Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: The Choi Family
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The day of the social gathering arrived in no time.
After being discharged and loosening up a bit, it was already the day of the social gathering. It started at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
My sweet weekend, like honey.
Around lunchtime on Saturday, I headed to Yoon's house.
The neat house always looked the same every time I visited. The residents opened the door for me but didn't show themselves. They were all getting ready for dinner plans in their respective rooms.
So, as I waited obediently in the entranceway, Ami was the first to approach me.
"Hilde, you bought an amazing suit!"
She was wearing a navy blue dress.
A pendant necklace of gleaming white mother-of-pearl formed a pleasant contrast with the navy. It was a silk dress that fell to her ankles—nothing flashy, but formal and elegant.
Ami clutched the hem of her dress with her left hand and came bounding down the stairs barefoot.
The senior with her round eyes lit up with a bright smile upon seeing me.
"You bought it from the place the youngest oppa recommended, right? They've been consistently great since we were kids."
"Thank you."
I was satisfied with my suit too.
I had firmly rejected the tailor's insistence that even a light color would suit me and chosen black. I didn't want to stand out unnecessarily among all the prominent people.
Ami kept coming over to admire my suit.
As I complimented her dress, Yoon emerged from inside.
"You're here."
He was dressed head to toe in black.
"Nice safe choice."
"Don't you plan on wearing anything but black for the rest of your life?"
I suggested in all seriousness.
Yoon just raised one eyebrow and lowered it, showing no other reaction.
I meant it. My master was wearing a black suit, and it made his face look much more lively than when he wore his white lab coat.
Yoon shoved one hand into his pocket and extended his right hand to tighten my tie firmly.
"Watch your mouth when we get there."
He gave the advice as casually as if he were describing the lunch menu.
"Ears everywhere. Your wrist looks a bit bare."
"It suits Hilde well."
A husky voice came from inside the house.
The boss, finished with his preparations, was walking out. I bowed my head in thanks and took a look at the pale man.
Ye-hyeon was wearing a sleek gray suit. The subtle green sheen made his face look even paler.
Ami looked at the approaching Ye-hyeon and asked,
"Oppa, you didn't end up wearing the gray pinstripe suit?"
"The check pattern looked too casual..."
"Hmph."
Ami lowered the corners of her eyes.
Ye-hyeon looked flustered, checking her expression with a troubled look.
It just seemed like the round-eyed senior was throwing a little tantrum.
Yoon grumbled bluntly.
"Choi Ami. Talk like an adult."
"Hmph, please indulge me."
This sibling pair was consistently weird too.
In any case, I had met the dress code. Ye-hyeon and Ami showered my suit with praise without holding back. At this level, I wouldn't get picked on at the social gathering.
As we headed to the car, I received a crash course on the social gathering. The order of using utensils, basic etiquette, and so on.
I was told that the absolute basics would suffice as I got into the pristine white Bentley without a speck of dirt.
The social gathering was held at the Etak chairman's residence.
We barely spoke on the way there. Ye-hyeon in the passenger seat kept his eyes down, silently working on his phone. Yoon and Ami, sitting side by side in the back, stared out the window in silence.
I shut my mouth wisely upon seeing the seniors through the rearview mirror and focused on driving.
The three of them had nerves on edge, making it hard to breathe.
***
There were two checkpoints before we arrived.
Once the final inspection was done, a massive mansion came into view outside the car window. I had thought Ye-hyeon's house was luxurious enough, but the scale of the one before me now was different.
Even though I tried not to act tacky, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the growing mansion.
Are they this rich?
We stopped the car in front of the open main gate.
The security guards opened the doors. I hurried out and followed the seniors walking into the garden.
The garden shone beautifully in the bluish evening dusk. The strategically placed lights throughout made it even more stunning.
I was too tense to take it all in properly.
The social gathering was held in an annex behind the main building.
But we were first invited to the reception room in the main building.
Because we had to greet the Etak chairman's family separately.
I stood quietly by the door and watched Yoon and Ami exchange greetings with the Etak family.
Yoon shook hands with the elderly gentleman.
The man in a gray suit and rimless glasses spoke in a courteous voice.
"Long time no see, Yoon."
"Big Brother."
Yoon replied dryly.
"Long time no see."
There were three people in the room.
All of them were advanced in age. Two men and one woman. None resembled Yoon or Ami. But they all had neat black hair, black eyes, and wore suits that exuded wealth.
The man called Big Brother shook hands with Yoon and Ami before turning his gaze to Ye-hyeon.
"Supreme Commander."
"Chairman Choi Hyun-jun."
Ye-hyeon gave a businesslike smile and shook hands.
"How have you been?"
Etak.
In this era where the threat of Creatures still looms, the company handling Center Core's most vital infrastructure. Etak made core maintenance devices. They also produced military supplies and IT products as cash cows, but Etak's brand identity was the core maintenance devices.
Products built on Yoon's patents.
The reason money kept flowing into Yoon's account without fail.
Humanity's life-support system, always in operation.
Etak only produced the devices; their management was handled separately by the Core Management Corporation. Still, that didn't make the Etak company unimportant.
Every time territory expanded, Black Badger HQ contacted Etak. Even without such massive events, they received regular reports from Etak.
The company's chairman, Choi Hyun-jun, asked,
"No territory expansion planned? It's been a while since we got any related contact."
"We were preparing, but the Creatures have been restless lately."
Ye-hyeon smiled faintly.
"I'll reach out first when the time comes."
"We'll be waiting."
"Thanks for taking good care of our youngest."
A woman with her hair neatly tied back smiled slyly, arms crossed.
The president of an insurance company spun off from Etak.
She looked at Ami without erasing her eye smile.
"Our youngest never grows up."
Ami blinked her round eyes a couple of times.
I watched as she started to say something but closed her mouth upon noticing Ye-hyeon responding. Ye-hyeon handled the greeting as smoothly as he had with the Etak chairman.
"President Choi Hyun-young. If anything, I'm the one receiving Ami's help."
It felt like every word had to be chosen carefully.
The one who broke the suffocatingly stiff atmosphere was the man who had been frowning faintly.
The Choi Family's second son.
"The Creatures aren't rampaging—it's just that the elders can't agree on which territory to expand."
"Hyun-seok."
"Choi Hyun-seok."
As soon as the dissatisfied remark ended, the chairman and president scolded him in unison.
In that moment, only Ye-hyeon grinned.
It was a ceremonial smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"In the end, the final decision on that territory is mine."
"Puppet of the elders, and you talk so prettily."
"Choi Hyun-seok!"
"Choi Hyun-seok. If you're going to keep acting like this, get out."
"Are you unwell?"
Amid the chairmen's anger, Yoon asked back in a puzzled tone.
Of course, no one mistook that question for genuine innocence. I watched in stunned admiration as my master masterfully put on an expression that said, 'I'm asking purely out of curiosity.'
"I don't remember it being this bad. Or is it that your days are numbered and I don't know about it?"
"You ungrateful wretch we took in, flapping your mouth without knowing gratitude!"
"Choi Hyun-seok! I told you not to lump Ami in with him!"
Choi Hyun-young snapped sharply at her younger brother.
...Isn't the point of getting angry weird?
But no one was surprised. As Choi Hyun-jun the chairman sighed, Choi Hyun-seok fumed, and Ye-hyeon maintained a eerily blank silence, Yoon and Ami's gazes turned to President Choi Hyun-young.
My master stared at her bluntly.
"Isn't the favoritism a bit much every time?"
"I only like normal people."
Choi Hyun-young was brazen.
She added with the expression of stating plain truth,
"Ami is cute and lovable, but you're creepy."
I had to hold back my laughter, Hildebert.
I pressed my lips into a straight line, barely suppressing the laugh trying to burst out. It wasn't the atmosphere for laughing, so it took all my effort.
Both her tone of 'Why do you keep asking why I state the obvious?' and Yoon's utterly unoffended expression were hilarious.
And Ami's nodding along like 'Youngest oppa is kinda creepy.'
Fortunately, no sound escaped.
But I guess I hadn't suppressed it well enough.
The president, who had been smiling at Ami, rolled her eyes toward me.
"But Supreme Commander, what's this? Why bring an ordinary Badger to a place like this?"
Feeling the stares flying my way, I hurriedly lifted my head.
Everyone in the Choi Family was looking at me.
"No matter that Porden invited you as a special guest. You wouldn't bring a regular Badger to a place full of such dangerous people, would you?"
"Mr. Talib."
Choi Hyun-jun walked over to me and extended his right hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Choi Hyun-jun."
"Ah."
I hurriedly shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Chairman."
I also shook hands with the eldest daughter and second son. Choi Hyun-young smiled at me as we shook, but Choi Hyun-seok didn't smooth out his crumpled face.
Once the formal greetings ended, the chairman turned his gaze to Ye-hyeon.
"I heard Mr. Talib is a rookie Badger."
"Yes. His master is Yoon."
At Ye-hyeon's calm response, the Choi Family members froze for a moment.
But they were seasoned. Except for Choi Hyun-seok, the other two paused as if a brief pause button had been hit, then recovered without widening their eyes or choking.
Choi Hyun-jun the chairman even replied,
"You must have your reasons."
"No, big brother. It was the HR Director's decision."
"Then the HR Director must have had his reasons."
Choi Hyun-jun hurriedly glossed over the topic.
And changed the subject as if he didn't want to dwell on it further.
No need to react that strongly.
Or is that a normal, sensible reaction?
In any case, the Choi chairman circled back to why he had brought me here.
Porden had invited me, and so on.
Of course, that wasn't the obvious answer they wanted.
"I thought he was just an ordinary Badger from the article. Even when I heard Porden specially invited him to the social gathering, I figured it was to draw some attention with a half-decent Badger. But if he were just ordinary, you wouldn't have turned down the elders' attendance to bring him, Supreme Commander."
"He's an ordinary Badger who won't lose his life even seeing the elders' faces."
Ye-hyeon replied without erasing his faint smile.
"That's the only way I can explain it for now."
"A new face from the command staff?"
"No. Sika and Gilbert are doing plenty well enough."
"Then a limb for the elders?"
"No."
Ye-hyeon's voice grew firm at Choi Hyun-young's mumble-like question.
The Supreme Commander replied politely but with a chilling edge,
"Hildebert is my man right now."
The Choi Family stared at me intently.
But I had no clever retort. It was all news to me too.
I had only recently learned there were multiple elders. I had never seen them in person, of course, and didn't even know exactly what "limb of the elders" meant.
I was just grateful that Ye-hyeon had firmly claimed ownership...
As I endured the incoming stares and slightly tilted my head.
They observed me for a long time.
In the reception room filled with the pleasant scent of solid wood.
Choi Hyun-jun the chairman slowly broke the heavy silence that filled the room.
"If he survives, we'll be seeing him often."
Not fully grasping his words, I quietly bowed my head.
***
Ye-hyeon expressed to Ami that he would prefer if she didn't attend the social gathering if possible.
Because people she wouldn't benefit from meeting face-to-face were coming.
The round-eyed senior neither looked surprised nor upset. Instead, she nodded calmly as if she had expected it and said she'd be with her adoptive father before disappearing.
The Choi Family members said they had business to handle before going to the social hall.
So Yoon, Ye-hyeon, and I headed to the annex first.
The annex was bright and comfortable.
A glass ceiling offering an unobstructed view. Crystal chandeliers sparkling from above. Tall windows and spotless white tablecloths.
People dressed impeccably, engaged in pleasant conversation.
It was a stately space where it was hard to find any detail overlooked.
Finger sandwiches. Pastries. Biscuits and chocolates. Fruit and wine jelly. Carbonated water. Sherry. Buttered bread and scones. Roasted meat with vegetables and potatoes, beef steak pie. Salmon meunière. Fried oysters. Thinly sliced turkey and ham.
Strangely classic menu items.
Is that the theme? Or the hosts' taste?
In any case, the chefs must have worked hard.
I thought I'd fill up on those later. Just the smell was whetting my appetite.
As I looked around excitedly, I nearly bumped into the seniors who had stopped walking.
Yoon and Ye-hyeon had halted in front of a table with finger sandwiches and gray eggs.
"Hilde."
"Yes."
"While we're here, stick close to me as much as possible."
Ye-hyeon said, fixing his gaze on the far end of the vast hall.
"No solo meetings with the elders."
I followed Ye-hyeon's gaze.
Those whose existence I had inferred from the Supreme Commander's office but received no further explanation about. The powerholders who called someone like me a Titan and wielded influence over Ye-hyeon that he couldn't ignore.
They fully enjoyed the privilege of ageless bodies but were unknown even to civilians.
It wasn't hard to pick them out where Ye-hyeon's gaze landed.
Influencers, successful entrepreneurs, celebrities, politicians. Even among the star-studded invitees here thanks to their own fame, their presence stood out.
Even smiling brightly, the aura they unconsciously exuded was impossible to ignore.
Get too close, and they'll eat you alive.
Looking at the tall platinum blond middle-aged man and the middle-aged woman with flowing silver hair tied up, I muttered,
"Their aggression isn't hidden at all."
Ye-hyeon turned to me with wide eyes.
The Supreme Commander, looking at me with genuine surprise, soon spotted the pair I was watching and blinked several times.
Then he burst out laughing.
"Let's go say hello."
After a while, having collected himself, my superior curved his eyes beautifully.
"Seems like it, from what I see."