Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Festival Preparations (1)
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Did this guy originally call me Hildebert?
I think he called me Talib...
I decided not to sweat the small stuff. I hid my surprise and expressed my thanks.
“Thank you.”
I politely accepted the latest model smartphone.
I still hadn’t quite grasped the situation...
But I never expected him to come all the way here in person to give it to me. Today was my day off, so it must’ve been his too. Sure enough, he wasn’t in his Black Badger uniform but wearing a purple shirt instead.
The purple suited him perfectly. The senior stared straight at me.
“I transferred your SIM card too. Check if everything copied over properly.”
“Ah! Thank you. It seems like it did.”
“Do you like the color and model?”
Kudo asked in a low voice.
I just gaped at him.
...Why is he suddenly acting like this?
I was so flustered my eyes darted around. When I should’ve been overjoyed and saying something like, ‘Thank you, Senior! I love it—it’s perfect!’, I froze in shock instead.
I finally snapped out of it.
“Yes. I like the color and model. I’m just wondering if I really deserve something this nice...”
“Take it.”
His firm reply came without hesitation.
I pressed my lips into a straight line and forced a smile.
I had no idea how to react. No clue what had gotten into him.
But refusing after he went this far would be rude...
I let out a small laugh and nodded.
“Thank you. I’ll take good care of it. Tomorrow’s patrol duty, so I’ll see you then. Oh, if you’re not busy, want to come in?”
Fortunately, he declined.
After seeing off the senior, I returned home feeling half grateful, half stunned. He must’ve gone back to where my phone had dropped, picked up the SIM card, and transferred everything.
A phone ready to go.
I stared at the screen, and as soon as activation finished, messages poured in.
I plopped down on the beanbag and messaged Shua, Ami, Ye-hyeon, and Yoon. As I typed, I thought Jonathan Kudo had softened up a bit because of the Ashen Cloak incident.
I was wrong.
***
It wasn’t just “a bit” softer.
On patrol duty day, I was constantly startled by how drastically the senior had changed.
Things got weird starting at lunch.
After smoothly finishing the morning shift, lunchtime arrived.
I figured we’d go to that neat little place he liked, as usual.
But instead of staying quiet or heading to his usual spot, Kudo turned to me.
“What do you want to eat?”
Huh?
It was the first time he’d ever asked that, so I panicked.
I blinked a couple times.
“Uh, is there nothing you’re craving, Senior?”
“Tell me what you want to eat.”
Why is this guy acting like this?
I stopped dead in the middle of the street under the blazing summer sun. The senior stood beside me, not moving until I spoke.
The humid summer air hung heavy.
I opened my mouth, closed it, then finally said,
“How about kaisendon?”
We ate kaisendon.
And that wasn’t the end of it. His gaze, which used to treat me like a rock, had changed. Now he looked at me like an actual person.
We even talked.
When I brought up some trivial topic, the senior responded properly. When I mentioned swords, not only did the conversation continue, but...
“Oil for blade maintenance? I’ll buy some and send it over if you need it.”
At this point, it was scary.
Why the sudden change?
These wouldn’t be so shocking from anyone else.
...No, I’d be shocked no matter who it was. He was suddenly being way too nice to me.
Wrapped in astonishment, I started the afternoon shift. Then something even more incomprehensible happened.
A creature appeared in our patrol zone.
It was between Grade 2 and 3—not very dangerous. But the location sucked. A massive green moss-like thing was wriggling right on the kids’ path home from school.
It spat poison if you got close.
Kudo dispatched the creature without issue.
I handled guiding the curious kids away, but a small problem arose.
Some boys around thirteen ignored the warnings and came rushing over.
“It’s a creature!”
Pffft!
“Argh!”
The fastest kid let out a sharp scream.
The others following froze in fear. A couple screamed too.
I lowered my right hand, which had blocked the boy’s face, and smiled.
“You didn’t get hit.”
“...Huh?”
The kid, who’d reflexively scrunched up his face, slowly opened his eyes.
“I didn’t get hit?”
“Nope. And I told you it’s dangerous—go away. Why don’t you listen?”
I nodded at the terrified, frozen kids and the one checking his own face.
The kids turned and slowly backed away from the creature corpse one by one.
I picked up the troublemaker mid-face-wipe and set him down by his friend.
“You too. Don’t do dangerous stuff like this again.”
After sending the kids off, I cleaned up the area.
Until Jonathan Kudo suddenly yanked my right arm.
“Ah.”
I gave an awkward smile as he stared blankly at the burn on the back of my hand.
“It’ll heal soon. My recovery’s a bit slow... Sorry for the hassle again.”
“Better head home.”
“Huh?”
It was still hours until quitting time.
No way he’s sending me home for a minor burn like this.
He was.
Kudo forced me to clock out early despite my protests. He even told me to go straight to the hospital.
I argued that a healthy Badger would heal this in under a minute, and if we went home every time for something like this, we’d never get any work done—but it fell on deaf ears. He truly was as stubborn as everyone said.
Well...
He’s probably overreacting because of that incident. It’ll calm down with time.
That hopeful thought was another huge mistake on my part.
***
A week later.
I went to Ricardo and asked for help.
What the hell was up with Jonathan Kudo?
“The guy’s acting weird!”
He was being too nice.
His excessive kindness kept pouring out, to the point my stomach felt like it’d burst. I wasn’t overreacting. I’d already messaged Ami several times.
Ami was shocked every time I explained.
Last night, I even sent her an SOS like this.
[Me: Save me! Today Senior Kudo invited me to his place.]
[Ami: ?]
A few minutes later, another message.
[Ami: ??]
[Me: Come with me!]
[Ami: Uh?]
I could practically hear her voice.
[Ami: Uh???]
That’s the kind of thing happening.
I grabbed Ricardo, who was heading out for a smoke, and explained everything. He bought me the latest phone, overprotected a perfectly fine junior, bought whatever I wanted, offered to get whatever I said tasted good...
Ricardo’s face, annoyed at first by his clinging junior, broke into a grin.
He listened with a smirk, then leaned against the building wall as soon as I finished.
He laughed for a good while before looking up.
“Don’t you get it~?”
Like I’d know.
I answered with my expression, and Ricardo looked like he was dying of amusement.
“You’re denser than I thought~.”
Huh?
Me?
“It’s fun, so I’ll just watch~.”
“Come on, Senior, don’t do this.”
“Didn’t he check your clothes after the fight?”
I dropped my jaw in shock.
I stared at the smirking guy across from me and asked back.
“How did you know?”
“Oh, that’s his habit~. He does it to us all the time, like a grandma~.”
Grandma...
I mulled over the word blankly, then had a great idea.
I told him it was a fun story, pretended I needed to let him smoke, then grabbed his clothes as he turned.
“Take me to your place!”
“No way~.”
Rejected instantly.
“Go with Ami~.”
“Ami said she’s fine with it, but worried Kudo might feel uncomfortable...”
“Even so, if you bring her, he won’t say no~.”
Ricardo grinned.
“Why not give it a shot~?”
***
I visited Jonathan Kudo’s place with Ami.
Ricardo was spot on. Kudo didn’t object when I asked if Ami could come. According to Ricardo, he wouldn’t have minded if I’d brought Ye-hyeon or Yoon either.
That was scary in its own way.
Why the total personality shift?
Either way, I’d escaped another pinch thanks to the light and salt of my life.
“Wow.”
The round-eyed senior murmured as she looked around Kudo’s place.
“Feels like a hotel.”
Tell me about it.
We were inside Kudo’s house now. We set down our housewarming gifts and scanned the space. It was modern and immaculate, fitting for the owner.
Simple and clean. Spacious, not a speck of dust.
The furniture too...
...was way too pristine.
Hardly any stuff.
What little there was, was mostly achromatic. Unlike Ricardo’s or Ami’s places, it lacked any lived-in feel.
Does he actually live here?
“I hate when guests do chores.”
Kudo said as he pulled an Evian bottle from the gray fridge and handed it to me.
I took the Evian bottle hesitantly.
“Make yourself at home.”
How am I supposed to relax here...
And how even the water...
My thoughts stalled for a second, but I decided not to overthink it.
I smiled brightly.
“Yes! Thank you!”
“Hilde! Don’t lose your mind!”
Ami grabbed me and shook me side to side.
“Snap out of it!”
I couldn’t.
We drank the coffee he brewed, the tea he made, and ate the cute snacks meticulously arranged—his OCD was suspect. I stayed uncomfortable, but Ami seemed to enjoy it.
Thank goodness. Just having Ami there was huge comfort.
If I’d come alone, the awkwardness would’ve suffocated me by now.
Kudo remained unreadable, but kept being nice to me...
Is he going to keep this up from now on?
No way?
That “no way” turned out true. It took some time, but I eventually accepted that I had to get used to this senior—and that I’d entered his “circle of tolerance.”
***
Anyway, the apples were ripe.
On a day off, I picked apples in Samuel’s empty yard.
It was separated from Yoon’s by a low fence. The apple tree in the yard—the doctor had gardening service—bore plump, ripe fruit.
Newton’s apple.
I picked the ripest ones to make apple wine for the doctor.
I wanted to call Yoon, but he’d been stuck outside the Core lately. Heard he was grinding away on territorial expansion prep.
Last contact with him was nearly ten days ago.
Even then, he was too busy to analyze ‘From K’ like I’d asked.
[Me: 《Gift arrived!》 -‘Reksik Basic Noodle Delivery Coupon’]
[Choi Yoon: Tongue rot away while I wasn’t looking?]
[Me: You don’t know how great this tastes. Poor Senior’s tongue.]
That was our last chat.
Black Badger HQ was hectic too. As the festival approached, everyone grew busier. Those going outside the Core stayed longer, reporters swarmed HQ, and staff ran around with dark circles under their eyes.
Command staff were ghosts.
I wasn’t that busy.
To be precise, I was grounded.
Couldn’t let a potential bomb loose outside during such a sensitive time.
‘Just chill till orders come down!’
The HR Director’s words to me.
So now I was apple-picking. Even if guilt kept me up or anxiety made me fidget, life went on—and there was work to do.
And right now, that was selecting good apples.
How long since I last made apple wine...
Lost in such thoughts, I felt a gaze land on me.
Who’s that?
I looked up thoughtlessly toward the gaze.
And froze in place.
Ye-hyeon was there, sitting on the sofa, watching me through the glass door.
Ye-hyeon looked like he’d just woken up on the sofa again.
“...Commander?”
“Hilde.”
The man staggered up from the sofa, opened the glass door, and called me casually.
The humid summer breeze ruffled his hair and t-shirt.
“Hey.”
“...Hello, sir.”
This felt strangely familiar.
Thinking that, I stood there awkwardly for a while, clutching the apple and staring at my boss.