WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 2: Black Badger (2)

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I stared at Ami blankly.

Ro, beside her, broke the silence with a small nod.

“Peanut, you’re seventy?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m about that old too.”

What?

I stared stupidly at the people across from me.

They all still looked remarkably young. Ami even sounded young. Ro looked to be in his early or mid twenties. The green-eyed man who drew out his words looked the oldest, but even he seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

So how could they be that old?

It didn’t seem like a joke...

I decided not to think too deeply about it. I had woken up in a completely unfamiliar place after forgetting everything except my name. Who was to say even stranger things would not happen?

I decided to take life simply. Otherwise, I felt like something inside me would break.

Ami looked at the curly-haired man.

“Ro, you’re seventy-two.”

“Could be.”

“Huh?”

A flustered sound slipped out reflexively.

My eyes widened as I looked back and forth between Ro and Ami.

“Then the two of you are only two years apart?”

“Hey. You’re surprised by a weird thing.”

Ro raised an eyebrow.

“Shouldn’t you be surprised by our ages? Why are you surprised that we’re only two years apart?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just...”

The green-eyed man burst out laughing.

He lowered his head, his shoulders shaking silently. Apparently, my reaction was funny.

Ami blinked repeatedly, while one of Ro’s eyebrows rose high enough to touch the ceiling.

As I waved my hands in embarrassment, the chains rattled through the room.

“I didn’t mean it negatively. Ami looks quite young.”

“Ah.”

Ro understood right away.

He swung his crossed leg and grinned.

“That’s true. She acts like a kid and looks like one too. Sometimes I can’t believe she’s older than Ricardo.”

Who was Ricardo?

“I’m Ricardo~.”

The green-eyed man smiled and waved one hand.

My eyes nearly popped out.

What? Ami was older than the green-eyed man?

“Do I really seem that childish?”

I looked back and forth between Ami, who murmured to herself, and the green-eyed man, who wore a relaxed smile. It was still hard to believe.

Perhaps my feelings showed on my face, because the green-eyed man, Ricardo, chuckled.

“I’m sixty-eight. My name is Ricardo Sordi.”

“Ah... I’m sorry for causing trouble, Mr. Sordi.”

“Just call me Ricardo.”

Ricardo waved his hand, his eyes curving.

I nodded obediently. Of course, I did not casually call him by name. I tried to think carefully, not wanting to upset the people watching me. They did not seem to plan on doing anything to me right now, but I had no idea when they might change their minds.

Let’s think.

Ro was seventy-two. Choi Ami was seventy. Ricardo Sordi was sixty-eight.

And they had said they were on the older side. Those were not young ages in any case.

Also, while the concept of nationality no longer existed, the three of them had once had nationalities. Ricardo and Ro were from Italy. Ami was from Korea.

Then...

“Did the borders disappear while the three of you were alive?”

Silence fell at my casual question.

I met their sharp gazes and grew flustered.

What now?

I really don’t remember anything. It must be frustrating, but I have no choice but to ask obvious, stupid questions.

An uncomfortable silence lingered for a while. The three people whose faces did not match their ages seemed to be considering how to respond.

The clean conference room sank into chilly stillness.

Ricardo was the one who answered.

“There were wars~. Two big ones.”

I had never heard of that.

“The borders disappeared after the First War... You don’t remember that either, do you~?”

“No. Not at all... This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Maybe you’re not even from here in the first place? I don’t even know if you’re human. No, where did you come from? Where the hell did you suddenly pop out from?”

Ro demanded, waving his hands through the air in frustration. The impossible situation seemed to be getting on his nerves.

But I wanted to know the same thing...

I apologized and carefully watched Ro’s reaction.

Ami gave Ro’s head a quick punch with her round fist.

“Ah! What was that?”

“Don’t get angry. Think how absurd this situation must be for him.”

Ami looked at Ro with wide eyes.

“Think about it. You wake up with no memories left. You wake up somewhere completely unfamiliar, and the moment you do, people demand to know where you came from. Before you know it, you’re in handcuffs. Handcuffed by complete strangers.”

Her gentle words filled me with gratitude and emotion. Maybe because I had nowhere to turn, Ami’s small kindness meant a great deal to me.

“And the strangers in front of you are these two!”

“That’s harsh, Ami... I’ve been nice to him the whole time~.”

“Huh? What did I do?”

Ro answered bluntly, picking his ear with his little finger.

Ami stared blankly at his attitude, then clicked her tongue. Ro stuck his tongue out at her teasingly.

What sort of people were they?

Earlier, I had briefly heard that they had been comrades for forty years. They carried guns, and the clothes they wore suggested the same thing. They seemed likely to be soldiers. They could have been police officers, or employees of a security company.

And I had suddenly appeared among people like them...

Five people surrounded me, though the two behind me made so little noise that it was frightening. I sat in the middle, defenseless and handcuffed.

A mouse in a cat’s paw.

I needed to be careful.

The moment I made that resolve, Ami’s phone rang.

“It’s Ska!”

She started to run out, then stopped and answered her phone where she stood.

Her clear voice filled the room.

“Yes, Assistant!”

Ami listened for a moment before replying formally.

“Yes. The members managing the portal have all gathered and are investigating it now.”

She fell silent again to listen.

“Yes. I’ve reported everything to the hospital and Personnel Department. Yes, yes. No. The Head of Personnel says he is not coming. Yes. Same here.”

She replied, “Yes, yes,” several more times to words I could not hear clearly, then soon ended the call.

After putting away her phone, she turned to face everyone.

Everyone except Ro looked at Ami.

“What did he say~?”

“He said to send Hilde to the hospital first.”

The woman with round eyes came toward me.

“He wants to take your fingerprints, run a DNA test, and give you a polygraph test. You appeared in the Portal Zone, after all.”

Would the fingerprints and DNA tell them something about me?

A faint ray of hope appeared, and my back straightened. I watched Ricardo lazily rise from his seat, while Ro seemed to have no intention of getting up as he looked at his phone.

The green-eyed man rose slowly, stretched, and spoke.

“Should we send the two juniors behind us home~? There doesn’t seem to be any reason to keep them here...”

“Yeah. The three of us should be enough. Hilde doesn’t seem like the sort to suddenly make a scene.”

Of course. I’ll behave.

I gave a slight nod, and Ricardo smirked.

“You two over there can head home now~.”

The tall man looked toward the people behind me.

“We’ll handle the rest...”

“Good work, both of you! Go get some rest!”

“Thank you. We’ll be going.”

“We’ll be going.”

“What? Can I clock out?”

I heard a man and a woman behind me bow and leave as Ro finally looked up from his phone, raising his eyebrows.

Ami sighed and looked at Ro.

“Not you.”

Then she came over to me and smiled.

“Hilde, shall we go to the hospital?”

“Yes.”

I answered readily and rose from my chair.

The chain gave a clear, ringing sound. The chain binding my hands made my posture awkward even when I stood, but nobody seemed to have any intention of removing it.

Still, I was grateful that they had treated me kindly so far.

Having two fewer people around me eased my mind. It seemed to mean they were less wary of me than before. Unless I caused trouble, I had the feeling they would not harm me first.

For now, that was enough.

Once I was completely safe, I would try to find my memories.

I smiled faintly and followed Ami.

*　　　*　　　*

Nothing hurt.

After undergoing all kinds of tests, I did not think much while I waited. The doctor would explain the results of my physical examination, while the DNA and fingerprint test results would be sent to the Assistant’s phone. It seemed they would be sent to the phone of the person Ami had spoken with earlier.

Then I would not be able to learn the results of the DNA and fingerprint tests right away.

Thinking that, I sat on a purple chair with the others and waited.

As I sat quietly, I listened in on the conversation between the two men and one woman.

Ami, seated to my right, swung her legs as she spoke.

“Yoon was taking off his shoes at the entrance when he got the call, so they dragged him right back. He just arrived at the Science Department, and they’re working him to the bone.”

“How sad~.”

Ricardo, standing in front of Ami, answered in a voice that did not sound sad at all.

“But we’re working late too, so... When an emergency happens, it’s the same for everyone~.”

“Are you hungry?”

Ro, seated to my left, muttered while playing a game on his phone.

“Peanut, do you have anything?”

“No. And we had dinner outside before coming back.”

“Ah, those flavorless preserved rations! They don’t even send word to my guts.”

“You mean your liver, not your guts.”

Ami corrected him easily, but Ro ignored her.

Instead, he tossed aside his phone, where the words “Game Over!” had appeared, and looked at me.

“Do you have anything?”

I blinked.

Ami and Ricardo looked at Ro as though he were unbelievable. Ro paid them no mind. I stared at the curly-haired man, then searched my pockets with my bound hands.

They were completely empty.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have anything.”

“You’re not hungry~?”

Ricardo suddenly spoke to me.

Startled, I looked up at him.

His eyes were long and narrow.

“No. I’m fine.”

I answered with a faint smile.

“Thank you for thinking of me.”

One of his eyebrows rose.

But just as Ricardo was about to respond, someone burst out from a door at the end of the corridor.

“Hey! What the hell is this?”

Someone in a white doctor’s coat shouted at the sight of us.

Bright blue eyes and black hair. Stubble that had not been shaved cleanly, and a face that looked to be in his mid to late forties.

A man who looked unmistakably like an exhausted doctor stared directly at me and shouted.

“Get him in here now!”

Footnotes:

Ro’s “doesn’t even send word to my guts” is a deliberate mistake of a Korean expression meaning that an amount of food is far too small. Ami corrects the body part from “guts” to “liver.”

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