Black Badger - Chapter 375



Only Noblemtl

375. Preparing for departure (2)

I thought it would calm down a bit if I slept.

As expected, it doesn’t disappear.

I had a gut feeling that the fire would be extinguished only if I brought Colton to the most miserable end. Until then, the karma of anger would continue to burn inside me.

We have to pull it out before it gets eaten by the fire.

After getting out of bed, I went down to the first floor.

I went downstairs holding my cell phone in my hand, but I didn’t check it.

On the first floor, Deltey was alone.

She stared at me smiling.

“You’re angry.”

“yes.”

“If it’s hard, just quit.”

I laughed softly.

“I’m going to think about it after I finish my revenge. Not yet.”

“Are you going to keep doing Black Badger work?”

“First of all. I have to go to Antarctica.”

“Antarctica?”

Deltey’s blue eyes widened.

“Suddenly Antarctica?”

I called Yehyun first.

I put some bread in the toaster and made a phone call. It was 10:30 in the morning, so he should be at work. I had sent him a message asking him to call me when he woke up.

I still haven’t had the courage to check the messages from other seniors.

Yehyun received it right away.

[Hilde.]

The voice was so desperate that it startled me.

I almost dropped the strawberry jam I was holding.

“Yes, Commander.”

[Commander… . Ah. Are you contacting me for official business? Is it okay if I talk to you briefly before that? There are some things I want to ask you before we talk about business… .]

“Aren’t you busy?”

[at all.]

The child asked desperately.

[Is it okay to talk?]

I felt sorry when I heard your voice.

He must have been very surprised. It must have been something he didn’t know about, and since I caused such a commotion, he must have had a hard time cleaning it up.

He said it was okay to call, of course, and asked what had happened since I left that day.

Ye-Hyeon dismissed it, telling her not to worry about that.

[The voices of discontent were completely silenced.]

You must have had a hard time.

[You will no longer receive anonymous messages.]

Ye-Hyeon, who told me not to worry too much and that everything worked out well, then asked me about my feelings.

“Anyway, I want to go to Antarctica and recover my stamina.”

I answered honestly.

I hate Jaeyeon, but I plan to put the knowledge he worked so hard to impart to me to good use.

“I want to leave right now, even today.”

[Let’s do that.]

A surprising answer came back.

[It’s actually better to go as soon as possible. Before the Antarctic winter deepens.]

Arrived at headquarters after lunch.

I was given a lot of information through the Black Badger job-specific app while riding in the Kairos car.

First of all, it is currently winter in Antarctica.

There was no light. In winter, the ice thickened and made it impossible to approach by ship. In fact, it was better not to approach in winter. The wind was strong and there were periodic violent storms.

But he said he originally planned to go by plane.

However, the plan was canceled because there was too much chance of it going wrong.

We will use the portal to go to the South Pole Base in Antarctica.

A base in Antarctica formerly used for research purposes.

Because of the altitude, the oxygen saturation was low, and because it was far from the sea, it was even colder.

They said that Bingryong was sleeping right nearby. Fortunately, thanks to Bingryong, the portal device is in a strangely good condition even in the cold.

The device was installed inside the South Pole base.

The number of people going to Antarctica was the same as always.

Yoon, Ami, Ricardo, Carl, Sophia.

Kairos is added here.

William Walker was excluded.

In fact, it is said that Ricardo and Sophia were also excluded. This was because it was a mission where there was no need to assign Badgers who were skilled at killing creatures.

However, considering the Badgers’ own requests and my special circumstances, the two were eventually included.

They were already waiting for me at the General Affairs Department warehouse.

I entered the conference room on the first floor of the General Affairs Department Annex with Kairos.

The gazes that pour in as soon as you open the door.

The men in black combat uniforms stared at me.

I laughed bitterly.

“Seniors.”

They didn’t move from their seats.

“I’m really sorry for making a mess of things and leaving.”

I bowed my head and listened.

“I will do well in this mission.”

The seniors did not answer right away.

They just kept looking at me without moving. The TF team members scanned my face with subtle expressions that I couldn’t read.

A cool space just for us.

Surprisingly, it was Sophia who spoke first.

“Did you hear from Lucia Kwonte?”

ok?

“I don’t know because I haven’t checked all the messages. Does Senior Lucia have something to contact me for?”

“He was the one who did something to the senior.”

“Ah~.”

Now that I think about it, it was a familiar voice.

I wasn’t particularly angry at the person who threw the words. I was just angry at the humans at the time. It was also annoying that those who had neither the ability nor the knowledge to handle the situation were babbling.

But if you think about it, the seniors aren’t really at fault.

“I see. Actually, I don’t really care anymore.”

He answered simply.

The seniors’ expressions become subtle.

Ami asked cautiously, as she remained silent, unable to guess what was on her mind.

“Is Hilde angry?”

I looked into her round eyes.

“To whom?”

Ami’s face turned blue.

“I’m angry. Hilde is so angry.”

“I’m not mad at ARMY.”

Although she answered softly, Ami had a tearful expression on her face.

Her face looked like it might burst into tears at any moment.

It’s true… .

It’s because of people like you that I’m here.

But before I could approach her and say those words, Ami turned around and walked over to the table next to me.

Gray square table.

On top of it was a mysterious object that looked like a miniature microwave or steamer.

What is that?

Ami pressed the button on the mysterious object, wondering why.

A door that swings open.

There’s something inside.

A tantalizing, mouth-watering smell wafted out.

“omg.”

Could it be that what’s inside there…?

“Rexic Noodles?”

“I made it.”

Ami took out the bowl without letting her sullen expression fade.

“Eat Hilde… I know this won’t make you feel good, but still… .”

“Did you make this for me to eat?”

“Yeah. Rick made it according to the recipe.”

“And you brought it here on time?”

“Yeah. I put it in a food warmer made by scientists in case it gets cold.”

“No… It’s really touching.”

“The noodles may have spread out a bit, but….”

“That’s actually good. I like that spread side better.”

“Huh?”

It needs to spread out a little so that the sauce can soak in and it’s delicious.

I looked at the Rexic noodles on the table and thought.

Yoon ignored his muttering, “What the heck is my tongue?”

It’s touching….

I stood there for a moment, enjoying the mouth-watering smell.

Then I couldn’t stand it anymore and I walked the shortest route to the bowl of Lexic Noodles.

Ami set the table with her eyes lowered.

“It’ll taste the same. Rick made it according to the recipe. He even guaranteed that it tastes exactly like the shit he used to eat.”

“Rick.”

I sat down in front of the plate and looked up at Ricardo.

“Thank you. I am so touched….”

Ricardo looked down at me with a somewhat resigned smile.

“Okay… If you’re happy~… .”

“I’m so happy. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this excited.”

“Ah~. I’m so proud~.”

“But did you not sleep well last night? You look a little tired.”

“Just eat something….”

This is too much.

Of course, I had already neatly divided the wooden chopsticks into two halves.

Since no one else is going to eat it except me, I don’t know what to do. But since the person who made it did put in some effort, shouldn’t I eat it quickly?

I picked up a lot of noodles with my chopsticks.

I put the noodles in my mouth.

A familiar taste that fills your mouth.

delicious.

It’s so delicious….

“Can I just eat this?”

“Please, just eat it.”

When I came to my senses late after eating hard and asked, Sophia responded coldly.

It’s really delicious, but why doesn’t everyone know about this flavor?

I sent Ricardo a review saying that it was really the best, but Ricardo didn’t seem particularly pleased. Instead, he looked at the ceiling as if he wanted a cigarette right away.

Why?

Anyway, I felt a little happy after eating something delicious for the first time in a long time.

There was no need for them to help me clean up, but the seniors even helped me clean up. They snatched the bowl and chopsticks from my hands and threw them away somewhere on their own.

And only then did we get back to talking about work.

Planning the Antarctic mission in detail.

I… . told Kairos the truth with fear.

“There is an ice dragon in Antarctica. I’m going to go meet it.”

Kairos blinked.

“Bingryong? Why?”

“Because a creature with the Emperor’s memories told me that if you receive dragon-level mana, the leaf veins will recover.”

While explaining, I was prepared to stop Kairos if he got excited.

Given what we had seen of him in the Empire, it wouldn’t have been surprising if he had run straight to the portal leading to Antarctica.

But Kairos was not excited.

He just answered me like this, sitting at the end of the cool conference room table and looking at me.

“I see.”

…hmm?

“Are your mana stems open?”

“no….”

“Then it must be painful.”

Kairos frowned.

“I’ve had it done before. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“You’re sick? Didn’t you just get magically cured by getting hit by the Ice Dragon Beam?”

“Don’t you ever get over something easily?”

“Why aren’t you excited?”

Ignoring my brother and sister’s words, I leaned toward Kairos.

“Why are you so calm?”

Kairos looked puzzled.

He looked as if he had no idea what the question was.

“… Hmm. What attitude should I show?”

“You lose your sense of reason every time you talk about higher-level monsters like dragons. I thought you’d get all excited and run to the portal right away… .”

That’s why I even strongly urged my seniors not to tell them in advance.

But still the minister did not understand what I said.

“Well, this is an ice dragon that is old enough to be classified as an ancient dragon.”

“so?”

“It’s a bit weird to treat it as a serviceable monster.”

This time I didn’t understand.

As I made a blank expression, Kairos finally realized where my misunderstanding had come from.

He looked me and my seniors over.

“I think it would be better to just explain about Bingryong and move on.”

The explanation that followed was as follows:

Ice dragons are quite different from fire dragons or thunder dragons. As I explained before, ice dragons are unusually intelligent and gentle among dragons. Their intelligence is so high that ice dragons have learned to speak over time.

Naturally, there was something called ‘culture’ between them.

“To put it simply, the species difference between Ice Dragon and Fire Dragon is greater than the species difference between humans and humanoid creatures. Ice Dragon does not consider Fire Dragon and Brain Dragon to be of the same species.”

“No… It’s the same dragon.”

I was so shocked by the information I was hearing for the first time in my life that I asked back.

Kairos, who was explaining to his seniors, stared at me.

“Humans and chimpanzees are both apes.”

uh….

Kairos opened and closed his mouth, then added to the story.

“There are various studies on the evolutionary history of dragons, but I won’t go into detail. I’ll just tell you one major hypothesis and move on. Fire dragons and lightning dragons don’t use mana when they breathe fire or electricity. However, ice dragons use mana when they breathe cold air, and as a result, their brains are more developed than other dragons. I think this may have been the trigger for evolution, but this is still just a hypothesis that ice dragons are examining the most diligently… .”

“How does the fire dragon breathe fire? Does it produce methane gas or alcohol? Does it ignite by spitting out flammable gas? Is it electrically ignited?”

“Oh, that’s a good question.”

The face of the minister who received Yoon’s question brightened.

Then he started explaining how the fire dragon breathes fire. It has two generators built into its mouth, and it ignites flammable gases with them… and so on.

If we don’t stop here, the story will surely continue until night.

I had a gut feeling and abruptly cut off the story of Kairos.

“We can talk about that later, the two of us.”

Kairos nodded gratefully.

“Okay. Anyway, back to the main topic… Bingryong is so different from other dragons. He has a culture and values ​​manners. This Bingryong is definitely capable of polymorphing. It’s said that he can turn into a human.”

“omg.”

Ami let out a surprised sound.

The man in question smiled faintly and finished his story.

“So I don’t think I need to say anything, but I think it would be best if you were as polite as possible. A dragon capable of polymorphing is a natural disaster. One breath would kill them all.”

“I guess I should renew my will before I go….”

“I hope he is a good person.”

Ami muttered with her eyes sparkling.

As if he had never felt sad before, the little senior added with sparkling eyes.

“Then maybe we can go see the penguins together….”

***

Antarctica in winter.

The coldest place on Earth where no light reaches.

The South Pole base was located on a thick glacier 2,800 meters above sea level. We were to live in the power plant area of ​​this base.

A place with a repaired emergency generator and its own heating facilities.

“Aviation fuel.”

“check.”

“Medicine.”

“check.”

“foodstuffs.”

“check.”

I pushed the box.

We continued to push our luggage through the portal. Our goal was to get back as quickly as possible, but we prepared six months’ worth of luggage in case the worst happened and we were stranded in Antarctica in winter.

After sending all the luggage, we entered the portal one by one. I also walked willingly. We were wearing our winter clothes to the limit and were on the verge of dying from the heat, so we jumped into the portal without hesitation.

A rippling view.

The feeling of being sucked in.

Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the portal.

We arrived at Antarctica.