First, we cleared the corpse.

We couldn’t just leave it to rot in the underground parking garage. And of course, chores like this fall on the rookies.

But my peers refused to let me help. Their point was clear: you don’t put someone whose injuries you can’t gauge to work.

Moments like this really drove home how much I was holding others back.

Tom and Hesh dragged the pig creature’s body outside. While I was forced to sit in a torn-up lobby chair, Leeho, Carl, and Angela wiped away the blood.

Two senior women whose names I didn’t know seemed to be standing guard in front of the supply depot.

Only Yun and Trevain weren’t working. The two first-generation Black Badgers stood over me where I sat.

To be exact, Yun was scanning my condition while Trevain came along to spectate.

“A sword?”

The blond man folded his arms and gave me and my mentor a dull look.

“A sword? What age do you think we’re living in that you’d have him use a sword?”

“He’s got some internal injuries, but he’s regenerating.”

Yun ignored Trevain’s jab and delivered his assessment.

He tucked the oval-shaped device back into his combat uniform pocket and straightened.

“When we get back to the Core, we’ll set a day and go see Samuel. Your arm, your recovery rate—those need a proper diagnosis.”

“Yes, sir.”

“As for what kind of sword suits you best, we’ll think about that carefully.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Are you serious?”

Trevain’s voice was thick with disbelief and irritation.

At last, my mentor turned his head and met Trevain’s gaze. As always, Yun’s eyes were dry and unreadable.

Trevain scowled at those withered eyes and grumbled.

“A sword? In this day and age? You trying to look cool until it gets you killed?”

“If he can wield it properly, it’s a good weapon. Just look at that pig.”

“Using it as a sidearm isn’t the same as making it your primary weapon.”

A draft swept in from outside. Hesh and Tom returned from hauling the carcass, and the seniors who’d wiped the blood climbed back up to the lobby via the lamp-lit stairs.

It was nearly midnight.

The dried creature blood on my clothes felt disgusting. At least I’d managed to wipe the stains from my face.

I scrubbed at the clotted streaks on my neck with my sleeve.

Trevain kept picking.

“And this brat can’t even function properly as a Badger. What’s the point of a melee weapon?”

“If you hate swords so much, why don’t you bitch at all sword-users equally. I don’t recall seeing you give Jonathan Kudo grief about his weapon.”

“The Japanese sword guy?”

At Yun’s retort, Trevain smirked and let out a derisive laugh.

“You think that stubborn ass would listen to anyone?”

Jonathan Kudo?

I shot Yun a questioning glance, and my mentor explained in his usual flat tone.

“The one who was beside Sordi in the auditorium.”

Ah! That tall, striking man.

“No need to memorize his name. You’ll never be speaking with him.”

He must be a real bastard.

I resolved to steer clear. Between Yun, Ricardo, and Trevain, I had more than enough unpleasant personalities around already.

Trevain turned his eyes back on me. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Why did you start practicing with a sword, anyway?”

The sudden question left me speechless.

One by one, people drifted over toward us, clustering around the two war heroes. More ears were listening now, and I had no answer. I hadn’t even known I could use a sword until a few days ago.

What excuse could I give?

While I hesitated in silence, Trevain frowned.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those pathetic types who picked it up after watching Yehyeon’s video.”

“What video of Yehyeon?”

Had the Supreme Commander shot some public-service clip swinging a sword?

I asked lightly. But the reactions were anything but.

“Huh?”

Everyone except Yun looked baffled. Trevain especially arched his brow as if he’d just heard nonsense.

His expression was one of utter exasperation.

“How can you not know? That video all the humans rave about, ‘the birth of a hero in chaotic times,’ blah blah.”

“...Uh, excuse me?”

“You don’t know the video where he kills a Stage Ten creature?”

Annoyance crept into his voice.

“You mean the footage from the First Creature War?”

Ah.

Realization clicked in my mind. I knew what he was referring to now. I remembered the comments I’d read while leaning against a beanbag: Yehyeon killed a Stage Ten creature, and that was why he was made Supreme Commander. The video existed as proof, so there was no doubting it.

So /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ Yehyeon must have used a sword then.

Relieved to have caught the context, I answered.

“I do know what video you mean. But I’ve never seen it.”

Faces all around me showed sharp shock.

I had clearly said the wrong thing. Every single one of them widened their eyes. Even Trevain’s eyes rounded. A man who usually wore nothing but scowls or smirks looked genuinely surprised. It felt strange.

Only Yun, who knew my circumstances, kept his composure.

Silence settled heavy in the lobby.

Hesh broke it first.

“You never watched it?”

I hadn’t.

Trying to mask my awkwardness, I nodded. Tom blinked and muttered.

“It’s insanely famous.”

“Sorry. I’m just... very out of touch with the world. Spent a long time living shut away.”

“You did? Doesn’t look like it. What, were you gaming nonstop?”

“Go watch it! Seriously. You can swing a sword but you’ve never seen that video?”

“What, did you just get out of prison?”

Tom’s curiosity, Hesh’s excitement—Trevain cut across both with a mocking tone.

I shifted my gaze back to him. This senior who hated me for being Yun’s mentee, who’d thrown us rookies into the parking garage like trash.

And now he was staring down at me with a satisfied smile.

Why the hell did he suddenly look so pleased?

“A rare decent rookie.”

“...You mean me?”

“Get on the train.”

Yun’s voice cut in, bored.

He gazed up at the ceiling, already done with all this.

“If you’ve got something to say, say it later, one-on-one. You planning on staying overtime?”

The others followed Yun’s lead.

We left the library quickly. Tossed a word of thanks to the two Badgers keeping watch, then streamed toward the train.

The lamplight in the station faintly revealed its outline.

One by one, people filed in.

Exhausted, they vanished into their cars almost immediately. After a silent fist bump with my peers, I went straight to the bathroom in my car.

I turned on the water and scrubbed off the dried blood.

As I was washing, I heard the train engines heating.

Still, we’d made it through the day alive.

The load of information to absorb, the secrets to keep—it was exhausting. But not unbearable. My gratitude toward those who had accepted me hadn’t diminished.

The rattling train pulled out toward the Center Core. I felt the faint vibration in my soles.

I stripped off my uniform and collapsed onto the bed.

I would have to get stronger, so my peers wouldn’t need to worry unnecessarily like today.

I would hold onto the feeling of gripping that sword, burned into me by blood.

As I stared at my blood-soaked uniform and boots, and the lightless world outside the Core, I resolved to drive myself harder.

And then I fell into a dreamless sleep.

When I woke much later, the train had stopped. Badgers, now in plain clothes, stepped out into the corridor.

We had returned to the Center Core.

***

They say after going outside the Core, you get days off.

We got two. The day we returned, and the next. The first passed in a blur.

As soon as I reached the dorm, I slept again. Woke at lunch, ate tacos with Tom and Hesh, who’d also slept like the dead. In the afternoon, we played a game Hesh lent me, then ate pho together for dinner. Then back to bed.

By the second day, my head felt clearer.

In the morning, with my body refreshed, I stepped out of my room.

“Hilde!”

Ami.

I was sipping water from a vending machine in the third-floor hallway when I ran into her round eyes.

She hurried over from the elevator, tiny steps carrying her quickly to me.

“Hi!”

“Hello, Ami. Good morning.”

“Mm! Morning! Did it go okay out there yesterday?”

My light and salt, stopping before me, asked. I nodded eagerly, glad to see her.

Ami’s eyes curved like crescents as she smiled.

“Good. How’s your body? Carl told me you were hurt, so I came to check.”

“Ah. Thank you. But I’m perfectly fine now. I slept all day yesterday and feel completely recovered.”

“That’s good. My oppa didn’t seem too bad either, so they just sent him back to the dorms. Still, just in case, let’s go see Samuel later.”

I nodded obediently.

But Ami leaned forward, giving me a quick once-over. Only after confirming I truly looked fine did she lift her gaze again.

She looked me right in the eye, smiling warmly.

“So, how was it out there?”

“I realized how lacking I am. I’ll work harder and stop slacking.”

“Ehh~, don’t say that. I heard everything. Carl and Angela said you rookies are solid. Even my youngest oppa said you’re decent.”

“Your youngest oppa?”

Who was that? Choi Yun?

Ami made an “ah” sound and nodded.

“Mm. Yun oppa.”

“Oh? You have another older brother? I thought it was just the two of you.”

“Oh, I have two more. But Yun oppa’s the only blood brother. The rest of us were adopted together.”

My jaw dropped.

Ami waved her hand quickly, reassuring me.

“You didn’t say anything wrong! Don’t worry. I’ll explain it all later.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

“I also heard something else from oppa.”

Ami smoothly steered us back to the original subject.

Seeing my confusion, she grinned.

“You use a sword. Cool.”

“Ah!”

That video!

My voice jumped before I realized.

Ami’s eyes widened. She was always so different from Yun, full of expression.

Smiling reflexively, I looked down at her.

“Sorry. I just remembered. I meant to watch that video today.”

“Video? What video?”

“The one where Yehyeon kills a Stage Ten creature.”

Understanding lit her round black eyes.

She ducked her head, pulled out her phone from her cardigan pocket.

“You haven’t seen it yet.”

“No. I didn’t realize it was that famous. I said I hadn’t watched it, and people reacted strangely.”

“I’ll show you.”

She tapped the screen rapidly.

Then she flipped the phone toward me.

“This one.”

Ruins.

A gray city. Nothing like the scene around the Library of Beginnings. Just devastation in ashes. The screen showed a city in wreckage.

And then, within that ruin, it captured two figures standing unbroken. Filmed from a distance, their forms looked small. But the focus was steady, the frame clear.

Two.

No—

One man, one creature.

Yehyeon, and a creature in the exact likeness of a human.