Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Stars of the Scientific World (5)
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I wished he were a ghost instead.
Ghost John Mullern wouldn’t have the power to drag me back to that hell.
But was this really happening? The reality that this man had come all the way to my dorm on a weekend?
A resigned smile slipped across my face.
Tom and Hessi stood frozen in place, staring blankly. Ami was pinching her own cheeks hard.
It was a reaction as shocked as mine.
She’d seen John Mullern the longest, so it must have hit her even harder.
Mullern fixed his blue eyes on me.
“You…”
Thwack.
?
A dull thud rang out, and Mullern crumpled to the floor.
We all stared wide-eyed at the same spot.
As the tall man fell, a familiar face came into view. Curly hair and his trademark striped T-shirt.
It was Giacomo Ro.
“This creepy fucking bastard.”
He spoke with the edge of his hand still sharply raised.
“Ah, this feels like finally getting rid of some old heartburn. I’ve wanted to snap his neck ever since I got locked up for three days because of him.”
Ro scowled at the unconscious man, his thick eyebrows furrowing.
Hessi and Tom gaped at their senior in disbelief.
“Three days?”
“Because of those damn carnivorous plants.”
“Carnivorous plants?”
The recruits muttered in confusion.
But I wasn’t surprised. I now knew full well that the guy passed out over there was exactly the type to pull something like that.
A genius scientist sprawled on the doorstep like a deflated plastic doll.
I was glad Ro had gotten his hands dirty and taken Mullern out for me.
Ro glared at Mullern a moment longer, then looked up.
“Hey, peanut.”
He was calling Ami.
Ami snapped out of her masterpiece-level scream-face. She blinked her round eyes a couple of times.
“Woof.”
“Why are you here?”
“Gaming.”
Ami had regained her composure.
“Hilde’s so good at games, we were clearing a boss I couldn’t beat alone.”
“Gaming?”
Ro craned his neck and scanned the room.
I kept staring at the unconscious Mullern regardless. It was a relief he was out cold, but it didn’t improve my mood.
This creepy obsession… I should have realized from the start he was never going to accept my refusal.
The moment he vanished from sight, I’d contact my master right away.
As I thought that, Ro hopped over.
“Hey.”
He stood in front of me.
I looked up at him with a puzzled expression.
A pleasant Saturday morning sunlight streaming in. How the hell did this senior know to come here?
Ro rested his chin on my arm.
“I’ve always wanted to beat the shit out of that guy someday, and you made it happen for me.”
His voice was dead serious.
“Usually when John dies, it’s some national trial bullshit, so people hold me back.”
“National trial.”
Ami flatly corrected him.
Ro ignored her.
“You’re a really useful guy. I like you.”
“Thank you.”
It felt like déjà vu from my first day, hearing something similar because of the HR Director.
But it didn’t matter. I was just grateful Ro had personally chased off Mullern.
A cool breeze blew in through the open window. Mixed in with the wind was the sound of our characters dying to the boss’s attacks. We’d been one hit away from finishing it, but it wasn’t too hard, so we’d clear it next time.
“Take Mullern.”
Ami said to Ro.
“But why’d Mullern come here? I thought I was seeing a ghost.”
“To experiment on him.”
Question marks seemed to pop up over Tom, Hessi, and Ami’s heads at once.
I let out a hollow laugh at their baffled expressions.
“Experiment? What experiment?”
“Oh yeah, last weekend you said you had somewhere to go.”
“Hilde, what other dumbass thing did you do?”
Other?
I feigned a hurt expression. Then quietly pondered how to explain the situation. I could be honest with Ami, but these two knew nothing.
After some thought, I just blurted it out, context be damned.
“I got offered to be an experiment subject and said sure.”
“Huh?”
“Again!”
Hessi furrowed his brows and yelped, while Ami screamed.
Tom just stared at me like I was speaking nonsense.
Now knowing how idiotic my choice back then had been, I gave a hollow laugh and showed them my palms.
“I was an idiot. Deeply regretting it now.”
“Why would they offer you to be an experiment subject…?”
Tom asked slowly.
I smiled neutrally before explaining.
“My master’s Yoon, so bad luck running into that guy?”
“Ah, what an unnecessary show-off!”
Ro, already bored with our conversation, hoisted up the unconscious scientist.
Ro wasn’t tall. So Mullern’s legs, slung over his shoulder like a wet rag, dragged on the floor. He could’ve adjusted for a more stable carry, but Ro didn’t care if the scientist’s limbs scraped the ground as he walked off.
Thud-thud-scraaape.
The scientist’s arms and legs banged against the doorstep and walls.
The unconscious scientist and Ro vanished from sight amid the bizarre noises.
“Is that okay?”
“Right? There was that huge thud earlier too.”
When I asked Ami, Hessi craned his neck to join in. He must’ve meant the sound when Ro chopped Mullern’s neck.
It had been huge.
Ami stared at where Ro had disappeared, lips pressed in a straight line, then answered.
“Probably. Yoon Oppa sometimes chops Mullern’s neck like that too.”
“Yoon Senior?”
“Apparently he tries to set off chemical bombs sometimes.”
The recruits stared at Ami in shock.
Tom, gazing at her youthful face, said,
“Isn’t he that super famous scientist from the textbooks…?”
“Genius types are always a bit weird. My brother’s not exactly normal either.”
Ami replied breezily.
Then she looked up at me, who’d been nodding vigorously beside her. Our eyes met in midair.
She stared at me with her round, cute eyes and said,
“Don’t do any more dumb stuff from now on, and stay off that guy’s radar, Hilde.”
Of course. The moment Monday hit, I planned to report this to Yoon.
***
The moment Monday arrived, I reported the weekend incident to Yoon.
“He came all the way to the dorm?”
Yoon showed a rare surprised expression.
Then, as if something was hilarious, he pulled up one corner of his mouth in a long grin.
“Guess he’s really hooked.”
“Save me.”
I shot him a desperate look.
He cleanly sheathed the sword in his hand. It was the one I’d been using since last week.
Ever since returning from outside the Core, I’d been sword training nonstop with Yoon. Because he insisted it would help me hold onto my memories. I enjoyed the sparring too, so no complaints. But last week, I hadn’t even nicked his clothes.
Yoon’s assessment:
“You definitely used a greatsword, but your dulled body can’t keep up with the memories.”
He wasn’t one to sugarcoat.
“It’ll take a month to draw out your full potential. No fieldwork for a month.”
That’s why I was back at the training grounds today, rolling around hard. Just like last week.
The only difference was realizing Mullern’s obsession wasn’t ending. Judging by two days ago, he’d definitely show up this weekend too.
I approached the man with his dry, weathered expression.
“Please save this poor soul from John Mullern’s rampage, Senior. I’ve been blind to your kindness all this time.”
“Fine. You’ve finally recognized your benefactor.”
Yoon shamelessly accepted my earnest plea.
His face didn’t even twitch as he said it—classic him.
The high-ceilinged place where I’d fought mushrooms like an idiot. Unlike my hazmat suit, he wore a black T-shirt and light joggers.
“I’ll dump some other research gigs on him for now, so wait. Need something to grab his interest.”
“Couldn’t you just talk him out of it?”
“You think that’d work?”
“No. What if a higher-up orders him to stop?”
“You think he’d listen?”
“No. What about blackmail?”
“You think that’d stick?”
“No. What the hell is he, anyway? A sociopath or something?”
“Nah. Unlike me, he’s got a conscience. It’s just way off from normal people’s.”
Seemed that way.
John Mullern seemed to have a completely different sense of good and evil from regular folks. Someone who saw the world in a totally alien way.
Surprising. So he feels pangs of conscience sometimes.
According to my master, unlike him, he does have one…
Wait.
“Senior, that sounds like you’re saying you have no conscience.”
“What? Ami didn’t tell you?”
Yoon asked casually, like he was checking the lunch menu.
“That my brain’s congenitally fucked up.”
He dropped the bombshell without emphasis.
I stood there a long time, processing the monumental fact he’d tossed out so lightly.
Meanwhile, Yoon drew his sword right in front of me. Long and slender.
Out of all us Badgers, only two could wield a sword “properly,” he said.
Jonathan Kudo, who used a katana as his main weapon. Lee Ye-hyeon, who’d formally trained under someone.
Yoon himself only knew the basics. If my skills surpassed his someday, he’d hand me off to Ye-hyeon.
But the man now brandishing that long blade was plenty threatening to me.
I looked at my master’s sharp features and said,
“Are you a sociopath?”
“That’s what they usually call it.”
“You’re not discarding the enhanced body?”
“Already committing mutiny?”
Yoon lazily replied, pointing his sword tip at me.
The white light gleamed off the blade’s edge.
“Yeah. You’ll need the skill for mutiny. Draw.”
I drew my sword without a word.
***
Time passed like that. Weekdays training with real swords alongside my congenitally conscienceless master. Weekends with the genius mad scientist—whose moral compass was light-years from normal—showing up religiously.
Mullern didn’t give up easily. More precisely, he hadn’t found another research subject as intriguing as Hildebert Talib. He came every weekend, got chopped by Ro’s hand every time, and vanished every time slung sloppily over Ro’s shoulder.
I suffered. Ro’s opinion of me kept rising, Hessi hardened his prejudices against genius science nerds, Tom started suspecting there was something off about me, and Ami steadily worried.
And Yoon…
“This weekend, stay at my place.”
The day before the fourth weekend. The day I finally heard from Yoon, “Time to send you back to the field.” (Still couldn’t nick his clothes.)
My master ordered flatly.
“You need to disappear from John’s sight.”
“Am I imposing too much…?”
“I’m sick of this shit too, so just obey.”
His voice held genuine irritation, and I didn’t have the guts to ignore it.
My master lit a cigarette and showed me a string of numbers on his phone screen.
“Taxi’s called. Pack and take it on time. Don’t leave the place all weekend. I’ll end this by this weekend for sure.”
Hearing annoyance from someone usually emotionless was terrifying. Especially with dried blood—mine—on the knife in his hand.
I obeyed Yoon.
***
A house so vast it always took my breath away.
As Yoon said, the house opened its doors to me without fuss. Friday evening, faint darkness settling in. I deliberately ignored the spot where the cabin had stood and stepped inside my master’s home.
The place I’d visited a few times was quiet.
High, open ceiling and a spacious living room.
The long sofa in the living room, and…
Huh?
Someone was sleeping on the sofa, buried under a blanket.
“Ami?”
I’d heard Ami might return from outside the Core today.
I approached the sofa cautiously and stopped, gazing at the blanket rising and falling rhythmically.
Why sleep on the sofa?
“Ami. You asleep? It’s late—go to bed and sleep till morning…”
“Mmm.”
A muffled voice.
The moment I heard it, I froze in place. And stood there blankly, forgetting to speak.
The steadily rising and falling blanket twitched. Like someone stirring from shallow sleep inside.
The stirring figure soon sat up, lifting their upper body from under the blanket.
Now it was clear who was inside.
Beside my rigid self, he sat on the sofa with eyes closed, still drunk on sleep.
Only after a long moment did he narrowly open his long eyes and look up at me.
“Hilde?”
“…I’m truly sorry, Commander.”
“Mmm.”
My workplace’s top boss mumbled.
“Hello.”