Yun came to take Yehyeon away.
Yehyeon, his eyes swollen, silently handed the photo to the expressionless man.
Yun looked at it.
Then smiled faintly.
“She resembles her.”
Exactly.
While I laughed soundlessly, Yehyeon looked at the photo again.
Even as he walked toward the house right across the street, he glanced down at it several times. Yet another delivery truck dropped off gifts and drove off.
Yehyeon stopped when he reached the front gate, where boxes were piled high.
Still smiling faintly, I spoke politely.
“Please go in. Happy birthday.”
“Hilde.”
Yehyeon turned to look at me.
I blinked once.
“Yes?”
“Stay undiscovered for as long as you can.”
It was clearly an order, yet it sounded strangely like a plea.
“I won’t be able to shield you from the resentment and hatred that will pour out once you’re exposed.”
I smiled quietly.
So that’s what’s weighing on your mind.
But it was something I was bound to face. If we hadn’t come to Earth, none of these wars would have happened. /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ The lives of everyone around us would have been different. Ricardo’s family, for instance, would never have been buried under the ruins of their house during an air raid.
They had every reason to hate me.
My comrades too had more than enough reason to.
“Will the administrative side be fine?”
“There’ll always be a way to make up a reason.”
Yehyeon’s voice was hoarse.
“I can keep pressure low and prevent it from becoming an issue. But if it does go public, you’ll officially be declared the one at fault.”
“Wouldn’t that just be reality?”
If I hadn’t appeared out of nowhere, none of this nuisance would have happened.
Of course, there had been the option of placing me directly under Colton’s command. But that would have made his influence far too strong. Eventually, he would have gained enough power to break the balance entirely.
That was why Yehyeon, despite the risks, registered me as a Badger.
In his position, I would’ve made the same decision.
I appreciated that decision. I could kneel and kiss Yehyeon’s feet in gratitude, yet even if my knees shattered, I could never bow to Colton.
“You can’t let the organization’s atmosphere collapse just to protect one person like me. I trust you’ll handle it as you must.”
Yehyeon, his eyes bloodshot, stared at me for a long while.
To ease the pain in that gaze, I added softly,
“In the past, I betrayed my own kind of my own will.”
A fact I could never deny, no matter how I wished to.
“So I should bear the consequences that come with it, don’t you think?”
I had no right to complain about the suffering.
When I smiled at the end, Yehyeon silently watched me.
The winter air was cold.
But faint sunlight slipped through that chill, warming my body. Yun stood by quietly, waiting for our conversation to end.
At last, Yehyeon broke the silence—small, slow words.
“Thank you for the photo.”
Back to being a child again.
Thinking that, I bowed my head.
***
A few days later, Ricardo sent me a message.
[Will you only come to your senses after you crack your skull and die?]
So, he’d heard I’d gone drinking and wandered up to the rooftop.
I could almost hear his voice. My blood ran cold as I quickly replied—that I wasn’t drunk to the point of collapse, that I had no intention of doing anything dangerous, and that I was sorry if I’d made him worry.
No reply came.
Ricardo read it—and ignored me.
A very Ricardo-like reaction.
‘Well, whatever he replied, it would’ve scared me anyway.’
The year-end gathering passed like that. My short vacation came to an end. The end of the year had gone better than expected. As the new year approached, Yun started working me hard again. The intensity had gone up—I had to make up for the muscle loss from all the rest and alcohol.
I didn’t complain. I wanted to regain my original strength as soon as possible.
It was nice, too, being able to fall asleep dreamlessly after training.
There was comfort in routine and simplicity. For a while, I even forgot about the game—forgot both the one Yun had taken and the new one Jaeyeon had given me. All I did was train and sleep.
Until Yun showed up with From E on the first weekend of the new year.
[My main function.
/copyright Copyright Eve. All rights reserved.]
There were other lines above and below, but that was the part I understood.
Eve’s name was there.
Standing frozen beside me, Yun explained flatly,
“A developer named Eve made it—a year after the First War ended.”
The instructor crossed his arms, eyes fixed on the screen.
“That’s all we’ve managed to find out. It’s strange how little information there is. Sure, it’s been a long time, but there isn’t a single photo or profile to be found. It’s bizarre.”
“She probably erased everything herself.”
I murmured, eyes on the line bearing Eve’s name.
I couldn’t look away.
“She once said she erased everything to come meet us.”
Her name had come back to me when I’d been half-delirious on drugs.
Seeing it now on the screen stirred another memory. Eve had been a scientist—one who loved her field with madness, but also a person of integrity. Even when conducting experiments on me, she always made sure nothing harmed my health.
Quite different from Choi Yun or John Mühlen.
“She was kind.”
“You picking a fight?”
“Just stating facts.”
After answering, I quickly offered him an unopened bottle of alcohol.
A late birthday gift—also a bribe.
“Ah, this is for your birthday. January fourth, right?”
“Yeah.”
The instructor accepted the bottle.
By now, Yun took my small gestures naturally.
He set the bottle on the desk and turned back to the screen. I stared gloomily at it too.
One year after the First War.
When no one knew a Second would ever come. Somewhere in a ruined city, she had made this game.
“So Eve definitely survived the First War.”
“If this information’s true, yeah.”
“Where was I back then?”
I tried to recall that time—the one so hazy I couldn’t even sense its outline no matter how I tried.
I could remember fragments of life before the war, the world before crossing to Earth.
But how I’d vanished trying to stop Kyle and ended up falling through HQ’s Portal decades later—I had no clue. I had no memory of the war’s end. I remembered preparing for its beginning, that was all.
Because of that mysterious blank, my body had stiffened so badly.
“I don’t even know if I was on Earth.”
Yun murmured quietly.
“At that time, Yehyeon and I were around thirty. If you were alive inside the Core, then Lee Seunghyun must have taken your sword back from him.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
“At the very least, Lee Seunghyun and his lot didn’t know where you were.”
His low voice resonated through the cabin.
“And there aren’t many things they fail to find.”
Had I been living outside the Core like Jin?
Or was I in a coma? Hidden in someone’s home, never going out? The problem was, no matter how plausible the theory, it didn’t connect to the fact that I’d fallen out through HQ’s Portal.
Without realizing it, I let out a deep sigh.
Yun rose from his chair.
“Have you played K yet?”
“Not yet. I thought you might want to watch again, like last time.”
“Good. Then I’ll watch again. Start now.”
I didn’t answer.
I just ignored his stare and focused on the screen.
Before he could speak again, I said quietly,
“Do you think this game was made to commemorate me?”
“Looks that way.”
This time, Yun cut me off before I could finish.
He wasn’t supposed to care about people, yet after spending so much time together, he knew me too well.
“If you don’t want to start K, do it next week.”
So he’d seen right through me—changing the subject on purpose.
“Meanwhile, find all the Easter eggs hidden in E.”
I turned toward him.
Cold black eyes studying me intently.
I met that chilling gaze and nodded.
This order was, honestly, far easier to handle.
K might not actually be Kyle—(Kyle always thought “computer games” were idiotic)—but still, I wasn’t ready. Not to play a game that might contain messages I wasn’t prepared to face.
I reached out and turned off the computer, murmuring,
“Thank you for understanding.”
The man didn’t reply. He just headed for the door. I pretended to follow to see him out, half-mumbling.
I didn’t dare lift my eyes until Yun’s footsteps faded away.
***
No Easter eggs?
That was what I started thinking when another month passed.
By the first week of February—two days before the weekend—I still hadn’t found a single Easter egg in From E.
“Annoying as it is, I’m actually really good at finding these kinds of things.”
“I bet. You’re a game addict.”
Addict, huh.
I gave a sulky look but didn’t properly refute him.
“I haven’t found anything so far, which probably means there aren’t any Easter egg elements at all. Though, it’s possible I’ve just missed the clues.”
“Then forget it and start K.”
Yun answered as we walked down HQ’s corridor.
The day was ending. The office workers were clocking out in crowds.
We’d just closed the shooting range and were heading for the cafeteria.
“There could be an Easter egg that only unlocks after you play every game in the series.”
“Oh? You know games better than I thought.”
That was surprising.
“You even know that kind of Easter egg exists?”
The instructor raised an eyebrow, glancing at me.
Still the same man who communicated efficiently with minimal words.
I matched his stride.
“I just didn’t think you’d ever do something so unproductive as gaming.”
He had asked me last time if this sort of thing was really fun.
“I really didn’t think you’d go looking for Easter eggs yourself—”
WEE-OOO, WEE-OOO, WEE-OOO!
A piercing alarm shook the entire headquarters.
Conversation cut off.
Everyone froze mid-step.
Dozens of eyes dropped to their phones at once.
Half a year since I’d become a Black Badger—by now, I knew well what that alarm meant.
It was a summons.
