WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 48: Sector D (5)
──────
There was a CCTV control room underground.
When I went down with Aki, I saw the gathered seniors. Thick cables crossed the barren tiled floor. Bright light spilled from dozens of monitors covering the walls.
The monitors were packed with creatures of every kind.
“Did you report it?”
“Yes.”
Lee Ho answered as Richard Green kept his eyes on the screens.
Everyone in the room looked grim and kept their eyes on the monitors. Most did not even look at me. I stopped on the threshold, taking in the silent control room.
I had not expected things to get worse this quickly.
Aki walked straight in and stood beside the seniors. No one looked away from the CCTV footage.
Only Ami turned to look at me.
The only person who understood the situation.
“Estimated Level 7?”
Tvein’s voice echoed through the wide room.
“Then it could be Level 8 or 9, couldn’t it?”
What he was looking at was obvious.
One enormous creature occupied several screens. It stood tall among the countless creatures we had seen the day before. It was incomparably larger than the Mad Buffalo, the witch, or the Plague God. If I went up to the second floor and looked out a window, I would probably meet its eyes as it stood there gloomily.
It stood completely still, with ash-gray fur hanging down like hair. Its torn eyes were so black they looked burned, as though they should be called pupils. It had probably never been seen before, and it looked strangely human.
There was a reason the seniors were not paying attention to the swarm of creatures surrounding the small Breath.
I quietly watched it.
Was the reason I kept wanting to cry guilt? Fear?
Or some other emotion I could not identify?
After standing there for a long time, I lowered my head. Ami was looking up at me from between the seniors.
I met her eyes for a while before speaking.
“Ami.”
“Yeah.”
She came right over.
“Want to step outside for a moment?”
I was grateful she understood right away.
The seniors did not care whether we left or not. They did not care when we returned after talking on the stairs, either.
Everyone was busy seriously discussing the cause and solution. Why had this unprecedented situation happened? How could they overcome it?
They probably did not have the energy to worry about one confused rookie being anxious.
That changed when Ami revealed the cause of the situation.
* * *
The control room erupted.
Everyone was angry, but two men were especially furious. Richard Green and Jason Tvein. They raged as they demanded Ye-hyeon. They ordered someone to connect them immediately.
Could we make calls from here too?
Apparently, we could. Tvein, who had grabbed me by the collar and shoved me against the wall the moment Ami revealed that creatures were drawn to me, fumed in front of the phone as the connection tone rang.
“Fucking bastard.”
He was also furious that he could not punch Ye-hyeon in the face right away.
“You knew this and sent us out without telling us? Selfish bastard. Fucking snake! Our lives mean nothing to you, is that it?!”
“If that were the case, he would have hidden this fact until the end.”
Ami refuted him coldly.
“The Commander-in-Chief told me to reveal it without hesitation when necessary and respond appropriately.”
“If he wanted us to deal with it, he should have told us before we left! Is saying one fucking sentence that hard? Is it?”
“There must have been a reason only you knew, Ami.”
Richard Green was calmer than Jason Tvein.
That did not mean he was not angry. Rage swirled in his blazing eyes.
Of course. I would be angry too. At me, and at Ami and Ye-hyeon for coming while concealing the truth.
“In any case, I cannot accept the current situation.”
Would it not have been better to remain inside the Core, even if Jae-yeon dragged me away?
A troubled mood hung over the control room. The atmosphere, heavier than before, showed no sign of improving. The swarming creatures were not about to retreat, and the others were angry too.
Walker pressed his lips together, while Aki rolled her eyes fiercely. Sylvia watched the screen coldly, and Bobby covered her mouth. Even kind Lee Ho wore an expression of incomprehension.
And everyone looked at me as though I were a creature.
I suddenly missed Ricardo. He had said the idea that I might be a Level 10 creature was absurd.
“Why the fuck is this bastard not answering?”
“It’s three in the morning.”
[Hello.]
The connection tone stopped as if on cue.
[Report the situation.]
A husky voice rang out.
It should have been the middle of the night, but there was not a trace of sleepiness in the Commander-in-Chief’s voice. He sounded as though he had been working when he answered.
I had barely been a Black Badger for any time at all, yet hearing his voice made my heart leap with tension.
The seniors reflexively straightened their backs too.
Tvein unleashed a stream of curses.
“You fucking bastard!”
“Please explain.”
Green opened the conversation while somehow keeping his composure.
Even so, his restrained voice was thick with anger.
“What exactly is this brat, and what were you thinking when you sent us outside the Core with this brat without saying a word?”
[How many creatures have gathered?]
Ye-hyeon asked back in a voice that was neither surprised nor shaken.
Ami explained. She neutrally reported the current situation. A swarm of creatures completely surrounding the Safe Point’s small Breath. An unclassified high-level creature standing in the middle of the swarm.
Tvein spewed curses in agitation, but he was ignored.
When Ami finished, Ye-hyeon spoke calmly.
[You mean it is worse than when Hilde first went outside the Core. Yoon reported that he took care of the witch, then returned to the supply depot, where he watched Hilde fight in the basement through a thermal imaging camera.]
So that was why he said I was doing well!
I had wondered how he knew whether I was doing well when he had not been beside me as I fought the pig in the basement. I was shocked by the truth I learned so late.
That man. He had just watched and enjoyed himself.
Tvein stopped cursing and blinked once.
“Was the pig also the half-wit’s doing?”
[No.]
Ye-hyeon answered without emotion.
[It was a creature that entered while supplies were being brought in, and it has nothing to do with Hilde. When they reviewed the thermal camera footage, they said it appeared in the basement around the time the food began running low.]
It was as if I could hear my senior partner asking, “You did not even check something this basic?”
As memories from that day resurfaced, I listened to Ye-hyeon’s neat explanation. There was no new information. It was only the same information as the day I had overheard Ye-hyeon and Ami talking in the guest room.
Not every creature was targeting me. The creatures were not approaching me out of goodwill.
Silence came after my superior’s concise explanation.
The sound of machinery running. The steady breathing of the people gathered in the control room.
Richard Green, his eyes overflowing with fury, broke the stillness that made it feel like dawn.
He glared at the phone as though he might crush it.
“I still do not know what this brat is or why you brought someone like this in.”
[I have no obligation to explain.]
A cold answer came back.
[You do not have to understand every decision I make. As much as I can tell you, Hilde is the joker card I hold.]
What?
My eyes widened. My jaw fell without me realizing it.
Everyone raised their heads and looked at me at once.
Several pairs of eyes flew toward me.
Only Ami’s eyes held pity and affection.
[Whether that becomes a winning card or a losing card, time will tell.]
I could not read what he truly felt from his voice.
[In any case, things have started moving. Richard. Build the operation around Hilde. The creatures surrounding the Safe Point because they are targeting Hilde means that, without Hilde, they will disperse from the Safe Point.]
“When we return to the Core, I will ask for details.”
“Yeah. Fucking do whatever the hell you want. The taste of power must be nice, huh?”
[Hilde.]
My name was suddenly called.
I jolted, then came to my senses. The seniors’ scattered gazes flew back toward me.
A faint trace of laughter mixed into Ye-hyeon’s next words.
[It is question time again.]
“Ah.”
The Commander-in-Chief Q&A session had returned after a relatively short time.
When I first met him face-to-face. When Hilde abruptly called Ye-hyeon’s private number after the cabin was destroyed. When I ate sashimi with him at my senior partner’s house. And finally, when I went up to his office in a hospital gown.
Whenever Ye-hyeon met me, he allowed me to ask questions. As though he wanted me to draw reality with my own hands and recover my memories.
Was he offering me the same chance this time?
Either way, I had no intention of refusing. It was not as though I had no questions. I chose the one I most desperately wanted answered from those circling my mind.
“Do you know how the creatures detect my location?”
[I do not know that either.]
The answer I expected came back.
After thanking him, I asked one more short question.
“If I become a losing card, will you discard me without hesitation?”
[I suppose I will have to.]
“Yes. Please do.”
I felt at ease.
Because I knew he was not holding onto me for personal reasons. Because I had heard with my own ears that he had accepted me as a Badger based on broader judgment. And because he said that, if problems arose, Ye-hyeon would make the decision demanded by the position he held without hesitation.
Now I could stand among the Black Badgers without worry.
While striving to become the Commander-in-Chief’s winning ace.
“Thank you for answering my questions.”
Ye-hyeon answered with silence.
* * *
The person on the call changed.
After wishing us success and promising every possible form of support, Ye-hyeon called someone else over. Richard Green had asked to speak with him because he needed him to plan the operation.
That person was Yoon.
Hildebert Taleb’s senior partner.
Yoon sounded irritated over the phone.
[Just let the rookie use a sword.]
He did not bother hiding the irritation in his voice.
[I am telling you, that is best for the rookie. Give him a sword, and he can do one person’s share. Without one, he is useless.]
“You should have taught the rookie the basics.”
[If you are going to give advice like that, teach him yourself.]
No.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
