WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 53: Subway (2)

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I went along with him without fuss.

There was nothing else I could do anyway. What could I possibly do here? My weapon and communicator had both been taken. If his goal had been to kill me, he would not have saved me from the mold.

Maybe I should have pretended not to notice he was a deserter.

But it was too late now. Pretending I knew nothing would not work on him. I would learn his intentions in time.

Once again, we walked through the subway in silence. I dragged my heavy legs along, my eyes fixed on the sword hanging at his waist.

Contrary to Angela’s warning, the subway was quiet. The unnamed deserter Badger strode forward as if he knew this place well.

There was no sign of any living thing besides us.

We passed through a long corridor and entered the inactive ticket gates.

At the bottom of the stairs stood old platform screen doors. Of the many doors, only one stood open. The unnamed man headed toward it.

Before jumping down onto the tracks, he looked back at me.

“You’re following me obediently?”

“There’s no other way.”

He stared at me.

I looked at his scruffy beard and shrugged.

“It’s not like I could win in a fight.”

He gave a quiet laugh.

“Good attitude. Let’s eat first.”

It feels like we had lunch not long ago.

I could not say that. I was not clueless enough to tell him I was not hungry. I followed him through the open screen door and jumped onto the tracks.

A long tunnel stretched ahead. There was no electricity in the narrow tunnel, but I could still see. Glowing mushrooms grew in a line along the tracks.

The mushrooms shone green.

“Did you plant these?”

“Yeah.”

Impressive.

I walked while looking at the beautiful mushrooms blooming in a neat row.

A strange black passage full of green light. A cool breeze flowing through it.

After we walked in silence for a while, something heavy appeared ahead.

A huge train stood completely still.

“This subway station has no creatures coming in because every entrance is surrounded by the mold that tried to eat you.”

“But isn’t it connected to other stations?”

“I blocked them all.”

Dim light leaked from the train windows.

The man approached the stopped train and slid open a door. He slipped into the brightly lit carriage. I slowly walked over and climbed in after him.

Then I froze at the sight before me.

“This is insane.”

“Pretty nice, right?”

The man grinned as he watched me stare with wide eyes.

“Before I deserted, they used to call me the Badgers’ Druid.”

Vegetables.

Neat shelves, with vegetables growing in orderly rows within them. Purple LED lights shone down on the vegetables. I gaped at the pots filling the entire train car.

The sight before me was unfamiliar. Everything in those pots was a vegetable I recognized. Broccoli. Romaine. Isabel.

Most of it looked fresh enough to pick and eat right away.

...A master at surviving outside the Core?

The man enjoyed watching me stand there in a daze before speaking.

“You can’t eat there. Come this way.”

I barely managed to look away from the vegetables and moved into the next car.

I had already been surprised enough, but the sights that kept appearing still left me impressed.

Each car seemed to have a different purpose. I passed through a variety of them. One was full of chirping chicks and scurrying chickens. Another was packed with mushrooms, from enoki to kinds I did not know. Another held rusty weapons, tools, and chunks of wood that seemed to be workbenches.

After passing through those cars, we reached one that showed signs of someone living there.

Unlike the others, this car still had its subway seats. The man gestured toward a seat that appeared to be used as a bed.

“Sit there.”

Then he went into another car and came back carrying a pot.

“Chicken soup.”

“No.”

“Eat up.”

He winked and held out a rusty fork and spoon.

It was ridiculous, but I did not refuse. I quietly took the bowl and ladled soup from the pot.

We ate without speaking for a while. The man seemed genuinely hungry, while I was busy processing the situation unfolding before me.

Yoon had said supplies were the most important thing. Had he not said new recruits normally spent some time filling the supply depot in F Zone? I also recalled what I had heard before leaving the Core. From D Zone onward, you had to live by survival skills.

But this was A Zone.

How I had ended up all the way in A Zone was a mystery too.

The conversation resumed after the man finished his chicken soup.

“So. Is Ye-hyeon alive?”

I slowly put down my spoon.

Then I looked at the man covered in hair and beard for a long moment before asking back.

“Why did you desert?”

“You shouldn’t answer a question with a question.”

“I can’t just hand over our information to a deserter.”

“Hey. Even so, I’m a former Badger and a human being.”

The unnamed senior arched a brow as if he found my attitude amusing.

“Wouldn’t I be safer than you? And what could I even do here?”

Safer than me?

Why had my story suddenly come into this? Unable to understand what he meant, I stared blankly at him.

Perhaps he took that expression another way, because he waved both hands.

“Fine, fine. I should tell you first, is that it?”

“What? Tell me what?”

“Let’s see. Where should I start?”

Was it because he had been alone so long? It felt like we were not communicating properly.

The deserter Badger ignored my expression and stroked his beard.

“Since I mentioned Ye-hyeon, should I start with Ye-hyeon?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“Ah, listen. It won’t hurt to know. You probably don’t know, right?”

Know what?

I was about to ask when he spoke first.

“You know, he grew up in a single-father household.”

...What?

Caught off guard by the completely unexpected turn, I blinked. It was absurd enough that he was really talking about Ye-hyeon, but when he said he would talk about Ye-hyeon, I thought he would bring up something related to Ye-hyeon’s position.

Why was he telling me something this personal?

Flustered as I was, the situation did not change. The man sat with my sword hanging from one side of his waist, his face immersed in his own memories as he continued.

“I was in the same unit as him during the First War. That’s when I heard it. He said his mother died giving birth to him. But his father, I never saw his face and I don’t know his name, but he was probably in a pretty high position.”

“Excuse me?”

“He came by the military base a few times. Said he wanted to see his son’s face.”

Excuse me?

It was absurd how he kept talking without regard for me. I was not even sure I should keep listening. Yet despite my discomfort, I recalled scraps of information I had read before.

Had people not complained online that Ye-hyeon’s birth was unclear? That there was no information on either his father or mother?

That did not add up. Was his father in such an exceptional position that no records were left instead?

“Whether he was a soldier, a politician, or whatever.... Anyway, Ye-hyeon would get called outside at the most random times. He’d come back pale as a sheet.”

“Pale?”

“I think he was abused.”

This was not right.

He was going too far. This was not something I should hear. The casually delivered words brought me back to my senses.

I held out my palm toward him and spoke firmly when he raised a brow.

“I won’t listen any further.”

“Why? Because it’s disrespectful to Ye-hyeon? Or because it seems useless to hear? If it’s the first, is this really the time for you to worry about that? If it’s the second, knowing this kind of personal information can be surprisingly useful.”

“I don’t know why I have to hear that I’m not in a position to worry about such things. Either way, I don’t think this is right.”

“I like Ye-hyeon.”

What bullshit....

Was he letting his true feelings show? The deserter gave a mocking laugh.

It sounded like a sneer woven from many emotions.

“You think I’m digging up someone else’s private shame for fun right now.”

“Am I wrong?”

“I’ll tell you about everyone, not just Ye-hyeon. Jason, Richard, Ami, Yoon, Ska, Jonathan, Ricardo, all of them! I’m trying to help you, so why won’t you listen?”

“How is this helping me?”

“You need information. That’s how you avoid landmines and blend into the organization without trouble. Hey. You need to be liked by the organization to move freely. You have to earn their trust to move freely outside the Core, fake recruit.”

“...Why do I need to move freely?”

Something was strange.

At first, I thought this person had simply lived alone for too long and forgotten how to talk. But the more he spoke, the more it felt like we were having this conversation based on completely different assumptions.

It felt as though we were misunderstanding something about each other.

More precisely, this person seemed to know something about me.

My stomach began to churn. I forced down the strange feeling rising inside me.

“What would I do by moving freely outside the Core?”

He looked dumbfounded.

For a while, neither of us moved. Neither of us spoke. A brief silence born from mutual incomprehension. Sitting on old train seats, we stared at one another from across the aisle.

Only after a long pause did the man answer, looking as though he could not understand my question.

“You have to kill him.”

“...Kill who?”

“The one you betrayed.”

Nausea rose in my throat.

“The one you drove out of the Core. Your former colleague.”

I desperately tried not to throw up as I looked into his vivid green eyes. I also saw him pull down his sleeve.

His arm was turning gray too.

“The bastard ordering you brought to S Zone.”

Thud!

The train shook. The impact from the rear of the train swept rapidly through the car we were in.

The body of the train trembled. The sound of collision echoed through the tunnel.

I turned to stare at the closed door to the next car.

The senior shot to his feet.

“Fuck, they’re already here. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To the next station.”

He took a small knife from his back pocket and shaved off his beard in quick strokes.

Clumps of beard fell into the train corridor. The face revealed underneath was younger than I had expected. Surprising. I had assumed he was at least somewhat physically older. Though this did not seem like the time to be surprised by that.

“Let’s try to stay alive a little longer.”

“What’s outside?”

“What else? Your old friends.”

The man efficiently gathered the weapons he had set down.

Then he suddenly handed my sword back to me. Instead of asking questions, I accepted it with thanks.

“Thank you.”

“I wanted to talk comfortably for at least a few minutes. But then, since they sensed you were here, there was no way they’d stay still.”

“So we can escape?”

“Yeah. I’ve got almost ten years of experience deserting. Keep quiet and follow me. And hey. It feels strange for someone who deserted ten years ago to say this, but.”

He pulled a mask over his face and set off.

I strapped my sword to my waist and followed behind him. As I hurried along, I listened carefully. I listened for what the man walking ahead said, and for the sounds made by whatever had rammed into the rear of the train.

Without looking back, the deserter said,

“I’m still a veteran who fought in two wars, you know. I have no intention of just standing by while our side loses.”

He rushed into the car ahead, slid open the door, and jumped down.

I followed him into the green darkness and caught the rest of his mutter.

It sounded less like something said to me and more like words to himself.

A whisper carrying a sharply honed resolve.

“Like hell I’d hand you over to them.”

We began to run along the dark tracks.

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