WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 31: Luminaries of Science (3)
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No, that’s not it.
I stared blankly at Ricardo and explained in a little more detail how I had come to this conclusion. It was true that I was strange, and there was nothing wrong with figuring that out....
Flick!
“Ah!”
A hot pain shot across my forehead. I cried out and reflexively clutched it.
Wow. That really hurt.
“Looks like your will to live flew away with your memories, huh?”
Ricardo smiled dangerously.
The instant I saw that smile, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. This was bad. I hurriedly held out a hand to keep the conversation from going any further.
He’s angry again.
“No, sir!”
“What isn’t?”
“Well, that is....”
I desperately tried to think of something that might calm him down.
Then I gave up and decided to be honest.
“I...”
“You what?”
The way he asked with a smile was terrifying. I reflexively swallowed.
People passed by behind us as they chatted. Maybe because it was evening, their footsteps sounded light. Carefully choosing my words amid the noise, I finally spoke.
“What if I’m a humanoid creature?”
Ricardo blinked.
There was a long silence. Long enough to make me embarrassed by what I had just said.
“Why would you suddenly think that~?”
The senior, who had been observing me like I was some alien he had never seen before, finally spoke.
“That sounds like a really stupid thought....”
“Does it? Then that’s a relief.”
“It’s so stupid that I want to know why you started thinking it.... Did someone say something to you?”
“No. I just watched a video.”
I briefly explained that I had watched Ye-hyeon’s famous video that morning. I debated whether to mention crying over it, but I ended up honestly telling him that too.
Even then, Ricardo did not stop looking at me as if I were the stupidest person in the world.
“Do you know what humanoid creatures are~?”
“Not in detail.... I just heard that the more humanlike they are, the higher their level.”
“Right.... And that alone means you aren’t one....”
That cut to the bone.
I could only nod at Ricardo’s claim that someone as pathetic as me could not possibly be a humanoid creature.
It was certainly a logical argument.
I looked at him seriously.
“That’s a logical point.”
“I’m glad you understood right away~.”
Why did that make me sad?
I was happy and sad at the same time. As I wrestled with those mixed feelings, Ricardo let out a small laugh while looking at me. My emotions must have shown on my face.
The green-eyed man lowered the arm he had draped over my shoulders.
“The creature in that video turned to ash after it died, so they couldn’t even study it.... I heard it was the only creature they had encountered that could speak human language.”
“It could talk too?”
Good grief.
The senior nodded and casually continued.
“It wasn’t the only creature capable of speaking, but it was the only humanoid creature that could speak properly.... Still, there’s almost no information left about it.... Every Badger who was still around at the time rushed in, and hardly any of them stayed conscious long enough to see the end. Tvein and Ye-hyeon, maybe? I heard the other First Generation Badgers had blacked out at the time....”
“What about the person who recorded that video?”
“They died~.”
Oh.
Whenever I thought of that video, my emotions churned. Ricardo’s words reassured me a little, but the feeling did not go away.
Something in that video was surely connected to my erased past. I wanted to find out what it was. The cause of these intense feelings.
Spending half a weekend day with an unusual scientist would not magically reveal anything, though.
“Ye-hyeon accepted you, didn’t he~?”
I blinked at the sudden remark.
“Yes, he did.”
“There’s only one person in the world now who has faced a Level 10 creature at close range.... Commander-in-Chief Lee Ye-hyeon. There must be a reason he accepted you~.”
Ah.
Come to think of it, asking Ye-hyeon would be the fastest way.
The problem was that he was my highest-ranking superior. If my cabin had not been destroyed, I could have casually asked him when we ran into each other.
Still, all of Ricardo’s points were reasonable.
I had no intention of taking back what I told John Mueln, but I felt a little better.
Right. If there really seemed to be something wrong with me, Ye-hyeon would not have accepted me like this. He had even forged administrative paperwork to gather the Badgers in the auditorium.
If I were in his position, I would never actively bring in someone who might be a problem....
Does Ye-hyeon know something?
The question crossed my mind, but I did not show it. There was no good in letting it show. I simply nodded.
Then I greeted the green-eyed senior who was still observing me.
“Thank you.”
“For what~?”
“For everything, I guess. You keep helping me with this and that.... Have you eaten dinner?”
“Why? Were you going to buy if I hadn’t?”
“Yes.”
Ricardo snorted at my confident reply.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and ruffled my white hair.
“What can a chick who’s barely dried the blood off his head do~? Go tell John Mueln you’re changing your mind....”
“Chicks get paid too.”
“Look at you dodging the issue.... Come on. I’m starving.”
Ricardo took his hand out of my hair and started walking. I hurried after him.
I would behave until it was time to pay, then get there first.
The corridor, dyed by the sunset, was beautiful.
* * *
We went into a pasta restaurant on a tidy street a little away from headquarters.
I was eating incredibly delicious pasta when I ran into a familiar face.
It had only been a few days since I had last seen him. Jason Tvein.
“Oh, it’s the half-baked Badger.”
He curled up the corner of his mouth as he looked at me.
He looked like he had just finished eating and was on his way out. An unlit cigarette hung from his mouth, and he wore a short-sleeved black shirt. I gave the blond man a small nod. Luckily, I had pasta in my mouth, which gave me a good excuse to keep it closed.
Tvein patted my back heavily.
That hurt.
“Buying the rookie dinner?”
“Yeees....”
“Hey, nice. This guy’s decent. Even if the half-baked Badger keeps showing off about using a sword. Take good care of him, yeah? Dinner’s on me.”
“Well.... I won’t refuse~.”
I wanted to refuse.
I had been planning to buy dinner. Tvein said his piece, then vanished in a flash with a whistle. I gave him a half-hearted goodbye and focused on my pasta.
Why was that man so unlikeable?
Ricardo had responded indifferently, but once Tvein left, he turned to me.
“Why does that guy suddenly like you...?”
“Apparently, it’s because I said I hadn’t seen Ye-hyeon’s video.”
“Ah-ha~.”
Ricardo accepted that readily.
Was that really enough to understand the situation? I still did not get it.
As I twirled seafood oil pasta around my fork and asked why Tvein acted that way, I received a brief answer.
“He thinks Ye-hyeon took all the credit for killing the Level 10 creature~.”
What a petty man.
I shoveled down my oil pasta and conveyed my disbelief through my expression. Maybe he found it funny, because the senior gave a small laugh.
“Well, I heard he had looked down on Ye-hyeon even before the fight with the Level 10 creature~. That man’s a little too mild in private.... Ah.... Have you never met him privately?”
“No. But he does seem kind.”
“He’s beyond kind. He’s basically a total pushover~.”
Could that really be true?
Ricardo’s words surprised me a little. In my mind, the Commander-in-Chief was someone with veteran poise in every movement. He wielded form-changing weapons elegantly and drew his greatsword with flawless form.
Ricardo neatly finished his pasta.
“That’s why Ye-hyeon just smiles and lets it go whenever that man says something in private.... Tvein is nothing special besides his combat skills, so don’t get too friendly with him~.”
“Yes. To be honest, I find Senior Tvein a little uncomfortable too.”
“But what’s this about a sword?”
That was a sharp question.
I gave an awkward smile. Telling someone who had seen me suddenly fall out of a portal that I thought I had used a sword before felt a little embarrassing.
Still, I answered honestly again. Ricardo tilted his head after hearing it.
“And Yoon allowed that?”
“Yoon put a sword in my hand. Maybe it was because he saw that butterfly back then.”
“Ah.”
Ricardo gave a cynical smile, as if he remembered that time. Seeing the sharpness spread across his smile, I had to swallow.
“Right. The way you pulled the kitchen knife out of your arm was impressive too.”
“...I was really sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.... So you used a sword when you went outside this time too....”
“Hey!”
A loud shout rang through the restaurant.
Ricardo and I turned our heads.
We spotted a man waving as he approached our table. Curly hair, a striped shirt, and a strangely careless-looking stride.
He had also been one of the first people I met in this world.
Giacomo Ro.
Ro naturally sat down beside me.
“It’s been a while. You doing okay?”
“Yes. It’s been a while, Senior.”
“Ah, perfect timing~. Ro, why don’t you talk John Mueln out of it?”
Why was John Mueln suddenly coming up?
I stared wide-eyed at Ricardo as he spoke to Ro as though he had found exactly the person he needed. Ro, who had been leaning crookedly in his chair, widened his eyes and looked across the table.
“Why that bastard all of a sudden?”
There was a strange irritation in Ro’s voice.
“Why should I talk him out of anything? If he spent all his time researching like a plant and ended up dragged off to the hospital, that’s none of my business.”
“John got Hilde’s number.”
Ro’s jaw dropped. Watching the senior beside me, I lowered my head over my plate.
Ricardo waved his fork as he briefly explained the situation to Ro. Ro did not move while listening.
Then, when Ricardo finished, he turned to me and spoke seriously.
“What are you going to do?”
“...Why?”
“When that bastard gets fixated on something, there’s no stopping him.”
He reached out and smoothly took the garlic bread sitting on top of my pasta.
The man chewed my garlic bread as naturally as if it were his own.
“This is really fucking bad. That bastard takes an interest in people? Hey. What are you going to do?”
“...I mean, what kind of person is John Mueln that everyone reacts like this....”
“I told you, once he gets obsessed with something, there’s no stopping him. Thinking about it is pissing me off again! Anyway, you’re seriously screwed. There’s a lot of weird stuff lying around at my place. Ah. Am I going to find you in our bathtub later?”
“Your place?”
“It’s a shared apartment. That bastard hardly ever comes home, so I use it alone.”
So that was why Ricardo had told Ro to talk him out of it.
But why the bathtub? Why would I be found in a bathtub? Was John Mueln really that much of a mad scientist?
A small panic began to set in.
Ro kept saying what he wanted regardless.
He looked strangely pleased.
“But it would be funny, hey.”
“Senior, are you enjoying this by any chance?”
“Yeah. A little. Hey, what if I’m eating breakfast one day and make eye contact with you?”
“Instead of happily babbling, why don’t you go talk him out of it~?”
“Ah, that would be hard.”
Ro suddenly wiped the amusement off his face as he answered.
He flicked the garlic bread crumbs off his hands and looked into Ricardo’s green eyes.
“I told you. Once he starts obsessing over one thing, there’s no stopping him.”
“As expected.... Hilde~. Just go ask Yoon to save you. You said he promised to help, right? Don’t be stubborn for no reason and end up getting found in Giacomo’s shared house bathtub~.”
“Why does the bathtub keep coming up.... You don’t mean I’ll be dismembered and left soaking in a bathtub, right?”
“Then why did you agree to it?”
Ro asked as he naturally took the last garlic bread left on my pasta plate.
I seriously stared at the curly-haired senior as he crunched through the oil-soaked garlic bread. Ro and Ricardo suited this restaurant well.
A pasta restaurant with vintage paintings hung over old wallpaper. Wine bottles lined up neatly on shelves mounted to the walls.
The savory smell of pizza drifted out from the kitchen.
I swallowed the last of my pasta.
“I was wondering if I might be a humanoid creature.”
Ro stared at me until he finished the garlic bread.
Only after brushing the crumbs from his striped shirt did he break the silence.
“But you look human?”
...That was a logical point too.
Left with nothing to say, I gulped down water.
Not long after, I left the restaurant. Ricardo was telling me to change my mind, while Ro said it was too late to change my mind and I was screwed, but there was nothing he could do for me.
I did not know. Maybe things would work out somehow as I trained and got used to life here.
Deciding not to think about the video anymore, I returned to the dormitory.
* * *
The long-awaited weekend arrived.
I put my worries aside and went to the laboratory.
Unlike before, there was hardly anyone in the lab. John Mueln was there, standing like an old tree as he worked. A long lab coat and a black turtleneck.
The moment he saw me enter, Mueln sharply turned his head.
“Hello.”
“What did you eat?”
Those were the first words he said.
I slowly came to a stop. Once I was standing still, I silently took in the sight before me.
The quiet lab early on a weekend morning.
Someone standing there like an NPC. A genius scientist widely acknowledged, according to what I found online during the week, as being comparable to Albert Einstein....
“Cereal...?”
John Mueln drew my blood.
As he did, he said:
“Should we meet while you’re fasting next time?”
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