* * *

Hyeonyul blinked naturally. Ever since his head had been damaged, he hadn't dreamed. If he could at least dream, perhaps something from his past would surface.

A book titled 101 Ways to Make Workplace Life Run Smoothly lay neatly beside him. Despite reading it carefully again and again, he hadn't found a situation like yesterday's. His gaze shifted.

「Face Reading: How to Read People's Minds.」

「Expressing Emotions: Even a Stray Dog Can Do It.」

「Conversations That Don't End with “Yes” or “No.”」

「An Emotion-Reading Beam for the Socially Awkward!」

There were plenty of other books, too. Apparently, he'd started reading as soon as he got home yesterday and drifted off to sleep. He turned over, his long hair slipping inside his shoulder.

'No matter how much I read, I can't understand why they waited for me.'

Jeongmin hadn't given him the answer.

["Think this one through yourself. You can't keep asking to be spoon-fed."]

He'd said, "That's not how you use the expression 'spoon-fed,'" but Jeongmin had only laughed harder.

Hyeonyul's brow furrowed. Before, Jeongmin had explained everything, calling it emotional training or whatever, yet now suddenly refused to explain. He didn't much like not knowing.

He brought his phone over with darkness and fiddled with it. Another six hundred messages had piled up.

'... I should read them, shouldn't I?'

The moment he tapped the screen, messages popped up.

[Senior Chu Nayun: He read it.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Hyeonyul read it!]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Hyeonyul! Are you okay?]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Oh, come on. Give him a minute.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: What's the rush?]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: It really does look like Hyeonyul read it, though?]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Bro! Are you awake?]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: How are you feeling?]

Jihwan sent a sticker of a fox grinning broadly. Seeing the messages pour in, Hyeonyul immediately put his phone down. That had woken him right up, in a different sense.

'... How did they know?'

The phone kept vibrating. Looking distressed, he first let out a sigh. They came at him far too abruptly. They seemed to have no sense of personal distance. When he was among them, he felt as though he were surrounded.

[I'm all right.]

For now, he replied. Then he hesitated.

[Senior Chu Nayun: Baek Sinu! You're making him uncomfortable!]

[Senior Chu Nayun: What are you going to do about it?]

She sent a sticker of a hissing cat.

The moment Hyeonyul saw that message, he looked around. Was he being watched? All he'd written was that he was all right. How could they infer that much from it?

[Senior Baek Sinu: You spoke to him first, not me, Chu Nayun.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: You, not me!!!!]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: So Hyeonyul really is uncomfortable about something?]

A brief silence followed Jihwan's message.

[Senior Chu Nayun: Have.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: We.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Been a little.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Too much?]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Hey! Does asking like that make it tactful?]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Just ask confidently.]

Sinu quickly sent a sticker of a dog holding a letter in its mouth, followed by another of a dog tilting its head.

[Senior Baek Sinu: You get it, right, Hyeonyul?]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Hahahahahahahaha!]

[Senior Chu Nayun: You're not much better, Baek Sinu!]

[Senior Chu Nayun: What are you doing?]

[Well.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Yes, yes, yes, yes!]

A sticker of a fox with sparkling eyes arrived along with it. Cat and dog stickers followed from Nayun and Sinu, as though to show they were paying attention.

[No.]

Hyeonyul got as far as typing that he felt uncomfortable, then stopped. No messages came for a while.

[I have a question.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: I'm listening!]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Ask anything! I'll answer it all!]

[Senior Baek Sinu: If you've got a problem, I'm your guy.]

[Yesterday.]

[Why did you wait for me yesterday?]

As soon as he sent the messages, Hyeonyul covered his phone. Was it all right to ask that? His eyes wandered through empty space. Why did he feel as though he'd made a mistake? He fiddled with his phone. Strangely, his body seemed to be losing its strength.

He put the phone down for a moment and pulled up the blanket. After hesitating for a long time, he checked it. His eyes widened.

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Because we were worried.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Right. Of course we were worried.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: I wanted to make sure you were okay so I could sleep easy.]

Worried.

Hyeonyul stared at the word. It was the word he had accepted most quickly. Jeongmin always looked at him that way whenever they met. He'd had no choice but to accept that this was worry.

[Senior Baek Sinu: I'm saying this in case you're about to go, Why????]

[Senior Baek Sinu: You're our teammate.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Of course we'd worry if any of you went through that.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: That villain company? They're the strange ones. They're not normal. Let's dismantle those standards of yours one by one.]

[Senior Chu Nayul: I've got to agree with that.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Agreed! Both arms raised!]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: I agree, too!]

The moment Haeryeon's message slipped in, everything went uncannily quiet.

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Stop disturbing Hyeonyul's rest. You all need to rest up before coming to work, too.]

[Senior Ye Jihwan: Suddenly, all my strength is draining away.]

[Senior Chu Nayun: Agreed.]

[Senior Baek Sinu: Completely agreed. Both arms and both legs raised!]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Agreeing won't change anything.]

[Team Leader Oh Haeryeon: Well, get plenty of rest, Hyeonyul. See you tomorrow.]

She sent a sticker of a squirrel waving. No more messages came. Hyeonyul moved his finger across the screen and looked through the messages again.

'I see.'

A few things still bothered him, but at last he understood.

There was something in one of the books.

“People worry when someone is ill.”

They were putting that into practice. Villains simply didn't practice even that. These people were human, not villains.

'They're human.'

Hyeonyul blinked up at the ceiling.

'So that's why the Doctor said I'd changed.'

He now had a rough understanding of Jeongmin's words, too. Having lived among villains, he could change simply by living among people. That was what Jeongmin had meant.

Hyeonyul nodded. However many times he thought it over, the answer was still the same. He'd been right to become a Black Eagle.

He got up. His body felt fine. He was gradually adjusting to the new medication, too. There were no lingering aftereffects. There was only one place he needed to go.

["Yeah. Those bastards. They took our workshop."]

Hadn't he recently obtained three drugs used on him in the experiments? At the time, he'd heard that the Poison King's faction had taken their workshop. He'd instructed his figurehead president, Lee Seungyu, to hold on to anything drug-related and leave handling it to him. It was time to check on that.

Hyeonyul fetched his phone.

BZZZZZ.

He felt it vibrate. It was Haeryeon.

"Yes, Team Leader."

<There's something I didn't get to tell you earlier.>

"What information is it?"

<That company with the leader who said he knew your past—it was Linda.>

"... Linda?"

Hyeonyul pondered the familiar name.

<Remember how you said there was a villain destroying drugs a while ago?>

"... Ah."

The messages he'd found on that phone came back to him one by one.

["Isn't Linda the company that sells cosmetics, and Prunal the one that sells milk?"]

Linda. That had definitely been the name.

"You mean the information I gave you, Team Leader?"

<Right. That's it. It's such a shame. It was a cosmetics company Nayun liked. So did I. They were fairly well known for their skincare products.>

Her voice sounded as though she were gritting her teeth. He could immediately tell she was angry.

["If you don't know what to choose, I'll pick something for you. There's a brand called Linda, and their products are really good."]

'... Ah.'

Only then did Hyeonyul remember what Nayun had said before, too. He hadn't been able to think clearly under the pressure from Nayun and Jihwan at the time, but it was the same company.

<Just wait, Hyeonyul. I'll put it on the mission list soon.>

"Yes. I'll wait."

<All right. Rest up, then. See you later.>

"Understood."

Hyeonyul waited for Haeryeon to hang up. But the call didn't end.

<Stay home and rest. Don't go wandering around.>

Hyeonyul blinked for a moment.

"... Did the Doctor tell you that?"

<Of course. I was told to remind you at least twice. Though apparently you won't listen even then.>

He heard Haeryeon chuckle.

"That's not true."

His eyebrows drew together. Why had Jeongmin said that?

<I'm really hanging up now.>

"Yes."

He checked his phone, half expecting otherwise, but this time the call ended immediately.

Yawning, Hyeonyul walked to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror before washing his face and raised the corners of his mouth to practice smiling. His brow furrowed briefly, then he turned on the water.

'It really doesn't suit me.'

* * *

Hyeonyul looked up briefly. The towering buildings seemed ready to pierce the sun at any moment. There was a district where many companies clustered together. It went by various names, and the Poison King's true parent company was located right here.

That meant villains mingled with the people casually commuting to work. It also meant other factions couldn't enter this area. This place was the Poison King's faction itself. In other words, the Poison King was partly responsible for his inability to find other villain factions quickly.

By now, Hyeonyul stood among the crowd with a rabbit mask over his head. Some stared; others spoke in fascination.

"... Mom, Mom. A rabbit. A rabbit."

A child tugged and shook their mother's arm, pointing at him.

"You're right, it's a rabbit. Say hello."

"Hello."

The child bowed, hands held over their belly, reminding Hyeonyul of Serin. He waved and offered some candy he'd bought for Serin, pretending to take it out of his pocket.

「Hello.」

「Have a happy day :D」

Holding out his phone, he walked across as the signal changed.

Eyes turned toward him. Anyone suddenly wearing a rabbit mask would attract attention, but these looks were varied. He saw fascination, reverence, and wariness. The fascination would be curiosity about the rabbit mask that had suddenly appeared. The reverence clearly came from members of the Poison King's faction, and the wariness from other factions.

He always chose caution, but today was different. It was time to choose boldness instead.

'They'll be getting curious by now. I should let them know.'

Countless rumors would have circulated by this point, and attention would be focused on his faction. If he didn't appear now, all those rumors would burst like balloons.

Hyeonyul walked confidently toward the main entrance. The looks in the eyes of the black-suited villains standing guard and yawning changed. No way. Surely not. That seemed to be what their faces said. He raised his phone.

「Hello.」

After greeting them, he walked to the reception desk.

「Call Lee Seungyu down.」

He ordered them to summon the figurehead president. Nothing could be more symbolic than this.

"... Pardon?"

When the receptionist gave him a bewildered look, Hyeonyul explained again. He pointed upward, then held out his phone.

「Call him.」

"J-just a moment. Could you please wait a moment?"

「Of course :)」

After adding the emoticon, Hyeonyul quietly took out a dagger. There wasn't a single civilian here. That made this acceptable. With the reception desk behind him, he looked at one of the men. He didn't like the man's expression.

He walked calmly toward him. The closer he came, the more warily the man watched him. Standing directly in front of him, he held out his phone.

「What's with that expression?」

"... Are you really?"

「Really what?」

"Are you really our king?"

Normally, he would have let it slide, but this wasn't the occasion for that. He ought to consider it insolent. Hyeonyul breathed out briefly at the words coming at him.

「Why do you get to decide whether I am or not?」

After kindly explaining on his phone, he swung his hand. A dagger was already in his grip. Blood spattered as it pierced the man's throat. Hyeonyul drew it straight sideways.

「Who.」

「Told you to talk like that?」

He looked at the blood staining the floor, then raised his head. The atmosphere changed in an instant. The eyes watching him disappeared. The quicker-witted villains began bowing their heads. He was the real thing.

He heard hurried footsteps. Turning his head, Hyeonyul seized Seungyu by the throat.

"... Gah."

Hyeonyul said nothing. He simply tightened his grip.

"... I'm... sorry."

He didn't release him immediately.

"My... negligence."

Only after the repeated apologies did Hyeonyul lower his hand. The distinction between superior and subordinate had been firmly imprinted on everyone. This was what he'd wanted to show them.

「Seungyu.」

His face bright red, Seungyu looked at Hyeonyul. Even with tears streaming down his face, he was smiling. He seemed to have realized why Hyeonyul had come.

「You can't do this.」

「Why don't they know who I am?」

"I'll... take care of it."

Seungyu immediately dropped to his knees. Only then did everyone else there kneel, and the doors closed.

"I'll kill the verminous bastards who failed to recognize you at once."

「Yes. You should.」

「Seungyu.」

「Today's been a bit much.」

「It's making me angry.」

"I'm sorry."

Looking at Seungyu, who had even bowed his head, Hyeonyul held out a hand. He wanted to wrap this up. He didn't much like continuing to attract so much attention. Seungyu looked up at him in surprise, then shifted his gaze to the hand.

"... Are you sure?"

Was this really allowed? Seungyu asked with extreme caution.

Hyeonyul waved his hand. Everyone here was like this.

'I'm telling you, I'm not the strange one.'

Watching Seungyu tremble at a single outstretched hand, Hyeonyul almost wanted to tell Jeongmin about it.

Seungyu placed his trembling hand on Hyeonyul's palm. All Hyeonyul did was help him up, yet the change in Seungyu's eyes made him uncomfortable.

「Watch out for impersonators.」

"Who's... impersonating you?"

Seungyu's eyes instantly sharpened.

「They'll show up sooner or later.」

「Should we make up some hand signals?」

"No. There's no need. I'll handle it. You needn't do anything."

Seungyu shook his head with solemn determination. No matter what happened, he would never inconvenience this person.

「Really?」

Hyeonyul started to say more, then stopped.

'Is he planning to stab me in the back, considering he won't set anything up?'

Thinking he should be careful, he pointed at the elevator.

「We'll take the elevator today.」

"Yes. This way, please. I'll guide you."

Seungyu walked ahead.

With everyone bowing their heads, Seungyu felt his shoulders broaden with pride. The person who had always visited only him had boldly come through the main entrance. These people had never seen that person, only heard about him, so many regarded him as an illusion. Seungyu was suppressing them by force all the way down the ranks, but resistance could arise at any time. And now, he had appeared. He was like a savior.

'Just as I thought... He's incredible. Truly incredible.'

All the discontent would disappear today. His chest filled with a wealth of emotions.

* * *

「You took over a drug production factory, didn't you?」

Hyeonyul asked Seungyu as soon as they entered the room. This was what he'd come for today. Would Seungyu pretend not to know? Or would he tell the truth? Hyeonyul gave his phone a slight shake.