Black Badger

Ye-hyeon definitely seemed to know something.

Of course, that didn't mean I had the guts to cling to my supreme commander. It was even more so because my mentor had brought good news.

Yoon apparently hadn't expected Ye-hyeon to return. He widened his eyes upon seeing us sitting at the table, eating sashimi.

Then he tried to chase me away.

"Ye-hyeon, you're back? I told you to contact me before coming. Hey, I've taken care of it, so you can head back now."

"Yes, sir. I won't forget this favor." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Yoon, how can you chase away a kid at this hour?"

Ye-hyeon stopped Yoon, who was flustered and trying to send me away.

As Ami had told me before, Yoon was soft on Ye-hyeon both privately and officially. In the end, I got to stay the night there.

We quickly finished dinner. Once the cleanup was done, Ye-hyeon handed me a banana pudding.

In private settings, his expression was gentle from the start.

"So Mullen ended up meeting Hilde after all. Yoon, did you stop him?"

Ye-hyeon shot Yoon a look that said, "What's gotten into you?" mixed with praise for doing well. It was a gaze that let me infer Ye-hyeon had been handling Yoon's behavioral corrections all along.

At the light praise, the mentor replied in a dry voice.

"I thought he'd kill the kid if I pushed it."

A sharp observation.

"And as a bonus, I got the test results from him, so I have nothing to complain about."

We quickly tidied up, and I holed up in the guest room.

I quietly prepared for bed. After washing up in the small bathroom across the hall, I shut myself back in the room.

I fiddled with my phone for a bit before lying down in bed. I had to wake up early in the morning to head back to the comfortable old building.

I fell into a deep sleep. Without any dreams.

*

And then I woke up at dawn.

Beep beep!

The sound of the door opening, then a heavy thud as it closed. I woke up to the noise of the person who entered kicking off their shoes. I lifted my heavy eyelids, still weighed down by sleep.

The dim room. The light from the entrance hall seeped through the door crack, dazzling my eyes.

As I blankly stared at the ceiling, the situation slowly came into focus. Ami must have returned. She'd said she might arrive as early as last evening.

It sounded like the men were coming out from inside the house to greet her.

"You're back."

The mentor's low voice woke me fully.

"Good work. What a mess."

Ye-hyeon's quietly whispering voice followed. The house was remarkably quiet, so I could hear what they were saying.

I held my breath and stayed still.

Ami spoke.

"There are a ton of them."

The rustle of clothing came next.

"Creatures are swarming outside the Core. All level 5 or higher. We relieved the team after a wave poured in and things quieted down a bit."

"What about the teams that advanced to D Zone or beyond?"

"They're all returning to F Zone."

Ami's tone was clipped, unlike her usual self. Her normal cheerfulness was completely gone.

Ye-hyeon asked in a businesslike manner.

"What about the Portal Zone?"

"They're not heading there—just to the Core. The train station is sealed off. The F Zone supply depot has its highest defense system activated, no entry allowed."

"Got it."

A brief silence followed, then Ye-hyeon's calm voice continued.

"Nothing from A-Tac?"

"Nothing. The Core's status is good."

Yoon answered curtly.

The conversation cut off after that. The dawn silence returned.

In the chilly air, the ticking of the clock echoed. As I strained my ears to catch it, I realized creatures were gathering near F Zone. Around the barrier created by John Mullen and commercialized by Choi Yoon.

Was this something that happened often?

Yoon's cold voice provided the answer.

"This is because of that rookie, right?"

My heart sank.

Ye-hyeon didn't answer right away. A suffocating time passed, my chest tightening.

The supreme commander finally broke the long silence, slowly.

"It's probably just the spark that lit the fuse. It was something we had to face eventually."

"What's Hilde got to do with it? You know something, don't you?"

Ami asked.

My heart pounded faster, my breath quickening. But I suppressed the sound, not moving a muscle to avoid giving away that I was awake.

I caught the sound of Ye-hyeon sighing.

"We'll need to reassign the personnel inside the Core to the outskirts for a while. Yoon, add Hilde and the other new recruits to the call-up system. With fewer people inside the Core, brief them on civilian rescue protocols too. We'll have to deploy them on regular missions sooner than usual."

"Yes, sir. But if the rookie's the cause, shouldn't we pull him aside for special management instead of regular missions? If he runs around rescuing civilians and draws creatures, we're in trouble."

"It's not like Hilde's attracting all the creatures. It's just the ones that want to kill that kid swarming in."

Huh?

I blankly stared at the pitch-black wall.

So that's what it was?

I gathered the ensuing silence, staring dumbly into the darkness. Well, in the end, it didn't seem like much difference. Still, I'd thought I was emitting some kind of creature-specific hormone or something.

But that wasn't the case.

As expected, Ye-hyeon knew something.

Yoon voiced the question I wanted to ask, in a low tone.

"So why is that happening? You gonna leave it like this?"

"For the time being. Until it's harder to hide Hilde."

"What are you hiding him from? The creatures seem to know now."

Ye-hyeon didn't answer.

He probably smiled bitterly. Or maybe he just lowered his eyes and stayed silent. Either way, his expression must have been the reply. The seniors didn't press further.

The house fell quiet again. I stared at the wall with a more troubled heart than ever.

Why keep holding onto me like this? I'd told him multiple times to just dispose of me.

I didn't want to cause problems, didn't want to burden the people who'd shown me kindness. I was desperate enough to call the supreme commander's personal number out of the blue and accept Mullen's offer on the spot.

What should I do now?

If the problems kept growing, I'd have to figure something out on my own...

Ami's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"But I like Hilde."

Her young voice pierced my chest.

"He's warm and solid and kind. He doesn't butt in recklessly, but he's not too passive either. He treats everything as new and cautious, but he doesn't get overly scared. He's a really good junior. I like Hilde."

"Is that so? That's a relief."

I heard Ye-hyeon laughing as he replied.

"Seeing you evaluate him like that, he really seems like a good kid. And he's getting along with Yoon too."

"He's an interesting guy."

"Yeah. And Ricardo really likes Hilde too. He says he's only interested because he's a human who fell out of a portal, but he's taking care of him a lot for someone who claims that."

Ami burst into clear laughter.

"He says it's annoying how he runs around with that frail body. For Ricardo, that's high praise, right?"

...How is that praise?

I wanted to ask, but I couldn't since I had to pretend to be asleep.

I heard Ye-hyeon chuckle briefly, and Yoon snort.

The residents' dawn conversation continued briefly before ending with the mentor's dry words.

"Anyway, if that's the decision, I'll make sure the new recruits can start regular missions from tomorrow."

*

Three days hadn't even passed since that talk.

I jolted awake to an enormous noise from my phone. It happened while I was heading back to the old building after training with Yoon.

The buzzing phone blared loudly.

[Mobilization Order. Creature appearance in Zone 1 Sector B.]

[Mobilization Order. Creature appearance in Zone 1 Sector B.]

[Level 5. Severe casualties expected. All Badgers in Zone 1 requested to deploy.]

This was Zone 1.

Where was Sector B?

[Creature appearance in Zone 1 Sector C.]

[Creature appearance in Zone 1 Sector C.]

[Estimated Level 6. Unclassified species.]

Why did the level keep rising?

Should I head to the higher level one? As I thought that, the red-glowing phone screen switched to an incoming call. It was from my mentor.

I answered, and he spoke without preamble.

[Head to Sector B. The map will show when you tap the alert.]

"What about Sector C?"

[I'll go.]

His voice sounded annoyed—was it my imagination?

[I was about to have dinner with Ye-hyeon.]

It wasn't.

[Sector B has a lot of foot traffic, so two more are heading out. You just focus on civilian rescues quietly.]

"What if this one's targeting me too?"

[If it seems like it's after you, lure it to Sector C.]

His flat voice replied.

I started running down the increasingly noisy street. Toward the roadside where I could hitch a bus, taxi, or something...

[Ride in the car. Destination's set, so it'll go on autopilot.]

Screech!

A sleek white car pulled up beside me.

It was the new car Yoon had just gotten. How did he know where I was to send the car like this? He was uncanny every time.

I got into the driver's seat.

"What if I wreck this one too?"

[Another one's on the way, so don't worry.]

I heard the sound of him loading a gun through the screen.

[If needed, ram it into a creature. It's not that expensive.]

I'd worried for nothing.

He made me feel relatively deprived without trying. Grumbling, I buckled up and closed the door.

The sleek sports car took off with a roar.

*

Sector B.

I understood what he meant by high foot traffic. It was a typical bustling district. People who'd come out for appointments were fleeing in terror, running desperately.

The white sports car got stuck in the crowd. People ran in the opposite direction of the car. It felt like being trapped amid a herd of migrating animals.

The autopilot gave up on moving. I got out of the stopped sports car.

"Move, move!"

"Mommy!"

"Ow! It hurts!"

[Creature appearance at H Tower. Please evacuate immediately to the nearest shelter. Creature appearance at H Tower. Please evacuate immediately to the nearest shelter.]

The chaotic city sounds poured in.

I inhaled the fear-laden air and checked the map. The GPS said to head deeper in.

This is insane.

I pushed through the crowd like swimming upstream. I wasn't armed, but a few hours ago, Yoon had explained that having a weapon wasn't the key.

"Hey, you there! You can't go that way!"

A uniformed man raised his voice at me.

"You won't help even if you go! Leave the creatures to the Badgers and evacuate!"

"I'm a Badger!"

I shouted back at the cop holding a glow stick in one hand.

"Let me through!"

Eyes turned toward me.

People glanced at me as they passed. I ignored the sticky stares. I had to focus on not bumping into the civilians gritting their teeth and running.

Ah, too many people—my speed's dropping...

Whoosh!

A sharp sound whistled past my ear.

My white hair fluttered in the strong wind, then settled. Something seemed to stop near ear height.

I whipped my head around, eyes widening.

And there, I spotted a woman riding a board in mid-air.

Pink and yellow two-tone hair.

"Talev?"

Shu Diamond, as she was called, looked down at me with expressionless blue eyes.

"H Tower?"

"Yes."

"Excuse me."

When I quickly answered her curt question, the bob-haired senior bent at the waist.

She grabbed my collar with both hands and yanked me up.

"Ack!"

I was pulled straight into the air like a plush toy caught in a claw machine. My view rapidly rose.

Fleeing civilians slowed, looking up at us.

"What, what's that?"

"Hold on tight so you don't fall."

As we gained altitude, Shu instructed in her husky voice.

I clung to the senior—who looked smaller than even Ami—nodding vigorously with just my head. Falling from here would be a disaster. I'd collide with the civilians below and surely kill someone...

Whoosh!

The board took off.

"Eek!"

"Arrival in three minutes."

Shu's calm report from atop the hoverboard was swept away by the wind.

"Heading out with the new recruit."

Gripping the senior's arms tightly, I tried to open my eyes.

The scenery blurred past. The wind stung my eyes, bringing physiological tears. Blinking through the irritation, I took in the approaching building. The clear glass windows loomed closer terrifyingly.

I grew larger rapidly. The silhouette of a huge man held in the small person's hands...

Crash!

We smashed through the glass window into the tower.

"Tower arrived."

Shu dropped me to the floor and jumped off the board.

"I'll take floors 2 and above."

Someone gave instructions over the communicator.

After a moment of silence, the senior turned and looked up at me.

"Talev, you take the first floor. Assist Jonathan Kudo with creature extermination. Help civilians evacuate as instructed."

"Yes, ma'am."

"The most important thing in Core extermination is not causing civilian casualties with Badgers."

The two-tone-haired senior added her personal advice in a flat tone.

"You get what I mean. We might not save every civilian, but a Badger killing one while exterminating a creature is unacceptable."

I nodded, recalling what Yoon had explained a few hours ago.

Of course I understood.

The thing the organization called Black Badger feared most.

They had surpassed human physical limits, overcome aging, escaped death's fate. Naturally, they occupied a superior position. What they inevitably feared was exposing that status to the world, imprinting their power on it. Making the entire world recall the danger of their existence.

Because humanity's enemy might not be the creatures outside the Core, but the Black Badgers living inside it.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Even I, if I were Ye-hyeon, would give the same order.

It was because he consistently issued such directives that the Badgers had survived this long. I nodded and, leaving the senior who remounted the board and flew up, dashed down to the first floor.