The ambulance arrived in no time. Its nose pushed through the wall Yun had demolished, and a familiar figure hopped out as it stopped. Ska strode inside carrying a stretcher.

“He looks better than usual.”

Those were his first words upon seeing Yehyeon.

Yun nodded without a word. My training officer glanced over the wounds he had finished treating, then stood and walked over to Ska. Meanwhile, Ska sighed and turned to look at me. His brow furrowed at the sight of my shoulder wound.

“Man, that must really hurt.”

“Yes, a bit,” I answered honestly.

My unhesitating reply must have amused him, because he gave a small laugh.

“Just hang on a little longer. I'll give you a painkiller in a moment.”

Yun and Ska moved very quickly. Together, they loaded Yehyeon onto the stretcher and carried him to the ambulance. I staggered to my feet and followed. The vehicle stood amid the dusty rubble. Inside, I could see my seniors finishing up emergency treatment, putting Yehyeon on an IV and applying gauze.

As I stepped forward, Ska came right over and took my good arm to support me. With his help, I settled into a narrow seat. Riccardo and Ami were in the ambulance too.

“You really...”

Riccardo gave a helpless smile at the state I was in.

“Can't you even go to a social gathering without getting hurt?”

“Apparently not. The world just won't leave me alone.”

Ska gave me a painkiller. I wondered who was driving, then saw Ami in the driver's seat. She and Riccardo seemed to have stayed inside the ambulance because nothing good could come of running into Jaeyeon. Even seeing his face could hardly do them any good.

The ambulance soon set off, speeding through a city shrouded in blue-tinged darkness. Exhausted, I sat leaning against its wall. I had remembered so much that I needed time to think.

Fortunately, everyone left me alone for a while as I sat in a daze. Yun kept checking Yehyeon's vital signs, Ami drove, and Riccardo and Ska passed the time sitting with their legs or arms crossed and their eyes closed.

My phone broke the silence, vibrating inside my ruined jacket.

Colton, that son of a bitch.

Everyone's eyes were on me as I answered with my good hand.

“You son of a bitch.”

I launched straight into swearing.

“Thanks so fucking much for your help, you son of a bitch.”

[You're welcome.]

Colton's reply was smooth.

He seemed to be on his way home in a car. I could hear the low hum of an engine and a glass being set down. I could picture him working in the back of a luxury car, sipping imported liquor, and it pissed me off.

Ignoring everyone's stares, I snapped at him.

“Is this any way to treat a friend of several decades the moment you see him again?”

[It does seem your skills have gotten rusty.]

I really wanted to kill him.

I closed my eyes and swallowed my anger.

“Why was I friends with you again?”

[Do you imagine you were such a devoted friend yourself?]

I heard papers rustling over the phone. He was clearly giving me only half his attention as he read his documents. The scent of approaching midnight had seeped into the air. In his distinctively refined cadence, Colton added,

[You seem to have forgotten ramming a political rival's truck into the car I was riding in.]

... Had I done that?

I fell silent for a moment. Pressing my lips into a straight line, I thought back to watching the power struggles between Colton and the others. Back when Kyle and I hadn't fallen out, when I could leisurely sip an Americano at a peaceful sidewalk café.

Oh, now I remembered.

“Come to think of it, I did, didn't I?”

[As shameless as ever.]

Colton wasn't even surprised. He didn't give me time to get any angrier or protest, either. Just as I was about to start yelling that even so, this was crossing the line, he cut me off with, [I'm busy. I'll hang up now.]

Then he ended the call without waiting for an answer.

What a precious friend.

I threw my phone onto the seat in irritation.

“... Wasn't that Falcon?”

Ska's stunned voice broke the silence that had settled over the ambulance after the call ended.

I had never seen him so shocked. The man who was always so relaxed and confident stared at me as though he couldn't believe what had just happened. Yun was looking at me in disbelief too. Riccardo narrowed his eyes and scrutinized me.

Come to think of it, they must have heard everything. It had been so quiet that they would even have heard what Colton said on the other end. I smiled awkwardly.

“Yes. You must have heard all of that. I'm sorry.”

“Friends?” Ska repeated, appalled.

“You're friends with Falcon?”

“Uh, well... It wasn't exactly an ordinary friendship. Strictly speaking, rather than friends, we were people who saw each other often out of necessity... Oh, that sounds strange when I put it that way.”

“Sounds like you've remembered a few things.”

Yun, who hadn't asked any particular questions at the gathering, looked at me with his arms crossed. Leaning against Yehyeon's stretcher, my training officer asked,

“How old are you?”

I didn't remember that either.

When I answered honestly, Yun looked sulky but said nothing more. I gave another awkward smile under everyone's stares.

Ska and Riccardo were speechless, gazing at me in disbelief. Ami concentrated on driving. Yun checked Yehyeon's vital signs, then turned his eyes back to me.

“You were injected with something, weren't you?”

He must have seen the syringe lying amid the wreckage on the floor. I nodded silently, and both Riccardo and Ska frowned.

“How do you feel?”

“Fine, apart from the nausea.”

“Get examined as soon as we arrive anyway. I just ran a quick test on your blood, but that won't tell us everything.”

When had he taken my blood?

Watching my stunned face, Ska uncrossed his arms with a frown.

“What do you mean, injected? You mean some kind of drug?”

“Yes. But I feel fine. I don't think it's anything serious.”

“A doctor needs to examine you to decide whether you're fine...”

Riccardo, who had remained silent until now, muttered menacingly.

“Do you have no concept of taking care of yourself?”

Scary.

Frightened, I apologized first and foremost. The air inside the ambulance froze in an instant. But Ska and Ami, still driving, immediately chipped in with a remark each, and the taut atmosphere soon relaxed.

It relaxed, but my heart had already shriveled up.

I needed to be careful... Just as I'd thought when we first met, Riccardo was not someone to take lightly.

Ami and Ska asked more questions about how I felt. A brief exchange about my health followed. When that conversation ended without yielding much, silence returned to the vehicle.

White noise battered my ears. Ever since Jaeyeon had injected me with something, all five senses had become excessively sharp. My oversensitive ears picked up so much: tires rolling over the road, the engine, fluid dripping in the IV. Every sound came through unfiltered, quickly wearing me out.

But that was how I caught the change in breathing. Yehyeon had woken up.

Too ashamed to face him, I lowered my eyes to the ambulance floor.

“I'm sorry. You wouldn't have gotten caught up in this mess if it weren't for me.”

The others, each lost in their own thoughts, looked at me when I broke the silence. I hadn't expected an answer. Apart from Yun, no one seemed to have noticed that Yehyeon was awake.

But he answered. My newly conscious superior gave a muffled chuckle, making Riccardo and Ska whip their heads around, then said,

“I was the one who got greedy and took you under my command.”

“Keep it short.”

Yun's admonition was blunt, but his superior paid it no heed.

“And Jaeyeon has always hated me. It isn't your fault.”

“You couldn't fight back with me unconscious and tied up.”

“This was milder than usual.”

Yehyeon slowly opened his eyes.

Yun furrowed his brow but didn't add anything. I watched Yehyeon gaze blankly up at the ambulance ceiling before a faint smile formed on his lips.

“A very small price to pay for taking someone Falcon had his eye on.”

Satisfaction colored my superior's voice.

“You really must be stubborn, Hilde.”

[“And you'll be someone's ace again.”]

My troublesome friend's words came back to me. Something else he had said long ago echoed in my ears. [“You're the ace that will secure my victory.”] Colton never spoke idly. He had a reason for saying that as he looked down at me during the meeting.

It meant he knew I was now one of Yehyeon's people.

He wasn't someone who subscribed to stupid beliefs like “Make the impossible possible.” Colton had a gift for distinguishing what was possible from what wasn't. He knew me well, so he would have known I would never serve under him. He must have realized it the moment we reunited at the gathering.

Though that realization had angered him enough to send Jaeyeon after both Yehyeon and me.

At any rate, he had ultimately accepted reality. I wondered if he had also calculated that I wouldn't pose a threat to him under Yehyeon's command, and that serving Yehyeon would be preferable to serving another elder.

Thinking of the two elders who had shown an interest in me, I smiled faintly.

“I might not prove all that useful to you. There's still so much I can't remember, for a start.”

“That's all right,” Yehyeon said hoarsely.

“You're doing more than well enough.”

“Am I? Thank you for saying so.”

“Yes. Don't worry.”

“Stop talking now,” Yun instructed matter-of-factly.

At that, the conversation ended.

In the silence that followed, I sank into thought. Colton, my longtime troublesome friend. Kyle, whom I'd known even longer but who was now my enemy. Yehyeon, who had concealed my existence before officially registering me as a Black Badger. Jaeyeon, who hated me for giving humans enhanced bodies. And the two elders who had shown an interest in me, along with their agents.

Yehyeon's father, who was one of those agents...

Ah.

I remembered.

His name was Lee Seunghyeon. A soldier recruited from Korea.

* * *

I must have passed out sitting in the ambulance. I'd thought I was fine, but when I opened my eyes, I was looking at a hospital-room ceiling. I blinked several times as my vision sharpened.

How many times had I been through this now?

“Well, look who's awake.”

Dr. Samuel Han craned his head toward me.

My senses, which showed no sign of dulling since the injection, registered the presence beside the bed. The doctor peered down at me and clicked his tongue.

“Let's stop seeing so much of each other.”

“I'm sorry.”

I did come here too often.

Ignoring the stabbing headache, I took in what my senses were telling me. The lack of any real noise suggested I'd been admitted to a hospital room. When had I passed out?

I'd really thought I was fine.

Was Yehyeon all right?

After staring blankly at the ceiling, I sat up.

“Look at you. Just can't stay lying down.”

Samuel clicked his tongue as I slowly raised my upper body.

“Don't put any weight on your right arm, you idiot. Not if you want to heal quickly.”

“All right. By the way, did you get that pound cake?”

“Pound cake?”

The doctor looked as though this was news to him.

“What pound cake?”

“I brought one for you last time... But things happened, and I never got to give it to you.”

I'd dumped it in the corridor when I ran off to catch Peter, then forgotten all about it. It must have been thrown away by now. I'd have to buy him something nicer.

I groped for my phone with my eyes half open. The doctor, who had been standing at the foot of the bed, strode over, picked it up from the table, and thrust it at me.

“Forget it. Just behave yourself until you're discharged, you brat. Don't bring me anything.”

“I'll bring it as soon as I'm discharged. What do you like?”

“I said don't bring anything.”

“Do you prefer raisins or green tea? If you don't like sweets, I'll get you something other than dessert. That way, I can feel a little less guilty every time I have to rely on you—”

“Damn brat. Can't even smack you because you've hurt your head.”

Samuel looked as though not being able to hit me over the head with his tablet was the greatest regret of his life. I smiled at him as he stood there holding it. The doctor hadn't changed. His patchily shaved face, jet-black hair, and blue eyes whose weariness couldn't conceal their intelligence.

The doctor, who sometimes smelled sharply of cigarettes, sighed at my beaming face.

“Just get in touch with everyone.”

He jerked his chin toward the phone in my hand.

“They've kept trying to reach you. You can't use your right hand, so call instead of texting.”

I obediently did as he said. Using my left hand, I turned on the phone and checked my unread messages. Messages from Ami, Ska, and Riccardo. Oh! Heshy and Tom seemed to be back. Nothing from Yun, and nothing from Yehyeon either.

And who was this?

A message from an unfamiliar number, rather than a blocked one. I tapped it before any of the others, then read the message from someone I hadn't expected at all.

[Hi, Taleb. It's Shu Diamond. Once you're discharged, would you like to check out a game store in the slums with me and our senior Walker?]