Black Badger

Chapter 214: Portal (2)

Simon explained the story to me in detail.

She had been a beautiful woman, but he said no words ever reached him. It felt like sound could not touch him. He never heard her voice.

The reason he realized she was failing to die was because she kept falling from high debris and getting back up unharmed, again and again.

He said she even helped him in small ways. She would wordlessly pull him out when he was wedged in strange places among the ruins, then disappear. When he lost his sense of direction, she silently turned him the right way, then vanished again.

And then Simon finally found the exit.

When he came out, he had lost some of his memories.

“I didn’t recognize my own daughter. I... my daughter I love more than my own eyes....”

“That was just because I dyed my hair and got older, and you couldn’t recognize me.”

So firm.

Shu turned away from her discouraged father.

“I should have realized you were this case. My dad didn’t forget everything, and he remembered clearly that he wandered inside a portal. That’s why he belatedly considered you might be the same case.”

“Thank you for telling me, even now. It feels right.”

The problem was why I entered the portal in the first place. And how long I wandered in there.

My stomach twisted because the woman he described sounded like Cecil.

If she really was Cecil, how long had she been inside those ruins?

Where were those ruins? Were they the ashes of my burned homeland, or some place between that world and Earth?

My head throbbed.

“You’re sweating.”

“So it seems.”

Simon pointed it out bluntly. Shu handed me a tissue as I pressed my thumb between my brows.

“My dad said it hurt every time he tried to recall the memories he forgot.”

This was all the Diamond family could tell me. They didn’t have scientific knowledge about portals either, so they knew nothing about the mechanism or reasons.

Whenever they told scientists, they were dismissed as speaking nonsense, so no research was ever done.

I thanked them and took my leave.

“You’re coming to the event, right?”

Shu asked before saying goodbye.

“Founding Day event. New recruits usually get pulled for security detail.”

Right.

I hadn’t known, but two weeks later I was assigned to the Founding Day ceremony as security personnel. Because crowds would gather, multiple Badgers were placed on duty. But the risk was almost nonexistent, so the mission was called a “honey mission.”

That was why the assignment rotated to rookies every year.

“I’m off-duty that day, so I’ll go watch. See you then.”

It’d be good if I could catch You before the event.

I bowed politely and parted ways with my two-tone-haired senior, clutching my head as it throbbed every time I tried to recall the past.

***

I reported to Yun.

I thought he would treat it as nonsense, but unexpectedly, Yun accepted Shu’s words seriously.

He immediately filed a report to the upper command and went straight to the Scientific Division.

Ever since that day, the portal team had not been allowed to go home. Shu’s concerns had been objectively proven. Since the counteroffensive, spatial fissures had been appearing at a higher frequency inside the Core.

Yun abandoned field work entirely.

“Call me when you catch your deranged kin.”

Meaning he wouldn’t answer any other calls.

“You’re getting pulled from logistics to security? All simple missions.”

TF operations ran on a one-month cycle. TF was supposed to conduct exploration from B Zone into A Zone, and exploration missions were assigned at fixed intervals.

So there was some spare time.

I used that gap to quickly contact Ricardo.

We had already arranged things so that I could unlock the Easter egg of From I.

Igor, that brute.

At first I wondered, what kind of game did this idiot make? But the more I played, the more I saw Igor. That simple-minded fool had made the game stupidly hard.

It already had quite the reputation online.

The balance patch was a disaster. It wasn’t a game meant to be cleared.

It was so difficult that even I had to attempt the bosses dozens of times. People complained constantly that the thing that looked like an Easter egg was absolutely impossible.

Right. Igor didn’t even try to hide the Easter egg.

As soon as you defeated the boss, you’d enter a room where the question was plastered right there.

‘Emperor birthday.’

I laughed so hard the first time I saw those words.

Not “When is the Emperor’s birthday?” or even “Emperor’s birthday?” Just bluntly: Emperor birthday. Truly, it was so him.

And making a combat game absurdly difficult—that, too, was so him.

Right. The only ones who would know the correct answer were his kin.

Ricardo gave me a time that worked for him.

This time I arrived at his home exactly on time.

Visiting like this all the time felt rude, so I brought a bottle of wine.

“Welcome~...”

A man who had clearly just woken up greeted me lazily.

“You cleared it pretty fast this time....”

Thank you for always helping me.

I handed him the paper bag with the wine and stepped into the tidy house. It was always clean. The air carried a cool, woody scent similar to Ricardo’s cologne.

I washed up and immediately took a seat. Now that I knew Igor was alive somewhere in Center Core, I wasn’t as worried—but I still wanted to read the message as soon as possible.

Ricardo silently came to the couch and sat beside me.

[Emperor birthday]

My senior snorted when he saw the question floating on the screen.

“So blunt....”

“That’s the kind of guy he is.”

I chuckled quietly and entered the answer.

“How did he even think of making a game like this?”

I typed the last number.

[Captain.]

As soon as the correct answer was entered, everything disappeared and white text appeared.

[Return. My sword is wielded only for you.

I implore you to accept my loyalty once more.]

And that was it.

The end. No more messages.

I stared at the screen, letting out a faint, incredulous laugh.

Only when my silent senior spoke did I snap out of it.

“A subordinate?”

I answered with a wry smile.

“Yes. A knight under my command.”

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

I set the console down and rubbed my face.

“He says he’s inside the Core. I don’t know where or what he’s doing....”

It was so like Igor.

He had been a good subordinate. Taciturn and curt, but more knightly than anyone. The more wars we survived together, the more people came to like him.

He had talent too. He loved combat. I doubted he was living peacefully here.

“Thank you for watching over me.”

As I organized the console, Ricardo suddenly rose to his feet.

I looked toward the kitchen and thanked him again.

Ricardo paused and looked down at me steadily.

“But I’m all right now. Knowing my kin are alive.”

“You said two are left....”

Amazing that he remembered that.

I nodded and stood, slipping the game cartridge into my pocket.

“Yes. I haven’t found one of them yet. According to Kairos, the creator of the game I have now is alive.”

“You never complained until now....”

Ricardo gave a soft laugh, then narrowed his green eyes.

I blinked, sensing inexplicable foreboding, as my senior walked toward the kitchen without looking back.

He spoke over his shoulder.

“Judging by the developer’s name, you look like you’ll have a seizure when you read the message~?”

Wow.

This man.

“I don’t care about the message, so just tell me before you open it~. I can’t bear to watch my cute junior have a pathetic seizure in his cramped little shack, you know~?”

“...If I find the game.”

Thinking this person was terrifying, I followed him gloomily.

After reaching the kitchen, I obediently accepted the plate and utensils he handed me.

“I haven’t found the last one yet, so... huh? Is that gnocchi?”

“You asked me to make it again~?”

“Yes.”

I answered instantly.

And I helped prepare dinner, smiling brightly enough for Ricardo to scoff, thrilled at the thought that I might taste a dish as good as those I’d lost with Lexic noodles.

I reminded myself not to forget my gratitude.

***

The explosion was fierce.

This time too, it was disturbingly precise.

Kyle smirked and spat out the debris that had gotten into his mouth.

Commander Yehyeon.

It was certain he had implanted something in Kyle’s body during the counteroffensive. Ever since then, periodic bombardments had targeted him. No matter how many times he washed himself clean, he couldn’t shake the pursuit. Something must have been embedded in his body.

That one hit landed well.

It wasn’t Hilde interfering. He could never pinpoint the location of his kin this precisely.

And Hildebert would probably want to kill him with his own sword.

Kyle pushed aside the debris pinning his lower body and burst into a harsh laugh. He shook out his body and rose to his feet. He sensed his kin—those who dodged the attack and those who failed to—as he cursed Yehyeon.

He had wondered why Yehyeon showed his face at the front lines.

He had a target.

Rei’s enemy.

“Kyle!”

His kin rushed through the debris.

“Are you intact? Or do you need nutrients?”

“I’m fine.”

He swept his long, loose hair back over his shoulder and moved his steps.

“Good work. Any injuries?”

Humans, so sickening.

They were still afraid of them. More precisely, afraid of the Children of the World Tree—especially those strong enough to maintain control over their absorption for long periods.

Meaning they feared the return of Rei.

Rei’s rampage, which changed the course of the First War.

Unless one reached Swordmaster level, the rampage of the Children of the World Tree never lasted long. They would repeat absorption madly, then burn to ashes and vanish.

But Rei—and Kyle—had managed to maintain that rampage for long stretches.

In the end, they would burn out and die, but still.

If humans had nuclear bombs, this was what they had.

That was why the humans kept trying to kill him.

“Bring the injured to me.”

Kyle rolled up his sleeves, preparing for absorption and transfer.

“The magicians too. And Jin Silver.”

“Jin?”

“The day of the operation is close.”

In a sense, this was close to a test before the main battle.

Still, Kyle intended to stake everything on this operation. There was ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ no reason not to go all in. Even if imperfect, they were ready enough, and the potential results were enticing.

They hadn’t been idle since the counteroffensive either.

“We need to recheck the Commander’s route on the day of the event.”

Truthfully, he wanted to drag Hildebert out of the Core.

But that would only happen once everything was refined. Once the trial and error passed, once the success rate was high.

That man—he would kill with his own hands.

No matter what happened, that man, at least, absolutely—

***

“Hilde!”

I turned my head at Hesh’s call.

“See you after the event!”

A clear sky, crowds pouring in.

Camera flashes popping.

I saw Hesh in his full-dress uniform merging into the crowd, and I grinned.

It was the day the “honey mission” was assigned.

Today was the Founding Day event.