only disgusts the one listening.”

“Yes.”

“Honestly, I want to beat you up—but it probably wouldn’t affect you much.”

I’d been thinking the whole time.

What should I do?

Now I understood Yun. I finally knew why, on the rare occasions he fought with Yehyeon, the argument always ended up being about Lee Seunghyun. To the mentor, the solution had been painfully obvious.

Lee Seunghyun just needed to disappear from Yehyeon’s life. Whether Seunghyun died, left on his own, or Yehyeon cut off his feelings.

But Yehyeon couldn’t sever those feelings. And every time, he must have suffered because of them.

That was what Yun could never understand.

‘That’s Stockholm syndrome.’

I’d heard that Yun once said this and ended up having a huge fight with Yehyeon.

Honestly, it was impressive Yun hadn’t attempted to kill Lee Seunghyun until now....

.......

Or had he?

Did he try?

Did he try and fail?

I quickly grabbed hold of my thoughts as they tried to drift elsewhere and loosened my finger joints.

“Killing you wouldn’t solve the situation either. You’d die and stop thinking, so only you would be at peace.”

“That’s not incorrect.”

“So get professional counseling.”

For the first time, emotion appeared in Seunghyun’s eyes.

He looked at me like I was spewing nonsense.

Meanwhile, Samuel—who had been glaring at Seunghyun with undisguised loathing—relaxed his face.

I looked down at the man who was staring at me in confusion.

“I think you’re capable of realizing what you actually did.”

“What do you gain from making me go through something so troublesome?”

“If you committed a crime, you take punishment and repent. You stay separated from the victim. If the victim demands an apology, you apologize sincerely.”

I wanted to strike him, but it wouldn’t satisfy me.

From the time I trained him, he’d been unusually good at taking hits.

“Recognize your crime properly and live the rest of your life in regret.”

Yehyeon didn’t need to know any of this.

“I want you to truly realize how cruelly you treated Sasha’s love and devotion.”

Even now, Sasha was his entire world—so the moment of realization would open up a brand-new hell.

But what good would regret do?

What was done couldn’t be undone.

I wished for him to flounder in piercing remorse.

And if he didn’t regret it in the end, well....

I could always clean him up when I brought Colton down.

If I suggested disguising it as an accident, Yun would probably like that.

Yehyeon would grieve for a while, but he’d overcome it.

Still, rather than that, I hoped this bastard would shed tears of repentance that no one would accept.

I thought that might be the path that let Yehyeon rest easiest.

“Is this an order?”

“Think of it as a threat. If you don’t commit sincerely to treatment, I’m thinking of joining hands with Falcon or Spitfire and going after Sukhoi.”

“I understand.”

Seunghyun bowed his head obediently.

“I will do so.”

I roughly understood how his fickleness, avoidance, and violence operated.

I didn’t want to describe it in detail, and it wasn’t worth doing so.

The point was that, having lived a long life, I’d seen people like this many times.

Still, in Seunghyun’s case, the fact that he recognized his own mental issues suggested there was a chance his condition could improve.

So I wanted him to live his entire life atoning in self-loathing and regret.

And even then, with his sins never disappearing, I wanted him to shudder at the cruelty of time that could never be reversed.

Meanwhile, it would be even better if Yehyeon lived happily, knowing nothing.

That said, this was all part of atonement.

Separately—

I still had to beat him up.

I walked toward the man sitting across from me.

And ignoring Samuel’s flustered shout, I grabbed Lee Seunghyun by the collar and walked out.

***

After wiping off the blood, I was about to leave the bathroom when my phone rang.

I answered without checking the caller.

Ami?

[I heard my father went over there.]

It was Yehyeon.

[Did Hilde call him separately?]

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

I was glad Yehyeon couldn’t see how wide my eyes had gone.

Bracing one hand against the wall, I calmed my pounding heart.

Clearing my throat, I replied.

“How did you know?”

Judging by the honorifics, he must have called from his private number.

“It wasn’t anything serious.”

[I heard from the doctor. He said you met the physician, but there was no improvement.]

“Ah, right. That’s true.... But maybe if he rests, he’ll recover slowly....”

[Did you hear why he’s rumored to be a legendary doctor?]

The unexpected question caught me off guard.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and looked at the corner of the mirror.

Sajid, who earned the title of legendary doctor by keeping a single Luca alive to the very end.

Killed by Sukhoi, and whose real name no one remembered anymore: Medeia.

I’d also pried into the story from that time—the part Seunghyun hadn’t explained. Staggering back to Center Core, Seunghyun had given one last explanation before taking the portal, about why she’d been called ‘Medeia’.

In a splendid myth—

Each time the eagle pecked at Prometheus’s liver, ichor spilled from his side.

Rare flowers grew where the ichor-soaked earth lay. When the roots of those flowers were broken, pitch-black liquid containing the essence of ichor seeped out. Medeia gathered that black fluid in pure white shells brought from the Caspian Sea and brewed a powerful medicine.

This medicine, which granted superhuman strength, was known as ‘Prometheus’s medicine’.

And thus, she was called Medeia.

A woman who created medicine that bestowed superhuman power.

But I couldn’t tell that story.

I brushed it off by saying that since he was a mysterious doctor living in an expensive district, strange rumors must have spread.

Yehyeon made a small sound of agreement.

After a brief silence, he asked—

[He seems to be connected to Sukhoi’s side.]

Good thing he couldn’t hear my heart racing.

I wiped my face with my free hand.

Yehyeon chuckled softly on the other end of the line.

[It’s fine. I don’t have attacks every time I hear about my father or see him. And if you don’t feel like talking about it, you don’t have to. It’s not an important story—otherwise you would’ve reported it to me.]

“Yeah. None of it was worth reporting.”

After letting out a relieved sigh, I added—

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand that I called Lee Seunghyun. I called him privately, and I thought telling you would only dampen your mood.”

[Sometimes it would. Sometimes it wouldn’t.]

Yehyeon laughed quietly.

[But I’ve been getting much better. Lately, I’ve been even more okay. So you don’t have to be that careful.]

I stood there blankly in the bathroom.

I stared at the mirror for a long while, eyes wide open.

What the child said so casually echoed heavily through my head.

Getting better. Even more okay lately.

Was it time that healed things?

Did Yun’s or Ami’s support help that much? Did his higher position, and no longer needing ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) to rely on others, give him courage?

Or was there some personal turning point?

Either way, the thought that Yehyeon was slowly saving himself made my chest churn.

Amazing.

It couldn’t have been easy.

Even with solid support from his siblings....

[I’m not saying I’ve completely let go. Yun is still frustrated to death. And I don’t even understand myself—but I just can’t bring myself to completely hate him.]

“That happens.”

[Yes. I know I’m foolish. But anyway... lately, especially, I’ve been doing surprisingly well.]

I felt proud of him.

So proud that I nearly teared up in a thoroughly undignified way.

But the next words sucked those tears right back in.

[I think it’s thanks to you, Hilde.]

“Hm?”

Me?

“What did I do?”

I didn’t do anything.

...Wait.

Did he find out?

Did someone plant a listening device on Lee Seunghyun’s phone or something?

As I was about to panic, Yehyeon said calmly—

[You came back safely.]

?

I became even more confused.

What did that have to do with overcoming trauma?

But before I could ask, completely lost, Yehyeon changed his tone entirely.

He suddenly said—

[Now hurry back. Get treated and rest.]

He was using honorifics, but it was basically half an order.

I debated how to respond, then blurted out—

“Yes, sir.”

And quickly changed the subject.

“Everyone’s doing okay, right?”

The answer didn’t come right away.

What?

My back straightened as I waited for a reply saying nothing special had happened.

“What happened—”

[I heard a rumor that Ami is going on a date with Ju....]

Huh?

[Have you heard anything about that?]