Black Badger

We went to see penguins.

Yun, Ricardo, and Sophia didn’t go anywhere near them. Yun said the penguins’ habitat was basically a field of droppings and that the stench was unbearable.

Only Carl, Ami, and I went to look at the penguins. The only penguins left in Antarctica now that winter had come.

To endure the brutal cold, the penguins huddled tightly together.

It didn’t smell as bad as Yun had warned. It was probably because it was so cold that even the droppings had frozen solid.

Apparently, gentoo penguins or Adélie penguins usually reek.

But not now.

Ami crept closer and beamed when she saw the penguins packed together.

“There’s a chick!”

She grabbed my arm and shouted.

I smiled, though she probably couldn’t see it. Only my eyes were exposed.

“It must’ve just been born!”

Ami didn’t go too close.

She said she didn’t want to disturb them. Since a chick had just been born, they were probably sensitive.

“I’m so happy....”

Even so, she was more than happy.

“They’re so cute. The chick’s down is so fluffy.”

Having had her wish fulfilled, Ami thanked the Ice Dragon several times.

The dragon accepted her thanks with an elegant smile. Even after we returned effortlessly to the Antarctic base, Ami kept expressing her gratitude. She even suggested that the dragon stay at the base longer, saying she’d cook all sorts of delicious things.

But the Ice Dragon refused right away.

“I’m planning to laze around a little more. I’ll contact you through the Core when I feel like it.”

Then he said he had another request he wanted considered.

“There’s somewhere I want to go right now.”

And then he vanished.

There wasn’t even a proper farewell. One blink after he said that, and he was gone—like he’d never been there in the first place.

Such silent spatial movement.

“It’s really a relief that he’s such a good person.”

Ami muttered blankly while staring at the spot where the Ice Dragon had disappeared.

“If he weren’t, we might already be under a dragon’s rule....”

That was probably true.

Or we might’ve been wiped out.

Either way, there would’ve been no answer.

I’d sensed how powerful he was when we briefly encountered him in Core 15, but standing so close to him was on a completely different level.

There was a reason he was called a natural disaster.

Anyway, the Ice Dragon disappeared like that.

Only we were left at the Antarctic base again.

And only then did I finally hear about the standby order sent down from HQ.

“They didn’t say how long we’re supposed to wait?”

“They said they’re assessing the situation and will issue further instructions. No idea how long that’ll take.”

Yun answered.

Then he immediately gave orders. Since we didn’t know how much longer we’d have to stay, he told us to lay out supplies for three days.

Get ready to spend at least one more day here.

We moved busily. Following Yun’s orders, I stuffed torn bedsheets and blankets into trash bags. After tossing fresh sheets and blankets onto the beds, I helped with organizing supplies.

Then I slept for a bit.

Along with the seniors who hadn’t slept while nursing me, we grabbed some rest in the sleeping quarters.

By evening, we were back to work. We checked equipment and retrieved the bamboo.

Only when we sat down in front of the food Ricardo had prepared for his dinner shift did new information arrive.

“There’s an epidemic going around.”

That was what Yun said after returning from the communications room.

Hands that had been reaching for utensils froze.

Ami asked blankly,

“An epidemic? At HQ?”

“Yeah. It seems to only affect people with enhanced bodies so far. But they can’t confirm yet that civilians won’t get it, so they’ve completely isolated the infected. The first patient was a Badger who’d been taken hostage. There’s also the possibility that it isn’t a naturally occurring epidemic.”

I set my utensil down.

A biochemical attack from Kyle’s side...

It wasn’t a theory we could just dismiss as absurd.

The Empire had used biochemical attacks too. When dark mages were mixed in with the enemy, the chances of such attacks increased. Many dark mages had mindsets similar to Earth’s scientists. They didn’t just cast spells—they liked running all kinds of ‘experiments.’

People usually understood right away when you called them mad scientists.

In any case, it was reasonable to suspect that this wasn’t a naturally occurring virus.

As I rubbed my eyes, Yun continued.

“Symptoms are high fever, sore throat, chills, and so on. Similar to the flu. The first patient’s condition worsened rapidly and they’re in intensive care now. Since the route of infection hasn’t been identified yet, the order is for us to stay here until the situation’s clearer.”

“Who’s the patient?”

Ami asked, holding her breath.

“Who’s in intensive care? No one’s fully recovered yet, right?”

“Rona Navarate. No confirmed recoveries.”

At Yun’s dry reply, Ami sucked in a sharp breath.

Ricardo and Carl narrowed their eyes in silence. Only Sophia stabbed the potato on her plate hard with her fork.

The senior opened her mouth wide and chewed.

Ricardo asked,

“How many patients so far~...?”

“Over thirty, and increasing fast.”

So it was highly contagious.

Carl asked,

“How did they confirm it’s a new epidemic and not just a seasonal flu?”

“There was no mention of that. We’ll probably only find out once a return order is issued.”

“So we don’t know exactly who’s infected?”

“They didn’t give us a patient list.”

“At least the medical staff won’t be dropping like flies, then. So manpower won’t run short immediately.”

Carl said.

Yun nodded and walked over to the table. He sat down in the empty seat beside Ami and picked up his chopsticks.

Then, as if he’d said everything he needed to say, he started eating.

That was the cue for everyone else to resume dinner.

Naturally, the conversation revolved around the epidemic spreading at HQ.

“It’s frustrating not being able to communicate~....”

“Yehyeon gave the orders, right? Then that means he hasn’t caught it yet?”

“The email came from Yehyeon’s secretary, and there was no mention of the leadership being infected. But who knows. They only sent the key points. Even if someone at the top were sick, it wouldn’t be surprising.”

“Do you think you two might catch it?”

Sophia asked, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° looking at me and Kairos.

The summoner answered.

“I’m not well-versed in medicine, so I can’t say. At a glance, both outcomes seem possible....”

“We’ll only know if we take it apart and look.”

Yun said flatly.

“The transmission route isn’t clear yet.”

“Is it some COVID variant?”

Ami muttered to herself.

“They must be short on manpower....”

Ricardo murmured quietly. I nodded while chewing on octopus, thinking the same thing.

Just a few hours ago, I’d been overjoyed about my restored leaf-veins and stamina.

Things just keep exploding without a break.

I couldn’t tell whether this was part of Kyle’s plan, or whether a virus that Titans were immune to had entered the Core naturally through a hostage.

Either way, given the situation, it was definitely bad news.

If antibiotic development was delayed, our fighting strength would drop sharply.

With no knowing when or how Kyle’s side might strike, the timing was awful.

Hadn’t the raw material hoarding issue only just been resolved?

Aitek was probably manufacturing Core devices to use against Kyle’s faction.

If the epidemic didn’t die down, making Core devices would be pointless. We wouldn’t even have enough personnel to defend, let alone attack.

The ripple effects of the Elders’ power struggles were enormous.

Wearing a sullen expression, I scraped the paella clean.

Paella isn’t Italian food, as far as I know. Even so, despite not being his native cuisine, it was unbelievably good.

“Complaining here won’t solve anything. Anyway, take a conservative view and assume we’ll be here at least a month.”

After everyone finished dinner, Yun gave his orders.

“Get ready for a long wait.”

So we did.

Everyone was used to waiting. Combat was always a cycle of endless boredom and ear-splitting battles.

Fortunately, the base was spacious and we had plenty of supplies, so the waiting wasn’t too hard. We rotated through tasks. When the day’s work was done, we took it easy.

The base had plenty of things to kill time with.

We watched movies and roasted a whole pig on a grill.

We drank and listened to the thunderous sounds of glaciers cracking.

We even saw the aurora.

“It’s so beautiful!”

Ami bounced around in delight.

Sophia stared, entranced, while Carl lifted his head after pulling his balaclava aside.

Next to smokers gazing at the sky with unlit cigarettes in their mouths, Ami enjoyed herself to her heart’s content.

“I never thought I’d get to see the aurora!”

At mealtimes, we mostly talked about work.

Naturally, I told the seniors what the Ice Dragon had said to Carl.

“Late July to early August?”

Our mentor crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not far off. Sounds like something else is about to happen. I should give Yehyeon a heads-up.”

“There’s always a mission, isn’t there?”

Carl Dow replied calmly.

“There’s a good chance it’s just an ordinary, unremarkable operation.”

“Doesn’t hurt to mention it.”

“He said it wasn’t a fixed future.”

As I explained, Sophia—who had been growing paler—whipped around toward Carl.

She looked angry.

The short-haired Badger grabbed Carl's arm tightly.

“Take leave then.”

“In movies, that’s usually how people try to dodge fate and end up dead.”

“That’s movies. If it’s a future you can avoid, you should at least try.”

Carl replied with a faint smile, but Sophia didn’t accept it.

She frowned and snapped,

“You’ve got tons of leave saved up anyway. Take leave then, no matter what.”

We also talked about instincts.

“Do you know which animal sense still has no known mechanism or associated organ?”

Five days after my leaf-veins recovered.

That was what Yun asked Kairos and me.

When neither of us answered, he continued dryly.

He probably hadn’t expected an answer anyway.

“Magnetoreception.”

“Magnetoreception...?”

“The magnetic field.”

When I asked again in confusion, Kairos smiled and supplied the clearer term.

Ah. Magnets.

Ignoring my awkward nod, Yun went on.

“Earth’s animals don’t generate magnetic fields themselves—they’ve evolved to detect the planet’s magnetic field. You know about migratory birds. They detect magnetic fields to travel long distances.”

“I see. So you’re assuming our instincts operate using magnetic fields?”

“Not exactly. More like everything else has been ruled out, so magnetoreception seems the most plausible. It’s not vision, smell, or electroreception.”

I see.

That’s why he’d examined my mastoid so closely—wondering if it was a sensory organ related to magnetoreception.

But even if you understand the mechanism, what changes?

While I was imagining scientists losing their minds over this, Kairos leaned forward.

“Magnetoreceptors don’t require focusing structures like the auricle or pupil, do they?”

“Right. That’s why I suspect the scales that formed on your mastoids might exist to protect whatever’s inside.”

“Has the operating mechanism of magnetoreceptors been identified?”

“No. Magnetoreception is still the holy grail of sensory biology.”

Yun answered the summoner’s eager question calmly.

“Anyone who cracks it will win a Nobel Prize. Which is to say, I don’t know how your instincts work, and I don’t know how magnetoreception works either.”

It was strange—Kairos and our mentor actually got along in certain ways.

Thinking that, I watched Yun and Kairos talk during our time in Antarctica with interest.

Maybe it was because both were interested in biology. Surprisingly, Yun talked with Kairos more than anyone except me and Ami.

When the two of them started talking about things that didn’t interest me, I’d watch for a bit, then go find Ricardo.

Seven days passed like that.

And finally, a return order came from HQ.

***

There were no details beyond “return via portal.”

We’d find out once we arrived. With that mindset, we withdrew from Antarctica at once. After quickly sending out the supplies that needed to be shipped, we jumped into the portal.

Center Core, after several days away.

They said Antarctica was so dead even microbes couldn’t survive, so there wouldn’t be disinfectant showers on return.

Contrary to the seniors’ words, disinfectant sprayed from every direction.

An official in the control room shouted,

[Put your masks on!]

Gas masks lay on the ground, one for each of us.

[Put on your gas masks, gas masks!]