WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 58: Return and Change (1)
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The veterans came over and asked me countless questions.
It seemed Aki knew Jin Silver too. They hurried up from the subway and bombarded me with questions, then immediately got to work.
Lee Ho and Walker, who did not know Jin Silver, remained beside me. The other four, Green, Tvein, Aki, and Ami, disappeared into the subway to search.
The three of us were left on the deserted road.
Lee Ho took his eyes off the seniors disappearing from view and looked at me.
“Hilde.”
“Yes.”
What was it?
I looked up and met Lee Ho’s eyes as he approached. He came over with a less-than-pleasant expression and sat down beside me.
The man rested both arms carelessly and looked me over.
“Sorry.”
“Pardon?”
Why was he suddenly apologizing?
Ah, was it along the same lines as Ami?
I studied his face, trying to understand exactly what he meant.
Looking tired as always, he did not avoid my gaze.
“I got mad at you.”
“...Did you?”
“When your traits were revealed.”
Ah. He meant what happened inside the Safe Point.
It felt like such a long time ago. No, I had forgotten that it had even happened. Barely holding my drooping eyelids open, I shook my head.
“That was a perfectly natural reaction.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“You were angry because I hid it, weren’t you? I would’ve been angry too if I were in your place.”
“It’s not like you kept quiet because you wanted to.”
Lee Ho sighed and rubbed his neck.
“You couldn’t say anything.”
Unsure how to respond, I kept my mouth shut.
Walker had come over beside Lee Ho at some point. With his arms folded, he quietly listened to our conversation. I looked at my seniors and went over what had happened at the Safe Point.
The swarm of creatures that attacked the military vehicles. The Safe Point being surrounded. The enormous, two-story creature that had relentlessly chased after me.
I would’ve been angry too.
These people did not know my circumstances. It was not as though I had hidden something trivial. I had hidden something that involved lives. It was not something they could easily overlook.
I was about to say again that their reaction had been natural, but Lee Ho waved a hand.
“I was wrong, so just accept it. Besides, you were the one who first brought up telling Ami you wanted to reveal it, right?”
“If I hadn’t even brought that up, I would’ve been a completely hopeless washout.”
“See? I was narrow-minded in every way.”
After saying that, Lee Ho let out a long breath.
No more sounds came from the deep crater. Perhaps it was the wind striking my skin, but I felt strangely chilled. I was cold and sleepy. I would not wish for anything more than to sleep under a blanket in the dormitory inside the Core.
As I blinked, Lee Ho spoke again.
“And hey.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Pardon?”
Do what?
When my eyes widened a little, Lee Ho frowned.
“You fell in my place.”
Ah.
Right. I had forgotten that too. What had happened above the ravine now felt as distant as the time I sparred with Yoon.
Besides, I had not fallen in Lee Ho’s place. The creature had been after me, not him.
I did not have the strength to explain it all, so I was about to answer, “It happened because of me, so of course I did.”
But I swallowed the words when I saw his eyes.
I looked at Lee Ho’s troubled eyes, then nodded.
“I’ll try.”
“Yeah. Please try. I hear you do that often.”
“Huh?”
When have I ever?
As I looked utterly confused, Lee Ho let out a heavy sigh.
What was with that reaction, like he had a lot to say but was holding it in?
Even Walker, who had been listening quietly, gave a small snort.
Why?
I was not the kind of junior who rushed into danger without thinking, was I? Since coming outside the Core, I thought I had followed orders quite meekly. My spirit had been completely crushed while following them, too.
Feeling wronged, I protested.
“I love myself very much, senior.”
“Oh, do you?”
“...I mean it.”
“Were you the one who cut down the pillars in the subway?”
Walker abruptly joined the conversation.
I barely lifted my drooping eyelids and looked at the decaying road. Then I slowly nodded. I did not want to sleep until the seniors who had gone into the subway came back. I was grateful that they kept talking to me. If we had not been having this conversation, I would have already passed out.
It felt like my whole body smelled of blood.
I answered slowly.
“Yes. I misjudged my strength.”
“Who taught you swordsmanship?”
“My senior partner.”
“I doubt it.”
I could not understand the certainty in his voice.
When I shifted only my eyes, I met Walker’s gaze as he looked down at me. His eyes were always sharply alert despite his solid build.
The man had an overwhelming presence just standing there.
“Yoon does not use a heavy sword like yours. He likes practical things. He may be able to receive your sword attacks and give you feedback, but you would not have learned all your swordsmanship from him.”
“...That is a very reasonable point.”
“Who taught you? And if you taught yourself, how did you learn?”
I do not remember.
Because even after meeting creatures that called me a traitor, even after remembering the name and face of someone called Kyle, even after learning I was not human, not all my memories had returned. No lie could fully fill the holes in my past. It was an absence I could not explain.
Even lying was exhausting now.
Looking across the open horizon, I apologized to Ye-hyeon in my heart.
“I don’t remember.”
“What?”
“I remember almost nothing from before I became a Badger.”
I could feel Lee Ho and Walker staring at me.
Unable to meet their eyes, I murmured as if talking to myself.
“I only remembered my name.”
“...What? Seriously? What is wrong with you? You must’ve gone to a hospital.”
“Yes. They could not find anything specifically wrong with my brain.”
“So it wasn’t that you never got a license. You couldn’t remember whether you had gotten one or not.”
Walker pointed it out sharply.
He was an intelligent person in many ways. He barely spoke, but every word he said struck at the heart of the matter. He had said he used to be a fixer in the underworld.
I answered with a nod.
Commander-in-Chief. How could you assign someone this perceptive to me, then tell me to keep a secret I could not protect? I was in no position to complain after letting part of it slip out.
More importantly, it was cold. It seemed to be getting colder.
While my seniors considered what I had said, I shivered and curled into myself.
Lee Ho’s voice reached me.
“What is it?”
Hugging my knees, I turned to look at him.
“I’m cold.”
“Cold?”
Lee Ho’s eyes widened.
“You’re cold? Right now?”
“Yes.”
Was I the only one cold?
It seemed I was. Lee Ho and Walker’s faces immediately hardened, and they rushed over. I blankly watched them suddenly take my pulse and examine the body Ami had treated.
They said something to me, but I could not understand it very well.
No, I was too sleepy. Was it because I had been tense the whole time?
It was hard to keep my eyes open... I could not understand what they were saying at all.
I really needed to sleep for a little while.
Just five minutes....
* * *
A white ceiling came into view.
“Hilde~....”
A hand pressed me back down as I tried to sit up.
“Do you only feel satisfied after ending up in the hospital every time you finish a mission?”
“You’re awake?”
A low, dry voice reached my ears.
“You’re hard to kill. Good work.”
“Oppa! How can you talk to Hilde like that?”
“I praised him. What is the problem?”
“Your way of speaking hasn’t changed in decades.”
“Samuel! The patient is awake!”
My head was spinning.
Every sensation came rushing in. The flood of them left me dizzy for a while. The light pouring over my eyelids was sharp. Black shapes with blurred outlines moved busily through my hazy vision.
I blinked for a long time to make them out clearly.
Voices hummed in conversation. The wheels of an IV stand rolled along, and the hospital’s distinctive sharp smell filled the air.
Only after taking in the environment pouring over me did I recognize the people around me.
They stood around my bed, looking down at me.
Richard Green, Ami, and Lee Ho Chang. The three familiar faces I had seen before closing my eyes. They stood at my feet and looked down at me. When I narrowed my eyes, their faces came into focus.
There were two more familiar faces as well. Ricardo, smiling dangerously with narrowed green eyes. Choi Yoon, looking at me with cold, reptilian eyes.
Every gaze fixed on me was intensely sharp.
At the oppressive sight, I sucked in a breath.
Then, while still inhaling, I said,
“This is a little intimidating.”
“Deal with it.”
Lee Ho answered in a tired voice.
“At least the leadership and the Head of Personnel aren’t here beside you.”
That was a terrifying thought.
I pushed myself up on my elbows.
My view widened, and I naturally took in my surroundings. It was the hospital inside headquarters. The Black Badger headquarters I had been forcibly driven from because of Jaeyeon. The place where my memories began, where difficult superiors and eccentric scientists waited.
Finally.
I was back somewhere I could buy food other people had made.
Looking at the conveniences of civilization scattered around, I let out a sigh.
“Civilization....”
“Ah... Did he hit his head?”
“Get a grip. You haven’t been discharged yet.”
Beside Ricardo, who was questioning my intelligence, Yoon pointed this out.
The man, as cold and expressionless as ever, added,
“You don’t even have a set discharge date. Just give up hope of ever being discharged.”
“Thank you, as always, for your truly invaluable advice, senior partner.”
“You’re welcome.”
Yoon shamelessly accepted my words.
“I’m relieved you haven’t become as much dumber as we feared.”
“I’m touched you thought I had intelligence left to lose.”
People laughed.
Blinking, I watched the smiles on my seniors’ faces. Lee Ho smiled with neat white teeth, while Ricardo wore his usual dangerous yet sly grin. I was not sure exactly why those two were smiling, but it was not strange to see either of them smile.
What surprised me was that even Richard Green gave a quiet snort of laughter.
The smile of the man said to be as hard as steel did not last long.
He quickly composed himself and looked directly at me.
“Hildebert.”
“Yes.”
When I answered without avoiding his eyes, the gray-haired man looked at me with burning eyes.
“Good work.”
Thank you.
I did not know what I had done, though. All I remembered was causing trouble in every possible way before barely being saved by my seniors.
Still, I bowed at the encouragement from that strict senior. I was happy to be praised. No matter what, I was glad to have returned to headquarters. I was also glad that I had conveniently made the difficult journey back after passing out halfway through.
Some of my memories had returned, and I had remembered much of the swordsmanship I had forgotten.
I did not know why I had passed out, but nothing hurt seriously right now. I had caused an enormous amount of trouble, but
It was not the very worst outcome....
Ah.
Wait.
“Senior.”
I looked up and called Ami.
My senior quietly met my eyes.
After looking into her steady eyes for a long while, I asked in a whisper.
“Jin Silver...?”
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