Black Badger

Yun drank some water and looked at the screen.

The man didn’t move for a moment before replying.

“At HQ.”

[Where at HQ?]

Ami asked.

[What are you doing? Why aren’t you answering me? I thought you ran off on your own to look for that junior!]

“Why would I go there? I can’t even get inside anyway.”

[So that junior really is in there!]

Ami shouted.

[He’s inside that Core, right? Is he trapped, or did he trap someone?]

“I’m in the lab.”

[Huh?]

Ami’s voice jumped.

[I didn’t see you at your desk.]

“I’m in the Core lab.”

[Core?]

Listening to his younger sister, Yun slowly rolled the mouse wheel.

Then he adjusted the monitor so the scientist sitting beside him could see better.

John Mühlen lifted his head.

[Don’t tell me you’re trying to break in?]

The gray-haired scientist narrowed his eyes and examined the monitor.

Then he stretched out both arms and dragged the screen closer to himself. In the process, the papers in front of the monitor crumpled, but John Mühlen seemed completely unaware.

Yun didn’t bother pointing it out. He simply pulled the papers free.

Then he glanced down at the wrinkled sheets.

[Are you going to look for your junior?]

“Why would I do something that pointless?”

The scientist answered briefly.

“It’s the aide’s order.”

[Ska?]

“To check the condition of the Core covering Black Badger HQ.”

[What? Why? Does he think something’s going to push in again like last time?]

“Before the idiot who just took the top seat starts digging in at a time like this, we should clear things out.”

Yun replied while looking over video center data stamped confidential.

The file indicating that the location of S Zone had shifted.

The Titans ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ who had been living outside were moving.

“The aide wouldn’t grant permission.”

[Permission?]

Ami echoed.

[How is Ska supposed to grant permission?]

“We could remove it physically. No one knows what might happen to humans.”

[You actually thought about doing that?]

“I told him he’d regret it later, but he wouldn’t listen.”

[Oppa!]

Ami snapped.

[How long has it even been since Oppa Yehyeon stepped down from that position? You can’t handle everything like that! That’s a bad way to think!]

“Manage the condition properly.”

Yun said, letting his sister’s scolding flow past him like water.

“It won’t pass lightly like it did during the plague.”

He didn’t bother listening to Ami protest that it hadn’t been light back then either.

Instead, he unilaterally ended the call. After tossing his phone carelessly onto the desk, he handed additional documents to John Mühlen, who was holding out his hand expectantly.

Yun snorted at the scientist scanning through the materials with rolling blue eyes.

“Hey.”

John Mühlen didn’t answer, nor did he move.

It was normal, so Yun continued on his own.

“If HQ gets breached, use a portal and get out.”

Ska was predicting that Kyle and the others would push in against HQ this time for certain.

It was now clear that information was leaking. It must have already spread that a fool was sitting at the head of Black Badger’s leadership. The enemy’s leader would never miss timing like this. He had moved faster than anyone when the plague spread.

“There won’t be manpower left to protect you then.”

Ska had ordered Yun to reorganize the Core devices around HQ and increase their number.

It seemed he intended to use the Core itself as a kind of formation against the enemy pushing in.

Meanwhile, he ordered John Mühlen to increase the number of portals.

If the same thing happened again, they would expand the portal devices as well, so civilian staff could evacuate more easily.

All of this had to be done before the new Commander-in-Chief imposed restrictions. They had to finish before someone cut it down midway, complaining about excessive budget.

So the scientists and administrative bureau staff were working under pressure.

The analysis of the repercussions from adding devices was assigned to the quickest calculators among them. It was an unexpected task, but Yun had no particular complaints.

He, too, felt an intuition that something would happen soon...

“Increasing Core devices might backfire.”

A low voice sounded.

Yun turned his head.

“The Core covering HQ might end up benefiting whoever invades.”

“Why are you talking?”

Yun tilted his head.

Aitek’s adopted son examined the gray-haired man curiously, chin propped on his hand.

“And what’s that supposed to mean? Why’d you think that?”

John didn’t answer.

He simply sank back into his own thoughts, eyes fixed on the monitor and documents.

The man who had once given Yun the first sense of awe at witnessing true genius once again submerged into his own world.

***

I feel like I can live.

The thought came reflexively the moment I leapt into the ashen world.

I can finally breathe.

Relief at reaching Luke Lyle safely should have come first. But cruelly, the relief that flooded me the instant the forced absorption pressure vanished was far greater than the relief of confirming my junior’s safety.

I had been near my limit.

I’d thought I had some talent for enduring pain. Arrogant. It was never easy to control a berserk state. But the pain caused by forced absorption had made me nearly lose control again and again.

Even if Luke hadn’t been here, I might have thrown myself into this place willingly.

Because I could feel my nerves burning more and more, control slipping.

Perhaps even that had been part of Colton’s arrangement.

To shove me in here...

“Feel better?”

Jaeyeon asked.

I looked up while holding the sleeping Luke in my arms.

The one I had dragged in stood a few paces away, watching me.

In his hand was the red ring that had been resting in Luke Lyle’s palm.

I didn’t try to take it back.

Instead, I watched the being who scanned me and Luke with what looked almost like genuine concern.

Jaeyeon was a woman now.

Blonde hair braided down her back, standing there looking like she couldn’t even properly hold a rifle.

“Yeah.”

After confirming Luke’s pulse was normal, I gently laid him on the ground.

“Thanks to you, I avoided turning to ash.”

“Good, right? I was nervous I wouldn’t get to see you cut his throat with my own eyes.”

“Why did you drag me in here?”

The pain that felt like it was heating my body red was gradually subsiding.

The nerves that had felt ablaze were slowly cooling. The pain squeezing my heart faded first. My extremities hadn’t fully cooled yet, but I could at least draw as much blade as I wished now.

“There’s someone here.”

There was no presence.

The imperial bloodline lived wrapped in magic that concealed their presence from the moment they were born. Kysis being a bastard didn’t change that. The instant imperial blood mixed in them, they became people without presence for life.

The reason was simple. Those with the Emperor’s blood were always at risk of assassination.

The moment they were born, at least a six-circle mage was assigned.

If it was discovered they could hold mana, an archmage would be attached to raise their circles and first teach them magic to conceal their presence.

They would hide themselves as naturally as breathing.

People who lived their entire lives outside the circle of sixth sense.

Called either the privilege only the imperial family could obtain, or the loneliness the imperial family had to bear.

In truth, it was far closer to overwhelming privilege. The imperial family concealed their own presence, yet they could transmit and receive emotions and sense others’ presence.

That “fated loneliness” was merely polished wording.

So even if someone had been here with Cecil and me in this ashen world...

“Oh my. Weren’t you expecting it?”

Jaeyeon smiled.

He caught the red ring he’d been tossing and catching.

Then he slowly opened his fist, picked up the ring with his right hand, and slipped it onto his left ring finger.

Naturally, the red ring remained still.

The ring I had knelt before and kissed while swearing loyalty.

It was the imperial signet. If worn by one who had not ascended the throne, it did not hold light.

Jaeyeon smiled and raised the hand wearing the ring.

Watching the unlit ring, he said,

“Honestly, that took the wind out of your sails, didn’t it?”

The being in the form of a beautiful woman brushed her braid back.

“Because it wasn’t the real thing?”

“You mean the Emperor who came out of the portal?”

I answered, ready to draw my sword at any moment.

“What else would I mean? You can be honest now, Hilde. There’s no one here who’ll be disappointed hearing you sound weak.”

“No. I actually liked it.”

“Oh my.”

Jaeyeon tilted her head.

“Why? That’s blasphemous.”

“Blasphemous?”

I found it funny, pretending not to know.

I fixed my gaze on the only being with color in this ashen world.

“Protocol is exhausting. You know that.”

Jaeyeon blinked.

Was she going to laugh?

“Ha.”

No.

The opposite. The being before me frowned, clearly displeased by my reply. As always, impossible to predict.

The one trampled by Colton Wiseman in countless ways, the only one who became a leashed dog before him.

“You’ve been fucking unpleasant from the first day I met you.”

“Me?”

This time I frowned.

“I don’t hear that very often...”

“You made a vow.”

Jaeyeon pulled the ring off with her right hand.

Wind whipped through her blonde hair.

The one in female form turned sharply.

“You kissed this ring yourself.”

I watched Jaeyeon walk away.

After climbing a slight incline, she disappeared from view for a moment.

Then, when the scene came into sight, I wasn’t particularly surprised.

I had expected it to some extent. Colton Wiseman did not speak empty words.

Nor had I believed Jaeyeon had conveniently obtained only some drifting memory of the Emperor.

I...

Step.

Though I had never liked the Emperor as a person my entire life...

Step.

“Show proper respect.”

I had sworn loyalty only to him.

And the Emperor knew it.

Because I knelt only before him.

“Your liege stands before you.”

The Emperor was there.

He staggered forward with hollow eyes, then dragged his feet and stopped.

Beautiful sky-blue eyes floated blankly in the air.

I couldn’t hold back a groan.

I had thought it would be either Kysis or the Emperor.

Corpse, broken soul, or intact—I knew someone would come out here to face me.

But preparing yourself and actually facing it are different. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Empty eyes.

The last outfit I had seen him in. Aside from the vacant soul, nothing had changed from the last moment I remembered. It sent chills down my spine.

Amazingly, he was alive. This was that kind of place. You didn’t need to eat or sleep.

Your mind simply wore away until you became something hollow like that.

Hadn’t I nearly ended up the same?

Wasn’t that why Cecil, crying, erased my memories on her own?

“How long have you been here?”

When Kyle, Rei, and I fell to Earth, had the Emperor fallen here as well?

Then what of the last remaining prince and princess?

Grand Duke Jacques.

Kysis?

My liege was not someone who would hand over his memories to anyone.

That was why I had thought the Emperor must have weakened enough to fail resisting Jaeyeon’s memory extraction—or that he had died.

I just hadn’t wanted to confirm it with my own eyes.

Ignoring my question, Jaeyeon approached the Emperor and slid the ring onto the finger of the soulless shell.

Strangely proper in demeanor.

Moving with lowered eyes, flawless even by imperial palace etiquette.

Woom!

The ring took in light.

I let out another groan.

“Your Majesty.”

Jaeyeon spoke in a lilting voice in the imperial tongue.

“Your knight has returned.”

“Your Majesty.”

I called him too, teeth clenched.

“Emperor.”

For the first time in nearly a hundred years, I truly stood before the sovereign of the Empire.