Black Badger - Chapter 364



Only Noblemtl

364. Flower (1)

Her words brought me to my senses.

I blinked and answered.

“I didn’t get hit.”

The short-haired senior snorted.

It’s true… .

There was no chance to protest, saying, “I tried to avoid it, even if it meant using violence if necessary.” Sophia walked toward me, pushing her short black hair behind her shoulders.

The senior who was hit by Sophia was unconscious and lying on the floor.

Those standing nearby seemed so surprised that they forgot how to move. No one spoke, just opened and closed their mouths.

A container box that makes a thud, thud sound every time you walk on it.

Sophia passed the frozen badgers without a second thought.

“Step back.”

The black-haired senior stopped in front of me and said.

His gaze turned to the back of my shoulder.

“What are you doing surrounding yourself with one successor?”

My body became free.

The senior who had been holding my body back stepped back. I rubbed the area around my levator scapulae with my hand.

Then I saw some happy faces.

Carl sighs and Ricardo narrows his eyes and scans the badgers.

They did not move, and for a while the people remained silent.

The one who opened his mouth was an unknown senior.

“Don’t you have any pride?”

It was a badger with his hair tied up in a ponytail.

A familiar emotion burned in the eyes of the senior who asked the question.

“You were born and raised in the midst of war. Do you want to protect it?”

“Which base?”

The sword asked a question.

Badger, who had spoken, looked back at Carl.

“… It’s the 23rd term.”

“Each person’s misfortune is incomparable to the other. But don’t you think there’s a reason why the Badgers who fought in the war or were born and raised in the flames of war accepted Hildebert?”

It was sharp that there was not even a shred of anger in his voice.

He is a great person.

Of course, there are many times when a calm tone doesn’t work.

Badger frowned as he was refuted, and the man standing across from him, who had kept his mouth shut until now, spoke up.

“I guess you have forgotten your anger towards the enemy, Senior.”

What are you talking about?

“Or forget the loss.”

How can you say something so reckless?

Without even guessing the weight of the past that Sophia and Ricardo were carrying.

A cold anger rose in my chest. It made me even angrier because they were protecting me and then they said something like that.

But if I get angry here, I’ll just be giving them an excuse to get angry.

The sword answered.

“You must be addicted to anger. What difference would it make if you cowardly dragged Hildebert into a container and lynched him?”

“Are you looking for meaning in revenge? Later, you will be told to forget the names of the fallen and only look forward!”

“If you really thought it was unfair, you should have complained upstairs.”

“This is a personal vendetta.”

“I have nothing to say on this topic.”

Sophia said.

She stood right in the middle of the crowd.

The senior, with his usual soft anger on his body, rolled up his black sleeves.

“So you’re just trying to trip up your successor and lynching him.”

A husky, cold voice echoed through the container.

“You don’t have the courage to face your successor one-on-one, so you six of you cowardly rush at him. This is something that requires discipline.”

“Can one Badger catch a creature?!”

“You’ve forgotten everything.”

An unknown badger muttered ominously.

“Both the anger and the loss that made me point my gun at the Commander-in-Chief.”

“You don’t have to hear these things because of me.”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer and said:

All eyes turned to me. Sophia with her sleeves rolled up, the unfamiliar seniors with discontented expressions, and the two men standing at the threshold all turned their heads to look at me.

I looked at Sophia and let out a low voice.

“I will try my best to dodge, Senior. I am still useful. I can get around without getting hit even without help.”

“I don’t need your help in establishing discipline for my successor either.”

Sophia turned around.

My eyes widened.

But she didn’t look back at me.

Instead, he called out to Ricardo, who was standing at the doorstep.

“senior.”

Ricardo answered with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Please take Hilde out.”

“okay….”

The senior with green eyes straightened his crooked body.

“Please finish it well~.”

Then Ricardo strode in and grabbed my arm.

I screamed in panic, but he pretended not to hear me.

A body being dragged out of the hook. Meanwhile, Carl ignored my calls of ‘Senior? Seniors?’ and stepped inside the threshold.

I could hear him closing the container door and going in behind me.

I looked back at the tightly closed container as I was dragged away by Ricardo.

“What are you two doing left…?”

“Thank Ayer later. He told me where you are… .”

ah?

I haven’t seen Ruta Air today.

I wanted to ask where he had seen me, but it didn’t seem like Ricardo would accept my question.

The man walked briskly, holding my arm tightly without making a single expression.

I wish you would let go of my arms.

I followed along and thought.

I know it’s an irrational fear, but the fear of what would happen if I were to absorb him began to eat away at my body.

“Rick. Let go of my arm.”

I pleaded softly.

“Ricardo?”

Senior rolling his green eyes.

I didn’t hear an answer. It was because the phone call came at that moment. The person on the other end of the line seemed to be Sky. Despite the fact that he had used the title of assistant, the senior spoke quite informally.

During the call, Ricardo loosened his grip but did not let go completely.

The call ended only after they arrived at the underground parking lot.

“Are you going to Rickdo Video Center?”

“no….”

I thought you were following me, but that wasn’t the case.

I thought that was why Scar called. But even after answering like that, Ricardo followed me to my car. The moment I reached the front of the car, I felt a hand drop and let out a small sigh of relief.

I should thank you for seeing me off.

As I raised my head, my senior spoke.

“I don’t think it will spread outside the organization… . Rumors spread faster than expected internally, so don’t follow around your seniors who don’t know you very well.”

“yes.”

He said it coolly.

“Don’t worry.”

I really don’t intend to go around getting hit.

So I wish my seniors who were on the TF team wouldn’t protect me. I didn’t like hearing them say things like that.

As I relayed my feelings, Ricardo rolled his eyes again.

“Okay~. This is how you should answer, Hildebert… .”

“Are you angry? But I really don’t get offended by what strangers say.”

“It’s just me who’s getting hurt.”

“Hmm. Don’t worry about it, senior. What’s the big deal about the opinions of people whose names you don’t even know? They’re not even capable enough to warrant worrying about.”

Although he was sincere, the senior’s expression did not brighten.

I felt sorry and thankful at the same time when I saw that kind of person. The TF seniors are really good people. If they didn’t really care about me, they wouldn’t be this stressed out.

Somehow it seems like they are more stressed than me… .

Ricardo muttered as if talking to himself.

“Strictly speaking, I don’t have the right to be angry either….”

“yes?”

What are you talking about all of a sudden?

When he didn’t understand, the man waved his hand.

It’s the sound of getting in a car.

I opened the driver’s door hesitantly.

Ricardo looked at me hesitating whether to get on or not and gave me a small irritated look.

“Come on~! Don’t just stand there like that… .”

“Yes. Well, Rick. Thanks for helping me today. But I’m really fine, so don’t worry too much.”

“I haven’t believed you when you said you were okay since the Colosseum….”

This is really unfair.

There is nothing more insignificant to me than the opinions of people who do not give me affection.

What did I do at the Colosseum to undermine your trust?

As I sat in the driver’s seat, I briefly recalled my memories.

Back when I couldn’t remember everything yet.

The mission where I first met Barbie and Asil.

Noisy stage and shallow audience.

The colorful creatures that the disgusting organizers put out… .

hmm?

wait for a sec.

Among those creatures at that time,

As far as I remember… .

“Hoo!”

I shouted reflexively.

Ricardo, who had been stepping aside in front of the car, flinches at the loud noise made without warning.

The senior suddenly looked down at me with an expression asking what was going on. He narrowed his eyes and looked at me sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open.

I straightened my face and met Ricardo’s eyes.

“Rick, do you remember Hoo?!”

“What the heck?”

Ricardo said, putting his hands in his pockets.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

***

I stopped by the video center to check out the flowers.

But half of my mind was elsewhere. Even as I set a date to visit the imaging center with the Emperor, my heart was still anxious, and I tapped my feet on the floor.

It’s been a long time since I visited the center.

Naturally, I didn’t discover anything new about flowers on this visit.

But that’s okay, I thought of something else.

A small breakthrough appears. I feel elated and contact You, Igor, Kairos, Rose, and Yun in a row.

And that night, for the first time, he entrusted the Emperor’s protocol to You.

Even though it was a formality, it was just a request to sleep in the same cabin.

“Please take care of me.”

After seeing off You, who nodded her head, she quickly ran to Kairos’ house.

The landlord, Igor, Rose, and Yun were waiting for me in silence.

I’m grateful that we’re not fighting with each other.

I slammed the front door!

“I figured it out.”

And he threw the words out without any introduction.

Everyone was staring at me.

“A way to confirm whether he is the Emperor or Jaeyeon.”

The gazes are getting darker.

I went into the study.

A place that was unusually quiet compared to other places. A place where there was a mahogany conference table that made me afraid to ask for the price. I sat down in the center of that table and immediately unraveled the plan that had come to mind.

The plan was simple.

It is to present the imitating creature before the emperor.

If you bring it before the Emperor, the creature will mimic the Emperor’s appearance.

If he were a real emperor, there wouldn’t be much of a reaction.

‘You’re going to make a clone of this? Do you really think that’s a good idea?’ I think he’ll just say something like that.

But if the Emperor was actually Jae-yeon, there would have been a different reaction.

Very likely a negative reaction.

“What did you call it?”

I looked at Kairos and asked.

“That monster. The higher-level ones pretty much copy the appearance of the thing they’re imitating.”

“yes.”

The missionary answered with a trembling face.

“As for appearance. As for voice, it can only imitate the voice of the target like a parrot… Hilde. Do you really think this will work?”

“It’s a plan that’s as good as life.”

It was Agora’s opinion.

“The carrot-and-so plan is as good as the plan itself. The captain has a talent for coming up with strangely flimsy plans.”

“But it worked back then too.”

I knew he would react like this.

I took the words without getting hit.

“The simpler the plan, the better.”

“That’s great, Captain!”

Rose joined the conversation, clasping her hands together.

“I guess I just have to catch that monster?!”

“Yeah. That’s why I called you. If possible, higher level ones. I think it would be easier to capture them if we go together with Kairos.”

“Well… It’s not a difficult monster to catch, so you can catch as many as you want if you ask me to… But I don’t know much about shapeshifters, so I’m not sure if this will work.”

“I said it looks like a life-size doll.”

“It’s okay.”

Yoon suddenly said.

A person who had been silent and motionless until now suddenly revealed his presence. The subordinates all turned their heads to look at Yoon.

I opened my face.

“Right?”

“Quite a bit. If it’s Jaeyeon, I’m sure there will be a reaction.”

I’m so proud.

Choi Yoon is the one who has been looking for a way to feed Jae Yeon candy for nearly 50 years.

Nothing was as credible as his comments.

I looked back at Igor with a grin.

Yoon added as he received Igor’s incredulous gaze.

“There’s no way it wouldn’t work. As long as you put a skilled creature in front of you.”

“I see. Thank you. I thought so.”

“Yeah. But if you’re going to use that method, just finish it off.”

“yes?”

“Don’t approach it lightly, with the intention of only checking whether it’s Jae-yeon or the Emperor. Instead, plan with the mindset of trying to draw it out from within if it’s Jae-yeon.”

After saying that, Choi Yoon straightened up and sat down on the chair.

He wiped away the indifferent expression that had been on his face since he entered the study. The archer, sitting upright, leaned forward with his upper body.

Yoon stares at me as if piercing my eyes.

“Listen carefully, I have a plan that came to me based on your idea.”

“yes.”

“First, catch Mongmong as soon as you see him.”

“yes?”

What is Mongmong?

Yoon repeated his words as he made a dumb expression.

“Catch at least 50 Mongmongs.”

“Dreamy?”

“The imitative creature you spoke of.”

“Is that dreamy?”

Dreamy?

“Yeah. Mongmong.”

Your name is Mongmong?

***

Thus began the operation known as the Double Dream Plan.

I had nothing to do but wait.

Of course, it wasn’t that I had nothing to do.

First of all, there was one thing that absolutely had to be done before putting the plan into action.

Show me the flowers.

Use the Emperor’s knowledge to understand the enemy’s movements.

It’s been two weeks since the ceremony started.

I finally left the cabin with the Emperor and headed to the video center.

After entering the restricted area, Katabuta showed the flower without saying a word. He already knew that the emperor would not refuse. Kissing the foot was a kind of small contract.

A promise to give each other what they want.

In fact, the Emperor looked closely at the materials that filled the controlled area.

Then, after looking at the video and photos for a while, he opened his mouth.

“embrace.”

It was a voice whose inner thoughts were unreadable.

“What Kissis desperately tried to bring out.”