Black Badger

Nana Dol cried for a long time, then fell asleep.

Ami left the bright-blue junior’s room in a depressed mood. After closing the door with extreme care so the girl who had finally managed to sleep wouldn’t wake, she trudged down the stairs.

Lately, the atmosphere at HQ had been the worst.

As a first-generation Black Badger, she was like a living fossil of the organization. Since waking from her coma, she hadn’t taken a single leave of absence, so she had seen and felt countless events in the organization with her own eyes.

There had been many twists and turns, and there were times when it truly felt like Black Badger might collapse.

But she had never seen everyone as taut with tension as they were now.

If the Supreme Commander didn’t change, they would return to that “Frozen Period” she never wanted to recall again.

It could become even worse than that.

Thinking of that era—an era the Badgers who lived through it brought up again and again—Ami’s mood sank further.

Bosses like that focused on making money and wielding power more than on clearing Creatures and saving people.

Even during the Frozen Period, the first thing they grabbed was personnel authority.

Back then too, Kang Ju was the first one to be demoted. The pattern was the same as now. They couldn’t outright cast out Kang Ju, who was famous as a genius of personnel placement, so they shoved him elsewhere with excuses like: even though he’s a Black Badger, he doesn’t spend enough time in the field; staying only in Center Core is special treatment.

Then they sat their own man in the Personnel Director’s seat and kneaded personnel assignments however they pleased, and the results were catastrophic.

That was when Black Badger first attempted territory reclamation—only to lose territory instead.

Even now, Ami sometimes dreamed of that time.

How many died that day, and how many almost died. Ami still remembered it clearly. Several brave, good peers and juniors died. Ska almost died too. Sometimes the image resurfaced of Ricardo and Jonathan, pale with shock, sprinting into the hospital wing.

Right now, it wasn’t as bad as then.

But the problem was that morale was even lower than it had been back then. Because the vast majority believed Hildebert had died in a shocking way. And on top of that, they believed Luke Lyle had either been kidnapped or deserted. Still, even the ones who guessed desertion didn’t think badly of him—they worried about the missing rookie, if anything.

Either way....

The thing that shook the organization the most was the announcement of Hildebert Taleb’s death.

Even Ami, who now knew Hildebert was alive, felt sad every time she saw the story burning on the internet. So many people were grieving deeply.

Now Ami couldn’t even bring herself to log into the Hildebert fanpage she used to visit out of boredom. Every time she saw people grieving, her insides burned.

Even under the short ad videos featuring Hildebert, gloomy comments piled up.

Memorial comments from those who believed he was dead. Comments from those who still believed he was alive, begging him to come # Nоvеlight # back.

Comments from those who brought up his identity and said good riddance. And on the other side, comments insisting he couldn’t have died because of his identity—that he must be faking death and running away.

Speculation that the small Core that had suddenly appeared inside Center Core (the news said it was due to the owner’s obsessive self-preservation instinct) must be connected to Hildebert.

“I hope he comes back safely.”

Reaching the first floor, she stood in the bleak lobby and spoke to herself.

“Healthy....”

“Peanut!”

A huge voice echoed through the lobby.

Ami snapped her head up to the owner of that voice.

“Ro.”

She said.

“Hi.”

“What’s with that face?”

Giacomo Ro strode over, creasing his brows.

Beside the curly-haired Badger was Jason Trevain.

Ami blinked, and Ro said:

“Ugly face.”

“So what.”

Ami shot back darkly.

Then she looked at Jason Trevain, who had come up and stopped.

“I miss Hilde.”

“That bastard’s alive.”

“I’m worried about where he is and what he’s doing.”

“I told you. Until the Intelligence Director’s corpse is found, it’s obvious that bastard’s alive and kicking.”

Jason frowned down at Ami.

“He absorbed him, I’m telling you!”

“I know!”

Ami raised her voice too.

“I’m worried anyway!”

“Who?”

Ro cocked his eyebrow.

“You talking about Valdez?”

“Not Valdez. Hilde.”

“Right, Halde. That good-looking American.”

“...Hilde isn’t from America.”

“No. He isn’t. Because that guy isn’t human.”

Jason Trevain grumbled.

But Giacomo Ro didn’t seem to have heard the grumbling at all. As if sinking into his own thoughts, he rolled his eyes around, then looked up at the ceiling.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him lately. Where’d he go? Leave? Another Core?”

“You’re the biggest idiot of any human I’ve ever seen.”

“What?!”

“Didn’t you see he only had one right arm and one left leg left?”

Jason Trevain lifted his brows with a sneer.

Ro received Jason’s gaze, brows knitting.

“What limbs?”

“Hilde’s hand and leg were found somewhere, you idiot!”

Ro stood there blinking as if digesting Ami’s shout.

After a while of slowly closing and opening his clear eyes, he spoke.

“The corpse?”

“There isn’t one.”

Ami answered.

“He’s missing. Hilde.”

“Oh, what. Then he’s not dead.”

Giacomo Ro reached a simple conclusion.

Relaxed again, the man started whistling and laced his fingers behind his head.

“That guy’s got this sloppy side to him. Last time too, we found him in our bathtub.”

“Huh?”

Jason Trevain made a sound like, what kind of bullshit is that.

Ro explained.

“No, fuck—last time I woke up after getting absolutely hammered and I’m emptying my bladder, right? And there’s something next to me. So I turn my head, and that bastard’s in our bathtub, I’m telling you?”

“What the hell is this now?”

“Hey!”

Jason lifted his brows, and Ami shouted:

“That’s just you dragging a drunk Hilde home! How can you twist it like this?!”

“Twist what? Anyway, I’m telling you he’s kinda careless. Take better care of him, Peanut. I think he’s got a drinking habit where he strips all his clothes off.”

“Is that what matters right now? Hilde’s missing, some weird boss showed up, Luke is missing too, and there’s a weird Core inside Center Core?!”

“It matters! Is stripping your clothes off not a problem?!”

“Mühlen took Hilde’s clothes off!”

“What the fuck?”

Jason asked in a voice full of disbelief, eyebrows raised.

But soon, as if exhaling the thought that none of it really mattered anyway, he let out a sigh. No one paid attention to the sigh the blond man offered.

“Hey, Ami.”

Whatever. Jason looked down at the two who were having a familiar argument.

Ami blinked and looked at him.

“Yeah?”

“You heard something from Ska Owen that day.”

Jason Trevain said darkly.

“You heard something about that half-wit.”

Ami averted her gaze.

“It’s a secret.”

“There has to be a reason Yehyeon, who was throwing a fit like that, got eerily quiet afterward. Huh? What did you hear? What did the aide say, about that half-wit?”

“It’s a secret! I can’t tell you, Jason! Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“They’re saying they’ll proceed with the death process.”

At Jason’s blunt words, Ami’s mouth fell open.

The blond man looked down at the shocked Badger, then added in a flat voice:

“He won’t be processed as killed in action, just as a simple death, and the funeral’s being held tomorrow.”

“Suddenly? This fast?”

“They already opened the will.”

Jason Trevain said in an emotionless voice,

both hands shoved in his pockets.

“With no Personnel Director, the guy who came in from outside already opened it.”

Ami was furious.

***

Jonathan pressed the accelerator.

It was Yehyeon’s instruction that made Jonathan the driver. Jonathan got into the driver’s seat without a word. After stowing his sword neatly in the back seat, he started the car with a frightening speed, still without saying a thing.

From Core 5’s portal zone to the Black Badger train station was some distance.

Taking a helicopter would be much faster, but they agreed they shouldn’t approach in a way that conspicuous. Their goal was to catch the smuggling operation happening here. They needed to approach normally, like Black Badgers dispatched for Creature suppression.

Fortunately, Core 5 had far fewer people than Center Core.

A trip that would take five hours in Center Core looked like it could be done in two and a half to three hours.

On the way to the station in the same car, they left the radio on.

The radio kept talking about the mysterious Core that had formed in Zone X of Center Core.

[The Center Core Management Corporation continues to maintain a consistent stance that it is impossible to regulate privately purchased Cores, such as security Cores purchased with personal funds, and....]

“Uh.”

While everyone focused on the radio, Ju—alone, looking down at his phone—made a sound.

“They opened Hilde’s will?”

Heads snapped around.

Even Jonathan turned his head, and Yehyeon, sitting in the passenger seat, tapped the back of his hand against Jonathan’s shoulder.

“Front.”

Jonathan obediently turned his head back, but he didn’t stop shifting his eyes.

Yehyeon leaned over and looked at those in the back seat.

“The Supreme Commander?”

“Looks like they’re processing Hilde as dead. And they’re holding the funeral as fast as possible, too?”

Ricardo let out a snort.

As if he didn’t want to hear any more of this absurd situation, he rolled his green eyes and looked out the window.

Ju tapped at his phone.

“Not the separate will he wrote for us. The one Hilde already had written up—looks like they’re going to disclose that to the kids.”

“They’re terrified.”

Yehyeon murmured, staring out the window.

Ju nodded and added:

“The kids are going to be devastated. Everyone was already in shock.”

“It’s his own karma~.”

Ricardo spoke in a cutting voice, head leaned against the window.

“Who told him to disappear like that?”

“He was too rough about it, yeah. Hilde always underestimates how much presence he has in other people’s lives.”

“When is the funeral?”

“Judging by how fast they’re moving, it’ll probably be tomorrow. Looks like they’re really afraid Hilde might come back alive.”

“We can’t attend.”

Yehyeon murmured as if to himself.

Then, after keeping silent for a moment, he said:

“It’s better this way.”

Silence settled over the car.

It didn’t break for a while. Ricardo kept his head against the window, eyes bored and fixed outside. Jonathan focused on driving, brows slightly bent.

He only turned the radio up briefly to catch Core-related talk—he didn’t speak.

When even Ju, who had kept breaking the silence all the way here, shut his mouth, perfect quiet arrived.

The silence that had stretched on only broke after Yehyeon received contact from HQ.

“The train is currently outside the Core.”

The Badgers’ heads turned.

“It’s confirmed they’re operating the train arbitrarily. When we arrive at the station, we’ll lie in wait until the train returns.”

Like Center Core, this station also had no people.

The train ran unmanned, and whoever controlled its operation was inside the Core 5 city district.

“As soon as the train comes in, we search inside. Ju and I go in first—then you two wait nearby.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“They say Walker is coming too, so we shouldn’t be short on force.”

In the best case, the train would hold nothing but unremarkable smugglers and ordinary contraband.

In the worst case, they might face Kyle coming in on that train.

And if they faced Kyle, their chances of survival would rapidly converge to zero.

So before arriving at the station, the Badgers simulated every possible scenario and roughly set their strategy.

And the moment they arrived at the station, they got out.

Yehyeon pulled the mask he’d lowered back up.

“Take positions.”

The four men headed for the empty station.

***

“What is this?”

Hildebert said in a hoarse voice.

Smoke was still rising from his body.

Now his heart was no longer visible. But absorption continued. It had to. No matter how carefully he controlled the speed with every nerve he had, you couldn’t stop absorption entirely inside a field.

With nowhere left to regenerate, his nerves must be starting to burn now.

How long would he be able to keep control?

Jaeyeon indifferently shoved his hand into his pocket.

Hildebert, eyes pinned on Luke Lyle, didn’t move from where he stood.

“Where is Luke right now?”

“My hometown.”

Jaeyeon curled his lips into a crooked grin.

“You stayed there a pretty long time too, didn’t you? I’m hurt. You can’t recognize it already?”

“Colton.”

The white-haired knight ignored Jaeyeon.

And kept looking at Luke Lyle.

“Did you have to go this far? Without dignity....”

“Strange. I was about to ask you the same question.”

The blond Elder opened his mouth in the same courteous tone as ever.

“There’s no reason to go this far, is there? I pride myself on having faithfully kept every promise I made to you.”

“For that, I’ll offer my thanks. But in truth, it was because of you hardliners that we split. The root cause of all of this is you.”

“Old stories.”

Colton replied, taking a cigar between his lips.

“Stories long past. Did you stir up something like this over that stale past? A childish misjudgment that doesn’t suit you.”

“If I hadn’t remembered that you saved me, I might have swallowed my revenge, too.”

Hildebert shot back darkly,

still staring at Luke, asleep.

“But you revived me to use me as a card.”

For the first time, refined anger entered his voice, which had been stripped of emotion.

“You didn’t know that act would revive Kyle as well. You must’ve planned to treat me—me, who would surely be half-ruined after killing two friends—and then claim me for yourself.”

Colton didn’t answer. He exhaled smoke.

Hildebert didn’t speak for a while either. Then at last he lifted his head and looked at Colton again.

And said:

“In the end, you and I can never trust each other for life.”

“A tragic tale. As I told you before, I hold you in reverence.”

“What is that ring?” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Hildebert asked.

A red ring resting in Luke’s palm.

“Whose ring is it?”