* * *

"What? You found them already...?" Sinu asked in surprise.

In the surveillance camera's view, Hyeonyul held the remote and switched to channel three precisely. It was his way of confirming that there were three of them.

"Did you memorize their faces?" Sinu asked.

"Of course I did," Nayun answered as if it went without saying.

"Good. Jihwan, stop now."

At Sinu's instruction, Jihwan stopped the magic.

Hyeonyul worked the remote. After flipping through several channels, he moved his thumb over the phone in his hand.

[There's nothing interesting on.]

"Hey. You think you can just keep changing channels and making all that noise?"

Jihwan let out a sharp breath and turned on Hyeonyul. But Jihwan's eyes wavered, brimming with an apology: sorry, Bro.

Sinu bit down hard on his lip. He was holding back laughter, though from a distance it could look as if he were restraining his anger.

"I'm sorry about that."

[Then you should ask permission before turning it on, too.]

Unlike the apologetic Sinu, Hyeonyul held out his phone confidently. The character he was playing wasn't mentally sound. Supposedly unable to speak for five years, would he really have the patience to put up with someone picking a fight? Besides, Jihwan seemed to want this.

"What? What did you just say?"

As Jihwan's voice rose sharply, the startled White Sparrow came running.

"Please, Morning Stars. Calm down for a moment."

"Oh, get out of the way."

Jihwan shoved the White Sparrow aside. Would someone in this state notice anything else? Feeling disrespected was the right reaction for the role. What would happen if they caused a scene like this? Jihwan wanted to know.

"Donghun, calm down."

Pretending to restrain Jihwan, Nayun gave him a slight shove. If they were being monitored, people would surely come pouring over from the opposite building. Jihwan was waiting for that.

"Didn't you see what he wrote? He's disrespecting me!"

[When did I do that?]

Hyeonyul held out his phone.

"Chandae, that's enough from you, too. As his older brother, I apologize."

Sinu restrained Hyeonyul and apologized first.

"No, if anyone's apologizing, it should be him. What is this?"

[Is turning on the television such a crime?]

"... Ha."

Reading the message Hyeonyul held out, Jihwan gave a disbelieving laugh.

"... So you want to have a go?"

Jihwan looked around, then snatched the remote from Hyeonyul's hand and broke it.

CRACK

At that instant, Sinu's eyes narrowed.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Morning Stars? Morning Stars, please stop."

The White Sparrow tried to intervene, looking flustered. The operative had no idea why they were suddenly steering things in this direction.

"You know what? I can't stand being disrespected. Got it? If you don't have money, people treat you worse than an animal. They do!"

"Why are you telling my brother that?"

Sinu approached Jihwan with a scowl. His face usually wore an easy grin, and he really did grin all the time, so it hadn't been obvious before. Angry, he looked quite fierce.

"With an older brother like you, no wonder he's the same."

The same was true of Jihwan. Those large eyes usually gave Jihwan a rounded, gentle look, but now Jihwan looked like someone who might hold a prominent position somewhere.

"Watch what you say."

"I said exactly what I meant."

As Sinu stepped toward Jihwan at that reply, the door burst open. People rushed in to stop them.

"Morning Stars! Morning Stars, you mustn't do this!"

"Calm down!"

"Morning Star, please don't."

Jihwan stared at them as though chilled by the sight.

"What the hell is this...?"

"Wait... How did you all know to come here?" Nayun added, pointing at the White Sparrow. "That person was using both hands just now. How did you know to come?"

"You were listening in, weren't you? You're all on the same side, aren't you? Y-you came to catch me, didn't you?"

Jihwan broke off the shouting to glare at Nayun, voice rising even higher.

"You're my senior! What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know either...! This gives me the creeps, too! I didn't know this was that kind of place! Let's leave, Donghun."

Leave.

At that word, silence fell for a moment. They exchanged glances. Their bewilderment lasted only briefly before they all smiled brightly, as if on cue.

"We heard you while passing by, so please don't misunderstand."

"That's right. We came because we heard the noise."

"We're on the fourth floor. You could hear that?" Jihwan challenged them. Common sense said the noise couldn't possibly have carried all the way downstairs.

Jihwan approached them one by one, shoving their shoulders and repeating the same question.

"I asked if you could hear it."

Jihwan coated each of them with mana for later.

"We were just so happy to meet you Morning Stars. We're sorry if we made you uncomfortable."

"That's right. We wanted to come welcome you."

"Sorry for barging in. We wanted to give you a surprise welcome."

Despite Jihwan behaving like an utter asshole, they all wore identical expressions and said similar things. Apart from their genders, they might as well have been copied and pasted. They looked ready to start pleading.

"... Is this a den of lunatics?"

Jihwan wanted to say that even without the act. There had been several actual infiltrations of places like this before, but none had been as systematic as this one. It made Jihwan want to dig into their heads to find out what was going on.

CLAP

Just then, a handclap rang out. That single sound made everyone jump, hastily apologize, and move aside.

"We're sorry!"

It was one of the villains Hyeonyul and Nayun had seen. The other two stood behind him.

"People have grown more wary, so Morning Stars have become a rarity these days. Please allow me to offer a sincere apology for the rudeness everyone committed in their delight at meeting you."

The man smiled gently.

Hyeonyul looked at him. Their eyes met. The man's gaze was distinctly viperlike.

'... The smell of blood.'

It rose so strongly that it was nauseating. There was no telling what he had been doing, or what he was doing now.

"Now, everyone, apologize. The Saint may be displeased."

"We're sorry."

"We're sorry we startled you!"

Jihwan had expected them to bang their heads on the floor or something, but they merely bowed normally and apologized. As the apologies came in unison, Jihwan only exhaled.

The man approached Jihwan. As Jihwan backed away, he quietly handed something over. When the man's fingers touched Jihwan's palm, Jihwan coated him with mana, then examined the object. Jihwan's mouth fell open at the sight.

"A token of our apology, Morning Star."

From every angle, whichever way one looked, it was gold.

"... Ahem. Since you put it that way, I'll make an exception and accept your apology this time."

Jihwan slipped it into a pocket, trembling inwardly. Civil servants couldn't accept things like this. The Black Eagles were no exception.

'I'll submit it as evidence immediately. I'm absolutely not accepting it.'

Jihwan steadied that wavering resolve and kept the same expression.

"Thank you for accepting our apology."

The man smiled gently, then immediately turned to the people behind him.

"Everyone, leave."

"Wait a moment."

Sinu moved Hyeonyul behind him and stopped the man, who turned to look at him.

"... Something about your behavior just now was rather strange. I'm asking just in case, but you weren't monitoring us, were you?"

"Of course not."

"It's just a little... Well, you arrived too quickly."

"If you feel uncomfortable, we'll move you to another building. We cannot leave a Morning Star trembling with anxiety."

"... No. You don't need to go that far."

Sinu trailed off. The character he was playing cared for his younger brother but was timid.

"Then I'll personally take responsibility for an inspection," the man offered.

An inspection. Those words might put someone at ease, but Hyeonyul found them laughable. What difference would an inspection make in their own little country? It was all a setup.

'After checking, he'll say there really was a listening device. He'll tell us they punished the believer responsible, apologize, and pretend to treat us even better.'

Hyeonyul saw through the obvious approach.

What wouldn't villains do to get their hands on what they wanted? Their cover identities were people estranged from society. What such people craved most was attention and warmth. These people intended to treat them so well it bewildered them, embracing them warmly. Once they had tamed them into accepting that touch, they would reveal their true selves. It was fair to say their grasp was only beginning to close.

"Will you trust me? I will take full responsibility."

The man spoke softly, lowering their guard with a smile.

'A mental power.'

Hyeonyul felt a strange force woven into his words. Who would have thought enduring all those experiments would prove useful today?

Hyeonyul glanced at everyone. Before joining the Black Eagles, he had undergone a physical examination, including tests of his defenses against mental powers. His own brain circuitry had burned out in the first place, so mental powers had no effect on him at all. But the others were different. They had said they received training to defend against such powers.

'Can you really defend against them?'

Sinu, Nayun, and Jihwan suddenly smiled brightly, as if on cue.

"Of course. Please do your best, for my brother's sake as well. I'm wondering whether I was being needlessly suspicious."

Sinu's attitude changed completely.

"I already accepted your apology earlier."

Jihwan smiled even more broadly.

"I was worried, but I don't think I need to worry anymore. I can feel your sincerity."

Nayun was reassured.

It all looked as though they were under the control of a mental power. Hyeonyul couldn't interfere now. Sinu looked at him naturally. When Sinu smiled as if to reassure him, Hyeonyul realized they were pretending to have been affected. He smiled along with them.

* * *

Everyone went into their own rooms. Perhaps they would remain there until dinner. Hyeonyul couldn't stay idle. Lying on the bed with his back to the surveillance camera, he curled up, then pulled the blanket over himself entirely.

The hour when darkness would descend was drawing nearer. His eyes and ears began melting into the darkness.

'If I find them, should I kill them? Or bring them back?'

He considered it briefly. First, he needed to assess the situation.

His eyes, ears, and nose melted away. Moving them separately, he sent them wherever there were shadows.

Morning Star.

He heard that word countless times. They genuinely were delighted to have them there. He saw their bright smiles and heard their cheerful voices wondering what they could do for the newcomers. Looking only at this, one could see what a cheerful place it was.

But the smell of hallucinogens was overpowering everywhere. Were they really seeing a field of flowers spread before them? The laughter reaching him began to feel grotesque.

"What do you think?"

A voice caught his ear. When he sent an eye over, he saw the number six marked on the building.

"About the new guys?"

"Yeah."

"One shot of this and they'll go nuts like the others. Staying here all the time is going to drive me crazy, too."

"Watch your mouth."

"Oh, come on. I am watching it. If I can't even say this much, I'll really go crazy. Watching those things out of their minds on drugs is fucking disgusting, too."

"Enough. Is everything ready?"

"Sure is. They'll gobble it all down without knowing what we put in their food. Let's see how happily they stuff their faces. Once they drop, I wonder how fucked up they'll get when we jam this into them. Watching that is the only thing that makes staying here worthwhile."

He snickered.

Hyeonyul examined what the man was holding. The syringe contained a drug.

'Is he talking about a hallucinogen?'

He wasn't sure, but sending his nose over finally confirmed it.

'... It's one of the drugs they injected me with.'

The smell was familiar. What did it do again?

'... Right.'

Hyeonyul slowly remembered. It was a drug they had used to create a power that didn't even exist. It had shown gradual effects, but ultimately failed and was discarded. Why was it here? He suppressed the emotions surging within him.

'Including those two, five in total.'

After locating the surveillance camera, Hyeonyul smashed it, then sent his hands separately to seize the two men by the backs of their necks.

"...?"

"!"

Their surprise lasted only an instant before they were sucked into the darkness along with the drug one of them held.

"Hey."

Just then, the door opened and three more entered.

"...?"

"Where'd those guys go?"

"... Ha. Those fucking bastards. I told them to keep an eye on the drugs."

With irritation in his voice, the man looked around.

Their shadows writhed. Then something black reached out and covered their mouths.

"Mmph!"

Before they could resist, they were dragged into the darkness. There might have been quite a commotion in there.

'I've caught five out of eight.'

Hyeonyul emerged briefly from under the blanket.

<Nayun. Did you see anything else?>

A message appeared. It was from Sinu.

<There are four more. So about seven so far?>

Nayun seemed to have found four more. Hyeonyul believed they didn't overlap with his own discoveries. That brought the total to twelve.

Wearing his wireless earpiece, Hyeonyul pulled the blanket back up, covering only his mouth.

<There are five more, and I've captured them.>

After some consideration, he gave the number honestly. They might check later. What would happen if the numbers didn't match? This was a mission, and disclosing it was the right thing to do.

<I knew it!>

Jihwan was excited.

<He caught them! He caught them!>

<Uh...?>

Nayun, on the other hand, sounded utterly bewildered, while Sinu asked in surprise.

<... You caught them? When? We all went into our rooms together, didn't we? Are you outside right now?>

<I'm not outside. I'm lying in bed. I'm even under the blanket.>

At Hyeonyul's firm reply, Nayun and Sinu burst out laughing.

<Hahahahahaha>

Apparently, that was how their laughter registered in the messages.