Black Badger

So it was a Q&A session.

Once I grasped the situation, my despair deepened.

Of all places, I had burst in here.

And of all times, this exact moment.

I opened my mouth and closed it again, still gripping Jaeyeon’s clothes.

The stares flying at me were so scorching that my rational judgment shut down for a moment. I couldn’t tell whether I should bow my head and leave, or bend at the waist again and apologize. I honestly didn’t know.

It felt like my skin was hurting from the gazes.

Clenching my grip on the hand twisted around the back of his neck, I thought how unbelievably lucky it was that Jaeyeon was in male form right now.

If he’d been female, what kind of misunderstanding would this have caused....

“Hilde.”

Ska’s voice snapped me back to myself.

“No problem, right?”

I straightened my back.

“Yes. None at all.”

“That’s good. Could you step outside for a moment?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll leave immediately.”

“No, don’t send him out, Aide. It’ll be easier if he answers himself.”

“Why is there a civilian in here?”

Someone raised their voice.

Heads turned. I widened my eyes and looked at the face of the one who had spoken up.

A Badger I’d never met was glaring at Jaeyeon and me.

She crossed her arms and twisted her eyebrows.

“Don’t tell me he dragged a civilian in here?”

Huh?

That wasn’t something I’d even considered.

This wasn’t a restricted zone—wasn’t it fine?

Seeing how offended the senior looked, I momentarily forgot that I’d been planning to disappear from here with Jaeyeon.

She stared at Jaeyeon and me.

“How much more trouble are you planning to cause?”

I could see the leadership, the Personnel Director, and the Badgers I liked opening their mouths to say something.

But Jaeyeon reacted first.

Jaeyeon snapped.

“Hey!”

People flinched at the thunderous shout.

“What civilian are you talking about!”

“Huh?”

“Fuck, these days some punk who doesn’t even know what war is just flaps his mouth however he wants! I’m a war veteran, you asshole! Don’t you know there are war heroes among the Badgers who are on long-term leave right now?!”

What the hell is he talking about now.

I stared at Jaeyeon in a daze.

I watched him rage, then turned to look at the Badger who had pointed us out. She looked just as stunned as I felt after being hit with a one-word curse.

But the faces of the Badgers beside her hardened quickly.

Seeing Yehyeon sigh without correcting him, it didn’t seem like Jaeyeon was making things up entirely.

Meaning there really were Badgers in a state of “long-term medical leave.”

Well, Jaeyeon himself probably wasn’t actually one of them.

Still, it was a convenient excuse. Anyone outside Personnel wouldn’t even know how many Badgers were on extended leave....

“Some punk who wasn’t even born during the First War!”

“Hilde.”

Yehyeon’s cold voice cut through the noise and sharpened my mind.

I grabbed Jaeyeon firmly and pulled him toward me.

“Yes, Commander.”

“Take care of your senior and go outside.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Wait. Is that guy really a war hero?”

Gregory suddenly cut in.

He was someone better known as Samjin than by his given name.

It felt like it had been ages since I’d last seen him. I didn’t think I’d run into him again after seeing him get beaten by Ro.

He frowned and turned to Yehyeon.

“How can you be sure that thing isn’t just another gray-hair parachute like him? Make him prove he’s a war hero.”

“Worthless trash.”

Jaeyeon shot back again.

“Sure? Proof? Yeah, fine, I’ll prove it. But fuck, where were you? What was your last unit?”

“Where was I?”

Samjin turned to Jaeyeon, clearly irritated.

“There aren’t many who fought in hotter zones than me.”

Then Gregory named a unit that probably no one but Jaeyeon cared about.

I watched, dumbfounded, as Jaeyeon went, “What?” in surprise, then followed up with, “You were there too?”

And then, unbelievably, the two of them started enthusiastically trading stories about the sheer insanity of the First War.

Watching them suddenly fall into their own little world in a room packed with people was beyond absurd.

Thankfully, Yehyeon cut them off with a sigh.

He snapped his index finger and thumb—clack! clack!—and Jaeyeon and Gregory shut their mouths.

Yehyeon spoke in a tired voice.

“Save the small talk for later.”

Jaeyeon straightened his tilted posture.

Samjin crossed his arms with a look of satisfaction.

“So he really is a war veteran.”

Unbelievable.

“Sorry for the misunderstanding. Didn’t know a comrade like that was on leave.”

Whenever I watched Gregory, I sometimes felt a strange, secondhand embarrassment.

Simply put, he made me cringe.

“If we’d met during the war, we would’ve gotten along great.”

This is hard to watch....

I should keep avoiding him as diligently as possible.

Anyway.

Where did things go wrong?

I couldn’t even gather my scattered will to leave anymore.

Standing there, suddenly exhausted, I stared into empty space.

Was the mistake getting off Jaeyeon so easily earlier? Should I have kept him cuffed until I dragged him out of HQ?

Or was it a blunder to have dressed Jaeyeon while he was impersonating the Emperor?

I spent a long time thinking useless thoughts.

Then, sighing, I finally grabbed Jaeyeon properly.

But another question followed.

“So you’re saying Taleb participated in the First War. Assuming everything you’ve said is true.”

Heads turned.

Ah. A senior I’d seen at the year-end hall before.

I knew his name and face, but nothing else about him.

His wrinkled brow was filled with suspicion.

“Then why did he only become a Black Badger a few years ago?”

The senior, looking at the leadership, was pointing at me.

“Where was Taleb during that time? Fine, we can believe he fought in the First War if you tell us to. But why did he only show up now? None of this lines up.”

Ah.

That’s not something I can answer either.

I felt the blood drain from my face.

I pressed my lips into a straight line, resisting the urge to bite them, and looked at the questioner and the leadership.

Yehyeon and the aides remained astonishingly calm, despite the pointed question.

Only Personnel Director Ju tilted his head slightly.

Because he didn’t know either, right.

The problem was—I didn’t know either....

“If he had to become a Black Badger, shouldn’t he have done so right after the First War ended? Like the war veteran senior next to you.”

“Hildebert was missing continuously after the First War ended.”

Yehyeon answered in a husky voice.

“He returned, so we recruited him as a Black Badger to put him back on the battlefield. Unlike before, now you need the Black Badger title to go outside the Core. And in reality, he’s contributing to the organization just as much as you are.”

“Then what was he doing before he appeared at HQ?”

“He lost his memories of that period.”

Yehyeon replied without looking at me.

“It’s presumed to be a portal accident. When he first fell out of a portal, he remembered nothing but his own name.”

Protests erupted.

Voices of discontent burst out all at once. I stood there blankly, listening to the jeers pouring toward the leadership.

At this point, leaving would be nothing but telling them to go to hell.

Even if I left, I’d have to answer that question first.

Many seniors expressed, through various gestures, how unbelievable they found that excuse.

Overlapping audio.

“If he came out of a portal accident with brain damage, I could understand that.”

A brown-haired senior raised both palms upward as he shouted.

“But Taleb doesn’t have memory problems! I’ve heard of memory impairment, but I’ve never heard of someone losing their memories outright!”

“Do you really believe that? That his memories just vanished? There’s no excuse more convenient than that.”

“So you’re saying you never questioned him and just believed him until now? You never even asked what he’d been doing for nearly fifty years after the First War ended?”

“People who went missing inside portals still remember that they went missing inside a portal. Isn’t this excuse a little too convenient for a portal accident?”

“Fifty years!”

“What were you doing?”

For the first time, someone spoke directly to me.

The murmuring stopped abruptly.

The stares flew back to me.

The one who had spoken didn’t take his eyes off me.

“What were you doing after the First War ended?”

I don’t remember.

I truly didn’t remember.

But even if I told the truth, it wouldn’t be accepted. And so, unable to answer, I pressed my lips into a straight line.

At that moment, a dry voice came from behind me.

Sasu’s voice.

“If you were dying at the end of the First War, then someone must’ve shoved you into a portal.”

I turned my head and saw Yun standing beside Kairos, hands in his pockets.

Yun stared straight into my golden eyes.

“There’s no way you walked into a portal on your own while you were dying.”

“That’s true....”

“And how are we supposed to believe you were dying?”

Someone objected.

The one who answered was William Walker, standing ominously in the corner.

“If that’s the case, then who held down the leader of the humanoid Creatures during the First War?”

His deep voice carried undisguised disdain.

“I’m talking about the one with black curly hair. It’s not like he spent the entire First War sprawled out at home. Other than Hildebert, who else could have held him back?”

“Who knows. Maybe he begged on his knees at the end and surrendered, then came back safely.”

“Then why would they kidnap Badgers and threaten to hand over Hildebert?”

Faced with the calm rebuttal, the Badger fell silent.

Another cut in.

“Maybe Hildebert won back then!”

Is that a compliment?

“He won, but couldn’t bring himself to cut off his head, so he skipped the finishing blow and ran into a portal by himself!”

“My intelligence drops just listening to that.”

Yun grumbled.

“Is this why you came here? To spout this kind of nonsense?”

“No, I mean—even aside from that explanation, isn’t it strange that he disappeared after the First War until recently, and on top of that has no memories at all?”

“And after Taleb returned, humanoid Creatures suddenly started appearing outside the Core one by one.”

A calm observation flowed toward me.

“Doesn’t the sequence seem off? From the enemy’s perspective, it would’ve been far more advantageous to move while Taleb was missing. Why did they only start moving after he came back?”

A reasonable question.

“Isn’t the timing just a little too perfect?”

Voices poured in.

Some of the accusations were ridiculous, but many were doubts any Black Badger could reasonably have. That was what hurt. I even felt a guilt I didn’t think I should feel.

It was obvious that the leadership was struggling because I couldn’t remember.

This gap in my memory was amplifying other suspicions as well.

Those who had returned brainwashed may have lit the fire, but these unclear points were feeding it.

I stood there with a bitter feeling.

Even I could see how suspicious my amnesia looked.

But if that was the truth, there was no way to explain it further.

Even if I tried, it didn’t seem like anyone would believe me....

Perhaps reaching the same conclusion, the leadership signaled me with their eyes to take Jaeyeon and leave.

I nodded faintly.

“Does it even make sense to be dying on the battlefield and then pop out of a portal? There wouldn’t be portal equipment on a battlefield.”

“Say something that at least sounds plausible if you want us to pretend to believe it.”

“And coming back that intact means he didn’t fight with everything he had, doesn’t it? Normally, when they fight all-out, the whites of their eyes burn and their skin scatters like ash.”

Ignoring the noise, I released the back of Jaeyeon’s neck and grabbed his wrist.

“Let’s go.”

“Even the claim that he was dying sounds fake. How does a human who’s dying on the battlefield suddenly enter a portal?”

“And those guys recover like ghosts before they die. Absorbing something from corpses and all that.”

“I don’t believe the portal accident at all.”

Dragging Jaeyeon, I turned my body toward the exit.

“To begin with, where even is ‘inside a portal’?”

Ah.

At that moment, something rolled out.

Like a transparent glass marble dropping onto a table, a memory slipped out just as naturally.

A memory marble rolling along.

From there, everything moved swiftly.

A wave of memory crashed over me—violent, overwhelming. A torrent of century-old realization surged back, sweeping in fast.

Caught in it, I forgot to take another step.

I forgot what I’d been doing.

How I’d ended up here, what I’d planned to do next—none of it mattered.

Only the contents of that memory marble filled my mind. It felt as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. Kyle and I were sprawled on the ground, dying. We’d felt Rei’s presence disappear, and we were waiting for death to come for us both.

Until footsteps approached....

The sound of boots drawing near.

‘No.’

It laughed, half-crying.

‘You’re going to leave me trapped in this hell and go live comfortably on your own?’

My vision flipped.

The shift came as my body was turned over. The sky vanished from my view, replaced by the ground.

My body being dragged backward.

‘Hilde!’

I remembered.

Now I remembered. Kyle rushing toward me, reaching out. We, stupidly—so foolishly—had stabbed our swords into each other’s bodies, and in our final moments struggled to clasp hands.

I tried to avoid being dragged away from Kyle.

Kyle tried to grab me as I was being dragged.

And we actually managed to ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) grab each other’s hands.

I remembered not letting go of that single clasped hand until the very end. Until the moment it dropped my body into the portal pit it had prepared, we were bound together like a chain, clinging to each other.

Squeezing out the last of our strength.

So that, at least in death, we could return to the good old days....

...Who started the regression first?

I’d probably never know.

I didn’t want to know.

What I remembered was that, right up until I was swallowed by the portal, I was regressing with Kyle.

And that I’d fallen into the portal like a sack of cargo.

Unable to meet death.

Once again leaving someone outside the portal, and once again being forced inside by another’s will....

BOOOOM!

“Aaagh!”

“What was that?!”

“So it was you.”

A distant, brain-scorching rage seized my mind.

I hurled Jaeyeon into the wall, then stepped in before he could recover, grabbing him by the collar and whispering,

“So you were the one who saved me.”

Uncontrollable fury swept through my body.