Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Let's Keep the Time! (2)
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I came to my senses and briefly denied reality.
No way I was actually kidnapped, right?
Maybe this was part of the test? The examiners had gagged me, and now I had to escape this place and make it back to the test site.
I already knew that getting to the test site itself was part of the exam. That's why Yoon had stressed not to be late. The location they'd told me about a few days ago wasn't accessible by public transport.
That's why Tom and Hessie and I had scouted out ways to get there.
So I knew full well that the exam wouldn't proceed in such a barbaric manner.
But I could still hold onto a sliver of hope...
"Hey, you awake, you bastard?"
Ah.
"Black Badger's nothing special, huh."
Fuck.
The moment I heard their cackling, the faint hope I'd harbored shattered.
I lifted my heavy eyelids.
I took stock of the situation. Bound limbs. A spinning field of vision, thanks to the drugs. And even through the blur, a phone camera in sharp focus. People wearing bulletproof vests and bizarre balaclavas, guns dangling from their belts.
The musty smell of mold.
This was bad. I really seemed to have been kidnapped.
Their matching outfits and the phone camera thrust forward, as if expecting me to lash out violently, were all too realistic.
But at this timing?
I gazed despairingly at the unfamiliar space around me.
"No."
What?
"Who are you people?"
Thwack!
A baseball bat slammed into my abdomen, tied to the chair.
A dull pain made me furrow my brow. But I quickly smoothed my expression and sighed. As expected, they were civilians. They didn't have the Black Badger's power.
That's why they were using a baseball bat.
The pain, less intense than anticipated, slowly faded. I sighed again and looked at the kidnappers.
Why hadn't I sensed them approaching?
People of this skill level—I should've noticed them coming.
Hiding my puzzlement, I asked,
"Tell me why."
"You're all talk, rookie."
"You think you're hot shit."
The one wearing a balaclava with a skull emblem spoke.
"You figure you could take us out with a flick of your finger."
What victim complex is this?
I tried to steady my wavering vision and squinted.
"No, I really want to know why..."
The baseball bat rose.
Thud!
They laid into me again with steel pipes and baseball bats.
"Hey, fuck! I'm just asking for a reason!"
I vented my frustration as they beat me helplessly.
"And stop hitting me! It hurts... Ugh!"
A strong electric shock coursed through my body.
I convulsed, tied to the chair.
It was intense enough to kill an ordinary person.
What the hell...
Now I knew for sure. Their malice was real. Not half-hearted at all. They hated me with every fiber of their being.
And the fact that I'd been kidnapped one day before the exam was real too.
I didn't know the reason, but the fact that I'd been taken out so easily...
"That look you're giving us pisses me off."
One of the balaclavas growled.
"You all think us mortals are idiots!"
"Mor... what?"
"Lab rat scum!"
They started getting excited again.
"Rat bastard!"
Thwack!
Multiple cameras whirred busily. Phones on tripods captured me and them from various angles. Amid the humming resonance, they beat me mercilessly.
For a moment, I wondered if they were filming some kind of video.
It hurt.
But the drugs were still too strong for me to fight back.
More precisely, I didn't trust myself to control my strength without killing them.
So I waited for the drugs to wear off, meekly accepting the violence. Fueled by their bizarre convictions, they lashed out wildly in a frenzy. Bang! The chair toppled. But no one bothered to right it.
They shoved each other aside, kicking me furiously.
Finally, they stopped, panting heavily.
They stepped back a pace from me.
I spat out the blood pooling in my mouth.
"What time is it?"
My hoarse voice broke the silence.
"You can beat me as much as you want, but can you make sure I'm in Zone 1 by 6 a.m.?"
"Hey. That Green Dream you dosed me with—is it the real stuff?"
Someone pointed at me accusingly.
Sorry, but that shit doesn't work on me.
"You emptied at least three syringes! Even fakes should've had some effect."
"Yeah. It seems to be working a bit. Look, his wounds aren't healing right away."
"But it's not fully taking hold."
They muttered among themselves.
Anxious, I spoke up again.
"Come on, what time is it now?"
"Stick him with a few more! Fuck, you got us some shitty stuff."
"You go get it then!"
"What time is it now?"
"When are the bosses coming?"
"Get the drugs!"
"What time is it now?"
"9 p.m."
Ah.
The one with a dull aura seeping through his balaclava answered, even with it on.
Relieved, I gave him a faint smile.
"Thanks. May 31st, 9 p.m.?"
"Of course it's May 31st."
"Hey!"
Someone sharply cut him off.
"Don't say unnecessary shit!"
Roughly nine hours left.
I blinked, shaking blood droplets from my eyelashes, and thought it through. I'd been nabbed around 6:30 p.m. in Zone 1. Max two and a half hours to get back there.
So if they let me go by 3:30 a.m., I could still make the exam.
"The boss is coming soon."
A gloomy voice pulled me from my thoughts.
The kidnappers' heads snapped toward the speaker.
The guy lurking in the musty corner lifted his head.
"Keep that one tied tight."
Finally, I'd meet the mastermind behind this kidnapping.
While the kidnappers bustled about, I lay quietly on the cold floor. They hurriedly prepared to receive someone—readjusting camera angles, checking the ropes binding my limbs, and injecting me with what I assumed was more Green Dream.
They dosed me with drugs too.
I'd thought I'd had my fill of this crap back in the Colosseum. Nausea hit me; I furrowed my brow and gauged the time.
Fifteen minutes passed...
The door opened.
"Boss."
Light poured in through the open gap.
"Everything's ready."
It was a pair of young man and woman.
I could tell at a glance they were blood-related. Siblings, or maybe twins. They looked too alike not to be.
People I'd never seen before.
A man and woman with beautiful, jet-black curly hair cascading down.
They approached me slowly.
"The photo in the article matches perfectly."
I heard the woman's voice first.
"Good job, everyone."
"Did you get good footage?"
The man scanned the balaclava-wearers.
The kidnappers nodded obediently.
The dark-haired man looked satisfied.
"Good. Check the footage on the computer. Pick out the best ones. We're sending them to Ye-hyeon soon."
"Ye-hyeon?"
My eyes widened.
But I didn't stop timing it. Twenty minutes.
"Why send it to the Supreme Commander?"
Eyes flew toward me.
A silence fell, its meaning lost on me.
The woman broke it.
"That's how your monsters will realize their mistake."
"What?"
"Things that neither age nor die are ruining society."
She said that as she approached me.
The click of her high heels echoed clearly.
"We could just fight wars with regular soldiers."
"Your crimes aren't as grave as Ye-hyeon's, rookie."
As the woman knelt to peer at me, the man I pegged as her twin approached too.
He held a smartphone in one hand.
"But understand this. And don't be too sad. You'll become a symbolic figure in all this. We didn't pick you at random. We've been preparing this for months."
"Preparing what? My kidnapping?"
For real?
The woman grabbed my hair.
Her grip strength was that of a normal person. The drugs kept my body from obeying, but my senses were intact. If I really wanted to, I could break free.
I resolved that if these lunatics kept this up until 3 a.m., I'd fight back somehow and escape.
Thirty minutes.
The man turned away, busily doing something.
As he did, he spoke.
"You took the exam almost solo, like William Walker, and got hired."
Ah.
"We protested back then too. Hiring Black Badgers this way makes the organization even less trustworthy. But it's happening again."
"I told you. That arrogant bastard won't listen to us."
The woman yanked my hair, forcing eye contact, and smiled.
Fanatical conviction gleamed in her eyes.
"That guy's the one who got shot by a hardcore eco-activist and came back an hour later to announce territorial expansion plans."
So I was a target for some group opposing the Black Badgers.
From what I'd pieced together... They'd seen my face in the article, looked me up, and since I was the most recent hire—and hired in a way that seemed irregular to them—they kidnapped me.
But why this timing?
And who knocked me out?
If it was them, I would've sensed their approach.
Puzzled by the inconsistencies, I kept timing while racking my brain.
Until a searing pain struck, enough to draw a scream.
"Ugh!"
Electric shock.
A heavy jolt that would've killed a civilian lingered for a bit before stopping. Even after, my body shuddered violently.
I panted, rolling my eyes.
Forty-five minutes.
I saw the man filming a selfie-style video.
"See?"
He said to the phone.
"This is what happens when you ignore our voices."
He was making a video letter to Ye-hyeon.
Sweat-soaked and dazed, I listened as he spoke. The man and woman, apparently the group's leaders, now preached their ideology to the camera. Black Badger caused societal division. It defied the natural order. It went against God's will. It shouldn't exist. We know you're abusing Enhanced Bodies for privilege under the guise of wartime...
"So we're killing this rookie as an example."
What?
Me?
"To remind you that you're just human. To show people how perverse your death-defying existence is."
That won't work...
I thought as the kidnappers droned on. If they'd planned to torture and release me, their scheme might've gone smoothly.
But since they'd decided to kill me, it was doomed to fail.
Colton wouldn't allow my death.
At least not until I killed Kyle.
So probably...
"Realize your sins from this rookie's corpse, Supreme Commander."
...Hold up.
"The crimes you've committed."
If they went through with this, Colton would intervene before I died, right?
The twins (I'd just call them that) finished their video letter and lowered the phone.
They glanced at it, then ordered their underlings.
"Send it."
"Yes, sir."
"Looks good?"
I muttered to myself.
A few kidnappers who'd overheard turned to me. Eyes stabbing down.
I smiled faintly at the puzzled balaclavas staring at me.
"You're going to kill me, right?"
"This guy's still clueless. Look at him grinning."
"No, has he lost it?"
"Please kill me before 3 a.m."
Ignoring their mutters, I said what I needed to.
Probably with a smile that looked insane to them.
"You've got five hours—plenty of time."
"What?"
"3 a.m."
I spat blood and cheered them on.
"Target is before 3 a.m."
The kidnappers stared, speechless.
I gave them another faint smile.
***
10 p.m.
The command staff, preparing to clock out, turned pale as their secretary flung open the office door.
"Commander!"
Michelle, who rarely panicked, raised her voice.
"You need to see this email!"