Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Official Announcement (1)
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Ami jumped to her feet and hurried after Yoon.
“Oppa!”
She chased after her much taller biological brother with short strides.
“Oppa! What’s wrong with Hilde?”
Yoon didn’t answer.
He headed straight for the underground parking lot. Ami doggedly followed the unresponsive man. Asil and Lee Ho trailed behind them.
In the underground parking lot, the headlights of Yoon’s black sports car flashed.
The sports car, set to autonomous driving mode, began pulling out.
Ami dashed over and flung open the passenger door.
“I’m coming too!”
“Me too~.”
Riccardo, who had taken the elevator and arrived at the same time as the siblings, said.
He grinned at Yoon climbing into the driver’s seat while holding the passenger door.
“Mind if I tag along, Senior~….”
“Get in.”
Yoon turned the ignition without a care that the door was still open.
Ami looked up at Riccardo.
“Rick, I’ll sit on your lap!”
“Sure.”
Riccardo didn’t hesitate.
He slid into the passenger seat first. Then he pulled Ami onto his lap.
Ami squirmed to get comfortable and glanced at Lee Ho, Asil, and Shu on the hoverboard.
“Follow us on your own!”
Vroooom!
The car sped off before they could even close the door.
Riccardo reached out and slammed the passenger door shut with a bang.
“You know this is illegal, right?”
“We can say a Creature appeared….”
As Yoon floored the accelerator and asked, Riccardo flashed a grin.
Yoon snorted but didn’t argue. In reality, when Creatures appeared, normal laws didn’t apply to Badgers. And many Badgers, like Riccardo and Ami now, took advantage of that to commit minor violations. It was one reason most police disliked Badgers.
But no one was concerned about the law right now.
As the pitch-black car tore across the road, Ami, lounging comfortably, turned her head toward her brother.
“Tell me now!”
Yoon ignored his little sister once more.
Keeping his eyes forward, he fiddled with his phone with one hand.
Even without looking, the screen changed smoothly.
The phone connected via Bluetooth, and the ringing tone echoed inside the car.
An unsaved number blinked on the display.
Ami and Riccardo quietly watched the number.
The ringing stopped.
[Darling♡]
A man’s voice, dripping with saccharine affection, flowed out.
Ami’s eyes widened in shock, and as Riccardo blinked, the cloying voice continued.
[Calling me first? I’m touched. What’s up? Date after so long?]
“Didn’t I tell you to get that rookie gut of yours treated?”
Yoon said what he had to say.
The sports car raced down the road well over the speed limit.
The man’s voice echoed in the car amid the roaring exhaust.
Gone was the previous sweetness; now it was a rough, delinquent tone.
[You sure know how to ask for a lot, huh? Can’t even say thanks.]
“The culprits.”
[Those cult freaks must’ve taken him.]
The man on the other end cackled.
[Always a sight to see, those rivals teaming up like limbs in sync.]
“Not your doing, then?”
[Fuck, man!]
The target of Yoon’s dry question exploded in irritation.
[After I saved him and erased that forehead brand? It pisses me off. Every time something happens, it’s gotta be my fault with you?]
“Yeah.”
[Damn it, last time it was PTSD from his dad. Not my fault, but he bitches anyway. I tell you every time, that weak-ass guy you hang with isn’t something I can fix….]
Click.
The call ended.
Yoon tossed the phone aside carelessly and stomped the accelerator harder.
Vroooom! The car roared louder as it sped down the road.
Ami and Riccardo sat quietly for a while.
Red light from the sky poured through the window.
Ami broke the silence.
“Darling?”
Yoon didn’t react.
Undeterred, Ami leaned forward.
“What do you mean ‘saved him’? And culprits? Something happened to Hilde last night, right?”
“Sit properly. If I slam the brakes now, you’ll fly and die.”
The gruff man replied and focused on driving.
He didn’t speak again until they reached the test site.
***
The chaotic test site.
The moment the car stopped, the passengers jumped out. Their destination was clear: an ambulance parked among soldiers clearing the area.
Tom and Hesi had moved the dazed Hilde there after he came to.
Ami and Riccardo rushed over and checked Hilde’s wounds.
Ami’s mouth fell open in speechless horror.
Riccardo stared at the wounds with razor-sharp eyes for a long time.
The man only spoke after the medical staff said, “We’re heading out, so sit down.”
“What the hell is this?”
“Oppa!”
Ami turned to Yoon, who was on the phone with Samuel, her voice trembling.
“Oppa! Explain!”
Yoon pocketed his phone.
With his tearful little sister clinging to his clothes, he approached Hilde. Hilde lay on the bed receiving IV fluids. As the ambulance started moving, the dangling IV bags swayed.
Sweat- and water-soaked hair.
Yoon looked down at his groaning, eyes-closed deputy handler.
“Satisfied now?”
Hilde narrowed his eyes to slits.
He looked up at the people with yellow eyes and smiled faintly.
“Sorry.”
“He was kidnapped last night.”
Yoon told Ami, who was sobbing.
“Ye-hyeon will make the announcement soon. Watch out for radical anti-Badger groups.”
“Kidnapped?”
Hesi asked blankly.
Tom, wiping tears with his hand, also widened his blue eyes.
“Kidnapped?”
Shock-laden silence filled the ambulance.
Hilde closed his eyes again, and everyone stared at Yoon, speechless.
Tom stammered.
“Hilde was kidnapped?”
“Then the kidnappers did this?”
Ami didn’t bother wiping her flowing tears.
“To someone who did nothing wrong? Just because he has an Enhanced Body?”
Yoon pressed down hard on Ami’s head.
But he didn’t look at her. Instead, he gazed at the deputy handler, who had already passed out again.
The paramedics had rolled up the T-shirt and treated the wounds. But that wouldn’t be enough.
Scars would remain.
Burns this severe were critical.
Yoon, who had witnessed Ye-hyeon’s recovery from similar injuries hundreds of times, could easily gauge the prognosis. Even Ye-hyeon, with his exceptional healing, struggled to fully recover from such wounds. Jaeyeon had beaten Ye-hyeon in wildly creative ways during rampages. He’d used heated brands like this multiple times.
So Hilde’s wounds would leave faint traces.
Come to think of it, Jaeyeon’s rage toward Ye-hyeon was somewhat tied to Hilde.
Yoon thought coldly.
More precisely, to the Titans.
Once the full story came out, this unique man’s eyes would fill with guilt again. Hilde was that type. Objectively, it wasn’t Hilde’s fault at all. It wasn’t even certain Hilde had been in the Core when Jaeyeon rampaged.
But he was the Titan leader.
The original sin of leading his people to set foot on Earth.
It clung tiresomely to Hilde.
“Did you make him take the test like this?”
An anger-filled voice rang out.
Yoon looked up at his junior.
The sharp subordinate with deep green eyes.
Yoon replied coldly.
“He insisted.”
“Does he not always insist?”
“And his forehead was fine, so I thought the abdominal wound was treated too. Ye-hyeon’s furious as well.”
“Forehead?”
Riccardo asked sharply, frowning.
“Branded there too?”
Yoon affirmed with silence.
Riccardo let out a hollow laugh. Ami plopped down next to Tom. She stared at Hilde with wide eyes and mouth set in a straight line, then tears fell.
The IV bags swayed with every bump.
The ambulance headed to headquarters, where the skilled doctor Samuel Han waited. Too many people aboard made the air stuffy quickly.
Hesi’s anger-tinged voice mixed into the heavy atmosphere.
“Did you catch the culprits?”
Yoon nodded perfunctorily.
“They’ll be properly punished, right? How’d they kidnap him? Did they hire someone with an illegal Enhanced Body while preaching anti-Badger crap?”
“Who knows.”
Yoon said, looking at Hilde.
He responded because he’d been thinking the same. Who kidnapped Hilde. Most would think simply, “They hired an illegal implant,” but the truth wasn’t that straightforward.
Hilde had regained enough skill to surpass most seniors. Few could kidnap someone like that without a trace.
Precisely, very few.
What was the cause?
The ambulance raced on, carrying a furious Yoon over nearly losing one of his own. It left the uneven ground for paved roads.
Everyone sank into their thoughts and stayed silent for a while. Only Ami and Tom wiping tears filled the quiet.
Then Hesi, scrolling her phone with reddened eyes, shouted.
“Kidnapped because he’s a rookie?”
Heads turned.
Hesi was reading an emergency notice from Command Staff.
“So it could’ve been us? He got kidnapped instead of us?”
“Cut the stupid talk.”
Everyone startled at Hilde’s voice.
Heads snapped toward him.
Hilde spoke in a hoarse voice.
“It’s not your fault at all.”
“You should’ve told us if something like that happened!”
“Why stubbornly push through?”
Beside the furious Hesi, Riccardo snapped sharply. Hilde looked up at the ceiling with weary eyes and smiled bitterly.
He murmured as he closed his eyes again.
“My friend….”
“What?”
“I can feel him… coming….”
It was like sleep-talk.
No one responded to the context-less mutter. But Riccardo caught it and the two rookies stared at the speaker in astonishment.
Ami stood up.
She touched Hilde’s forehead.
“He’s feverish.”
Ami muttered, sniffling.
“Delirious from the fever, probably.”
“I want to hold a sword too….”
The feverish mutter continued.
“…Ray….”
Then the man lost consciousness.
Everyone watched the rookie’s ragged breathing from fever and pain.
The ambulance carrying the speechless group sped on. Dusk had fallen where the sunset had been. Sirens blared, parting traffic as it weaved through.
Tom muttered to himself.
“Who’s Ray?”
No one answered.
***
Whoa. I passed the test.
Just that made me feel good. After throwing such a fit at Ye-hyeon, failing would’ve been mortifying.
Colton would’ve given me a pitiful look too.
My first thought upon waking.
It hurt like hell, but my mind felt clear. Now I just needed to regain my skills through training and clean up my mess. As a regular Badger, I could leave the Core freely.
I’d go out alone and search for traces of my kin.
Thinking that, I lifted my heavy eyelids.
Burns really are the worst injury for pain….
“Huh.”
I let out a sound at the sight that greeted me upon opening my eyes.
Eyes turned toward me.
The scene was so different from anything before that my eyes widened.
Staring blankly at the people in view, I said.
“A funeral?”
Smack!
Something hit my head.
It stung, but with all the tubes dangling from my hand, I couldn’t rub the spot easily.
The head pain offsetting the burn pain felt good, oddly.
Rationalizing it, I apologized.
“Sorry.”
Yoon didn’t reply.
The Command Staff in pitch-black suits looking down at me didn’t either.
The private room held three Command Staff and Yoon. All in neatly pressed suits, staring down at me in an ominous atmosphere.
Oh….
This is bad. They’re all really pissed.