WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 47: Sector D (4)

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What did you do?

For Ye-hyeon to say something like that. I could not even imagine Ye-hyeon angry enough to reach the boiling point. He was gentle in private and mild-mannered at work.

So he does get angry?

I swept the bits of ingredients on the cutting board to one side and met Ami’s eyes.

“What did he do to provoke the Commander-in-Chief that much?”

“It started with a two-week vacation.”

Ami held her elbow and explained brightly.

“The Head of Personnel usually comes in at ten and leaves at four.”

“Excuse me?”

“But during a busy period, he took two weeks off.”

...Does he actually work?

I gaped at those unimaginable working hours. If he came in at ten and left at four, there was barely any time to work. It was not as though he skipped lunch, either.

And as far as I knew, he had an office job, so he did not go out into the field.

But Walker and Aki did not seem surprised, as if everyone already knew.

Ami continued her explanation as she watched me panic alone.

“Things had been piling up.”

“...I can see why he’d be angry.”

“The whirlwind of scandals was a private matter, so even if it bothered him, Ye-hyeon did not interfere. The Head of Personnel’s flashy scandals were not something that started overnight, after all. Still, even if meeting people was part of his job, Ye-hyeon had told him a few times that he was away from his desk too much.”

“And then he took two weeks off at the worst possible time.”

“Exactly. He’d managed to survive without getting fired thanks to his devilish talent, but he picked the wrong moment to upset Ye-hyeon when he was already in a bad mood.”

No wonder he got angry.

I was almost more curious how he had managed not to get angry until then. I remembered my first day again. Everyone had been shocked that Head of Personnel Joo had left work, then come back in again. Even Ska had looked startled to see him.

So it really had been an astonishing event.

Aki, who had been quietly listening, slowly shook her head.

“The Commander is terrifying when he gets angry.”

“Ska told me about it in bits and pieces.”

Ami’s eyes curved with delight.

“He came back to the office from a business trip, and suddenly Ye-hyeon stared at his monitor expressionlessly for ages. Then he said, in a completely emotionless voice, ‘What is this?’”

“After seeing the Head of Personnel’s vacation request.”

“Yeah. He saw the leave Joo had submitted. Ye-hyeon stared at the screen for a long time, then quietly went down to the Personnel Department office. The Head of Personnel’s secretaries said they wanted to cut everything that happened afterward out of their memories.”

“How has he not been fired yet?”

“He’s more gifted than anyone at reading and handling people.”

The senior with round eyes explained simply.

“In fact, he barely earned Ye-hyeon’s forgiveness that time by accomplishing the feat of bringing Will in.”

William Walker threw the dishcloth again.

The kitchen was mostly cleaned up. The curry was finished too. Walker lifted the enormous pot. I offered to carry it, but he refused.

Rather than ask again, I quickly gathered the dishes. The other two seniors helped us as well.

We carried dinner through the chilly hallway. It felt as if we were the only ones left in this ruined world.

We ate in what had once been a Gothic art exhibition hall. We used things that had probably once stood behind red ropes with signs saying, “Do not touch.” We dragged over tables and chairs that had been exhibits and sat down. We set the meal on a walnut table, dripping curry onto it.

But how had he managed to bring Senior Walker in?

And just how many scandals did he have to cause for Ye-hyeon to say something like that?

When I asked casually while setting out the curry, Ami burst into laughter.

“The Head of Personnel is the greatest homme fatale I know.”

“Huh?”

“You should be careful too, rookie.”

Aki tossed the words at me.

She stared at me as my eyes widened.

“You’re good-looking. You never know when he might reach out with a seductive hand.”

“At me?”

“More than one Badger has gone, ‘Huh? Huh?’ and fallen for the Head of Personnel, then suffered like a dog.”

“But me?”

“I don’t think Hilde is Joo’s type.”

Ami muttered as if to herself.

“If Hilde were, he would have made a move ages ago.... And Ye-hyeon has not given Hilde any special warning....”

As she dragged over chairs for the others who would soon come to the exhibition hall, she truly spoke to herself this time.

“Ye-hyeon probably knows more than anyone about Joo’s love life, for several reasons....”

Why would that be?

“Did you make it good?”

I was about to ask, but Tvein gave my back a hard thump.

All that came out of my mouth was a strange noise. When I came to my senses, I saw the seniors gathered in the exhibition hall. It seemed they had spent some time on personal maintenance, then come here.

They were dressed more comfortably, but none had put down their weapons.

They settled onto the furniture that had once been exhibits.

Only the senior called Bobby was absent. Apparently, she was still in the situation room. At the Safe Point, people took turns standing overnight watch in the situation room.

There was too much new information coming in. It was dizzying.

For now, I ate dinner. I tucked away my memories of the two-toned-haired researcher, the information about Joo, and everything I had learned about the Safe Point and D Zone in one corner of my mind. Amid Richard Green’s barrage of scolding, I silently swallowed mouthfuls of warm curry.

* * *

The shittiest thing was dealing with leftovers.

That was what Ami had said. Food scraps. Trash. Whatever it was, we had to deal with it all ourselves, so there was no avoiding it. People found those tasks hard, apparently.

But I did not mind that sort of thing. Unhygienic work could be finished quickly, then washed away.

The most dreadful thing was my shooting lesson with Richard Green.

On our first evening in D Zone, he dragged me outside after I finished cleaning up. Then he shoved his gun into my hands and started an intensive shooting lesson without warning.

Ami argued, “He’s been tense for over ten hours. Let him rest,” and Lee Ho argued, “A little rest will improve his concentration and help him learn better,” but it was useless.

On top of that, I had no talent for shooting.

After not practicing for a few months, everything felt unfamiliar and new. I could not expect the same knack I had found with driving or swordsmanship.

“It seems your senior partner did not even teach you the basics of shooting.”

I thought I had kept up fairly well considering I had neglected practice for a while, but at the end of the intensive lesson, Richard Green gave a cold assessment.

His voice was thick with something like disappointment.

“The rookie lacks fundamentals.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Your shooting is mediocre too.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll work harder.”

“I have not seen your swordsmanship, but if your talent for shooting is this mediocre, your talent for swordsmanship is probably similarly mediocre. You do not seem as talented as the two youngsters who just joined us.”

“...I’m sorry.”

Still, I should be better at swordsmanship than shooting....

“There is no need to see it. It is late.”

“I’ll work hard.”

“Work very hard.”

“Richard, if you say any more, the half-wit will cry.”

Jason Tvein spoke with a snicker.

Ignoring his slippery voice, Green gave his instructions bluntly.

“I cannot expect even ranged support from you, so you will be the driver for the time being.”

I obeyed the order, completely battered.

I trudged back into the building. Darkness was beginning to settle. The wind was cold. Dragging my heavy legs, I headed for my cot.

After washing up quickly, I did not move from my cot for a long while.

An overwhelming sense of self-loathing washed over me. I had never felt like this even in front of Yoon. Well, in Yoon’s case, he had not expected anything from me, so he had not been disappointed.

While I was feeling dejected, Ami and Lee Ho worked hard to comfort me.

Before Lee Ho left to switch watches with Bobby, he said this.

“No one meets that person’s standards.”

He took a crisp bite from an energy bar and looked at me with tired eyes.

“Even Aki and William, who are called geniuses of the century, get scolded by Richard. Do not take it too seriously, rookie.”

“That’s right. You’re doing well, Hilde!”

Ami dragged her cot beside mine.

Then she looked down at me, lying there miserably, with her round eyes.

“Most rookies do not even make it this far at this point. This is an exceptional situation. Considering that, you’re doing incredibly well.”

“Thank you. But it is true that I am no help with ranged support.”

“Did you spend the time other people used to learn shooting just playing around? No.”

Ami spoke firmly.

“The order was only switched around. And that was Yoon’s choice. Do not beat yourself up like an idiot, Hilde.”

Just as Yoon said, without Ami, I would have suffocated to death.

William Walker and Aki were people who did not know how to comfort others because they had been born talented. So Lee Ho and Ami took especially good care of me. Thanks to the comfort of those two kind seniors, I was able to pull myself together again.

Ami even kindly gave me a quick lesson.

“A magazine is as important as the gun itself. If the magazine does not feed the rounds properly, the gun will not fire. So you need to keep checking and checking your magazines.”

“I will remember that.”

“Did Yoon teach you how to inspect weapons?”

“No. He did inspect the gun I carry, but he only said that, with my shooting skills, I was highly likely to shoot friendlies, so I should refrain from drawing it whenever possible. He did not teach me anything more....”

“I see. Weapon inspection starts with zeroing. Just listen for now. From a prone position, you fire five rounds at a target ninety meters away. Then you look at the shot group on the target and adjust the sights so that you can hit exactly where you want with the next shots.”

I understood. In my case, I would not be able to tell whether the zero was off or I was simply bad at shooting.

In any case, Ami did not blame my terrible shooting.

“The zero Yoon set might not suit you. Things like the distance between your eye and the sight. So later, it is better for you to zero it yourself.”

After the useful lesson ended, I reflected on what I had learned and got ready for bed.

I closed my eyes, prepared to wake up at five in the morning. Still, they had taken pity on me as the youngest, so I had been assigned the last watch. I was so glad I did not have to wake in the middle of the night.

I need to work hard tomorrow too, so I do not become a burden.

Will I have to drive that old military truck again?

Probably not. There had to be another vehicle somewhere in this building. Thinking that, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I woke at three in the morning.

Because Aki shook me awake.

“Get up. Now.”

“The building is completely surrounded.”

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