WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 68: Elder (4)

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I had nothing to do with my hands.

Watching Colton smoke a cigar across from me brought back the memory of sitting like this and smoking cigars with him. Kyle had liked cigars quite a bit too. They always stirred up nostalgia for the old days. Whenever Colton gave me a box, I would relax and share them with my companions.

The old days?

Was there even a time before I met Colton? When I tried to remember, my head began to hurt again. Letting out a soft sigh, I gave up on digging through a past that would not surface.

Instead, I lowered my eyes halfway and greeted him.

“It’s nice to see you again after so long.”

At least your face.

“It feels strange seeing a familiar face again. Until a few months ago, I didn’t even know what I was.”

“Do you know now?”

Colton asked slowly.

I barely held back the urge to raise an eyebrow.

That bastard. Nothing had changed. He knew the answer, yet he lazily asked anyway.

I answered flatly.

“I don’t remember everything.”

“Tragic news.”

“Then tell me.”

I did not beat around the bush. There was nothing for me to gain by doing so now. The information gap was far too great.

He had not called me here just to mock me for losing my memories. He was not someone so inefficient. There had to be a reason he had summoned me here.

The others in this room were probably just spectators to our conversation. Neither Eric nor Yekaterina seemed inclined to break the silence, and I did not bother paying attention to them either.

Colton leisurely opened his mouth.

“I don’t know how much you remember. Though it seems you haven’t forgotten me.”

“Actually, I’d forgotten you too.”

I honestly confessed and shrugged.

I was not sorry. I knew perfectly well that he would not be hurt by it.

“My memories came back the moment you entered the social gathering. Even then, I don’t remember everything.”

“How touching.”

“Right?”

I laughed quietly as I answered.

It was funny. The first familiar face I met after falling out of the portal was not Kyle or any other human, but Colton Wiseman.

The welcome, contempt, admiration, and revulsion that had hit me the moment my memories returned were funny too. Was it normal to feel such contradictory emotions? Then again, looking back, I had always felt that sort of ambivalence toward him.

A connection I thought would break quickly had turned out to be quite stubborn.

Keeping a faint smile on my face, I brought up someone we both knew.

“I heard Kyle woke up.”

Colton slowly exhaled gray smoke.

“The problem is, I can’t properly remember Kyle either. I hear Kyle wants to catch and kill me because I betrayed our kin, but I don’t remember how or why I betrayed them.”

“How did you find out Kyle woke up?”

“I heard it from a Badger who was outside the Core.”

I was not sure how much I should say, but Ye-hyeon did not stop me, and Colton did not press for details.

Instead, my friend sitting at the peak of power asked a strange question.

“Did you only realize it after hearing?”

I did not understand the question.

I raised my head and blinked a few times. The room was thick with the smell of mahogany. Everyone silently watched me and waited for my response. Feeling their sharp gazes, I racked my brain.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I could not understand his intent. Was he reproaching me for not figuring it out earlier from the circumstances? Or did he mean something else?

He wouldn’t reprimand me in that tone....

Unable to find an answer, I decided to be honest again.

“I only realized after hearing it. Why are you asking?”

“You’ve forgotten a great deal.”

Colton’s words sounded more like a mutter to himself than an answer.

“That was your greatest defining trait.”

“What was?”

“You were connected.”

The concise answer stirred fragments of memory that had sunk away.

“You even forgot what you hid until the war broke out.”

“They don’t know anything.”

“Look. That life force, like it could explode at any moment. The sensation of being connected. The vivid sense of life flowing through your body.”

Kyle’s voice rose in my mind and muddled my senses. I tried to accept the flood of memories rushing in.

Right. We had hidden it until the war broke out. Until then, not a single human knew about that trait.

But exactly how had we sensed each other’s presence?

I shut my eyes at the stabbing pain and rubbed my temple with a finger.

A cigar would be nice.

I stupidly brought my fingers to my mouth, then realized they were empty and lowered my hand in dismay.

Eric chuckled quietly from my left.

“Looks like you smoke.”

“Cigars.”

My headache had not faded, so my words came out shorter than intended.

When I continued to frown, Eric gestured to the red-haired man standing beside him.

“Shashinsky. Give him one.”

The red-haired man approached me without a sound.

A case of neatly arranged cigars opened before my eyes with a click. It was a welcome kindness. The cigars lay in order like long pieces of chocolate. The man called Shashinsky expertly cut the cigar I chose, then even lit it with a match.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Eric accepted my thanks with an elegant smile.

“Please continue your conversation comfortably.”

Right. We were talking.

Rolling the cigar smoke around my mouth, I turned my gaze forward.

The heavy scent covered my headache as I went over what Colton had just told me. There was a reason creatures always found my location. A reason they knew I had returned.

Even though I had forgotten how to sense that connection myself.

“That’s a strange trait. I can’t remember what it felt like.”

“Then I’ll do my best to help you remember that part.”

“Huh?”

My eyes widened at the unexpected words.

“You can?”

“I’ll try.”

“What kind of effort are we talking about?”

Nothing good had ever happened whenever you spoke like that.

When I shot him a look full of distrust, Colton snorted. But he offered no explanation. I did not bother hiding my disbelief.

Anyone with a conscience... Well, you don’t have one. Still, anyone with any sense would be anxious over an offer like that.

“I don’t know what kind of help you mean, but can I refuse it for now?”

Colton was not surprised.

Without even looking my way, he rested his cigar in the ashtray.

“You’ll regret it.”

This was driving me crazy.

His self-righteous attitude had not changed. The bigger problem was that he was not someone who made empty threats. He was not the type to make things up just to look impressive.

There was no need for him to put on airs now either.

“At least explain it properly.”

The man with neatly slicked-back white hair granted my request.

“Kyle will come after you before long. Probably in person. But we are not in a position to repeat the horrors of the First War.”

Huh. I could see where this was going.

Still, it was hard to believe. I did not understand everything perfectly either. I put the cigar, which had cooled enough, back between my lips and stayed silent for a moment.

Then I asked.

“You want me to stop Kyle?”

“If you don’t want to die at the hands of your own kin.”

“But can I? Could I before? I can’t even shoot a gun right now.”

Eyes turned toward me. Jaeyeon, standing behind Colton, raised an eyebrow. Eric’s subordinates blinked once each, perhaps surprised by my answer. Yekaterina’s subordinate, where had I seen him before?, narrowed his eyes and glanced at me.

Even Eric and Yekaterina looked at me as if asking whether that was true.

Only Ye-hyeon and Colton were unsurprised.

Colton answered calmly.

“You could never shoot a gun.”

“Really? I knew it. That felt right.”

“How capable is he at present?”

That question was not directed at me.

Colton had turned his head left to look at Ye-hyeon. Ye-hyeon, who had been sitting with his legs crossed and his interlaced hands resting on his thigh, met Colton’s gaze.

My superior spoke in a husky voice.

“I can’t say for certain because I haven’t sparred with him directly, but I’ve been told his ability is inconsistent. His body cannot keep up with his memories, and those memories are not complete either.”

“What about activity inside the Core?”

“We haven’t allowed it yet.”

“Why don’t you train a bit?”

Colton casually scolded me.

His scolding did not affect me, but Ye-hyeon’s cool assessment struck hard.

It felt awkward to speak to my superior, so I looked at my friend and smiled sheepishly.

“Yes, yes. I’ll work harder.”

“Once the Commander-in-Chief grants approval for you to operate inside the Core, we’ll continue this conversation.”

Colton put down his cigar.

I blinked at words that suggested the discussion was ending.

The meeting was over already? There was still so much I needed to hear.

But seeing the other Elders preparing to leave, it was obvious the meeting was coming to an end.

It was not that I could not understand my troublesome old friend’s attitude. What was the point of hearing the truth when I could not properly show my skills? My body could not keep up, so recovering my memories would not magically improve my ability. Nor would it let me stop Kyle when he came running to kill me. He meant he would change the situation first, then continue the conversation. It was a practical attitude, just like him.

He rose from his seat and adjusted the collar of his black jacket.

Nothing would change even if I stubbornly insisted that we keep talking here.

I remained seated and watched Eric and Yekaterina leisurely rise. Kyle and Colton. Those were the two names I had remembered.

Kyle, who mocked humanity’s ignorance, and the man who had looked at me with his fingers interlaced and said....

A man with cold blue eyes.

“You are the ace card in my victory.”

I watched the people begin to move, then slowly broke the silence.

“Colton.”

Everyone stopped and looked at me.

“So, was I really your ace card in the end?”

Colton looked down at me without a word.

I waited for his answer with a gentle smile. I could not remember why or how I had betrayed my kin, but I was now certain that I had ultimately taken humanity’s side. In the end, I had raised my hand for Colton, not Kyle.

Not for the member of my kin who smiled brightly at me, but for the one who only nagged me not to waste my time on pointless things.

My old friend broke the silence.

“You were.”

It was a weighty answer.

“If you regain the skill you showed before, you’ll be someone’s ace card again.”

“Huh?”

“Like this....”

Colton began to walk, drawing out the words.

“Provided you don’t remain in a state where you can’t even sense something like this.”

KABOOM!

Three walls collapsed, and creatures burst in.

There were four of them. Creatures that looked like horses with torn-open muzzles. Their faces were huge enough to smash through walls, and the elegant walls indeed crumbled helplessly, revealing the bluish night view.

The intruders were slaughtered in no time.

I watched the Elders’ subordinates kill the creatures without even blinking. Eric’s subordinates moved side by side like reflections in a mirror. Yekaterina’s subordinate casually turned his head, swung his right arm, and cleanly pierced a creature’s vital point.

Jaeyeon drew a gun and burst its eyeball.

But the sound of shell casings did not stop. He kept firing until the creature’s pupil caved in. Once it did, Jaeyeon shoved a hand into the hole and pulled the trigger several more times. I watched in disgust as flesh and blood spattered Jaeyeon’s immaculate suit.

After venting his anger, Jaeyeon took off his gloves and shoved them into a pocket. Unbothered by his ruined suit, he brushed back his black hair.

Then Jaeyeon grinned at Ye-hyeon.

Ye-hyeon sighed, and Colton did not spare him a glance.

“Farewell, Prometheus.”

Eric, who had not blinked even once at what was happening behind him, smiled as he draped his coat over his shoulders.

All three Elders were frighteningly composed. They leisurely moved through the wind blowing in through the collapsed wall.

I let out a hollow laugh with cigar smoke and acknowledged the farewell.

“Yes. Thank you for the fine cigar.”

“It seems you liked it. I’ll send you a box as a gift. You are a boring man, but you are an important one as well.”

What a real creep.

Eric and his subordinates left the drawing room first. After returning the nods of Eric’s subordinates, I watched my troublesome old friend pass by me.

Colton passed without a care, his eyes fixed ahead, while Jaeyeon followed him with a venomous glare.

I was about to tell them goodbye when Colton spoke quietly.

“Congratulations on surviving.”

I watched his back with a faint smile.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll give you suitable help, so adapt quickly.”

“I’ll put in a call.”

Colton replied lightly and left the drawing room. The neat sound of his shoes faded away.

“Yeah, sure. I was going to ask for your number anyway,” I replied lightly. Only after his footsteps had faded did I realize something.

Wait. Didn’t he say earlier that he would help me remember the sensation of being connected? I said I would refuse that. Had he just ignored me?

Why had he not changed at all?

He really was unbelievably the same. I stared in disbelief at the door they had gone through when Yekaterina passed me on the right.

She glanced at me with resolute green eyes.

“I hope we can see each other again as soon as possible. I trust you’ll train diligently.”

Her subordinate followed behind her as she walked away.

Without smoothing his furrowed brow, he looked me over. Our eyes met in the air, but the man turned his head without saying anything.

Ah. Even that gesture felt far too familiar. We probably had not been close, since I could not remember him immediately, but still.

Where had we met...?

Ah.

He was there in the small memory fragment that surfaced. Across from me, wearing a black special suit like his companions.

So he was a familiar face. But I could not remember his name or any details, and that strange sense of familiarity had not completely faded.

What was it?

Frowning at the place he had disappeared to, I felt uneasy, like I could not remember a word I knew. If I thought about it just a little more, I felt like the answer would come. Unlike my other memories, this one felt as if the answer was right in front of me....

As I thought it over, someone stopped beside me.

“Hilde.”

It was my superior’s voice.

“Let’s go too.”

I turned to look at Ye-hyeon.

At the same time, I found the source of that familiar feeling.

“Commander-in-Chief, do you have any siblings?”

Yekaterina’s subordinate looked remarkably like Ye-hyeon.

“That man who just left....”

But I could not finish my sentence.

The professional expression covering Ye-hyeon’s face fell away. His gaze dulled, and an intensity of sorrow I had never seen before filled his clouded eyes. His wavering gaze finally dropped, unable to bear its weight.

Silence wrapped around us.

That silence must have been made up of my surprise, the sound of the night wind drifting in, and Ye-hyeon’s sorrow. It was only after a long while that it broke.

“I don’t have any siblings.”

His voice was faint, like a candle going out.

“That man is my father.”

Unable to find anything to say, I looked at Ye-hyeon for a long time.

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