Black Badger

I wanted to apologize to Senior Jonathan Kudo for causing him trouble.

As expected, he didn't show up. He didn't seem interested in others, so it wasn't surprising. Everything turned out well, so he must have gotten out without any issues.

I focused on recovery while enduring Samuel's barrage of nagging.

Days spent holed up in the hospital room, eating and resting. Tom and Hesi came to visit. They were delighted when they saw the article featuring me.

When I told them I was being sent far away from the Core, they even envied me.

Well, Hesi did.

"Your skills are going to improve a ton!"

Hesi was always full of passion, no matter when I saw him.

"You're going even deeper in, right? I'm really jealous. When do I get to go further inside?"

"...You jealous?"

"You're gonna have a rough time."

Tom gave a more sensible reaction.

"They say the deeper you go, the worse it gets around there. I hope you come back in one piece. Your recovery isn't exactly normal, you know."

"Yeah. Well, I just need to avoid being a burden."

"Who are you going with?"

Hesi leaned in, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"You're going with some real veterans, right? Who?"

*

Who? Well.

"Richard Green, Jason Tvain, Choi Ami, William Walker, Aki."

Yoon listed the names for me and then clicked his tongue once.

He evaluated them in a disinterested tone.

"Without Choi Ami, we'd probably suffocate to death."

"...Is it that bad?"

"Didn't Richard Green come see you?"

Yoon pocketed his smartphone in his gown pocket.

I shook my head.

"He didn't come."

"He came to me."

"Why?"

"He chewed me out for not teaching a newbie shooting or driving. Said teaching the basics is basic, and with service periods lasting years, how could the fundamentals still be lacking? So he went on a long rant about how I've been advising the HR Director for years to assign Choi Yoon as a mentor too."

I was useless.

Just like Senior Richard Green had said, my basics were lacking.

Self-loathing washed over me like a wave, and I clawed at my hair. He wasn't wrong at all. And despite being so deficient in the basics, I'd drawn creatures to me and had some unknown stalker attached.

My recovery was too....

Argh.

I buried my head in my knees, and Ami patted my shoulder.

"It's okay! I'll cover for you as much as I can!"

Ami was the light and salt of life.

"Just don't die, Hilde!"

"Sorry in advance, and thank you...."

"Well. If you come back alive, your skills will improve."

Yoon assessed it lightly, as if talking about someone else.

"You don't seem like the type to take a big mental hit from traumatic events."

"...Thanks for the compliment."

"Yeah. It might turn out better than you think."

Ami patted my back as I replied soullessly.

Then she peered at me with her round eyes and spoke in a bright voice.

"And Richard said after reading the article that you seem to have some guts! That's high praise from him—he almost never compliments anyone. That's huge. You won't be totally hated."

"Huh. Really?"

"It's like stroking your cheek before slapping it."

Yoon calmly crushed the hope.

As I despaired beside him, Ami scolded Yoon.

"Bro! How can you crush Hilde's motivation already!"

Yoon nonchalantly snatched the soy milk from Ami's hand.

"Facing reality is important."

He said flatly, then stuck a straw into the soy milk even though he didn't seem thirsty.

The mentor suited Ami.

A flashy battle for the soy milk ensued. A high-quality struggle where it was hard to follow the siblings' arms with my eyes.

From there, I heard Samuel grumbling, "They're being ridiculous."

Anyway, it was a relief to have Ami. Having at least one person to rely on eased my mind.

I steeled my resolve while blankly watching the soy milk reclamation war. Don't die, act sharp, memorize everything the seniors tell me before leaving.

I couldn't smear Yoon's reputation anymore.

"What should I do before heading out?"

I muttered to myself, and the siblings froze their flashy gestures and turned to me.

They answered in turn.

"I'll tell you all about the people you're going with in detail! Remember it."

"Pack your bags."

I did both.

*

"Sword?"

Richard Green was the one who had first questioned me in the auditorium, a man brimming with battle-hardened experience.

"Taught you the sword? Your brother is even more clueless than I thought."

"Come on. He was planning to teach shooting sequentially too."

Ami took the words gently.

"It's not even been that long since he joined. A total rookie who wasn't supposed to leave E Zone anyway."

"That's exactly why he should have started from the basics. No autonomous driving license? Are they recruiting newbies without licenses these days? I need to have a word with the HR Director."

"He'll learn it quick. We can teach him later. Hilde's smart; he'll pick it up fast."

"Later? When is later? After this rookie comes back as a corpse?"

"Arriving in 15 minutes."

Aki, sitting in the driver's seat, spoke bluntly as if oblivious to the tense conversation.

"No anomalies ahead yet."

I wanted to go home.

It hadn't even been a day since leaving the Core. I was already missing my old staff quarters dearly.

The game console. The comfy bed. The window with just the right amount of sunlight. I missed everything. Even the lessons with Yoon swinging swords around.

I'd even take the guest room in Yoon's house, where the Supreme Commander lived.

But I couldn't. I was in a situation where I had to live outside indefinitely until the Supreme Commander's exile order was lifted.

Day 1 of exile.

To avoid showing my discomfort, I kept my gaze down, studying the floor of the military vehicle.

The rumbling jolts hit my ears loudly inside the vehicle. We were heading to a Safe Point roughly in the center of D Zone. We'd come to E Zone by train. But from D Zone onward, there were no tracks laid.

That's why Richard Green had been furious with me about not even having an autonomous driving license.

I'd heard he had a lot of anger due to his mithril-like unyielding convictions.

"Putting a chick like this in our group and sending us to D Zone. Ye-hyeon is really issuing irrational orders these days."

"That's what I said."

Jason Tvain, who had been sitting next to Richard Green watching me get scolded, joined the conversation.

He was consistent as ever. The sleek, shining face even in pitch-black combat gear, the rough, sloppy vibe around his body. And his steady dislike for Ye-hyeon.

"His judgment is slipping more and more. Ami, you live with him—doesn't it show in your eyes?"

"Nope."

"Why issue an order like this? He's never done anything like it before."

"When have we ever questioned the Supreme Commander's orders? If it's commanded, we follow."

Ami brushed off Tvain's words nonchalantly and replied stiffly to Green's mutterings.

"It's not a bad thing, right? Richard, you were curious about Hilde too."

I reflexively looked up.

My eyes met those of the battle-hardened veteran soldier. He had his arms crossed, his gaze burning with anger and conviction.

The senior looked at me piercingly before breaking the silence.

"Talev."

"Yes."

"Don't let your guard down."

His voice carried the fury of a man angry at a world that didn't align with his ideals.

"From D Zone on, the moment you do, you lose your life."

A War Hero who had survived the First War and Second War. A true soldier who charged to the forefront before anyone else. One of the top ten elite among countless Black Badgers, beyond doubt.

I didn't avoid his gaze.

"Yes. I'll keep that in mind."

Richard stared at me for a long moment before turning away.

Silence returned. The engine noise echoed in the windowless military vehicle. I let out a small sigh of relief that the carpet bombing directed at me had ended.

As I swallowed the sigh and glanced around, my eyes met Ami's.

Ami smiled gently, her round eyes crinkling.

Whoa. So bright I couldn't see her face.

The senior, who was pure light, sidled up smoothly and looked up at me.

"Did you pack your gear well?"

I glanced down at the military pack between my legs and nodded.

"Yes. Checked it three or four times."

"What's in it?"

She phrased what might have been a high-handed "Recite it, newbie" to someone else in that gentle way.

Grateful for it, I silently listed the contents of the pack.

"Ammunition, drinking water, emergency rations, fishing line, sunlight reflector signaler, small saw, fire-starting magnifying glass, bulletproof vest, magnetic compass, spectral compass, spare communicator battery, basic first aid tools."

"What first aid tools did you bring?"

Richard asked without taking his eyes off me.

I answered immediately without hesitation.

"Blood transfusion kit, suturing tools, painkillers, carbohydrates, antibiotics, scalpel, IV fluids, IV injector."

"Have you learned how to use them?"

"Yes."

"Morphine?"

I showed him the morphine I'd stashed around my neck.

Richard fell silent again. It seemed I'd passed his test.

I reflexively sighed in relief, and Ami grinned.

"You learned how to use the communicator and tactical beacon, right, Hilde?"

"Yes."

Actually, Yoon had tried to teach me how to repair the communicator and tactical beacon too.

"You don't seem too dumb, so."

But I was dumb.

Yoon quickly gave up on teaching me repairs. Not just because of time, but because I wasn't technically proficient enough to meet his expectations.

Yoon's standards for others' intellect were sky-high. He insisted on content I couldn't even grasp as the absolute basics and urged me to learn them quickly and apply.

In the end, he recognized my intellectual level and compromised.

Meaning I'd just rote-memorized the usage and repair methods for communication gear.

I still lacked confidence in fixing a broken communicator. I'd blindly memorized basic responses, but not all scenarios. Yoon didn't expect me to repair properly either. How could I, without understanding the mechanisms?

If I got separated and the communicator failed, I'd just try the memorized fixes once.

Better not get separated at all.

I gloomily stared at my pack, and Ami said gently.

"When we arrive, we'll unpack at the Safe Point."

"Ah, yes."

"Then reconnaissance...."

BOOM!

The vehicle flipped.

Spinning vision. Seniors shouting. Heavy impact sounds.

William Walker and Ami's firm arms grabbed me.

As I regained my balance guided by their hands, Richard Green roared.

"Time to hunt!"