Black Badger

Chapter 463: Siren (2)

Of course, the subway I’d faced back then had been far more desolate than it was now.

For a fleeting second, I missed that time. When I had forgotten everything and could only scramble to respond to the reality crashing down on me. Even as I staggered with an empty memory, I used the goodwill of my seniors as signposts and walked forward.

How fortunate it had been that I had fallen out through a Black Badger portal.

“Footsteps.”

Lin, who had been trying to salvage even a scrap of the drug bundles, zipped his backpack shut with a long ziiiip and muttered,

“You hear it, right?”

Instead of answering, I nodded.

Boots. Not one or two.

There were no civilians left inside the subway, yet it didn’t feel empty. That was why.

I had expected it the moment the missile was fired.

The military’s been mobilized.

BOOOOM!

From somewhere far off came the sound of a restroom door being kicked open.

“Out! Get out!”

“Hands up! Hands!”

“Come out and line up!”

“Fuck.”

Lin muttered a word he rarely spat out in front of me.

“This isn’t some military dictatorship. What the hell are they doing?”

Eeeeeeeeng!

As if mocking his grumbling, a siren wailed.

It wasn’t a fire alarm. It was far louder, far more ominous. Even though it was sounding outside, it rang clearly inside the subway, doubling its unease.

A military alarm.

It sounded nothing like a Creature alert. Core residents would be used to Creature alarms. But the one the military had just issued—almost no one would have heard it before.

Before the war broke out, I had often come face-to-face with people from military units. Compared to then, I knew well how drastically the military’s standing had fallen.

For one thing, there were no borders anymore.

Of course, that was just comfortable ideological talk. In reality, daily life was divided by Cores, and the military effectively existed to protect its respective Core.

Among them, the strongest force was naturally the Center Core’s military.

Eeeeeeeeng!

“Are they insane?”

Lin lifted his head, staring toward the unseen exterior of the subway, and muttered to himself.

“They issued an alarm because of us? The last time they triggered one was during the suppression of the Core21 rebel incident....”

Bang!

Gunfire—much closer.

What should we do.

There were three options. Hide. Eliminate them. Pretend to be ordinary Harlem residents.

The last option didn’t seem very effective. They wouldn’t leave my mask and hat alone. I could take off the mask, but if I removed the hat, it would be troublesome. I hadn’t cut my long hair, nor dyed it.

So realistically, that left two choices: hide or eliminate.

Thinking the same thing, Lin stuck close and whispered,

“Let’s open the ceiling and get in!”

In moments like this, his brain really did spin fast.

“You can just push the ceiling here—it opens!”

I lifted the sword wrapped in cloth and pushed up a ceiling tile.

Clunk.

I raised the tile with the end of my scabbard and propped it at an angle.

Bang, bang!

“I told you to stay still!”

“You dragging that old man with you?”

Gunshots rang out right nearby.

Just around that corner. They must have shot someone who tried to run. I listened to the low sobbing and the adrenaline-soaked shouts the soldiers barked out.

Without answering my subordinate, I lifted him and pushed him up into the ceiling.

Once on top, Lin reached down and pulled the old spider up first.

‘Commander!’

Then he reached for me.

The entire sequence was clean, without wasted motion—yet fear glimmered in Lin’s eyes.

‘Hurry up! Hurry!’

I grabbed his hand and hauled myself up.

The moment we crouched in the darkness and slid the ceiling tile back into place, we heard the soldiers rounding the corner.

I listened briefly as they spoke among themselves.

“You heard. Any male over 185 cm with dark brown skin—round them all up.”

“What kind of bastard is he?”

“What’s it matter to you.”

“Can we shoot?”

“Better than letting him slip.”

“OK.”

I’d better move quickly before innocent casualties pile up.

Under normal circumstances, I would’ve just said I’m here—don’t grab random people, take me instead.

But this time was different. I knew acting that way would only make things worse. Taking care of the ones walking beneath us wasn’t a good option either. We had hidden well—there was no need to reveal our position.

Besides, I could hear another group of soldiers approaching from some distance away.

They’re walking along the tracks.

I waited until the ones combing the subway moved farther away.

Then, when it felt right, I tilted my head slightly.

‘Where do we go?’

Lin mouthed in the darkness.

If I hadn’t possessed golden eyes, it would’ve been difficult to read him.

I flicked my fingers in a rough gesture.

‘Next station?’

Lin somehow understood—and paled.

‘You’re saying we crawl like this all the way to the next station?’

Because that’s where the old spider’s hideout is.

A place I had once visited with Shu and Walker.

I planned to drop the old spider off there and borrow some kind of ride from her. We had to cross into a district that would be covered by the Core in 2 hours and 40 minutes. There was no way we could make it on foot in time.

The place that included Colton’s mansion.

My subordinates and I had briefly named it the Hawk’s ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Nest.

If we covered it with a Core but I couldn’t enter it myself, there’d be no point.

I still hadn’t figured out whether the old spider was Kyle’s informant, Colton’s ally, or neither.

But that wasn’t very important. I’d already confirmed there were no poison needles or IEDs strapped to her while carrying the information broker on my back.

As long as she didn’t harm Lin immediately, that was enough. I decided to half-trust her. If she had laid a trap, I would deal with it then.

Besides, at the moment, she was the only person who came to mind who could lend us a decent vehicle.

‘Let’s go.’

After signaling with my hand, I began crawling through the narrow ventilation passage.

Lin followed with a resigned expression. The old spider smiled faintly and matched my pace.

***

BOOOOM!

At the deafening sound of the missile exploding, the Badgers jolted awake.

Eeeeeeeeng!

Like weighted dolls snapping upright, they rushed to windows or grabbed their phones to assess the situation. Soon after, another sound rang out—different from the roar of the explosion.

Eeeeeeeeng!

“What’s that?”

The first to react was Jonathan Kudo.

A Black Badger who lived trapped in the past and despised deviating from the routine he had set for himself. He was not sitting on his usual bed. Instead of rising from crisply ironed pure-white sheets, he sat up from a situation room cot with a torn corner and coffee stains, eyebrows knitting.

“A military alarm?”

“What now....”

Ricardo rubbed his face irritably, pushing back his hair.

He hadn’t slept at Ska’s house either. In fact, he hadn’t managed even thirty minutes of sleep. He’d been lying in wait to confirm that Hildebert—who would surely come to rescue Yun—had appeared. Then he had chased him. Then, after hearing unexpected news, he returned to HQ and buried himself in the situation room in preparation for an emergency.

Even after entering, he hadn’t been able to sleep right away.

It was dawn, yet everyone was moving frantically.

Ami and Yehyeon had rushed off to see Hesh Lyle first. Word had come that he was straining his veins, insisting he’d go find his younger brother. Personnel Director Ju had designated the two of them to stop him.

The superior Hesh respected, and a first-generation senior close with most of the Badgers.

Not long after they left, Jack Black had to leave the situation room as well.

Personnel Director Ju had ordered him to calm Nana Dol, who was overwhelmed with anxiety. The red-haired handler nodded the moment he received Ju’s call, gave a polite bow, and disappeared.

Thus, only Yun, Ricardo, and Jonathan remained.

In truth, Ricardo and Jonathan had intended to go see Ska.

But Ska, through his secretariat, had sent a firm refusal. The Supreme Commander was on his way and could not spare the time.

The meaning behind it was clear enough.

Do not draw the attention of the new arrival.

Nothing good would come from being caught in that person’s sight.

So the three of them remained quietly in the situation room’s men’s quarters.

Yun looked like he would leave, but surprisingly, he showed no sign of going. Whether he was waiting for Yehyeon and Ami to return, or simply observing the rapidly shifting situation, it was unclear. In any case, their senior personally assigned them beds.

‘I’ll sleep here. The two of you use the remaining beds.’

Unlike Ami or Hildebert—or in front of the former Supreme Commander—Yun usually wore no expression and offered no explanations.

Thus, the two second-generation Badgers hadn’t been able to ask what he intended to do by staying in the situation room. They had simply closed their eyes for a brief moment.

Truly just a moment.

“Missile?”

Ricardo let out a hollow laugh as he grasped the situation.

“Area lockdown after alarm?”

“Are they going this far because of Hilde?”

Jonathan muttered, staring at the aftermath of the missile visible even from HQ’s windows.

“Who the hell?”

That’s not a question you should ask.

Ricardo didn’t say it aloud. Instead, through real-time online posts, he confirmed that soldiers had been deployed.

Yun, who had also been silently scrolling through his phone, stood up.

“Which Badger covers that sector?”

Before Ricardo could even look up the answer, Yun walked out of the situation room.

“Where are you going?”

Ricardo asked, rising from his bed.

Without turning back, Yun replied,

“To wash.”

Before closing the door, he slightly turned his head.

“Don’t rush out. We still need to watch the situation.”

Sensing the same thing, Ricardo obediently nodded and sat back down.

Then he slowly pulled his gaze from the window and urged Jonathan—who had been staring after Yun—to sit.

“Let’s just watch~.”

At least it was certain that the one who had shattered the missile was Hildebert. That much was a relief.

Ricardo lowered his eyes back to his phone, reading posts from people in the area and the flood of Black Badger messages piling up.

The atmosphere’s a disaster.

Almost no one knew that Hildebert was alive, and Luke Lyle had gone missing as well. The mood was utterly grim.

Even at dawn, the group chats were exploding because of the military alarm.

[Jason Trevain (1st Gen): I’m telling you that bastard isn’t dead.]

Ricardo stared at the desperate messages from those who still believed Hildebert was alive.

***

Creak.

“What was that?”

The moment Lin stepped on a tile and it made a sound, the soldiers reacted.

“It came from the ceiling.”

Lin looked like he was about to die and grabbed his own head.