Black Badger - Chapter 64

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 64: The Choi Family

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The day of the social gathering arrived quickly.

I had only just been discharged from the hospital and loosened up a little before it was the day of the gathering. It began at six on Saturday evening.

My precious weekend.

Around lunchtime on Saturday, I went to Yoon's house.

The neat house looked the same as always. The residents opened the door for me, but none of them showed their faces. They said everyone was in their rooms preparing for the evening plans.

So the first person to approach me as I waited quietly in the entryway was Ami.

“Hilde, you bought such a great suit!”

She was wearing a navy dress.

A pearly mother-of-pearl pendant gleamed white against the navy fabric. The silk dress fell to her ankles. It was not flashy, but it was formal and elegant.

Holding up the dress with her left hand, Ami hopped barefoot down the stairs.

My round-eyed senior's face brightened when she saw me.

“You bought it at the place my youngest brother recommended, right? They've been consistently good ever since we were kids.”

“Thank you.”

I was satisfied with the suit too.

The tailor suggested that lighter colors would suit me perfectly, but I firmly refused and chose black. I did not want to stand out for no reason at a gathering full of distinguished people.

Ami kept coming over to inspect my suit.

As I was complimenting her dress, Yoon came out from inside.

“You're here.”

He was dressed entirely in black.

“You chose something safe.”

“Would you consider wearing nothing but black for the rest of your life?”

I made the suggestion seriously.

Yoon merely raised one eyebrow before lowering it, without much reaction.

I meant it. My senior partner wore a black suit, and it made his face look far more alive than his white lab coat did.

With one hand in his pocket, Yoon reached out with the other and tightened my tie.

“Watch what you say when we get there.”

He gave the warning as casually as if he were describing lunch.

“Ears are everywhere. Your wrist looks a little bare.”

“Hilde, you look good.”

A husky voice came from deeper in the house.

Our superior, fully prepared, was walking out. I bowed in thanks and looked over the pale man.

Ye-hyeon wore a sleek gray suit. Its subtle green sheen made his face look even paler.

Ami looked at him as he approached.

“You ended up not wearing the dark gray suit, Oppa?”

“The check pattern looked too casual....”

“Hmph.”

Ami's eyes drooped.

Ye-hyeon looked flustered as he carefully watched her expression.

It just looked like my round-eyed senior was throwing a small tantrum.

Yoon gruffly scolded her.

“Choi Ami. Speak like an adult.”

“Hmph, I humbly beseech you.”

This pair of siblings was always strange.

Anyway, I had met the dress code. Ye-hyeon and Ami generously praised my suit. They said no one would be able to find fault with it at the gathering.

On the way to the car, I received a crash course on the social gathering. The order for using utensils, basic etiquette, and so on.

After being told that I only needed to know the basics, I got into the spotless white Bentley.

The social gathering was being held at the A-Tech chairman's residence.

We barely spoke during the drive. Ye-hyeon, seated in the passenger seat, silently used his phone with his eyes lowered. Yoon and Ami sat together in the back, looking out the windows in silence.

After checking on my seniors through the rearview mirror, I wisely kept my mouth shut and focused on driving.

The tension radiating from the three of them was enough to make me suffocate.

* * *

We went through two inspections before arriving.

After the final inspection, an enormous mansion appeared beyond the car window. I had thought Ye-hyeon's house was luxurious enough, but the mansion before me was on an entirely different scale.

Though I tried not to act provincial, I could not take my eyes off the mansion growing larger before me.

Were they really this rich?

The car stopped in front of the open gates.

Guards opened the doors for us. I quickly got out and followed my seniors into the garden.

The garden shone beautifully in the bluish evening darkness. The carefully placed lights throughout it were lovely.

Not that I could look properly while so tense.

The gathering was being held in an annex behind the main house.

But we were first invited to the main house's reception room.

We had to greet the A-Tech chairman's family separately.

I stood quietly by the door and watched Yoon and Ami exchange greetings with the A-Tech family.

Yoon shook hands with an elderly gentleman.

The gentleman wore a dark gray suit and thin-framed glasses, and spoke in a courteous tone.

“It has been a long time, Yoon.”

“Eldest Brother.”

Yoon answered dryly.

“It has been a long time.”

There were three people in the room.

All three were older. Two men and one woman. None of them resembled Yoon or Ami. Still, they all had neat black hair, black eyes, and elegant suits that spoke of wealth.

The man Yoon called Eldest Brother shook hands with Yoon and Ami, then turned his attention to Ye-hyeon.

“Commander-in-Chief.”

“Chairman Choi Hyun-jun.”

Ye-hyeon shook his hand with a businesslike smile.

“Have you been well?”

A-Tech.

With creatures still posing a threat, it was the company responsible for Center Core's most important foundational industry. A-Tech manufactured Core maintenance devices. It also made military supplies and IT products, and its other products were cash cows, but the company's brand identity lay in Core maintenance devices.

Products built on Yoon's patent.

That was why money constantly flowed into Yoon's bank account.

Devices that kept humanity alive at all times.

A-Tech only produced the devices, while their management was handled separately by an organization called the Core Management Corporation. That did not make A-Tech any less important.

Whenever Black Badger Headquarters expanded its territory, it contacted A-Tech. I heard that even when there was no major event like a territorial expansion, headquarters received regular reports from A-Tech.

Chairman Choi Hyun-jun asked,

“Are there no plans for territorial expansion? It has been quite some time since we received any related notice.”

“We were preparing for it, but creatures have been restless lately.”

Ye-hyeon smiled faintly.

“We will contact you first when the time comes.”

“We will wait.”

“Thank you for taking such good care of our inadequate youngest.”

The woman with her hair neatly tied back smiled with her arms folded.

She was the president of an insurance company spun off from A-Tech.

Without losing the smile in her eyes, she looked at Ami.

“Our youngest never grows up.”

Ami blinked her round eyes twice.

She seemed about to say something, but noticed Ye-hyeon responding and closed her mouth. Ye-hyeon accepted the greeting as smoothly as he had greeted the A-Tech chairman.

“President Choi Hyun-young. If anything, I have received Ami's help.”

I felt like I needed to weigh every word carefully.

The man with a faint frown broke the suffocatingly stiff atmosphere.

The Choi family's second son.

“The creatures are not restless. The elders probably have not agreed on which territory to expand into.”

“Hyun-seok.”

“Choi Hyun-seok.”

The chairman and president reprimanded him at the same time as he finished speaking.

The only one who smiled at that was Ye-hyeon.

It was a ceremonial smile that did not reach his eyes.

“In the end, I make the final decision on that matter.”

“You're merely the elders' puppet, but you sure know how to talk prettily.”

“Choi Hyun-seok!”

“Choi Hyun-seok. If you're going to keep behaving this way, leave.”

“Are you unwell?”

As the chairman and president grew angry, Yoon asked in a puzzled voice.

Of course, everyone knew that question was highly sarcastic. I watched in amazement as my senior partner wore an expression that said, I am asking out of pure sincerity.

“I remember you weren't usually this bad. Could it be that your remaining days are short, and I simply don't know?”

“You little beggars! You don't even know the gratitude you owe for being taken in, yet you run your mouths!”

“Choi Hyun-seok! I told you not to lump Ami in with him!”

President Choi Hyun-young sharply shouted at the second son.

...Was that really the part she should be angry about?

But no one seemed surprised. As Chairman Choi Hyun-jun sighed, Choi Hyun-seok fumed, and Ye-hyeon remained silent with a somehow ominous blank expression, Yoon and Ami looked at President Choi Hyun-young.

My senior partner stared at her blankly.

“Isn't the favoritism a bit much every time?”

“I only like normal people.”

Choi Hyun-young was confident.

With an expression as though she were stating an obvious truth, she added,

“Ami is cute and lovable, but you give me chills.”

Don't laugh, Hildebert.

I pressed my lips into a line and barely swallowed the laughter that threatened to burst out. This was not an atmosphere where I could laugh, so it took every ounce of effort I had.

The president's tone, as if asking why Yoon kept asking something so obvious, was funny. So was Yoon's completely unhurt expression.

Ami nodding as if to say, My youngest brother is kind of creepy, was funny too.

Fortunately, no sound escaped.

But I think I was mistaken to believe I had hidden it well.

The president, who had been smiling at Ami, rolled her eyes toward me.

“Still, why has the Commander-in-Chief brought an ordinary Badger to a place like this?”

Feeling the gazes fly toward me, I hurriedly raised my head.

Every member of the Choi family was looking at me.

“Even if he is Porden's special guest, you have never brought an ordinary Badger to a place where such dangerous people gather, have you?”

“Mr. Taleb.”

Choi Hyun-jun walked over and held out his right hand.

“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Choi Hyun-jun.”

“Ah.”

I hurriedly shook his hand.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Chairman.”

I also shook hands with the eldest daughter and second son. Choi Hyun-young smiled at me as we shook hands, but Choi Hyun-seok's face remained scrunched up.

Once the formal greetings ended, the chairman turned to Ye-hyeon.

“I heard Mr. Taleb is a new Badger.”

“Yes. Yoon is his senior partner.”

For a moment, the Choi family's movements stopped at Ye-hyeon's calm answer.

But they were clearly experienced. Other than Choi Hyun-seok, the other two only froze as though someone had pressed pause. They did not widen their eyes or choke before recovering themselves.

Chairman Choi Hyun-jun even replied,

“You must have had your reasons.”

“No, Eldest Brother. It was the Head of Personnel's decision.”

“Then the Head of Personnel must have had their reasons.”

Choi Hyun-jun hurriedly buried the subject.

As though he did not want to think about it any further, he changed the topic.

They did not need to react that strongly.

Or was that actually a normal, reasonable reaction?

In any case, the Choi family chairman returned to why I had been brought here.

Because Porden had invited me.

Of course, that was not the obvious answer they wanted.

“When I briefly saw you in the articles, I thought you were an ordinary Badger. Even when I heard Porden had specifically invited you to the gathering, I assumed he wanted to attract attention by inviting a good-looking Badger. But if you were truly an ordinary Badger, the Commander-in-Chief would have declined the invitation upon hearing the elders were coming.”

“He is an ordinary Badger who will not lose his life merely by seeing an elder's face.”

Ye-hyeon replied without losing his faint smile.

“For now, that is the only explanation I can offer.”

“Is he a new hire for the upper leadership?”

“No. Ska and Gilbert are doing well enough.”

“Then is he someone meant to become an elder's right hand?”

“No.”

Ye-hyeon's voice hardened at Choi Hyun-young's question, which sounded almost like she was talking to herself.

The Commander-in-Chief answered in a polite but somehow chilly voice.

“Hildebert is mine now.”

The Choi family stared at me.

But I had nothing to say in return. This was all news to me too.

It had not been long since I learned there were several elders. Naturally, I had never seen one in person, and I did not know exactly what it meant to be an elder's right hand.

I was only grateful that Ye-hyeon had firmly claimed me as his own....

As I endured their gazes, I gave a small nod.

They observed me for a long time.

The reception room smelled pleasantly of natural wood.

Chairman Choi Hyun-jun slowly broke the silence filling the room.

“If you survive, we will see each other often.”

Without fully understanding what he meant, I quietly lowered my head.

* * *

Ye-hyeon expressed his hope that Ami would not attend the social gathering if possible.

He said there would be people there who were better not encountered.

My round-eyed senior was neither surprised nor disappointed. Instead, she calmly nodded as though she had expected this, then said she would go to her adoptive father and disappeared.

The Choi family said they had matters to handle before going to the gathering.

So only Yoon, Ye-hyeon, and I headed to the annex first.

The annex was bright and pleasant.

A high ceiling that opened up the view. Crystal chandeliers sparkling overhead. Tall windows and spotless white tablecloths.

Well-dressed people chatting pleasantly.

It was an old-fashioned space where it was hard to find any detail that had not been carefully considered.

Finger sandwiches. Pastries. Biscuits and chocolate. Fruit and wine jelly. Sparkling water. Sherry. Buttered bread and scones. Roast meat with vegetables and potatoes, beef steak pie. Salmon meunière. Fried oysters. Thinly sliced turkey and ham.

It was an oddly classic menu.

Was that the theme? Or was it simply the host's taste?

Either way, the chefs must have had a hard time.

I decided I would fill my stomach with those later. The smell alone stirred my appetite.

As I looked around excitedly, I nearly walked into my seniors' backs when they stopped.

Yoon and Ye-hyeon halted before a table with finger sandwiches and Earl Grey tea.

“Hilde.”

“Yes.”

“While we are here, don't leave my side unless you absolutely have to.”

Ye-hyeon kept his eyes fixed toward the far end of the enormous hall.

“You mustn't meet the elders alone.”

I followed Ye-hyeon's gaze.

People whose existence I had inferred in the Commander-in-Chief's office but never received a separate explanation about. Powerful figures who called someone like me a Titan and exerted influence over Ye-hyeon that he could not ignore.

People who enjoyed nothing but the privileges of bodies that did not age, while ordinary civilians did not even know they existed.

It was not difficult to pick them out where Ye-hyeon was looking.

Influencers, successful businesspeople, celebrities, politicians. Even among people invited for their own star power, the elders stood out.

Even as they smiled brightly, their unconsciously radiating presence could not be ignored.

They would eat you alive if you got close.

I looked at a tall, middle-aged man with platinum-blond hair and a middle-aged woman with rippling silver hair pinned up, then muttered,

“They aren't hiding their aggression at all.”

Ye-hyeon turned to look at me with wide eyes.

The Commander-in-Chief looked at me with genuine surprise, then found the pair I was watching and blinked several times.

Then he burst out laughing.

“Let's go greet them.”

After composing himself some time later, my superior's beautiful eyes curved.