Black Badger - Chapter 398



Only Noblemtl

398. Destiny (2)

When I met Eve, who was the brain in the barrel, she gave me a hard drive.

Greg said that since he was buried underground, he couldn’t blow up his brain. She handed him a hard drive that contained videos and photos from before things went wrong.

I’m finally trying to open the hard drive that I received a long time ago but was too scared to open.

Let’s not be too quiet.

I took the mouse and thought.

There was a lot to do. I had regained my physical strength and vitality, but if I were to suffer from mental shock and lie down here, there would be no answer.

No matter what I see, I will come to my senses and get up.

I made up my mind and clicked on the folder, and the photos began to spread out.

I moved the cursor to the image file with trembling hands.

Inside the dark tent.

When I double-clicked on the first image, the image enlarged.

I stared at that one photo.

There is a face I miss.

Ray wearing a short-sleeved shirt with blue stripes and shorts that reach down to his knees.

This was taken at the beach.

I stared at his picture for a long time, looking at the blue sea while holding his sandals in his hands. It had been a long time since I saw Ray’s face.

A calm and composed appearance, without any outbursts.

How long has it been since I’ve seen something like this?

Sometimes I would become unsure of his appearance.

I often wondered if it was really as I remembered it.

For the first time since I fell here… I saw a moment from Ray’s real past, not the voice in my dream or what the dream showed me.

He was just as I remembered him. Curly white hair. Not very tall. Relatively large hands compared to his thin arms.

It was the oldest relationship.

It took me a while to find the courage to look at the next picture.

From then on, things picked up a little bit.

I looked at all the photos that filled the folder with my mouth covered by the back of my hand.

A photo of Kyle neatly slicing a watermelon in half with a baseball bat. You, with her hair tied up in a ponytail, is reaching out to the seawater.

Nol examining the tube. Yvonne opening the cap of a plastic bottle filled with water.

Valdez wearing sunglasses and Hecate laughing at him.

Lynn squeezing sunscreen onto the back of her hand.

Scientists playing with them.

Information agents.

Photos from when the conflict had not yet become apparent.

I was anxious, but still calm.

There were moments in the photos that I never realized the value of until they became memories.

‘Hilde!’

There were also many short video files.

‘Try this. It’s refreshing because it has a little bit of alcohol in it.’

‘Isn’t that a lemon?’

‘Not really.’

‘I don’t want to eat.’

I thought I had forgotten everything.

I thought it would never come to mind because it was overwritten by new stimuli and experiences, but when I looked at the photos and videos, forgotten memories came flooding back.

The lens was beautiful and cruel in capturing the unchanging past.

‘The brain doesn’t work like a filing cabinet.’

In one video, Eve sits me down and starts talking excitedly.

‘Recalling a memory is like cooking. It’s not like you’re just pulling out a file that was saved in the past. It’s like you’re reconstructing it by calling in ingredients scattered across various areas of the brain. I think that’s why we can endure what we call memory. If we can’t constantly reinterpret the past, memory would be nothing more than violence.’

well.

I think I agreed with Eve around the time I shot that video.

Now I couldn’t agree with what she said.

Memories that are reinterpreted and vomited out become sharper each time… .

When I raised my head from struggling in the past, my cheeks and hands were wet.

I wiped away the tears that were blurring my vision.

And opened the rest.

ah.

“eve.”

A burst of laughter broke out.

“you….”

There was a subfolder inside ‘Inyeon’.

As I went into the folder titled ‘Research Summary’, a list of various files, including Excel and Word, appeared.

Greg would be furious.

This is Eve’s research data.

The government at the time was obsessively strict about security and strictly prohibited data leaks. The strictness of security was real, as they even tracked down and eliminated the leakers.

Even in such an environment, this woman somehow managed to get the hard drive out.

I guess you didn’t want to lose it.

Because when it comes to research, I am the one who is more greedy than anyone else.

You weren’t as naive as I thought.

I smiled wryly, recalling her two-toned hair, which was a mix of blue and purple.

Did you have this talent, Eve?

You said there were only photos and videos.

You never cease to amaze me.

[heath.]

Of course, we couldn’t delay any longer than this.

I immediately contacted the owner of the pharmaceutical company.

[There is more information.]

Even though it was 2 a.m., I got a reply right away.

Thanks to that, I was able to immediately pass on additional information to Heath and John Mullen, and I closed my laptop with a relieved heart.

Then I cried quietly and fell asleep.

I slept with my body curled up like a shrimp.

It felt like someone was putting a hand on my back, but I couldn’t tell who.

Anyone, I’m sure, will pretend not to know tomorrow morning.

I escaped into sleep, feeling the warmth.

***

1pm the next day.

Outside the tent in the isolation ward. A makeshift cafeteria space with long tables where people eat lunch.

I was sitting there, eating a boiled egg.

It’s the time when even those who were sitting in the tent start to wander outside.

I was peeling a boiled egg for Ami, who was sitting next to me, wrapped in a blanket, when I heard a small commotion.

what.

I craned my neck.

The commotion came from the entrance.

Did any celebrities visit?

Politicians or celebrities… .

I don’t think so, since reporters are prohibited from entering.

Oh. Is there a famous doctor here?

I narrowed my eyes to try to grasp the situation, and caught the mutterings of my seniors amidst the noise.

“Why is Mullen here?”

Huh?

My mouth fell open at the strange words.

John Mullen?

The John Mullen I know?

A star in the scientific world?

Weren’t you definitely stuck in the share house until dawn today?

Why is he, who is quietly devoted to developing new drugs…?

“What is it?”

Ami, who couldn’t even open her eyes properly because of the fever, mumbled.

“Who’s here?”

“Huh? Far away?”

Ro, who was eating a hamburger in a disgusting manner across from Ami, raised his head.

Ro was teasing Ami, who came out wrapped in a blanket with a flushed face.

He swallowed the hamburger in his mouth and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why is he over there?”

It’s real.

As soon as John Mullen walked down the central aisle between the tents, Rowan and I widened our eyes.

It’s hard not to see John Mullen, who is worrisomely thin but incredibly tall.

If you look at it completely from the side, it may be too flat to see.

If you look straight ahead, a man you absolutely cannot help but see is walking towards you with brisk strides.

“It’s Mr. Mullen.”

“Coming this way?”

Ami and Iho muttered together.

Lee Ho, who was drinking tomato soup diagonally.

He put the spoon down quietly.

Then I saw a genius scientist approaching me at an incredible speed (for John Mullen).

“To the end of the ward… To the table… No, are you really coming here?”

come.

A gray-haired man stopped in front of Giacomo Lo.

The isolation ward came to a halt. Most of the people, including me, Law, and Ami, opened their eyes wide and looked up at the tall scientist.

Badgers hope they have found a clue to antibiotic development.

This person was so important that he was immediately confined to his home as soon as the epidemic broke out.

He lowered his head and looked down at Law.

Roga blinked.

“What is it?”

Ro opened his mouth wide and took a bite of the hamburger.

“Are you here because you’re hungry?”

Sigh.

Suddenly, a needle was injected into the nape of Roh’s neck.

I dropped a hard-boiled egg with the shell completely peeled, and Amy screamed, “Ugh!”

Lee Ho’s eyes also grew surprisingly large.

People who let out surprised sounds.

“Eww!”

“what?!”

“Oh my.”

“ah!”

However, Roh, who had a needle suddenly inserted into the back of his neck, was only annoyed.

I wasn’t surprised… .

“What the fuck?”

He frowned and felt his neck where the syringe had been inserted and pulled out.

“Hemp?”

… No, senior.

I’m going to be in real trouble… .

“Antibiotics.”

John Mullen spoke in a low voice as he was startled by Law’s bold remarks.

“It’s finished.”

Silence fell again.

A silence even more terrible than before.

No one moved. Literally no one thought of leaving their seats. Those who had been slowly moving away from the table, thinking that the mad scientist must have gone crazy because he was so obsessed with research, stopped walking back. Those who had been looking for something to eat like zombies, no matter what Mullen stuck in Law’s neck, also stopped reaching out.

A silence so deafening it hurts your ears.

Several pairs of eyes, shock rising to anticipation.

The standstill was broken by a man running into the isolation ward.

“Leader!”

Heath Claire came running.

“An antibiotic has been developed!”

“Eww!”

The sound burst out.

“Eww!”

“Okay! Okay!”

“Fuck, finally!”

“Mülln! Mülln! Mülln!”

“John! John! John!”

“Commander!”

“Samuel!”

The isolation ward is so noisy it feels like it’s going to explode.

People got busy.

I saw Ye-Hyeon and Gilbert running out of the tent, and Yoon walking lazily out, dragging the ring.

I also saw Samuel, who had just gotten over the hump yesterday, approaching despite people’s warnings.

Medical staff rushing in.

Badgers cheering and clapping.

Giacomo Roman was annoyed.

“It’s so fucking cold!”

The senior, who had already finished the hamburger, rubbed his neck.

“It’s not even marijuana. What is this?”

“I said it’s an antibiotic.”

“Fools can’t be cured.”

While Lee Ho was explaining, Ami inside the blanket muttered.

“How pitiful.”

“ok?”

Of course, Roh didn’t understand what Ami was saying.

“What itches?”

… … .

I gave up on understanding and cracked the new boiled egg.

Sitting amidst the cheers of the badgers.

I ate lunch, relieved that I wouldn’t have to see my loved ones groaning anymore.

***

The shutdown has been abolished.

That means I can now shoot commercials.

“I will take the picture quietly.”

Okazaki said solemnly.

“Let’s stake George’s honor and make Lexic Noodles a hit.”

I did a commercial for Lexiq Noodles.

***

[Hildebert walks from the corner to the table as the video begins.]

[Sits down in front of a bowl of Lexic Noodles.]

[Hildebert picks up the hair tie on the table and ties up his white hair.]

[After bending over, he picks up a handful of noodles with his chopsticks and eats them.]

[Eating noodles silently for 10 seconds]

[The bowl quickly empties. Hildebert puts down his chopsticks.]

[“Hmm.”]

[Hildebert smiles with satisfaction.]

[Insert caption below ‘Reopening thanks to the Holy Spirit, such as the Lexic Noodle fever!’]

[Underline the word ‘Holy Fire’ and draw a small arrow to point to Hildebert.]

[Video ends]

***

The 23-second video quickly surpassed 1 million views.