Black Badger - Chapter 344



Only Noblemtl

344. Luca (2)

Tvein looked at the old man with a frightened face.

“What is this man saying?”

That’s what I mean.

I am a legendary doctor and I want to pass this person on to someone, he answered.

“It looks like you have a head injury and are hallucinating.”

“iced coffee.”

Tvein understood.

“It looks like it’s going to be a mess, right?”

“I guess so.”

“men and horses.”

Samuel looked at us in horror.

“There is nothing I can’t say in front of my patients!”

“hallucination?”

The old man snorted.

“You call it a hallucination without even thinking about covering your head and eyes?”

“Elder. Calm down and get some treatment first.”

“Stop acting coy and do your job, Michael!”

“Hey. Since you’ve grown your hair out like that, don’t you think I’m sending you down from the sky?”

As I walked towards the van with the door wide open, rolling my eyes, Tvein pointed to my hair.

I arched an eyebrow.

What the heck are you talking about… .

Tvein looked at my head and said.

“How long are you going to keep that?”

I stared at my senior.

“I don’t want to bother cutting it, so I’m just going to leave it on.”

“Can you cut it for me?”

Why are you suddenly like this?

I looked at my senior without being able to control my facial expression.

It was not that I did not know what he was trying to say. In the Empire, it was very common for men and women of all ages to grow their hair out, but I also knew that on Earth, it was not common for men to grow their hair out.

This is especially true in places like the military.

But short hair is a hassle to maintain.

I tried to rebel a little.

“I will not let you interfere with my mission.”

“Don’t you know the military service regulations? Didn’t you learn about the duty to maintain dignity?”

“… Even Assistant Ska is quite smart.”

“You’re the same as the aide? And you’re much taller. You’re messing around so badly that even innocent civilians are misunderstanding you.”

“Stop it, kid!”

Bam! Samuel slapped Tvein on the back.

It was a blessing that he was there.

Even Jason Tvein was humbled in front of Samuel Hahn.

This time too, the blonde senior kept his mouth shut.

The doctor pointed to the van.

“Take it! Is this the time to be talking?”

I thanked Samuel deeply and quickly got into the van.

He laid the old man down and threw him into the back seat of the van.

As soon as I sat there and laid my head down, I fell into deep sleep. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Someone sitting next to me seemed to be talking to me about Mario or something, but I couldn’t answer.

I didn’t want to care about the legendary doctor, Michael, or Olivia.

I want to forget everything and sleep.

I crouched down against the cold air that was rushing in.

It’s hard… .

The van departs.

I thought I heard someone calling my name.

It seemed like I could feel a hand tapping my shoulder.

Finding it all annoying, I fell into a sleep I could not resist.

***

I opened my eyes.

A ceiling bathed in sunset light.

It wasn’t a center core, because there was one window that looked out onto the ocean.

I raised my upper body and stared blankly out the window.

The faint afterglow of the sunset left sparkling stripes on the sea.

The room was not large.

A room with two beds, including mine. The bed under the window seemed to have been occupied by someone. It was empty now, as if they had gone to the bathroom.

Crumpled sheets and a top draped carelessly over the bed rail.

It looks like a makeshift infirmary inside the emergency core.

I turned my head to look at Yunseul.

Samuel….

“Are you awake?”

“Doctor!”

He turned his face away when he saw someone stepping across the threshold.

The man wearing a doctor’s gown was holding a pad in one hand.

It wasn’t the pad with the familiar Black Badger mark. Instead of the Black Badger mark, there was a logo of an unfamiliar company.

The doctor walked over to my bedside.

“You’re taking the medicine, so stay seated and don’t get up. I did all the reporting.”

“Isn’t this the emergency core?”

“uh.”

Samuel placed the back of his hand on my forehead.

“I’ll be back soon. Once the portal reorganization is complete. Most of the civilians have returned. Now that things are settled, you can just focus on recovering.”

“Yes, thank you for letting me know. That’s great.”

“The fever has gone down a lot.”

“Tvein is….”

“He’s also resting somewhere in the building. I think he might be in the lounge.”

I see.

It looks like everything is really sorted out.

Although not everyone was saved, no one was killed by the creature. The damage was not as great as feared.

I leaned back against the bed frame, thinking it was a blessing in disguise.

As Samuel said, the fever must have gone down a lot, because it wasn’t as cold as before.

“You’ll have to wait at least 4 hours, so get some more sleep.”

“I feel like I slept enough.”

“Still, lie down. You still have a slight fever. If you can’t sleep, lie down and check your phone.”

“By any chance, what happened to the old man from the other day?”

I picked up my phone obediently and asked.

A smooth space with the faint sound of waves. The lights in the corner bathed the room in warm light.

The doctor pointed to the bed next to me with a pad.

“I’m by your side.”

“Huh? Huh? Is that the person who slept in this bed?”

“Yes. The person you found with amazing timing. Fortunately, the doctor’s wound was minor. He was fine after being stitched up, but he was grumbling and just went out for a moment to get some water.”

“aha.”

He answered coolly.

Then I found Samuel looking at me with a troubled expression.

It was a face that had something to say. It was clear that what it would say wouldn’t be good news.

I laughed bitterly.

“Did he say anything strange?”

“I don’t know why your immune system is weak.”

The doctor sounded distressed.

“We’ve been discussing the results of your examination… and neither you nor I could find anything special. But don’t be discouraged and take the long view. Recovery takes time.”

“yes.”

He answered with a faint smile.

There’s no way the doctor didn’t say something about Michael and how he came to kill him.

I thought it was very typical of Samuel to have worked as a doctor without any concern for such facts. It was also typical of him that he had not been able to obtain new medical opinions.

As I let out a small laugh, the doctor scratched the back of his neck with a displeased expression.

“I sent you here so that Ye-Hyeon could rest and get better.”

There’s nothing I can do… .

“You must be very upset. You didn’t get the clue you were hoping for. The doctor said he would check your medical records again later.”

“But did he treat me obediently?”

weird.

Apparently, he was screaming ‘Kill me Michael!’ before he lost consciousness.

I wonder if there was some kind of change of heart.

Samuel snorted, as if he had read my suspicions.

He pulled the chair between the beds and sat down.

“I roughly cleared up the misunderstanding.”

uh?

how?

“He must have felt a little embarrassed that he had misunderstood me so greatly.”

“… You’re amazing. But you don’t listen… And Doctor, how much do you know?”

“I know enough. As much as you need. But I don’t know why your condition isn’t getting better.”

“I told you to give your body time to recover.”

An unfamiliar voice entered the conversation.

I turned my head and saw the person entering the room.

The old man I had just heard the story about was standing by the threshold, watching us. He had a gauze bandage on his forehead and was holding a bottle of water in one hand.

As expected, it was our first meeting. I couldn’t tell what kind of person he was or how old he was.

But I kept my mouth shut for fear of being scared if I spoke first.

Then the old man came inside grumbling.

“Didn’t I say it hasn’t even been two months? It would take years for an ordinary person to recover from such a serious injury. Don’t be impatient and wait.”

How many years?

I don’t think Kyle will wait for me that long.

“And as I said before, I was Luca’s doctor, not someone like Michael. It’s not like I know anything special about it. I’m sorry for disappointing you.”

“Please stop calling me Michael. Please.”

“I don’t know what else to call you.”

“This is Hildebert Taleb.”

I quickly introduced myself to the doctor sitting on the bed with a husky voice.

“Please call me Hilde.”

The old man looked at me intently.

He had a completely different vibe from when he was so excited that he shouted for people to kill him.

We sat leaning against our respective beds and looked at each other. I could sense that we were both curious about each other.

I have a lot to ask… .

I broke the silence first.

“What is your name?”

“Sajid.”

Samuel looked up from his pad.

“Are you Indian? You are still active, so do you have any plans to come and work at Badger Headquarters?”

“I retired a long time ago. Don’t you see the wrinkles on my face? How long have you been working an old man?”

“Why did you refuse the recommendation to stop aging?”

Sajid and I were both surprised by what Samuel said.

We opened our eyes and saw Samuel.

Currently the leading authority on strengthening body treatment.

The most famous doctor in Centercore said.

“There’s no way you weren’t advised to stop aging.”

“… Did you gladly accept the offer?”

Sajid asked.

Samuel let out a chuckle.

“No. I put it off for a long time and reluctantly accepted it after the Second World War broke out. My brother said that there is no more humane act than living long to save others.”

“Was your brother a doctor too?”

“He was a school teacher. He was attacked by creatures and killed right after the end of the Second War.”

ah.

I thought of Samuel’s handkerchief.

An old handkerchief with the initials JS on it.

Was that your brother’s thing?

Of course, I didn’t dare ask directly, and I didn’t have the opportunity to do so.

Sajid sighed.

“I see. But I was an only child. And I never thought I would live this long, or want to live my whole life.”

“I understand to some extent.”

“Besides, I have no talent for saving people.”

What does this mean?

Samuel raised his eyebrows, as if he was thinking the same thing.

Sajid let out a heavy sigh.

However, he didn’t explain it right away. He just kept his mouth shut and stared somewhere in the room.

The man, who had been fiddling with the water bottle with his long fingers, broke the silence only after the room was completely bathed in sunset light.

“Luka, all but one of them died.”

ah.

“I couldn’t overcome the side effects of the enhanced body. Did you know that anti-aging, rapid healing, and incredible strength each require separate procedures?”

“Of course.”

I didn’t know.

But I nodded and pretended to know like Samuel did.

Sajid continued.

“I was the first one to receive the last procedure, the doctor who looked at Luca.”

“So when you say Luca, you’re talking about those who first received the strength-enhancing treatment?”

“Yes. It was the final version of the enhanced humans that the upper class had dreamed of. The final chapter of the plan to create humans that would rival the Titans.”

A burst of laughter broke out.

But he didn’t say anything. The doctor who had been in hiding for a long time was now beginning to vomit out the words that were inside him.

What was tied up tightly is now being released.

If you hit it lightly, the string will break and the things you were holding on to will come pouring out.

“I thought the transplant was done after sufficient experimentation. At least that’s what those who performed the transplant thought.”

“Didn’t you have a transplant?”

“No. I was a doctor who took care of people who had surgery.”

Then it seems like there was more emphasis on healing… .

“At first, the surgery seemed like a great success. But six months after the transplant, rejection began. I performed countless surgeries on people who were suffering. But all but one of them died and were buried on this island.”

So that’s why you’re stuck on this island.

I remained silent, watching Sajid’s anxious finger movements.

The conversation continued.

“Why do you think this resource-less island was surrounded by a core? Why do you think this empty island was covered with a translucent membrane? This core was a token of apology and gratitude from the higher-ups. At least in death, rest in peace. Humanity owes you a debt.”

“What happened to Luca, who survived alone?”

As I asked the question, Sajid’s gaze, which had been floating in the air, fell on me.

I waited for his answer with my mouth shut.

“As for what happened to him, he survived.”

“Yes… that’s right. You mentioned that.”

“What I mean is, I survived. Even the rejection that caused extreme pain, and even the first war.”

uh?

Surely not until now?

“Growing up your eyes,” Sajid added.

“I don’t know if he survived World War II.”

“aha….”

“But the important thing is that he survived. He was the only one who overcame the boiling inflammation and the pain that even narcotic painkillers couldn’t relieve. It was the result of a miracle and an incredibly strong will. Of all the people who received the enhanced body, he had the most vicious gaze.”

The doctor’s eyes, reminiscing about people from the past, grew distant.

On the other hand, my eyes were crumpled.

I felt sick when I imagined the pain those called Luca must have suffered. They say Luca, but in reality, this is a human experiment.

I wasn’t so innocent as to believe that no human experiments had taken place.

It felt real when I met a doctor who had personally seen the experimental subjects.

Having seen the victims of human experiments die, it was understandable for me to throw everything away and lock myself up… .

“He had a son.”

Sajid spat out the words.

“His wife died after giving birth to our son, and he said he had no one to take care of him, either himself or his wife or his parents. That’s what I heard when I was performing his 21st surgery.”

Samuel took a short breath.

On the other hand, I forgot how to breathe.

no way….

this.

“To be honest, he said that he had been unable to become attached to his son, so he had left everything to the nanny and planned to continue to do so. However, when he became a candidate for the enhanced body transplant, he said that the nanny had quit. He didn’t have the time or money to find a new nanny. So it seems that he had no choice but to ask his acquaintances to take care of his son for a while.”

My jaw dropped.

His hands were shaking slightly.

ah.

“That’s when it happened. It’s a common story. Since then, that man’s son has been terrified and out of his mind whenever anyone other than his father enters the house.”

Sajid clutched the glass of water tightly.

“So, in order to save my son, I have to come back alive.”

Every single word stabbed me in the gut.

“I survived without my parents, but I don’t think that child will survive.”

The doctor muttered.

“The only one who returned alive was the one who asked to be allowed to live until his child became an adult.”

I sighed silently.

“The son who was said to not live more than a year if he went to the orphanage, ended up surviving.”

Lee Seung-hyun.