WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 21: Fellow Recruits (1)
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The shrimp-ball cheese tteokbokki was delicious.
In the end, I spent the night at Yoon’s house. The Commander-in-Chief did not come inside. Ami showed me to the guest room beside the front door and served tteokbokki in a green bowl speckled with white.
I wore the T-shirt and joggers Yoon had given me. “Just keep them,” he had said. I ate tteokbokki while missing my wrecked cabin.
Ricardo left without eating any tteokbokki. When I apologized again before he left, he waved without looking back and disappeared.
His point was that he wanted to get as far away from his superior’s house as possible.
“I’ll buy replacements for everything that blew away.”
Ami, the light and salt of my life, said that while eating tteokbokki.
“We have lots of money, so don’t worry about it. Look at Yoon. He’s picking out his next car like he’s ordering delivery.”
“They said it won’t be in stock for a month.”
Yoon grumbled, faintly furrowing his brow.
“I guess I’ll have to buy a different brand for now.”
I felt bad, but I decided to accept what they offered.
It was a heavy night. The truth my seniors had confirmed weighed on my mind. I desperately tried to remember my past.
It was a grueling process. The harder I tried to remember, the blurrier my past became.
I kept feeling my way through the fragments of memory that surfaced. Who was the person who had spoken to me in my memories when the butterfly approached? It was a different voice from the one that had spoken to me on the rooftop. But it was not unfamiliar.
Would the day ever come when I remembered everything?
When I opened my eyes after agonizing over questions with no answers, it was morning.
* * *
I did not arrive at the Badgers’ dormitory until nearly three in the afternoon.
That morning, I went shopping with Ami. Ami was the light and salt of the world. After buying necessities at an outlet with her, we had lunch, a rice bowl topped with fried eel.
After finishing every last bite, we had coffee and headed to the dormitory in Ami’s car.
It was the dormitory where the Badgers lived. I was told I would be on the same floor as other rookies who, like me, had never worked in the field.
The blue car entered Zone 1. It stopped on a quiet street some distance from headquarters.
A plain ivory building came into view.
“The old building.”
Ami said brightly as she got out and shut the car door.
“It has nine floors total. Your room is on the third floor, Hilde!”
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go up together.”
Everything fit into two large duffel bags. I took the bag Ami had picked up and went inside.
Ami and I got off on the third floor.
A quiet hallway stretched before us. The plain ivory walls were old and stained ocher in places.
“Here it is.”
Ami hurried ahead and stopped in front of Room 304.
“I heard it has everything except a bathtub.”
She threw the door open.
I followed her in and looked around the room.
The fresh scent of wind came through the open window.
It was not as small as I had expected. There was a bathroom beside the front door and a plain bed beneath the window. When I took off my shoes and stepped inside, I saw a sink and a small refrigerator. There was also a chest of drawers beside the refrigerator.
Just as Ami said, it had everything I needed.
“Oh, right. You can use the laundry room beside the elevator for the washing machines and dryers.”
“This is nice.”
I set down the duffel bag and looked around the room.
“It’s much better than I expected. Thank you so much, as always.”
“It’s nothing. Let’s unpack.”
Ami plopped down beside the duffel bag and pulled the zipper open.
She started taking things out. I sat on the floor and opened the other duffel bag. Toilet paper, dishes, pajamas, toiletries. I pulled out whatever I could grab.
We diligently spread our things across the floor.
We had unpacked about half of it when I sensed someone near the open front door.
“Um....”
Ami and I turned our heads.
A red-haired man came into view. He had pale skin and light freckles. Blue eyes that gave him a gentle, mild impression. Long eyelashes.
He stood cautiously before the open door, wearing gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt.
Ami’s eyes widened happily.
“Tom! Hi!”
“Senior Ami.”
The tense expression on the shy man’s face softened.
He smiled down at Ami as if she were a younger sibling.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah. Have you been well?”
Ami stood up.
“This works out perfectly. I was going to introduce you two later. Tom, this is Hilde. Hildebert Taleb. Hilde, this is Tom Herson. He’s a rookie like you. Tom, you heard about Hilde from Angela, right?”
“Yes. I heard he was moving in today....”
The man called Tom glanced at me.
I quickly got to my feet and gave a small bow.
“Hello, Senior.”
“Oh, no. You don’t have to call me Senior.”
Tom sounded slightly flustered.
“Um.... I heard you received your enhanced body before us. And that you already finished your adjustment training? Strictly speaking, that makes us your juniors. But I heard Badgers determine seniority based on field deployment, so we’re basically fellow recruits.”
That said, I had only just....
“That’s right.”
Ami casually steamrolled my inner muttering.
She stood between Tom and me and clarified the situation.
“You two are fellow recruits. So speak casually and be comfortable with each other. It’s good to be close with your fellow recruits. And Tom, Hessi lives here too, right?”
“Yes. He went into the city to see his family.”
“I see. Can you introduce Hilde to him when he comes back?”
Tom smiled at Ami and nodded.
Then, when he looked up and met my eyes, he quickly looked away.
He seemed very shy. I rubbed the back of my neck while looking at the curly red-haired man staring somewhere at the floor. It felt strange to speak casually first. But being overly polite would probably make him uncomfortable.
We stood awkwardly with Ami between us.
Ami turned her head back and forth, looking between us as we fidgeted.
Then she looked at me.
“Hilde.”
“Yes.”
“Say, ‘Let’s get along, Tom.’”
Oh, like this?
I gave an uncertain smile and hesitantly opened my mouth.
“Let’s get along, Tom.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.... Me too.”
“Shake hands!”
Ami reached out and grabbed my hand and Tom’s right hand.
She pulled them together, urging us to shake hands.
“Shake hands with each other!”
“Shake hands.”
“...Nice to meet you.”
I smiled slightly and held out my hand, saying, “Shake hands,” and Tom took it. Like elementary school children, we shook hands under Ami’s supervision.
For a while, we sat in the room and chatted among the scattered belongings. We talked about the outlet Ami and I had visited that morning, nearby restaurants, good places to eat near headquarters, cafés, and shops around the dormitory.
Ami did not leave until the two of us had become a little more comfortable talking.
* * *
Tom gave me a tour of the dormitory, still somewhat shy.
“This is where the vending machine and ATM are. The ATM is open twenty-four hours, but the fee is a little high.”
“Ah.”
“It’s just us on the third floor, so you can use the washers and dryers whenever you want.”
I nodded to show that I understood.
My fellow recruit, standing before the vending machine, turned to look at me. Tom looked into my yellow eyes with his blue ones, then quietly said, “Um, I think that’s the basic tour.”
I smiled faintly and thanked him.
“What room are you in?”
I asked to get rid of the awkwardness.
Tom answered readily.
“Room 307.”
“That’s nearby. Um.... Does the fellow recruit named Hessi live on this floor too?”
“That’s right. Hessi is in 301. He should be back soon....”
He looked up at the clock above the vending machine.
It was a little past six in the evening.
“He said we should order pizza and eat with you.”
“Me?”
I asked, my voice rising a little.
Why had he said that? I had never even met Hessi.
Tom saw my confusion and added an explanation.
“Our respective senior partners told us you were moving in today, so we knew beforehand.”
“Ah. Right. That’s what I heard.”
“Hessi really likes people.... He said we should get to know each other over pizza. He said he would be here around six, so let’s wait a little longer. If he still doesn’t come, I’ll call him.”
“Okay.”
I nodded as Tom took out his phone.
“Maybe we can wait until twenty past, then call him.”
Tom nodded.
Then came the awkward silence that settled in as if by formula.
How was I supposed to fill this silence? I desperately searched for something to say. The silences Yoon created were not uncomfortable, but perhaps because this silence came from awkwardness, it felt suffocating.
Thinking I might look at my phone, I took it out too.
Huh? I had a message.
Who was it? It could not be Ami since we had just parted. I did not even want to imagine it being the Commander-in-Chief.... My senior partner? He had said he would not bother me on weekends.
Tense, I tapped the message notification.
A message appeared on the screen.
It was from an unknown number.
[Congratulations on coming back! It’s my birthday today :D]
What was this?
I stood there, staring down at my phone.
A strange feeling suddenly came over me. It was an emotion whose cause and nature I could not identify.
Who sent this? Was it spam? Or a message sent to the wrong number?
The latter was probably more likely.
I looked at the smiling emoticon and replied.
[I think you have the wrong number.]
[Won’t you wish me a happy birthday?]
What kind of person was this?
Staring at the screen in disbelief, I moved my fingers.
[Happy birthday. Though I don’t know who you are.]
[Let’s meet the day after Christmas.]
An incomprehensible reply came back.
[I’m planning a grand birthday party then!]
But they said their birthday was today.
Christmas was still far away. Was this person insane? I felt foolish for replying to the unknown messages, so I closed the message window.
At that moment, I heard Tom’s voice.
“Hessi!”
“Tom.”
When I turned around, I saw a man with short brown hair and a military air about him.
He closed the distance in long strides.
“Sorry I’m late. Is this the famous Hildebert?”
“That’s right.”
“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Hildebert Taleb.”
“Speak casually. I’m Hessi Lyle.”
The man greeted me, holding out a sturdy hand.
“There are not many of us fellow recruits, so let’s get along.”
What a pleasant guy.
I took his callused hand and nodded. As we exchanged brief greetings, I shook off thoughts of the strange message. When they suggested ordering pizza in my room, I nodded and followed them.
* * *
“Why did you apply to become a Badger?”
Hessi suddenly asked while eating pizza.
I was biting into a stretch of cheese and looked up, caught off guard.
“Huh?”
Actually, I had not applied to become a Badger.
I had not been given a choice. Besides, I was consumed with worries about my identity. The Commander-in-Chief had said I would do well in the end, but I was full of things that could burden others. Could I really do well?
In any case, I could not just ramble out the truth.
“Well....”
I stalled as I desperately thought.
“I’ve always lived an unstable life. Then I happened to learn that they were recruiting....”
But how did Black Badger recruit people in the first place?
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