I desperately wanted to see Ami and Yehyeon.

I took a step back from my training officer and replied, ready to run at any moment.

“If I play the game, I won’t have to go on the operating table?”

“Then I’ll have to push it back a little.”

Was canceling it altogether not an option?

The sad thing was that, outrageous as this was, it didn’t surprise me. After nearly three months of being run ragged under Choi Yun’s supervision every Monday through Friday, I was used to the man by now.

Without lowering my guard, I replied, “I’ll play it.”

“When?”

“But I have dinner plans with Aide Ska tomorrow.”

Ska Owen was my savior.

Yun raised an eyebrow. I clung like a lifeline to the dinner we should have had last week, postponed until tomorrow because of Ska’s schedule.

“We’re meeting at six thirty on the forty-fifth floor of G Tower.”

“Just the two of you?”

“Yes. He offered to treat me.”

Though I didn’t know why.

At any rate, it was an excellent excuse. As long as that appointment stood, there was no way Yun could use the operating table tomorrow. He did respect Aide Ska, in his own way.

As expected, Yun considered it briefly, then said, “Then finish the game over the weekend.”

“Yes, sir.”

I really would be in trouble if I put it off any longer. Well, I had to play it eventually. Since things had come to this, I might as well use my training officer’s threats to muster some courage.

Having answered promptly, I narrowed my eyes and scrutinized his face as he stood there impassively.

“You’ll cancel the operating table reservation, right?”

“Well, I don’t have much choice.” Yun shrugged, his tone casual. “I’ll have to pick another day.”

Don’t. I’d known he was serious, but I hadn’t known he was this serious.

I shuddered, feeling a fresh, alarming fear of my training officer. But even if I begged him not to, it would clearly go in one ear and out the other. He’d ignored even Yehyeon’s scolding.

My only option now was to tell Yehyeon or Ami before danger struck. When were those two coming home?

With that thought, I hastily fled.

* * *

Friday evening.

The moment training ended, I dashed to the showers and quickly changed into the suit I’d worn to the social gathering. Then I escaped as fast as I could from Yun, who was lamenting how hard it was to book an operating table.

G Tower wasn’t far from headquarters. Even its exterior was so extravagant that I’d never considered going inside. I entered the sleek building and headed up to the forty-fifth floor.

“You’re early.”

Ska was waiting in front of the elevator. He was impeccably dressed as always. A silver piercing in just one ear gleamed under the lights. The commander-in-chief’s right-hand man. The man who would succeed Lee Yehyeon.

He acknowledged my greeting with an easy smile. “Let’s go. You must be hungry.”

Naturally, we were shown to a private room.

Sitting down, I glanced outside. Evening lay over Center Core beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. Amid the endless city lights, the towering Black Badger headquarters drew my eye.

Night was falling earlier now.

Ska’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Sorry to put you through an uncomfortable dinner.”

“Not at all,” I replied in all sincerity. “You’re my savior.”

“What?”

He blinked, not understanding. When I briefly explained what had happened yesterday, his puzzlement turned to disbelief. Wiping his hands with the damp towel, he wore a look that said the man hadn’t changed a bit.

“You have it rough under Yun.”

“Actually, aside from trying to cut me open, he’s a good training officer.”

Especially considering my peculiarities.

Perhaps understanding even what I’d left unsaid, Ska nodded silently. After a quiet moment in which he seemed lost in thought, he set the towel on the table, then gestured toward the food with an open hand.

“Eat. I didn’t know what you liked, so I ordered a few safe choices.”

I thanked him and began eating.

Salmon salad, butter-grilled scallops, cubed steak—dish after delicious dish arrived, though I couldn’t pin them to any particular national cuisine. As we ate, we made small talk for a while. My training, the cabin and the dorms, my fellow recruits.

Only after the server brought out the main course did Ska stop skirting the issue and get to the point.

“You’re going on a mission with Riccardo at the end of this month, right?”

I’d thought he might bring this up. He was unlikely to discuss my past without Yehyeon present. He’d probably asked to see me alone because of his friend.

I set down my utensils and nodded. “Yes.”

“Have you heard what sort of mission it is?”

“No, I haven’t heard anything.”

Ska leaned back in his chair. His blank face betrayed no particular emotion. When he continued, his voice was measured.

“Capturing or killing creatures is entirely Black Badger’s jurisdiction. Whatever form that takes.”

“Yes.”

“There are people illegally raising creatures inside the core.”

I wasn’t exactly surprised. It would have been more surprising if there weren’t people like that. I swallowed a sip of red wine and listened.

“Some criminal organizations breed creatures, and some people raise them illegally on their own. It’s mainly the former that cause trouble. The latter don’t operate on much of a scale. They usually end up dead when they try to expand.”

“Do the criminal organizations raise them to fight in illegal colosseums?”

He nodded in confirmation.

“Illegal transplant recipients versus illegally raised creatures. They travel around the core’s outskirts like a touring carnival, holding matches. Even buying a ticket is a serious crime that will land you in a cell. And yet they always sell out. Enormous sums ride on the outcome, and some illegal transplant recipients have even made a name for themselves there.”

“So we’re going to bust them.”

“That’s right. In a joint operation with the police.”

“The police arrest the criminals, and we subdue the creatures in the colosseum?”

“Quick on the uptake, as always.”

Ska gave me an approving smile. I thanked him and waited for him to continue. He couldn’t have invited me here just to give me a simple mission briefing.

The tall, handsome aide took a sip of wine, then gazed down at the vivid red liquid. He idly turned the glass this way and that, swirling its contents, before breaking the silence.

“Ric might be a little on edge throughout the mission.”

There it was. The real point.

I straightened and looked directly at the man across from me.

“He loathes that kind of criminal organization.”

Had he had a bad run-in with one?

I nodded to show I understood, then asked the question that came to mind.

“Then why was Riccardo assigned to this mission?”

“Oh, he’s assigned every time. Every time.”

Huh?

My eyes widened, and Ska gave a wry smile. “There are very few Badgers who handle this job as well as he does.”

A small realization flashed through my mind, brought to light by a sudden memory. On my first day, I’d asked the people around me for the country’s name. I could vividly picture their puzzled faces the moment I’d repeated my question, asking which country I was in.

And what Riccardo and Ro had said then.

“The Mafia?”

Ska went still.

My suspicion became certainty. Tom and Heshy didn’t really understand the concept of nations, but I knew Earth before the war, and I knew its countries. I also knew the basic fact that Sicily was notorious for organized crime.

I watched the aide let out a quiet sigh.

“I suppose asking whether he was a member or a victim would be crossing a line.”

“Yes. That much isn’t mine to tell. In fact, Ric would blow up just knowing I’d told you this much.”

“Does an elder receive payoffs from the organization?”

Ska’s eyes widened at my quiet question. Clearly, he hadn’t expected it at all. He stared at me, wide-eyed. Seeing the pure surprise in his eyes, I quietly added an explanation.

“I thought that might be why you’d told me this much. You don’t seem like someone who would bring up something that would anger his friend just to warn me to be careful because he’ll be on edge.”

“You really are a junior I’d love to have.”

Ska suddenly burst out laughing.

What a strange thing to say. What was there to want? I was already his subordinate.

Seeing my puzzled expression, the immaculate aide laughed for a good while longer. Only after reining in his laughter and composing himself did he explain.

“You’d do brilliantly in senior leadership.”

“Oh.”

And just like that, he’d pressed my trauma button.

I let my feelings show plainly on my face. “I don’t want to be in charge of anyone anymore.”

“That’s not really up to you.”

Ska was chilling in an entirely different way from Yun. He picked up his wineglass with a satisfied smile. The sight of him looking so relaxed only deepened my foreboding.

Why was I surrounded by people who said such terrifying things? My heart couldn’t take this!

“That’s especially true of this upcoming match.”

Ignoring my terror, the aide continued brightly.

“An elder was ousted. The unlucky fellow will soon be in the arena.”

I stared at Ska Owen.

He couldn’t be talking about Eric Earhart or Yekaterina. If they’d lost a power struggle, Ska wouldn’t be here enjoying a leisurely dinner with me. So someone less influential than them must have been driven out of one of the limited seats available to the elders.

Not that I knew how many elders there were in total.

As though guessing my thoughts, Ska spoke quietly. “There are about ten. Below fourth place, the names keep changing.”

“Whoever ranks fourth must be firmly established.”

“There’s a wily old man. All he cares about is surviving.”

The type who put all his energy into keeping his position, then. That wasn’t easy either. Especially among people like them.

I was thinking of the elders and their agents I’d met when Ska’s next words snapped me to attention. They couldn’t have done anything else.

“The one who was ousted this time wanted checkmate.”

Wow. The type to stake everything on a single move.

“And he failed.”

“Oh dear.”

“He’ll be in the arena at the end of November.”

Merciful, by Colton’s standards.

Had he mellowed a little with age? Or had the man failed to inflict enough damage to warrant a cruel death? Neither would be particularly surprising. The latter was probably far more likely.

In any case, it was now clear why Ska had brought me here.

“Don’t intervene on his behalf.”

The aide gave the order in a voice devoid of emotion. “Even if you save every other player, not him.”

“Understood.”

It was a fairly reasonable order.

He couldn’t have told Riccardo this. No matter how I racked my brains, I couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation. However delicately he phrased it, Riccardo was unlikely to fully understand. Especially on edge, he’d be even less inclined to heed such a bizarre order.

I understood Ska’s concern. He was afraid an agitated Riccardo might interfere with Colton’s prey, even by accident. And that really was something to fear.

I slowly set down my wineglass. “I’ll do my best to leave him alone. As naturally as possible.”

“All right. Thank you. I’m sorry to saddle you with something so difficult.”

A bitter smile spread across Ska’s lips as he finished. “And no one will even know to appreciate it.”

I saw the tangled emotions in that smile. It lacked Yehyeon’s resignation toward life and heavy sorrow, but it held the weariness of facing a life that never grew easier, and the pain of knowing too much. The sort of smile worn by someone who refused to look away from bitter reality.

Still wearing that rueful smile, Ska Owen lamented, “But surely I’m allowed this much privilege.”

The privilege of protecting a comrade from danger he wasn’t even aware of.

Guessing at the words left unspoken, I remained silent for a long time.