Black Badger - Chapter 421



Only Noblemtl

421. Retirement Ceremony (1)

Lin was illegally distributing creatures.

A pet creature.

The guy didn’t reform.

“Illegal distribution?”

As I gritted my teeth and muttered, everyone except Rose started busy doing something else.

I ran my hand over my face a few times. I tried not to get angry at people for no reason. The people here had done nothing wrong.

But it’s illegal distribution.

I’ve seen mafia making money from illegal creature breeding in the Colosseum.

He had a hard time with it. Bobby Winter even lost a leg there.

When I brought up that story, You was terrified.

“It’s definitely not that serious.”

It’s a blessing in disguise.

If you were supplying to the mafia, I would have gone and thrown you in jail.

Of course, listening to the explanation that followed didn’t make me feel any better.

“There are quite a few people raising them?”

I sat down on the sofa and muttered in a state of distress.

“You think they’re selling cute creatures as pets? What if the person who adopts them gets hurt?”

“I wouldn’t think about it that deeply.”

The bookseller sighed.

“You know his personality, right?”

“So you’re saying that you catch monsters, breed them, and sell them?”

“There are also those types, and there are also cases where they are captured and sold. However, it seems that they do not deal with violent types, as they believe they are keeping a straight line…”

“Is there a species of human being that is fundamentally incapable of ministry that can be raised safely?”

I looked at Kairos and asked a question.

The man who had been watching me closely smiled bitterly.

“There are some less dangerous creatures, but there is always a chance of getting hurt, just like raising a dog or cat.”

“Do you know what Lin is raising?”

“I heard the gist of it.”

“What do you think when you see it?”

Kairos thought for a moment and then answered carefully.

“It seems like they did keep the line, just like the strategist said. They mostly don’t move much… They were selling reptilian creatures. Draconis lizards, red-spotted dragons, voids…”

“Wasn’t Draconis poisonous?”

“Oh, right.”

The minister’s expression brightened for a moment as if he had forgotten that I was angry.

I seemed pleased to find out that I knew more about monsters than I thought.

“You remember well. It’s basically a docile creature, so as long as you don’t bother it, there’s no problem, but if you provoke its temper, it spits out venom, and if that enters its mucous membrane, it causes bleeding…”

Bam!

Igor hit the servant behind the knee.

The staggering Kairos.

I smiled broadly at Igor and You, who were giving me looks that said, “Please stop being so stupid.”

“Where are you now?”

I held back, but it seems like his voice was quite cold.

Youga flinched and jumped back.

Men who start to notice my every move again.

Rose, who had been watching the series of events, responded.

“Shall I bring it over, Captain?”

“Can you bring it here safely?”

“sure.”

Rose smiled shyly, cupping my cheeks with both hands.

“I can bring you here in any form you want. How should I bring you here? While unconscious? Voluntarily? Or should I force you to walk here? Or should I just put you in the trunk?”

“I think I got scolded a lot once just before the war broke out.”

It was so long ago that I couldn’t be sure.

The one who confirmed it was You, who had collapsed back onto the sofa.

“Yes. I got caught scamming a cult leader and got beat up pretty badly. It had been less than a month since I got caught smuggling goods from a criminal organization and vowed never to do it again, so I remember being scolded pretty harshly.”

“under….”

I remembered.

I buried my face in my hands and muttered.

“Yeah. I remember….”

Suddenly, it occurred to me that maybe there was something fundamentally wrong with the way I had been treating people like that.

Didn’t you hear something from Samuel once?

There was some truth to what he said. I muttered, recalling Lin’s history of precariously siding with the line.

“Is the problem that we tried to correct behavior in the same way as before?”

He muttered darkly.

“Should we have just put him in jail or sent him to counseling?”

“ok?”

Igor suddenly looked at me with an expression asking what I was talking about.

“What are you talking about? If he was someone who could be fixed by something like that, he would have reformed a long time ago.”

“Because physical methods don’t seem to be effective.”

“Even if you do that, you have to be careful.”

You let out a weary sigh.

“Before you came, he was at a level where he couldn’t be corrected at all. Georges and other compatriots went to him and told him to live properly for the sake of the Knight Commander who was watching from above, but he didn’t listen at all. That’s why I gave up. I thought he was a fool from the beginning.”

“You lived however you wanted.”

“Yes. But it seems that the level of crime was lowered significantly from the moment the captain was detected. Before the captain came out into this world, he was probably selling ineffective powder as drugs.”

Your liver is swollen.

It was like that since the time of the Empire. In the Empire, he replaced the items of the previous imperial family that were stored in the shrine with fakes. He made such a clever counterfeit that when the contamination spread and the water bottles of the shrine had to be removed, the priests realized that the real items had been stolen.

His fraudulent skills were truly incredible, as he shamelessly mixed in with the chosen ones and received blessings without being caught for a long time.

In the end, he was caught and thrown into an underground prison.

He is a skilled person of a slightly different class from Rose.

However, until just before the First War, Lin had not done anything that crossed the line. In my judgment, he had not committed any evil deeds that could have involved human life.

I know it’s arrogant of me to judge something like that.

I’m not the kind of person who would just sit by and watch someone die…

I moved together because I thought there was room for reform.

I buried my face in my hands and didn’t move for a while.

Only after I made up my mind did I let out a deep breath.

“Tell me what Lin has been doing while I’m away. I’ll look at that and decide whether to call her in or put her in jail.”

“yes.”

Youga turned around and jumped inside.

“Has anyone met with Lin in the meantime?”

“You know he avoids me.”

Igor replied, drinking water.

Kairos smiled awkwardly.

“We weren’t on good terms with each other before.”

“I saw it a couple of times.”

oh.

When I turned to Rose, she blushed palely.

The pixie-haired subordinate reported with his red eyes downcast.

“I didn’t pay much attention to him because I firmly believed that the captain was dead. But it didn’t matter to me whether he believed in the captain’s life or death. I never doubted for a moment that the captain would return…”

Strangely, her breathing became rapid.

“I kept waiting. I didn’t care at all about what Senior Lin said. On the contrary, I liked it. Everyone gave up waiting one by one. The more people gave up, the happier I felt! Danjangni… ,”

“Rose. Take a breath.”

I resolutely cut off Rose’s testimony that was trying to speed up.

“Take 10 deep breaths.”

“yes!”

Swoop ha, swoop ha.

Then, You returned. The bookkeeper handed me a bundle of documents. It seemed like he had prepared them in advance for such a time as this.

After muttering my thanks, I immediately started looking through the materials.

Even though I know my subordinates are watching me, I can’t help but sigh every now and then.

After reading the material, I took a deep breath and straightened my back.

“Rose.”

“Yes, captain!”

“Knock him out and bring him here.”

Rose nodded vigorously and then disappeared into the darkness.

I took a long breath and got up from the sofa.

“I have to collect the creatures that Lin gave away. Isn’t giving away creatures illegal?”

“Yes. Collecting illegally distributed creatures is probably one of the Black Badger’s jobs. It seems to exist almost in name only….”

“Good. Kai, you report to Ami. And please collect all the babies that Lin distributed.”

“Contact me right away.”

“If the adopted creature hurts the person who adopted it, we’ll throw Lin in court and leave it alone.”

Igor smiled brightly upon hearing my decision, and You sighed and nodded.

I thought it was fortunate that I brought up the subject in a place where Deltey wasn’t present. Deltey had never liked Rin before.

By the way, how are you, Ami?

When I asked Kairos, who had returned after making contact, the servant of the Red Guard smiled faintly.

“I was having fun.”

“why?”

“The Commander-in-Chief is retiring soon.”

aha.

“How are you?” I smiled broadly and went to check the message Sukhoi had left.

***

A message came from Seunghyun Lee.

[Are you serious?]

[I say this every time, but I always receive it faithfully without fail. I don’t know if now is the time to ask such a question.]

His dumbfounded expression was vivid in my mind.

I smiled and replied.

[You’re doing well. Keep taking them without fail.]

Lee Seung-hyun read my message and ignored it, seemingly out of curiosity.

I ignored his grumpy silence and sent another message.

[Please take care of me in the future.]

Joined hands with Sukhoi.

It was only natural, after all. No one wanted Colton Wiseman out of his place more than she did. We had a temporary, precarious alliance. Now Colton was in the position of having to deal with me, with Catherine and Eric Earhart.

Of course, he wouldn’t get out so easily.

While the 4th ranked elder surprisingly declared neutrality, the elders ranked 5th to 10th all sided with Colton.

Those who couldn’t even dream of being number one but were secretly looking forward to being number two or number three quickly grabbed the hand that Colton offered. Colton Wiseman has always been a psychopathic politician who exudes an irresistible charm.

The upper class who had never encountered public school children until they entered Oxford.

Colton did not eat the orange that was served as dessert at the course. Private school students are taught not to eat oranges in formal settings because they might burst with juice.

But he did not join the upper-class anti-intellectual club.

This too was truly typical of him.

Colton had a brilliant mind and despised those who were brainless.

There is no way he would have caused trouble by treating everything as a joke… .

Ah, let’s think about that later.

It’s been a while since I’ve visited the headquarters.

While I was here, I wanted to focus on Black Badger’s work rather than the raccoons.

I crossed the site under repair in my suit. As I took my fingerprints and entered the building, the questions and shutters that had been pouring in from the entrance to the site began to fade away.

High ceilings provide an unobstructed view.

A clean lobby where the sound of footsteps resonates.

After greeting the friendly faces, I walked diagonally across the hall.

It’s been three days since I received word that my interview with the President was over.

Yesterday evening, Ye-Hyeon officially announced her intention to resign.

The internet is full of that story these days.

Speculative articles about the successor have been pouring out every day. Scar and I already knew the outcome. With the elders split in half and in a tense standoff, the position of Commander-in-Chief will remain vacant for the time being.

Separately from that, the retirement ceremony was held.

In accordance with Ye-Hyeon’s wishes, the retirement ceremony will be held in a simple manner. It will be held in the main auditorium of the headquarters in two hours.

Before the meal began, anyone who wanted to could come up to the floor where the executive offices were located. I stood in front of the elevator leading to the executive offices.

Then I ran into Ami.

“Hilde!”

The small senior man in the suit brightened his face.

“long time no see!”

“Ami. How have you been?”

Actually, I saw you at the memorial service, but since I saw you so often, it felt like it had been a long time since I saw you.

I laughed, suppressing the urge to pat his head.

“You look happy.”

“huh.”

Ami continued to smile brightly as she rode the elevator.

“Now I can play with Yehyun oppa more often!”

“I guess so. That’s good.”

I smiled as I listened to Ami’s plan to ‘hang out with Oppa Yehyun’.

…Can Ye-Hyeon handle that?

No, I was wondering if there was anyone who could handle that schedule when the elevator stopped.

As the door opened, a hallway appeared, crowded with people, unlike usual.

I also saw the back of a familiar head standing in front of the elevator door.

A neat short hair that sways around the shoulders.

“Senior?”

When I asked softly, Sophia Karlak turned to me.