* * *

Hyeonyul looked ahead.

Four of them. No problem.

Swords were already poised around their necks. That was Sinu's power.

"Shout, and you die."

Hyeonyul kindly informed them as he drove his dagger into the nearest man's neck. Their eyes widened.

This was a warning.

"I'll ask a simple question. Have you heard anything about someone infiltrating the building?"

Only then did the villain notice what Hyeonyul was wearing. The skin around his eyes trembled.

A Black Eagle?

"If you know, blink quickly. If you don't, keep your eyes open," Hyeonyul said as he approached.

When the villain blinked, Hyeonyul asked, "You know?"

He reached for the sword hovering around the man's neck as he asked.

"You fucking bi—"

Before he could finish, Hyeonyul slashed his throat with the sword. He looked at his hand.

'... It feels good.'

Surprisingly good.

'Should I ask for one? Would that be possible?'

Coveting Sinu's sword, Hyeonyul moved on.

He tilted his head at another villain, who was desperately holding his eyes open to avoid blinking.

"You don't know?"

Hyeonyul took hold of the sword.

"... I just, just did what I was told."

"Is that so?"

After answering calmly, Hyeonyul used the sword to pierce his throat. It slid in more easily than he had expected.

'It really is good.'

Hyeonyul looked at the last man.

"You don't know?"

"... Die, Black Eagle!"

Hyeonyul watched him as he spoke. The man's upper body was leaning forward. He seemed about to approach.

Hyeonyul waited without moving. Before the man could take even one step, the sword hovering around his neck plunged into his throat.

Gazing at the man sprawled at his feet, Hyeonyul spoke.

<None of these four knew there was a White Sparrow here. It seems the information hasn't spread that far.>

He looked toward Nayun's position.

<No one's coming up for now. Stay there a moment.>

<Do I not need to clean this up?>

Hyeonyul looked at the bodies as he asked.

<It's fine. There shouldn't be a problem until their shift change.>

<Yes. Understood.>

Before going back, Hyeonyul took out a small rod and wedged it beside the door, as a precaution against anything unexpected.

<Jihwan.>

<Yes, Sis.>

<Looks like we'll have to go to the security office. I checked the camera locations to see if we could get through, but it's impossible. Shutting them off would be best.>

<Jihwan, do you have enough mana to open doors in two places?> Sinu added.

<I can do it.>

<Good. Hyeonyul, stand in front of the wall.>

Hyeonyul followed his instructions.

<Wait there,> Sinu instructed again.

Hyeonyul waited for a door to appear. After what felt like about fifteen seconds, a door appeared, and he immediately opened it and stepped inside.

Everyone there had swords attached to their necks like bombs.

"Now you can take your time."

Sinu smiled and pointed at the equipment. This was certainly faster.

"Yes."

As he answered, Hyeonyul shoved the man sitting at the main workstation. The moment he moved, the swords swarmed the villain like a pack of dogs.

"... G-gah!"

Despite the clearly audible sounds of the man dying with his throat pierced, Hyeonyul calmly operated the equipment.

They needed to instill fear so these people wouldn't dare move even after they left. To accomplish that, he had to build it up one step at a time. It would be even better if they felt helpless in the process.

"Speak, and you die," Hyeonyul warned, looking at the screen.

Sinu glanced at him, then spoke. Lending a little support, he smiled at the other villains.

"If you're curious, go ahead and try."

Sinu's gaze swept across the room and stopped on the dead villain.

This was Hyeonyul's way of doing things. He had no intention of commenting on it.

Keeping watch, Sinu thought, 'I suppose I'll have to keep the villains restrained.'

"Are you going to keep restraining them?"

Hyeonyul's question came at that very moment. Sinu looked at him in surprise.

"Killing them would be faster. They'll get in the way."

"I know that too."

"Understood."

Hyeonyul asked no more. Choosing not to take the faster route was Sinu's decision.

After extracting every bit of information he could from the surveillance system, Hyeonyul used his darkness to sever the internal wires.

"Done."

"Why not break it entirely?"

"I did. Since I was working on it anyway, I also secured the footage. We should be able to examine what happened in more detail."

Hyeonyul walked over to the door and locked it.

"Good work."

"Not at all."

"No, really. This is going incredibly fast."

Sinu was genuinely impressed. It wasn't simply that they had one more person. The fact that the extra person was Hyeonyul made all the difference in speed.

His lack of hesitation did bother Sinu. Hyeonyul seemed to lack the brakes that any human being ought to have.

That was something they would have to work out, not something to bring up now.

Hyeonyul nodded slightly, then surveyed the villains. He approached one who looked relatively high-ranking and grasped the sword aimed at his neck.

"What did you hear from your superiors?"

"Kill me, you son of a bitch!"

Hyeonyul quietly regarded the man who had spat those words through clenched teeth.

Go on, try it if you dare.

Usually, this sort of bravado meant there was a 69 percent chance the person knew something. According to a book, it was because they instinctively recognized their own importance.

"It seems he knew, after all."

Hyeonyul shoved the villain. The instant he moved, the sword sank deep into his neck and blood spattered. His wheeled chair slid across the floor and collided with another villain.

"N—gah!"

Before that man could finish speaking, a sword pierced his throat.

'Convenient.'

Hyeonyul watched the dying villain. He didn't even have to move his own hands; Sinu's power took care of everything.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't intend to kill you as well."

Belatedly apologizing, Hyeonyul looked at the others. Their eyes darted about as though avoiding his gaze.

Sinu felt the atmosphere change.

Was this deliberate? If so, it was impressive in a different sense.

Being a Black Eagle meant there were many moral constraints on what they could do. Hyeonyul was breaking through them.

That wasn't an entirely good thing. There were also aspects they needed to be wary of.

"Are you afraid?"

Hyeonyul asked, reading Sinu's stiff expression.

Many people had feared him when he was a villain, too. He had once wished the leaders of the various villain factions would treat him that way, but they had only used him. They hadn't honored even a single word of their contracts.

"No," Sinu answered honestly. "It's just unfamiliar. You have to give me time to adjust."

"Is that so?"

Whatever he meant by unfamiliar, Hyeonyul accepted it calmly.

"That's all it is. You're holding yourself back too."

"... You noticed?"

Hyeonyul's fingers stopped moving.

"Oh, of course I noticed. That's why I'm not afraid."

Sinu laughed in disbelief.

The very fact that Hyeonyul was holding back meant he was mindful of their reactions. How could Sinu be afraid of him for that?

He was trying hard in his own way. He had only just emerged from the world of villains. How could he adjust immediately?

"There's no rule saying Black Eagles can't kill villains. You're doing fine within the law. Do you think I'd criticize you?"

Still, few Black Eagles could actually kill someone, even a villain. What could they do when the moral principles and social lessons instilled in them since childhood held them back?

Sinu was the same. Even when he wanted to kill, he hesitated.

Sinu suppressed a smile at Hyeonyul's motionless fingers. Had those words shocked him that much?

He resumed watching the villains, only to be dumbfounded by one villain's suddenly quickened breathing.

"Ah... You didn't know we were Black Eagles?"

They were practically advertising it with their entire bodies, yet the villains hadn't recognized them.

What a strange experience.

<You can move now.>

Nayun's message appeared, along with a door.

<You can go straight through,> Jihwan informed them.

"We'll be back shortly. Do not move. As you've seen, moving means death."

Hyeonyul's warning chilled the room.

'This part is pretty nice.'

Sinu was experiencing the Hyeonyul effect firsthand. Honestly, how many villains looked down on them?

The Black Eagles couldn't kill them anyway.

It was true, but knowing that didn't make it any less infuriating.

"Let's go."

Feeling oddly cheerful, Sinu headed for the door.

As soon as he stepped through, he surveyed his surroundings. It was a break room.

Turning left, he met the startled eyes of a woman. She nearly dropped what she was holding but barely managed to catch it. It appeared to be a snack.

"Shh."

Sinu raised a finger to his lips. Just as the woman seemed about to nod, her eyes widened again at the sight of Hyeonyul. His helmet seemed to have startled her.

Hyeonyul took out his phone and compared her with the photographs of the four White Sparrows they needed to rescue.

"Is it her?"

"Yes."

At his answer, Sinu abruptly raised a finger and poked various places on his own body. It might look puzzling, but it was a signal. Someone could alter their face as a disguise.

The woman calmly poked various places on her own body.

"Which team are you on?" Sinu asked.

"Team Thirty-Two," the woman answered.

"That's right."

Before moving, Sinu touched his wireless earpiece.

<We can go, right?>

<Plenty of time,> came Nayun's answer.

"This way."

At Sinu's words, the woman finally glanced at the surveillance camera, then threw her half-eaten snack into the trash. The moment she heard that she no longer needed to worry about the cameras, her eyes changed.

"Are the others all right?"

"Let's get you out first."

Sinu didn't tell her. They were her teammates; the news could shake her.

She asked no more questions and headed where he pointed.

<She's arrived. I'll open a separate door to Sis's location.>

At Jihwan's message, Sinu asked, <Do you have enough mana?>

But no answer came. No new door opened, either.

Sinu poked his head through the still-open door. Jihwan was staring blankly.

"... Could you shake Jihwan a little?"

He asked the White Sparrow who had just gone through. She shook Jihwan, who only came around after several shakes.

"... Did I do it again?"

"That's fine. Don't worry about it. More importantly, how's your mana?"

Sinu asked out of concern for Jihwan rather than for what had just happened.

"I'm fine."

Jihwan nodded.

"Then I'll wait beside you for a moment."

Sinu stepped inside and beckoned for Hyeonyul to follow.

Hyeonyul looked behind him. The door leading to the security office had disappeared.

'I need to check once before leaving.'

He was uneasy because he had never left villains alive before. He followed Sinu inside.

<Apart from the captured White Sparrow, the other two have changed their routes.>

Nayun's message appeared immediately.

<One was working at a desk and is now heading for a break room. The other was cleaning the corridor and is heading to the restroom. This break room is different from the one you just visited.>

"Both targets are moving somewhere else at the same time."

Sinu rubbed the tip of his chin and checked on Jihwan. Jihwan did occasionally space out, but today it was happening sooner. It seemed to be because of the building's size.

'Are you really all right?'

He was worried.

When Jihwan smiled, Sinu smiled back and turned his gaze to Hyeonyul.

"Looks like we'll have to split up. What do you think?"

"That's fine."

"Will you really be all right?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

Hearing his answer, Sinu walked over to Jihwan and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you open two places now?"

"I can. Ah, I'm terribly sorry, but if I space out, could you shake me like you did earlier?"

Jihwan broke off to make the request of the White Sparrow, looking embarrassed.

"Of course."

Understanding the situation, the White Sparrow nodded.

"You can relax now, Bro."

As Jihwan spoke with a smile, Hyeonyul looked at the two of them. He finally understood why they hadn't considered sending Jihwan in to begin with, and why Jihwan hadn't gone in alone last time, either.

'Apparently the blank spells happen more often than I thought.'

Hyeonyul committed this new information to memory.

While waiting quietly for the next instruction, he pretended to look around and turned his back, hiding from their eyes.

One of his eyes melted and moved toward the security office. He had warned them, but leaving them alive still bothered him.

'This is rather inconvenient.'

Hyeonyul had learned something new.

The eye swimming through the darkness stopped at the security office and looked down from above. Everyone remained motionless, filled with nothing but fear.

Seeing it again, Sinu's ability really was a good one.

'Everything's fine here.'

Restoring his eye, Hyeonyul looked at Sinu and Jihwan. They were also waiting, since Nayun had yet to give instructions.

Hyeonyul pretended to walk around. Inside his helmet, an ear melted and flowed downward.

A short while earlier, several locations had been marked on the map appearing in Jihwan's palm in accordance with Nayun's report. Recalling the relevant location, Hyeonyul moved his ear toward it.

The basement.

Even a cursory look had told him that was the place. It was also ideal for interrogating someone.

He sent his ear into the basement, then followed the sounds.

He heard breathing, terribly rapid, as though the person might die at any moment.

"Talk, you bastard!"

"... Hah, hah."

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"... N-no. I'm n...not."

That faint voice seemed to belong to the White Sparrow. Their condition seemed worse than Nayun had observed. Might a few more blows kill them?

"No, my ass! You thought I didn't know you were secretly stealing information?"

THUD!

"... Gah."

A groan accompanied the sound of a blow.

'He's only beating them?'

Hyeonyul found that puzzling. Why was he being so kind?

Then he heard a door open. The villain sucked in a breath, followed by a soft, lingering sound of wind.

"... Welcome!"

'High-ranking.'

"President!"

Hyeonyul reacted swiftly to the word "president," raising his gaze slightly.

'... The president is here.'

The corners of his mouth felt ready to rise at any moment. To think he had come all the way here.

<Wait a moment.>

Nayun reacted as well.

<Someone's come to see the White Sparrow I said had been captured. Something about the atmosphere is different.>

<Different how?> Sinu asked.

<I think we should change the order,> Hyeonyul interjected.

<I'll go. Big brother Baek Sinu, I'd like you to focus on urgently rescuing the other two.>

Sinu and Jihwan looked at him at this abrupt declaration.

But Hyeonyul had no intention of yielding.

That man's neck was his.