Chapter 110 - Year-End Party (3)

I spotted Yehyeon too.

There was a reason I hadn't found him right away. He was surrounded by Badgers, dozing with a faint smile on his face and something that looked like a Choco Pie in his hand.

"He's popular."

"A third of them are obsessed with sucking up, a third want to finish him off by pouring him more booze, and a third just like him."

A crystal-clear explanation.

I watched Yehyeon, who was nodding off like a sick chicken but still offered a faint smile whenever a subordinate spoke to him. He handed the Choco Pie he was holding to someone talking to him.

Then he went back to nodding off.

"Does he fall asleep when he's drunk?"

"He grins for no reason, then falls asleep."

A quiet drunk, then.

"Can he hold his liquor?"

"Not really."

My conscience hurt even more.

I pressed my lips into a straight line and watched Yehyeon give another subordinate a marshmallow. After placing it in their hand, my superior closed his eyes and nodded off again.

I let out a small sigh.

"Going over to apologize would be tactless, wouldn't it?"

"It would be insane. You'd only get on the wrong side of the Badgers around him."

That figured.

"Plenty of them already dislike you for getting special treatment."

I'd thought as much.

I'd apologize on the twenty-sixth. Yehyeon probably wouldn't remember if I apologized now anyway. He looked busy enough just humoring everyone around him.

I picked up a fry and looked away.

Wow.

They'd wrapped John Mühlen in fairy lights.

"You can really drink."

I looked up at Yun's quiet remark, meeting the eyes of my training officer, who was watching me with his usual expression.

"Apparently so. Now that I think about it, I did enjoy drinking vodka."

"Did Lee Seunghyeon do you that favor?"

I nodded silently.

"Though I nearly died. I'm not joking. I really did."

"I thought you'd end up back in the hospital too. You must have a knack for this."

"The TV and the sofa got smashed, but I made it back alive."

"I thought he'd break your neck."

THUD!

I whipped my head toward the tremendous noise.

Some seniors whose names I didn't know were sprawled on the floor. Apparently they'd collided while running around the hall. People nearby shuffled over and pulled them to their feet.

A liquor bottle shattered beside me. At another table, glasses of mixed drinks toppled in a row like dominoes.

The humans were starting to lose it.

Chewing a sausage, I checked on the people I knew. Tom, whose face had been flushed for a while now, was laughing like mad beside Angela, waving his arms in far bigger gestures than usual.

Heshy, who was drinking with the head of HR and some seniors, was breaking yet another glass. I'd lost count.

"Uh, I didn't mean to do that."

CRASH!

"Oh, that wasn't me."

SMASH!

I turned my head.

I spotted Bobby. Across from a perfectly sober-looking Walker, she was cheering as she popped a cork. Riccardo and Jonathan Kudo were sitting in a corner drinking sake, but Kudo kept dropping his utensils. Riccardo teased him with a broad grin.

"Why the hell is this the only booze we've got?"

I could hear the drunken voice of Jason Tvein too.

"Typical Yehyeon. Can't he buy something decent for once?"

"General Affairs would've bought the drinks, though."

"Who said you could talk back?"

His wonderful personality was shining brighter than ever.

"If you can't drink, sit your ass down and stay put!"

"Quit getting angry, you lunatic."

Chen pulled Tvein back, grinning.

"We ought to treat our juniors well."

Achille was cleaning up.

While he diligently lined up empty bottles and collected caps, someone was talking to a huge bottle of liquor. The sight of them squatting there, mumbling to it, was rather pitiful.

They were going to get kicked by someone dancing if they weren't careful.

"Have another drink!"

At the table right next to me, someone who looked quite senior was pouring drinks nonstop.

"Why can't you drink more? Keep drinking!"

Elsewhere, people were flailing their arms.

"Aaaah! It's falling!"

"Catch it! Catch it!"

A pyramid of plastic bottles was toppling over.

Beside it, someone was trying to balance one chopstick upright on another.

What a shitshow.

Yun made his way slowly through them.

"Commander."

My training officer addressed Yehyeon in a low voice.

The Badgers around Yehyeon turned toward Yun. I saw everyone at the head table snap their mouths shut at once.

"Yes! He's leaving!"

At the same moment, someone with a bright red face flung one arm up and cheered.

"The boss is leaving!"

"Shut up, you idiot!"

"Freedom!"

Beside the person trying to stop the outburst, someone else jumped up and cheered.

"We're free!"

The drunken reactions didn't surprise anyone at the head table.

No one even glanced at the rowdy Badgers. Yun looked down at Yehyeon and murmured something too quietly for me to hear.

Yehyeon blinked up at Yun through sleepy eyes.

Then he pressed a shark-fin-shaped gummy into Yun's hand.

Had he picked out a shark-shaped one on purpose?

Yun smoothly set the gummy back on the table, then hoisted Yehyeon onto his back.

"Good night, sir!"

A drunken Badger sprang up and saluted Yehyeon.

The Badger beside him bounced to their feet and followed suit.

"Sleep well, sir!"

"Want to play a game?"

A voice from right beside me made me jump.

I turned to find some seniors I'd never met before. They reeked of alcohol, but they didn't seem completely out of their minds.

Somehow, they were already standing over me, their eyes full of anticipation.

"We hear you're good at games. Want to be on our team?"

"Oh, sure. I'd like that. What game?"

"Pump It Up."

"Sorry?"

The Pump It Up I knew?

"DDR."

They'd brought a DDR machine?

I looked where the senior was pointing and saw the arcade machines in a corner of the hall. Two stood side by side, their lights flashing brilliantly.

Holy shit.

How had I missed them at the start?

Letting out a small, incredulous laugh, I slowly got up.

"I'd love to."

"Hey. If you break that thing, you're paying for it."

"Yes, sir."

I gave a perfunctory reply to the senior's rather unfriendly remark.

There was no way I'd break it, after all.

Excited, I followed the seniors over to the DDR machines.

* * *

Yun returned to the year-end party.

He had put Ami and Yehyeon to bed in the senior leadership's bedroom. Once again, his timing was perfect. After decades of doing this, he now knew instinctively when to return.

Those who were going home would have left long ago, and those who were utterly plastered would have been carried downstairs to the Badger lounge on their colleagues' backs.

Well past midnight, the hall had settled into the quiet of a drinking party drawing to a close.

Choi Yun walked slowly toward the survivors.

"Retrieve Ami without any trouble?"

Ska smiled, lounging in a chair with a glass of whiskey.

Yun nodded silently, then turned to scan the hall.

"Where's Hildebert?"

At the enormous table in the center of the hall, the survivors looked up.

It was the usual crowd. Ska Owen, Richard Green, William Walker, and Samuel Han, whose late arrival had been met with deafening cheers.

And Shu Diamond, who hadn't touched a drop of alcohol.

Shu answered.

"He kept getting perfect scores on DDR, then suddenly disappeared, saying he needed some air."

"What do you mean, DDR?"

Yun sounded incredulous as he pulled up the remaining chair and sat down.

Shu sipped her orange juice.

"Some seniors brought the machines in because they wanted to play. He's incredibly good. I stopped watching after his combo passed two hundred, though."

"Doesn't he get drunk?"

"You ought to keep an eye on your trainee."

Richard scolded Yun as he muttered to himself.

The man, who always radiated an air of stern integrity, thumped his glass down.

"It's your trainee's first time drinking, and you leave him alone? Call him and bring him back here right now."

"Yes, yes."

Yun answered absently.

He knew Richard wouldn't listen to a reasonable counterargument anyway. Lazily crossing his legs, he took his phone out of his pocket.

Samuel set down his fork, a shrimp still speared on it.

"Are you looking after the kid properly?"

"Of course."

Yun answered at once.

Richard Green shot him a disapproving look and Samuel an incredulous one, but he paid neither any mind.

Trash littered the hall.

Amid the snores of staff sprawled asleep on the floor, Yun called Hildebert and switched to speakerphone. The ringing echoed loudly through the hall.

Everyone stared at the phone screen.

They didn't have to wait long.

"Hilde."

Realizing the call had connected, Yun spoke.

"Where are you?"

["Oh, were you looking for me?"]

The voice on the other end sounded perfectly normal.

Those still there breathed sighs of relief. Their gazes drifted away from the phone, and the Badgers relaxed the muscles that had briefly tensed.

Until Hilde continued.

["I'm on the roof."]

Yun was the first to react.

He sprang out of his chair. He didn't ask another question over the phone or say a word to anyone around him.

Phone still in hand, he bolted straight for the stairs.

The others reacted a beat later.

"I told you to keep an eye on him!"

Richard roared as he chased after Yun.

"You can't let your guard down just because he looks fine!"

"Shu! Get a hoverboard!"

Ska barked the order at Shu while running after Richard.

Shu nodded quickly and dashed for the stairs at the opposite end. Samuel ran for the elevator, spewing a stream of foul curses. Walker flung aside the chicken drumstick in his hand and headed for the stairs.

Naturally, Yun was also the first to arrive.

The rooftop railing wasn't very high. He burst through the door and strode toward Hilde, who stood at the edge, looking down.

Then he grabbed the back of Hilde's neck and roughly dragged him away.

"Urk."

Dragged backward with a strangled sound, the new recruit opened his eyes wide.

Then he stared speechlessly up into his training officer's cold eyes, his face blank with bewilderment.

His beautiful golden eyes registered the seniors who had followed and widened further.

"Why is everyone up here...?"

Hilde slowly straightened himself.

He stared blankly at his panting seniors and murmured,

"Were you worried about me?"

His voice brimmed with puzzlement and surprise.

No one answered. They all stood still, breathing hard as they stared at Hilde. Windblown white hair and vivid golden eyes. Someone whose refined features gave him a striking presence even in the dark.

Someone every Badger had spoken of at least once.

"I'm sorry. I'm not that drunk, though..."

Hilde rubbed his neck as he spoke.

"There was something I wanted to remember..."

SMACK!

The sharp sound of impact shattered the predawn air.

Hilde stared at Yun, wide-eyed, with a hand against the back of his head.

Yun shoved the hand he'd used to smack him into his pocket.

"Do you want to fall to your death?"

His voice mingled anger with an icy chill.

Surprise filled Hilde's eyes. Speechless, he could only blink.

The seniors remained silent until their kindhearted junior found his voice.

"I'm sorry."

The apology that finally broke the silence was sincere.

"I'll be careful from now on. I'm truly sorry."

"You damn well should be!"

Richard was furious.

"What were you thinking, coming up to the roof after drinking?!"

"I'm sorry."

"Do you want to be remembered as the recruit who fell to his death before he even took the promotion exam?!"

"No, sir. I'm sorry."

"Keep your wits about you!"

"Yes, sir."

"And you too, Choi Yun! You should've kept watching your trainee on his first night drinking!"

"Why did you come up here?"

Ska gently stemmed Richard's anger.

The aide gave a bitter smile without taking his eyes off Hilde.

"Was there a memory you could only recall up on the roof?"

The recruit closed his mouth.

Silence descended again. Despite being the focus of everyone's attention, he was reluctant to speak. Even when Samuel arrived on the roof panting and let loose a barrage of curses, Hilde's silence remained unbroken. He still hadn't said a word when a pale-faced Shu flew up on a hoverboard.

"I've remembered it now, so it's all right."

He spoke only after Shu landed on the roof.

"I won't do this again."

"You weren't having any dark thoughts, were you?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that. You don't need to worry."

The recruit answered Ska's question in a husky voice.

"Truly, I haven't the slightest intention of doing anything so irresponsible."

The seniors said nothing more.

His answer was utterly firm. His tone made it clear that no amount of further questioning would yield a different response.

But they did not readily let the tension ease. Through experience, innate perceptiveness, and quiet observation, the Badgers had caught a strange, troubling undercurrent. It was not something they could easily name. Not the unmistakable fragility they sensed in Badgers suffering from PTSD, but an unease made all the stronger by his calm, composed demeanor.

A demeanor that could make one imagine he had carried a heavy sorrow for a very long time.

"I'll, um, go down and clean up."

The seniors continued to watch quietly until the recruit bowed his head and started walking.

Never taking their eyes off Hildebert Taleb.