Black Badger - Chapter 66

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 66: Elder (2)

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So he had finally reached the pinnacle.

As I thought that, I tried to endure the splitting headache and nausea. Too many things had come rushing back at once, enough to make my body ache. Ye-hyeon's hand settling on my arm, his face full of concern, felt far away.

I crushed the utensil in my hand with my grip and frowned.

The memories would not stop.

“Are golden eyes a trait you all share?”

His refined pronunciation. The particular grace in his movements, impossible to imitate. The image of him dressed impeccably in suits that suited his sculpted face lingered behind my eyelids.

Whenever we spoke, he would look at me with cool blue eyes.

“What about white hair?”

“Hair colors are varied for everyone.”

That was how I had answered, seated on the sofa.

“Quite a few of you have white hair too, don't you?”

He had also been the brightest person I had ever seen.

Even at a young age, that brilliance had been impossible to conceal. From the day we met, he had been following the standard path to success. He stepped on every stone in his path much faster than anyone else.

That was why he had met me.

Me... us.

“You spend a lot of time with that guy.”

Kyle's voice struck my ears.

“Do you like him? He's clever, but he isn't someone worth getting attached to.”

“I don't think he wants attachment either.”

I had answered Kyle with a smile.

“We simply cannot disregard one another.”

The peaceful Earth. An open-air cafe under pleasant sunlight. People in sunglasses beneath the merciless sun, holding melting ice cream in their hands. Movements slowed by the heated air.

The scent of summer wrapped warmly around my body.

A lazy afternoon spent watching the blue sea and waves breaking white. That memory swallowed me whole. There had been a time so peaceful it was almost boring. I could not move for a while as it came back to me.

Right. There had been such gentle days. Days when I could have fooled myself into thinking everything would continue without problems.

And surprisingly, that peaceful time had lasted quite a while.

I watched Colton grow older. I watched a young man full of ambition become a seasoned powerhouse.

As time passed, his influence grew at a terrifying pace. On the surface, he called his relationship with me friendship, despite being someone who did not understand what friendship was.

“Hildebert.”

I remembered when he had come to look much as he did now.

“Have you made your decision?”

“Yes.”

The pain that had torn through me as I answered.

“It was going to happen someday anyway.”

What was?

That much I could not remember. A splitting migraine tore through my head as I clenched my fist hard.

Could it have been a defense mechanism?

Maybe I instinctively did not want to recall unhappy memories. I could not remember why that peace had shattered. I could not remember why I had betrayed my own kind. I could barely remember how I differed from humans.

Stupid brain. Remember.

Do not look away from what you did. Remember it.

Remember!

My body shook violently.

“Get a hold of yourself.”

Yoon's cold voice snapped me awake.

“Hildebert.”

My five senses returned at that chilly voice.

My senses came back to the present. Gasping for breath, I took in my seniors as they looked me over. Yoon, narrowing his eyes as he gripped my arm tightly. Ye-hyeon, examining me with eyes full of worry.

The gathering hall was once again filled with noise.

Colton seemed to have disappeared into the crowd. I could not see him right away. I blinked several times, trying to steady my ragged breathing.

The drops of sweat beaded on my eyelashes fell.

“Should I call a doctor?”

Ye-hyeon whispered, his voice full of concern.

Seeing the worry in his large eyes, I slowly shook my head.

“I'm fine.”

“You're breaking out in a cold sweat. Your condition... Hilde. Let's get out of here for a moment.”

“I'm fine.”

I insisted again.

Then I lowered my eyes, avoiding the stares of my seniors, who would not look away from me. Ignoring the sharp headache, I tried to regulate my breathing.

I could not leave now.

These memories had only just returned. This was someone from my past whom I had finally met again.

There was something I had to say to him.

Something I needed to say...

Yoon spoke coldly.

“I'll drag you over to Ami's place, so rest there.”

“I really am fine.”

“Sure you are. It'll be more troublesome if you collapse, so listen quietly.”

“Give me five minutes.”

I really did not want to leave.

“I'll be fine in five minutes.”

My seniors waited in silence for five minutes.

Without moving, I focused only on my body. Some sort of intense defense mechanism seemed to have activated, but as Yoon said, I could not lose consciousness here. I stopped digging through my past and listened to my heartbeat.

Listening to my heartbeat always helped calm me down.

Five minutes later, I let out an even breath and raised my head.

“I'm fine now.”

My seniors stared at me.

Ignoring their sharp gazes, I craned my neck. People had begun moving about actively again, and Colton was nowhere to be seen.

Where did he go?

“He...”

“Not now.”

Ye-hyeon answered before I could finish.

I turned and met the Commander-in-Chief's eyes. Concern still lingered there, but it was different from before.

The Commander-in-Chief spoke quietly.

“Go when he calls for you.”

A small laugh escaped me before I knew it.

“Yes. That was the kind of person he was. I remember. He must have gotten worse since then.”

“It seems you know him better than I expected.”

Ye-hyeon lowered his eyes halfway and murmured as though to himself.

“I only know that you and he are acquainted. I do not know the details.”

“I don't remember everything either. I only remembered the time we spent together in friendship.”

“Friendship?”

Yoon raised his eyebrows as though he had just heard something truly bizarre.

A short laugh escaped me. His reaction was understandable. Colton Wiseman was an even colder man than Yoon.

Someone cold and cruel by nature. Someone far worse than Yoon in his hunger for power. A dangerous human who hid his nature behind innate grace and charisma, with the brilliant mind to achieve his ambitions.

At least Yoon cared about Ye-hyeon and Ami. Colton saw everyone as a chess piece.

With one exception.

Though I was not certain whether that person was truly an exception.

I raised the eyelids I had lowered to suppress my nausea.

“He called it friendship, but in truth, I think it was just a relationship where we treated each other politely and met often enough that neither of us lost anything. I don't clearly remember why we had that sort of relationship. Too much is coming back all at once, and my head is a mess.”

“You look like you're about to throw up.”

“Honestly, I kind of am.”

“What do you think? Should I knock him out and drag him away?”

Yoon naturally asked Ye-hyeon.

How could he say that to his junior partner, who felt like throwing up? I looked at my senior partner as though he were being unreasonable, but he ignored me.

Ye-hyeon looked at me with worried eyes, then slowly shook his head.

Closing his eyes with a sigh, my senior partner habitually scolded his senior partner.

“You shouldn't treat a sick person that way, Yoon.”

“You can if the sick person won't listen.”

“There's someone I need to find too.”

I leaned back, resting my arms on both armrests.

I blinked several times through the cold sweat on my eyelids. My blurry vision sharpened again. At a glance, the gathering hall looked the same as before, but if I looked closely, its atmosphere had completely changed since before Colton arrived.

I swept my gaze across the splendid, brightly lit hall. There was another face I was looking for.

The person who had stood beside him, but whom I had failed to notice.

“Jaeyeon.”

The moment the thought became sound, I found the name's owner.

He was sitting with a delinquent slouch beside Colton, who was speaking elegantly with an influential politician at a table in the corner of the gathering hall. He was watching me. A crooked smile hung at his lips, and one elbow rested lazily over the back of his chair.

Eyes slanted upward like a fox's, and a well-shaped nose.

Black curly hair and a black suit with white stripes. He looked neat, like a model. His foxlike handsome features had not changed.

Right. Those eyes and that nose had been distinctive. Whether Jaeyeon was a woman or a man, he always had long eyes and a handsome nose.

And his eyes always burned with vicious hatred.

A hatred no one had ever managed to extinguish mercilessly consumed everything around it. But why did he hate me especially more? I could not remember that either. Judging by the texts he had bombarded me with, it certainly seemed I had done something to him.

Without taking his eyes off me, Jaeyeon curved his long eyes into crescents.

Then he blew me a kiss.

Ugh.

Looking at Jaeyeon, Colton Wiseman's only exception, perhaps, still furiously insane, I muttered to myself.

“Looking at his face makes me want to throw up.”

“Right.”

Yoon agreed.

“Just seeing him makes you sick. We understand each other. I see why you survived after meeting him.”

“Jaeyeon's building a cabin for me.”

The thought made my stomach churn.

“Can't we blow it up?”

Ye-hyeon let out a deep sigh.

When I turned, I found my superior looking even paler than usual. Now he looked worse than I did. His complexion made me realize he had somehow grown even paler.

My handsome superior lowered his eyes and released a long breath.

“So you knew Jaeyeon too.”

“Yes. Though I have not remembered much.... More importantly, are you all right, Commander-in-Chief? Your complexion is terrible.”

“I'm fine.”

“You aren't fine.”

Yoon's chilly voice overrode Ye-hyeon's husky one.

My senior partner frowned deeply and glared at Ye-hyeon.

“You've never been all right when you got involved with that bastard.”

Come to think of it, they said Jaeyeon especially hated Ye-hyeon.

Why Ye-hyeon? No, why me too? I wanted to ask.

What could have happened between him and that fox demon?

Well, even if nothing had happened, Jaeyeon had more than enough hatred for all humanity inside him. But there must have been some trigger for Ye-hyeon to become someone he hated particularly more than others.

I wanted to ask many things, but I knew it was not the time. Besides, I was already too busy handling the memories that had erupted from within me.

Darjeeling tea and buttered bread cooling on the table.

Ye-hyeon silently stared at the teacup before him, then spoke almost in a whisper.

“With his master beside him, even if he causes trouble, he will only do it after the gathering ends.”

“What a relief.”

“Hilde.”

I quietly met Ye-hyeon's eyes.

My superior, who had been watching me, narrowed eyes that always seemed to hold sorrow.

“He came to see you.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

“No matter what you accidentally say, you will not die. We have an agreement that we will not kill you, no matter what.”

So they had made such an agreement.

Was that why he no longer needed to hide what he knew from me? Was that also why he had brought me into the Core and had not thrown me out again, despite my having incurred Jaeyeon's hatred?

My guess was probably right, but I did not ask.

Instead, I slowly nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Still, be careful. Just because they cannot kill you does not mean they cannot hurt you.”

Ye-hyeon's bitter smile remained clear in my mind.

Unlike usual, his characteristically pain-filled eyes held exhausted resignation as well.

“Be careful. He is at the pinnacle now.”

*　　　*　　　*

One hour later.

Colton Wiseman, my old friend, called for me in his typically flawless way.

He summoned me to his table through Porden.

Good lord. I had forgotten Porden. I had completely forgotten him, but now that I thought about it, he was the one who had given me the invitation.