* * *

* * *

Hyeonyul looked at his computer, examining the information on the test subjects he had received from Asan. Their names were not recorded, but photographs taken before the experiments remained.

There had been 2,084 people at the first experiment. By the last, only two remained.

The experiments had lasted two years. Short, in one sense; long, in another. In just two years, only two people were left. The money poured into it had been staggering, too.

He searched through various records, but none explained why Asan's child had died. He confirmed that the goal remained the same now as it had been then: the child's “resurrection.”

'Judging by the descriptions, a few of the drugs they used do overlap.'

He had found overlaps like this countless times.

The records could tell him little beyond the drugs' effects and side effects. What he remembered was their smell, their effects, and their side effects.

He was searching on that basis, but whenever he actually found a drug and checked it, it proved very different. It wasn't the same smell. He even got the impression that they were imitating the drugs used on him.

'At least they wrote down where they got them.'

These records had been compiled for their own convenience, not for outsiders, so they detailed where the drugs had been purchased and how they had been combined. They also served to prevent problems with the combinations, since any faulty mixture needed to be changed quickly.

But records like these were the first to be destroyed, so sometimes he found none even after reaching an experiment site.

'At least I got something this time.'

He was on leave today. Hyeonyul did not rush.

He went to a missing-persons message board and compared the photographs. Having done this so often, he ran a program he had prepared in advance.

2,084 people.

He found them and removed them from his list.

In the past, he had also informed their families that they were dead, but the responses were always predictable.

That couldn't be true.

They would sue him.

Once he realized they couldn't accept the deaths, he stopped telling them. If that was what they wanted, he would leave it that way.

What he wanted to find was the family who might still be searching for him.

'... What's the point of this?'

He thought about it every time, but never really knew. What would he say if he found them? Even if he did, why should he meet them?

Still, shouldn't he at least let them know he was alive?

BZZZZ.

[Senior Baek Sinu: Hyeonyul, what are you doing?]

Hyeonyul frowned the moment he looked at his phone.

[Senior Chu Nayun: Are you crazy? Today's his day off.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: You complain when I message Hyeonyul privately, though.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Should I message him privately?]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Shall I?]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: No! Talk here!]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: You absolutely have to talk here!!!]

Hyeonyul almost turned his phone facedown, but firmly resisted the urge. He glanced around his home. The spacious house helped calm him.

'I've been tricked.'

He belatedly understood why Jeongmin had laughed when he said he had joined the group chat. The moment anyone said even a word, the messages kept coming and coming. If he went without checking for even a little while, over two hundred messages would pile up.

And he couldn't leave a chat that included his teammates and Team Leader.

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: With all your teammates here, do you think you should be messaging him privately?]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Sinu. Things must be pretty easy for you lately?]

[Senior Baek Sinu: No, Team Leader! Absolutely not!]

When even Haeryeon appeared, Hyeonyul let out a long breath and moved his thumbs.

[I'm searching for something.]

[May I tell you what I'm looking for?]

He knew saying it would only dampen the mood. He asked first, just in case.

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Of course, of course.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: I'll help you look. Tell us.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Nayun is good at finding things. She's got good eyes.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: I'll try searching with magic, too.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: There must be something I can do.]

Would it really be all right?

After hesitating, Hyeonyul moved his fingers.

[I'm looking for my family.]

[The drugs wiped out my memories, so it's difficult.]

After sending the messages, he waited a moment, then looked away. Their response was obvious. They would pretend not to have seen it. They would tell him to stay strong.

'Why did you ask, then?'

Hyeonyul looked at the computer. After crossing countless people off the list, he felt he had reduced the remaining names considerably. There were still many more to eliminate, though.

BZZZZ.

His phone vibrated more and more.

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Oh no.]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Is that so?]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: So that's what it was?]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: I'll help, too.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: You'll definitely be able to find them!]

Jihwan sent a crying fox emoji.

[Senior Chu Nayun: Hyeonyul, I don't know if I mentioned last time that I have a lot of connections.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Give me even a small hint and I'll look into it. We should be able to find them quickly.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Oh, I know a place, too.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: And I know how you feel.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: I searched everywhere for my younger sibling who died, too.]

'...?'

Hyeonyul was briefly startled. Was it all right to mention a younger sibling's death so casually?

[Senior Ye Jihwan: I don't know what people or places to turn to, but I'll help you search! I'll give up all my leave to look!]

Jihwan also sent a fox emoji expressing fierce determination.

Hyeonyul blinked at the messages that kept coming. They said they would help him search. They hadn't brushed his words aside or pretended not to notice.

It must have been a heavy subject, yet here they were, discussing how best to find his family.

'... This is strange.'

It was strange. Very strange.

[... Let's have the welcome party.]

That was what Hyeonyul sent. He couldn't think of anything else to say.

His phone vibrated even more furiously. Regretting it almost at once, he slapped his mouth.

SMACK.

* * *

“There's something I want to tell you briefly before we head out on our mission.”

Haeryeon looked around at everyone.

“We've recently found indications that several groups suspected to be villains are clashing where the capital region meets the area beyond it. We've verified it again, and now that we're certain, I'm informing you immediately.”

“Team Leader, if this is happening because the Poison King's faction left a power vacuum, didn't he demonstrate his strength just recently? What do you think caused this?”

Nayun raised her hand to ask.

Not long ago, the Poison King had triggered the poison he had planted. It was the same poison discovered during the festival. Wasn't he continually announcing that he was still alive?

“Good question, Nayun.”

Haeryeon welcomed the question she had naturally anticipated.

“We believe that incident was meant to show that, although the Poison King has disappeared, he remains a force to be reckoned with. That was precisely what we focused on at the Team Leaders' meeting. We wondered whether his faction is fighting other factions coming into the capital region to demonstrate that it remains intact even without him.”

“That does make sense. The Poison King gave them the signal first. They can't be so clueless they wouldn't take advantage of it.”

Sinu nodded repeatedly. Just when they had thought everything was over, the Poison King had sent a signal. How thrilled they must have been.

“We investigated closely to determine whether they were really fighting or only pretending. Honestly, it was suspicious, wasn't it? But several factions have actually disappeared. The Red Witch was among the ones we'd been watching. That fact did make the meeting run long.”

Haeryeon casually mentioned what had been confidential information.

The Poison King had defeated the Red Witch's faction.

“... What?”

Startled, Jihwan swallowed hard.

“Team Leader, are you saying the Red Witch's faction really is gone?”

Unable to believe it, Jihwan asked again.

Who was the Red Witch? A gravity mage. The implications of a power like gravity were immensely weighty.

“It's true. That was the shocking incident I mentioned last time, and the confidential information.”

“... Hah.”

Sinu let out a disbelieving laugh.

The Poison King wasn't even there. How was that possible? Was his faction that powerful? Then just how incredible was Hyeonyul, who had captured him?

“So you're saying the Poison King's faction fought the Red Witch, and his faction won?”

Nayun asked, marveling at the news. She couldn't believe it.

“That's right. The Poison King's faction won their fight. We currently suspect that the Red Witch is dead.”

'Did Asan's faction go after the Poison King's after I killed her? Or was it the other way around?'

Hyeonyul simply listened. He had killed Asan, the Red Witch, but didn't know what had happened to her faction. Whatever had happened, the collapse of a faction was good news.

“We're continuing to monitor the situation, and I want you to know that we could be deployed there at any time. It's very rare for villain factions to converge like this.”

“But, Team Leader...”

A question arose as Jihwan listened, prompting a raised hand. Haeryeon looked over and nodded.

“If the Red Witch is dead, doesn't that mean someone new has appeared in the Poison King's faction?”

“I think so, too. My guess is that it's the person you and Nayun saw.”

Hyeonyul tilted his head at Haeryeon's answer.

“Who is that?”

Was there someone besides him? They could speculate, but surely they wouldn't know it was him.

“We don't know yet. They tried to set off a new weapon in the city, and they have it in their possession. If it is that person, they'll be a very dangerous presence.”

'... Isn't that me? It should only be me.'

Hyeonyul wasn't sure. He was the one who had swallowed up the Poison King's faction. But he would destroy a new weapon, not set it off, and he wasn't in possession of one.

'Is someone spreading false rumors? Or is there someone besides me?'

He suddenly recalled what Haeryeon had said at the special prison for criminals.

[“No, Hyeonyul. We're not certain yet, but a new villain has appeared. Poison might not even work on them.”]

'Has a new villain really appeared?'

Why wouldn't there be a villain trying to exploit his situation, claiming his deeds as their own?

Surely not.

He had heard nothing of the sort from Yujong or from Seungyu, his figurehead president.

'But this is the Black Eagles.'

It was hard to dismiss it as a misunderstanding when it came from the Black Eagles. The quality of their information was on a different level.

'Let's wait and see.'

Hyeonyul concluded that it wasn't time to make a judgment yet.

“If it's true, they certainly are dangerous.”

He spoke, choosing to remain neutral.

“Still, don't worry. Today, I finished developing an antidote for the poison in the Poison King's new weapon.”

Haeryeon's face showed exhaustion more than joy. She raised a finger and pointed squarely at herself.

She had done it.

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP.

Nayun began clapping, and the others followed.

“I knew you'd do it, Team Leader! Who else could?”

“That's our Team Leader.”

“Sounds like there'll be a paper coming out soon!”

Nayun, Sinu, and Jihwan offered flattery and raised their thumbs.

With them all cheering together, Hyeonyul took his cue and clapped.

“... That's impressive.”

Haeryeon burst out laughing. The others always acted like that, but Hyeonyul was visibly struggling to fit in. There wasn't a shred of feeling in his words.

“You don't have to force yourself to join in. I leave the others alone because they do it even when I tell them not to.”

“... Oh.”

Hyeonyul immediately lowered his hands.

“Besides, this is my role apart from being Team Leader.”

She wasn't the only alchemist in the Black Eagles, but she could confidently say her skills were far from poor.

“To continue, we've confirmed that the drug found during the operation Hyeonyul supported yesterday is the same one found on the mission we completed. Team Leader Ye Juhyeon of Team Seven has agreed to handle everything related to the transaction records from both missions.”

Juhyeon handled almost all matters of that kind. No one in the Black Eagles could surpass Juhyeon in that field. Everyone had their own strengths.

'Team Leader Ye Juhyeon can be trusted with it.'

Hyeonyul nodded in satisfaction. He knew Juhyeon didn't like him much, but competence was a separate matter. He had seen Juhyeon's abilities several times already.

'I'll get information from both sides, won't I?'

All that remained now was to see whether the information overlapped or differed.

“Team Leader.”

Hyeonyul raised his hand slightly.

“Go ahead, Hyeonyul.”

“About the plan we found last time to turn Black Eagles into test subjects. I'd like to know how that's progressing.”

He wanted the Black Eagles to investigate that as well. The unidentified bastard he had met at the secret base. The one who had used that strange power.

“We're still investigating. We need to establish who owned that secret base first, but it was destroyed, perhaps to eliminate evidence.”

Haeryeon let out a long sigh.

'There's nothing there, though.'

Hyeonyul looked at Haeryeon. He had destroyed the place so it could never be used again. Hadn't the bastard he met there, the one with the portal-like power, told him to do whatever he wanted?

[“Oh dear, you came all this way for nothing. I won't bat an eye if you destroy this place. I have plenty of money. I can build as many of these as I like.”]

If he found places like that, he intended to destroy every last one, just as invited. He was curious how much money the bastard really had, too.

“For now, we have the plan, but nothing like it has actually happened. That doesn't mean we're letting our guard down. We'll be looking closely for signs of it at the experiment sites we've already discovered, as well as every site we find in the future.”

“Those people really would do it, wouldn't they...? I think they really would.”

Jihwan spoke hesitantly, unable to bring themself to look toward Hyeonyul. If Jihwan was this frightened, how much worse must it be for him?

“They will. That's the kind of people they are.”

Hyeonyul's answer briefly weighed down the atmosphere. It came from none other than Hyeonyul, a former test subject.

“... I hope they don't. Please, I wish they'd let go of things like that.”

Jihwan finally replied. Denying it was what Jihwan wanted to do, but that was far too difficult.

“We can prevent this simply by keeping track of whether any Black Eagles go missing.”

Hyeonyul was stating a fact, not a hope. They couldn't prevent ordinary people from being abducted as test subjects because monitoring everyone was practically impossible. But with the Black Eagles, the organization was structured so that a Team Leader would inevitably know.

“I think so, too. So let's give it our best at work today.”

Haeryeon began wrapping up the discussion. Dragging it out any longer wouldn't help.

“And you remember what's happening today, right?”

Haeryeon changed the subject to lighten the mood immediately. Starting this week, their hours had shifted from one in the morning to six in the morning. She grinned at Hyeonyul.

Today was the welcome party. Tomorrow, they were all taking leave for the occasion.