Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Let's Keep to the Schedule! (1)
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"First off."
The next day, Yoon left me to do my usual physical training and said,
"Don't be late for the exam."
"Isn't that obvious?"
I'm not so scatterbrained that I'd be late for an exam.
Do I really come across as that irresponsible? But Yoon wasn't one for idle chatter. He was incredibly efficient and never wasted words.
So there must be some details.
"You have to get to the exam venue on your own. It's not exactly accessible. And during the exam, the supervising Masters can't intervene in any way."
"Yes. I figured as much."
"The venue isn't at HQ, and they only tell you a week in advance. People are late sometimes."
Reality check...
Yoon looked at my stunned expression and said coldly,
"For any reason, if you're late, you're out."
"Got it."
"Even if your parents die, don't be late."
"My parents are already dead."
"You can swim, right?"
I nodded.
I hadn't swum in nearly a year, so I worried my skills might have rusted.
My Master must have thought the same, because instead of grabbing a gun, he dragged me to the pool at HQ and tossed me in.
Caught off guard, I splashed around in the sanitized water.
"You warmed up?"
After hogging the pool for about an hour, Yoon approached, still wearing his windbreaker.
I poked my head out of the water and blinked.
I'd warmed up an hour ago.
He nodded at my puzzled look and jerked his head, signaling me to get out.
"Alright, let's go."
"Go? Where to, sir?"
"The ocean."
What?
"The exam event is ocean swimming."
Ah.
That wasn't surprising, but heading to the ocean right now was.
Was this something you could just up and do on a whim? And I'd just now learned there was an ocean inside Center Core.
I'd thought it was a vast continent.
"If you can swim this well in the ocean, no need for separate training."
"Right now?"
"We'll fly. Won't take long."
Oh, inland flight.
I wondered if the ticket was covered by agency funds. Would lunch be in-flight meals?
Brimming with questions, I quietly followed Yoon's lead. I'd long since learned that things sorted themselves out if I just went along.
I trailed after him.
And it quickly reminded me that my Master had been adopted into a chaebol family.
Yoon... chartered a private jet.
"A private jet... to check if I can swim in the ocean?"
"If you're not satisfied, we'll book a room nearby."
His voice carried the resolve to wrap this up in one go.
"You've swum in the ocean before, right?"
I swam to his satisfaction.
Pleased with my skills, my Master took me back to HQ. We returned at sunset, he made me finish my shooting quota, then let me go.
He seemed in a good mood now that his workload had lightened.
"Swimming's done. Tomorrow, climbing. You can climb, right?"
"Rock climbing? Yeah, I can manage. Where I used to live was full of cliffs."
"Good. What about building climbing?"
"Buildings?"
Building climbing? Is that a thing?
I blinked in confusion, and the next day, Yoon explained in detail. Civilians can't do it legally, but Black Badgers need to know how. There are plenty of times you have to scale rundown buildings outside the Core.
He explained so logically, then suddenly handed me safety gear.
And casually ordered,
"Climb HQ."
"...You mean this building I'm standing in right now?"
"Too much hassle to approve another one."
He was shameless.
"I've got permission. Eat lunch and start."
Is this normal...?
But with permission granted, I had nothing to say. Another day or two of practice wouldn't change much. So after lunch with Tom, who'd just returned to HQ (Wait, you climbing HQ too? No, what kinda question is that, Hilde?), I geared up and started climbing the HQ wall where the sun wasn't too harsh.
Sorry to everyone working inside.
Feeling awkward, I climbed.
But once I started, I had no room for other thoughts.
Half in a trance, I scaled the glass-sheathed building.
Until someone flung open a window.
"You're working hard~."
It was Ricardo.
"Didn't expect you hanging off the window... For a sec, I thought the creature alarm was busted~."
"Hey, asshole, you scared me."
Ro was there too.
Hanging off the window frame, I watched Ricardo enjoying the show and Ro snapping photos, arm fully extended, grinning.
My seniors' hair whipped in the wind.
"Feeling alive again~?"
Ricardo curved his long eyes into a smile.
I snapped a crisp salute.
"Yessir. Thanks to you. Loyalty, loyalty."
"Still as cheeky as ever..."
"But seriously, what're you doing?"
True to form, Ro asked late.
I flashed a V-sign at his barrage of flashes and replied,
"Practicing for the climbing exam."
"Oh? Exam? What exam? Why an exam?"
"My promotion exam."
"Oh, that rookie one?"
Honestly, I was surprised he even knew about the promotion exam.
Ricardo chimed in with an impressed "Ooh."
Ro ignored it all.
"But why climb this?"
"'Cause my Master told me to."
"Yeah?"
He seemed to lose interest.
"Have fun, then."
As he said, I climbed hard again.
Feeling Ricardo's amused gaze, I headed upward. Along the way, people opened windows to watch me. Mostly strangers. Office workers stuck their heads out and waved.
I paused now and then to wave back.
Man, this thing's tall.
There was a reason Yoon told me to hit the bathroom first. The building was annoyingly high.
Building winds picking up too.
Good thing I'm bundled up.
Lost in the trance again, I climbed until a high-floor window burst open.
"Huh."
I faced the Supreme Commander, eyes wide.
"Commander, sir."
Ye-hyeon looked genuinely shocked.
His already big eyes grew bigger as he stared, frozen mid-window-open.
Too surprised to speak.
Behind his stunned form, the brown-haired Aide's face popped up.
"Uh, preparing for the promotion exam."
I awkwardly explained to Ye-hyeon, who seemed to have forgotten how to blink.
"I heard I had permission..."
Ye-hyeon stared at me for a while.
Then, at his Aide's "Commander, sir, the report's here," he snapped back and turned.
After glancing inside the office, he turned back to me and said,
"Climbing exam?"
"Yes."
"Isn't it too high?"
I craned my neck up.
Blue sky and building. The structure piercing the heavens. It wasn't as far as I thought. I'd come a long way. Just a bit more to the roof.
The spot with the helicopter markings. Where I'd drunkenly climbed and got chewed out by my seniors.
I brushed my white hair from my eyes, fluttering in the wind, and nodded.
"I'm good."
Ye-hyeon eyed me appraisingly.
Seemingly satisfied, he began slowly closing the window.
"Be careful."
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
"Don't stress too much about the exam."
His husky voice leaked through the closing window.
"You'll pass as long as you show up safe."
After that, I got three more greetings on my way to the roof.
On the roof, I even got Yoon's perfunctory applause.
And so, I cleared the climbing portion.
***
"Airborne."
After shooting practice, Yoon explained to me,
"We outsource to the military."
Outsource?
Can Enhanced Body Black Badgers even train with regular military? I shot him a puzzled look. More explanation needed.
But Yoon added nothing.
"You'll do it with your Recruits."
Hessi and Tom.
"Three weeks holed up in the base."
Three weeks?
I cleared hiking and swimming in a day, but airborne takes three weeks? It made no sense. And why go to another military when we're already military?
No explanation this time either. Yoon just gave me the start date and directions, then vanished.
So I grilled my Recruits.
Hessi, whose dad was military, explained in detail.
"Airborne training normally takes three weeks."
He'd finished it years ago and had the badge only grads get.
So he didn't need it, but since Black Badger rookies go regularly, he was doing it again.
Hessi said it'd be fun and taught Tom and me a military song.
"...Military song..."
"Jump safely four times, that's it."
Hessi's eyes sparkled as Tom and I mumbled the unplanned tune.
"Hope we're not the unlucky ones jumping from balloons four times! Balloon, plane, or chopper. Bad weather? Straight to balloon."
And so, we were dragged to the army.
Karl and Angela saw us off.
Yoon didn't show. So very him. Hessi and Tom consoled me that I shouldn't feel bad, making me realize it was normal not to show.
If he had, it'd be creepy.
Anyway, we enlisted unceremoniously.
"Toe and knee, don't touch the ground!"
We rolled hard at the base.
"Toe and knee chant while bunny-hopping!"
"Toe, knee!"
"Toe, knee!"
I missed Choi Yoon.
"What kinda volume is that!"
"Toe! Knee!"
"Toe! Knee!"
I graduated this stuff in my youth...
No escape. No outside contact. (They confiscated our phones.) Lucky to train with Recruits. At least we could relax in the container barracks after.
Ah. Time with Tom and Hessi was simply fun.
Enough to forget my situation briefly.
"Don't walk!"
Even going to the outdoor latrine meant marching in step.
They even had call-and-response chants.
"Air drop! Air drop!"
"Too quiet!"
Let a guy use the bathroom in peace...
But the endless three weeks ended fast. Final week. We rose at dawn, lined up on the parade ground. Breathing the bluish dawn air, parachutes on, we headed to the drop zone.
We waited our turn skyward, then jumped.
Four times over the week.
Balloon thrice. Plane once.
"Ah, no Chinook again!"
Hessi lamented not riding the helicopter.
"I wanted to jump from a chopper!"
I was a bit bummed too.
Anyway, training done. Three weeks later, we staggered back to HQ in fatigues. Waved pathetically at waiting Karl, Angela, Lee Ho, and Shu.
They smirked at our newfound habit of marching in sync.
Thus, after three weeks, we heard "Joined a unit, huh?" and wrapped airborne prep.
These trainings, checked off one by one.
Layer upon layer, and exam week arrived.
***
Exam day.
The day Hessi, Tom, and I had been dying for.
The day before, after training, I headed to the grocery store for dinner ingredients.
Hands in my windbreaker pockets.
Breathing the cool evening breeze. Mentally simulating the exam. Reviewing what Yoon nitpicked in shooting.
So I never noticed.
Someone approaching.
*Stab*
A handkerchief over mouth and nose.
Last thought: weird smell.
Then, memory cut off.