Black Badger

Chapter 48

There was a CCTV control room underground.

As I went down with Aki, I saw the seniors gathered together. Thick cables snaked across the stark tile floor. Dozens of monitors covered the walls and emitted bright light.

The monitors showed creatures of all sorts.

"Have you reported it?"

"Yes."

Richard Green asked without taking his eyes off the screen, and Iho replied.

Everyone in the room wore hardened expressions, their gazes fixed on the screens. Most of them didn't even glance back at me. I stopped at the threshold of the control room door and took in the scene of the quiet room.

I hadn't expected the situation to deteriorate this quickly.

Aki hopped inside and stood next to the seniors. The people kept their eyes glued to the CCTV screens.

Only Ami turned her head to look at me.She was the only one who truly understood the situation.

"Tier 7 estimated?"

Tvain's voice echoed through the spacious room.

"Does that mean it could be Tier 8 or Tier 9?"

It was obvious what he meant.

A single massive creature occupied several screens. It stood tall amid the countless creatures we'd seen the day before. It was gigantic, incomparable to the Mad Buffalo, the Witch, or the Apostate. If we went up to the second floor and looked out the window, we could probably make eye contact with it standing there ominously.

It stood motionless, its gray fur draped like hair. Its torn eyes were charred black, more like black sclera. This thing, never discovered before, strangely resembled a human.

There was a reason the seniors ignored the swarm of creatures surrounding the small Breath.

I just stared at it quietly.

Was the reason I kept wanting to cry guilt, fear?

Or some other unidentified emotion?

After I stood there for a while, I looked down. Ami stood among the seniors, looking up at me.

I held her gaze for a long time and said.

"Ami."

"Yeah."

She walked over to me briskly.

"Want to step out for a bit?"

I was grateful she understood right away.

The seniors didn't care whether we left or not. They didn't even pay attention when we finished talking on the stairs and came back in.

Everyone was busy seriously discussing the cause and countermeasures. Why this unprecedented situation had occurred. How to overcome the current crisis.

They probably had no spare energy to worry about one anxious newbie.

But the conversation changed the moment Ami revealed the cause of the current situation.

*

The control room flipped upside down.

Everyone was angry, but two men were especially furious. Richard Green and Jason Tvain. They rampaged, demanding to find Ye-hyeon. Connect a call with him right now.

Did communication work here too?

It did, apparently. The moment he heard Ami's revelation that creatures were flocking to me, Tvain had grabbed my collar and slammed me against the wall. Now, in front of the phone ringing with the connection tone, he snarled.

"You crazy bastard."

He was angry that he couldn't immediately smack Ye-hyeon's face.

"You knew this and sent us out without a word? Selfish bastard. Slimy snake! Our lives mean nothing to you?!"

"If that were the case, he would have kept it hidden until the end."

Ami countered coldly.

"The Commander said to reveal this fact without hesitation when necessary and deal with the enemy accordingly."

"If he wanted us to deal with the enemy, he should have told us before we left! Damn it, is it that hard to say one word? That hard?!"

"There must be a reason why only you knew, Ami."

Richard Green was more composed than Jason Tvain.

That didn't mean he wasn't angry. Fury swirled in his sharp eyes.

Of course. I would be angry too. At me, at Ami and Ye-hyeon for hiding the truth.

"In any case, I can't accept the current situation."

Even if it meant being dragged along by Jae-yeon, wouldn't it have been better to just stay inside the Core?

A heavy atmosphere hung over the control room. The mood, heavier than before, showed no signs of improving. The swarming creatures weren't going to retreat, and the others were angry too.

Walker clamped his mouth shut, and Aki rolled her eyes fiercely. Silvia stared coldly at the screen, and Barbie covered her mouth. Even the good-natured Iho wore an expression of disbelief.

And then they all looked at me like they were looking at the creatures.

Suddenly, I missed Ricardo. He had said the idea that I was a Tier 10 creature was ridiculous.

"Why isn't this bastard picking up?!"

"It's 3 a.m."

[Hello.]

The connection tone cut off like a ghost.

[Report the situation.]

A husky voice rang out.

It was time for him to be fast asleep. Yet the Supreme Commander's voice showed no trace of drowsiness, as if he'd been working all along.

It hadn't been long since I'd become a Black Badger, but hearing his voice still made my heart race with tension.

The seniors reflexively straightened their backs.

Tvain spewed curses.

"You fucking bastard!"

"Please explain."

Green, maintaining some reason, spoke up.

His suppressed voice carried undeniable anger.

"What the hell is this kid, and what were you thinking sending us out of the Core with this brat without a single word?"

[How badly have the creatures flocked?]

Ye-hyeon asked back in a voice showing no surprise or distress.

It was Ami who explained. She reported the current situation neutrally. The swarm of creatures completely surrounding the Safe Point's small Breath. The unclassified high-tier creature standing in the midst of the swarm.

Tvain ranted excitedly with curses, but he was ignored.

Once Ami's explanation ended, Ye-hyeon spoke calmly.

[It's worse than when Hilde first went out of the Core. Yoon reported that back then, he eliminated the Witch, returned to the supply depot, and watched Hilde fighting in the basement through thermal imaging cameras.]

So that's how he knew I did well!

I hadn't been by his side when he was battling the pig in the basement, so I wondered how he knew. I was shocked by the truth I learned belatedly.

That guy. He was just watching enjoyably.

Tvain stopped cursing and blinked once.

"No way the pig was half his doing too?"

[No.]

Ye-hyeon answered emotionlessly.

[That was a creature that intruded when we were restocking supplies, unrelated to Hilde. The thermal imaging showed it appeared in the basement right when the food started running low.]

I could almost hear my mentor's voice: 'Didn't you even check something this basic?'

As memories of that day resurfaced, I listened to Ye-hyeon's crisp explanation. There was no new information. It overlapped with what I'd overheard that day in the guest room between Ye-hyeon and Ami.

Not all creatures were targeting me. The fact that the creatures approaching me weren't doing so with goodwill.

Silence fell once the superior's concise explanation ended.

The sound of machines whirring. The regular breathing of the people gathered in the control room.

Breaking the stillness that made me feel the dawn was Richard Green, his eyes brimming with anger.

He glared at the phone as if he could shatter it.

"I still don't know what this kid's identity is or why you let a guy like this in."

[I have no obligation to explain.]

A cold reply came back.

[You don't have to understand all my decisions. As for what I can tell you, Hilde is the joker card I hold.]

What?

My eyes widened. My jaw dropped involuntarily.

The people simultaneously looked up at me.

Several pairs of gazes flew toward me.

Only Ami's eyes held sympathy and affection.

[Whether that becomes a card of victory or defeat, time will tell.]

I couldn't read his feelings from the flowing voice.

[Anyway, things have started rolling. Richard. Formulate a plan centered on Hilde. The fact that the creatures are targeting Hilde and besieging the Safe Point means the opposite: without Hilde, the creatures will scatter from the Safe Point.]

"I'll ask in detail when we return to the Core."

"Yeah. Fuck, do whatever the hell you want. Power tastes good, huh?"

[Hilde.]

My name was called out of nowhere.

I flinched and jumped, then came to my senses. The seniors' scattered gazes flew back to me.

A faint hint of amusement mixed into Ye-hyeon's following voice.

[It's question time again.]

"Ah."

The 'Q&A Time with the Supreme Commander' had returned in a relatively short period.

The first time I met him face-to-face. After the cabin was destroyed, when he called my private number out of the blue. When I ate raw fish with him at my mentor's house. Up to the last time, when I went up to the office in patient clothes.

Every time I faced Ye-hyeon, he allowed me to ask questions. As if he wanted me to draw out reality with my own power and recall memories.

Was he giving me such an opportunity this time too?

In any case, I had no intention of refusing. I had questions. I picked the one that puzzled me most from those swirling in my head and threw it out.

"Do you know how the creatures detect my location?"

[I don't know that either.]

The answer I expected came back.

I thanked him and tossed one more short question.

"If I become a card of defeat, will you discard me without hesitation?"

[Probably.]

"Yes. Please do."

My mind eased.

Because I knew he wasn't holding onto me for personal reasons. Because I'd heard with my own ears that he'd accepted me as a badger under a big-picture judgment. And because I'd heard that if a problem arose, Ye-hyeon, as the one in that position, would make the necessary decision without hesitation.

Now I could comfortably blend in among the black badgers.

While I strove to become the Supreme Commander's ace card of victory.

"Thank you for taking my questions."

Ye-hyeon answered with silence.

*

The person on the call changed.

After wishing Ye-hyeon well, he promised any support needed and called someone else. Because Richard Green had asked to switch. He was needed to formulate the plan.

That someone was Yoon.

Hildebert Talev's mentor.

Yoon expressed irritation over the phone.

[Just let him use the sword.]

He didn't bother hiding the annoyance in his voice.

[I told you that's best for that kid. With a sword in hand, he pulls his weight. Without it, he's worthless.]

"You should have taught the newbie basics from the start."

[If you're going to backseat drive, teach him yourself.]

No thanks.