Black Badger

Chapter 73

Why had I forgotten about the portal?

I couldn't tear my hand away from the photo even as I swallowed hard at Yoon's chilling words. Ah. Why had I forgotten about its existence?

Why had I only focused on the creatures, the war, and Kyle?

I looked at my mentor's expressionless face and forced out my voice.

"Why did you take this?"

Yoon only moved his eyeballs.

"I took it on the first day of the war."

"Was there a reason?"

"Why? Has something else come to mind?"

He answered my question with another question. I hesitated and then closed my mouth. The questions I wanted to ask didn't come together easily. And not everything had come back to me. I couldn't remember the beginning and the end.

The beginning and end on Earth.

Of course, Yoon didn't seem inclined to help. He had probably called me here to interrogate me.

I bit my lip and replied in a subdued voice.

"I'd like to compare what you're telling me with my memories."

"Ah, good."

He seemed satisfied with my suggestion.

"Efficient proposal. No need to do the work twice."

Ye-hyeon said he'd arrive two days later, at night.

He had been away briefly for a short hospital stay, and it coincided with audit season, so he was busy.

Yoon had threatened me to stay quietly in the cabin until Ye-hyeon returned and he could hear the story. It meant not to go far and to wait right nearby.

"Take it slow with rehab. Might as well practice some shooting while you're at it."

"I've been diligently practicing almost every day."

"Don't just do sword practice—do some shooting practice too."

He knew I usually only did sword practice.

I clicked my tongue inwardly and turned my body.

Then I obediently said I would and returned to the cabin.

*

I heard that Ye-hyeon had arrived and visited the neighbor's house around 10 p.m.

There, I found Ye-hyeon sitting on the sofa in a T-shirt.

"You're here."

"Hello."

Yoon sauntered out from inside, and Ye-hyeon blinked his sleepy eyes at me.

I quickly pulled myself together, surprised by my superior's college-student-like appearance.

I bowed my head slightly and entered, holding out a bag of walnut pies from a famous eatery.

"Sorry to bother you so late at night. It's nothing special, but please share these."

"You didn't have to buy something like this. Thanks. I'll enjoy it."

"Sit down."

Ye-hyeon peered into the bag and gave a casual thanks, while Yoon pointed firmly at the sofa.

I obediently followed his words.

The story didn't start right away as Yoon wanted. It was because my superior, who looked even thinner in his black T-shirt, slowly walked to the kitchen. It was obvious he was going to cut and serve the walnut pies I'd bought, so I quickly dashed to the kitchen, and Yoon grumbled as he followed.

Thanks to that, the start was a bit delayed.

In the end, after Ye-hyeon and I sat on the sofa with plates topped with a piece of walnut pie each, the atmosphere for talking was finally set.

Yoon let out a small sigh and sipped his coffee.

"Drinking coffee at night will keep you from sleeping."

Ye-hyeon nagged as he munched on the walnut pie.

Yoon sullenly set down his cup.

"I'm not planning to discuss something that requires a good night's sleep."

It wasn't wrong.

I gave a wry smile and kept eating the walnut pie diligently. As expected from a famous place, the crispiness was exceptional.

Ye-hyeon seemed to like the pie too, as he kept munching away.

Then, suddenly, he threw a fastball.

"What should I start with?"

I nearly choked on a walnut going down my throat.

"Or do you want to go first, Hilde?"

There must have been something about these people that let them cut straight to the core without warning.

I quietly set down my fork. Then, looking at my seniors sitting across from me, I pondered briefly.

During the two days waiting for Ye-hyeon, I had time to organize the memories that had resurfaced. The memories that surged when facing Colton, the memory fragments that returned in the subway. And the other shards I'd recalled while going about my daily life.

To be honest, I wiped away tears that welled up a few times.

With my mouth set in a straight line, I finally answered with difficulty.

"I'll go first."

"Yeah. Take it easy."

"Where should I start?"

"The beginning and the end."

Yoon said in a low voice.

Of all things, he picked the question I couldn't answer. I gave my mentor a bitter smile.

"I can't remember the beginning and the end. So, I don't remember how I ended up on Earth, or how the war broke out."

"Is that so? Then do you know exactly what you are?"

"Col... I mean, before meeting Falcon, I was already aware that I wasn't human."

Kyle had always made that point clear.

The Kyle in my memories got along well with humans like I did—but he always kept an emotional distance from them. Even though, aside from eye color, he didn't seem particularly different, he steadfastly insisted that his kind was different.

Because we had found a way to attain eternal life even before arriving on Earth.

More precisely, we had seized the privilege of not aging.

"It's the privilege everyone has desired since ancient times, isn't it?"

"So, those rumors online about high-ranking officials' human experiments weren't just nonsense."

Yoon muttered without taking his eyes off me.

"Not that surprising, though. Nothing comes to mind about the experiments?"

"Yes. But I do remember spending a lot of time obsessively in a white place."

And that I often played games there.

But no memories of undergoing experiments or participating in them remain. Maybe something like that happened, but I just can't recall it. I can infer from Eric calling me Prometheus, or from the words Jae-yeon shouted while rampaging.

I also remembered Kyle arrogantly tossing his black hair over his shoulder and mentioning 'our gift to humanity.'

Yoon nodded faintly. Ye-hyeon continued eating his pie without a change in expression.

He must have really liked it...

"Any other characteristics besides that?"

At my mentor's cold voice, I snapped back to attention.

"There must be more than that. By that logic, badgers aren't human either."

"Yes. Actually, there's one thing that's strikingly different from humans..."

This was something I only remembered after waking up in the hospital room.

More precisely, after opening my eyes in the hospital room and riding in Yoon's car to this place. Then my senses were fully open. The sharpened five senses weren't burdensome.

And as I regained those senses, I understood what Colton meant by 'your kind's greatest characteristic.'

Then, I could sense where my kin were, in which direction.

"No human has fully understood this. As far as I remember."

"Humans don't have that sense, so they couldn't fully understand it. So, can you sense where that Kyle guy is right now?"

"If he's far away, I can only sense the general direction..."

But I can sense him.

Without a word, I pointed behind my seniors.

Ye-hyeon and Yoon turned around at the same time.

Then, slowly turned their heads back forward.

A brief silence settled in the living room. Ye-hyeon didn't seem particularly surprised, but Yoon narrowed his eyes and observed me.

My mentor, sending a gaze devoid of any warmth, made a chilling remark.

"I should open it up once."

"Commander."

I immediately turned my head toward Ye-hyeon and sent an SOS.

"Please save me."

"Yoon, no."

Ye-hyeon scolded concisely.

"That's a crime."

A short exchange followed between Yoon, who said he'd open it briefly without issue and close it, and Ye-hyeon, who refused to allow it.

I sank into my thoughts with their conversation as background noise.

Alright, we've come this far. Now it was time for the facts I'd inferred based on this to come flooding in. After my senses opened, memories had poured in like the tide receding. Tracing those memories, the scattered puzzle pieces fell into place.

The humanoid creature that confronted Ye-hyeon in the video. Its blazing shadowed eyes and the black curtain swirling around its body. The humanoid creature I encountered under the subway wriggling and regaining consciousness.

I spoke slowly.

"Commander."

"What?"

"When you confronted the Tier 10 creature, did you already know about the Titans' existence?"

Ye-hyeon looked at me quietly with his large eyes.

The ticking of the clock struck my ears. In this high-ceilinged space, strangely chilly.

I sat still, waiting for my superior to break the silence.

This house always smelled of cool wind.

Ye-hyeon broke the silence in an inscrutable voice.

"Only in fragments."

There was no emotion in his following voice either.

"My father pushed me into that position."

"What?"

Yoon raised his voice.

He furrowed his brow and glared at Ye-hyeon sitting beside him.

"What nonsense is this?"

"Sorry. I didn't think it was worth mentioning specifically. You didn't ask, so I kept quiet."

"Why is Lee Seung-hyun coming up suddenly? What's the connection between the rookie and Lee Seung-hyun?"

"Hilde and my father knew each other."

That much was true.

The problem was that all I could remember was that Lee Seung-hyun was a soldier scouted from Korea. I definitely remembered facing him and talking, but nothing else came back.

Maybe hearing more about Lee Seung-hyun would jog something.

Looking at my bickering seniors, I conveyed the facts honestly.

Ye-hyeon slightly stiffened at my request to tell me a bit about Lee Seung-hyun.

"Got it. I'll try my best. I'm not that close to my father either, but..."

"I'm sorry to ask about personal matters."

"No. Actually, I've been thinking I should tell you someday..."

Even as he said that, Ye-hyeon hesitated.

The pale man clamped his mouth shut and slowly began to speak.

"I'll keep it brief about my father."

Yoon let out a low scoff beside him.

I, focused on Ye-hyeon, widened my eyes in surprise at what he said next.

My mentor lifted his coffee cup and said,

"Gabi's legend, on the verge of bursting."

"Yoon!"

I cried out in horror.

"That's a dad joke!"

"I know."

"It's fine."

He always did this whenever his father's story came up. Ye-hyeon closed his eyes long and smiled, waving his hand casually as if unperturbed.

Yoon sipped his coffee as if nothing had happened.

Seeing my seniors like that, I grew a little afraid of hearing what came next.