WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 78: Happy Halloween! (2)

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Ray liked games, unlike Kyle.

Ray was not particularly good at them, but enjoyed playing. That game was an open-world RPG that was not very difficult.

It was also the first game Ray had ever gotten into after failing to find games fun.

‘I see why you keep playing this.’

I remembered Ray smiling while absorbed in the game, Joy-Con in hand.

‘This is fun.’

I should not think about it anymore.

I could not burst into tears at the home of a senior I barely knew. I barely managed to tear my eyes away from the game.

I rolled my eyes and looked around the room again.

It was flashy and full of things.

But what caught my attention were the game titles piled up in their dazzling colors. I could roughly tell what kinds of games Shu liked.

I stood at the entrance and looked through them all.

The games were stacked like a tower. Shu really did seem to like retro games, since there were so many familiar titles. It made things a little difficult for me.

“You said you like games.”

Shu's words brought me back to myself.

I met the eyes of the senior standing there with both hands shoved into the pockets of her sukajan jacket, then nodded.

“Yes.”

“What kinds do you like?”

“I don't really have a preference.”

“Hmm.”

Shu examined me with her sky-blue eyes.

Why was she asking? I looked down at her unreadable face.

Was she disappointed that I did not have a favorite genre?

That did not seem to be it. The senior gestured for me to close the door.

The moment I did, the city's noise suddenly faded away.

The room became cozy. The senior shoved her hands back into her jacket pockets.

“You still don't remember?”

The unexpected question kept me from hiding my surprise.

“You mean me?”

“Yeah. And seriously, stop being formal.”

“Yes, I mean...”

Come to think of it, she had seen me fall out of the portal.

She was one of the people who knew I had become a Badger in a completely abnormal way. So much had happened that I had forgotten.

How much should I tell Shu?

Once again, I found myself in the situation of, Don't ask questions at work. Read the room and judge for yourself. But if it goes wrong, it's your fault.

How many times had this happened already?

After thinking it over, I answered like this.

“Some things are coming back to me, but I still haven't remembered everything.”

“Is that so?”

Shu spoke calmly.

She looked me over again, as if inspecting me.

“Did you ever make games, by any chance?”

...These questions kept coming out of nowhere.

I stared blankly at my senior, then shook my head.

“I don't think so.”

“You're pretty sure?”

“Yes. I know nothing about that. I just like games. I don't have the ability to make one.”

I did not think I had ever wanted to make one, either. Even now, I did not particularly want to make games.

Why was she asking me this? I must have let my confusion show, because Shu tilted her head slightly.

She thought for a while, then took her hands out of her sukajan jacket.

“Want to take your shoes off and come in? It's a little cramped.”

Was this really okay...?

Still, I did as she said. Shu walked over to the game console and turned on a small gaming monitor.

That spot with the tower of game titles was clearly a gaming area. Seeing that she had made a space just for games in this tiny room, she seemed to like them quite a lot too.

“Have a seat. There's something I want to show you.”

I obediently sat down in front of the monitor.

Shu handed me a Joy-Con, then inserted a cartridge into the console. I happily watched the game's title appear against the black screen.

I did not know what it was, but just being in front of a game console made me feel good.

I had it bad.

The screen lit up.

Before long, a pixelated game title began bobbing around in the center of the screen.

[FROM E]

I could not be certain without pressing Start, but it seemed to be an RPG made with pixel graphics.

A light, chiming melody fit the atmosphere perfectly. I wanted to play it. I watched the screen while barely suppressing the urge to press Start on my own.

Shu stood beside the monitor, watching my reaction.

“Do you know this game?”

“No, not at all. Is it fun?”

“Kind of?”

That was an ambiguous answer.

“It's an RPG with a short playtime. It looks like it was made by one person.”

“Ah. May I try it?”

“Yeah. Actually, I've wanted to show it to you ever since I met you.”

Hmm?

I stared stupidly at Shu.

But Shu only met my eyes and offered no explanation.

She did not seem to intend to explain right away. Would starting the game explain it?

Without asking another question, I pressed Start.

The title vanished with a cheerful sound.

The sparkling title shrank away, and a green lawn and an old castle filled the black screen. The background was clearly made with care. It was pixelated, but beautifully rendered all the same. Full of anticipation, I watched the screen settle and the protagonist emerge from the old castle.

True to an old-school RPG, the protagonist appeared with a long sword at their side.

The protagonist hurried down the castle stairs, stopped at the center of the screen, looked around, then closed their eyes and smiled.

Like any 2D game character, they bobbed up and down even while standing still.

A long dialogue box appeared at the bottom of the screen.

[Hildebert Taleb: It's nice out again today!]

Huh?

It felt as though I had been struck in the head.

For a long time, I stared at the screen with my mouth hanging open.

A two-dimensional protagonist with a sword stood on a pixelated green lawn in the center of the screen.

The name was Hildebert Taleb.

...What?

No...

What was this?

What the hell?

My head was full of nothing but question marks for a while.

I could not bring myself to press a button on the Joy-Con. I just stared at the screen. The shock was so unexpected that it hit me harder than meeting Colton had.

When I stayed frozen for so long, Shu pointed at the screen.

“Their hair color, skin color, and eye color are the same as yours too.”

Chillingly, she was right.

“White hair, bronze skin, yellow eyes.”

“What the hell is this...?”

“So I wondered if you had made this game.”

Shu did not seem as shocked as I was.

Maybe she had already moved beyond the stage of being shocked. I finally tore my eyes away from the screen and looked at my two-toned-haired senior.

She had been the person who did not say a word on the day I fell out of the portal.

Since she said she had wanted to show me this since then, she must have known about the game already.

Why had she not mentioned it that day? Even if she had, it probably would not have been taken seriously.

I thought carefully about the day I had fallen and everything Shu had said since. Memories that were still vivid in my mind sprang back one after another. Then again... if a senior told me there was no one named Hildebert Taleb anywhere in Center Core, I too would have found it hard to bring up that a game protagonist had the same name...

How had she managed not to say anything about it until now?

But wait.

“Did you think I was so self-obsessed that I would make a game like this?”

When I looked up and asked, Shu quietly watched me with those unreadable eyes.

She stood expressionlessly for a while, then shrugged.

“I thought it was possible. I don't know you that well.”

“I'm not that kind of person.”

I firmly corrected the misunderstanding.

“I don't know how to make games, and even if I did, I wouldn't make a protagonist like this.”

Shu nodded absentmindedly.

Her gesture said she did not particularly care. She was cool in a completely different way from Yoon.

She turned away from me, who was exhausted by the absurd misunderstanding, and fixed her eyes on the screen.

The moving two-dimensional protagonist.

It had the uncommon name Hildebert Taleb, and even its appearance was creepily identical to mine.

Who was the developer?

Only the sound of the game console filled the studio apartment.

The senior broke the silence that had settled over the small room.

“I'll lend you this. Take it home and play it.”

“Ah! Thank you so much.”

“That is why I asked you to go to the game store with me.”

Shu Diamond calmly explained as she removed the cartridge.

Her next words hit me hard before I had recovered from the last shock.

“I heard there are more games in this From-letter series. Apparently, the most recently spotted one is at that shop in the slums.”

* * *

We ate lunch.

I thought it had been some kind of fusion food, but I could not remember exactly what it was. I could not remember how it tasted, either. I sat across from Shu and talked about the game without even knowing whether I was holding a fork or chopsticks.

That game.

After hearing the details, I learned that Shu had initially thought I was an addict who was obsessively immersed in a game called From E. She had wondered whether I had mistaken the protagonist's name for my own, or if I was deliberately lying.

I gave the senior, who had been harboring such an enormous misunderstanding alone, a sulky look.

“I like games, but I'm not that far gone.”

“From what I've heard about you, it seems you're not.”

Shu casually told me that she had changed her mind.

“So I guessed either you made the game, or someone else who knows you made it.”

“The latter is more likely. Though I have no idea who that would be.”

“Do you have any idea who E is?”

I did not.

I tried to think of anyone with a name beginning with E, but got nowhere. It was not Colton, Jaeyeon, Lee Seunghyeon, Kyle, or Ray. Besides, they would never in a million years make games.

Maybe something would come up if I played the game or examined its structure.

Of course, I could play games, but I had no ability to examine their structure.

“What about asking Senior Yoon for help?”

Shu suggested it.

I had been thinking the same thing, so I nodded.

“I was planning to ask him after I finish playing it.... Thank you so much for telling me, Senior.”

“I told you to stop being formal.”

I felt like she would get annoyed if I called her Senior one more time, so I decided to call her Shu.

After our late lunch, there was not much time left before we were supposed to meet Walker. We had agreed to meet where the slums began. Still shaken by what had happened earlier, I only wondered after lunch why Walker was joining us.

Even if it was the slums, we had enhanced bodies. Nothing dangerous should happen.

Why was Walker coming along?

“Why is Senior Walker coming? Are you two close?”

“Senior Walker has something to ask you too.”

Shu dropped another shocking statement as if it were nothing.

“He said he'll take you to someone he knows in the slums.”

I felt dizzy.

Ray's memories were already more than I could handle, but my past was pouring in like a flood.

I tried to understand why Walker was joining us based on what Shu had said, then gave up. I would understand properly only after meeting Walker anyway.

After sighing, I decided to simply accept the reality coming toward me.

Hoping I could handle whatever unexpected thing happened this time too.

In the city, where a cool autumn wind swept through the streets, I walked with Shu as the number of costumed people gradually increased.

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