Black Badger

Both of them were seniors I had never formally introduced myself to before.

They reached me almost at the same time.

And then they both grabbed my arm.

“I got him first!”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

The two seniors glared at each other.

“Taleb is our precious team member!”

“I even liked Taleb’s promo video. What does it matter if teams were assigned randomly?”

[Drone analysis confirms that Player Lester arrived first!]

They’re even using drone judgment for something like this.

[Player Mori will need to find another participant!]

“Good.”

The senior named Lester immediately yanked me away as soon as the announcement ended.

I blinked as I was dragged out of the team waiting zone. The player called Mori cursed under his breath and ran off somewhere else, urgently shouting Giacomo Ro’s name.

“Do I just run with you?”

“Don’t waste your energy on pointless questions.”

Just as I was about to follow Lester, William spoke.

“You’re scheduled for dodgeball.”

“Carry him while you run.”

Leeho added a comment as well.

From the corner, Chen’s voice rang out as he smoked.

“Yeah, damn it, like Jake!”

Well, this much is fine.

I didn’t even have ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) time to answer. Lester said he had been planning that anyway and suddenly hoisted me onto his back.

Then, without giving me any real explanation, he sprinted across the field.

“Senior, but I seriously don’t know anything about weapon modification!”

The fierce wind rushed past my ears.

The Badger I was seeing for the first time today—Lester—shouted back loudly.

“I know! It doesn’t matter!”

Why?

“Because you’re Choi Yun’s assistant!”

“Ah.”

“Everyone will accept that, right?”

Lester ran straight toward the “Answer Submission Machine” placed along the “Let’s Get Closer!” obstacle course.

If you gave the correct answer to the question displayed on the screen, the next runner could start.

Most were multiple choice, but there were also subjective questions.

If someone submitted an answer so bad it provoked boos, the runner would have to go find a new person...

Scientists were too far away, and no one had the nerve to go directly to Yun, so that’s why they came to me.

John Mühlen would probably be in the ambulance.

When we reached the machine, a strange question appeared on the screen.

[The K-LUCOM237, used as a primary combat drone by Black Badgers, shows a circular error probability within □ meters. You want to reduce this error slightly.]

It was multiple choice.

How am I supposed to know this?

“Could you ask someone for me?”

Lester asked very politely.

“If Choi Yun is too scary, maybe another scientist?”

“Yun hasn’t been seen since this morning.”

I just made a call.

If he didn’t pick up, should I call Natsu in the lab?

I considered it, but Yun answered immediately.

[Number 2.]

He replied while I was still reading the options, then hung up.

That’s very like him.

I relayed the answer, and a ‘Correct!’ signal appeared.

At that moment, the second question for the next runner appeared on the screen.

[It’s Halloween. You want to carve a complex face using a slightly blunt kitchen knife. Who would you ask to help you carve a pumpkin?]

“Taleb!”

Huh?

Now that my role as a human baton was over, I was about to quietly slip away from the course when someone called me again.

“Let’s go!”

What?

A senior whose name I didn’t know ran toward me.

She had clearly dashed out from the Snake-Eagle team, and before I could even properly ask “What?”, she grabbed me.

“Taleeeeb!”

Lester, who had just been catching his breath, reached out to grab me back—but he was too late.

“Kim Hyun-kyung! Give Taleb back!”

The Badger called Kim Hyun-kyung completely ignored Lester’s shout.

She sprinted off, and I let out a flustered voice as I dangled over the shoulder of a senior who was at least 20 cm shorter than me.

“Senior? Are you sure you got the right person?”

“Yes! Help me carve a pumpkin!”

“Hey!”

Giacomo’s voice came from behind.

“Childe is on our team! Our team!”

“Don’t drag off an injured guy!”

Surprisingly, I could also hear Leeho shouting angrily.

“He’s still a patient!”

Our team seniors protested strongly.

But since I was being carried away, I didn’t particularly resist. There wasn’t any rule saying you had to pick from your own team anyway.

And since I was just being carried, it wasn’t like I was losing stamina.

On top of the second answer submission machine, there was an actual pumpkin and a knife.

“Should I help?!”

“I’ll just do it myself.”

I replied as I picked up the pumpkin, which already had a bizarre face drawn on it.

“I just carve it like this, right?”

The mouth is really jagged.

I quickly finished carving the pumpkin. The knife was blunt as stated, but it wasn’t dull enough to not cut.

I’m not good at drawing, but cutting along an existing design is easy.

When I lifted the finished pumpkin and showed it, people let out exclamations.

On the giant screen, the evaluation ‘EXCELLENT!’ appeared.

“Thanks so much!”

The senior who carried me gave a thumbs-up.

“Sorry for making you run while you’re still recovering. Want me to take you back?”

“Huh? No, it’s fine. I’m not in that bad of a condition.”

“What is that?”

As I declined and turned to go back, I heard people reacting in surprise.

“Who is that?”

I looked up at the screen.

And immediately understood why they were reacting like that.

Two photos of children were displayed.

Above them, glowing text read: ‘Who are these people?’

Both were black-haired boys.

The boy in the right photo was smiling brightly, whipped cream smeared on his nose.

The boy in the left photo stood stiffly with a school bag, between what looked like two younger siblings.

Good grief.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the photo of the boy with whipped cream on his nose.

“To think you could smile like that...”

“What?”

Giacomo Ro’s voice sounded.

“What are these kids?”

“Who are they?”

Even the senior called Kim Hyun-kyung clutched her head.

“I’m Asian, and even I have no idea who they are!”

“What?”

What are they talking about?

I turned to her, confused.

“Don’t they look exactly the same as they do now?”

“What?”

She blinked at me.

“You know who they are? Oh, I guess they’re seniors I don’t know.”

“What?”

There’s no way you wouldn’t know.

“I don’t think either of you wouldn’t recognize them...”

“Aaah!”

Ami’s scream rang out from somewhere.

“I know!”

I couldn’t understand why everyone was so confused.

The smiling boy was Jonathan, and the one standing between his siblings was Ju.

It’s obvious. You can tell just by looking at their features.

Their expressions are unfamiliar, sure, but not to the point you wouldn’t recognize them.

Anyway, the Snake-Eagle team recovered first.

Ami grabbed Jonathan’s arm and sprinted toward the third answer input station.

“Drag out the Personnel Director! The Personnel Director!”

[Waaah~.]

Meanwhile, our team ran toward the platform a beat too late.

Ju was laughing as he was dragged along by one of our team members, sprinting across the field.

[It’s been a long time since we’ve seen these photos~.]

The third course ended with the Snake-Eagle team scoring.

The moment Ami cleared the third zone with Jonathan, the next photos popped up.

A beautiful blond baby with blue eyes, and a handsome four-year-old-looking child staring sullenly at the camera.

The latter was obviously Choi Yun.

“Where’s my brother?!”

Ami jumped up and down, shouting.

“My youngest brother! Choi Yun! Ah! He’s coming over! Guys! Drag my brother out!”

“Who’s the blond one?”

As I walked toward the Black Mamba team, I heard people muttering.

“Is it a girl or a boy?”

These people are hopeless.

I stared at them in disbelief as they struggled over something so obvious.

But most of our team couldn’t figure out who the blond baby was.

Of course, there was the very obvious answer—Choi Yun—but no one dared run toward him.

I heard a few seniors from our team try to tell me to go, only to be stopped.

Most of them just grabbed their heads, thinking about the other photo.

“Is it Babi?”

“Hey, that has to be it! That’s a girl!”

“Winter!”

That was their conclusion.

“Let’s go!”

“Huh?”

Bobby, who had been dragged out by a senior, frowned as she looked at the baby photo.

“Is that me? I’ve never seen a photo like that...”

I watched the situation with disbelief.

But no one stopped them from running with Bobby. Instead, they even cheered them on to hurry before the Snake-Eagle team gathered the courage to approach Yun.

This is hopeless.

I shook my head once, then walked toward the actual owner of the photo.

No, this person clearly knows it’s their own photo—shouldn’t they have said something to their teammates?

Sure, it might be embarrassing to raise your hand, but still...

“Senior.”

I stood next to Trevain.

“Let’s go.”

Trevain, who had been standing with his arms crossed and a sour expression, rolled his eyes toward me.

Ignoring the shocked gasps behind him, he stared at me for a moment before turning his head and clicking his tongue.

“That Personnel Director bastard...”

Then he casually picked me up like a sack of hay.

“Doesn’t he know what portrait rights are?”

“Senior.”

Shouldn’t I be the one carrying him?

Anyway, accepting my fate, I was carried along as I lectured him.

“You shouldn’t say things like that.”

Those born after the First War wouldn’t understand his grumbling.

Without even scoffing, Trevain ran to the end of the third course.

Amid the crowd’s cries, the correct answer was declared.

After that, the photo-guessing game continued several more times, and the second obstacle relay ended with the Snake-Eagle team’s victory.

On our team, I was good at recognizing faces, while on the opposing team, Ami stood out—but she clearly had a much wider network than I did, so she got more correct answers.

By the time the photo quiz reached the end, our team seniors were all looking at me, but...

Experience makes the difference.

Anyway, the morning events finally ended, and lunchtime arrived.

“You’re popular~.”

Only after getting my back pounded repeatedly by my teammates was I able to go eat lunch.

Ricardo, who was sitting under the tent reserved implicitly for third-term and above seniors, smirked.

“You got worked hard all morning... shouldn’t you rest in the afternoon~?”

“It wasn’t that tiring.”

I walked over to the spot Ami was gesturing for me to sit.

“I didn’t even run myself.”

“Hilde, eat a lot!”

Ami smiled brightly.

“There’s no Lexic noodles, but I ordered a lot of tasty stuff!”

I had lunch with Ricardo, Ami, Jack, and Jonathan.

Yun lazily walked over to where we were gathered, said he had already eaten, and just sat there looking sullen.

Apparently he’d been in the lab all morning.

“Why did you come so late?”

When I grumbled, Yun, who sat next to me with an indifferent expression, raised an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t have come at all if Yehyeon hadn’t nagged me to participate in at least one event.”

“So you are participating?”

“Under pressure from cohabitants.”

What a way to put it.

I was used to it by now, so I didn’t mind.

“What events are you and Ricardo participating in?”

The remaining ones were volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball.

All ball sports. Especially volleyball and basketball—they followed traditional rules, so you couldn’t game the system, and people got very excited about them.

Neither of them seemed like they liked balls much, so I thought they’d join in the morning if anything...

Yun answered easily.

“Dodgeball.”

“Ah.”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re playing dodgeball, Yun?”

“Me too~.”

Ricardo added casually.

“Senior Trevain will probably join that too...”

“Oh? Do you all like dodgeball?”

“Dodgeball is popular because you can just stand still during the match.”

Ami explained while chewing.

“So seniors who find sports day annoying grab those spots first! Some people even used to deliberately get hit so they could go out early. Now that gives penalty points, so nobody does it anymore.”

What kind of reason is that?

If that’s the case, why participate at all?

I looked back and forth between Yun and Ricardo in disbelief, but both of them shamelessly continued eating.

After finishing lunch, they threw out a few remarks about not overexerting myself, joked around a bit, and then left to smoke.

Ricardo dragged Jonathan along.

Yun dragged Yehyeon, who had come over for sticky rice cake.

I stared blankly at their backs as they headed toward the smoking area.

“But that means those two are my opponents in dodgeball...”

So that’s why people were saying that earlier...

I muttered to myself, unable to answer the puzzled looks from Kairos and Ami.

“Well... I’m still sick, so maybe they’ll go easy on me...?”

***

BOOOOM!

When the final event of the afternoon—dodgeball—began,

the moment I saw a dodgeball that could punch a hole into the ground,

I realized once again that I had been completely mistaken.