* * *

Hyeonyul shot straight out and landed upright. Looking around, he found himself on the roof of another building.

<I can see you, Hyeonyul.>

Nayun's message appeared.

<Be careful.>

<Understood. I'll send the signal.>

After sending the message, Hyeonyul plunged straight down. People were stationed immediately below the rooftop. All the lights were off, but they were keeping track of one another by the faint glow of flashlights. Their movements, their eyes, and the smells emanating from their bodies told him who they were.

He waited a moment.

'There could be hostages where the bombs are, but there could also be hostages where there aren't any bombs.'

Hostages. Such an irritating complication. Without them, he could get this done very quickly.

Considering the many possibilities, Hyeonyul closed his eyes. There was no time. He had to rely on the power of darkness.

Though he was already within it, he reached out and grasped that darkness. He felt his body flowing deeper down.

His body was unmistakably here, yet he was seeing and feeling everything: passing over buildings, following the sidewalk across a road, moving beneath trees, even the swishing tail of a passing cat.

He felt himself splitting apart. He watched and listened to not one building, but every building nearby. Among the countless sounds, he focused on the ticking timers inside the bombs.

TICK, TOCK.

'How many buildings have bombs?'

A current surged toward him as though the darkness were answering.

Eight.

'Where?'

As if in reply, his eyes split into eight, and the locations lodged sharply in his mind. He did not forget to mark them.

He felt his body melting further into the darkness, but concentrated again on what he could hear and see.

Quiet sobbing. Sweat trickling. Hearts pounding loudly with despair.

His gaze followed those sounds. He saw people held captive, bound. There they were.

'Where are the hostages?'

Once again, the locations embedded themselves in his mind like blades.

As his breath caught and his heart began to race, Hyeonyul rose upward. Barely reaching the ceiling, he emerged with pieces of his body dripping off him, as though he had climbed out of water. It looked just like water falling.

"... Hah, hah."

With trembling hands, he hurriedly took out a syringe and stabbed it into his abdomen.

The more he saw and heard through the power of darkness, the more he had to endure the sensation of being sucked into it, of himself disappearing.

Lying with his back against the floor, he quickly marked the locations first, without waiting for his gasping to subside.

<... Hyeonyul? Are you okay?>

<Something looks wrong with your body.>

Nayun sent the messages.

<No. I'm fine.>

Hyeonyul let out a long breath and sat up. He shared the markers he had just placed.

<There are eight buildings in total that we need to focus on.>

<Eight...?>

Jihwan sent the message.

<Yes. I'll update you as I proceed.>

Hyeonyul flexed his fingers again, tensing them before spreading them out. He exhaled.

After taking a deep breath, he plunged down once more. He had pinpointed the bombs and hostages. Now it was time to move.

* * *

Dagger in hand, Hyeonyul headed for the floor just below the roof, where the bombs were. Villains paced the unlit corridor, but he paid them no mind. He slipped silently along the wall and into the room.

The desks and computers had all been shoved aside, and the bombs gathered in one spot. There were more than he expected, as though someone had tried to build a mountain of them.

Three people stood around them in a triangle, holding flashlights and staring only at the bombs.

Hyeonyul appeared behind one of them, covered his mouth, and silently slit his throat. Taking the man's flashlight, he smiled. One was dead, and no one had noticed.

Thick darkness emerged like tails behind the other two. The moment Hyeonyul's smile widened, it pierced both their throats at once. With their mouths covered to prevent any sound, he quietly lowered all of them to the floor.

He swallowed up the bombs left unattended and continued downward.

Checking where the villains were concentrated, he opened a window in a suitable spot for Nayun. Feeling the fluttering breeze against him, he moved toward the hostages.

He had to hurry.

* * *

"... Man, this is boring."

A villain sat with one foot on the desk, rocking back in his chair. In the beam of the flashlight on the desk, people trembled with their mouths gagged and their hands and feet bound.

"I'm sick of watching those bastards shake. When did they say they're setting off the bombs?"

At the word bombs, sobbing broke out.

"How should I know?"

His companion answered absently, playing a game on his phone.

Then he put his phone down irritably and shouted at the captives.

"Stop fucking crying. You're making me want to fucking kill you!"

At those few careless words, they trembled and stifled their sobs.

"Hey. I'm getting hungry. Got anything to eat?"

The other villain asked, rocking his chair.

"Go find something yourself."

The villain who had shouted sat back down and resumed his game. As its sounds echoed softly through the room, something fell.

RATTLE.

TAP.

The villain holding the phone glanced aside and spoke casually.

"Hey, the flashlight fell."

No answer came.

"Hey."

When his second call went unanswered, he lowered his phone.

"You fat fuck. Going off to stuff your face without even a flashlight—"

Something sticky touched his leg, and his heart seemed to drop. He hastily turned his gaze. The instant his eyes met another's, something flashed and shot toward him.

It pierced his head.

SHUNK.

With the sound of something being pierced, the flashlight flew far away. Hyeonyul walked over silently and looked at the dead men.

'I should clear them away, shouldn't I?'

After looking at the captives, he lifted the bodies with darkness and piled them in front of the door, then moved a nearby desk as well. He made no sound throughout the entire task.

He considered cleaning up the blood too, but there was blood elsewhere besides where he had spilled it, so he left it.

Hyeonyul approached the captives and looked at them. Every last one stared back in fear and terror. It was the look he knew best.

Despite his Black Eagles uniform, the helmet alone seemed to make him look different. He held out his phone to those cowed by yet another wave of terror.

「I'm with the Black Eagles.」

At that single statement, they all burst into tears. Some immediately sank down and buried their faces against the floor.

「Shh.」

But at Hyeonyul's next message, they closed their mouths and nodded.

「I'll untie you. Please stay quiet and remain here.」

He was leaving?

That one message made them stare at him as though they bore every misfortune in the world. Despite seeing their expressions, Hyeonyul turned away.

Weren't they grown adults? There was nothing saying he had to soothe them during a rescue.

Hyeonyul set down the flashlight and went straight through the wall. He leaped down and plunged into the shadows the moment he touched the ground.

He had many places to go.

* * *

"Can you see Hyeonyul?"

Sinu quietly asked Nayun, who was scanning the area through her rifle's scope.

"No. Not right now. I don't know where he went. His location's all over the place too."

Nayun exhaled repeatedly as anxiety welled up inside her. His body had unmistakably been running down like water. The sight kept circling through her mind.

"Calm down. Do you really think Hyeonyul would let someone beat him up?"

"Definitely not."

Jihwan chuckled at Sinu's words. Hyeonyul would be the one doing the beating, not getting beaten.

"So calm down, and just lower that barrel for a—"

His smartwatch flashed, and the map he had been watching updated. The locations had arrived.

'... There they are!'

His expression changed completely.

"Both of you, get ready."

Addressing Nayun and Jihwan, he examined the eight locations.

Distance and direction were essential to his power. In this situation, he should at least be able to restrain those on the specified floor, or the floors above and below it.

He lightly snapped his fingers.

SNAP.

A gentle breeze swept around Sinu. He felt his power manifest in all eight locations.

Then the lights came on. Nayun did not miss that instant. The window was open.

'Here.'

With the rifle loaded, she pulled the trigger. A powerful force glittered at the muzzle as though compressing, then shot out. The instant the bullet followed its precise trajectory into the wall, Jihwan activated the magic.

Like a drain, the small space Jihwan had created sucked up the area's heat, freezing everything above and below it.

Another building's lights came on. Nayun immediately swung her rifle around and fired through the open window.

BANG!

Those elsewhere might have reacted, but they could do nothing. Watching it all, Sinu felt a strange exhilaration.

The lights coming on in sequence. Nayun firing without the slightest falter. Jihwan's magic spreading on the bullets she shot. It all seemed unreal.

Was this even possible?

Even though the distance made it difficult to see, he could tell the magic spread over a different area at each location. What was the intention behind that?

CLICK-CLACK.

Nayun reloaded and pulled the trigger at the last window. Only after watching the final location freeze did she begin checking them again, starting with the first.

When the first building came into view, her lips briefly trembled. Her rifle swung swiftly toward the other locations as she checked each one.

She lowered the barrel, and a smile spread across her face. Both Sinu, who had been watching events unfold, and Jihwan, who had cast the final spell, studied her expression.

"Everyone's safe!"

"Really...? Are you sure?"

"... D-did Bro Hyeonyul think of that too?"

Sinu and Jihwan asked with faces both bewildered and delighted. They looked as though they could hardly comprehend what had happened.

"Yes."

The sudden reply startled Sinu and Jihwan. When had he arrived?

Hyeonyul took off his helmet. Straightening his disheveled hair, he said,

"Now we can call the White Sparrows."

As he spoke, Hyeonyul looked down.

"Have you dealt with them?"

Sinu made a circle with his thumb and forefinger as he answered.

"Of course."

"The hostages here..."

"... Is what I'd like to say, but not yet. I got distracted."

There were only four of them. He was still astonished and fascinated that so few had taken on so many buildings.

So this was possible too.

Admiration for Hyeonyul's boldness brought with it feelings he could not even describe.

"It's all right. They'll be confused too. The timing works well. We can go straight to the hostages."

Looking at Nayun, Hyeonyul spoke before she could.

"Sis Chu Nayun. I'm fine."

"... You beat me to it."

"It's ready."

Chuckling at the embarrassed-looking Nayun, Jihwan created a door in the wall.

"Baek Sinu. You know what to do as soon as we get there, right?"

At Nayun's question, Sinu rolled his shoulders and stepped inside.

"Of course I do!"

As he answered, he took a single step and raised his hand.

SNAP.

As his power spread, the footsteps they had been hearing vanished entirely.

'Good timing.'

With that thought, Sinu looked at the captives. Their hands and feet were free, and they were huddled silently in a corner. Seeing the fear in their eyes as they wondered what was happening now made his heart heavy.

How terrified they must have been.

For their sake, he spoke with all the confidence he could muster.

"We're the Black Eagles."

At those words, eyes filled with joy turned toward him. When they saw Hyeonyul follow him in, they looked ready to cheer at any moment. And when Nayun and Jihwan entered as well, they even felt as though saviors were approaching.

Each minute had felt like an hour. They wanted to say something, anything, immediately.

"This way!"

Only when Jihwan held out his hand and waved did they cry out. It was almost pure jubilation. Their faces showed that they had finally found hope of escaping this hell.

"I'll go check."

Glancing sidelong at their gazes, Hyeonyul walked ahead, leaving the joy behind. It was enough for his teammates to hear the cheers.

As he moved ahead, Sinu grasped his shoulder.

"Let's go together."

"You won't like what you see."

"I know."

At Sinu's answer, Hyeonyul looked at Nayun and Jihwan, then turned away.

The moment he opened the door, he saw enemies with swords wrapped around their necks interspersed with enemies already dead. The gazes pouring toward him held powerful emotions unlike those of the captives a moment earlier.

Denial.

Confusion.

And despair.

Hyeonyul felt an urge to wipe them out immediately, but held back. Some had not yet been caught by Sinu's power. They were keeping quiet.

He strode forward until he reached the villain at the very edge of Sinu's range. Shoving him aside, Hyeonyul drew a dagger in each hand. He cut through the dance of crimson flames rushing in from both sides.

Stepping on the body of a villain whose throat had been cut in the same stroke, he advanced.

The villain in his sights stared in bewilderment.

How had he known?

Ignoring that look, Hyeonyul swung both hands inward and severed the villain's neck.

THUMP.

THUMP.

THUMP.

The head rolled and rolled, and beyond it he heard several stifled groans.

"Do you know why your operation failed?"

Hyeonyul vanished from where he stood and reappeared where the sounds had come from. Black smoke fluttered around him.

"Because I stopped it."

With his tone seeming to savor every word and a look in his eyes that even a magical disguise could not conceal, Hyeonyul resembled an evil spirit.

The villains lost their will to fight before the battle even began. They were frightened. Their bodies trembled with instinctive fear.

When Hyeonyul took one step toward them, they kept retreating, over and over. They could not even register that they outnumbered him.

"I was the one who killed your leader."

Smiling as though delighted, Hyeonyul wrapped darkness around the daggers in both hands.

This was the faction of the bastard who had made him this way. He wanted it annihilated. Whether sooner or later, its disappearance was already certain.

Along the black lines Hyeonyul traced, torrents of blood soaked the floor. By the time his dagger tips pointed down, no one had a head still attached.

He turned to look out the window. The moon was up. Bathed in moonlight, he quietly closed his eyes.

'One.'

Now there was one.