Black Badger

Ricardo’s house had that distinctive scent unique to his place.

As soon as we stepped inside, the lights turned on automatically.

The house revealed itself under soft lighting.

Looking at the immaculate interior that entered my view, I let out a small sound of admiration.

“It somehow feels even bigger.”

“It actually is~.”

Ricardo came in after me and hung his coat on the rack.

“It’s late, so sleep over~. I can’t be bothered driving you all the way back to the cabin....”

“I can just call a taxi on the app and head back....”

Mid-sentence, I caught Ricardo smiling and immediately snapped my mouth shut.

The narrowed green eyes curved in satisfaction.

“Yeah~. Good judgment....”

“...I’m truly sorry for imposing so suddenly.”

I shrank in on myself, not even daring to insist on going back.

“I really didn’t mean for this to happen....”

Ricardo laughed lightly.

Then he told me he would bring out some tea and that I could look around freely in the meantime.

He also told me to bring the cane inside.

Not to do anything stupid like leave it standing by the entrance.

When I ignored his advice and tried to walk in on my own two feet, my senior let out a heavy sigh, brought over wet wipes, and scrubbed the bottom of the cane clean.

“There. Happy now?”

I surrendered and took hold of the cane.

Slowly, I walked into the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ sleek house.

I wonder when my stamina will come back.

I’ve even put off the games I wanted to play and have been focusing only on recovery.

If Samuel Han heard that, he’d probably say I had no conscience at all, but I still found myself wishing I could recover faster as I looked around Ricardo’s home.

And the moment I finished looking around, one thought hit me.

I’m screwed.

I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to buy.

I thought actually seeing the house in person would give me some inspiration, but instead of inspiration, all I felt was overwhelmed.

What am I even supposed to add to this perfect aesthetic?

Yehyeon was right.

No matter what I picked, there was no way it would meet Ricardo’s standards.

It would probably just turn into some awkward item he didn’t know what to do with.

I stared blankly at the ivory leather sofa that matched the house perfectly.

Every single piece of furniture looks insanely expensive....

The green-eyed senior set tea down on the table in front of the sofa.

“Oolong tea Jonathan Kudo gave me~....”

“Thank you.”

Still staring at the sofa, I muttered,

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“What are you staring at like that?”

Ricardo crossed his arms instead of going back to the kitchen.

“Still clinging to that bizarre ambition of gifting me furniture?”

I pressed my lips into a straight line and glanced sideways at him.

Maybe my expression amused him, because Ricardo burst out laughing.

That’s just cruel.

“Sunbae, please let me give you something.”

I turned to him with a sulky look.

“Honestly, if you don’t let me give you at least something, I’m going to be a little hurt.”

“You don’t have any money~.”

How can he say something so brutal?

“You said you were about to buy groceries and then gave up because you had no money....”

“No, how far exactly did that rumor spread...? I’m actually pretty good at making money when I want to be. For some reason, nobody seems willing to believe that, though.”

“What was it again...? You said poker~? I know you’re good, but if that goes wrong, it’ll ruin your life....”

“I’m filming commercials.”

The moment I shared the future plan I had only mentioned to a few people, Ricardo blinked.

Then a faint crease appeared between his brows, and I had a pretty good idea why.

He’s thinking about the Lexic noodles ad.

I corrected it quickly.

“Not short YouTube ads like the Lexic noodles one. I spoke briefly with Personnel Director Ju, and I think I’ll probably choose from the offers that won’t damage the Black Badger image.”

“In your current condition?”

I thought he’d ask what offers had come in, but instead he asked something else.

I gave a bitter smile.

“After I recover. For now I’m focusing on healing.”

“A wise choice....”

He handed me a change of clothes.

A black T-shirt and dark gray cotton pants.

Looking closer, I noticed the Black Badger emblem stamped across the back of the shirt.

It was obvious it had never been worn.

After smiling a little, I washed up quickly and came back out.

Then I sat on the sofa and slowly took off my top.

“When’s the wound in your heart supposed to heal?”

As I took off my shirt and sluggishly pushed my arms into the T-shirt, my senior asked the question.

I laughed quietly.

The first time we drove swords through each other’s hearts, scars like this hadn’t remained.

Aura Blades really were on a different level.

Across my chest remained a scar like the talons of a hawk, left behind by Kyle Zargal’s Aura Blade.

Samuel Han had said that scar would never disappear.

Strangely enough, I was a little glad.

Because it was a trace left behind by Kyle, who had now gone somewhere so far away I could no longer even sense his presence.

The black starstone might disappear someday.

But the scar left over my heart would remain by my side all this time.

Did a scar like this remain on you too?

I knew perfectly well that this was something I could never say to anyone else.

After pulling the T-shirt on properly, I answered,

“They said it’ll take some time. But every time, I’ve been recovering faster than the doctor predicted.”

Ricardo didn’t answer.

Instead, he stared at the scar that was now hidden beneath the shirt.

“Rick.”

“Be careful for a while?”

The words I had been about to say came out of his mouth first.

My eyes widened in surprise, and Ricardo snorted.

“You say that every single time.... Fine~. I’ll take care of myself, so stop worrying so much~.”

“...I’m sorry. There’s a very high chance nothing will happen, and I’ll make sure it stays that way, but there’s no harm in being cautious.”

“Didn’t you say you’d taken your hands off it?”

The sharp question came from my senior.

That too was unexpected, and the hand unfastening my watch paused.

“Whatever all of that was.... I thought it was over.”

“...I wanted that too, but this time someone came up kicking like an unruly colt.”

Even though I phrased it vaguely, Ricardo understood immediately.

He was that kind of person.

That was exactly why I didn’t want to tell him more.

He would grasp the whole situation instantly and then carry the stress of knowing it.

Especially now that he was close with Ska Owen, who now sat in the Supreme Commander’s seat.

“I’ve already spoken properly with someone seasoned, so it should be fine.”

I quickly added that to smooth out the crease in my senior’s brow.

“I just said it because I’ve become timid lately.”

“Yeah.... Whatever it is, it’s better than last time~. So you stop worrying too~.”

“Yes.”

I smiled as I set my watch on the table in front of the sofa.

“Rick, please forget everything that happened after the performance today too.”

Ricardo didn’t press further and let the topic go.

The new house still had a guest room.

His new place was closer to headquarters than before.

But the neighborhood atmosphere felt similar to the last one.

The surroundings were quiet, the streets neat.

A little further out there was a decent grocery store, and even a park peaceful enough for quiet walks.

There’s even an LP player in the house.

I thought if he didn’t have one, I could buy that for him.

But after looking more closely, I just wilted at the sight of the perfectly installed sound system.

“Why don’t you just go in and sleep?”

I nodded gloomily.

“Have you been sleeping properly these days?”

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all I do lately is sleep.”

“Good attitude.... I was out until yesterday too, so I’m short on sleep myself....”

Oof.

Not wanting to disturb his rest, I quickly straightened up my suit.

After roughly hanging the clothes I had worn on the hanger he gave me, Ricardo once again muttered that I should please dress like this more often.

I looked at him uncertainly.

“Do I usually look that much of a mess?”

“I didn’t even know you could dress like this~....”

Ricardo muttered as he lazily walked toward his bedroom.

“I should drop by that cabin sometime and burn everything there clean out....”

...Why the cabin?

Burn?

Burn what?

My clothes, surely not?

I stared at my senior with wide eyes, but he vanished without answering.

I couldn’t exactly stop him when he was going off to sleep, so in the end I crawled into the guest room without ever fully understanding what he had meant.

***

I woke up once in the middle of the night.

More precisely, Ricardo had lightly woken me.

Blinking in the darkness, I realized I had been dreaming.

Warm light spilled through the crack in the open door.

Backlit by the amber glow, I couldn’t make out my senior’s expression.

But I knew he was sensitive about sleep and liked sleeping in comfortably on his days off.

Even without knowing what time it was, guilt flooded in.

“I’m sorry.”

I mumbled into the bed.

“Was I noisy? The guest room is pretty far, so I thought it’d be okay....”

“I was already awake~.”

Ricardo’s cool reply came back.

“Go back to sleep....”

I think he muttered something more after that, but I was already sinking back into sleep before I could hear it.

By the time I dragged myself out after waking again, it was already lunchtime.

Ricardo was even cooking in the kitchen.

I really am a hopeless junior.

Thinking that, I washed up quickly and approached him awkwardly.

“Can I help?”

“You?”

That’s just mean.

“What time did I wake you up, Rick?”

“Quit asking useless questions and set the table~.”

“And was Leeho Chang your vice-assistant, sunbae?”

I stood beside him and refused to back down.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ricardo’s hand, which had been finishing the cooking, stopped for a moment.

He looked at me silently with those green eyes.

“Why would I tell you that~? When did you ever ask?”

“...I didn’t.”

“Exactly.”

My senior answered.

“So now I’m supposed to guess what you never asked and answer that too?”

Terrifying.

The sharpness in his tone instantly had me putting on the face of a junior who knew he’d messed up.

“No, sir. My mistake, sunbae. I’ll set the table right away.”

Ricardo snorted and finished the cooking.

The menu was pasta with zucchini.

As always, the smell was incredible.

Even without tasting it, I could already tell it would be unbelievably good.

I smacked my lips as I looked at the pasta being set on the table.

The senior sat across from me, his sharpness now softened.

“Eat~....”

Ricardo said lazily.

“Ami’s coming to pick you up later.... The moment she heard you were here, she started making a fuss asking why you’d sleep at my house but not hers~.”

“Ah, Ami’s coming over here?”

“Ami doesn’t come into my house.”

Ricardo said with a crooked smile.

“Today too, she’ll probably just pick you up and leave....”

“Huh? Why?”

When I asked in confusion, Ricardo lowered his head and chuckled.

But once again, he didn’t give me a clear answer.

After laughing for a bit, he only told me to ask her myself if I was so curious.

Still blinking in confusion, I kept eating the pasta diligently.

I was curious, but the pasta in front of me was simply too delicious.

Lexic pasta was definitely good too, but Ricardo’s pasta was still the best.

He was the kind of master who could even make lemon pasta taste rich without being sour.

Of course, if I told him it was better than Lexic pasta, he probably wouldn’t be pleased at all....

I was happily devouring the pasta when my phone alarm went off.

Without thinking much, I glanced at the screen.

Then I shouted.

“AAH!”

Ricardo lifted his head and arched a brow at me.

But I couldn’t immediately answer his “What now all of a sudden?”

I quickly put down my utensils, tapped the top-bar notification, and opened the app.

The moment the popup appeared, I shouted,

“Rick! The sports festival team assignments are out!”

“Ah~. I thought it was something serious....”

Ricardo’s expression instantly turned flat.

Just as I was about to tap the popup, I widened my eyes a little and looked at my green-eyed senior.

He didn’t look remotely interested in picking up the phone lying on the table.

“Aren’t you curious, Rick?”

“Not really....”

“Why not? Wouldn’t it be nice if you ended up on the same team as Jonathan or me?”

“Am I really at the seniority level where I need to run around breathing in dust at a sports festival?”

I stared blankly at Ricardo, my jaw dropping.