* * *

<What do you mean?>

Sinu asked.

<Exactly. What are you talking about?>

Nayun echoed him. Hyeonyul was proposing to take on that suspicious individual himself.

<I have a bad feeling.>

Hyeonyul offered a makeshift excuse. This was no time to argue.

Jihwan looked troubled by Hyeonyul's message. His instincts were good, after all.

<We were told to avoid confronting villains on this mission wherever possible, but that is not an option now. We have to fight.>

Hyeonyul pressed his point more firmly. They could not retrieve the White Sparrow without a fight. Fighting was the right choice.

<Once fighting breaks out, security inside will tighten. So you must rescue both of them, big brother Baek Sinu.>

<Chu Nayun. How many are in there right now?>

Sinu asked, his expression stiff.

<Five.>

<However many there are, I am best suited to this. Traveling through doors is too conspicuous. Isn't that why we went to the security office and disabled the CCTV? And wasn't the reason we surveyed the villains through your eyes, sis Chu Nayun, that this is an infiltration mission? I will go and launch a surprise attack.>

Hyeonyul worked to persuade them. There was no time. Suspicious though that White Sparrow was, there was a chance the captive might die.

<They are only using violence now, but they may use drugs later.>

That was the usual sequence. They were going far too easy on the White Sparrow during the interrogation. He found that behavior suspicious. Villains had no reason to show mercy to anyone connected to the Black Eagles.

<Go, Hyeonyul.>

Sinu's words startled Jihwan.

"Bro!"

<Hey, Baek Sinu!>

Nayun sent a horrified message.

<Do you even understand what you're saying? If Hyeonyul causes a commotion, the villains will swarm toward him. There won't be just five anymore. There'll be more. He'll be cornered. And that's not all! What about the ones already there? We don't even know how strong they are, and you want to send him alone?>

<I'll get there fast. Trust me, Nayun.>

After Sinu said that, Nayun's reply did not come immediately.

<Damn it, Baek Sinu. You'd better get there fast.>

<I said I will.>

<I'll help too, Hyeonyul. I'm getting my gun.>

<Yes. I will head out.>

After replying, Hyeonyul looked at Jihwan.

"You can conserve your mana."

Just as he seemed about to walk forward, he melted into darkness.

"... Bro."

Jihwan looked at Sinu with something close to a glare. A bitter smile settled on Sinu's lips.

"I'm sorry."

"No. I'm angry, so my eyes look mean. I respect your decision, Bro. I would have done the same."

Jihwan understood Sinu. Making a choice was painful. Neither Jihwan nor Nayun had been able to choose. Sinu had merely taken that burden upon himself.

"Don't worry, Bro. I'll keep him safe with my magic."

They had only been unable to separate the White Sparrow from the others because they could not risk detection. Once they were discovered, things were different.

"All right. I trust you."

"Don't worry."

After answering Sinu, Jihwan repeated the same reassurance to the anxious White Sparrow.

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe, no matter what."

* * *

Hyeonyul descended to the basement and looked down from the ceiling.

'One door.'

Being a basement, it could hardly have windows.

'Five people.'

Exactly as Nayun had seen.

"All right. That's enough courtesy for a former employee."

The man wearing his jacket draped over his shoulders like a cape handed it to the subordinate beside him and jerked his head.

"For your sake..."

The man abruptly stopped speaking. He seemed to look around, then tilted his head upward.

'... He saw me?'

How?

No sooner had that thought followed than Hyeonyul reached out.

CRRUNCH.

An invisible force surged toward him. Scars like the marks of sharp claws appeared across the ceiling. But the force did not reach Hyeonyul. Something was blocking it in front of him.

'... Magic?'

This seemed to be Jihwan's magic.

"Who's there!"

As the man shouted at the ceiling, his subordinates stiffened and scanned their surroundings.

If this magic belonged to Jihwan, there was only one way that bastard could have detected him.

'... A psychic.'

Hyeonyul quickly assessed the situation. Psychics normally had something like a protective barrier around them. It was an inconvenient power, invisible and only detectable upon contact. This man's barrier extended much farther than those of other psychics.

Hyeonyul withdrew a little farther and cautiously extended his hand. The tingling sensation like an electric shock upon contact was the hallmark of a psychic's barrier. The magic had been erased, but that sensation did not reach him.

'How far does it extend?'

Hyeonyul approached slowly.

"... Aaagh."

A scream rose from below; one of the subordinates seemed to have been injured by the man's attack. The man looked at the subordinate and extended his hand.

"... President."

The subordinate never finished.

CRACK.

The force crushed his head.

"Come out if you want an easy death."

The man smiled. He looked pleased. His eyes held the certainty of someone who had caught a little rat.

'His power concentrates in one place.'

Having realized that, Hyeonyul continued approaching.

CRRUNCH.

Once again, a harsh noise accompanied clawlike gouges in the ceiling.

'About this far.'

Hyeonyul had a rough idea of its range: just under a meter. He looked at the White Sparrow. The captive had already been beaten, and even his eyes were swollen, making his face rather difficult to recognize. Was he really the right person? It was difficult to be certain.

'What if he's already dead?'

Considering that possibility, Hyeonyul took out his phone in the darkness. The gender matched: male. He had no way of recognizing the voice. The face was unrecognizable, but the hair color was similar. Even if this was a fake, they would certainly have brought someone who looked similar.

Hyeonyul moved to the wall and emerged behind one of the subordinates. He did not stab him immediately. He merely held a dagger to his neck, using him as a hostage.

"...!"

The subordinates saw Hyeonyul, and the man laughed.

"Puhahaha!"

Ignoring the man's laughter, Hyeonyul brought his subordinate toward the person presumed to be the White Sparrow.

<I'll block him.>

Jihwan's message appeared. Magic was taking shape around the White Sparrow.

"Release him if you don't want your subordinate to die."

Saying something so unsuited to him felt awkward.

"Right. You always do this, don't you?"

The man looked calmly at Hyeonyul. He seemed indifferent to whether his subordinate lived or died.

"I'm a Black Eagle. What team are you on?"

Hyeonyul quietly asked the White Sparrow.

"... Uh, well..."

The White Sparrow hesitated. Did he suspect Hyeonyul? Or did he genuinely not know? Which was it?

"Take a hostage, and some stupid Eagle bastard always comes running like this. Why is that?"

"Exactly."

Hyeonyul spoke as though agreeing, and the man charged. He ignored the presumed White Sparrow and came straight at Hyeonyul. Hyeonyul watched his actions impassively.

'That's a fake. The real one's already dead.'

If the captive were genuine, the White Sparrow was the one the man should have secured. There was no longer any reason even to keep up this awkward act.

"Too bad. He's already dead."

"Yes. Understood."

Hyeonyul answered calmly. He could only be grateful for such a direct admission.

When the man seemed about to swing his hand, Hyeonyul threw the subordinate at him like bait.

"... What?"

Caught off guard, the man killed his subordinate. He could not stop his hand. Hyeonyul was no longer where he was looking. He had already appeared in front of the subordinate behind the man. Smoke rippled around Hyeonyul's body.

<He's already dead. That one is a fake.>

Informing the others, he moved the hand holding his dagger. As simply as possible. As quickly as possible. He pierced the subordinate's throat and hid in the shadows. When the man turned around, only his dead subordinate remained.

The man laughed.

"... What are you? What the hell are you?"

He was a Black Eagle. That was certainly what his clothes said. But what on earth was this? A Black Eagle, supposedly there to save people, was killing them instead.

Keeping clear of the man's barrier, Hyeonyul targeted the last subordinate. He reached out and grabbed his leg.

"...!"

The instant the subordinate lowered his head to look, he fell into endless darkness. When the man turned, no one was there. His eyes darted rapidly.

"... This bastard."

This was no ordinary opponent. But there was still no reason for him to lose. If there was one thing the Black Eagles were weakest against, it was precisely this. The man looked at the White Sparrow whom he had neither killed nor touched. Gripping his throat, he spoke.

"You'd better come out. This one isn't on our side."

Stupid Eagle bastards. They would try to save him again anyway. Thinking that, the man could not stop smiling.

"Before I really kill him."

"You may kill him."

The voice behind him sent a chill through the man, and he turned his head.

CRACKLE.

With a snapping sound at his fingertips, the man's hand moved. His muscles bulged through his clothes as he tore apart the figure in front of him. It was not his opponent. It was his subordinate who had vanished. Amid the severed flesh and the feel of skin against his fingertips, something burst out. Something dark and black.

CRUNCH!

The man's eyes widened at the harsh sound.

'... What was that?'

He instinctively stepped back. He heard something shattering. Surely it could not be the power surrounding his body.

"As expected, that power surrounding a psychic's body is annoyingly sturdy."

Hyeonyul's voice came from behind him. The man flinched and turned. Black power coiled around the two daggers in Hyeonyul's hands. Its fluttering shape resembled an ominous demon. The man's eyes wavered.

'Huh...?'

He felt as though he had seen it somewhere. Where had it been? In the brief moment he spent thinking, the Eagle had already closed in and brought his dagger down. Sparks flew from its tip against something invisible.

'One more.'

Expecting the blow to be blocked, Hyeonyul swung his other hand as well. A line appeared. As it abruptly widened, the sound of the power shattering rang in Hyeonyul's ears. Just as the dagger's blade was about to slash the man's throat, the man's hand moved frantically. A heavy force followed his hastily raised hand. Hyeonyul seemed about to be driven upward by the oncoming force, but instead seeped into the ceiling.

CRRUNCH.

There was a sound of skin being forcibly torn away.

'That's heavy.'

Hyeonyul looked at his hand. It was trembling from the considerable weight of that force. It felt different from gravity. As he had expected, its weight seemed more concentrated in one place.

'He's not a major player, but give him a few years and he could become one.'

He had confirmed that the earlier address of "President" had not been fake. After steadying his breathing, Hyeonyul gripped his dagger.

'I'll kill him next time.'

He planned to separate the man's head from his neck.

Before he emerged, he heard a sound. A different sound. A window shattered, and a bullet pierced the man's shoulder, making him stagger.

"...!"

Flailing, the man directed his power toward the spot the bullet had come through. All he blew apart were the remaining windows and part of the building's wall. He panted. The unexpected attack seemed to have shaken him.

'Good timing.'

Hyeonyul approached without hesitation. The barrier had shattered. It would take time to recover. Even among psychics, the psychic powers they could use differed. This one's abilities began and ended with force. His target was the arm.

Black smoke spread like wings behind the dagger in Hyeonyul's hand. There was no sound as he swung it, empowered by that force. Everything was silent, as though it had all died. The dagger traced a thick line from the outside of the man's body inward. Nothing impeded it as it severed his arm and cut deep inside. Hyeonyul considered cutting deeper, then stopped, thinking he might need time to hear something from him.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

Even after Hyeonyul lowered his dagger, the man's scream broke the silence. Hyeonyul heard another sound. He saw something drive into the man's leg. Judging by the way it embedded itself in the ground, it was a bullet.

'Her accuracy is exceptionally high.'

While Hyeonyul briefly glanced toward Nayun's position, the man went beyond staggering and collapsed. The way he shrieked like a quacking duck made Hyeonyul's eyes narrow involuntarily. He was noisy.

'Looks like I overestimated him.'

He seemed to have become disoriented. Hyeonyul revealed himself. As though unable to see him, the man stared in shock at his severed arm.

<Don't let your guard down, Hyeonyul.>

<Yes.>

As Nayun's message instructed, Hyeonyul did not lower his guard. There was a very good chance that this confusion was itself a tactic.

"Where is the real one?"

Hyeonyul asked.

"... Ptoo!"

The man spat blood-tinged saliva. Hyeonyul could see that his eyes had turned red.

"I heard you addressed as President. Doesn't that mean you're the only one we need to catch? Think carefully before you die."

Hyeonyul looked at the blood streaming from the severed arm. Judging by the blood pouring out, the man might die of blood loss.

"Is he dead?"

"... Want me to tell you?"

"Yes. Please tell me."

"There's something I'd rather tell you instead."

The man smiled. Now he understood. Why he had felt such a sense of déjà vu. Why he had faltered upon seeing this bastard. He had thought it was humiliation, but it was not. Only now did everything feel resolved.

"What do you want to tell me?"

Hyeonyul tilted his head. If it could provide information, there was nothing he could not bear to hear.

"... I know you."

At those words, everything stopped for Hyeonyul. It was the first time he had heard them since escaping that place. Could it be true? Even his breathing stopped.