WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 34: That Video
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I should have checked who it was before waking him....
I lamented my own stupidity.
I should have remembered the Commander-in-Chief lived in this house too. Walking into my superior’s home and waking my sleeping superior. Even a washout could not be this hopeless.
I quickly lowered my eyes and apologized.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“For what?”
Ye-hyeon murmured with his head lowered and his eyes closed.
Anyone could see he was half asleep. That made me feel twice as guilty.
I kept blaming myself as I apologized again.
“I woke you while you were sleeping. I’m sorry. Please go back to sleep and don’t worry about me.”
“Mm.”
Ye-hyeon answered in a sleepy voice, then flopped back onto the sofa.
Silence returned at once. Watching the man lying there with his eyes closed, I carefully backed away.
I should quietly go into the guest room beside the entrance.
“Huh.”
Ye-hyeon’s closed eyes opened halfway.
“But why are you here?”
“Ah.”
I stopped dead in my tracks, backing away like a thief.
Looking at my superior as he stared blankly at the ceiling, I answered.
“Um, Yoon told me to use the guest room. He said the house would probably be empty. I didn’t know you would be here. I’m sorry. I’m already causing trouble enough as it is....”
“Is there a problem with the old dormitory building?”
My superior sat up again. I was going to die of guilt.
Ye-hyeon sat up, pale-faced, and pressed hard against his eyelids with his fingers.
I chose my words carefully.
“There is no problem with the old dormitory building. I have a small problem with Senior Mueln, so....”
“Mueln?”
Ye-hyeon’s eyes widened.
They were already large, but they grew even bigger.
“John Mueln?”
“Yes. It’s because I did something foolish. It’s nothing serious, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Did he say he wanted to experiment on you, and you agreed?”
Was he psychic?
I stared stupidly at my superior.
“How did you know?”
“I had a feeling.”
I should not lie in front of this person.
Ye-hyeon slowly got up from the sofa. His white shirt and black pants were rumpled from sleeping there. Still, he did not seem to care as he walked slowly through the living room with sleepy eyes.
I could not bring myself to move.
Ye-hyeon swayed diagonally across the living room, then stopped and looked at me.
“Did you eat dinner?”
I had not, but I was afraid that if I told the truth, he would offer to make me dinner.
Before I could answer, though, Ye-hyeon spoke.
“Looking at your face, you haven’t.”
I really should not lie in front of this person.
Ye-hyeon swayed off again. The sound of his bare feet on the clean floor echoed through the living room. Even his walk looked like that of someone who had just come home from work. Everything about him seemed limp.
Was this what people meant by so mild that he was almost bland?
The pale man wandered across the spacious house and opened the refrigerator.
With his head inside, he asked:
“What do you like to eat?”
“No, Commander-in-Chief. I’m really fine.”
“I haven’t eaten either.”
“Then I’ll order something.”
“Sure. Order whatever you want. My card is on the table.”
Yoon. Please come back quickly.
After confirming once more that my superior truly did not care what we ordered, I thought it over and ordered a full sashimi set. I tried to pay with my phone, but Ye-hyeon firmly insisted that I use the card on the table.
Unable to argue further, I quickly ordered from the sashimi place Ye-hyeon told me about. The estimated delivery time was thirty minutes later....
“I’m going to sleep a little more. Make yourself at home.”
Ye-hyeon headed for the sofa with his eyes half closed.
I nodded, then dashed into the guest room.
As soon as I closed the door, I let out a relieved sigh at finally being alone. This was where I had stayed on that bleak night when the cabin was destroyed. Having been here once before, it felt fairly familiar.
In the bluish darkness, there was a chair and a simple bed.
I walked silently over and sat in the chair.
Without turning on the light, I looked at my phone.
People who had gained their freedom for the weekend had left messages.
[Recruit Group Chat / Hessi: I’ll bring all the game packs from home this week, so let’s try again next week!]
[Recruit Group Chat / Tom: Have a good trip home. Hilde, I hope you escape your stalker safely....]
[Recruit Group Chat / Tom: I don’t know why he only does this to you.]
[Ro: didthatbastardcomeagain?]
[Caller ID Blocked: It looks like you’ve completely forgotten everything?]
What was this?
I stared at the message from Caller ID Blocked.
A notification window on my screen. The last message was strange.
What was that? Was it the same person who had sent those crazy messages last time?
But that person’s number had been visible then. It had been an unfamiliar number, but still....
They must be different people. Maybe the person who had used this number before me had a lot of problems.
Frowning, I tapped the notification. There were several messages from the blocked number.
[Caller ID Blocked: Did you really forget everything?]
[Caller ID Blocked: No way. After what you did.]
[Caller ID Blocked: Ah, you can’t have forgotten everything. You must remember something.]
[Caller ID Blocked: Or not?]
[Caller ID Blocked: Did you really forget everything?]
[Caller ID Blocked: Really?]
[Caller ID Blocked: Fuck.]
[Caller ID Blocked: At least you shouldn’t do this to me.]
[Caller ID Blocked: Remember, you crazy bastard!]
Who are you?
Who are you? Do we know each other?
I was dumbfounded as I read the messages, which had gone from suspicion to rage all on their own.
They gave me chills too. Whatever their purpose, the sender clearly did not seem sane.
It was far too strange.
Should I change my number?
They probably were not meant for me, but the fact that I had lost my memories made me uneasy. If this kept happening, I should bring it up with Yoon or Ami.
There was nothing I could do about it right now anyway.
After closing the mysterious messages, I started replying to ordinary ones.
I tried to remember whatever I had forgotten, just as the unidentified sender had demanded. After sitting there using my phone for a while, I sprang up at the clear chime of the doorbell.
I ran to the front door so that my superior, sleeping soundly on the sofa, would not wake up.
* * *
“There’s banana pudding.”
Sadly, Yoon was running late, so I ended up eating sashimi alone with the highest-ranking person at my workplace.
Ye-hyeon, who was slowly chewing sashimi with a sleepy face, suddenly spoke.
“Have some later. It’s good.”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
“How are things with Yoon?”
I nearly sprayed my soybean paste soup.
The sudden question made my stomach drop. Judging by his expression, his switch still seemed to be off. Still, he was my Commander-in-Chief.
I quietly set down my spoon.
“Better than I expected.”
Ye-hyeon blinked his large eyes once.
The man staring at me gave a soft laugh after a moment.
“That sounds like a truly honest answer.”
“Yes. I didn’t think you’d believe me if I said it was great, so I answered honestly.”
“Good.”
“Yes. We really are getting along better than I expected. I don’t know what Yoon thinks of me, but he was the one who first suggested I try using a sword....”
“A sword?”
Ye-hyeon’s chopsticks stopped in midair on their way toward a piece of flounder sashimi.
My chopsticks, which had been about to pick up salmon sushi, stopped as well.
Had he been surprised? It seemed Yoon had not reported it separately.
We sat frozen, looking at each other for a while. Ye-hyeon was the first to break the stillness. Without taking his eyes off me, he casually moved only his arm.
As I watched my superior resume using his chopsticks, I recalled what had happened a month ago.
That video.
The video that had spawned the title, “hero of a troubled age.” In that video everyone had supposedly watched, the person facing a Level 10 creature was now sitting before me, slowly picking up a piece of flounder sashimi.
I watched Ye-hyeon swallow it before breaking the silence.
“Commander-in-Chief.”
“What is it?”
“I watched that video.”
The switch flipped on.
The change was obvious. The posture of the person who had been slowly chewing sashimi changed in an instant. There was no trace of sleepiness in his eyes. His chopsticks landed sharply on the table instead of swaying in his hand.
His gaze was impossible to read.
Ye-hyeon waited for me to continue.
Looking into those dark, unfathomable eyes that carried such depth of experience, I spoke.
“Could it be....”
There were so many things I wanted to ask that my head felt dizzy.
But the question that finally rose from my tangled thoughts was not whether I was a Level 10 creature, nor whether he knew anything about me.
Instead, I asked:
“Do you know why that creature hesitated?”
What was that passing emotion?
It had shown itself for only an instant. An emotion I would not have noticed if I had not been paying attention with everything I had.
The emotion that gathered in Ye-hyeon’s eyes, then vanished, was so powerful that I could not bring myself to ask another question.
Even though he did not give me a clear answer.
“Did you start practicing swordsmanship after watching that video?”
“No. When I first went outside, Yoon told me to try using a sword. I watched the video because the others mentioned it.... Ah. Yoon said I definitely knew how to use a sword, but wasn’t good enough to deploy, so I shouldn’t even think about going outside for a month. Since then, I have only sparred inside until today.”
“Good.”
What exactly was he praising?
I was puzzled, but I could not bring myself to ask that either.
Ye-hyeon lowered his eyes with a thoughtful expression. Then, as he picked up a piece of tempura with his chopsticks, he quietly added:
“Let’s spar sometime too.”
“Ah, yes. It would be an honor. Yoon did say that if I surpassed him in swordsmanship, he would ask you to spar with me. I don’t know whether that day will come.”
“It will.”
Ye-hyeon gave an answer that might have been encouragement.
Then he stared at a round shrimp tempura for a long time before adding:
“If you beat me at swordsmanship, I’ll give you that sword.”
The Commander-in-Chief spoke in a thoughtful voice.
The shrimp tempura between his chopsticks split cleanly in two.
“The sword from the video. I have it.”
I could not find an answer for a long time either.
We ate dinner in silence until Yoon came home with a refreshed expression, having successfully ended John Mueln’s stalking.
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