I caught him in no time. It wasn't difficult, especially since the terrified scientist took a wrong turn into an empty office all on his own.

I quietly closed the door to what looked like a conference room. Realizing he was cornered, the scientist began trembling.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you."

Was that having the opposite effect? Judging by the increasingly violent vibrations, apparently so. Well, that line was no good.

I stood still in front of the scientist, who was trembling pitifully yet refusing to put down the head-sized bundle. I stayed motionless long enough for even someone quaking in terror to get bored. At last, the man raised his head from behind the bundle that half hid his face.

"... Aren't you going to take it?"

"Not unless you give it to me," I readily answered his faint question.

An odd expression crossed his face. I didn't bother trying to guess what he was thinking. Instead, I stood with both arms hanging loose at my sides to show that I meant him no harm.

Clutching the bundle, the scientist studied me intently. A tense silence settled over us. I didn't speak first, but I didn't avert my eyes either. I couldn't see my own face, but I was reasonably sure my expression was utterly blank.

In the end, Martin's thief surrendered first.

"H-he's such a good listener..."

"Pardon?" I leaned forward so I wouldn't miss his barely audible words.

The scientist was on the verge of tears. "H-he's always so kind, and he listens so well... I wanted to be with him all the time..."

"You wanted to be with him?" I couldn't help asking. "You stole him because you wanted to be with him?"

He nodded tearfully, then scrubbed his eyes with his forearm. I stared, dumbfounded, at the weeping man who looked to be in his late thirties. That was why he'd taken Martin?

This was fucking ridiculous.

"I wasn't really stealing him. I just wanted to take him home..."

"And what about what Martin wanted?"

I couldn't keep my feelings out of my voice. The scientist flinched at my tone. Looking at me in utter fear, he mumbled, "Martin said he enjoyed talking to me too... He said he'd like us to keep talking forever, if we could..."

"You can talk to him at the lab."

"I've been assigned to a branch," the scientist muttered gloomily. "I'm leaving next week."

He gazed sadly down at the head-sized bundle. Hunched shoulders. Black hair threaded with a little gray, an unshaven beard. A haggard face. He looked ill-equipped to take care of himself, and I did feel a little sorry for him.

But stealing Martin was unforgivable. I was about to tell him to hand Martin over and promise not to tell Yun when the scientist burst into tears.

He sobbed with such grief that I didn't know what to do. Huge tears streaming down his face, he held out the bundle. "M-Martin won't turn on..."

What?

"E-even after I bought the right power cord and plugged him in, he wouldn't... I was scared... I got so scared that I brought him here..."

"Wait, he won't turn on even with the right cord? Why? Did you mess with something?"

"I-I don't know... I was so careful carrying him..."

The scientist was crying too hard to keep his eyes properly open. I quickly took the bundle and untied it. As the satin bag opened, Martin's round body emerged. Smooth and white, with an enormous lens.

Blue light used to flash behind that lens as he roamed the lab's walls and ceiling. But now there was no color in it at all. A heavy blackness filled the enormous lens.

"Martin!" I cried, holding him in both hands. "Martin! Wake up!"

"Martiiin..." The scientist wailed beside me as I cried out. "Martin, I'm sorry... I'm..."

We called Martin's name for a long time. Then I was the first to come to my senses. No. This wasn't the time for that. Getting emotional wasn't going to solve anything.

Tucking Martin under one arm, I began gently reasoning with the scientist. I soothed the despairing thief in the softest voice I could manage.

In any case, I thanked him for bringing Martin back. I would take him to Yun and John. If he was afraid to face Yun, he could just give me his phone number. I'd make absolutely sure to keep his identity secret, so all I asked was that he answer honestly if I had any questions...

As the scientist listened, his eyes gradually filled with emotion. He looked at me through brimming tears. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

"I'll go confess."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes." The scientist nodded, gritting his teeth. "And I'll apologize to the scientists in person."

I brightened with delight. Yes. You had to face up to what you'd done wrong. I praised him for making such a difficult decision and urged him to hurry over to Yun with me first.

Saving Martin was our most urgent priority. I was worried sick that the lab's darling might be broken.

But when I flung the door open and said we should go to Yun, the scientist's face darkened. He hesitantly followed me out, then clutched the hem of my clothes.

"C-could you put in a good word for me with Yun?"

"Ah." I understood his terror. "Of course. I'll do everything I can to protect you."

His eyes filled with gratitude and emotion. Worried he might change his mind, I took a firm grip on his arm and headed toward Yun with Martin tucked under my other arm.

* * *

Yun was flabbergasted.

Apparently, he was so flabbergasted he no longer had the energy to get angry. My training officer had been waiting outside the hospital room looking ready to fillet the culprit alive, but as soon as he heard my explanation, he gave an incredulous "Hah." When I asked him to go easy on the man, he sighed and shook his head.

His expression said this was too absurd for words.

Once my training officer had finished expressing his contempt with his entire body, we returned to the lab. Unable to meet Yun's eyes, the scientist stayed glued to my side. I entered the lab without pushing him away.

The vast, chaotic space opened up before us as soon as we entered. The scientists bustling around that familiar space stopped dead. Their heads whipped around to look at us. It was as though someone had hit a collective pause button.

Stares flew toward us and pinned us in place. A silence like a sheet of glass. Yun, Martin's thief (whose name was Peter), and I stopped too.

"Martin," I said, raising him as I looked at the scientists staring holes through us, "is back."

The Science Department's idol had returned!

"Waaaaah!"

A cheer went up.

It was so deafening that the vast space shook with the noise. I flinched instinctively. Because I flinched, I failed to slip away as deftly as Yun.

The scientists' eyes shone with a frightening light. Half out of their minds, they charged at me with shrill screams. Watching them stampede toward me like a herd of buffalo, I shrieked.

"Calm down!"

"Mr. Hilde brought Martin back!"

"Martin! Martin!"

"Mr. Hilde! Mr. Hilde!"

The humans did not calm down. I backed away quickly. I was screwed. I should have remembered these people were madly serious about Martin.

"I said calm down! Don't run!"

The scientists ignored my frantic shouts. If I hadn't been a Badger, I would have been knocked flat and trampled to death. I stood firm under the onslaught as scientists flew at me and clung to me like magnets.

Ow. Ow, that hurt. Seriously, why were these humans so obsessed with Martin? Even as I grumbled inwardly, I never lowered the arms I'd raised over my head.

"We need to turn Martin on, so please calm down!"

"You're amazing, Mr. Hilde! Choi Yun's pride and joy of a mentee!"

"The lab's VVVIP!"

"Escort him to the podium! The winner of thirty million won!"

"Buy us coffee with that thirty million!"

"Buy us pizza!"

"Fried chicken!"

"My quest!"

"No! Do my quest next!"

We needed to check whether anything was wrong with Martin! But no one would listen. The scientists surrounding me dragged me away.

My question of where on earth they were taking me was soon answered. Across the room, several scientists were dragging a podium toward us.

Why did the lab have such an extravagant podium? I really didn't want to stand on it.

But I couldn't struggle for fear of hurting the people around me. If I misjudged my strength, these civilian scientists would be seriously injured. So they dragged me helplessly along without any real resistance. They seemed to know I wouldn't be able to fight back.

Naturally, my training officer didn't help. Far from helping, he reached out a long arm and whisked Martin out of my hands.

"Good luck."

Not "good work," but "good luck"?

"You made thirty million won."

"Like I told you, Yun, I didn't find Martin. Peter brought him back himself... More importantly, help me! These humans won't let me go!"

"It'll take them a while to calm down." Yun's face was expressionless as he turned Martin over to examine him. "Be a good sport."

My training officer abandoned me.

I wasn't released until I'd stood on the podium, accepted a trophy labeled "30 Million Won" (apparently made with a 3D printer), been draped with a garland (apparently made from flowers grown in the lab's greenhouse), been subjected to commemorative photos taken with a camera worth nearly ten million won, and received thunderous applause from the scientists.

The geeks reputed to be the most capable people in Center Core did things on a whole different scale.

As I staggered down from the podium, someone gently placed a flower crown on my head. Another scientist thrust a bouquet at me. I accepted the flowers numbly, then tottered across the lab. Buried in flowers, I made my way to my training officer's desk.

Yun and John were working on Martin. They too were surrounded by scientists, though those scientists kept a certain distance from the two geniuses. Right. There weren't many people who dared invade Yun's personal space.

I pushed through the ring of scientists and stood beside Yun.

"Yun. Is Martin..."

DING-DIDDLE-LING

The sound of the power coming on. Martin's lens lit up.

[Reboot complete. Starting up.]

[Hello!]

A cheerful voice rang through the lab.

[Yun! John! It's been a while! Did my battery run out? My memory cuts off at a strange point.]

"Martin!" Peter cried from a distance, his hands clasped. "You're awake! I'm sorry!"

His heartrending apology was drowned out by the ecstatic scientists. Once again, deafening cheers rose to pierce my ears.

Amid the cheering, I heard Yun ask Martin basic questions to check his condition. After receiving clear answers, Yun turned to John.

"What do you want to do about the thief?"

A reasonable question to ask his co-creator. But John didn't look at the thief. Instead, he hugged the AI tight as it spun around, seemingly bewildered by all the shouting.

He looked as though he were holding a beloved child. The gray-haired genius hugged Martin for a long time before speaking.

"He's back. That's enough."

A tearful reunion indeed.

"That... His name..."

"Do you mean me, sir? I'm Test Subject Zero."

"Give Zero the reward," John said, looking at me after my prompt introduction. "That's all I want."

Yun gave a quiet snort. Martin spun around, and the scientists cheered at the sight.

And so the Martin theft crisis was resolved. Martin was once again the lab's idol, and Peter left on his business trip to the branch with all his limbs intact, though he received more than his share of contemptuous looks.

And I received the reward. Thirty million won after taxes. In one lump sum.

My name also went up in the Quest Hall of Fame. Surpassing all the senior Badgers, I proudly took first place for the largest single reward of all time. "Hildebert Taleb: Total Reward, 30 Million Won."

From that day on, I became something of a hero in the lab. Whenever I walked in, the scientists would cheer and make bizarre announcements about their hero's arrival.

John Mühlen even learned my name.

As Zero.

And so the Martin theft case ended, bringing a few small changes. Though I was actually happier about growing closer to Martin than about becoming the lab's hero or John learning my name. After that day, I often visited Martin to hang out. I also kept in touch with Peter at the branch.

Time spent with people who weren't Badgers. That was how I passed the days until the eve of the social gathering.