There was a CCTV control room in the basement.

When I went down with Aki, I saw the seniors gathered there. Thick cables ran across the bleak tiled floor. Dozens of monitors covering the walls spilled pale light into the room.

The screens were filled with all kinds of creatures.

“Did you report it?”

“Yes.”

Richard Green asked without taking his eyes from the screen, and Leeho answered.

Everyone in the room stared grimly at the monitors. Most did not even glance at me. I stopped on the threshold, taking in the oppressive scene.

I had not expected things to go bad this fast.

Aki stepped right in and stood with the others. None of them looked away from the monitors.

Only Ami turned her head toward me.

The only one who understood what was happening.

“Estimate—Stage 7?”

Trevain’s voice echoed in the wide room.

“Then it could be Stage 8 or 9?”

It was obvious what he was referring to.

On several screens, one enormous creature dominated. It stood among the masses we had seen yesterday, dwarfing them. Far greater than the Mad Buffaloes, the Witches, or even the Reversed Gods. If you climbed to the second floor and looked out a window, you could meet its gaze.

It stood motionless, gray hair hanging like strands, its torn eyes so blackened it seemed there was only sclera. A thing never seen before, bizarrely humanlike.

That was why the seniors ignored the swarms of creatures around the small Breath shield.

I stared silently.

Was the urge to cry guilt, fear? Or some other feeling I could not name?

After a long time, I lowered my head. Ami stood among the seniors, looking up at me.

I held her gaze and spoke.

“Ami.”

“Mm.”

She came straight over.

“Shall we step out for a bit?”

She understood instantly.

No one cared whether we left. Nor did they care when we came back after talking on the stairs.

They were too busy discussing causes and countermeasures. Why had this unprecedented disaster occurred? How were they going to handle it?

No one had the capacity to worry about one nervous rookie.

That changed when Ami revealed the cause.

***

The control room exploded.

Everyone was angry, but two men most of all: Richard Green and Jason Trevain. They stormed around, demanding Yehyeon, shouting for a connection to him at once.

Does comms work here?

Apparently it did. The moment Ami revealed that the creatures were converging on me, Trevain grabbed me by the collar and slammed me against the wall. He was still seething when the call began ringing.

“Fucking bastard.”

He was furious even that he could not smash Yehyeon’s face right now.

“He knew and sent us out without a word? Selfish fuck. Snake bastard! So our lives mean nothing, huh?!”

“If that were the case, he would have kept it secret all the way.”

Ami cut in, cold.

“The Commander said if necessary the truth should be revealed, to respond to the enemy accordingly.”

“If he wanted us to respond, he should have said so before we left! Shit, was it so hard to say one word? Was it?!”

“There must have been a reason only Ami knew.”

Richard Green was calmer than Jason Trevain, but anger still burned in his sharp eyes.

Of course. I would be angry too—at me, at Ami, at Yehyeon.

“In any case, I cannot accept this situation.”

Wouldn’t it have been better to stay inside the Core, even if Jaeyeon dragged me away?

The room sank into heavy silence. The atmosphere only grew darker. The swarming creatures outside showed no sign of retreat.

Walker pressed his lips tight. Aki’s eyes spun furiously. Sylvia stared coldly at the screens, Bobby covered her mouth, and even kind Leeho looked baffled.

And then, everyone looked at me as though I were the creature on the screen.

Suddenly I missed Ricardo. He had been the one to say the idea of me being a Stage 10 was nonsense.

“Why the fuck isn’t he picking up?!”

“It’s three in the morning.”

[Hello.]

The ringing stopped as if on cue.

[Report the situation.]

The husky voice rang out.

It should have been deep in the night, but there was no trace of sleep in the Commander’s tone, as if he had just stepped out of a meeting.

My chest jolted hearing it. No matter how short a time I’d been a Black Badger, his voice still made my heart pound.

The seniors straightened at once.

Trevain cursed.

“You motherfucker!”

“Please explain.”

Green, barely holding onto composure, spoke. His suppressed voice could not hide the anger.

“What is this rookie, and what were you thinking, sending us outside the Core with him without a word?”

[How many creatures have gathered?]

Unmoved, Yehyeon asked back.

Ami gave the report. Calm, neutral: swarms encircling the small Breath shield, and in their midst a high-grade, unclassified creature.

Trevain raged and cursed but was ignored.

When Ami finished, Yehyeon spoke levelly.

[So it’s worse than when Hilde first left the Core. Yun reported that after removing the Witch, he returned to the depot and watched Hilde fight in the basement through thermal imaging.]

So that’s why he said I did well!

Back then I wondered how he knew—I was alone in the basement fighting the Pig. Now I knew the truth. He had been watching for fun.

Even Trevain stopped cursing for a moment and blinked.

“Don’t tell me that Pig was his handiwork too?”

[No.]

Yehyeon’s answer was flat.

[That was a creature that infiltrated with the supplies, unrelated to Hilde. Thermal imaging showed it appeared just as the food shortage began.]

My mentor’s voice echoed in memory: “You didn’t check something that basic?”

I listened to Yehyeon’s explanation, precise and clean, but it told me nothing new. It was the same information I had overheard between him and Ami in the guest room.

Not all creatures targeted me. And those that did, it wasn’t out of goodwill.

When his short explanation ended, silence returned.

The whir of machines. The measured breathing of people in the control room.

Richard Green finally broke it, eyes blazing.

“I still don’t know what this rookie really is, or why you brought him in.”

[I’m not obliged to explain.]

The cold reply.

[Not every decision of mine needs your understanding. But as far as I can say: Hilde is my Joker card.]

What?

My eyes flew wide. My jaw dropped before I knew it.

Every head turned toward me.

A dozen stares pinned me in place.

Only Ami’s gaze held pity and affection.

[Whether it’s a card for victory or defeat—that, we’ll see with time.]

His voice gave nothing away.

[What matters is that the game has started. Richard. Build the plan around Hilde. If the creatures have surrounded the safe point because of him, then the reverse is also true—without him, they scatter.]

“When we return to the Core, I will demand details.”

“Yeah. Fuck it, do whatever the hell you want. Power tastes good, huh?”

[Hilde.]

My name struck suddenly.

I jolted, the scattered gazes snapping back to me.

Yehyeon’s voice carried the trace of a smile.

[It’s question time again.]

“Ah.”

The Q&A with the Commander, back again sooner than expected.

The first meeting. The sudden phone call after the hut collapsed. Sharing sashimi at my mentor’s house. Last time, in a hospital gown at HQ.

Every time, he had let me ask questions, as if he wanted me to shape my own reality, remember by my own strength.

Was he giving me that chance again?

Either way, I would not refuse. And I did have questions. I chose the one burning most.

“Do you know how the creatures detect my location?”

[I don’t.]

The answer I expected.

I thanked him, then asked another.

“If I turn out to be a card for defeat, will you discard me without hesitation?”

[I will.]

“Yes. Please do.”

Relief.

It wasn’t personal attachment holding me. It was strategic judgment. He had accepted me as a Badger because of that, and if needed he would cut me loose.

Now I could stand among the Black Badgers without shame—striving to be the Commander’s winning card.

“Thank you for answering.”

He replied with silence.

***

The line shifted.

After wishing us luck and promising every # Nоvеlight # support, Yehyeon handed the call over—at Richard Green’s request. Because the plan needed him.

Yun.

Hildebert Taleb’s mentor.

Yun’s voice oozed irritation.

[Just let him use a sword.]

He did not bother to hide it.

[That’s the only thing that works for that rookie. Put a blade in his hand and he fights like one man’s worth. Without it, he’s garbage.]

“You should have taught him the basics.”

[If you’re going to lecture, teach him yourself.]

No.