* * *

“Why do we need to escort them? Haven’t the White Sparrows been operating independently all this time?”

Hadn’t that always been the case? Had they perhaps been captured? Hyeonyul wondered.

“The managers who infiltrate places to gather information aren’t only assigned to operations like that cult mission.”

“They aren’t?” Hyeonyul asked.

“Broadly speaking, their roles vary. Some managers gather information in cooperation with the police, some infiltrate suspicious premises, some regularly patrol suspicious locations, and some are deployed before and after missions.” After that brief introduction, Haeryeon continued.

“We’ve just heard from the managers undercover at a villain company that they can’t get out. That’s why they need an escort.”

“Then why lump them all together under the name White Sparrows?”

If their roles were that specialized, shouldn’t each have its own name? It struck him as rather inefficient.

“They’re organized into teams like us—Team One, Team Two, and so on. They aren’t designated as specific departments; the teams take turns doing those jobs.”

“Like the Black Eagles?”

It was the same here. Jihwan had mentioned in passing that Team Three handled more dangerous work, but they weren’t assigned any particular type of task. It was merely a matter of doing ‘a little more.’

“It seems odd to divide them up that way when the White Sparrows aren’t Black Eagles, doesn’t it?” Haeryeon gave a light laugh.

“Is there a reason for it?”

“Not long after the Black Eagles were founded, a particular department acquired too much power.”

“Power?” Hyeonyul blinked.

“Apparently, the divisions were very specialized back then. Instead of Team One and Team Two, they had, for example, an undercover squad, an infiltration squad, a chemical attack response squad—things like that.” Nayun picked up the explanation where Haeryeon had left off.

Ah. Hyeonyul understood. Every organization had its essential departments. Apparently, those people had let their importance go to their heads and thrown their weight around to enjoy some power.

“Both the Black Eagles and the White Sparrows were organized as Nayun described. Then one department made a fuss about its workload and declared a strike. Unfortunately, an emergency mission came up just then, and a lot of people died. After that day, the Empire identified the flaws in the system and changed it to what we have now. Everyone takes turns.”

“Just so you don’t misunderstand, not everyone in that department supported the strike. Some refused to join it and went on the emergency mission. They couldn’t prevent the disaster because they were understaffed, but ordinary people would have had no way of knowing that. A lot of people condemned them. ... A great many.”

As Sinu quietly added that, Haeryeon looked at him for a moment. Her gaze grew somber, and then she nodded.

“That’s right. We suspect the Black Eagles expelled then are the former Black Eagles identified through the information we recently obtained.”

Sinu reacted strongly. “... Is that really true?” he asked in disbelief.

“It came up at the meeting. I’ll tell you once we’re more certain. We have the list of names, so we should have an answer sooner than you might think.”

“Please. Make sure you tell me. Please.”

Haeryeon smiled at his insistence. “Don’t worry, Sinu. I’ll be sure to tell you.”

After studying Sinu’s and Haeryeon’s expressions, Hyeonyul looked at Nayun and Jihwan. Something about the mood seemed dark.

“To get back to the briefing, our job is to bring the White Sparrows embedded in the villain factions back safely. There’s no reason for them to stay in organizations we’re about to take down.”

“So you mean this is a rescue operation?” Hyeonyul asked, feeling out of his element. A rescue. He had never done one before.

“It might sound difficult, but it isn’t.” Haeryeon recognized his unfamiliarity with it.

“You just have to bring the targets back alive. Preferably uninjured.”

“Is it enough for them to be uninjured?” Hyeonyul’s gaze dropped. Haeryeon immediately realized what he meant.

“No, they need to be mentally intact too.”

The corners of Hyeonyul’s eyes creased. Jihwan, who had been glancing at him, raised a hand.

“Team Leader, are all four of us going?”

“Yes. It may or may not be the faction’s actual base, but judging by its size, it’s quite large.”

“Then don’t worry. I’ll make sure we can bring them back without any trouble.”

Hyeonyul nodded at Jihwan’s smile. Jihwan was a mage. He thought a mage would be able to do anything.

“There’s something else you need to know before you go.”

“Team Leader, this is getting a little scary. I don’t like how these things keep coming up.”

Nayun fiddled with the desk. An emergency was one thing, but Haeryeon having so much to tell them was not a good sign. It meant things they knew nothing about were moving fast.

“I told you there’s a faction still active despite the Poison King’s recent arrest, didn’t I?”

Haeryeon wasn’t smiling. Hyeonyul looked at her. ‘But I told them not to touch the Black Eagles?’

He hadn’t expected a faction as large as the Poison King’s to escape the Black Eagles’ notice. What was it now?

“Since we still don’t know who their leader is, we’ve decided to call them the ‘new faction.’ Just keep that in mind. That’s all.”

The moment Haeryeon finished, Sinu raised a hand. She looked at him.

“If they’re powerful enough to absorb the Poison King’s faction, I believe they’re the ones we should be most wary of.”

“I agree. But they don’t engage with us. With an organization that large, you’d expect us to run into them, but apparently they flee whenever they see us.”

“Flee...? Villains run away when they see the Black Eagles?” Nayun looked incredulous.

Weren’t the Black Eagles what villains hated most? There was even a saying that they refused to wear black.

“Even more surprisingly, there haven’t been any victims.”

“... What?” Sinu’s eyebrows rose.

“I understand why you’re baffled. That’s why we’re keeping an eye on them too. They flee when they see Black Eagles, and they don’t touch civilians. That gives us no grounds to go after them. They’re reduced to ordinary criminals. It’s strange for the Poison King’s faction to become ordinary criminals, isn’t it? That’s why we decided to call them the new faction.”

“But they do attack other villains.”

Haeryeon looked uneasy at Jihwan’s questioning remark. “That’s the problem. They’ve already taken down a major player like the Red Witch, so they could grow even larger in no time. They’re already huge, and they could expand beyond that. Nothing could be worse.”

‘Does it look as though I’m expanding the faction?’ Hyeonyul wondered at her words. He was merely helping the Black Eagles get a better look.

“I don’t know whether they’re refusing to look our way until they’ve grown larger or whether they genuinely have no interest in us. Either way, the new faction has exposed two other factions.”

“They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but that really doesn’t fit this situation, does it?” Nayun ran a hand over the desk, narrowing her eyes. Villains? That was her immediate thought.

“For now, we’ll keep watching the situation. I’ll pass on any new information as soon as it comes in.” As soon as she finished, Haeryeon pointed toward the door. Hyeonyul was the first to stand.

“Hyeonyul’s first again today.”

“That’s not why I stood up. What sort of organizations are those two factions?” He wanted to know at least what they would be dealing with.

“Neither is a major player. Think of them as organizations struggling to become major players.” Haeryeon kept her explanation brief.

That was the right answer. What they sold or what they mainly dealt in didn’t matter. A faction’s real company might be selling something entirely different. The rest were decoys to conceal that one operation.

“It seems they aren’t entirely insignificant.”

“If the two factions combined, they could become a major player. That’s why we need to get rid of both quickly.”

“Understood.” Hyeonyul bowed and went outside.

“Hyeonyul really is first, isn’t he?” Haeryeon looked at the remaining team members, who hadn’t budged.

* * *

「*Incident Onset

—Recent clashes between villain factions have clearly exposed the outlines of two factions.

*Incident Progress

—Recall orders have been issued to the White Sparrows deployed in suspected villain companies A and B (temporary names) to identify the two factions’ main bases.

—Both exposed factions are currently engaged in territorial disputes with other villain factions.

—Heightened internal security at villain company A (temporary name) has made it impossible for the personnel to return on their own.

*Points of Caution

—The White Sparrows’ safety takes top priority.

—Avoid being seen by the villains wherever possible.」

Steadying his queasy stomach, Hyeonyul read through the case summary, then checked the faces of the White Sparrows they were to rescue. There were four people in total.

‘I’m not sure the whole team needs to deploy just to rescue four people.’ He wondered whether Haeryeon had sent too many.

When he thought about it, locating them wouldn’t be particularly difficult. There was only one problem. If he put them in the darkness, the time it took them to go insane would vary from person to person. They would recover with time, but that wouldn’t meet the mission requirements.

He would rather not put them inside unless he had to, anyway. It felt like putting filth inside himself.

Hyeonyul looked at his teammates. “What should I do?” He would act independently if he could, but asking first was the right thing to do.

“Hyeonyul, let me explain how we’ve been doing this.” Nayun explained the method they had worked out together. That was the right approach.

“First, Jihwan uses spatial magic on the building itself. You could call that whole area Jihwan’s domain.”

“To be precise, I can only affect the space itself. People are separate.” Jihwan filled in the missing detail.

“Jihwan connects me to that space. I’m not sure how to describe it, but through that magic, I can adjust the transparency of the building itself. In simple terms, I can see through it. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. I understand.” Hyeonyul nodded. If Jihwan could control the space itself, he thought that much should be possible.

“My bullets can’t leap across space and lodge in someone’s head. That’s why we need Baek Sinu’s power.”

“My swords can disregard space itself.” Sinu summoned a sword and waved it in his hand.

“Once Baek Sinu’s power has pinned the villains down, Jihwan opens a door for us. Then we grab the targets and bring them back. That’s how we’ve done it so far.”

Only after Nayun’s explanation did Hyeonyul understand why Haeryeon had sent four people. The three of them had always worked together like that, and now that he had joined, she wanted them to coordinate as a team of four.

But there didn’t seem to be anything for him to do. Wouldn’t he merely disrupt the rhythm they had established?

“Hyeonyul, how would you handle this mission?” At Nayun’s question, everyone turned to him. They looked ready to hear whatever he had to say. But he didn’t take those looks at face value.

“Are you truly asking me for a solution?” Hyeonyul asked in return.

“Yes. We need to coordinate.”

“Then you don’t need to ask.” His ambiguous remark left everyone at a loss for words.

“I can do anything.” He could see as Nayun did, attack as Sinu did, and move as Jihwan did. He could do it all.

“Put me wherever you’re short-handed.” Anywhere would work. He could be used anywhere. That was his ability in itself.

“Sounds good to me.” Sinu spoke up. Anywhere, anything. Now they could finally make speed their priority.

“That means we can secure them faster, right?”

“Yes. We should be able to pick up the pace.” Jihwan nodded at Sinu’s words.

Sinu was usually the one who went in. With Hyeonyul joining them, it was as though they had acquired a sword that could move freely at will.

“Hyeonyul, for now, you’ll help me bring them out. We can stay flexible on everything else. Can you do that?”

Hyeonyul readily answered Sinu’s question. “Yes. I can.” There was nothing he couldn’t do. He could do more.

Before the mission, Hyeonyul took out a syringe and his medicine.

* * *

Their target was a ten-story building. It was unexpectedly large—big enough for a midsize company.

Nayun moved to a spot with a clear view of the building. Clear though the view was, she was far enough away to cover the building with her palm. Her black uniform fluttered in the wind.

Countless people occupied the building’s increasingly transparent interior. They seemed to be moving in midair. Their faces were all different, but together, they could look much alike. Their faces were the only way to identify the White Sparrows.

The teeming crowd resembled a swarm of ants, but Nayun remained unfazed. She had seen countless scenes like this before.

‘How awful.’ Still, this wasn’t a sight she could simply overlook. Even at this predawn hour, the lights were on. Everyone was working. They weren’t even allowed to leave on time. How was this any different from the place Hyeonyul had worked before?

<Jihwan, is the connection working?>

<Yes. We’re connected.>

After getting confirmation from Jihwan, Nayun shifted her gaze.

<I’ll start with the surveillance camera locations.>

Whenever her eyes lingered briefly on a spot, Jihwan’s magic automatically marked its location. Starting on the tenth floor and working down to the first, her eyes moved without hesitation. However well the cameras were hidden, their distinctive red lights couldn’t be concealed.

<Next, here’s the security office.>

Nayun turned her gaze toward it. Restraining the staff in the security office would be quicker than taking out each camera individually.

<And now, the managers we’re after.>

Nayun spotted one White Sparrow seated at a desk, working; another cleaning the building; and another eating something in the break room. Then she hesitated as she looked at the last one.

<... One of them’s been captured.>

Messages streamed up at Nayun’s announcement.

<What do you mean?>

<What? Captured?>

<Wait, were they exposed?>

<What condition are they in? Are they all right?>

Sinu and Jihwan took turns asking.

<They’re hurt, but it isn’t serious. Looks like someone got suspicious.>

<... This is driving me insane.>

Sinu’s message appeared.

<We need to rescue that one last.>

Nayun agreed with Hyeonyul’s next message.

<That’s right. We can’t put the other three at risk to save one.>

As she spoke, Nayun lowered her gaze.

<The entrance is crawling with villains.>

At a glance, they looked like security guards around the building or people merely passing by, but Nayun’s eyes caught something different.

<They aren’t just stationed there. Anyone leaving gets escorted by at least two villains.>

She had just caught sight of it. As a man left, two of the people walking ahead of him suddenly turned and hurried after him.

<I understand why they need rescuing.>

Hyeonyul’s message appeared.

<And there are four on the roof.>

Nayun reported what she saw.

<They’re holding some scary, dangerous things. We’ll need to deal with them.>

All four held guns. Sniper rifles, perhaps. This faction was currently fighting another faction. What else could this be but a precaution against that?

<No one’s coming up, right?> Sinu asked.

<No. Don’t worry; take care of them. I’d like to shoot them myself, but they might hear it.>

<I’ll go.>

Hyeonyul’s message appeared.

<All right. Here we go.>

Jihwan’s answer came through, and the rooftop door Nayun was watching opened. Hyeonyul stepped out quietly.

<I’ll take care of them.>

Hyeonyul’s calm came through.