WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 69: His Right Hand (1)
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Ami brushed the blood off her dress.
They had just finished hunting the creatures. Fifteen minutes earlier, word had come that creatures were swarming Choi Je-seok's residence, her adoptive father's home. She had been reading beside Choi Je-seok's sickbed when Ska contacted her, and she had rushed out of the main house.
There had been many of them, but the battle was brief.
Ricardo and Ska were already outside.
“Sorry for calling you out on your day off.”
Looking as impeccably dressed as ever, Ska gave Ami a bright smile.
“That dress suits you.”
“Thanks. And it's fine. I should be thanking you for helping hunt creatures that came to the main house.”
“Looks like the big shots threw another party, huh?”
Ricardo sneered as luxury sedans sped past the creature corpses.
Night had fallen. Streetlights lit the road, and a cool night wind tousled their hair. A-Tech security guards guided the cars leaving the mansion.
The day was drawing to a close. The social gathering was over, and the creatures had been hunted.
Watching the security guards' glowing batons, Ami answered.
“Yeah. Special A-class VIPs.”
“Would've been quite a sight if we'd let them head for the mansion instead of hunting them....”
“Don't be so cynical, Rick. Besides, a few got away. Looks like they were butchered inside anyway.”
Ska looked toward the small annex visible at the edge of his vision.
His smartwatch sent a message saying every creature headed for the annex had been hunted. He did not bother raising his wrist to check it. He knew the Elders' right hands were in the annex. The right hands of the highest-ranking Elders, at that.
The hunt must have ended in under five minutes.
What could they have discussed with those dangerous people?
As Ska stood staring at the annex with a troubled expression, Ricardo asked a question.
“Hildebert....”
Ami and Ska turned to him.
“He's in there now, right?”
Ami and Ska reacted differently.
Ami's already round eyes grew even rounder. Ska closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
Ami spoke first.
“Rick, you really like Hilde!”
Ricardo furrowed his brow and raised an eyebrow. Watching his comrade's reaction, Ska burst out laughing.
The sharp, bloody stench from the creature corpses rode the wind past their clothes. None of the sedans leaving the mansion opened their windows.
“This is the first time I've seen you care this much about a junior.”
“Is he just a junior? He's some unknown guy who fell out of a portal.... And if he was invited in there, he can't be ordinary in any sense of the word.”
“You agreed to go on the next mission with him, yet you're still being prickly.”
Still smiling, Ska teased his friend.
Ricardo did not smooth out his furrowed brow, only giving him a crooked smile.
Then he sighed in reluctant admission.
“His little suicide-squad act reminds me of someone....”
Ami and Ska knew exactly who that someone was.
There was not a Badger alive who did not know Jonathan Kudo was Ska and Ricardo's headache. He had even gone on missions with Hildebert, yet could barely remember Hilde's name.
Ska laughed, then his smile faded slightly.
“As if you're any different.”
Ricardo skillfully ignored the pointed remark.
The green-eyed man slipped the weapon, now shaped like a snake, around his finger and changed the subject.
“I wasn't the only one who made the suggestion.... I heard Walker and Richard applied to go on missions with Hilde too?”
“Really?!”
“That's right.”
Ska readily confirmed it.
“Yoon will have to approve it. Rick, you only got to go on a mission with Hilde this time because Yoon gave his permission. Senior partners still have the authority to decide a rookie's assignments.”
“Did he approve Richard and Walker's requests? My youngest older brother is really too quiet. I had no idea.”
“Nothing's decided yet, but he seemed indifferent. He said he doesn't much like sharing what's his.”
Ricardo let out a breathy, humorless laugh. Ami giggled, saying it sounded just like her real brother.
The wind grew stronger, swallowing their voices. By then, almost no sedans were leaving through the gates.
Ska watched his comrades with a faint smile before speaking.
“I'm surprised Walker made a request. Hasn't he never once said he wanted to go on a mission with anyone? You were on that mission too, Ami. Did something happen between Walker and Hilde?”
“Not really....”
Ami tilted her head, deep in thought.
“I don't think anything special happened with Walker....”
“Richard said he wanted to teach him how to shoot....”
“Oh, right. Richard taught Hilde to shoot for a bit when they were out on a mission.”
“He said it looked like Hilde had never fired a gun before?”
“Yeah. Poor Hilde.”
Ami pitied the rookie.
“Walker might be okay, but Richard's way too strict.”
The air turned colder. Ska took off his jacket and draped it over Ami's shoulders. While Ami smiled and thanked him, Ricardo took a cigarette from his pocket.
The green-eyed man put it between his lips and expertly lit it with a lighter.
“Ye-hyeon kicked you out, didn't he, Ami?”
The direct question came with a cloud of white smoke.
Ami nodded without looking hurt in the slightest.
“Yeah.”
“If they are the sort of people who make life exhausting once you know about them, and you got kicked out because of them.... Why did he bring Hilde to a place like that?”
“Don't dig any deeper, Rick.”
Ska warned him in a mild but firm voice.
The Commander-in-Chief's First Assistant, who acted in the Commander-in-Chief's place whenever he was absent. Eric, who enjoyed misfortune, called Ska someone with a boring disposition, but Ska had mastered the art of delivering refreshingly firm words thanks to his flexible yet steady nature.
“If you dig deeper, life gets exhausting, just like you said.”
Instead of answering, Ricardo slowly exhaled cigarette smoke.
They stood in silence for a while, watching the A-Tech security guards finish cleaning up.
Ska was the one who broke the lingering silence.
“He's a smart junior. I hope he'll safely build up his career and become our successor.”
“A successor to the leadership?”
Ami looked up and asked.
Ska nodded. His eyes were fixed on the annex.
“You can't tell because he's such a green rookie, but he'd do well sitting in a leadership position. It's been a long time since we've had a junior who seems suited to the leadership, so I've grown rather fond of him. I'm trying not to show it because I don't want him to feel burdened.”
“You don't show it at all! I only just found out that you care about Hilde too, Ska.”
“Good. That's not something you should show.”
Ska gave a handsome smile, apparently pleased by Ami's comment.
“Not to the person himself or the other Badgers....”
Screeeeech!
The piercing sound of tires cut Ska off.
All three turned sharply at the eardrum-piercing noise.
A sports car burst through the gates at a reckless speed and screeched to a stop before them. Its door flew open, and a familiar person sprang out.
Yoon stepped out, his black coat flaring as he swept his gaze around with a murderous expression.
“Have Ye-hyeon and Hilde come out?”
The man asked in a grim voice.
The Badgers shook their heads together. Having constantly faced dangerous situations, they instinctively tensed.
Yoon spat out a string of curses, then looked at Ska.
“That bastard did it.”
“Even with Falcon there?”
Ska immediately understood what Yoon meant.
His voice was tightly strained.
“He never pulled something like this when Falcon was around.”
“So Falcon left.”
Yoon's voice sounded as if he were barely holding back boiling rage.
“I'll go find them, so contact Samuel and call an ambulance.”
“I'll call now.”
“I seem to be the only one who has no idea what's going on.... It looks like I should ask questions later....”
Ami suppressed her unease as she took out her phone. Ricardo pressed 119 and muttered darkly. Yoon turned on his heel and headed for the sports car.
His fluttering coat vanished from view in an instant. Before Yoon could close the driver's door, Ska asked in a hardened voice.
“The tracker?”
Yoon did not answer. He flicked his finger.
A small chip flew into the air, gleaming as it reflected the streetlight. Bang! Before the chip could even hit the asphalt, the car door slammed shut loudly.
Ska ground his teeth at the tracking device that had been implanted beneath the skin of Hilde's finger.
The sports car tore away noisily. Vroooom! The car drowned out every sound around it as it sped off, leaving tire marks on the asphalt.
Ricardo approached and picked up the tracking device. Ska looked at the flesh stuck to it, raised his head, and burst into vicious curses.
They did not hesitate.
The Badgers split up and ran in three directions.
* * *
My head hurt.
Worse than before, when memories had come rushing back. It felt a little different from that, though.... My body was heavy, and I could barely open my eyelids....
What was this? Had I blacked out while drinking?
But I didn't remember drinking....
I struggled for a while to open my unyielding eyelids. I tried to move my body, heavy as waterlogged cotton.
Something was wrong. It felt like neither of my hands was free. And I was not lying down. I was sitting somewhere. My legs were pressed together, with both hands bent behind my back.
Like a bound hostage....
“Gasp.”
I came to my senses.
My senses came flooding back.
Trying to ignore the splitting headache, I squinted through barely opened eyes. My vision cleared.
But not completely. The objects before me kept growing and shrinking. A sharp knife stretched long, then shrank again....
A knife?
My mind became clearer.
I drew in a breath as I saw the gleaming knife and the person it was pointed at.
“Jaeyeon!”
My urgent cry came out rough and cracked.
It was definitely the aftereffects of the drug. The dull headache, the constantly distorted vision.
But I had no room to worry about that.
“Stop!”
“You're awake?”
The man turned his head toward me and smiled.
His long eyes curved like a fox's.
It was a horrifying sight. A handsome man, kneeling on one knee with a sashimi knife in hand, smiling prettily. And beneath him, someone lay unconscious.
The unconscious man's appearance was terrible. His shirt was soaked in blood, with none of its original white left visible. Huge nails had been driven through his ankles and wrists. His jacket was torn and lay on the floor, while his shoes were nowhere to be seen. Blood-matted hair covered the man's pale face.
And his motionless body.
I was struck speechless by the scene of brutal violence.
Even when Jaeyeon smiled and said, “I've been waiting forever,” I could not properly respond.
My restored memories told me that Jaeyeon could be dangerously violent. In the past, Colton had been the only one able to control him. He hated everything, but himself most of all. His whims, exceptional talent, and violence could only be restrained under the reins Colton held. Because of that, I had never truly seen Jaeyeon's raw violence.
Colton always set a line. Jaeyeon had precariously stayed within the line Colton drew.
At least, that was how the Jaeyeon in my memories had been.
But now....
“Well, thanks to that, I feel a little better.”
“Ye-hyeon.”
I called to the other person in a hoarse voice.
“Ye-hyeon?”
My vision was covered in silver.
Jaeyeon brought the smooth blade before my eyes. He showed me its flat side rather than its edge, cutting Ye-hyeon out of my sight. Golden eyes reflected in the gleaming blade.
Seeing my vivid yellow eyes reflected in the gleaming blade, I slowly lifted my head.
Then I met Jaeyeon's gaze.
“You should focus on me.”
Jaeyeon's eyes narrowed.
“We have a lot to settle between us.”
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