Black Badger

Chapter 224: Saving the Giant (1)

It’s here.

I didn’t want to tell an outright lie if I could avoid it. This relationship is already built on ignorance, and the moment Jonathan learns the truth, it will collapse.

I didn’t want to pile more deception on top of that.

I typed my reply slowly.

[When I was young I learned from someone who cared for me. He has already passed away, so I don’t know from whom he learned.]

There wasn’t a single lie.

While I waited for his response, I skimmed through all the messages I’d received so far.

It had been a month since the live broadcast, yet I still received calls from unknown numbers. Some messages had no meaning I could decipher, others were obviously from news agencies or broadcasting companies, but I hadn’t read a single one of those.

Instead, I searched through the mountain of messages for the ones that meant something.

[San : omg I finally cleared that stage!]

[Claudio Winter : I want to renew the cider contract for next year. Are you brewing anything else?]

[Bobby Winter : Aren’t you thinking about starting SNS?]

[Spitfire : Recently, that fellow has been leaving quite a lot of traces. Your face appearing everywhere seems to have stimulated him ^^ I think the next target is the Commander.]

[Caller ID restricted : Don’t rush. The more time passes, the more the advantage is on our side.]

[Bad blood : I’ve silenced the noisy ones, so they’ll behave °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° for a while.]

This is insane.

I quickly replied to San and the Winters, then glared at the Elders’ messages.

Yekaterina’s and Colton’s messages weren’t as distressing. Sukhoi had said similar things to me right after the live broadcast aired. Her point was that I shouldn’t thrash around trying to catch Kyle immediately.

The longer we endure, the more advantageous it is for us.

Colton’s message was also easy to understand.

The malicious friend who orchestrates things so the media doesn’t erupt into a wildfire.

I narrowed my eyes and moved my fingers.

[I’ll try.]

After replying, I opened Erich Erhart’s message window.

I rubbed my face a couple of times, hesitated, then pressed the call button.

[Ah, Prometheus. Good morning.]

“Sorry for calling in the morning.”

I apologized with a voice still husky from sleep, even though I didn’t mean it at all.

“Do you have a moment to talk?”

[Even if I said no, I’d have to make time if you wanted it.]

Same as ever.

But I was desperate enough that I couldn’t afford to react to his remark.

“Thank you. I’m overwhelmed to receive the favor of someone so skilled. As you probably guessed, I’m calling because of the message you sent.”

[I figured. This time he seems to want to act personally.]

“I want to hear as much as I can.”

Spitfire told me more than I expected.

You’s whereabouts were still unclear, but he had left traces in the places he passed through. Through various channels he was investigating Yehyeon. Yehyeon’s home address. Yehyeon’s public schedule.

The routes of his public schedule, and the state of security.

[Even if there’s security, none will be directly attached to Yehyeon, so he’ll be easy to touch.]

I couldn’t stop myself from sighing.

[If I see another interesting movement, I’ll let you know.]

He certainly wouldn’t give me the crucial information.

He wouldn’t tell me which public event would be ambushed or how. Because that would be less fun for him. If You succeeded, Erhart would be delighted more than anyone.

A man who gives a handful of hope to the unfortunate, loving their desperate struggle for life.

I thanked him and ended the call.

He had given me as much as he would give. From here on, I had to move myself.

***

A little past dinnertime.

I was drinking with Yun inside the vinyl dome on Yehyeon’s rooftop.

Thankfully the alcohol was vodka and whiskey. The snacks were cheese and yukhoe.

The weather was cold enough that even a coat struggled to help, but the vinyl and heater warmed our bodies. We sat in plastic chairs and tilted back our glasses.

My mentor, as always, didn’t talk much. When I relayed Erhart’s information, he sharpened his focus, but since there was nothing to do immediately, the topic changed quickly.

For a while we drank without saying much.

Good whiskey.

I was fairly satisfied with the drinking session when Yun suddenly spoke.

“What’s your alcohol tolerance?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never gotten drunk enough to lose control.”

Kyle and I were known as heavy drinkers even in the Empire.

I wasn’t well known because I didn’t enjoy drinking, but Kyle was especially famous. Those proud of their tolerance would visit Kyle from time to time to challenge him.

Of course, every match ended with Kyle’s victory.

Drinking vodka, I asked back:

“What’s your alcohol tolerance, sir?”

“About the same.”

“What about drunken habits? You do drink, so you must get drunk at some point.”

“My movements get a little slower.”

If that counts as a drunken habit, then he’s a monstrous drinker.

“You?”

“I laugh a bit for no reason.”

“For this year’s year-end party, take care of Ami.”

So that’s what he wanted to say.

I smiled faintly and refilled my empty glass.

“You’re not attending this year’s year-end party, sir? Is there a reason you’re skipping?”

“That damned portal issue still isn’t solved. The spatial-shift thing you mentioned. Your insane kin is weighing on my mind too. I’ll keep researching while keeping an eye on Yehyeon. So you collect the rampaging Choi Ami.”

“Ami... rampages?”

“She runs when she’s drunk.”

Oh no.

No wonder Yun attended last year’s party so reluctantly.

I nodded and accepted the request. It wasn’t a big deal anyway. This year everyone’s attention would be on the rookies, so I’d be able to relax, and I could help handle the drunken messes of others.

I also had to keep an eye on Kairos. I didn’t know his tolerance or drinking habits.

I should ask him while I’m at it.

I picked up my phone while chewing cheese, planning to contact Kairos.

Then both my phone and Yun’s rang at the same time.

[Deserter detected]

What the hell.

[Deserter : Doug Clark]

“A Black Badger from Center Core?”

“It means if you find him, apprehend him. It doesn’t mean run out immediately.”

Unlike me, Yun stared down at the screen with a bored look.

I lifted my head briefly, then looked back at the phone screen. I narrowed my eyes and stared.

The phone, after making a ridiculous loud alert, displayed the photo and information of someone I’d never seen before.

A closely shaved head and deep brown eyes. Deep eye hollows.

Physical age 26. Disappeared with one month left of his leave. No record of leaving Center Core.

Height 177, solid build.

Not carrying weapons.

....

Information continued like that.

I hadn’t known we could take leave.

Thinking that, I studied the man’s face. Then raised my head.

Yun answered before I even asked.

“For various reasons, someone can take leave, but people like this who desert during leave pop up often. It’s a problem.”

“Who catches a deserter? It’s clearly an emergency.”

“DP. Usually called the Executors.”

“There’s a separate unit for military-deserter capture?”

I asked casually, expecting the answer to be yes.

But Yun just smirked.

A strangely chilling smile.

“Leonard and Sylvia.”

Ah.

“Outside the Core, deserters are captured, go through procedures, and then a decision is made. Inside the Core, it’s capture or kill.”

“You could just say kill.”

“Even a rat bites when cornered. You have to at least pretend they have a hole to escape through.”

I understood my mentor.

I didn’t question the Black Badgers’ policy of summary execution. If I were Yehyeon, I’d give the same order.

I had once executed a fellow knight who killed his comrades and fled.

I looked again at the picture on my phone.

“So they’re chasing him, and the rest of us should capture or kill him if we encounter him.”

“Yeah.”

The chances were low, but I should remember.

I drank and scrolled through the personal info.

Then Yun suddenly said something out of nowhere.

“If Ami offers you a ride in a fighter jet, decline appropriately.”

“Excuse me? Why?”

But I want to ride one.

Blinking in confusion, I watched Yun raise an eyebrow.

“Why that face?”

“Because I really want to try it. Honestly, I’ve wanted to for a while. Can’t I?”

“No special reason. I just said it because she flies rough.”

Ah.

Well, considering Ami’s personality, she probably enjoys aerobatic maneuvers.

I chuckled low and said it was fine, and Yun added dryly:

“The fact that you want to try one is funny too.”

“Why? I think lots of people would want to. There were aircraft I followed with interest.”

“Like what.”

“U-2, B-29, TU-95....”

I murmured while drinking whiskey.

I was a bit tipsy. With my senses dulled, everything felt more relaxed and comfortable.

I wondered if my silly laughing habit would start showing soon.

“Hey.”

Yun called, snapping me out of it.

“Yes.”

“All of those are nuclear-related reconnaissance planes and bombers.”

My mentor set his glass down and squinted at me.

He didn’t bother hiding his “this is unbelievable” expression.

“Why were you interested in those?”

I gave a low laugh.

To hide the laugh creeping out, I picked up my glass again. I breathed in the pleasant scent and brought it to my lips.

Old memories resurfacing.

With a faint smile, I answered.

“In the past, I was interested in everything related to nuclear weapons.”

I had read nearly every related book.

“I even knew the locations of nuclear test sites around the world, and the hangars where nuclear bombers were stationed.”

Though in the end, I lost.

Because I couldn’t find every hidden nuclear device humans had stored, nor all the buttons that would detonate them.

Eventually, I raised the white flag and decided to blend into human society.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t fight. I tried my best.

So of course I was interested in the things I once searched for madly, trying to destroy them.

“You crazy bastard.”

Yun let out a flat laugh, then drank again.

I answered with a gentle smile.

After that, we emptied our glasses without much conversation.

***

The day after Yun drank with Hilde.

While he was away for research.

A call came to Yun’s station.

A wired call — a Black Badger deployment alert.

Clack.

[A Creature has appeared near HQ!]

The problem was that the person who picked up the phone was John Mühlen.

A genius scientist who’d been implanted with an enhanced body, but still couldn’t do more than thirty sit-ups.

A giant of academia who becomes utterly stupid when the subject isn’t his field of research.

[Immediate deployment required!]

“.......”

John Mühlen went out to subjugate the Creature.

***

The day after Yun and I drank.

I received a strange call from Hiroshi.

“Hilde! Mühlen is dying!”

...Huh?