Black Badger

“I had a hamburger not long ago.”

I answered immediately.

The thought that I needed to answer first came to mind, so I didn’t even have the chance to say something like, I’m not Hildebert though. I simply replied like that, then grabbed the leg of the wheeled chair and pulled it closer, hiding about half of my body behind it.

John Mühlen stared down at me.

Slowly, the man set the flowerpot down on the desk.

“That’s unfortunate.”

After saying that, he didn’t move.

We stayed like that for a while. Quietly staring at each other.

Without opening our mouths...

How did he recognize me?

“Why do you need blood?”

What I actually wanted to ask was, How did you know I was Hildebert? But that felt like a terrible self-inflicted trap, so I twisted the question instead.

It probably wouldn’t matter anyway.

Surprisingly, John actually gave me an answer.

“If you’ve already eaten, other data might be better than blood.”

“...I never said I’d give it to you.”

“You’re human, but clearly different from ordinary humans.”

He muttered that as if talking to himself.

I reflexively frowned a little.

So it really was useless.

And I’d heard it earlier too, but I had no idea what he meant by saying I was human.

Ever since arriving on Earth, I had never once thought that I belonged to the same kind as the humans here. The reason was simple—the sixth sense.

At one point I had even thought that perhaps we were more similar to ants than to humans.

Of course, I had completely hidden the existence of that sixth sense from Eve and the others.

—They might have noticed the small ridges along the mastoid bone, but I suspect they simply assumed it was a vestigial structure like a tailbone.—

Because of that, Eve had occasionally said that she wanted to classify me as human.

Whenever she said that, I apparently made such a strange expression that eventually she stopped bringing it up.

She had also said that with time the answer would become clearer, but I hadn’t listened very carefully.

In any case, I thought it was a very strange conclusion.

Perhaps because I had once lost my leaf-vein and barely managed to recover it, the claim sounded even stranger.

On what basis could they possibly...

“...Why did you take this out?”

Thankfully, everyone had been dragged out into the corridor.

I grumbled while staring at the humanoid-Creature detector blinking in front of my gas mask.

The device flashed red and fired its laser, but because it had apparently been muted, it didn’t loudly shout things like Threat detected ahead.

Considering it a small blessing, I watched John’s hand. He calmly set the laser device down on the desk as well.

“And something about this doesn’t add up.”

Naturally, there was no answer.

So once again, I asked the question myself.

While watching Martin crawl along the ceiling toward us now that there was no one left to stop him.

“If you can make a detector that distinguishes humans from humanoid Creatures, that means humanoid Creatures aren’t human, doesn’t it?”

“Not at all.”

John looked at me again.

It was as if he had momentarily forgotten I existed, and only remembered again when I said something so absurd.

“How could you even think that?”

“How could you possibly not understand why someone would think that?”

Conversations with geniuses were, as expected, difficult.

We stared at each other again.

But there was no additional explanation. I wasn’t surprised anymore. I had already given up expecting him to speak at length, so I simply asked the question I was most curious about.

“Why is Hildebert Taleb academically considered human?”

For some reason, I was terrified as I asked it.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted to hear the answer.

I remembered the time when I still couldn’t remember anything.

The moment I was overwhelmed by a desperate urge to know my identity, and accepted John Mühlen’s proposal despite everyone trying to stop me.

That weekend, when I wandered casually into the lab, I watched Martin gradually descend into confusion before going Pshhhht! and overheating into shutdown.

Can Hildebert be defined as human? What is a human? What separates humans from non-humans?

Even Martin had failed to answer that question and crashed.

“...It’s simple.”

The low voice of the genius scientist pulled me back to reality.

“Because you can reproduce.”

My jaw dropped.

What...?

“I realized it the moment I checked William Walker’s genetic data.”

“Wil—... ah, you got that information during the epidemic...”

“Don’t you know the most basic biological classification method?”

Inside the gas mask, I blinked and slowly nodded.

I didn’t know that.

“A species is a group composed of natural populations capable of interbreeding, reproductively isolated from other species. In other words, a species must form a closed gene pool.”

“...What?”

“It means they can reproduce with each other, willingly engage in reproduction, and the offspring produced that way are themselves capable of reproduction.”

“Ah.”

“Since all those conditions are satisfied, humanoid Creatures are simply one species of human.”

John Mühlen said it in a tone that wasn’t even particularly firm.

To him, this wasn’t some grand declaration.

Just an obvious fact.

“To be precise, they are human.”

“...But there are enormous differences.”

“I don’t know which difference you’re trying to bring up, but at the genetic level it won’t be as large as you think. And apparently there aren’t any particular issues with reproduction either.”

“Gah!”

I screamed without meaning to.

I know he was making an academic statement.

But that’s not exactly a comfortable topic!

Feeling blood rush to my ears, I lowered my gaze diagonally. John, however, probably didn’t even notice that I had screamed.

Strangely more talkative than usual, John continued explaining step by step.

“Of course, if we had more data, we could make a much more precise judgment.”

“...Does that mean the conclusion could change?”

“The probability is extremely low.”

He simply said what he wanted to say.

“Do you have children?”

I shook my head blankly.

The gray-haired scientist made a disappointed hmm sound.

Meanwhile, Martin drifted down beside us...

“Do you plan to?”

“No!”

Thank heavens I was wearing a gas mask.

“Thank you for the explanation. I’ll be going now!”

[Hello!]

A spherical AI popped up in front of me as I crawled out from under the desk.

Behind the black lens, a yellow light blinked.

It was the artificial intelligence that looked exactly the same as before—an old model hanging from the ceiling, about the size of a human head.

I tensed immediately, worried Martin—still the beloved mascot of the Science Wing—might suddenly shout my name.

But before I could say anything, Martin spoke in a clear voice.

[The answer I once worried about—I know it now.]

Halfway out from under the desk, stuck in an awkward position, I stared blankly at Martin.

A strong emotion rose inside me, but I couldn’t quite identify what it was.

Perhaps because I refused to look at it too closely.

[Through information received from Father, I was able to reach a definitive conclusion.]

I wanted to cover my ears.

[Though there may be differences, Hildebert Taleb is made of carbon.]

I also wanted to punch the version of myself who had asked that question a few minutes ago.

[An entity belonging to a conscious group—one that makes mistakes due to incomplete knowledge, yet can still make correct decisions with that same incomplete knowledge.]

I didn’t want to become human.

[And through the accumulation of those right and wrong choices made at every moment, inevitably reaches death.]

I had tried to love humans.

And in the end, I had become someone who did.

Even though I regretted it.

[In other words, human.]

Martin said brightly.

Unlike before, the old spherical body rotated very slowly.

Perhaps understanding my situation to some extent, the AI didn’t say things like It’s good to see you again or I’m glad you came back alive.

Instead, it simply said this.

[Hildebert Taleb is human.]

I ran out of the laboratory.

***

After spending some time in the restroom, I came to my senses.

“Hmm.”

My violently shaken mental stability returned.

“They’ll probably revise the criteria for defining species soon anyway.”

The standard is strange.

They must still be using old classification rules °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° because they’ve never encountered extraterrestrials before.

Wouldn’t the definition of species get updated now?

Thinking along those lines, I put the gas mask back on.

I didn’t want to dig deeper into the scientific implications of what Martin and John had just told me.

I didn’t even want to think about it.

I had too many things to do.

This wasn’t the time to suffer an existential identity crisis.

I had already asked Yoow and Igor to receive urgent information on my behalf while I was here.

When I ran into the restroom earlier, the people quietly waiting for me in the corridor had looked shocked, their faces turning pale as they watched me bolt past them.

That was understandable.

Even I was surprised by how violently I had reacted to something that was technically just a declaration.

Fortunately, the mysterious extreme reaction didn’t last long.

Now I was truly fine.

What kind of real impact could the concept of a specific word have on reality anyway?

Whether I was included in the category of human or not changed nothing.

I am me.

Kyle is Kyle.

Rei is dead.

Reality is that simple.

Get a grip.

Shaa—

After washing my hands, I put on latex gloves.

Fortunately, the restroom was empty. I checked in the mirror to make sure no skin was exposed.

Can’t see anything.

Satisfied with the disguise, I left the restroom.

John probably didn’t even know that I was presumed dead, so he wouldn’t tell anyone he had seen me.

Time to leave.

Since I hadn’t received any calls, nothing major had happened yet.

I’d done plenty of questionable things to my subordinates lately, so I should hurry back and—

“Don’t you need to go to the hospitals?”

A familiar voice spoke.

“You never know when we’ll get called again, so rest while you have time. Especially you, Ju.”

“I’m fine now. I’ve recovered.”

The smell of sandstorm drifted over.

I froze in the corridor.

Standing there were seniors who hadn’t even changed out of their combat uniforms.

They had clearly just returned through a portal.

Some of them had tried to wipe themselves clean, but traces of dirt and dried blood still clung to them.

Wearing their black combat suits, they stood gathered in the middle of the long corridor, talking.

Every one of them was someone I knew.

Yehyeon. Ju. Ricardo. Jonathan. Will.

The group that had gone to Core5.

In many ways, people with overwhelming presence.

I didn’t move.

I didn’t dare call out to them.

I didn’t dare walk past them either.

“Hmm?”

As I stood there blankly for a moment, Ricardo turned his head.

The tall man spotted me standing in the middle of the corridor.

I stared back at his green eyes through the gas mask.

We stared at each other for a while.

Like a deer and a car meeting on an open road.

Ricardo broke the strange standoff.

“Disinfection?”

I flinched.

But I quickly pulled myself together and nodded.

“Heading to the chemistry lab?”

Nod nod.

“If you walk straight to the end of the corridor, you’ll get there...”

I dipped my head slightly.

Then I started walking.

Trying not to look at the Badgers gathered together.

Trying to make sure no one except Ricardo noticed me.

I even softened my footsteps.

Pressing myself close to the wall, rustling quietly as I walked down the corridor.

Strangely, there were no other people around.

Maybe everyone had been called to Personnel.

Or maybe they’d gotten scolded and gone home.

The corridor was so empty it felt chilly.

Still, I couldn’t be sure there was absolutely no one around.

So it seemed wiser to postpone revealing my identity and greeting anyone.

I walked like an ordinary disinfection worker.

Fortunately, Ricardo was looking at his phone instead of me.

Just pass naturally.

Quietly while they’re distracted.

Quickly...

Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzz.

The phone in the pocket of my hazmat suit began vibrating.

I hadn’t turned off vibration in case Yoow, Ska, or even a suddenly repentant Kairos contacted me.

Why now?!

Screaming internally, I tried to walk faster.

More precisely—

I tried to.

BOOOOM!

“Wah!”

An arm suddenly appeared in my vision.

The wall shattered. Cracks spiderwebbed across it. The owner of the arm had slammed their hand against it at tremendous speed.

I screamed reflexively.

Chunks of broken wall fell.

An arm braced against the cracked wall.

The combat operative who owned that arm didn’t move.

Staring blankly at it, I slowly raised my gaze.

People.

Humans blocking my path forward and backward.

Black Badgers who had already turned their heads and were staring directly at me.

“Chemistry lab my ass...”

My body began trembling.

Ricardo’s green eyes curved sharply.

“You look busy.”