* * *

“At first, I thought the man who came to our room was the leader. With such powerful mental abilities, it was a natural assumption.”

Hyeonyul tightened his grip on the man's throat and lifted him up.

“But he wasn't.”

The man dangled helplessly, kicking his feet. Hyeonyul watched him even as his face turned red.

“Then that left the Saint, didn't it? It may seem obvious, but things often are that obvious. I even wondered whether it was so straightforward that it was meant to make us suspicious.”

“... Ghhhk.”

“But I saw very thin threads attached to the Saint's back, and to other people's backs as well. The sort of strings used in a puppet show.”

Hyeonyul threw him to the ground and pressed his foot against his throat.

“Did you enjoy playing puppeteer?”

“... Crazy... bastard.”

“Where did you get that drug?”

“... You're a Black...”

“What does that matter? As long as you're alive, that's enough, isn't it?”

Hyeonyul briefly lifted his foot and looked at his right hand. Threads barely visible to the naked eye were tangled around it.

Unbelievable.

“You're doing this because you know you won't be killed. What do the Black Eagles have to do with it? Why must the Black Eagles always stay within bounds?”

Censorship, perhaps—that was demanded far too often of those called good. To him, the situation seemed strange.

Evil people exploited the knowledge that they wouldn't be killed to try to kill him whenever they pleased, yet he was supposed to keep even a bastard like this alive.

Wasn't that why they ran rampant like gnats?

Bastards like that deserved to be trampled in kind. They needed to be beaten within an inch of their lives, until they couldn't even move their eyes again.

Then they would never look his way again.

Some would lump even his thoughts under the name of “evil,” but honestly, he didn't know what good and evil were.

Were the Black Eagles truly spotless, pure, and noble? Bringing up nobility in the first place was strange. Didn't everyone have both good and evil within them?

Whatever anyone said, he intended to walk his own path.

“Unfortunately, this doesn't work on me.”

Hyeonyul seemed to tense his arm, then absorbed the threads. He watched the man's face contort before kicking him. His head snapped violently to the side, and blood streamed from both nostrils.

Hyeonyul drew his dagger, spun it, and drove it into the man's palm.

“Aaaaaargh!”

“Are you still certain you won't die? Can you truly be certain?”

Hyeonyul looked at him. His eyes were full of bewilderment.

That thing was a Black Eagle?

It was a look Hyeonyul had seen often in the villains he faced. His eyes curved into a smile.

All he had to do was not kill him.

Seeing Nayun and Sinu approaching, he pulled the dagger from the man's palm and drove it into one of his perfectly intact fingers.

“... Y-you crazy bastaaard!”

Screams poured out of him, his face flushed. Tears streamed from his eyes as he stared at Hyeonyul.

“I'll ask again. Where did you get that drug?”

“As if I'd tell you—”

“How unfortunate.”

Hyeonyul moved the dagger, severing the dangling finger completely. The man trembled as blood flowed. He seemed to sense that something was wrong.

As the man slowly turned his gaze toward his hand, Hyeonyul obligingly lifted it, dagger still in his grip.

One finger was gone. The man's eyes shook wildly.

“You've killed countless people. Is it right to act so weak over a single severed finger? If you're going to kill others, shouldn't you be prepared to stake your own life?”

Hyeonyul could reasonably be said to have died countless times during the experiments. He thought he had killed quite a few villains, but still fewer than the number of times he himself had died.

“... You... you...”

The man's breathing quickened. His face was etched with denial of reality.

“I'll ask again. Answer quickly, and you can at least keep your remaining fingers intact. Losing fingers is very inconvenient. I speak from experience, so I recommend you don't hold out. As you can see, I do follow through.”

Smiling, Hyeonyul drove the dagger into another finger. Another scream erupted, and the look in the man's eyes changed.

That bastard really would do it.

The realization was burned into him.

“... I-I bought it too.”

“From whom?”

“I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

As the corners of Hyeonyul's eyes rose, the man hurriedly continued.

“I really don't know! Someone just came up to me and asked if I wanted some!”

“Is that so?”

“It's true. Honestly, in this business, drugs and weapons with killer effects come before trust, don't they? It was cheap, too. I figured it'd be useful to have.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“They said it gave p-powers to the powerless. They croaked soon afterward, but why should I care about that? It's something incredible that lets you lead believers. Right...?”

He forced the corners of his mouth upward.

“And?”

“Th-the transaction records! Right! I can show you those!”

The man broke into a cold sweat. Hyeonyul showed no reaction.

“So you're trying to say you bought it merely because it worked well, without knowing what it was?”

“I was... scammed too. Honestly, the side effects were much worse than I expected! Every last one of them died. I was sweating bullets trying to cover it up! And while I was doing that, you lot caught wind of it and came!”

Hyeonyul stared at him for a moment, then pulled out the dagger. This was all he could get from him.

'He was so good at gaining followers. Why is he so stupid about this?'

Wondering that, he stood and faced Nayun and Sinu. They were staring at him with wide, startled eyes.

“I didn't kill him.”

Hyeonyul informed them that he had followed orders.

“We know. More importantly, are you hurt?”

He blinked at Sinu's question. Couldn't they see the man's severed finger?

Hyeonyul shifted slightly aside to give them a better view.

“Did he do anything to you? You didn't even know what his power was. How could you charge in so recklessly?”

Nayun scolded him even as she worried. Hyeonyul could only stare at her too.

Did they not realize he had cut it off?

“I severed that finger. In case you can't see—”

“It's fine to cut it off!”

“Who cares if it's cut off!”

Sinu and Nayun shouted almost simultaneously.

They had always wanted to cut off fingers themselves. Especially today.

Perhaps they lacked the courage to go that far. Perhaps they still saw villains as people. Hyeonyul had merely acted on it, and he had followed the mission's orders.

Who could fault him for that? They were simply proud of him.

How had he known? How had he realized that bastard was the real one?

Hyeonyul was also the one who had discovered the traitor among the White Sparrows. Without him, they might have been the victims.

“... Is that so?”

Hyeonyul spoke hesitantly. He had expected them to look at him with revulsion, so this was unexpected.

Sinu first took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the man's injured fingers. It was merely a precaution to keep him from dying.

“You don't have to be nervous. We've seen all sorts of things too.”

Sinu lifted a foot and stomped on the man's face.

CRACK

The man's eyes lost focus, then closed.

“Should we go capture them now?”

Hyeonyul asked because there were still other villains left.

“No. Hyeonyul, you can stay here with me. Leave the rest to this one.”

Nayun pointed at Sinu.

“That's right. Leave the rest to me. It's cold, so go inside once the managers arrive.”

Sinu set off with a loose smile, slipping hands into the coat pockets and taking long strides forward. With each step, the smile gradually faded.

The swords Sinu had scattered all around could be heard howling. Behind Sinu, footsteps multiplied one by one.

Inside the building, countless swords circled the villains' necks. Even the slightest movement would make a blade slice their throats, and some were already bleeding from the neck.

Horrified, none could move; only their eyes darted about.

Please spare us.

That plea in their eyes kept Sinu from smiling. Watching them like prey with dark-blue eyes, Sinu swept back the hair.

“Managers.”

Sinu spoke quietly.

“Let's arrest them.”

It was time to take them all away.

* * *

“... Bro. Aren't you cold?”

The car door opened. Hyeonyul turned from his seat and took the paper cup Jihwan handed him.

“There aren't any hallucinogens in it. It's tea made with clean water.”

“I know. I simply don't understand why I have to sit here.”

Nayun had brought him here. He had wondered whose car it was, but she had told him to sit, so he was sitting.

Jihwan laughed loudly at his words.

“The situation's over, and we're cleaning up now. Otherwise you'd have to keep standing outside, and that gets tiring.”

“It isn't tiring. The cold doesn't affect me either.”

“Bro, you've done enough on this mission. No, you've done more than enough. You've earned the right to sit here. Usually we even play rock-paper-scissors because we want this seat.”

“Sis Chu Nayun said the same thing.”

Hyeonyul answered matter-of-factly. Nayun, too, had brought him something and explained what a wonderful spot this was before leaving.

Jihwan chuckled. Rejecting such a nice seat, and frowning as though he couldn't understand, were both so like Hyeonyul.

Whatever he said, Hyeonyul was the one who ought to sit here. Jihwan wholeheartedly agreed with Nayun.

His physical condition was one thing, but he had shortened five days' work to this. Who wouldn't welcome that? Honestly, Hyeonyul was practically a god right now.

“Bro. How did you know that person earlier was a villain?”

“It was simply intuition.”

Hyeonyul answered evenly. He had killed countless villains. Without that sort of instinct, he thought he would have died long ago.

“You can just feel it?”

“Yes. There's a certain unsettling feeling unique to villains. I've seen it countless times. ... Ah, I'm not saying you haven't seen villains, Mr. Ye Jihwan. I know you've faced plenty.”

“I know what you mean. I didn't misunderstand.”

“Then I'm glad.”

He remained aware that he was poor at communicating with people. Talking with Jeongmin felt most natural because he knew Jeongmin wouldn't misunderstand him, whatever he said.

He wanted to keep his words as brief as possible, but the Black Eagles kept asking his opinion, which made that difficult.

“Mr. Ye Jihwan. Was there a computer or tablet the leader used? I'd like to know who supplied him with the drug.”

Hyeonyul wanted to check the transaction records the man had mentioned. This had to be pursued.

“I'll check and be right back.”

“Thank you.”

“And, Bro.”

“Yes?”

“You were brilliant.”

Jihwan gave him two thumbs up and jogged away. Hyeonyul started to raise his own thumbs in response, then stopped.

'They're all saying things that are hard to understand again...'

Something incomprehensible had happened today too.

[“Hyeonyul. You were the best today. Really.”]

Nayun had said that as well.

'Don't they find me repulsive?'

That couldn't be. Hyeonyul immediately rejected the thought. “Repulsive” was one of the many things he had heard countless times throughout his life.

BZZZZ

Hyeonyul took out his phone.

“Yes, Team Leader.”

<Are you hurt anywhere?>

“No.”

<That's a relief. I was getting so many calls, I thought something serious had happened.>

“Something serious did happen.”

<You're right. Something serious did happen. I... didn't know a vulnerability like that would arise. We kept checking regularly. We really did keep checking.>

“The reason it wasn't detected was that his power exceeded that of the person conducting the checks.”

<... That's impossible. A Team Leader conducted the checks.>

“Ah, another Team Leader examined them?”

<Yes. That's why I said it was impossible.>

“Team Leader.”

<Yes...?>

Haeryeon answered hesitantly.

“How much do you know about the drug?”

<The drug found today?>

“Yes.”

<I received a report that it was used in experiments and had been discarded.>

“That drug has different effects depending on the person. Some acquire tremendous power. I don't know how powerful the other Team Leader is, but he must have gained power greater than theirs. Hasn't this incident proven that?”

<That's... right. It's been proven. You've told us something we didn't know, Hyeonyul.>

Haeryeon's voice grew increasingly subdued. Was she blaming herself?

“Still, don't let it trouble you too much. The outcome remains the same: anyone injected with that drug dies.”

<... Could you... No. It's nothing.>

“I was injected with it too.”

Hyeonyul spoke without hesitation. There was no reason to hide it. In fact, he expected admitting it would make his words more credible.

“My memories are gone, so I don't know whether I was originally powerless, but I survived.”

He had an innate resistance to that drug. Wasn't that why he had been made into this?

<... Are you all right?>

“Are you asking whether I'm sad?”

<Yes. That's what I want to ask.>

“I may have been. I don't know now.”

<Then forget my question. You worked hard today, Hyeonyul.>

“Can I leave work when we get back?”

<Not just leave work. The remaining four days are vacation.>

Hyeonyul blinked for a moment. What had he just heard?

“Did I... hear you correctly?”

He stumbled over the question.

<We'd already cleared your schedule for this, so naturally, since you finished early, it'll be replaced with vacation. Of course, you can work if you want. Your extra pay for those four days would be roughly doubled.>

“I'll work.”

Hyeonyul answered without deliberation. This was a chance to repay his debt.

<All right, for now. You can take your time, think it over again, and let me know.>

“Yes. I'll think it over quickly and tell you.”

Hyeonyul turned his head.

KNOCK KNOCK

He opened the door at the knocking.

“Bro. Are you done with your call?”

“Have you been waiting long?”

“No. We found a computer. Want to come along?”

“I'll come.”

Setting aside his delight, Hyeonyul got out of the car.

“By the way, Bro.”

“Yes?”

“Did something good happen?”

“Apparently, if we work the remaining four days, our extra pay will be roughly doubled.”

Jihwan cheered the instant he heard that. It was news that would delight anyone.

* * *

Hyeonyul's hands stopped moving over the keyboard.

'... It's true.'

After looking through the computer, he realized that what the man had said earlier was true. There was no record of who had supplied the drug. Only the transaction records existed.

The man who had accepted this arrangement was stupid, while the other party seemed quite meticulous. Moreover, concealing their identity was, in other words, evidence that they had something to hide.

“Do you want to pursue them?”

Nayun asked, watching him from beside him.

“Yes. I want to pursue them.”

“Then let's pursue them.”

As Nayun answered as though it were only natural, a question mark appeared in Hyeonyul's mind.