Black Badger

The building was far larger than the Library of Beginnings. A square structure with monotonously placed windows. What had it originally been used for?

The supply depot in F Zone had used a library, but the building in D Zone gave no clue about its previous purpose. However, it was clear at a glance that it was more heavily fortified than the one in F Zone.

For starters, the building was enclosed in something like a transparent dome.

That was the Breath.

I pulled the battered military vehicle up to the spot Ami indicated. Beyond the dome, a sturdy iron wall surrounding the building came into view.

I stopped the military vehicle in front of the iron-walled main gate.

Ami, sitting in the passenger seat, reached out and picked up what looked like a radio from the vehicle.

A woman's flat voice came from the radio.

[Royal.]

"Jeep."

It seemed to be a password. Clunk! A heavy sound echoed from beyond the shattered windshield. The iron gate moved slowly.

The door slid open to the side with a heavy rumble. Behind me, I heard the seniors preparing to disembark.

The clatter of firearms. The sounds of them adjusting their stances.

The iron gate fully opened, revealing the building's main entrance.

But the barrier outside the iron gate was still there?

"You've never seen the Breath open, have you?"

Ami said casually.

"Watch. I still find it amazing every time."

A massive sound rang out.

It was a strange noise. Like a soap bubble popping, or a balloon rapidly inflating. It resembled a computer booting up or the hum of a magnetic field.

As the deafening sound made my ears ring, a small core in the shape of a door came into view, opening like a portal.

It was round, just like the one Yoon had shown me in the basement of his house.

I turned the wheel and drove the vehicle through the iron gate.

"Park it near the entrance."

Green ordered.

I parked parallel to the left side of the iron gate as instructed. Driving like that brought back memories of how to parallel park. Ah, the voice of that two-toned-haired scientist (probably a scientist) kept echoing in my head.

'Parallel parking gets easy once you're used to it.'

But now was not the time to dwell on these fragmented memories popping up.

I jumped out of the driver's seat, following the seniors as they disembarked with a rumble. The vehicle was a mess in every way. The rear was splattered with blood, and the front windshield was half gone.

Yet no one paid it any mind.

Leaving the keys inside, I hurriedly grabbed the duffel bag I'd tossed in and followed the seniors.

Someone was slowly walking out from the building's main entrance.

Ami called out the person's name in a bright voice.

"Silvia!"

Ah, that silver-haired senior.

The first person I'd encountered outside the core. One of the people with Jason Tvain back then. We hadn't exchanged names at the time.

She hadn't seemed interested in introductions either.

It must have been her voice over the radio reciting the password. We stopped in front of the silver-haired badger with a cold expression. I silently observed the female senior, who seemed to have pale pigmentation overall.

A sniper rifle slung crossbody. Skin as pale as Ye-hyeon's. Light blue eyes. Long, faint eyelashes.

Her demeanor was almost as cold as my mentor's.

"No anomalies."

Silvia said in a flat voice, meeting Green's eyes.

"Current personnel: Silvia Kipf. Barbie Winter. Lee Ho-chang."

"Got it."

Lee Ho-chang was here too.

Then Barbie must have been the blonde senior I'd run into before. Swallowing my curiosity, I followed the seniors into the building.

A new building unfolded before my eyes.

The iron gate and Breath were quite modern, but the building itself was crude. The flow of time was etched everywhere. A musty air. A cracked lobby floor crunching underfoot with gravel.

I followed Walker and Tvain, dropping my duffel bag on the floor.

"No way. What's with this lineup?"

Lee Ho-chang's voice came from inside the building.

"What, did you expand the territory or something?"

"Ho-chang, Ho-chang."

Aki's response.

Lee Ho-chang was the same as ever. He still looked exhausted, and that day he wore drab-colored fatigues again.

Ami let out her characteristic laugh as she looked at Aki and Lee Ho-chang.

"Ho-chang, Ho-chang."

"Hey, don't call me that in front of the seniors. ...But seriously, what's going on? Why is it made up of this combination you only see during core expansions?"

"It's Ye-hyeon's order."

"That old man's lost it."

As Green responded bluntly, Tvain snarked back.

"It's time to change him out. Huh? Hasn't he overstayed his welcome long enough? Don't you think so, Richard?"

I watched with a bored expression as Tvain ranted about Ye-hyeon, while the others ignored him, set down their gear, and headed inside.

Knowing nothing, I diligently followed the seniors with my eyes and did the same. I set down my belongings containing daily necessities, took off my combat uniform jacket and placed it on the duffel bag. Without setting down my weapon, I headed inside.

In doing so, I learned the building's original purpose.

This building had been a museum.

*

Once you reach D Zone, it's not easy to return to the core.

That was Ami's explanation. That's why rations became even more crucial starting from D Zone. It was what badgers did all the time, apparently. Transporting supplies from the supply depot in F Zone to E Zone, then to D Zone.

But we hadn't brought even a single box of supplies.

Ye-hyeon had rejected Richard Green's proposal to bring some supplies along the way....

"Potato."

"Yes."

I placed a peeled potato on Walker's massive hand.

The potato plopped into the huge tin pot. Standing in front of the rising steam, I mechanically peeled another potato.

"Chop the onions too."

"Yes."

I quickly peeled an onion.

We were cooking. Walker and I were amicably wearing aprons (Walker's looked like it might burst at any moment) and preparing food in the kitchen.

Up to D Zone, you could maintain some semblance of human life from the safe points. From C Zone onward, it was straight-up survival camping. Once C Zone was cleared and the safe point secured, the classification shifted from C Zone to D Zone.

In other words, this was the last space with electricity and running water.

But there was no one else to clean or cook. Inevitably, the grunt work fell to the rookies.

I pushed the onions sliced with the kitchen knife toward the pot.

"Looks tasty."

Aki's voice from behind made me jolt.

Turning my head with a snap, I saw the short-haired senior peering over.

"Curry?"

"Yes. We'll have it ready soon."

"Want help?"

Aki turned to meet my eyes.

"Nothing else to do."

"No, it's fine. It should be done quickly."

"Alright then."

The senior acquiesced.

But she didn't leave.

Instead, she stood there watching me for a while. Pretending not to notice the senior's presence—but with a smile plastered on my face—I kept my hands moving.

Walker stirred the curry pot beside us without glancing our way. Another senior stared at me with narrowed eyes as she took the onions and dumped them into the pot.

It smelled good.

Only after all the onions were chopped did Aki get to the point.

"What did you do to end up here?"

Yeah, I figured she'd ask that.

"Sorry if it's too direct. But are you from the underworld? Your recovery is low, and you deliberately didn't get a license— it all fits too perfectly. Plus, you took all your classes online, right?"

"Uh...."

"No?"

Get out of this. I need to dodge this vaguely again, Hildebert!

Peeling a carrot quickly, I replied.

"What exactly do you mean by the underworld...?"

"You know, the usual. Fixers like this guy, mafia, drug dealers. Places where illegal augmented body implants or illegal aging suspension surgeries happen."

"Ah. I had no connections to those places."

Probably not, past me.

I believed it. I trusted the Hildebert Talev from my unremembered past.

I evenly sliced the peeled carrot and smiled brightly.

"I was just a shut-in with no social skills."

"Oh, really?"

Aki blinked once.

Then she stared at me intently before apologizing.

"I see. Sorry. That was too blunt."

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her windbreaker.

"There are quite a few people who end up with weird side effects from illegal implant surgeries. I just wondered. I don't hate or look down on the underworld, so don't misunderstand."

"It's fine."

"Illegal surgeries don't leave you with a body this intact."

Walker interjected bluntly into the conversation.

The man's sharp, keen eyes rolled toward me.

"Besides, this kid looks like he has zero ties to that world."

Is that so?

That was a relief. If someone from the underworld said so, it must have been true. I looked at the huge man with eyes mixed with hope and goodwill.

His thick features and deep-set eye sockets. Short-cropped black hair and sinewy forearms. Nothing about William Walker matched the red apron he wore now.

I quickly placed the sliced carrots on Walker's gesturing hand.

The bubbling sound of boiling filled the air pleasantly. Gazing at the curry with its rising bubbles, I sank back into thought.

I recalled what Ricardo and Ro had said on the first day.

Did you get some illegal surgery or something?

Watching Walker stir with the large ladle, I broke the silence.

"Even knowing the severe side effects, there are people who still go for illegal augmented body implants, huh."

"Tons of them. It's a social issue that pops up in the news every time you forget about it."

"Ah, yeah, when you think about it...."

"Only idiots who can't see long-term would do that."

"Will lived without feeling the need for an augmented body, so that's why."

A youthful voice chimed in.

Pleased, I whipped my head around. Ami was coming in through the silver kitchen door, apparently having washed up.

Everyone was reequipping in their respective areas. Smiling, I looked down at Ami as she approached us.

Ami met my gaze with mischievous eyes.

She grinned and said out of the blue,

"Hilde. Know what?"

"Yes?"

"Will got tricked by the HR Director into becoming a Black Badger?"

...What?

What was this sudden bombshell?

Standing there with a dumb expression, Ami widened her impish smile.

"It's one of the legendary achievements the HR Director pulled off. Bringing in William Walker. And talking him into becoming a Black Badger. You're the first and last one the HR Director personally scouted like that, Will."

"Ah, I remember. There were all sorts of rumors about an amazing newbie joining."

"Damn it."

Thwack! William Walker threw the dishcloth.

But Ami's impish smile remained. She had no intention of changing the subject.

...Weirdly, it reminded me of Choi Yoon.

Anyway, it was an intriguing story, so I perked up my ears, and the salt and light of life continued the explanation.

"The HR Director was in a real rush back then too."

"Ah. Short on manpower?"

"No, not that. Around that time, Ye-hyeon was so pissed at the HR Director that he told him to step down from the position."

Ami brought up an even more intriguing tale.

"'Joo, all you do is cause scandals here—what else?' he said, or something like that."