I was dragged around for quite a while.

The excited seniors kept calling me from all directions. They said it had been six years since a newcomer had gotten Yehyeon drunk on vodka.

No, I hadn’t intended to get Yehyeon drunk on vodka.

Does he even drink well? I suddenly felt bad, but it would have been weird to go back and ask. Too many people were calling for me anyway. I did my best to keep up and drink what they gave me.

There were too many seniors I had never seen before to remember their names.

“Wow, you can drink!”

“You didn’t even break a cup after that strong stuff!”

“Are you even getting tipsy?”

The seniors poured me every kind of alcohol imaginable.

“One shot! One shot!”

“Vodka! Woo! Vodka! Woo!”

“High proof! Woo! High proof! Woo!”

“Yun taught you well.”

It was a death parade.

I went around table after table drinking. Each group poured a different drink. It was nice to taste so many kinds of liquor, but since it was all liquid, my stomach began to feel like a water balloon.

Please, just let me eat some paella too.

I was lamenting that when someone yanked me by the arm.

I turned toward the one tugging and saw a familiar pair of dark circles.

“Seniors, I’m taking the rookie for a bit.”

Leeho dragged me out from behind.

“And stop force-feeding him already, seriously.”

“Hey! You went on a mission with him, didn’t you?”

“That’s why I’m taking him to talk for a bit.”

Leeho slipped me away from the crowd, and then Aki appeared and dragged me off somewhere else.

There were loud protests behind us, but the two ignored them and kept pulling me along. They sat me down at another round table. I was dizzy enough that I couldn’t even tell which part of the hall we were in anymore.

Aki and Leeho sat on either side of me.

“Eat.”

Leeho snatched the cup from my hand and pushed a plate toward me.

I looked down at the plate, slightly tipsy.

“Beef tataki.”

“Such a rare treat.”

I picked it up quickly and ate.

The meat melted on my tongue. Watching my expression, Leeho let out a surprised chuckle.

“You look like someone who’s been starving.”

“No, I just wanted to eat something solid after all that liquid.”

“Huh?”

His eyes widened, voice rising.

He stopped opening the soju bottle and blinked.

“You haven’t had any snacks this whole time?”

“No. I didn’t get the timing for it.”

“This table’s got the most expensive food, so eat up.”

Aki leaned back comfortably in her chair, sipping wine as she observed me.

She was still as chic as ever, her face barely showing any emotion.

“Once they get drunk, they’ll start calling for you again nonstop.”

Her words soon came true.

I politely poured a drink for each of the seniors who’d seated me at the table with the most expensive food. After a light toast, I was diligently eating beef when someone approached.

To be precise, just as Leeho was demanding, “How are you still standing after drinking all that without food?”, someone stopped next to me.

I turned to see a familiar face.

“Hilde.”

Ami smiled brightly.

“Let’s drink together too.”

“You’re drunk.”

Leeho downed a gulp of soju and commented flatly.

“She’s going to start rampaging soon.”

Ami blinked.

Her face wasn’t red, but her reactions were slower than usual.

She replied a beat late.

“I’m not drunk.”

She’s drunk.

“Drink with me too, Hilde.”

“Ah, yes. Let me pour you a glass.”

“Hey, what are you doing? Let’s go!”

Giacomo Ro suddenly appeared behind Ami.

He grabbed both our arms and pulled. I hurriedly bowed to Aki and Leeho before being dragged away.

We crossed the hall again to a new table.

A table lined neatly with empty beer and soju bottles.

Sitting there was John Mühlen.

“Uh, wait, just a second—”

“Sit down already!”

Ro shoved me into a chair.

He grabbed an empty glass and filled it with beer to the brim.

“Here!”

“Wanna sausage?”

Ami thrust a sausage toward me.

I raised my overflowing glass with an awkward laugh.

“Thank you.”

The sausage was completely cold but still tasty.

And, fortunately, John didn’t look at me sitting across from him. He silently drank his beer. He hadn’t touched the sausages or fries laid out before him.

Sausages and fries growing cold on aluminum foil.

If things stayed this way, maybe I could drink a little and slip away without being noticed. I thought as I accepted an onion ring Ami offered.

“Don’t even think about going home tonight!”

Ro shouted as he refilled John’s glass.

“Let’s drink ourselves to death!”

A sudden question popped into my head.

It was something I’d wondered before but never dared to ask. Even now, it was a bit scary to bring up—but maybe the alcohol loosened my tongue, because the words came out on their own.

“How did you two end up living together?”

Ro turned his head toward me.

Ami burst out laughing.

“Because Ro did something stupid!”

She completely ignored the indignant sound Ro made.

Her small hands drummed happily on the table.

“Ro made Mühlen do sit-ups!”

...She’s really drunk.

To be saying something that ridiculous—it didn’t even seem related to my question.

“Hey! That’s because you all were the ones with no loyalty!”

Ro suddenly exploded.

“When one of your comrades is falling behind, you help them! The exam was coming up!”

Exam?

What exam?

“What, were we supposed to just sit and watch that idiot get his body scrapped?”

“Why would he lose his enhanced body?”

“Badgers have to take regular physical fitness tests.”

Ami giggled.

“If your physical strength drops too low, your enhanced body gets decommissioned.”

I see.

But what did that have to do with John Mühlen?

The man was an intellectual like Samuel Han—a genius who had helped create the Core that gave humanity peace. Even though he had an enhanced body, he wasn’t required to fight. I’d heard he’d only ever taken the most minimal physical checks before and after the procedure.

Completely different standards from most Badgers...

Wait.

“No matter how much we told him Mühlen didn’t need to do it, he wouldn’t listen!”

Ami laughed so hard she stabbed a sausage with her fork.

“I kept saying, ‘Mühlen doesn’t have to do sit-ups!’”

“Then how the hell did this guy even become a Badger?”

Ro sounded genuinely baffled.

He wasn’t listening to a word Ami said. I didn’t catch every detail of his animated gestures, but it was clear he still saw John Mühlen as “a comrade who’s lacking and needs to be looked after.”

“He can’t even do three proper push-ups! And no one helps him! You bastards, don’t you know loyalty?!”

“I’m telling you, Ro, Mühlen’s fine even if he can only do two push-ups!”

“It’s three, damn it!”

“Idiot, two is less than three!”

What a disaster.

Just listening to them was making my IQ drop.

Ro was just being his usual self, and Ami was completely drunk.

They needed a break.

With a faint smile, I poured carbonated water into Ami’s glass.

“Please, have some of this.”

“Mm. Thanks.”

“It’s hard to ignore that awful athletic ability though...”

Ro seemed to be remembering the other (sane) Badgers who hadn’t helped John train.

He shook his head.

“Those trash bastards.”

“The only trash here is your brain, Giacomo.”

“Have some sausage.”

I quickly offered Ami a sausage before she could make things worse.

“Tasty sausage.”

“Yummy.”

“I wonder how long that idiot can stay a Badger...”

Ro rubbed his forehead and looked at John Mühlen with immense pity.

Beneath his thick brows, his eyes were filled with heavy emotion. He meant every word. More than anyone...

John Mühlen set down his glass.

“Ah? Empty already?”

Ro frowned, searching for more beer, then swore and grabbed a soju bottle instead.

“Damn it... we’re out.”

Still, he kindly poured the soju into a smaller cup and pushed it toward John.

“Just drink this.”

John mechanically lifted the soju glass.

Blinking slowly, the gray-haired man drank. Did he even realize it was alcohol? He’d been drinking beer like water all evening.

Was he getting drunk now?

“Ah!”

Ami shrieked, making me flinch.

“Mühlen gets drunk if he drinks anything other than beer!”

...What?

I blinked, unsure if that was another drunken nonsense or an actual fact disguised as one. I had to pause to think which it was.

Could she be telling the truth while drunk?

John Mühlen emptied his glass.

Then he stood up.

“Oh. Guess he’s drunk.”

Someone whispered.

“He’s going to the corner.”

...John Mühlen went to the corner.

And then he just stood there, motionless. I dropped my jaw slightly. The tall, handsome genius scientist—the famed star of the scientific world, the mad scientist himself—was standing gloomily in the corner, silently observing everyone.

Was that his drunken habit?

“Mühlen tree~.”

Before I realized it, Ami had dragged her chair over and was putting some random star-shaped decoration on top of John’s head.

“Christmas~.”

“Ha! That’s fucking hilarious!”

Ro was laughing his head off, taking photos in front of him.

My mind was getting hazy.

I closed my eyes as other seniors started bringing out small string lights.

If I watched any longer, I’d really lose brain cells.

A brief moment of solitude amid the noisy hall. I tried to meditate, blocking out the noise—when someone approached me.

By now, I could recognize him just by his footsteps.

“Are you here to collect her?”

“Not yet.”

Yun looked as immaculate as he had during morning training.

Hands in his suit pockets, he glanced toward his sister.

“I’ll collect her once she starts running.”

“She already looks pretty drunk.”

“She’s fine for now.”

He seemed far too accustomed to scenes like this.

Even as his little sister giggled, holding a strand of fairy lights, his expression didn’t waver.

After ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ a short moment of observation, the man tore his gaze from her and looked down at me.

His eyes were as cold and black as always.

“I’ll drop her off in the leadership quarters near Yehyeon’s room.”

“Ah.”

The crime I’d committed flashed through my mind.

“Is he very drunk?”

“Thanks to you.”

Ah, damn it...

I groaned at my own stupidity and craned my neck up to look at him—tall, lean lines in a black suit, pale face.

I couldn’t see where Yehyeon was.

Yun extended his finger.

“There.”