Chapter 10
A Familiar Face? (2)
He had come to pitch something to Shin Dae-ho.
—This is a really good product.
Hyunyul couldn’t see what it was from where he stood. Judging by the atmosphere, it looked like a new kind of weapon.
‘He’s not with the Poison King.’
The Poison King hadn’t come up in their conversation. This was someone else.
‘What did he say?’
—…The Witch wants it distributed discreetly.
“The Witch.”
The man’s first words had been muffled as he left, but Hyunyul had clearly heard “the Witch.”
Since he was still alive, he must have been good at office work. Hyunyul covered his ears too and focused on their conversation.
“Did you check that they searched the whole area?”
The arrogant man was his target.
“With the poison spreading, who could still be alive?”
“Check anyway. It’ll be a pain if those Eagle bastards catch on to anything. And clean up properly after spreading the poison.”
“Yes. I’ve ordered them to retrieve everything.”
“How long until the company’s internal information is hacked?”
“Hack…?”
Hyunyul’s eyes shifted. Hacking usually meant one of two things: stealing a company’s internal information, or bringing the company down. Did those men care about appearances? He’d learned it was faster to cripple a company and take whatever information they wanted than to send in industrial spies or the like.
He didn’t know which one they meant, but he didn’t dwell on it. Taking out his target was enough.
“…I’ll have it done within an hour.”
“An hour? You son of a bitch! Those Eagle bastards will be here any minute! Get it done in twenty!”
The man swore and turned away.
Hyunyul’s eyes narrowed behind his gas mask. They’d split into two groups. One was hacking the company, while the man seemed to be heading somewhere else to take a break.
‘Good.’
That should make things easier.
Just as Hyunyul was about to move, an alert sounded in his ear, and text appeared before his eyes.
<There’s something that looks like a barrier. What is it?>
It was an actual alert: a spell that converted sound into text. The receiver was a wireless earbud. Na-yoon had insisted several times that it was essential.
But this wasn’t the time for that. Hyunyul touched the earbud and spoke.
<Can you see it from there?>
His voice was transmitted as text instead.
<Of course. My eyes are special. A little fog can’t block them. I even saw you get startled by that message. Heehee.>
Apparently, even her laughter came through.
<Does that barrier look like magic?>
<For now, yes. Shall we break it?>
<No.>
Hyunyul quickly stopped Na-yoon.
<Huh? We can’t see inside unless we break it. Can you see through it?>
<Yes.>
<You can see inside…? How? Do you have good eyesight, or are you using magic?>
How many question marks was that?
As the questions kept piling up, Hyunyul replied bluntly:
<They’re hacking the company from inside.>
<Hacking? Are they crazy?>
<If you break the barrier, they’ll run immediately. I’ll get inside and—>
Hyunyul cut himself off. He thought he heard footsteps, but then a strong gust of wind swept past.
A faint sound followed.
Hyunyul turned his head. A short distance away, he could just make out someone’s feet.
<Did you snipe them?>
Hyunyul spoke.
<Of course. I shot because a patrol was passing by. You weren’t startled, were you?>
<No.>
<It looks like they were carrying something. Can you check what it is, Hyunyul?>
Dark energy quickly spread around Hyunyul, then disappeared. There was no one nearby.
He walked over at an unhurried pace and looked at the bodies.
‘There were two of them?’
They were piled on top of each other, perhaps because the shot had gone straight through them. The bullets had hit their heads precisely.
‘To shoot that accurately from so far away…’
Hyunyul was impressed. Then he examined the items Na-yoon had mentioned.
It was a little bigger than his palm.
‘What is this?’
When Hyunyul opened it, he found an empty test tube inside. A little liquid remained.
—And clean up properly after spreading the poison.
‘Is this the poison they were talking about?’
Hyunyul took off his gas mask and tasted a drop of the remaining liquid.
‘…It’s poison.’
The sharp, tingling taste confirmed it. It was the same poison used in this area.
<It’s poison. It looks like they’re still spreading it.>
<What on earth is going on with that company… Oh, wait. While you were checking it out, I requested information on the company. They just got back to me.>
Hyunyul waited a moment for Na-yoon’s reply.
<It’s just an ordinary liquor company. I don’t see why they’d be spreading poison.>
<Then it may not be an ordinary liquor company after all. I’ll have to go inside and find out.>
Hyunyul had even more reason to go farther inside now. He’d have to see for himself to learn what kind of company it really was.
<While you’re inside, I’ll take out the people spreading the poison first. I’ll contact you again once I’ve dealt with them.>
<Understood.>
Just as he was about to end the call, another message from Na-yoon appeared.
<Oh, and don’t do anything dangerous. You’re still on probation, so leave the rest to me. Avoid fighting and just look around as if you’re out for a relaxing stroll. Got it?>
<…Understood.>
Hyunyul replied and ended the call.
Shin-woo and Na-yoon both kept saying things he couldn’t understand. He was surrounded by things that were so different from the company run by villains.
He was starting to lose sight of the idea that he had to prove his usefulness before he got fired.
‘Get a grip.’
He had to look after his health, no matter what. Staying healthy required money and time, so he needed a job that let him manage both properly. There was no choice but to adapt.
‘I should go home and read that book again.’
101 Ways to Get Along at Work.
He needed it.
‘For now, I need to get off work.’
Today was his hospital day.
Hyunyul gripped the dagger at his waist with both hands. He moved somewhere outside Na-yoon’s line of sight, then vanished.
**
Hyunyul moved to the floor he’d observed a little earlier.
There were a lot of people there, but there was no need to take them all out. For efficiency’s sake, he only had to target the key people.
‘First, the ones in the hallway.’
Hyunyul stepped back and slipped into the wall.
People who had fled the poison lay sprawled across the floor, dead. Some had died while trying to use their phones. One of them had typed “Mo…”—probably trying to write “Mom.”
They all had a hole somewhere in their bodies.
‘They weren’t killed by the poison. They were shot.’
Hyunyul looked around. Two people were walking down the hallway. They seemed to be on patrol.
Hyunyul threw a dagger from inside the wall.
Thwack!
It pierced the throat of the man closest to him.
‘What was that just—’
The other man started to speak, startled by the strange sound, but stopped. Someone wearing a gas mask suddenly came toward him.
As the outstretched hand reached him, blood poured from the man’s throat.
“…Kh—”
“Shh.”
Hyunyul covered the man’s mouth with one hand and held a finger to his lips.
The darkness writhing around him swallowed the two men and the bloodstains. Once it had silently carried them all away, nothing remained.
Hyunyul walked on, melting into the shadows.
A door opened somewhere to the left of the hallway.
“…Huh?”
Someone looked around.
“Where’d the guys go?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“I told you to keep a close eye on them. I—”
The irritated voice cut off. A blade had pierced through his throat.
“I’m sorry! I’ll do a better job from now on—T-Team Leader!”
The superior fell forward. His subordinate started to catch him, then met Hyunyul’s gaze. A spark flashed in the subordinate’s eyes.
Ping!
The blade bounced off, and Hyunyul’s hand was knocked backward with it. A sharp sting shot through him.
Hyunyul felt like laughing. He’d run into an esper.
But the man was clumsy, as if he’d only just activated his ability. Hyunyul’s hand melted away, and a blade emerged from the back of the subordinate’s neck. He slashed sideways, and the man fell beside his dead superior.
Hyunyul looked at the hand that had clashed with the man’s ability.
‘These gloves are reinforced enough to withstand a bomb going off…’
The man must have had a fairly powerful ability, for an esper.
‘Too bad he’s dead.’
Hyunyul immediately removed the glove and examined his hand. It was only slightly scraped.
“…Hah.”
Hyunyul was annoyed. The drugs they’d injected him with when he was a test subject made it difficult for his blood to clot.
He reached out with his other hand, and a first-aid kit emerged from the shadows. He applied a special bandage.
His body was already in such bad shape that he couldn’t afford to dismiss even a minor injury. He had no idea how much worse things might get if it became infected.
Holding a dagger in one hand, Hyunyul covered his eyes with the bandaged one and surveyed the target’s location.
Two people were guarding him.
‘Their security is pretty lax. Are they acting this way because they trust the poison?’
That was good news for Hyunyul. It meant he could deal with them easily.
His hand melted away. It reappeared beside one of the guards protecting the target. Hyunyul’s hand emerged from thin air and swiftly, silently slit the guard’s throat.
“…?”
A hand was floating in midair.
What was that?
The guard died with the question still in his mind.
Before the body hit the ground, Hyunyul slit the other guard’s throat too. As the two guards fell to their knees, blood pouring from their necks, the man finally lowered his phone.
“…W-What the hell!”
His eyes shook.
“What do you think?”
Someone suddenly appeared in front of him. The fluttering darkness made it seem as though a living evil had emerged.
The man swallowed hard. Before acting, Hyunyul asked just in case:
“Are there any survivors?”
The man’s head moved ever so slightly from side to side. No, there weren’t.
Hyunyul didn’t believe him.
He lifted one foot and gently set it down. Black, smoke-like energy rippled around it, then passed down through the building. It stretched thinly in both directions, like branches.
Hyunyul smiled.
“There are survivors. This is why I can’t trust anything you people say.”
There were three of them. It was hard to believe they’d survived at all.
Hyunyul used his wireless earbud. It was time to say something.
He paused for a breath, then spoke.
<I found hostages. I’m going to get them out.>
Even as he spoke, and after he’d finished, he had the strange sensation that his fingers were curling inward.
<I’m almost done, too!>
“The barrier…? You said we couldn’t break it earlier.”
<You said there were survivors?>
<I’ll protect the ringleader and the survivors.>
<Then that’s enough. We’ll wipe out all the villains inside, right?>
<That’s right.>
<Great! Give me the signal, Hyunyul!>
After ending the call, Hyunyul grabbed the man by the hair and said:
“Close your eyes and hold your breath.”
“W-Wait! Hup!”
As the man sucked in a breath, Hyunyul melted into the shadows with him.
***
The survivors were in the basement. Hyunyul wasn’t sure if they’d been locked in a storage room, but they’d somehow managed to avoid the poison.
“…Ugh.”
The man retched, but Hyunyul ignored him.
“I’m with the Black Eagle. Here, put on this gas mask. You too.”
Hyunyul spoke, then took a gas mask from his bag and handed it to one of the survivors.
“…T-The Black Eagle?”
The survivors looked at Hyunyul differently. Their faces suddenly brightened. Their expressions were so full of hope that he could recognize it at once.
That kind of gaze was unfamiliar to him.
‘…What? He was with the Black Eagle?’
Only then did the man realize who Hyunyul was. He’d only seen the gas mask before.
“I’ll ask why you came to this company later. Think about what you’re going to say.”
Hyunyul gave the man an order. He knew the man would lie, so he planned to search the area himself anyway. But for now, something else mattered more: taking out every villain stationed here.
Once everyone had put on a gas mask, Hyunyul contacted Na-yoon.
Na-yoon answered without hesitation.
Wondering what she was about to do, Hyunyul covered one eye and looked outside.
A light flashed in the distance, then something came flying toward them. It was too fast to make out clearly. The streaks of light that followed seemed to merge into one, as if they were perfectly aligned.
‘Those are bullets?’
The moment the bullets struck the barrier, a loud crash echoed all the way down to the basement.
Boom!
The building shook violently.
<I got it!!!>
Na-yoon’s message appeared. With the barrier gone, the poison outside would now start spreading in every direction.
“If you take off your gas mask, the poison will kill you. Make sure you keep it on.”
Hyunyul made sure the survivors understood. Safety was tied to their health, so he had to be firm.
“Stay here.”
“W-Wait. Where are you going?”
“It’s safe here.”
“But…”
“I have something to discuss with this villain. Do you want to see how that goes?”
Hyunyul pointed at the man.
“…No.”
“Stay right there. Someone will come to rescue you soon.”
He hadn’t been given any instructions, so he made it up as he went.
Hyunyul saw that the survivor was still anxious, grabbed the man by the hair, and disappeared.
The man’s breathing grew ragged.
Poison had spread everywhere. The subordinates who’d been trying to hack the company were all dead. At the sight of their skin turned pitch-black, his heart pounded like mad.
‘…This is the Black Eagle?’
Did Hyunyul know how many of his subordinates were in this building? And the Black Eagle was supposed to kill people this brutally?
‘This is what we do!’
The man wanted to tear into Hyunyul right then and there. He was so overwhelmed with the urge to avenge his subordinates that his anger boiled over.
“Now, I have some questions.”
Hyunyul looked around as he spoke.
The man watched for an opening, then reached for Hyunyul and ripped off his gas mask.
“You’re going to die just like my men…”
He started to laugh, but stopped.
Hyunyul calmly exhaled.
“Oh, are you saying you want to die?”
He asked nonchalantly as he grabbed the man’s gas mask.
“W-Wait! Hold on!”
“Do you know Shin Dae-ho?”
At the unexpected name, the man flinched instinctively.
‘Why bring up Shin Dae-ho…?’
“Ah, I should’ve asked first if you were one of the Poison King’s subordinates. My mistake.”
Hyunyul changed the subject as casually as could be.
“But this works out. You’re not one of the Poison King’s men, and, as I suspected, you know Shin Dae-ho.”
At those words, the man’s eyes widened.
What the hell did he know?