Black Badger - Chapter 376



Only Noblemtl

376. Ice Dragon (1)

Is it more bearable than you thought?

I straightened up and scanned the base.

A place lit by incandescent lights. It is filled with more everyday items than you might expect.

Aside from the sudden temperature change making my body creak, I didn’t immediately realize I was in Antarctica.

I rolled my eyes as I pulled down my furry hood.

“black.”

But the squad leader didn’t give him time to look around leisurely.

The squad leader for this mission is Yoon.

He locked eyes with Kairos and pointed toward the hallway with his chin.

“Follow me, I’m going to go check out the power generator. Sordi, bring the medicine. Kalak, bring the fuel with Ami. Hilde, you and Karl, take out a week’s worth of food and then go store the groceries.”

The seniors simultaneously answered in the affirmative and then immediately dispersed.

Everyone except Kairos and I already had a map of the base in our heads. Without even a second of hesitation, they picked up their luggage and headed out into the hallway.

Kairos also walked towards Yoon obediently.

I can hear him talking as he goes out with the shooter.

A missionary who is responding enthusiastically to what Yoon said.

“Yes, that’s right. First of all, the scales themselves are highly flame-retardant, so there’s less risk of getting burned by the fire they breathe out. There’s also a mucus inside their mouth that’s highly resistant to fire…”

Did you take Kairos with you to finish the story of Hwa-ryong?

I thought it was absurd, yet very shooter-like.

I turned my head to look at the men walking out into the hallway with dumbfounded eyes.

And then he started working with a knife.

The legendary Black Badger, whom even Richard Greene doesn’t nag about.

Carl Doe was still competent.

“How is your physical condition?”

“I’m fine.”

He nodded and got on with his work.

I opened the box and took out the groceries I needed. I took the remaining groceries and headed out into the hallway. I didn’t even know how many floors there were, let alone memorize the map, but Carl walked without hesitation, so it wasn’t a problem at all.

“I’ll memorize it soon.”

“You don’t have to do that. Just focus on recovering.”

As I muttered awkwardly, the knife answered softly.

“If you feel unwell, tell me right away.”

I went to the underground warehouse.

There was no need to store groceries in the refrigerator. All you had to do was put them in the basement storage room. Nature would take care of keeping the food cold.

A cold front hits you as you leave the building.

White breath came out of his mouth.

“It feels a little more real now.”

“Is this your first time in Antarctica?”

That’s a weird question.

He nodded his head sheepishly.

Carl said after he finished carrying the box.

“It’s best to go back quickly. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s not a place where we can last long with such a small number of people. If things get worse, we’ll just die.”

“It looks like it. Have you been to Antarctica?”

“I was lucky enough to survive a winter once.”

What a curious person.

“If nothing comes up, I’ll eat dinner and go out right away. It hasn’t gone below -40 degrees yet, so it’s still warm.”

When I got back, food was being prepared in full swing.

Yoon and Ricardo were not there. In this mission, the shooter was one against a hundred. There were almost no machines or communication items that he could not handle.

After checking the heating system, Yoon went to check the heavy equipment with Ricardo.

Meanwhile, Sophia and Ami had finished cleaning up the restaurant to some extent.

Kairos was doing the cooking.

A servant who surprisingly has good cooking skills.

Since we had already decided on the dinner menu before coming over the portal, we ate without any trouble. We had salad, smoked salmon, steak, and bread on top.

After dinner, all the men gather and move to the bedroom.

There will be no separate conference rooms, portal zones, or restaurants for meetings. Yoon intends to conserve as much power as possible.

The bedroom was also only used for one area.

Yoon mercilessly forced five men into one room.

It seems that originally, a chest of drawers, a humidifier, and a computer were placed inside the single room.

The shooter told them to take out all the dressers and computers, then ordered them to drag in two bunk beds. He then pushed the bunk beds and a regular bed into the space where the items had been taken out, like in Tetris.

A space filled with beds.

“Hilde sleeps in the middle bed.”

“Why?”

The question was ignored.

“Black, you sleep on the first floor on the left. Sordi and Carl, you two sleep on the second floor. I sleep on the first floor on the right. If there’s a problem with the power plant, I have to get out right away.”

“yes.”

“Choose whichever you prefer~.”

People who don’t even look at me when I express my doubts.

While Carl and Ricardo were setting up the bed, Yoon motioned for Sophia and Ami to settle down.

Ami ran to Yoon’s bed and Sophia crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

Kairos walked to his bed.

I also awkwardly went to the bed in the middle of the room.

Ami, sitting on Yoon’s bed, tapped next to me.

“Rick! Sophia! Sit down!”

“Okay~.”

“Okay.”

The two immediately rejected Army’s offer.

It seemed so. There would be no reason for the senior of the green-eyed class or Sophia to sit on Yoon’s bed. Even if Yoon said he didn’t care.

But wouldn’t it be a little more comfortable to sit on my bed?

“Seniors, please sit here.”

“I hate it because it’s narrow.”

“It looks like there’s no room to sit.”

This is too much.

It’s in the middle of the bunk bed, so it’s a bit awkward to sit down.

Anyway, Ricardo, Carl, and Sophia all refused to sit down.

Naturally, Yoon didn’t care whether people sat down or not.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of sitting down either.

Yoon looked up from the pad and looked at the TF members.

“I’ll check one thing before I go out.”

We listened to him quietly.

Yoon cast his dry gaze towards Kairos.

“Can you wake me up?”

Kairos stared at Yoon.

“It’s probably impossible.”

“Why is Ama stuck in front?”

“I’m telling you, you can try something. It’s impossible to do, but if you try to catch the hint of something with your senses, Bingryong might notice your attempts and open his eyes.”

“hey.”

I straightened up and looked at Kairos.

Is this kid crazy?

He said with a frown.

“Do you want to lose your other eye? Don’t even think about trying.”

“I won’t lose my eyesight. I’m not using poison. And the service itself isn’t working in the first place. I’ll just try to wake you up by annoying you…”

“Don’t do that either! You were so nervous last time!”

“That’s because the spirit was forced to serve….”

“If I catch a whiff of Ice Dragon, do you think my body will be okay?”

“If you are confident that you won’t die, then try it.”

Yoon cut off my screams with a cold voice.

I turned my head and looked at Yoon.

The squad leader pretended not to see me.

“If you can wake it up that way, that would be great. To wake it up physically, you have to go out into the darkness without sunlight, put bamboo sticks in the snow to mark a safe path, crawl like a snail in the snow, and then get to a creature bigger than a building and throw a bomb at it or go and stab it or something.”

“Yoon.”

Called the shooter.

“You saw him die last time.”

“And you saved my life.”

Yoon responded without emotion.

“I’ll bring a whole pig over, so be prepared to move if anything goes wrong. You probably don’t know because you haven’t been out much, but if you get lost in the dark, you’ll all die together.”

“There’s nothing else to move.”

Kairos spoke with a vengeance.

He smiled broadly as he watched me furrow my brow.

“Don’t worry, I won’t overdo it. There’s a much higher chance that it’ll be a waste of time.”

“Then don’t do it!”

“It was an order from the squad leader.”

I had to constantly struggle not to hit Kairos with something.

“I told you not to worry too much.”

Carl and Sophia actually brought a whole pig.

I didn’t even glance at the pig they put down at the entrance to the room.

I just sat on the bed, dumbfounded. But no one listened to my silent protests.

I can’t believe everyone agreed to this endeavor except me.

Kairos ignored me as I let out an annoyed sigh and smiled broadly.

“Then let’s try.”

The gaze is focused on the bed on the first floor.

People watched the minister in silence.

Kairos sat on the bed with his eyelids half-closed.

And it didn’t move for a while.

About 3 minutes… .

“ah.”

“hey!”

This is driving me crazy.

“Eww! Jack!”

“I’ll get some tissues~.”

I leaned toward Kairos and quickly pinched his nose with my sleeve.

Kairos smiled broadly, even though his sleeves were quickly turning red.

The minister, whose nose was blocked, made a blocked voice.

“You have no idea. You probably didn’t even realize what I was trying to do.”

“It’s a boast.”

I grumbled fatly.

“Are you satisfied now?”

One option that turned my insides upside down and disappeared.

Now there was only one option left.

Go outside and approach the sleeping dragon.

Yoon told them to be prepared to live at the base for at least four days.

Because the Antarctic base had been unused for quite some time, it would take at least three days just to figure out how to get to the sleeping Ice Dragon.

We had to walk through the darkness ourselves and plant bamboo. There would be fluorescent flags on the ends of the bamboo. We had to connect the bamboo with ropes. We were going to plant red flags on dangerous paths like cliffs and green flags on safe paths.

This is supposed to be done during the summer, but since there was no one here during the summer, we had to do it now.

Creating a safe path to the dragon.

“Can’t you use something like a tractor?”

“JP8, the aircraft fuel used in engines, turns into a gel at temperatures below -27 degrees Celsius. It’s a no-no. It looks like there’s a snow car, but it’s so old that I’m not sure if it’ll work properly. It’s probably safe to say it won’t work.”

“Is it very far to where the dragon is?”

I asked a second question, realizing that I had come across this without even the most basic information.

Yoon answered.

“No. But the oxygen saturation here is low. The oxygen content in the blood right now is probably around 90%. And the temperature is low, so I can’t move as quickly as I usually do.”

“I roughly checked the route. Let’s hope that nothing has changed since then.”

After Yoon finished explaining, Karl calmly added his explanation.

“You’ll find out when you go out.”

And so the preparations for going out began.

I also got up from my seat to prepare with them.

But the preparations were interrupted before they could even begin, because my seniors turned to me and blurted out some outrageous words.

He told me to stay in the base.

I protested.

“What am I doing here all alone?”

“ruler.”

Sophia answered.

“Read a book.”

“How can I sleep when all my seniors are out? How can I read a book?”

“How can you drag a guy who keeps collapsing even in a warm cafe?”

Ricardo let out a chuckle.

“If you go out and collapse, you’ll just be a burden, so stay home and watch over me… ”

“Good idea. You must be tired, so take a rest.”

“I’m not tired at all. I’m fine… No, if that’s the case, why did you bring me here?”

“To cure.”

Yoon spoke coldly and pushed my shoulder with his palm as I was leaving the room.

I made a face as if to ask if this really made sense, but it was no use.

As the seniors were walking out into the hallway, Yoon stopped me from following them.

“Squad leader, this is an order.”

“Yoon.”

“I have no intention of accepting any mission-related insubordination.”

The man had a face as cold as the Antarctic air.

“Stay inside the base.”

So on my first day in Antarctica, I couldn’t even go outside the base.

I just sat on the bed like an idiot and greeted my seniors who came back with a sullen expression.

Ricardo and Karl laugh at my pouty expression. Ami runs over, saying, “It’s dark and cold!”

Sophia quietly enters the girls’ room, while Yoon and Kairos come in talking about the dragon’s wings.

The day ended with a gloomy check on their well-being.

It was my first day in Antarctica.

***

I opened my eyes to the touch of a hand gently shaking me.

“Are you awake~?”

Four pairs of eyes were looking down at me.

“If I wake up from a dream, I’ll go back to sleep… .”