* * *

“As you know, many Morning Stars with troubled hearts come here.”

The man put on an apologetic expression.

“Among them are people who enjoy spying on others. The person responsible cannot bring themselves to step forward, so I will apologize on their behalf.”

He even bowed his head.

There was a listening device.

If someone admitted that, the response they should naturally expect was obvious: Are you insane?

Nothing else should have followed.

“I'm surprised, but these things happen.”

Jihwan uttered the most unnatural response possible.

The air freshener in their rooms, the water they washed with, and even their drinking water were all laced with hallucinogens. With drugs being poured into everything so relentlessly, not succumbing would have been even more unnatural.

Jihwan smiled, clutching the gold that finally looked like trash. It was ridiculous to think of how much anxiety it had caused.

“Donghun, why did you do that? Why did you pick a fight with an innocent person and make him apologize?”

Nayun reproached Jihwan instead.

“... Oh, you're right. I was in the wrong. Strange things just keep happening, so I suppose I've gotten a little on edge.”

Head bowed, Jihwan picked up the knife lying on the table.

“... My money vanished overnight. Who could have taken it?”

“Morning Star, I understand exactly how you feel. But holding that might be dangerous. Why don't we take our time and think this through together?”

As the man spoke, Jihwan reacted as though on the verge of tears.

“You would... do that for me?”

“Of course.”

At that answer, Jihwan set the knife down.

“... You won't refuse to see my younger brother because I challenged you earlier, will you?”

Sinu ventured the question, glancing anxiously at Hyeonyul.

“Morning Star, that will never happen. Isn't this the result of our failure to give you all the proper care?”

Having finished speaking, the man abruptly dropped to his knees.

“Oh, no, no. Please don't do this.”

Startled, Sinu rose as well.

THUD.

When the man struck his head against the floor, Sinu immediately rushed over to stop him.

“I—I was wrong to confront you. Please don't.”

Although anyone could see how strange this was, the people praying had not stopped moving their lips for even a moment. Hyeonyul stared blankly at the scene.

He had seen this sort of thing before, but faith really was peculiar. So many people became this thoroughly brainwashed without anyone even needing to use drugs.

Why did it happen?

He was curious about that.

“Morning Star, your younger brother will certainly recover. The Saint is on the way.”

The moment the words left the man's mouth, countless voices cried out in rapture, “Ohhh!”

The Saint.

Apparently, this person's identity was so closely concealed within the organization that even the infiltrating White Sparrows did not know it. Originally, they would have needed several more days to observe, but now that the betrayal from within had come to light, everything had changed.

They had to move quickly, whatever they did.

Before dinner, opinions had split between those who wanted to act before seeing the Saint and those who wanted to wait until afterward. The former prioritized speed; the latter, caution.

["They might put forward a fake. If we act without confirming their identity, the real one may already have escaped."]

Hyeonyul's argument had settled the brief dispute in favor of waiting until they saw the Saint. Along with protecting people, a key part of this mission was capturing the leader behind the incident.

For this single mission, the White Sparrows had put in countless hours of work, locating branches, uncovering them, and moving on to others. They could not let those efforts go to waste.

They all felt that way.

“Is that true? Is the Saint really coming?”

Sinu asked delightedly, looking ready to take the man's hand at any moment.

“Yes. After hearing all your stories, the Saint said they were so heartbroken that they would come rushing over without even stopping to put on shoes.”

The man smiled as well.

It was a truly snakelike smile.

“Morning Star, please sit over there. Today is for all of you. Don't you see all those flowers?”

Where he pointed, there were still only people praying. Yet Sinu smiled in admiration, as though seeing something beautiful.

“When did those flowers get there? They're among the most beautiful I've ever seen.”

“We prepared them for you Morning Stars.”

The man helped Sinu up with a mocking smile.

“Please return to your seat, Morning Star.”

“I will. I'll go right back.”

Once Sinu returned to the table, the man walked over and looked at Hyeonyul. A shadow fell over him.

Hyeonyul wanted to twist the neck of the man looking down at him right then and there.

“Morning Star, how long have you suffered? Some say silence is a way to atone for sin, but I disagree.”

The man slowly offered him sweet words. Hyeonyul felt the power spreading from him and caught a peculiar scent at the same time.

“You must have struggled through five long years of suffering. How terrible would it be to call that a way of atoning for sin? How is that any different from saying your sins have piled up beyond imagination?”

The more the man spoke...

“It's all right. Everything is all right now. We can restore your lost voice. You needn't worry.”

The closer he came, the clearer that scent became.

'... Wait.'

The corners of Hyeonyul's mouth lifted as he became certain. He held his breath and kept his claws hidden.

'This one isn't my prey.'

This man was not the real target. He was merely someone who had been injected with the drug that gave powers to the powerless.

Hyeonyul finally understood the many scents of blood he had detected. Among the countless people injected with the drug, this man had regained consciousness in a pit of corpses. The blood might have clung to him then.

Unaware that he would soon die, he moved about like a puppet dangling from strings.

[Thank you.]

[I don't know what to say.]

Hyeonyul showed him the phone, then waited for the Saint.

They knew who the team really were anyway. Under these circumstances, it would be no surprise if the meal being prepared were their last supper.

How delighted the enemy must be to find themselves in this situation. If things went well, they could get their hands on Black Eagles.

'... Wait a moment.'

Hyeonyul stopped that train of thought. On the mission he had joined at Nayun's request, he had seen an absurd document about “turning Black Eagles into test subjects.” In a secret location there, he had encountered someone whose identity he did not know.

'Could they be connected...?'

Hyeonyul considered it quietly.

“... The Saint is coming.”

At those words from the back, the atmosphere changed in an instant. Everyone turned toward the entrance as though on cue.

“... I can see... light.”

Nayun spoke.

'Light?'

Hyeonyul could see nothing.

While the man turned toward the entrance, Hyeonyul glanced to either side. Sinu and Jihwan were staring as though they, too, saw something.

'They really are seeing something.'

But he detected no scent and felt nothing at all. He did not like that stillness. It felt like the moment before something happened.

JINGLE.

Then he heard a bell. Only then did he feel something like a tremor in the air.

'That's it.'

Power was entwined with it. It was manipulating sound to plunge others into hallucinations.

People suddenly began sobbing.

“O Saint!”

“Ahhh! Ahhh, our Saint!”

“All light, all creation, praise the Saint!”

“Walk the path of light! Lead us all onto the bright path!”

Sounds bordering on shrieks rang out on every side, giving Hyeonyul something close to pain.

'Is this what they call insane?'

Apart from the noise, he watched with interest. To understand a word, it was important to see it firsthand. Today, he had properly established the meaning of “insane.”

'Should I do that too?'

Hyeonyul was unsure. First, he could not tell whether the Saint's power had reached him, and he did not know how far to take his reaction. Second, he had no sense of whether this Saint was the real one.

Was this the actual leader? What were his teammates doing?

Questions kept flooding in, one after another.

He had never agonized like this when he was a villain. Back then, he could simply kill everyone and be done with it; now he understood how easy that had been.

Was this the difference between a place that did good and one that did evil?

JINGLE.

The bell sounded again. A person dressed in white approached from the other side, swathed in something like a veil to create a mysterious air.

Someone else might have thought the figure resembled an immortal descended from heaven, but Hyeonyul only felt puzzled.

'Something's strange.'

He sensed nothing at all. So little that he wondered whether this was just an ordinary person.

Hyeonyul sharpened his senses. His teammates seemed to be in bad shape, so at least he had to find the central figure behind all this.

The Saint came straight toward him. Hyeonyul watched the Saint in turn. The distance between them steadily shrank.

“... You who wander.”

A woman's voice emerged, clear and pure.

“Do you grieve for what you have lost?”

She lifted her veil and looked at Hyeonyul. Her eyes were strange, like a distant sky.

“Do you wander because you do not know what you have lost?” the Saint asked.

“Or do you wander in search of someone you cannot find?”

The Saint was talking about him as though she had read his innermost thoughts.

“I can help you find the person you seek. I can tell you what you have lost.”

Some might trust those words. When a complete stranger mentioned things only they knew, it was natural to think there was something special about her.

But Hyeonyul was offended. So deeply offended that he wanted to drive a blade into her neck immediately.

'... Ah.'

As he suppressed his killing intent, Hyeonyul finally saw the situation clearly. His eyes shifted, and a man came into view.

'Found you.'

“Please take my hand.”

The Saint reached out, and Hyeonyul extended his hand as well. Just before they touched, it was the bell that he seized. He drew it into darkness through his palm, and every sound stopped.

“...”

Only then did everyone who had been swayed by the bell's sound draw breath.

“Get a hold of yourselves.”

Shaking all his Team Three teammates with darkness, Hyeonyul darted forward.

The man using mental powers reached out to catch him, but Hyeonyul's body merely swirled like black smoke and vanished. He seized the head of the leader who had been playing tricks from among the crowd. Their eyes met in shock, but Hyeonyul did not stop.

He was pushing the man straight into a shadow when his hand stopped.

'... He's changed.'

He did not know whether the man had switched bodies or this person had been a fake all along. Pulling him out of the shadow, Hyeonyul turned his head toward someone else.

Where was he? Where had he hidden?

“...”

Everyone froze at the sudden turn of events. Just as they were trying to make sense of it, they heard someone fall.

The person called the Saint collapsed like a puppet with severed strings.

“... Th-the Saint...”

“The Saint... has collapsed!”

“We must save the Saint!”

Everyone rose amid the clamoring voices. Their faces seemed to embody confusion itself.

POP!

Then something sounded as though it had burst, and everyone turned toward it. Confetti fluttered through the air like a birthday party popper had gone off.

Everyone stared blankly.

“All right, everyone, calm down.”

Smiling, Jihwan took out what had been concealed all this time: a black civil-service ID identifying a Black Eagle.

“We're the Black Eagles.”

As Jihwan spoke, Nayun kicked off the table and sprang forward. Hyeonyul had disappeared. More precisely, he had gone outside.

Nayun produced a small gun in one hand and aimed and fired precisely before anyone noticed. There was almost no sound. Something gleamed above three people's heads.

On the earlier circuit of the compound with the White Sparrow, Nayun had memorized exactly who the villains were.

“You can catch them, right?”

Running forward, Nayun looked at Jihwan.

“Of course.”

Jihwan snapped their fingers. Exactly three people slammed their heads into the floor as though crushed by gravity.

THUD.

Startled by the sound, the crowd backed away, and several people entered. Each held a civil-service ID aloft.

White Sparrows.

When Sinu saw them and rushed out as well, Jihwan also felt a sudden urgency. But Jihwan had to wait. That was not their role.

People who had lost their mental autonomy, willingly or otherwise, became confused and turned violent. Before greater chaos erupted, they had to release a sedative into the air and seal off the room.

The White Sparrows swiftly hoisted the fallen people over their shoulders.

“... What are you doing?”

Someone asked hesitantly.

“Saving them,” a White Sparrow answered.

It was a rather ambiguous answer, yet the crowd became strangely calm. Everyone's gaze turned to the Saint.

Oh. They're saving the Saint.

That was what they thought.

Nayun and Sinu ran past the White Sparrows and outside.

“Be ready for our call,” Sinu told them before leaving.

* * *

'... The hallucinogens didn't work?'

Impossible. How much had he spread around after hearing that Black Eagles were coming? There was no way it could have failed.

'Then was the betrayal from within a lie?'

Impossible. That made no sense either.

No matter how much mental power someone possessed, all he needed to do was overwhelm it with something stronger. He had done so countless times.

But this time was strange.

'... How did he see me?'

How had he known? How had he figured it out?

He could control people. Countless times, he had switched bodies that way, making them pass for him.

The man ran and ran, plagued by questions. He had never imagined he would flee like this through a place he knew so well he could navigate it with his eyes closed.

RING-RING.

He summoned his subordinates and called them, but everything was strangely quiet.

“Isn't it strange?”

As the voice reached him, someone tripped him. His body lifted briefly into the air before his face scraped across the ground.

“Argh.”

Groaning in pain, the man turned his head. Someone was standing there.

As the shadow deepened, a hand shot out and clamped down hard.

Hyeonyul seized the man's throat.

“... Gah!”

“Did you think I wouldn't notice your little puppet show?”

This was the one.

This man was the mastermind behind the incident.