The day of the gathering came around quickly. I had barely left the hospital and gotten back into the swing of things before it arrived. The gathering started at six on Saturday evening.

My precious weekend.

I went to Yun’s house around noon on Saturday. The immaculate house looked exactly the same every time I visited. Its occupants let me in without showing themselves, saying they were all in their rooms getting ready for the evening.

So Ami was the first to approach me as I waited quietly in the entryway.

“Hilde, that suit was such a good choice!”

She wore a navy dress. Her gleaming white mother-of-pearl pendant made a pleasing contrast with the fabric. The ankle-length silk dress wasn’t flashy, but it was formal and elegant.

Holding up her skirt in her left hand, she bounded barefoot down the stairs. My round-eyed senior’s face lit up when she saw me.

“You got it from the place my youngest brother recommended, right? They’ve done consistently good work ever since we were kids.”

“Thank you.”

I was happy with the suit too. Despite the tailor’s assurances that a light color would suit me just as well, I had firmly insisted on black. I didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention at a gathering of prominent people.

Ami pattered over to admire my suit. I was complimenting her dress when Yun emerged from farther inside.

“You’re here.”

He was dressed to the nines in black.

“A safe choice.”

“Would you consider wearing nothing but black for the rest of your life?” I suggested in all seriousness.

Yun merely raised an eyebrow and lowered it again. I meant it, though. His black suit did far more for his face than his white lab coat.

With one hand shoved in his pocket, he reached out with his right and tugged my tie tight.

“Watch what you say when we get there.”

He offered the advice as casually as if he were describing the lunch menu.

“There are ears everywhere. Your wrist looks a little bare.”

“That suits you, Hilde.”

A husky voice came from farther inside the house. My superior emerged, ready to go. I bowed my thanks and studied the pale man.

Yehyeon wore a glossy gray suit. Its faint green sheen made his face look even paler.

Ami looked at him as he approached. “Brother, you decided against the dark gray suit after all?”

“The checks looked a little too casual...”

“Aww.”

The corners of Ami’s eyes drooped. Flustered, Yehyeon watched her expression with a troubled look.

It only looked like our round-eyed senior was being a little petulant.

Yun scolded her bluntly. “Choi Ami. Speak like an adult.”

“I humbly beseech thee: aww.”

These siblings were consistently weird.

At any rate, I had met the dress code. Yehyeon and Ami lavished praise on my suit, assuring me that no one at the gathering could find fault with it.

On our way to the car, I received a crash course in social gatherings: which utensils to use first, basic etiquette, and so on. Assured that I really only needed to manage the basics, I climbed into the spotless white Bentley.

The gathering was being held at the A-Tech chairman’s home.

We barely spoke on the way. In the passenger seat, Yehyeon kept his eyes lowered to his phone. Yun and Ami sat side by side in the back, silently looking out the windows.

Watching my seniors in the rearview mirror, I took the hint, kept my mouth shut, and concentrated on driving. All three were so on edge that I could barely breathe.

* * *

We passed through two security checks before arriving. After the last one, a huge mansion came into view outside the car. I had thought Yehyeon’s house was luxurious enough, but the mansion before me was on an entirely different scale.

Despite trying not to act like a country bumpkin, I couldn’t tear my eyes away as it loomed ever larger.

They were this rich?

I stopped the car in front of the inward-opened gates. Bodyguards opened the car doors. I hurried out and followed my seniors toward the garden.

The garden glowed beautifully in the blue dusk, with lovely lighting carefully placed throughout. Not that I managed to get a proper look; I was far too nervous.

The gathering was in an annex behind the main house, but we were invited to the main house’s drawing room first. We had to greet the A-Tech chairman’s family separately.

I stood quietly by the door, watching Yun and Ami exchange greetings with the family behind A-Tech. Yun shook hands with an elderly gentleman in a dark gray suit and thin-framed glasses.

“It’s been a while, Yun,” the gentleman said courteously.

“Eldest brother,” Yun replied dryly. “It has.”

Three people were in the room, all getting on in years: two men and a woman. None resembled Yun or Ami. What they did have in common was neatly groomed black hair, dark eyes, and formal attire that exuded wealth.

After shaking hands with Yun and Ami, the man addressed as their eldest brother turned to Yehyeon.

“Commander-in-Chief.”

“Chairman Choi Hyeonjun.” Yehyeon shook his hand with a businesslike smile. “Have you been well?”

A-Tech. With creatures still posing a very real threat, this company provided Center Core’s most vital infrastructure. A-Tech manufactured core maintenance systems. It also made military supplies and IT products, and its cash cow was something else, but core maintenance systems defined its brand.

The systems were built on Yun’s patents—the reason money poured into his bank account at all hours. Humanity’s life-support system, running around the clock.

A-Tech only manufactured the systems; a separate organization called the Core Management Corporation managed them. That didn’t make A-Tech any less important.

Black Badger headquarters contacted A-Tech whenever it expanded our territory. Apparently, it received regular reports from the company even without a major undertaking like territorial expansion.

The company’s chairman, Choi Hyeonjun, asked, “Are there no plans for territorial expansion? It seems quite some time since we last received word on that front.”

“We were preparing for it, but the creatures have been causing trouble lately.” Yehyeon smiled faintly. “I’ll contact you when the time comes.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“Thank you for looking after our wayward youngest.”

The woman with her hair neatly tied back smiled, her arms folded. She was the president of an insurance company that had spun off from A-Tech. Still smiling with her eyes, she looked at Ami.

“Our youngest just never grows up.”

Ami blinked her round eyes a couple of times. I watched her start to speak, then close her mouth when she realized Yehyeon was answering. He responded as smoothly as he had greeted A-Tech’s chairman.

“President Choi Hyeonyeong. On the contrary, I’m the one who benefits from Ami’s help.”

It felt as if every single word needed to be chosen with care.

The man wearing a slight frown broke the suffocating formality. He was the Choi family’s second son.

“It’s not the creatures causing trouble. The elders can’t agree on which territory to expand into.”

“Hyeonseok.”

“Choi Hyeonseok.”

The chairman and the president both admonished him the instant his disgruntled remark ended. Only Yehyeon smiled—a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Ultimately, the final decision on that matter is mine.”

“Such a smooth talker for the elders’ puppet.”

“Choi Hyeonseok!”

“Choi Hyeonseok. If you’re going to keep behaving like this, leave.”

“Are you unwell?” Yun asked, sounding puzzled amid the executives’ anger.

Of course, everyone knew the question was a masterful piece of sarcasm. Astounded, I watched my training officer expertly arrange his features into an expression of utter, innocent sincerity.

“I don’t recall you being quite this bad. Do you perhaps have little time left, and no one has told me?”

“Ungrateful beggar bastards! Running your mouths after we took you in!”

“Choi Hyeonseok! I told you not to lump Ami in with him!” Choi Hyeonyeong snapped at the second son.

... Wasn’t that a strange thing to be angry about?

But no one seemed surprised. Chairman Choi Hyeonjun sighed, Choi Hyeonseok fumed, and Yehyeon remained silent with a vaguely ominous blank expression. Yun and Ami turned their eyes to President Choi Hyeonyeong.

My training officer gave her a sullen look. “Isn’t this constant favoritism a bit much?”

“I only like normal people.”

Choi Hyeonyeong was unapologetic. As if stating a self-evident truth, she added, “Ami is cute and lovable. You’re creepy.”

'You mustn’t laugh, Hildebert.'

Pressing my lips into a straight line, I barely managed to contain the laughter threatening to burst out. This was no occasion for laughing, so I had to give it everything I had.

President Choi Hyeonyeong’s tone, as if asking why he kept questioning the obvious, was funny. So was Yun’s utterly unhurt expression. And so was Ami nodding as if to say that her youngest brother was admittedly a little creepy.

Thankfully, I didn’t let out a sound. But it seemed I was mistaken in thinking I had hidden it well.

The president, who had been smiling at Ami, rolled her eyes over to me.

“But what possessed the commander to bring an ordinary Badger to a place like this?”

Feeling gazes fly toward me and land, I hurriedly raised my head. Everyone in the Choi family was looking at me.

“Even if he is Forden’s special guest. Haven’t you always refused to bring ordinary Badgers to gatherings of such dangerous people?”

“Mr. Taleb.” Choi Hyeonjun walked toward me, extending his right hand. “A pleasure to meet you. I’m Choi Hyeonjun.”

“Ah.” I hurriedly took his hand. “A pleasure, Chairman.”

I shook hands with the eldest daughter and second son too. Choi Hyeonyeong smiled at me as we shook, but Choi Hyeonseok’s scowl never eased.

Once the formal greetings were over, the chairman turned to Yehyeon. “I understand Mr. Taleb is a new Badger recruit.”

“Yes. Yun is his training officer.”

At Yehyeon’s calm reply, the Choi family briefly froze. But they were certainly seasoned. Apart from Choi Hyeonseok, the other two merely stopped as if someone had hit pause for a moment, then recovered without widening their eyes or choking.

Chairman Choi Hyeonjun even managed to say, “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“No, eldest brother. It was the head of HR’s decision.”

“Then I’m sure the head of HR had reasons.”

Choi Hyeonjun hastily closed the subject and moved on, as if he didn’t want to think about it any further.

There was no need to react quite so strongly. Or was there? Was that the normal, sensible reaction?

At any rate, the Choi family’s chairman returned to the question of why I had been brought here.

Because Forden had invited me. Of course, they weren’t looking for such an obvious answer.

“From my brief look at the article, I assumed he was an ordinary Badger. Even when I heard Forden had specially invited him to the gathering, I thought he merely wanted to draw attention by bringing in a handsome Badger. But if he were that ordinary, you would have declined the invitation upon learning the elders would be here, Commander.”

“He’s an ordinary Badger who won’t lose his life for seeing an elder’s face,” Yehyeon replied, his faint smile unchanged. “For now, that is all I can tell you.”

“A new addition to the senior leadership?”

“No. Ska and Gilbert are doing more than enough.”

“Then is he going to serve as one of the elders’ personal agents?”

“No.”

Yehyeon’s voice hardened at Choi Hyeonyeong’s almost self-directed question. The commander-in-chief answered in a courteous but distinctly chilly tone.

“Hildebert is one of mine now.”

The Choi family stared at me. But I had nothing to offer in response. All of this was news to me too.

I had only recently learned that there was more than one elder. Naturally, I had never seen one in person, and I didn’t know exactly what being an elder’s personal agent entailed.

I was simply grateful that Yehyeon had so firmly laid claim to me...

Meeting their gazes, I gave a slight nod. They studied me for a long time.

The pleasant scent of wood lingered in the drawing room. Chairman Choi Hyeonjun slowly broke the silence filling it.

“If you survive, I suppose we’ll be seeing each other often.”

Without fully understanding what he meant, I quietly bowed my head.

* * *

Yehyeon told Ami he would prefer that she not attend the gathering if possible. There would be people there whom she would be better off not meeting.

My round-eyed senior was neither surprised nor hurt. Instead, she nodded calmly as if she had expected this, said she would go spend time with her adoptive father, and left.

The Choi family said they had something to attend to before joining the gathering. So Yun, Yehyeon, and I headed to the annex ahead of them.

The annex was bright and airy. High ceilings opened up the space, sparkling crystal chandeliers hanging overhead. Tall windows, spotless white tablecloths. Smartly dressed people chatting.

Even at a glance, it was hard to find a single detail in the classically elegant room that hadn’t been painstakingly arranged.

Finger sandwiches. Pastries. Biscuits and chocolates. Fruit and wine jellies. Sparkling water. Sherry. Buttered bread and scones. Roast meat with vegetables and potatoes, and beefsteak pie. Salmon meunière. Fried oysters. Thinly sliced turkey and ham.

A strangely old-fashioned menu. Was that the theme? Or were these the hosts’ tastes? Either way, the cooks must have had their work cut out for them.

I decided to fill up on those dishes later. The smell alone whetted my appetite.

Looking around in eager anticipation, I nearly walked into my seniors’ backs when they stopped. Yun and Yehyeon had halted beside a table set with finger sandwiches and Earl Grey.

“Hilde.”

“Yes?”

“Stay close to me while we’re here, unless you absolutely have to leave.” Yehyeon spoke with his eyes fixed on the far side of the enormous hall. “You mustn’t be alone with the elders.”

I followed his gaze.

I had received no further explanation of these people since deducing their existence in the commander-in-chief’s office. Powerful figures who called beings like me Titans and wielded influence Yehyeon couldn’t ignore.

People who enjoyed the full privileges of ageless bodies and nothing else, while civilians remained unaware they even existed.

It wasn’t hard to pick them out where Yehyeon was looking. Influencers, successful businesspeople, celebrities, politicians—everyone here had been invited for their own star appeal, yet even among them, those two stood out.

Even with bright smiles on their faces, the presence they unconsciously radiated was impossible to ignore.

Get too close and you’d be devoured.

Looking at a tall, handsome middle-aged man with platinum-blond hair and a middle-aged woman whose wavy silver hair was twisted up, I murmured, “They can’t hide their aggression.”

Yehyeon turned to me, eyes widening. He stared at me in genuine surprise, then found the pair I was looking at and blinked several times.

Then he burst out laughing.

“Let’s go say hello.”

After a long moment, my superior reined in his laughter, his eyes curving into a graceful smile. “It seems we can.”