Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: His Limbs (1)
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Ami brushed the blood off her dress.
Creature hunting had just ended. It had been fifteen minutes since she received word that creatures were swarming her adoptive father Choi Je-seok's residence. She had been reading by Choi Je-seok's bedside when Ska called, and she bolted out of the main house.
There had been a lot of them, but the fight was short.
Ricardo and Ska were out there with her.
“Sorry for dragging you out on your day off.”
Ska, dressed impeccably as always, flashed Ami a bright smile.
“That dress suits you perfectly.”
“Thanks. And it’s fine. I’m grateful you came to help hunt the creatures swarming the main house.”
“The bigwigs must be throwing another party~?”
Ricardo sneered as luxury sedans zipped past the creature corpses.
Darkness had fallen. Streetlights lit the road, and a cool night breeze tousled their hair. Etak’s guards directed the cars exiting the mansion.
The day was winding down. The social gathering was over, and the creatures had been hunted.
Ami glanced at the guards’ glow sticks before answering.
“Yeah. Special A-grade personnel.”
“Would’ve been a sight even if we’d let them head into the mansion without hunting them...”
“Don’t be a smartass, Rick. And we missed a few anyway. Looks like they handled it inside.”
Ska’s eyes flicked to the annex building, small in the corner of his vision.
His smartwatch pinged that all creatures heading toward the annex had been dealt with. He didn’t bother lifting his wrist to check. He knew full well the elders’ limbs were in there. Top elders’ limbs, no less.
The hunt had probably wrapped up in under five minutes.
I wonder what they talked about with those dangerous folks.
Ricardo posed a question to Ska, who stood staring at the annex with a troubled expression.
“Hildebert, huh~...”
Ami and Ska both turned.
“He’s in there right now, isn’t he?”
Ami and Ska reacted differently.
Ami’s already round eyes grew even rounder. Ska closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.
Ami spoke up first.
“Rick, you really like Hilde!”
Ricardo furrowed his brow and arched an eyebrow. Ska burst into hearty laughter at his comrade’s reaction.
The sharp, bloody stench of the creature corpses carried on the wind, brushing past their clothes. The sedans leaving the mansion kept their windows firmly shut.
“First time I’ve seen you this interested in a junior.”
“He’s just any junior~? He’s some mystery guy who popped out of a portal.... And if he got invited there, it means he’s no ordinary guy, whatever angle you look at~.”
“You went and said you’d team up for the next mission, and now you’re griping.”
Ska teased his friend, smile unwavering.
Ricardo kept his brow furrowed, flashing a twisted grin.
Then he let out a conceding sigh.
“Feels like watching a suicide squad stunt for someone~...”
Ska and Ami knew exactly who that “someone” was.
A Badger who could barely remember Hilde’s name despite running missions with Hildebert. Every Badger knew Jonathan Kudo was Ska and Ricardo’s headache.
Ska chuckled before dialing back his smile a touch.
“What about you?”
Ricardo brushed off the pointed jab with ease.
The green-eyed man slipped his snake-shaped weapon onto his finger and changed the subject.
“It’s not like I’m the only one who suggested it.... Walker and Richard put in requests to run missions with Hilde too, right~?”
“No way! For real?”
“Yeah.”
Ska confirmed it casually.
“Yoon’s approval is needed, though. Rick, you’re going out with Hilde this time because Yoon greenlit it. Masters still have say over rookies’ missions.”
“He approved Walker and Richard’s? Youngest Oppa’s way too quiet. I had no clue.”
“It’s pending, but he seemed meh about it. Doesn’t like sharing his stuff.”
Ricardo huffed a windy, empty laugh. Ami giggled, calling it so like her brother.
The wind picked up, swallowing their voices. Sedans were barely trickling out the gate now.
Ska, who’d been watching his comrades’ reactions with a faint smile, spoke up.
“I hope the sharp junior builds a solid career safely and ends up as our successor.”
“Command Staff successor?”
Ami lifted her head and asked.
Ska nodded. His gaze was locked on the annex.
“He’s green enough that it doesn’t show, but stick him in a leader spot and he’d crush it. Been a while since we had a junior who fits the Command Staff, so I’m rooting for him on the down-low. Trying not to make it obvious—might burden him.”
“You don’t show it at all! I just now realized Ska’s into Hilde too.”
“Good. That’s not the kind of thing you advertise.”
Ska’s well-shaped lips curved into a pleased smile at Ami’s words.
“Not to him... or the other Badgers...”
Screeeeech!
A tire shriek pierced their ears, cutting Ska off.
The three heads snapped around at the ear-splitting noise.
A sports car blasted through the gate at breakneck speed and screeched to a halt right in front of them. The door flew open violently, and a familiar figure leaped out.
Yoon, black coat billowing, swept the area with a fierce glare.
“Ye-hyeon and Hilde come out yet?”
The man’s voice was low and ominous.
The Badgers shook their heads in unison. Veterans of endless crises, their instincts kicked in, nerves on edge.
Yoon spat a stream of curses and locked eyes with Ska.
“That bastard’s work.”
“Falcon’s there?”
Ska got it immediately.
Tension strung his voice tight.
“He’s never pulled shit with him around.”
“Falcon’s gone.”
Yoon’s tone barely contained his seething rage.
“I’m heading out to track ’em. Call Samuel and get an ambulance rolling.”
“On it right now.”
“Feels like I’m the only one clueless about what’s going down.... Better save questions for later...”
Ami tamped down her unease and pulled out her phone, hitting 119, while Rick muttered darkly. Yoon spun on his heel and strode to the sports car.
His flapping coat vanished from view in a blink. Before Yoon slammed the driver’s door, Ska called out in a steely voice.
“Tracker.”
Yoon snapped his fingers, no words.
A tiny chip arced into the air, glinting off the streetlight. Slam! The car door crashed shut before it hit the asphalt.
Ska gnashed his teeth at the tracker—implanted under Hilde’s finger skin.
The sports car roared off. Vrooooom—it drowned every sound, scorching tire tracks into the asphalt.
Ricardo scooped up the tracker as it skittered near. Ska stared at the fleck of flesh stuck to it and unleashed curses.
They didn’t hesitate.
The Badgers split three ways and bolted.
***
My head throbbed.
Worse than when memories had crashed in chaotically. A different kind of ache.... My body felt heavy too, eyelids refusing to lift....
What the hell? Did I drink and black out?
No memory of booze, though....
I strained to pry open my stubborn eyelids. Wrestled to move my sodden-cotton body.
Something’s off. My hands aren’t free. And I’m not lying down. Sitting somewhere. Legs pressed together, arms wrenched behind me.
Bound hostage style....
“Gah.”
Awareness snapped back.
Sensations surged in.
I fought the skull-cracking headache, squinting through slitted eyes. Vision cleared—sort of.
Not fully. Objects ahead swelled huge then shrank. A sharp knife stretched long... then snapped short....
Knife?
My mind sharpened.
I sucked in a breath at the gleaming blade and its target.
“Jaeyeon!”
My frantic shout rasped out, throat raw.
Drug hangover, no doubt. Ringing head, warping sight.
No bandwidth for that.
“Stop it!”
“You’re awake?”
He turned, gave me a sweet smile.
His narrow eyes curved foxlike.
It was horrifying. A handsome guy down on one knee, sashimi knife in hand, grinning pretty. Beneath him, someone sprawled unconscious.
The guy looked wrecked. Shirt drowned in blood—no hint of its old white. Massive nails hammered through ankles and wrists. Jacket shredded on the floor, shoes gone. Blood-caked hair smothering a ghostly pale face.
Body stock-still.
The brutal violence scene left me speechless.
Even as Jaeyeon smiled and said, “Been waiting forever,” I couldn’t muster a proper response.
Revived memories confirmed it: Jaeyeon was dangerously violent. Back then, only Colton could rein him in. He loathed everything—himself most of all. His whims, genius, savagery—reined only by Colton’s grip. I’d never witnessed Jaeyeon’s raw brutality unchecked.
Colton always drew the line. Jaeyeon toed it razor-thin.
At least the Jaeyeon I remembered.
But now....
“Well, it cooled me off some.”
“Ye-hyeon.”
My voice caught as I named the victim.
“Ye-hyeon?”
Silver flooded my vision.
Jaeyeon slid the smooth blade right up to my eyes. Flat side toward me, blotting Ye-hyeon out. My golden irises gleamed back from the polished steel.
He met my yellow stare, then slowly lifted his head.
And locked eyes with me.
“Eyes on me.”
Jaeyeon’s gaze narrowed slyly.
“We’ve got plenty to settle between us.”