Black Badger

Luke and Becky wept bitterly amid the camera flashes.

The woman holding them in her arms was also sobbing. Yoon passed by the familiar scene indifferently.

A man in pitch-black combat uniform strode across the ruined street. Several cameras hurriedly followed Yoon. But he didn't even blink at the bursting flashes as he headed toward the entrance of the underground parking lot.

The area where firefighters had set up a perimeter.

Yoon crossed the yellow tape and descended into the underground parking lot, heading toward the collapsed debris.

"Sordi."

He approached his junior, who was standing there staring at the debris.

"Step aside. If you're just going to stand there like that, out of it."

The man whose name was called turned his head.

Sunken green eyes stared at Yoon. A gaze that had lost its sharpness and sunk into dullness.

Yoon, who had seen this man more than he wanted due to circumstances, knew his condition wasn't normal. They'd been running field ops together since the Second War, so he couldn't help but roughly know the triggers that set the other off.

"What about me..."

"When someone gets buried under a building, they lose it."

Yoon casually said something Ricardo Sordi would hate, then stopped beside him.

The entrance to the underground parking lot, blocked by the collapsed debris. Flashes burst behind him despite the firefighters' protests. Broadcasting drones hovered overhead.

The situation wasn't too bad. The whole building hadn't come down. Only the ceiling of the curved passage in the underground parking lot had collapsed.

He narrowed his eyes and examined the shape of the debris.

"Step aside."

Yoon said to the rigid man.

"You're in the way."

"...What's in the way of clearing the debris... You look fine, so help clear it..."

"With those shaking hands?"

Yoon countered without taking his eyes off the debris.

"Jonathan Kudo's in there, right? With a collapse this size, even if he's buried, he'll be fine."

Ricardo didn't respond.

Yoon didn't add anything more. The explanation he'd just given was a reaction from Ye-hyeon's periodic training—be good to your juniors.

Ricardo always stuck with Jonathan Kudo and Ska Owen, so saying this would count as "being good to a junior."

The junior bit his lip and shoved his coarsely trembling hands into his pockets.

Whether he did or not, Yoon lifted the debris. He methodically removed it piece by piece, like dismantling a Jenga tower from the top. Small cement fragments fell to the ground like cookie crumbs.

The flashes grew even more frantic in sound and light.

"Why is Mr. Sordi just standing there?"

A reporter, wrestling with firefighters behind, raised his voice.

"Your arms look perfectly fine?"

Badgers who survived long enough had their names etched into society.

Supreme Commander Lee Ye-hyeon was a representative figure of an era. But he wasn't the only famous badger. The names of First War and Second War heroes, especially those who operated frequently inside the core, were often mentioned online.

"If you'd caught the creature faster, couldn't you have prevented the building collapse?"

Those inured to absurd provocations didn't even respond.

Yoon quickly cleared the debris. As he did, he discovered two people buried inside.

A stark white head was visible through an oxygen mask and caught his eye. White hair contrasted with hazel skin. He had tall stature and distinct, well-shaped features.

The junior who had suddenly appeared out of thin air one day.

He was still breathing.

Ricardo let out a small sigh.

"Does he think badgers are a suicide squad or something..."

"Poden. Long time no see?"

Yoon called out to the man trembling beneath the unconscious junior.

"You've aged a lot."

"Y-Y-Y..."

"Yeah. Good to see you too. Looks like this kid took the full brunt of the collapse impact. You're unscathed, so snap out of it and get up."

Flashes burst again.

Reporters fervently called for the Cureus Corporation chairman. Firefighters blocked reporters trying to rush in. Yoon brushed aside the debris with his hand and lifted the unconscious junior.

Rustle.

Debris fragments fell from Hilde's body.

Yoon adjusted his hold so the tall junior's limbs wouldn't drag on the ground, slinging him over his shoulder. He was completely out, but judging by his pulse and body temperature, the junior wouldn't die right away.

Good. He wanted Hildebert Talev to hold out longer.

It had been a while since he'd encountered someone who piqued his curiosity like this.

"Chairman! Chairman Poden!"

"Call an ambulance, now!"

"Jonathan."

As Cureus Corporation staff bustled noisily and the Cureus Corporation chairman staggered to his feet, Ricardo spoke in a low, subdued voice.

Another man, revealed as the debris was cleared, lifted his head.

His hands were pitch black.

The kind of black that suggested he'd been frantically digging through the debris.

Jonathan Kudo looked at the men with weary eyes.

"Why are you in such a state?"

Ricardo walked past Yoon, who was indifferently dusting himself off, toward his comrade.

The man ignored his own faintly trembling hands and grabbed Kudo's arm.

"Your face looks awful... Not buried like Hilde, I guess... Did you inhale too much gas?"

"Yoon."

Instead of responding, Kudo called the name of his senior, who was walking away.

Yoon, carrying Hilde out of the underground parking lot, glanced back. The gazes of those who had been inside the half-collapsed tower flew to the man on Yoon's shoulder.

Kudo said,

"Don't send juniors with declining recovery to the field."

"He left me behind!"

The recovered chairman raised his finger, overriding Kudo's voice.

"Even when I begged him, he left me!"

"If you've caused trouble, shut your mouth, Poden."

Yoon said flatly.

"The underground parking lot ceiling collapsed because you panicked and fired off useless civilian self-defense gadgets. Probably shot a portable ray cannon or something. Didn't I tell you that crap is worthless?"

"T-That bastard didn't even pull out his self-defense stuff from his pocket until he ditched me! Even when I begged desperately..."

"What do you mean ditched? How's the guy who ditched you passed out on top of you?"

At the dry point, the chairman's mouth shut in a straight line.

Yoon sighed, exhausted from conversing with someone whose brain seemed empty.

"I'm going."

The two juniors looked at Yoon.

"You two do whatever. I need to get this one to the hospital. I'll take the car with the two-tone hair newbie, so ride if you want, or don't."

"Take him too. He inhaled toxic gas and isn't in his right mind..."

"I'm fine."

Yoon and Ricardo ignored Kudo's grumpy reply.

Ricardo pulled his comrade's arm, who seemed annoyed. Even as he was dragged by his cohort's hand, Kudo didn't stop glaring sullenly at Hilde.

He kept shooting grumpy looks until Yoon's expression showed he had no interest and they should handle it themselves.

Then, suddenly, he said,

"Teach him not to rush in recklessly when his recovery declines."

"Tell him yourself."

Yoon countered dryly.

As he walked into the boisterous flashing lights, he added,

"Though I doubt he'll listen."

*

In the end, everyone rode in the ambulance Shu Diamond had brought.

Ricardo and Kudo laid the unconscious Hilde down and sat across from him on the seats. Yoon got in the passenger seat and pulled out his phone. As the ambulance door closed, a heavy silence rushed in.

Reporters swarmed around the ambulance, but no one paid attention outside.

Shu started the car matter-of-factly.

"We'll head to headquarters hospital."

The car pushed through the crowd.

A thick silence lingered in the vehicle for a long time. Only Hildebert Talev's steady breathing echoed clearly inside the ambulance.

Two badgers leaned against the van wall with eyes closed. One badger drove silently. One badger stared at his phone screen.

The air that had settled after a major incident wrapped around them.

Much later, it was Hilde's voice that broke the silence.

"...Sorry."

Heads turned at the small mumble.

"I'm sorry."

The seniors stared intently at the new recruit murmuring faintly in his sleep.

A different kind of silence descended—one born from everyone looking at one spot.

Ricardo said,

"Doesn't seem like he's apologizing to us... Yoon. Any guesses?"

"None."

Yoon narrowed his eyes at the unconscious junior.

"I'd have to know something about him."

"But you spend the most time with him, right~?"

"He can handle a sword and has quick wits, that's about it."

Yoon explained indifferently, still not taking his eyes off Hilde.

"Basically, I know nothing."

"But his reputation is good."

Shu interjected in her husky voice.

She murmured while staring at the front windshield.

"Kal said he's surprisingly fine, unlike what he worried..."

"He won't cause harm to others. He just picks things that harm himself~."

"Well, whether he's really harmless remains to be seen."

Yoon spoke in a thoughtful tone.

Heads turned at the uncharacteristic remark. But he was too focused on Hilde to notice Ricardo raising one eyebrow in displeasure or Shu blinking.

"No malice at all, but sometimes he gives off this strangely... eerie vibe."

The trailing words faded without continuation.

It was rare for Yoon to trail off like that. Ricardo blinked his green eyes in surprise.

But Yoon stayed silent. He didn't move for a long time, eyes fixed on the unconscious Hilde.

Just like Jonathan Kudo, who glared at Hilde without moving.

"Do you even know this guy's name?"

When the ambulance reached the headquarters main gate, Ricardo threw a pointed question at his friend.

"Remember anything from what the HR director said at the auditorium? Well... honestly, as long as he's alive, I don't care who he is."

"Hildebert Talev."

"Oh~. You remember the name. Anything else?"

"Don't care that much."

No one was surprised by Kudo's flat response.

"As long as he's functional."

No one was surprised this time either.

His indifference toward his new juniors wasn't a day or two thing. A different kind of apathy from Yoon's. That unique line. That unique disinterest.

He wasn't the type to take interest after one joint mission.

So no one was surprised when Jonathan Kudo left as soon as he confirmed Hildebert Talev would receive treatment. Nor when he didn't show his face even after Hilde woke up safely.

Instead, people were surprised by the media's reaction.

*

I heard about the bomb exploding right after I woke up.

"You made the news."

Samuel Han said ominously.

"Wanna see?"