Black Badger

PAAANG!

They started targeting Kai and Ruta.

PANG! BANG!

“Take those two out first.”

It was Yun’s order, spoken for the first time after spending the whole match silently dodging and throwing.

“Leave only Hildebert and Trevain.”

That really did sound like something a true villain would say....

But there was no room to complain. The senior members on the opposing side who had already been eliminated were hurling balls like mad, so there wasn’t even a chance to speak.

The rallies came so fast that even the cloud of kicked-up sand blurred our vision.

For a while, we couldn’t catch a single ball.

“Ah!”

The one who finally managed to catch one was Ruta.

But it wasn’t a perfect catch. The ball bounced off his hands, flew upward, then dropped back into his arms.

PHEEEE!

“Ha.... Sorry.”

He roughly scratched the back of his head, sounding regretful.

After handing the ball to Trevain, Ruta lightly tapped Kai’s shoulder and stepped out of the court.

Eliminated players attacking from outside the enemy court no longer had to care about bracelet colors.

That made the eliminated players outside our court even more threatening than the ones still inside it.

The other team was in the same situation.

Holding the ball Ruta had caught, Trevain studied the opposing team for a moment.

“So that leaves two blue and one red.”

The blond senior slowly walked toward the center line with the ball in hand.

I obediently followed after him.

The blond man briefly glanced at Sophia, who was widening the distance, and at Asil, who had also tried to back away but failed because Yun hadn’t moved.

But then he withdrew his gaze and walked into the corner of the court with the ball still in hand.

“For now, don’t let the eliminated bastards pass the ball around and bring it over to this side.”

Trevain jerked his chin toward the nearest eliminated player, Leeho.

“Take it. And don’t stop throwing until one of those three is out.”

“Yes, sir.”

Leeho answered crisply as he approached to receive the dodgeball.

Snatching it away in the middle of the handoff would’ve been one ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) way to deal with it.

But since the one holding the ball was Jason Trevain, nobody even dared try something like that.

Yun probably could have.

But he didn’t seem interested in going that far.

So Trevain calmly lowered the dodgeball onto Leeho’s waiting hand—

THUD!

Trevain’s hand moved so fast it was almost invisible.

The ball shot under Leeho’s hand and struck its target before bouncing away.

Namely, Sophia’s knee.

Sophia’s eyes widened.

“Sunbae.”

Even I gaped in shock.

Everyone did. Silent horror spread across every face, and even Yun blinked as he looked at Jason Trevain.

Trevain hadn’t thrown a single ball at a female Badger since the match started!

And honestly, I’d thought he would keep it that way. Even while keeping her distance, Sophia probably never imagined the ball would really come flying at her.

I’d also assumed he would never target Sophia before eliminating Asil first....

PHEEEE!

As everyone froze in stunned silence, the whistle sharply announced the elimination.

Sophia picked up the ball by her feet.

“I didn’t expect you to throw at me.”

She smiled softly, spinning the ball in one hand.

For some reason, she looked a little pleased.

“Am I not a woman to you, sunbae?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Trevain grumbled as he stepped back from the center line.

He was already preparing himself for the next attack.

“It barely even looked like it hit.”

“My body is trembling at your passion for victory.”

Yun said dryly after Sophia handed him the ball.

“It’s a pity only now that you’re a different color.”

“You should be grateful we’re different colors. That’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

Trevain shot back immediately.

“If we’d been the same color, you’d already be outside the court.”

Yun snorted, then tossed the ball toward Kai.

BOOOOM! The ball started flying again. Snake-Eagle Team faithfully carried out Yun’s order. They began attacking Kai like mad. Since the attacks were coming from eliminated players, I couldn’t even step in and take the hits for him.

BANG! BOOOOM! BANG!

“Ha, shit!”

Trevain clicked his tongue in irritation.

“Kai!”

I tried to cut in and catch the rain of balls mid-flight.

But because I was linked to Trevain, my movements were restricted, making it difficult.

One wrong hit to the fingers and I’d be out.

PAAANG!

Kai dodged well.

He rolled all over the court to evade the balls, but in the end, he met the same fate as Ruta Ayer.

The ball clipped his fingers and flew into the air.

“Catch it!”

Leeho shouted.

Without hesitation, I sprinted after the ball.

I dashed across the court and threw my arm out.

My body tilted at a sharper angle than forty-five degrees as I snatched the ball.

The seniors on the opposite side shouted.

“Out of bounds! Out of bounds!”

“What are you talking about? He’s safe! Look at his feet!”

Ignoring the uproar, I hugged the ball tightly.

Then I stayed still as Trevain yanked on the bracelet cord and pulled my body upright from its forty-five-degree tilt.

Thanks to the bracelet stretching, I avoided going out of bounds.

More precisely, thanks to Trevain holding firm.

Both my feet remained balanced at the very edge of the court.

“...You really want to win, huh~.”

Ricardo’s drained voice reached me.

“Your body’s not even doing well, so shouldn’t you take it easy~?”

“I’m not overdoing it.”

I answered obediently as I handed the ball to Trevain.

PAAANG!

Soon, Asil was eliminated too.

That made it a two-on-one situation. Our team had Jason and me. The opposing team had only Yun.

Yun was holding the ball.

Sasu tossed the ball up and down in one hand while calmly assessing the situation.

“It’ll be more entertaining if the blue one goes first.”

Yun caught the ball as it dropped from the air.

“If it’s one red and one blue left, it drags on and gets boring.”

“Try it.”

Trevain sneered.

“Not that you’ll be able to do anything.”

Right. Yun was red.

So if he meant to hit Trevain first, did that mean he planned to pass the ball to the eliminated players?

Then I’d have to try stealing it during the transfer.

I briefly shifted my gaze to check the positions of the eliminated players.

That was the moment Yun fired.

TAAANG!

I reflexively moved out of the possible trajectory.

But there had been no need.

Yun had thrown the ball directly at Jason Trevain.

“Maknae oppa!”

Violence under the pretense of dodgeball?

Watching the ball slam into Trevain’s forearm with a tremendous sound, I thought exactly that—and apparently I wasn’t the only one.

Ami’s voice rang out from the stands.

“You can’t hit people just because it’s dodgeball!”

“It’s coming—catch it!”

“Sh—”

Things suddenly moved fast.

The dodgeball bounced uselessly off Trevain’s arm and shot high into the sky.

The ball rose so high it blocked the sunlight, then began descending in a parabola.

Everyone tilted their heads back to catch it.

No one took their eyes off it for even a moment.

I also ran after Trevain as he sprinted toward the falling ball.

Then, for an instant, I felt something off.

What was that?

Still unable to identify the strange sensation that had brushed past me in that split second, I blinked.

What had just bothered me?

In my focused state, everything around me felt like slow motion.

But even as Trevain leapt off the ground to catch the ball, I still couldn’t identify the sensation.

Watching the many hands reaching for the ball, I frowned faintly.

That just now was different from random pain or some strange glitch.

It felt more like battle instinct.

.

But I wasn’t sensing killing intent, nor did I hear anything approaching.

What is it?

The moment I thought that, Trevain leapt into the air and snapped his wrist, smacking the ball away.

The instant he judged the angle impossible to catch, he decided to simply swat it away.

“You bastard!”

TAAANG!

The ball shot out of the court at terrifying speed.

Toward the audience stands protected by the small Core.

Wow, first time it’s ever flown that far during a match—

Ah.

PHEEEEE!

Ju blew the whistle urgently.

At the same time, Jonathan’s sharp shout rang out.

“The Core!”

The Core protecting the spectators was gone.

“It’s stopped working!”

So that was it.

What had bothered me was how unusually clear the audience stands looked.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I watched the ball fly toward the spectators.

Jonathan and the others were already running, but the physical distance was too—

TAAANG!

The dodgeball burst in midair.

It was Yehyeon’s bullet.

Fragments of the shattered ball scattered down over the team members’ heads.

Chaos erupted.

[We will temporarily suspend the match!]

Ju announced.

[Audience members, please remain calm and follow staff instructions!]

“Ju!”

I shouted as I ran toward the stands.

“Creature!”

I locked onto the monster that was moving strangely against my sixth sense.

What shot into the sky was the apple-type Creature we had seen earlier that morning. It rose, then dove straight toward the now-unprotected audience.

RATATATAT!

Yehyeon and Ju’s gunfire pierced through the Creature.

But that wasn’t the end.

A flock of bird-shaped Creatures suddenly descended from the sky.

Their movements are too strange.

The moment I saw them moving in perfect unison, I thought of only one thing.

It looked exactly like someone was controlling them.

What?

There shouldn’t be any of my kin left who would pull something like this.

I attempted control interference to confirm it.

While staring at the pouring swarm—

CRACKLE!

Just as I thought.

A faint sound escaped me as I frowned.

Control interference really is insane.

For it to succeed, the one attempting it had to vastly surpass the original controller in skill.

Otherwise, the backlash came crashing in like this.

I clicked my tongue bitterly as I watched the flock.

Who is it?

TAAANG! RATATATAT!

The only fortunate thing was that the things pouring from the sky weren’t especially powerful Creatures.

The Badgers who had snapped back to their senses slaughtered the lead monsters in the flock. Before long, the swarm scattered.

This time, unlike before, their retreat looked natural.

Someone had released control.

I stood near the court, watching the whole situation settle.

Though I wasn’t doing a very good job controlling my expression.

So it was their doing.

At some point, all of the Third Elder’s lackeys in the stands had vanished.

Only one of the Second Elder’s children remained.

That much wasn’t surprising. I had expected this.

The sudden shutdown of the audience Core was probably their work.

But the fact that someone capable of creature control was mixed into this chaos irritated me deeply.

Did they take one of my kin hostage?

Or had one of my kin willingly gone under them?

I couldn’t tell which possibility was worse.

At least no civilians were injured.

The situation was quickly brought under control. Since there were Black Badgers everywhere, the cleanup was fast.

The Core device was replaced with a spare.

The evacuated civilians even returned to their seats smiling.

The Creature corpses were swiftly removed.

But my mind was already somewhere else.

I need to end this game fast and figure out what’s going on.

Unlike the relay, I didn’t even have a radio, so I couldn’t ask Kairos anything. It was maddening.

I’ll finish this quickly and go to my kin.

Ignoring the heat rising inside my body, I stepped back into the court.

[Then, in response to the audience’s enthusiasm, we will resume the match!]

PAAANG!

The instant Ju shouted, Sophia’s ball came flying.

I caught it solidly.

Then I twisted around and looked at the sole remaining enemy.

Yun was staring at me with a strange expression.

“Yun.”

I lowered my upper body slightly as if preparing to launch a sword strike.

“What is it?”

Yun opened his mouth as if to say something.

Then he simply closed it again, as if deciding against it.

Watching him take a step back as if telling me to try it, I smiled faintly.

Then I took in the positions of the seniors lined up behind him and the flow of the wind.

I felt a little sorry for the seniors bracing themselves like a wall behind him, but even if Yun dodged, I planned to make the ball ricochet off their bodies and hit him anyway.

At a speed no one could possibly catch.

I may not be good at ball games, but I’m not bad at firing something straight.

I focused sharply.

At the same time, the area around the court fell silent.

I tensed my muscles.

Like delivering a sword slash—

“What the....” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

At the very last second, I changed the direction of my gaze.

“Lee Seunghyun?”

Yun turned his head.

It was only for the briefest instant.

I hadn’t been acting.

Lee Seunghyun really was there.

He had somehow blended into the audience, probably arriving after hearing about the incident from earlier.

I really was startled to see him.

But he hadn’t completely stolen my attention.

The instant Yun slightly turned back, I realized it.

And immediately relaxed my grip.

Then I gently tossed the ball.

Thup.

It made a sound as light as when Sophia had been hit.

Thup, roll roll....

Yun blinked and turned his head.

The seniors’ eyes widened.

For a moment, the audience made no sound, unable to process what had happened.

Huh.

Looking between the ball rolling across the floor and Yun, who let out a faint chuckle while looking at me, I thought in the stunned silence—

Did he seriously go easy on me on purpose...?

But before I could voice the question, everyone leapt to their feet.

“WOOOOOOAAAH!”

Thunderous cheers shook the stadium.

“DODGEBALL VICTORY! DODGEBALL VICTORYYYY!!”

“WAAAAAH!”

“No way, what did you say to sunbae at the last second?! How did you trick him this time?!”

“What was that at the end?!”

“Taleb, master of deception! Our pride!”

“We wonnnn!”

The crowd’s roaring voices pounded my ears.

Listening to them, I smiled faintly.

And despite everyone’s worries, I was glad I’d managed to make it through the sports festival safely.

The ending had been more anticlimactic than expected, but still.

In any case, I was happy I got to enjoy it until the end.

Now I understood why Yehyeon hated sports festivals.

And also why everyone else loved them.

Anyway, now I need to hurry and deal with the real problem.

Still, for my first sports festival...

I was glad I got to wrap it up having fun with the seniors I’d grown close to....

***

“Huh.”

A white light was in my field of vision.

I blankly stared at the white ceiling and muttered,

“...I think the location changed somehow.”

“Of course it did.”

Yun replied coolly.

“Guess it feels fresh since it’s been a while since you pulled this stunt?”

“Come on now~.”

Ricardo’s snickering voice followed.

“Since you insisted on winning.... feeling good~?”

Ha....

After grasping the situation, I covered my face with both hands.