WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 56: Face-Off (1)

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You said you would tell me the rest.

Wasn't that meeting and parting too sudden? There was still so much I needed to hear. Important things and unimportant things.

I was lying prone inside the train as it sped on. The wind lashed painfully against my body.

The tears had dried on my cheeks.

The train ran through the darkness for a long time.

I no longer knew where I should go. So I only got to my feet when the train stopped with a heavy Thud!

The weighty impact ran through my body. Gravel and sand fell somewhere below.

All I could see were tracks swallowed by darkness.

Was Jin dead? I staggered to my feet and stared blankly ahead. They had said they knew each other. So perhaps they had not killed Jin.

Keeping one hand on my sword's hilt, I jumped down from the train.

Solid ground met my feet.

If you ran away because you hated Ye-hyeon and the world, you should have run until the end.

Of course, no answer came back.

After staring into empty space for a moment, I started walking down the dark tracks.

That ash-gray arm.

As I limped toward the wall of dirt the train had crashed into, I searched my memories.

Why had Jin's arm turned ash-gray? For some reason, the color did not seem unfamiliar.

I mulled it over for a while, but no answer came. There was no point holding on to a question with no answer. I walked over beside the shattered driver's cabin and reached out, feeling along the wall.

Was there a door here too?

I suppressed the urge to go to Jin and kept feeling around me.

I had not seen any platform screen doors on the way here. Even if I went back, there would be no other route.

My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness as my hands continued moving.

I had to find a way out. Once I got out, I could ask my seniors for help, then go looking for Jin Silver, who might still be alive.

Even a dog hole would do....

My foot sank.

My right foot fell through the ground. I grabbed the dirt on reflex. My body tilted to one side. When I cautiously looked down, I found a tunnel descending into the ground.

Aha. This time, it was down instead of sideways.

Jin truly was sharp. I thought of how Jin had instantly sensed the pursuing creatures and cut off the train cars, and smiled bitterly.

“Please be alive.”

I spoke to someone who could not hear me.

“I'll come find you.”

Until I saw Jin dead with my own eyes, I would not give up hope.

I entered the tunnel. This place was also completely dark. Again, I kept my left hand against the wall.

This passage was harder than the last one. I had to crawl. If I lifted my head, the back of it hit the hard dirt ceiling. Keeping my head down, I crawled on all fours and waited for the passage to end.

Only when my neck hurt unbearably did it finally end.

This time, there was no welcome artificial light. Only blue mushrooms illuminated the tracks. Had Jin planted these too?

Ignoring the pain in my waist and neck, I slowly rose.

Drip. Drip. Water fell.

I walked without any plan. Since Jin's death was not certain, I had to hold myself together all the more.

The subway where even Badgers who had served for over ten years died like flies.

Entering it was dangerous enough, and there were probably people still chasing me.

What had I done?

As I walked past the blue mushrooms, I sorted through what I had heard. They said that one day, those people came looking for Jin, who had been living outside. They came and told Jin to bring me in.

‘Their leader woke up a few months ago....’

I had also awakened here a few months ago.

Coincidence?

Could a coincidence line up so perfectly?

Who was their leader? Since being cast out of the Core, I had been gathering up the fragments of my past that kept spilling out.

Their leader. The leader of those who were supposedly my former comrades.

...I could not remember.

I tried to recall it differently. Rather than trying to remember my superior, I tried to remember the person whose advice I had sought when I needed to make a decision.

The person I used to seek advice from.

Curtain-like hair.

A flash passed through my mind.

My memories surged back. That person used to think little of them. They knew nothing, that person had said, and could not even guess what was inevitably going to happen.

Distinctive golden eyes brimming with confidence. A firm voice. Neat features.

Someone who had never avoided my gaze....

The smell of fish.

The sharp, protein-rich stench drew close.

Huge teeth filled my vision.

The teeth lunged at my face, trying to tear it off in one bite.

Sshhhk!

I split its open mouth neatly in half.

Flesh and bone fragments flew. My sword cut through its esophagus and went deeper. Its long body tore open. Its desperate scream pierced my ears.

Screeech....

As I twisted the blade free, the half-severed creature curled up, pouring out blood.

I stared at the creature taking up the middle of the tracks. I could not count its legs. But it was far too large to be called a centipede. It was long enough to wrap around an adult man three times and still have some left over.

It busily moved its legs and curled itself into a coil.

It had a face like a fish head.

Holding my sword, I sighed.

“If you attack me, I'll have no choice but to kill you all and keep going.”

Of course, it could not understand me.

The creature, which had been gushing blood in great spurts, slowly stopped moving. Its dozens of large, slender legs came to a stop, but I did not move forward.

Instead, I tightened my grip on my sword.

I felt the weight of the blood syringe in my right pocket.

“Just let me pass.”

I lowered my body and readied myself to swing.

“There are people I need to find.”

Instead of an answer, I heard the sound of legs moving.

The instant my sword drew a line through the air, creatures poured down from the ceiling.

*　　　*　　　*

My shoulder hurt.

Thank goodness these centipede-like things did not have venom in their teeth. Otherwise, I would have collapsed and died.

Either way, it was over. I pressed my torn left shoulder tightly with my right hand. I had just put my blood-soaked sword back into its sheath.

An eerie silence settled over the space.

Now, nothing besides me was moving here.

The walls and tracks were covered in blood and pieces of flesh.

Pressing down on my shoulder, I slowly walked along the tracks thick with the protein-rich stench.

Bodies crunched beneath my feet. No matter how I thought about it, there must have been another way to get through this station. Or I should have escaped somewhere else before reaching their nest.

Either way, those choices were gone now.

I had succeeded in killing them all, but the cost was considerable. Even after injecting blood, I felt dizzy.

Frowning, I steadied my swimming vision.

“Still, haven't I improved a lot?”

Though nobody was there to listen, I muttered to myself in the darkness.

“I might be able to cut the hem of my senior partner's clothes now.”

Maybe I could exchange moves with Ye-hyeon.

And if I won, perhaps I could receive the sword I had seen in the video.

Once the outside stimulation was gone, my thoughts drifted back to the past. I searched my memories as I dragged my body, heavy as lead. Jin, who had cut off the train. If Jin Silver had not sent me away like that, I would have simply given in to instinct and collapsed.

A sword....

My sword. I trudged onward and traced back an even older memory. The sword I had used. The sword I must have crossed against the black-haired person's blade.

Where was it now?

Had it broken and been buried underground? Or was the sword Ye-hyeon possessed my sword? I wanted to see the actual sword from the video. Even if Ye-hyeon did not hand it over to me, I wanted to know what it looked like.

That person's voice kept circling in my mind.

It was the voice I had remembered while holding the steering wheel.

‘How about a sword spar with me?’

Like in the good old days?

Clang!

The blade shuddered.

Black-sclera eyes burning with hatred. Ash-gray hair, drying out crisp. Features like those of a human.

I pushed aside the sharp claws aiming for my throat with my blade.

It moved impressively. One moment it seemed to appear at the edge of my vision, and the next it was right in front of me.

I put strength into my arm and swung my sword.

Whoosh!

It was knocked back, then staggered several steps away.

Our eyes met. The being had come from the direction of the faintly lit tracks. It had come from where I was headed.

This was not the one Jin Silver had held back. Its hair was short.

“Traitor.”

This again.

“You.”

It closed the distance at once.

Its words did not come smoothly, as if something were boiling in its throat. But its hateful glare was bright.

“If not for you.”

“I'm really sorry, but I forgot my entire past. I know it's annoying, but could you explain what I did?”

Clang!

My sword was knocked aside by its swinging hand.

It had tremendous strength. If I had not quickly pulled my right arm back and blocked its claws, there would have been a hole in my throat.

Claws struck blade.

It pushed against my sword with its disgusting claws and screamed.

“You!”

“Yeah, me.”

“You, that time!”

Yeah, that time.

What happened then?

“If you hadn't betrayed Kyle then!”

Clang!

The distance opened with a flash.

We stepped back and readied ourselves again. The opponent glared at me, panting. Red veins began to show in its eyes. Holding my sword tightly, I stared blankly at it.

Eyes that had given up hope.

I remembered.

It was not complete, but a scene carved into me surfaced. A memory now branded clearly into my mind, one I could never forget. Since I remembered it again, it would be a time I could never forget for the rest of my life.

Kyle.

Golden eyes burning with fury. Clenched teeth and shaking hair. And the sword aimed at me.

Behind Kyle stood comrades.

They too held weapons. Their feet stood on a flawlessly white floor. Their eyes swelled with anger.

The place had a bluish cast.

I remembered their betrayed eyes, their expressions that said they expected nothing more from me, their determined gazes full of the will to win, to break down everything, including me, no matter what.

And I remembered the words I had spoken then, holding back my sorrow.

I did not remember the context in which I said them, like a video cut off at both ends.

But at that time, I pleaded.

To Kyle and the comrades who followed Kyle.

“...It isn't too late yet.”

“You turncoat bastard!”

“If it's now....”

If it is now, we can still turn back.

Crash!

My body flew backward. I was overpowered by the opponent's furious strike. My airborne body slammed into a square pillar dividing the tracks.

Thud.

A heavy impact went through my body.

A gasp escaped me on reflex.

But I had no time to rest. I twisted my body and avoided the incoming attack.

Thud!

“Time, time.”

Thud!

As if it would listen.

Then I would have to beat that thing down. Catching my breath, I rolled hard across the tracks. I rolled along the ground, avoiding the attacks flying at me.

Then, the moment it misstepped, I did not miss the opening. I pushed off the ground with my sword and rose.

Clang!

I deflected the descending claws.

The distance widened. I took my stance again. Ah, good. Now I could strike back. This time, I had to truly be prepared to kill it. If my resolve was half-hearted, I would be the one to die.

I braced both legs against the tracks and gripped my sword with both hands.

Then I raised both hands above my shoulder and inhaled.

The moment my plea had failed.

The moment they charged at me. The moment I realized there was no going back. I remembered how I had steeled myself, suppressing my heavy heart. I remembered gritting my teeth and gripping my sword with both hands.

The sword strike I had unleashed with that sharpened resolve.

Cutting through the floor,

Driving back those who had now become enemies.

Craaaash!

A chilling sword strike swept across the tracks.

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