“Why don’t you stop wasting your strength and sit down....”
Ricardo said lazily.
The tension that had been hanging thick between her and me suddenly slackened. Sophia’s black eyes slid sideways, and I turned my head away before quietly taking my seat again.
Still... who outranks whom between Carl and Sophia? I should have asked that earlier.
While I was mentally berating myself for the oversight, Sophia sat down.
The first to speak was Ami.
“Hi, Sophia.”
No answer.
“You heard who’s leading our squad this time, right?”
Still no answer.
Instead, Sophia just sat there, unmoving, quietly staring at Ami.
The emotion in her eyes was anything but friendly. I’d never seen a Badger show such open hostility toward Ami before. Even Jason Trevain, who despised Yehyeon, had always treated Ami gently.
Well, the weight of their hatred was different, I suppose.
The uncomfortable silence broke with Sophia’s husky voice.
“I heard you heard about me from Jin Silver.”
The words were directed at me.
So, she was planning to ignore Ami entirely.
I looked at the senior Badger sitting at the head of the table and gave a faint smile.
“Yes. I apologize.”
“Then why did you accept me without thinking?”
Her voice was cold and razor-edged.
Ricardo rolled his eyes, Carl sighed, Ami blinked rapidly.
Pretending not to notice their reactions, I kept my expression mild.
“You mean me?”
“You can’t possibly not know that I despise you and your superior.”
Right.
“You never thought my gun might end up pointed at you or your superior?”
Carl’s brow furrowed.
Ricardo raised his eyebrows, staring at Sophia. Ami wiped the expression from her face, eyes fixed on her.
In that meeting room, I was the only one smiling.
I met her gaze calmly.
“I heard you’ve been serving exemplary duty since that day.”
“The Personnel Director’s good at dressing things up.”
“He said you’d perform admirably on this mission as well.”
A faint wrinkle formed on Sophia’s forehead.
Her large, sharp eyes narrowed, but I pretended not to notice.
“Just as Jin said, you’ve served faithfully until now. I’m certain you’ll continue to do so, Senior. It might be uncomfortable, but I look forward to working with you.”
“I suppose you didn’t hear that since that day, I’ve never served alongside a Creature or Yehyeon again.”
Her reply came with a mocking tone.
“You’re easily trusting, aren’t you?”
“Sophia.”
Carl said her name.
Sophia didn’t answer. Beneath her long dark lashes, her eyes burned—black and alive with hatred.
Hatred for everything, including herself.
I met that gaze directly and gave a small laugh.
What.
“It’s not that I’m easily trusting—it’s that it’s the natural thing.”
A trace of irritation slipped through my voice.
My seniors turned to look at me, surprised at the emotion in my tone.
I ignored their stares.
“On the battlefield, absolute obedience to one’s superior is natural, isn’t it?”
Disobedience meant execution.
“Do we really need to start by explaining that basic rule?”
If you’re going to make up your mind, do it completely.
If you’d wanted to kill Yehyeon that day, you should have fired. If your gun had been taken, you should have drawn your sword, and if you had no sword, you should have used your fists.
Otherwise, you should have resigned from the Black Badgers and come back later to aim your gun at him.
But if you chose to swallow that hatred and remain a Black Badger, then obedience to your commander was the obvious course. Hiding your boiling hatred and showing your superior your back—that was the proper order of things.
When you lowered your gun that day, wasn’t that the decision you made?
I smiled faintly, watching her stiffen.
“You’re a soldier.”
From the start, what bothered me most was her hatred toward Yehyeon.
But I wasn’t going to say that aloud. I didn’t know exactly what had happened that day. I only knew the rough outline of the order Yehyeon had given.
So endure it, Hildebert Taleb.
Endure....
“And was it Yehyeon who killed them? No. It was the things my kind brought in.”
I couldn’t endure it.
I threw patience aside.
“If you’re going to aim your gun, then aim it at me. Don’t take it out on someone innocent.”
“Innocent?”
Her reflexive reply carried grief and rage.
“Innocent? Who do you think sent him into a zone where death was certain!”
“Was that order given out of personal resentment? Was it so unreasonable that no one could accept it?”
My sharp retort made Sophia bite her lip.
A drop of blood welled on her well-shaped lips. Clearly, she already knew the answer to my question.
There were plenty like her.
I’d known many myself. But because the target of their hatred was Yehyeon, I couldn’t stay as calm as usual.
If you must strike someone, strike me—the real culprit.
To keep from heating up further, I exhaled a long breath.
“Well. The Supreme Commander will only be with us during the Recapture Battle, so just endure it until then.”
If she lost control, I wouldn’t hesitate to cut her throat.
“You can point your gun at me whenever you feel like it. But as a soldier, don’t commit mutiny.”
“This bastard’s running his mouth again~...”
“Hilde! Why do you always say it’s fine to aim the gun at you!”
“It’s just a figure of speech. Just a figure.”
Though honestly, I didn’t care.
“I’m just saying, that’s what it amounts to. I’m the junior here, aren’t I?”
Ami and Ricardo glared at me.
Only Carl was silently watching Sophia. It was clear now—Carl wasn’t her junior. He was either her peer or senior.
More likely her peer.
“Sorry, but I don’t know how to turn cold like you.”
Her low voice drew everyone’s attention.
I turned toward her, brushing the stray hair out of my eyes.
“I can’t act like you—betraying your own kind so coolly, stabbing them in the back without hesitation.”
Not many degenerates like me around, huh.
“So I kept my distance. That was my best effort—to stay away. Though this mission has made that meaningless.”
“Then just bear with it and do your duty.”
“Sorry, but sometimes the rage just takes over.”
Sophia’s eyes burned as she glared at me.
“When that rage rises, everything goes white.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
And I meant it.
That was a classic symptom of PTSD. She wasn’t lying. I truly pitied my senior—someone drowning in such violent trauma.
But good intentions didn’t justify every action.
Without much expression, I looked past her at the empty wall ahead.
“Then direct that rage at me if you can. Just be careful not to aim anything at the Commander.”
“I thought I just explained that it’s not that easy.”
“Then there’s nothing to be done. I can only hope you don’t lose your mind and end up decapitated.”
I muttered that to myself as I lowered my hand from my hair.
Then, raising that hand, I drew it across my neck without emotion.
“Slice.”
Execution is an instant.
After the head’s cut off, it stays alive for a few seconds. In the old world, there’d been a man who wanted to verify exactly how long a severed head lived. He’d stand by the guillotine and count how many times the condemned blinked.
Useless thought. I snapped back to reality.
Everyone looked quite shocked by my reaction.
Ami spoke in a startled whisper.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Hilde angry.”
Me?
I’d shown a bit of irritation, sure, but I wouldn’t call that anger.
Perplexed, I turned to her.
“I’m sorry. Did I raise my voice?”
“No, but that makes it scarier.”
“Well... looks like any chance for a friendly meeting’s long gone, so let’s just move on to business~.”
Thankfully, Ricardo lightened the stalled atmosphere.
Leaning back in his chair, he looked me straight in the eyes.
“Shouldn’t we all at least know what our main weapons are before we head out~?”
No one objected.
***
The small-scale sparring ended quickly.
After warming up a bit, I felt better. The hazy outlines of the upcoming battle were clearer in my mind now, and my head felt lighter. I could roughly gauge Carl and Sophia’s skills. They weren’t as outstanding as Ricardo or Ami, but both were fine soldiers.
At least I didn’t need to worry about them dying helplessly when the enemy attacked.
I lowered the tip of my sword lightly to the training floor and smiled faintly.
“Good work, everyone.”
Then I noticed the others staring at me in surprise.
What now.
“Hilde!”
Ami, hovering in midair in her boots, bounded across the training hall toward me.
“When did you get that good!”
“Thank you.”
I smiled and gave her a quick high-five.
“It was about time, don’t you think?”
It had been nearly a year since I fell here.
I might’ve been clumsy most of that time, but I’d never skipped training. I was a diligent student, and Yun was an efficient teacher. Naturally, my recovery speed was fast.
Ami didn’t know what kind of man I used to be, so her surprise was understandable.
“You’re almost like Yehyeon.”
Well, I taught Lee Seunghyun, and Lee Seunghyun taught Yehyeon—so it made sense.
But I couldn’t say that. I just smiled at her amazement until she exclaimed brightly,
“At this rate, you could really slice off Sophia’s head!”
Hm?
Why does she sound like that was just a metaphor?
I was serious.
And wasn’t that the sensible course of action? Even defying a squad leader was already serious—but Yehyeon wasn’t just a squad leader, he was the Supreme Commander. There were limits to insubordination.
Why did getting rid of someone who aimed a gun at the highest authority sound like a joke?
I looked at Ami with puzzled eyes.
Then, as she stared up at me, realization slowly dawned in her eyes. Her mouth dropped open.
“Hilde.”
This time it was Carl who said my name.
“I didn’t know you were this skilled.”
“Thank you... I think that’s a compliment?”
“If an accident occurs, sever the barrel.”
My senior’s blue eyes met mine as he pointed to his blade.
“With your skill, you should be able to do it.”
“Ah.”
If Sophia were using a sword, that’s what I’d have done—cut her wrist, drop the weapon. But guns were too fast. Once you pull the trigger, it’s over. Even at my peak, I couldn’t slice a flying bullet midair.
I could maybe deflect it with brute force, though.
Still, the fact that this even had to be discussed annoyed me.
I glanced at Ricardo, smirking crookedly at me, then at Sophia, who stood gloomily, staring like she wanted to dissect me.
Then I focused on her.
“Have you ever taken part in a Recapture Battle?”
“Of course.”
“Then you know its dangers better than I do.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Sophia looked at me through the shadow of her lashes.
I met her wary gaze with a calm smile.
“During a Recapture Battle, focus only on the mission’s goal. If you do that, you won’t even feel your commander’s presence.”
“How many times do I have to explain it’s not that simple?”
“So you’re saying you’d rather let personal emotions endanger the entire Center Core?”
I hated people with half-hearted resolve like that.
I hadn’t always despised them this much—maybe it was that twisted feeling of “I can do it, so why can’t you,” mixed with self-loathing.
Either way, she disgusted me.
“With that kind of halfway resolve, you’ll never achieve revenge or salvation.”
Click.
The gun barrel aimed straight at me.
At the same time, my sword’s edge met the muzzle.
The gust I raised whipped her hair violently aside.
Tension filled the training hall in an instant.
Looking at her taut body, I spoke with a calm smile.
“The Recapture Battle.”
The day when the sealed ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ sky opens, and we fight to reclaim the lost lands.
“I look forward to it, Senior.”
Sophia kept her gun trained on me for a long time.
