WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Natty

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◈ Black Badger ◈

Chapter 84: Behind the Veil (2)

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There was one obstacle I had to overcome before going to the illegal arena.

The game I had borrowed from Shu.

When I returned to the cabin that weekend, Yoon was there.

“You're trespassing.”

“Did you buy a scooter?”

My senior partner neatly ignored my sulky remark and asked a question of his own.

“A motorcycle would have been better.”

“I got it cheap from Hessi.”

His younger brother said he did not use it anymore.

I refused to take it for free and paid him a reasonable amount. Hessi seemed remarkably close with his younger brother, who was two years younger than him. He often said he wished his brother could become a Badger too.

It could not be easy to watch only his younger brother grow old.

I did not buy a motorcycle because I had no idea whether I had a license. Though I had supposedly included a driver's license when I filed my falsified administrative registration.

Yoon turned off the TV, which had been playing the news.

“They announced the members going on the mission with Ricardo.”

I told him after washing my hands in the bathroom.

Yoon indicated that he was listening with silence.

He was still someone who never made an unnecessary movement.

“There are four of us: Ricardo Sordi, Asil Pisker, Bobby Winter, and me.”

“They're all regulars on that mission.”

Yoon shook the water from his hands and watched without expression as I set up the game.

“Do you know the last two?”

I had only met Bobby Winter before.

Twice, at that. Once when we killed the pig, and once when we went to D Zone. But we had not had any proper conversations either time. When we killed the pig, there had been no room for introductions. Bobby and Sylvia had been there with Tvein and Lee Ho, and although I ran into both of them again in D Zone, we had not even properly exchanged names.

I especially had not spoken with Bobby.

This time, I would definitely introduce myself.

I told Yoon that as I turned on the console. The TV brightened with a pleasant chime.

Even Asil Pisker's name was unfamiliar to me.

“As far as I remember, they used to be a police officer.”

Ah. That was why they were assigned to this mission.

We sat down in front of the TV in the not particularly spacious living room. Yoon refused my suggestion that he lean against the beanbag and instead sat with his back against the wall. I made some iced coffee and gave him a glass, then took my own and sat in front of him.

Honestly, I wanted to play through it alone at my leisure, but...

Having Yoon watch like this did save me the trouble of explaining things.

The title FROM E appeared on the screen.

“What kind of person is Asil Pisker?”

Keeping my eyes on the screen, I picked up my cold glass.

My senior partner answered concisely.

“Hotheaded.”

“...Is that all?”

“They grabbed me by the collar once.”

Pfft!

Coffee sprayed out of my mouth.

This was insane!

I choked and coughed for quite a while.

As soon as the eye-watering cough and burning in my nose subsided, I snapped my head up.

“They grabbed you by the collar?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

They grabbed Choi Yoon by the collar?

“Did you say something wrong?”

“No.”

“Then did you act obnoxious?”

“No.”

“Did you hit them first?”

“No. What exactly do you think I am? They just came up and grabbed me by the collar without warning.”

“Out of nowhere?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Were they insane?

With a face devoid of expression, Yoon answered indifferently.

“I don't know.”

“...What?”

“I knocked them out before they could shout whatever it was.”

Yoon added the explanation in a voice that made it clear he had not been very curious then and was not very curious now.

“So I never heard the reason.”

“...They didn't come back afterward?”

“They did. They bowed their head and apologized.”

Yoon took a sip of iced coffee.

The clink of ice teased my ears. Boredom filled the eyes of the man drinking coffee.

“They said they were sorry for getting worked up back then. I said I understood, and that was that.”

“...So you still don't know why they grabbed you by the collar.”

“Yeah.”

“...I see.”

I would have to ask them later.

There had to have been some reason. Calming my still-shocked mind, I turned back to the TV. Since they came back to apologize properly after coming to their senses, they did not seem completely unhinged. There must have been some misunderstanding.

What misunderstanding could it have been?

Once we got a little closer, I would definitely ask.

After sighing and wiping up the coffee I had sprayed, I sat back down.

I pressed the title screen and faced the game's first scene. Just as it had at Shu's house, the title vanished and the game began.

A two-head-tall character carrying a huge sword emerged from a castle.

I studied the character named Hildebert Taleb for a while before breaking the silence.

“Why is Senior Winter regularly assigned to the Colosseum mission?”

“I heard her father is in that line of work.”

That line of work?

Which line? The police? Or the mafia?

Before I could ask, my senior partner added an explanation.

“Her father runs several famous restaurants, but I don't think he operates them entirely legally.”

“Oh...”

“That said, I don't think he's fully mafia either. Ask the Head of Personnel if you want details.”

“All right. What is she like?”

“I don't know. She's especially afraid of Ye-hyeon and me.”

Ah.

A faint smile touched my lips as I watched the screen.

That was understandable.

I was still afraid of Yoon too. We had become close enough that I could tease him while carefully walking the line, but that did not mean I was not afraid of his chilling nature. To anyone who sensed it, Yoon's cold disposition inspired a bone-deep fear.

It would probably always be that way.

Ye-hyeon was likely frightening because he was her highest-ranking superior.

Neither of them was someone she could readily show her true nature to. I had asked the wrong person the wrong question. If I had the chance later, I would ask Ami about Bobby.

With that thought, I placed my thumbs on the Joy-Cons.

I had made irrelevant small talk because I was afraid to start playing, but it seemed I really had to face reality now.

“You can leave whenever you get bored.”

“Just start.”

Yoon gave an answer worthy of himself.

“Don't even think about quitting halfway through.”

Of course not. Once I start a game, I like to see it through to the end.

I nodded and moved the controller.

* * *

When I came to my senses, the cabin had grown dark.

Sitting in the living room lit bluish by the TV screen, I slowly set down the controller.

It was over.

I had beaten the final boss.

The game's story reached a happy ending. The thrilling music stopped, and peaceful music began to play. The characters gathered together and smiled brightly.

The protagonist stood among them, smiling with crescent-shaped eyes.

I watched the character bearing my name.

The end...

It was a game that must have aimed to be a traditional RPG.

The protagonist, a swordsman, went with his companions to conquer a castle corrupted by a curse. They killed the source of the corruption hidden in the castle, the final boss, the Source of the Plague. From E was not quite a masterpiece, but it was an indie game enjoyable enough to play.

The gameplay itself was simple, and its freedom was not particularly high. But the backgrounds and props were extremely detailed. It seemed to have plenty of Easter eggs and collectibles too. I could understand why it had such dedicated fans.

The story must have felt neat and natural to them as well. The progression made sense, and there were no holes in the setting.

As if it had truly happened...

Lost in my feelings, I blankly listened to the ending music.

Yoon, who had been sitting without moving behind me, abruptly broke the silence.

“Is this fun?”

Agh!

My emotion was shattered, and I was sick of the endless nagging I had heard from Colton Wiseman. I furrowed my brow and whipped my head around.

Stop nagging me about this!

“Please respect other people's tastes!”

“Why are you suddenly flying off the handle?”

Yoon said this after sitting motionless like a statue the entire time.

It was a fair point, but I did not relax my expression.

Keeping my sulky look, I watched the person leaning against the wall. A man sitting still as a ghost in the darkened living room.

My senior partner stared directly into my eyes.

“So.”

“Pardon?”

“Is this your story?”

I stared back at him.

I could not stop looking at the man so close by. My senior partner slowly moved. After several hours, he rose from his seat and shoved his hands into his pockets.

He slowly turned his gaze to the screen.

His next words were blunt.

“Is the story about a swordsman with a longsword defeating the monster in a castle with his companions the story of your past?”

I remained silent for a long time.

The ending music playing from the screen came to a complete stop. Silence followed. Only the sound of the console connected to the TV filled the bluish cabin.

When it began to feel too heavy, I finally broke the silence in a low voice.

“How did you know?”

“The final boss had the same characteristics as a Plague God.”

Yoon explained dryly.

“And you flinched whenever a new character's name was revealed.”

“...You are observant.”

“The world you lived in before coming to Earth.”

The dry explanation pricked at my heart.

“The world you people lived in. That is what this is about.”

That was right.

This was my forgotten story. A story from the distant past, from long ago, before I set foot on Earth. Memories that had gradually faded as I spent so much time on Earth.

They had been perfectly recreated in a game. It had been simplified somewhat, but the game's creator had excellently turned my fading memories into a game.

Perhaps for me.

“It seems so.”

I gave a bitter smile.

“As I played, memories came back to me one by one.”

“Hilde.”

I raised my head at the sound of my name.

Our eyes met in the air. Yoon looked down at me with eyes that made it difficult to guess what he was thinking.

“I have no interest in how the war started.”

“...You don't?”

“Right. It has already happened. Knowing the truth now won't change anything.”

That was an opinion worthy of him.

I did not know why he had suddenly brought this up, but I slowly nodded.

He was not someone who spoke unnecessarily. He must have had something else he wanted to say.

And Yoon continued.

“I am not interested in what sort of life you lived on Earth before the war began, or how you came to Earth. At least not right now. Knowing that would not change anything either.”

“Then is there something that would change if you knew it?”

His vivid gaze pierced through my golden eyes.

It was a sharp gaze, as though he were looking at prey before him. Meeting it, I waited for Yoon's answer.

For someone who said he had no interest in beating games, he had sat still and watched me play until nearly midnight.

He broke the silence in a chilling voice.

“Hildebert, what are creatures?”

Some creatures had pursued me to kill me.

To condemn a traitor.

Carrying out the will of my kin, the Titans.

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