I pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the library.

It smelled of dust and marble.

Right in front of me was a wide-open lobby. Inside the old lobby stood several motorcycles. A few worn-out vehicles too — military Humvees. A command car, a maintenance truck, a comms vehicle, and so on. Behind the two- and four-wheeled machines sat several enormous cannons.

I blinked and shook myself back to focus after staring too long at the weapons.

“Where’s the food storage?”

I turned my head to look at my peers.

“They said the numbers that don’t match are in food supplies, right?”

“There’s a pad here.”

It was Tom, standing by the wall near the door.

“It shows roughly what’s stored where.”

“Oh.”

I turned my body and walked over to him.

Even after entering the library, Hesh had been sneaking glances toward the main doors, but reluctantly turned his head at last.

“Second floor.”

I murmured as I fixed my eyes on the pad.

“The numerator is the current number, and the denominator is the number that’s supposed to be there?”

“Seems like it. The numerator’s been steadily going down one by one every few days.”

Tom pointed it out.

Hesh kept his mouth shut. Maybe he had wanted to follow the seniors instead.

I glanced sideways into Hesh’s brown eyes.

“You’re okay, right?”

My question made him snap his head up.

“Huh?”

“You don’t look good.”

Tom also turned his head to check Hesh’s complexion. The closed library felt eerie. No sign of life anywhere.

Hesh bit his lip, then nodded.

“I’m fine. Just frustrated.”

“It’s your first time, can’t be helped.”

Tom shrugged and gave a reasonable answer.

I nodded too. Honestly, I didn’t really get why Hesh was frustrated.

Does he really believe Yun left us behind for our protection? From what I’ve seen, my mentor isn’t that kind of person. More likely, he left us so we wouldn’t slow him down.

That could be the part eating at Hesh. Still — you can’t expect a full belly from your first spoonful.

“The second floor’s huge.”

“Should we split up?”

I murmured while staring at the pad, and Tom suggested,

“What about dividing east, west, north?”

“Is it safe to split up? Could be dangerous.” 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Seems fine for now.”

It was Hesh who answered my concern.

“Angela said one box disappeared every night, right? So maybe whatever ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) happens, happens at night. We don’t even know if it’s a creature or a Badger. Right now, the real danger’s probably a witch drifting in here.”

“What time is it?”

“8:36.”

Tom checked his watch.

A vague hour. I narrowed my eyes and swept my gaze around the storage.

I gathered the scraps of info our mentors had thrown at us. Our assigned mission: defend the storage and check food supplies.

Special note 1: one box of food disappears each night.

Special note 2: if a witch’s energy blast touches the fuel tanks, catastrophe.

I turned my gaze toward the entrance we had come in through.

“Then one person should guard and defend the entrance. The other two handle food supplies.”

“Good idea.”

Hesh answered my proposal.

Tom nodded too.

“Sounds good. Who’ll do guard duty?”

“Hesh, how about you?”

I suggested readily, and Hesh turned to look at me.

He held my eyes for a moment, then gave a small nod.

“Alright. If something happens I’ll call on comms.”

“Good. We’ll go to the second floor.”

I turned to Tom, and the redhead nodded.

We split up at the lobby. Hesh shouldered his gun and went outside. Tom and I turned toward the second floor.

Darker, gloomier than the lobby. As soon as we climbed the central stairwell, a pad on the second-floor wall came into view. I fiddled with it, turning on all the lights on that floor.

The bluish corridor lit up under fluorescent light.

We walked silently through the bright hallways.

***

It took longer than expected.

But nothing happened. The place was huge and the boxes were many, that was all. At last, in the final storeroom, we finished the count and straightened our backs.

“Matches exactly.”

Tom muttered as he looked around the room full of bottled water.

“Didn’t see anything strange either.”

“Is someone really taking them?”

I looked around the room, once a library. Shelves pressed against the wall, filled with books in an unfamiliar language.

A couple of books had fallen to the floor, dust thick on them.

We had checked the stacked boxes one by one, and the count was flawless. Exactly as many food boxes as there should be. Which meant today, no theft yet.

Because midnight hadn’t passed? Or maybe we should check the other floors. The library had three floors in total. After the third, maybe even the basement would need combing.

I sneaked a glance at my watch. 9:10. Time had slipped by.

Had the mentors caught their creature safely?

[Someone’s coming.]

A voice spilled from the comm.

Tom and I jumped.

It was Hesh’s voice in our earpieces.

[Not the mentors. Several motorcycles heading this way.]

“Other seniors?”

Tom muttered.

“Why no word from Angela? Hesh, you don’t see our mentors?”

[They kept drifting further away with the witches a few minutes ago. Now they’re gone completely. No witches came this way though.]

“Should we go help them? Or ask the newcomers for help?”

“Let’s go out first.”

I turned my steps toward the exit.

We ran down the stairwell in one sprint, heading for the main entrance. Dodging between the motorcycles and cars filling the lobby, we went outside.

When I threw open the entrance door, the Core under nightfall lay before us.

The chill of night wind stabbed my nose.

Hesh jerked his head, eyes fixed on the headlights approaching in the dark.

The witches that had filled the horizon were gone, hidden by the fallen night. The mentors on their motorcycles couldn’t be seen.

Only four unfamiliar motorcycles approached.

Worry pressed against my chest as I shut my mouth and stood still.

Screech, screech!

The motorcycles braked noisily in front of the library.

We kept silent, watching as they stopped. Two women, two men. All wearing black helmets that reflected no light.

The first to arrive got off his motorcycle and yanked off his helmet.

“What’s this?”

A familiar voice.

“Why are only three rookies sitting here?”

Blond.

Sturdy build. Handsome features. Bright blue eyes. I sighed inside as I watched the man pull out a cigarette and smirk. No need for him to introduce himself.

Jason Trevain.

According to Yun, an old fossil.

“And look who we have here.”

He fixed his eyes on me, smile twisting unpleasantly.

The cigarette in his mouth glowed red.

“The famous rookie, right?”

“Good evening, sir.”

I smiled brightly and bowed politely.

“I am Hildebert Taleb. It’s an honor to meet you, senior.”

Jason raised one eyebrow over his cigarette.

I fought to keep the polite smile plastered on my face.

Hesh and Tom, maybe remembering what Yun had said a few hours ago, stayed wisely quiet.

Jason sized me up in silence.

Then another man approached, pulling off his helmet.

“Huh? Why are you already here?”

Another familiar voice.

It was Leeho Chang. I erased my fake smile and let genuine relief show.

“Leeho!”

“What, Hesh and Tom too? What are you three doing here?”

“We came to restock the supply depot.”

Tom spoke.

He began explaining everything that had happened so far to Leeho. The two female Badgers, who had taken off their helmets, came closer to listen.

I didn’t know their names. One had blonde hair tied back, the other silver hair hanging loose.

Jason Trevain never took his eyes off me while Tom finished his story.

“Witches?”

Leeho muttered in shock the moment the explanation ended.

“All at once, that many witches came swarming?”

“Yes.”

“And you were left here.”

Trevain’s voice dripped with mockery. His face, staring straight at me, showed no attempt to hide his sneer.

Beside me, Hesh looked ready to explode, so I jabbed him with my elbow.

I kept jabbing my peer and smiled brightly.

“They said food supplies kept going missing, so we were checking counts and searching the library.”

“Why search the library? Didn’t you hear me right? Obviously some bastard’s been stealing a box at a time.”

“Any word from Angela?”

Beside the sneering Trevain, Leeho turned to Tom with the question.

Tom shook his head slowly.

“Nothing yet.”

“Shouldn’t we check?”

“No need. Yun’s there.”

Trevain answered Leeho’s question with indifference.

Leeho seemed convinced by that. He blinked, then straightened his body with a look like, well, true enough.

The blonde looked relieved too, nodding as if a weight lifted from her. The silver-haired woman’s face never changed.

Hesh bit his lip. He looked like he was holding back words with effort.

Good job. Hold it in till the end, comrade.

Trevain broke the silence again.

“So?”

“Sir?”

I widened my eyes at the incomprehensible word. Trevain blew a puff of smoke and asked again.

“What’s the result.”

“Which result do you mean?”

“You said you searched the library.”

Ah.

“The food supply still matches the count, and we found no abnormalities.”

“Of course.”

Another rude one, just in a different flavor than Yun.

I kept my polite face intact.

“Since we checked the second floor, we were about to search the others.”

“Want a hand?”

...What?

“Let’s go in. I’ll help you with the work.”

I narrowed my eyes.

The tall blond, cigarette at his lips, stretched another long smile across his face. No matter the angle, it wasn’t the smile of a kind man.

What game are you playing...

Tom and Hesh must have thought the same, sending me wary looks. Even Leeho stood beside him with a face that said, “And just what the hell are you on about.”

The blonde woman’s eyes went round. The silver-haired one still looked indifferent.

I watched the cigarette smoke vanish into the evening dark and answered lightly.

“No need, sir. You must be tired yourselves. We juniors can handle it—”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

The man strode toward me.

Then he threw his arm around my shoulder. We were about the same height, but Trevain pressed down hard, forcing me to stoop a little.

I nearly twisted my face, but held on to reason by a thread.

Dragged along by his strength.

Hesh and Tom let out startled noises and followed. Trevain didn’t stop them. We entered the library and headed toward the stairwell.

But instead of climbing, he started going down.

Heading into the basement, a locked iron door appeared. A password required to open it. With his arm still heavy on my shoulder, Trevain keyed in the code and swung it open.

The chill, stale air of a basement stung my nose. Looked like this had once been a parking garage. The barren place was now filled with drums.

At last, Trevain lifted his arm from my shoulder. I shot him a glance, then stepped a few paces inside.

Tom and Hesh came up beside me and stopped.

“Looks like this is where they store fuel.”

Tom muttered.

“I didn’t know there was a lock. Or the code.”

“I told you I’d help.”

Trevain’s voice brimmed with triumph.

He glanced at the three of us and smirked.

“You couldn’t have opened it alone. Now that I’ve opened it for you, search properly until your mentors return.”

“This place?”

“You said you were searching the library, didn’t you?”

“Thank you, sir.”

While Hesh asked, baffled, I quickly replied before Trevain could pick another fight.

Something flickered in his eyes as he looked at me. I didn’t care to know what.

Later he’d probably quiz us — what was next to that pillar, what was stored by that wall — and chew us out if we couldn’t answer.

I didn’t flinch from his gaze.

Jason Trevain, inscrutable face, left a few minutes later.

***

We figured out his scheme about five minutes into exploring the underground garage.

We were checking the tightly shut steel doors when it happened.

Beep-beep, ding!

A strange sound, and then the lights went out.

Darkness fell.

“What the hell?!”

“The lights are out.”

“Wow.”

Hesh shouted. Tom muttered in panic. I breathed out in admiration.

“No way. That was his doing, wasn’t it?”

“His? You mean Senior Trevain did this?”

“Who else could it be.”

I muttered in pitch-blackness where even my teammates just beside me weren’t visible.

I stayed still, waiting for my eyes to adjust. At the same time, I sharpened my ears to pin down where my teammates were. And I glared into the black, blank-faced.

I wasn’t worried or scared. Our mentors would be back soon to pull us out. Or we could use a watch or the codex as a light and fumble our way out of the library.

I still wasn’t worried, even as my peers fumbled with their watches for light.

Not until I reached into my pocket for the codex.

Not until, before I could pull it out, the codex itself gave a clear voice in the silence of the underground garage.

[Creature: ‘Pig.’]

...What?

[Stage 4. Hides in the darkness and silently approaches prey. Despite its massive body, makes almost no sound when moving. Possesses tremendous strength and a hard shell. Pig-like, it also has high intelligence. Normal bullets do not work unless large-caliber. No special weaknesses.]