Black Badger

Chapter 37

He didn't answer.

Instead, he rolled his cold eyes around, scanning the surroundings. I gave an awkward smile again.

Part of the tower had collapsed. The door was blocked by fallen debris, and the civilian and I had been pelted by a rain of rocks. We had nearly ended up as rat paste right then and there.

Dashing under the awning had been the best move. It had held up against the onslaught.

It looked like Kudo had cleared some of the debris that had buried the awning. Squinting against the pouring light, I shoved the man beside me.

This guy's nerves were really something. In a situation like this, it wouldn't have been strange if he had lost his wits entirely.

"Go on out and stay put."

I said it to the man's back as he trembled but steadfastly headed toward his senior.

"And don't cause any trouble."

"What trouble am I causing? And why did you only just get here? You guys can lift cars like books, so you should've been able to clear this stuff in no time!" Even as he staggered, he didn't stop grumbling.

What a guy. I let out a wry chuckle as I watched him complain even after surviving a brush with death.

Jonathan Kudo didn't even spare him a glance.

"What?"

Kudo looked down at me for a long moment before breaking the silence.

I blinked once and met his gaze.

"Yes?"

"Look at your back."

Oh.

He must have meant the burn on my back.

The supreme commander had passed along the word that my recovery was impaired, but the seniors wouldn't fully register it until they saw it with their own eyes.

But Jonathan Kudo didn't seem worried about me.

It was more like pure curiosity than concern. Just like John Mullen's interest in me. He really was as difficult as they said.

My cohort members were kind. Their mentors worried about my imperfect recovery too. No need to mention Ami, and I could see Ricardo grumbling but still looking out for me.

...Choi Yoon was a sociopath, so best not to think about him.

Anyway, the point was that this senior was a bit different from the others. He'd save people because it was the mission and save me because I was a junior. But this man wouldn't care whether my name was Hildebert Talev or Hesi Lyle.

I just had to avoid being a burden.

The condition of my ankle, hit by the debris, had improved a lot. Dragging my leg, which no longer throbbed as much, I stood up with a smile.

"My recovery is a bit off, that's all. Thanks for getting me out, senior."

"Can you move?"

"Of course."

Kudo turned his head.

It was the attitude of someone who'd confirmed I wouldn't be in the way. Without looking back, he headed out through the path of ruins he'd created.

I walked steadily toward the flood of light as well.

Rumble...

"Aaagh! What the hell!"

"Urk."

The civilian's frantic shout hit my ears along with the heavy vibrations. I staggered but quickly regained my balance.

Whoa. It was about to come down soon.

"No! My building!"

The man looked up at the ominously trembling structure and wailed.

"My life's work!"

No wonder he kept refusing to leave. He was the building owner.

I let out a hollow smile as I surveyed the situation. Rumble, rumble—the building shook with heavy sounds for a while before finally stilling.

The tense calm before the storm hung in the air.

I sighed and looked around.

From what I could see, the state wasn't as bad as I'd thought.

Part of the tower had collapsed. The entrances were buried under the rubble. But the center of the lobby where the creature had been was fine. The tower's structure had a fountain in the middle, so that area was relatively intact.

"It's only been open for a short time..."

The building owner clutched his face in despair.

"I built it to rival A-Tac..."

Splash.

I felt water lapping at my ankles. The floor was flooded.

From a burst pipe? Or had it come from breaking the Sugar Aquarium tank?

Come to think of it, what about Shu?

A chill settled in my gut as I turned to the senior.

"Senior, what about Senior Shu?"

"She probably got out."

Kudo replied flatly as he scanned the floor.

"Can't contact her since the communicator's busted."

"What?"

The despairing building owner lifted his head.

He stared at the senior's clean face, a mix of Eastern and Western features, and spoke.

"The communicator's broken? Then how are we supposed to contact the outside!"

"Don't you have a phone?"

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and waved it.

"Is yours broken?"

The building owner stared at me for a long moment.

Then, slowly, he moved his arm and fished his phone out of his pocket. It seemed he'd forgotten about it for a bit.

That could happen.

Silence settled over the ruined lobby. The building owner, who had been huffing, buried his head in his phone amid the newfound quiet. I let out a long breath and took in the flood of sensations.

The sound of water somewhere. The patter of concrete dust falling from the pile of rubble. The acrid smell of the stones.

Should we try to get out on our own? Or wait for outside help?

The senior didn't seem inclined to tell us. I had no idea what he was looking at so intently. He was walking through the lobby, stirring the rising water with his blade.

Just as I was about to approach him and ask, the building owner shouted.

"Inside, I said!"

His voice boomed.

"Inside the tower! Call for help quick. Get me out of here! Didn't you see the building shaking?"

As he frantically dialed, a fish flopped down from above with a splash.

The building owner flinched, I chuckled softly, and Kudo didn't even look.

The poor guy slammed the already dead perch against the floor.

Splash!

"Damn it!"

"Senior, are we just supposed to wait here?"

"They'll let us know the safest escape route soon enough."

Kudo replied calmly, his eyes still fixed on the flooded floor.

"Since a celebrity's trapped. And it's a building in the heart of Zone 1's bustling district, so it's high-risk."

"Celebrity?"

Was he talking about himself?

I blinked in confusion, and an awkward silence followed. The building owner, who had been yelling into his phone, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.

He stared at me with a look of disbelief.

"What? Why do I feel like there's a question mark after your words? You don't know me?"

"Yes."

I answered straightforwardly.

How would I know you? He was talking like some crazy caller with restricted caller ID.

But seeing the building owner's jaw drop and even Kudo looking up at me, it seemed I'd messed up again.

Was this guy a celebrity?

"You really don't know me?"

"I'm sorry. I'm a bit oblivious to worldly affairs."

"Even so. You don't know me?"

"I don't. Tower owner?"

"Hey! I'm the chairman of Cureus Corporation!"

A big company, huh?

I glanced over, and my eyes met Kudo's. He was still stirring the flooded floor with his blade, staring right at me. Like he was checking if I really didn't know.

It was like a cat quietly observing a bug on the wallpaper.

It must have been a well-known company.

But was that really important right now?

As if answering my inner thought, the phone rang.

I snatched it up, and an unfamiliar voice echoed through the tower.

[It would be best to head to the stairs next to the south entrance and escape via the underground parking garage.]

I looked up at the senior.

He approached me slowly, his expression unchanged.

Then he took the phone from my hand. The dried blood stuck to various parts of his body seemed to be his own. Even after getting caught in the explosion and recovering, he looked the most unscathed among us.

"Tower status?"

[It doesn't seem like it's about to collapse immediately, but you need to get out as soon as possible. Keep in mind the ceiling could come down.]

"Support from outside?"

[It's tricky. Tampering carelessly could accelerate the collapse.]

"The creature's corpse isn't visible."

Jonathan Kudo dropped the bomb matter-of-factly.

The building owner's face went pale. I blinked slowly.

So that's why he'd been slashing at the rising water with his blade since earlier. He was looking for the creature's body.

And there was a body, huh. It looked like a fireball, so I'd thought it just got extinguished by the water.

The voice on the other end fell silent briefly.

[The creature's status is uncertain, then? You need to get out even faster. Besides the Cureus Corporation chairman, are there any other civilians?]

"Not that I can see."

"Wait a minute."

I hurriedly cut in.

The building owner, who had been biting his lip and scanning around, and the senior, who had been replying calmly, both turned their gazes to me.

I met Kudo's gaze, which held not a shred of interest.

"Earlier, a woman was trying to come in because she said the kids were missing."

[Kids?]

"What?"

The senior looked startled.

I nodded at him, his eyes wide.

"She was stopped by Shu and couldn't enter."

"Even if they were inside, they're probably dead by now!"

The building owner shouted hysterically.

"We don't know if the creature is dead or alive, or when the building might collapse, so why go looking for kids who might not even be there and could be dead already!"

"Any idea where they might be?"

"I hear faint noises from upstairs."

"What?"

The building owner shot me a look that said this guy was starting his crazy talk again.

But no matter how much contempt he threw my way, or how he looked at me like I was the world's biggest idiot, or even if he gave me that Yoon stare implying my intelligence was below a chimp's—I was inured to it.

I conveyed my guess to the senior, who was glaring at the building owner.

"I've been hearing rustling from above since earlier. And since Senior Shu moved everyone in the tower to the second floor as a temporary measure, I'm going to check around there."

"Got it."

"You'll confirm they're safe and come back, right."

The half-collapsed second floor.

With Kudo's permission, I precariously climbed the buried escalator and found a young brother and sister there.

*

"What."

The building owner was flustered.

"Why are the kids here."

"I found something suitable and used it as a splint as a stopgap."

The seven-year-old boy's leg was a mess. It looked like it had been hit by falling debris. I reported while holding the four-year-old girl on my left and the seven-year-old boy on my right.

"The four-year-old girl is unharmed."

Kudo strode over and closely examined the boy's splint.

Only after the bold boy said, "What, staring like that?" did he look up.

"We need to get out fast."

He looked straight at me.

"It's impressive. Do you already learn civilian first aid techniques?"