Black Badger

Chapter 55

There was no need for anyone to advise me not to touch the walls.

It was obvious just by looking that I shouldn't. I frowned at the dark red walls that looked like they had lumps of muscle attached to them. And they were wriggling.

Scattered among the wriggling walls were mouths lined with teeth.

What an incredible sight.

The good news was that the floor was relatively intact, and the walls weren't doing anything particularly aggressive. They just looked unpleasant; nothing was actually happening.

There was a strange, fishy smell.

Anyway, grateful that my vision had returned, I followed behind the senior.

The senior didn't stop and kept running.

We ran along the strangely narrow tracks. I frowned as I felt the passage narrowing more and more. The ceiling was getting thicker. Mouths attached to the ceiling gaped open, dripping saliva onto the tracks.

This was the worst. "This way."

As soon as I spotted artificial light, screen doors appeared.

Unlike the previous station, all the screen doors here were wide open. The senior quickly jumped up onto the platform. I hurriedly followed suit.

The walls here seemed a bit cleaner.

Once again, a scene like an early morning subway unfolded. An endlessly long corridor. Lights that palely illuminated the empty hallway. The sound of our steady footsteps echoed through the corridor.

I chased after the senior for a while.

Until another sound mixed in.

Chaling.

It was a clear sound.

It came from behind. Even though the senior had warned me earlier, I almost stopped in my tracks. The moment I heard that bell-like sound, it felt like all other noises were erased.

It was coming from behind...

But I didn't stop. I had to keep running. There were people chasing us from behind. I continued moving my feet, following the senior without looking back.

Chaling.

It was getting closer.

The sound was louder than before. Once again, the surrounding noises vanished completely. I clamped my mouth shut and tried hard not to stop.

He said not to follow the bell sound, but he didn't say anything about the bell sound following us. What would happen if it caught up?

Should I glance back for a second?

I debated whether to call out to the senior running ahead or to look behind.

Then, I slightly turned my head to the right.

Chaling.

There was nothing.

The corridor was empty. The bell sound was clearly ringing just a few steps behind us, but the place where it originated was vacant. The pale subway we'd passed through. Beyond the screen doors with their mouths agape, I could see dark red creatures, but in the corridor where the bell rang, there was nothing.

Not even a fly.

The nape of my neck prickled.

"Hey!"

The senior's sharp shout snapped me out of staring into the empty corridor.

"Get a grip!"

When did I stop?

I'd only turned my head slightly; I didn't remember stopping my feet. I blinked and stared at the senior rushing toward me in a few strides. I knew I should run to him, but strangely, my feet wouldn't move.

The senior grabbed my arm.

"There have been several badgers eaten by that sound."

He started pulling me along as we ran.

His voice was laced with hatred and fear.

"Don't listen to it. Focus on other sounds. Or sing a song or talk to me."

"What do you mean 'eaten'? There's nothing around."

"I don't know. No one's ever seen the true form of that sound."

Did that even make sense?

I couldn't understand how something without a physical form could eat someone. I also couldn't comprehend how a sound could come from something nonexistent. The sound was clearly coming from right behind me.

Anyway, thanks to him, my mind cleared up. With my arm in his grip, I matched his pace as we ran.

I tried not to listen to the bell sound that started ringing again.

I needed to keep the conversation going.

"What does 'eaten' mean? Do they just disappear?"

"No. They're found as dried-out, withered corpses drained of moisture."

"What?"

"Usually, they lose their minds like you did and chase after the bell sound. Like they've been enchanted by the Pied Piper or something. If we catch up and snap them out of it, they survive, but the badgers who get away and disappear are all found as empty husks."

Now I understood why we weren't supposed to enter the subway.

The two-story-high creature that shot electricity seemed better by comparison. I missed the pigs I'd encountered in the basement of the Library of Beginnings. Those, I could just hit, stab, dodge, and chop off limbs.

Chaling.

A clear, pure sound.

The senior must have heard it too, because he gripped my arm tighter.

"Ask questions. Keep asking."

He said through gritted teeth.

I didn't refuse.

"How much do you know about it? What is that thing?"

"I don't know the details. I only heard what I needed to from them."

"From my former comrades who say I betrayed them?"

"Yeah."

"What did they say?"

The senior rolled his eyes and looked into mine as we ran side by side.

I met his gaze and observed the deserter's appearance again. Deep green eyes and blond hair close to white. His features, revealed after shaving his beard, were soft.

The man's voice drowned out the bell sound.

"Tan skin and bright yellow eyes. Over 180 cm tall. Snow-white hair. They said he used to grow it down to his waist. Distinct, refreshing features. He'd be carrying a sword."

"...Is that what they said?"

"Yeah. They told me to bring back someone matching that description. They even gave a rough location. The moment I saw you struggling on top of that mold, I knew you were the betrayer they were talking about."

"How did I betray them?"

The answer didn't come right away.

Stairs appeared. We bounded up them. A ticket gate came into view. Without hesitation, we ran through the one opposite and headed down the stairs between the gates.

Would the bell sound follow us here?

The moment I thought that, I spotted a flat lump of leather at the bottom of the stairs.

"They didn't tell me the details."

The senior replied as he leaped over the unidentified leather lump.

"They just said you betrayed your own kin, that you got too involved with humans and forgot who you are. So they said they'd drag you back and kill you."

"Why not just kill me right away?"

"They said they wouldn't let you die easily."

"This is driving me crazy. I don't even remember what I did wrong."

"I wanted to hear it from you too, but damn. What did you do?"

Screen doors appeared before us again. This time, they were all closed. And behind the screen doors, a train was waiting. The senior, still holding my arm, dashed toward the doors.

He pressed something firmly.

Whirr. The screen doors opened.

The tall train ahead. The senior yanked open the train door with his hand.

We jumped into the dark interior of the train.

"Is it okay now?"

"Don't let your guard down until we leave the station."

The senior walked briskly toward the front of the dark train without releasing my arm.

I frowned and nodded. I tried not to step on the miscellaneous items scattered on the train floor as I obediently followed his lead. There were things on the floor whose purpose I couldn't guess. Planks. Cabinets. Small chairs.

We quickly reached the cockpit.

"Senior."

I wasn't surprised anymore that the man knew how to drive the train.

I finally watched him as he released my arm and prepared to operate the train. He made a hmm sound and busily fiddled with the control panel.

The control panel began to glow in various colors in the darkness.

I looked at the side of the concentrating man's face.

"Why did you desert?"

The senior didn't look at me for a long time.

Clunk. The train started moving. The sound of power flowing through the engine.

The train, which clearly hadn't carried passengers in ages, began running along the tracks. I took in the tracks flashing by quickly behind us.

Would we escape faster, or would they catch up faster?

The answer came slowly.

"A long time ago."

I quietly waited for him to continue.

"Sophia once pointed a gun at Ye-hyeon."

Who was Sophia?

I wasn't oblivious enough to ask. It was probably something that didn't need explanation, so he skipped it. The man was sharp. Even after just a few hours together, I could feel his quick wit.

The silence didn't last long.

"Her lover became a sacrificial lamb in an operation. It was under Ye-hyeon's orders, but it wasn't his fault. A series of unpredictable events happened. Even thinking about it a hundred times, Ye-hyeon's decision back then was appropriate. If one sacrifice could save everyone, then one person should rightfully be sacrificed."

"Right."

Someone had to make that call.

Someone had to bear that weight. A position where you had to count lives even if they couldn't be quantified. Ye-hyeon was someone who had gained power in exchange for bearing the weight of lives.

I pitied Ye-hyeon, who had to send one of his subordinates to their death back then. The choice was easy, but the outcome wouldn't have been. It must have been painful.

He was someone bound by good intentions.

"I was one of the people who stood in Sophia's way back then."

Fatigue seeped into the senior's voice.

"Without imagining that years later, I'd be swept up in the same impulse."

"I'm sorry."

"In the end, I was worse than Sophia."

The senior seemed not to be listening to me.

I took in the sight of him slumped in the cockpit, staring ahead. He let out a self-mocking scoff, as if lost in thought directed at himself.

"Sophia eventually lowered her gun and turned away, and she continued serving faithfully afterward, but I deserted, unable to overcome my grief and hatred."

"Do you hate Ye-hyeon?"

"I pity him while hating him. I tried not to hate him, but it was in vain."

The man buried his face in his hands.

His body curled up. It was as if the sorrow he'd pushed aside had finally settled heavily upon him.

I listened to the sound of the train running along the tracks for a while, waiting for the man to crawl out of his despair. I knew words wouldn't help. A switch inside him had flipped on. The senior was probably back in that moment then.

The senior lifted his head after the train passed through a gently curving tunnel.

"What's your name?"

...What?

No. Didn't you know my name? You knew I wasn't human, and you knew I was the betrayer?

Stunned, I stared at him before answering.

"I'm Hildebert Talev. Call me Hilde."

"My name is Jin."

He looked up, met my eyes, and smiled faintly.

"Jin Silver."

"...Nice to meet you."

"Tell the HR director something for me."

I didn't understand.

As I blinked, Jin suddenly stood up from his seat. He turned his body with a face as if he'd never been sad. Then he strode over and flung open the cockpit door.

With wide eyes, I watched the senior move into the train car.

Were you leaving?

Leaving me on this moving train and heading back to base yourself?

Well, he'd helped me a lot already.

But wanting to ask his true intentions, I turned and followed him.

Jin had already reached the end of the first train car.

The senior opened the door to the second car.

I raised my voice and shouted.

"Jin!"

"Tell Joo I'm sorry."

Jin turned his head at the threshold and smiled wryly.

A sad smile that made my heart sink.

"That I couldn't overcome it in the end. He really tried to lift me up."

KABOOM!

The train exploded.

To be precise, the rear car exploded. A deafening roar that tore at my eardrums. A rush of hot wind. Beyond the open door, the devastation unfolded. The severed train car. The gray car crashing into the tracks and exploding.

Fortunately, the car we were on remained intact.

But behind the severed section, the tracks sped by clearly.

And what had severed it.

Standing at the end of the remaining train.

It was a person.

With sclera blackened as if burned.

"I'll buy you time, so run, Hildebert."

Jin, blocking the threshold, drew a gun from his waist.

Then he looked at me again and smiled purely, without a trace of cloudiness.

"You'll side with the humans again this time, right?"

"Wait a minute."

"The leader of those guys woke up a few months ago. He came to me and said that. That I just need to capture you."

Jin's faded hair whipped wildly in the wind.

Something in the station closed the distance. It crossed the second car slowly, claws extended. I gritted my teeth and stepped back, and Jin moved into the second car.

His gun barrel aimed at the threshold.

"Be the card of Ye-hyeon's victory. Hilde."

BANG!

The train decoupled.

I lunged, but I missed him by a hair. Prostrated in the first car, I frantically called his name. But no response came.

Regrettably, the train didn't stop. As it rounded the curve, what remained vanished from sight.

My cheek grew wet.

In the descending darkness and fading sounds.

I cried silently.