Black Badger

Fortunately, I was prepared to answer this question.

"As you can see, my recovery is poor, so my mentor told me early."

"Who was your mentor?"

"Choi Yoon."

It wasn't Kudo who reacted, but the chairman of Cureus Corporation.

He let out a strange noise. I stroked the head of the four-year-old girl who tugged at my white hair and turned my gaze away.

"No way, that Choi Yoon?"

"What's that Choi Yoon supposed to mean?"

"The adopted son of the A-Tac chairman! How can you be so clueless?"

Judging the conversation pointless, the senior turned away.

Kudo splashed through the ankle-deep water toward the south gate.

That area was also blocked by collapsed debris. The sturdy staircase door that led to the underground parking lot was barely visible.

I walked toward the senior and replied to the chairman.

"I grew up without parents, so I'm lacking in a lot of ways."

The chairman flinched, showing at least some shame.

"Is Black Badger Choi Yoon an adopted heir of a major corporation?"

"You're his mentee and you didn't know that? ...Well, he probably wouldn't explain it himself."

You knew him well.

I nodded and properly cradled the squirming kids in my arms. When I found them, they were both terrified, but splinting their limbs and rambling on nonsense had seemed to help ease their tension.

The frozen children began to move little by little.

The girl who introduced herself as Becky tugged at my hair. The boy named Luke flailed his good arm wildly in the air.

Ignoring the pain of my hair being pulled and the clutter in my vision, I stood behind the senior.

"Can we get through?"

Instead of replying, Kudo gripped the sword in his right hand again.

He planned to cut through the piled-up debris.

I stepped back one pace.

"What is that uncle doing?"

Luke pointed at Kudo's back with his finger.

"Is the sword real?"

"It's real."

"Can the sword cut rocks too?"

Becky yanked my hair, tilting my head to one side.

Watching Kudo's blade trace a graceful curve, I replied slowly.

"Depends on who wields it."

Swoosh.

Thud, boom! The piled ruins shattered into small pieces and collapsed to the floor. The cut surfaces were clean and flawless. With delicate, flowing motions, the remaining debris was sliced into even finer bits.

"Wow!"

Becky finally released my hair and exclaimed in admiration.

"Cool uncle!"

"Whoa! Awesome!"

"What are you doing?"

Beside the kids' pure awe, the chairman pointed out.

I glanced at the senior who swept away the debris in front of the door with his shoe, then turned my head.

Meeting the chairman's pitiful gaze, I grinned crookedly.

"I'm just a total newbie."

"Can't you do that, oppa?"

"Oppa can't do that!"

"Useless jerk."

That was harsh, Becky.

It was sad that I couldn't even refute it. Letting out a hollow laugh, I readjusted the slippery kids in my arms.

I approached the senior who kicked away debris and joined in with my feet. Naturally, the man called the chairman didn't help, and I had no intention of setting down the kids who wanted to assist.

The senior and I silently cleared the debris that blocked the door.

Rumble...

This tower really wasn't going to collapse, was it?

As the building shook with an eerie sound, Kudo opened the staircase door.

The lights were out. There was no light source coming through the open door. I had to be careful not to trip. In this state, the underground parking lot would probably be pitch black too.

The senior seemed to think the same, turning to look at me.

"Give me one."

He neatly sheathed his Japanese sword and extended his hand.

Becky's body leaned toward Kudo. I handed the flailing girl over to the expressionless senior's arms.

The senior held the small child indifferently in his left arm.

Then he began descending the stairs. The crisp sound of his shoes echoed through the eerie staircase.

I let the chairman, who pushed ahead saying he'd go first, go on and followed behind.

The sound of shoes echoed on the stairs.

"Hey!"

The chairman, stumbling down the stairs, shouted.

"There's a crack in the wall!"

"That's why we should go down before it collapses."

Keeping my eyes on the senior, who seemed to be holding back anger, I said.

"Don't waste your energy needlessly..."

Boom!

I nearly tumbled on the stairs.

Rumble, thud! The building shook again. The precarious structures from the upper floors collapsed into the lobby. A deafening roar from behind vibrated through the narrow staircase.

Chunks of cement poured through the open door.

The smell of dust rushed in. The space darkened. The light entering the staircase diminished in an instant. The already narrow and eerie space was now shrouded in darkness even where light had been.

The debris seemed to have buried the open door.

"Light the stairs with your phone!"

The chairman shouted in a faintly trembling voice.

"I can't see anything!"

"Go down carefully."

I pressed close to Luke, who let out an old-man-like "whoaaa."

"If you go slowly, it'll be fine."

"Uncle, are you married?"

In front of the panicking chairman, Becky asked innocently.

What a bold kid.

From the darkness, Kudo's nonchalant reply came.

"I was."

"Why were you?"

"Hey, Becky! You don't ask that!"

Luke craned his neck and yelled.

"Just ask something like, 'How's work these days?'"

Was this your second life or something?

As I stuck out my tongue at overly mature Luke's words, a bold voice came from below.

"Oppa, were you married?"

It seemed directed at me. Calling me oppa instead of uncle?

Descending the stairs cautiously, I answered without much thought.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? Why don't you know?"

"Hey, Becky! He already answered!"

Luke raised his voice again.

"Don't ask more!"

That wasn't it. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

I was a bit flustered but didn't correct it. I ignored the chairman who constantly grumbled to shine the phone light. The hand not holding Luke had to stay free for any emergencies.

The staircase was narrow and dark. To reach the underground parking lot, we'd need to go down about two floors. Tripping or something falling during the descent would have been disastrous.

The building's condition wasn't reassuring either...

...Hm?

Something scratched at my nerves. With Luke in my left arm and gripping the railing with my right, my careful steps slowed.

I could see the silhouettes of people moving below. The chairman fumbling down. The senior already half a floor ahead.

Faint crimson afterimages flickered on their backs.

Crimson...?

The moment I urgently turned my body, arrows of fire rained down.

Whoosh!

An arrow pierced my right thigh.

"Hyung!"

"Ugh! It's out again!"

Luke and the chairman raised their voices.

The one actually attacked, I couldn't even make a sound for a moment due to the piercing pain.

It hurt like hell.

But the pain sharpened my senses. I looked up at where we'd come from.

A lump of flame floated on the first staircase. It writhed, preparing to shoot another fire arrow.

"Luke, curl up!"

I pressed the boy close to my chest and shouted.

"Move, move!"

The chairman panicked and ran down the dark staircase. Kudo set Becky down and rushed up toward us.

I passed him and dashed down the stairs.

I'd seen something before the staircase was engulfed in darkness.

"Fire hydrant cabinet!"

I jumped down half a floor in one bound and reached toward the wall with my right hand.

"Senior, use the fire hydrant!"

Clang!

Clink. Clank. Clink! The fire arrows bounced off Kudo's blade into the air. The wall pitted with impacts from flames and heavy thuds.

The chairman let out a short scream and collapsed in place.

I set the silently trembling Luke behind me and opened the fire hydrant cabinet.

"Spray the water."

The senior facing off against the creature ordered without turning.

"Right after the next attack."

"Yes."

I gripped the hose and waited.

Fire Shield had a cooldown after unleashing several powerful attacks. We had to hit it with the water cannon during that gap.

Narrowing my eyes, I watched the fire arrows illuminating the dark space and timed it. Didn't Yoon explain? Strike in that split second.

Like when Ye-hyeon thrust his sword into a Tier 10 creature's body...

"Now!"

Kudo shouted sharply and twisted his body.

Whoosh!

A heavy water pressure surged through the hose.

As Kudo nimbly leaped down the stairs and scooped up Becky, the water from my hose struck the creature simultaneously.

It was being pushed back. That soccer-ball-sized lump of flame floating in the air.

But why wouldn't it go out?

"Hyung!"

As I rushed up the stairs, Luke freaked out from behind.

"Hyung! Don't go!"

[Creature 'Fire Shield']

As the distance closed, the creature codex displayed the following.

[Extremely difficult to completely eliminate; it's recommended to avoid encounters. Breeding method unknown. One of the creatures that cannot be captured alive. It attacks in response to movement....]

Bang!

The moment the creature was pushed out of the staircase, I kicked the door shut, which was red-hot from the heat. Whoosh! Flames burst through the door crack.

"Talev!"

The senior, now holding Luke too, shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"We're heading to the underground water tank, so run!"

Without a word, I tossed the hose and leaped down the stairs.

*

"Should we call Mullen?"

In the pitch-black underground parking lot, having put distance between us and the Fire Shield, we caught our breath beside a pillar.

The chairman and the two kids were half out of it, speechless. Only the senior and I moved around in the darkness.

Looking at Kudo calmly staunching his thigh wound, I said.

"Something tells me that guy might know how to kill it."

Kudo, who had been tying my wound with a torn cloth strip, shot me a look as if he'd heard the strangest thing.

He stared at me silently for a while before asking.

"Mullen?"

"Yeah."

"John Mullen?"

"Yes. Science Department."

"Will the call go through?"

Kudo muttered to himself, furrowing his brows.

"Do you have his number?"

"Yes, I have the number. I'll call for now."

Ignoring the senior's reaction, as if doubting whether he'd heard right, I made the call.

There was nothing to lose.

Still, a scientist on par with Einstein might have offered a new perspective on dealing with that creature.

"...You're actually calling?"

"Yeah, he picked up."

Good timing.

I brought the phone to my ear.