Chapter 6
I’m the New Recruit (2)
The man looked at Hyunyul.
His gaze was so flat and lifeless it seemed to have no light in it at all.
Eyes like those were dangerous.
Hyunyul knew at once that he’d encountered someone truly dangerous.
The man stared back at him, sweating profusely.
“If I tell you, will you... let me live?”
“Are you bargaining with me? You still don’t seem to understand your situation. Maybe I need to make this clearer.”
“W-Wait a second!”
The man met Hyunyul’s eyes, then quickly looked down.
His pupils shook violently.
He drew in a breath and felt his heart pounding.
Fear seeped in.
“Just tell me what you know. Take your time.”
At Hyunyul’s urging, the cold point pressing deep into his throat made the man cry out.
“...T-They took them to use as test subjects!”
Test subjects.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Hyunyul’s gaze darkened.
Silence fell. The atmosphere turned so cold it almost hurt.
They’re close enough for me to reach them like this...?
The company run by the villains had a department that secretly handled test subjects.
No one had ever let Hyunyul go near it, even though he’d been one of those test subjects himself.
They were fine with experimenting on people, but afraid of retaliation.
It was as if he could see straight into their hearts.
This easily?
He’d spent countless hours moving in secret, trying to find the facilities where they kept their test subjects.
He’d had only one wish.
...Can I kill those bastards?
A chilling smile spread across Hyunyul’s lips.
Killing the people who had experimented on him—that was what he wanted.
Sadly, he didn’t know who had been in charge of his experiments.
They all wore identical clothes, hid their faces, disguised their voices, and even made sure their builds were roughly alike.
Ever since he’d survived, he’d been searching for the people who had experimented on him.
“Where is it?”
Hyunyul asked.
“I only know the first... the first location.”
“So where is it?”
“U-Up this road, there’s a campground. We were supposed to meet there first. They might move them to the second location soon.”
“A campground?”
“Yes, yes! A campground.”
“Understood.”
Hyunyul lowered the scissors.
“...Can I go now?”
The man asked stupidly.
“Do you think you can?”
At Hyunyul’s words, the man’s face crumpled.
“I-I really don’t know what you look like, and there’s nothing I can do to you! I swear!”
“What are you talking about?”
Hyunyul responded as if the man had said something odd, then raised the scissors again.
“You know I’m with the Black Eagles, don’t you?”
He was wearing the Black Eagles’ uniform.
The eagle emblem was right there on his left sleeve. It made no sense to claim he hadn’t seen it.
“I-I swear I’ll never look for you! I’ll tell you my name and everything I do, so—”
“Do you think I’d believe that?”
Hyunyul sneered and moved his hand.
A dark arc flashed through the air. The man’s head fell, and blood gushed from his neck.
His resentful eyes fixed on Hyunyul.
But Hyunyul took off his helmet and smiled broadly.
“What are you going to do, glare at me?”
Villains didn’t deserve mercy.
Why should he pity the people who had carved up his body again and again?
Hyunyul looked at the blood on himself and touched it.
Where his hand passed, the blood vanished cleanly.
After wiping the blood off the scissors, he set them neatly on the table beside his helmet.
He took out his phone and searched for the campground.
It seemed to be about ten kilometers away.
He could go there himself, but he was still on probation.
If I act on my own, I’ll get in trouble again.
At his first company, he’d been marked as a problem employee for acting without permission.
He hadn’t cared once the harassment began; he’d found out where the harassers lived and killed them.
But this time was different.
He was a specially recruited civil servant. He needed to do his job well if he wanted to keep it.
“...What a pain.”
Hyunyul let out a short breath.
He’d changed jobs so many times that he’d eventually risen to a position where he gave orders to subordinates.
Now he was taking orders instead. It was inconvenient, and it felt strange.
Still, I should ask. Where’s the contact list...?
He opened his phone and checked his contacts.
There was no need to scroll.
The only number saved was for one doctor.
Hyunyul started to use his smartwatch, then put his phone away and covered one eye.
Clang!
The swords hovering around Shinwoo like an army moved on their own, batting away the blades of the enemies approaching him.
Shinwoo charged forward, swinging the swords hard like clubs, using their flat sides instead of their edges.
His hands moved so fast they were hard to see.
If he’d been using the blades, he could have inflicted dozens of cuts in the time it took to blink.
Shinwoo danced through the fight, and the enemies dropped one after another.
His hands never stopped moving. When his eyes, fixed ahead, shifted to the right, the swords moved with them.
Then he saw a familiar face. Shinwoo belatedly stepped back, clutching his chest.
“...W-Whoa! You scared me!”
He’d nearly attacked Hyunyul.
“How’d you know I was here? No, wait—you were supposed to stay put!”
“I figured you’d be too focused on fighting to answer your phone.”
“You could’ve called anyway. I told you I’d be in touch if—”
Shinwoo stopped explaining and smacked himself on the forehead.
What an idiot.
He hadn’t explained any of that.
The mission with Haeryeon had only been Hyunyul’s second one.
Thinking of him rushing all the way here, Shinwoo felt bad.
“You didn’t get hurt on the way, did you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Shinwoo smiled brightly.
Did the team leader not tell him?
Hyunyul wondered.
It was a smile that Shinwoo wouldn’t have worn if he knew about Hyunyul’s past.
He’d thought they’d told him everything.
Should I tell him myself?
Bzzzz.
Hyunyul glanced at his phone when it vibrated.
“Ah, excuse me for a moment.”
It was time for his medication.
When Hyunyul reached out, a pouch of medicine and a bottle of water emerged from the shadows.
“...?”
Shinwoo’s eyes widened.
Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.
What kind of power was that?
Was it magic?
“It’s time for my medication. Sorry.”
“Medication...?”
“I used to be a test subject.”
Hyunyul answered as if it were nothing.
He wondered if word of this would spread, too.
He looked around, then walked to a nearby table and emptied several pills from the pouch.
Shinwoo stared at the medicine, then noticed the syringe and belatedly jumped.
“...Y-You were a test subject?”
“I understand. It’s hard to believe that a test subject could still be alive.”
Hyunyul lifted his shirt and pressed the syringe into his abdomen.
He did it with practiced ease.
Shinwoo narrowed his eyes.
He’d only seen him for a moment, but Hyunyul had far too many deep scars.
He must have been cut up badly to have so many.
“Mr. Baek Shinwoo... No, big brother, after you left, I looked into where the hostages had been taken.”
“I told you that you could just sit tight.”
Shinwoo raised an eyebrow.
Was Hyunyul a workaholic?
“I found out there were hostages at a campground. I searched on my phone and confirmed there was one about ten kilometers away.”
Hyunyul opened the medicine pouch and tipped the pills into his palm as he spoke.
There were more than ten of them, in a variety of colors.
“I thought about going alone, but then decided that wouldn’t be right. So I came here.”
After he finished speaking, he put the pills in his mouth with practiced ease.
But he didn’t stop there.
He took out another pouch.
There were even more pills than before. He placed them in his palm and swallowed them.
“What should I do in a situation like this? Should I just follow along without saying anything?”
A deep crease formed between Shinwoo’s brows. He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.
What would asking if it hurt accomplish? It would only sound like mockery.
Hyunyul had been a test subject.
Simply being alive was a miracle.
And he had to take that many pills just to stay alive.
Now wasn’t the time to get swept up in his emotions.
He says the hostages are alive.
The Black Eagles had to put the hostages first.
“Do you know why they took them there?”
“To use them as test subjects.”
Shinwoo held up a hand at Hyunyul’s answer.
“Just a second.”
He operated his smartwatch.
“Team Leader.”
“What is it?”
“The hostages are alive. Hyunyul found out where they were taken.”
“Really? Where?”
“A nearby campground. They’re taking them there to turn them into test subjects.”
Haeryeon didn’t respond for a moment.
“...How is Mr. Hyunyul?”
At the question, Shinwoo looked at Hyunyul.
He seemed completely fine.
That was what felt so strange.
How could he react to it so casually?
Something like that would usually leave a deep trauma, yet Hyunyul showed no such reaction.
There was only one thing Shinwoo didn’t understand: why he was covering his eye.
“...He seems okay.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need to hurry. They’ll start screening the hostages at the first location. They’ll inject them with drugs to test their resistance.”
Only those who passed the drug-resistance test would be taken to the second location.
The same process would happen there: they’d inject the hostages with different drugs and take away the ones who showed resistance.
From the villains’ point of view, that made sense. They needed to keep injecting them with drugs for a long time.
“If they don’t have any resistance, they’ll kill them right there?”
Shinwoo asked, hoping he was wrong.
“Yes. You understand. They’ll use injections like the one I just gave myself, so they won’t stay at the site for long.”
They needed to find out at least where the second location was.
That would help them narrow down where the experiments were taking place.
The experimental facilities had too much equipment to move easily.
Even if they blew them up, the operation would be so large that it couldn’t be covered up in secret.
“Did you hear that, Team Leader?”
Shinwoo urged Haeryeon.
“Head out now. I’ll send another team to the campground.”
Haeryeon gave the order.
No matter what, the hostages came first.
“The eagle will be there soon.”
At Haeryeon’s words, Shinwoo’s lips curled into a smile.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon?”
“The eagle’s here.”
Shinwoo looked at the black shadow beyond the window.
He opened it.
“...Is this the same magic we used when we came here?”
Hyunyul asked in surprise.
“That’s right.”
Shinwoo grabbed onto the window frame.
“Come on, rookie.”
“If that’s how it works...”
Before Hyunyul could finish, Shinwoo dropped.
The black eagle caught him without a sound and carried him upward.
...Damn it.
Hyunyul grabbed onto the window frame, too.
He could travel long distances with his own power. That would’ve been easier.
He dropped from the window with a weary look on his face.
As soon as the black eagle caught him, he clamped a hand over his mouth.
Damn it...
“...Breathe.”
At Shinwoo’s words, Hyunyul let out a long breath, as if releasing everything he’d been holding in.
His face had gone pale.
“You okay?”
“...Yes. I’ll be fine in a moment.”
“Okay. Take a minute.”
Shinwoo moved carefully.
“...That way.”
“Oh. All right, that way.”
Shinwoo turned in the direction Hyunyul pointed.
A forest stretched around the campground. People moved hurriedly between the trees. There were all kinds of them, from children to adults.
It was the first time Hyunyul had seen so many people still alive in a case involving test subjects.
For a moment, he was overwhelmed with relief. Then Shinwoo glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
He was a test subject himself...
Is it really okay for his first mission to be like this?
Hyunyul might not show it, but how much was he suffering inside right now?
And of all things, this was the situation they’d stumbled into.
“...Won’t they notice us arriving on the eagle?”
“Oh, the eagle? They can’t see it.”
“They can’t see something that big?”
“The map and mission details on this smartwatch work in a similar way. I’m not a mage, so I can’t explain it very well, but neither you nor the eagle can be seen. If they could, we’d have been spotted several times on the way to the mission site.”
Shinwoo chuckled.
Hyunyul was such a rookie.
It was strange to think the villains wouldn’t notice an eagle, of all things, arriving.
“Who was the mage that cast this spell?”
“For security reasons, only the director or commissioner, both above the team leaders, know. So, I don’t know.”
“Understood.”
Hyunyul accepted the answer.
If he were a villain, that mage would be the first person he’d try to eliminate.
“Big brother Baek Shinwoo, I’ve never rescued hostages before, so I’ll take the part I’m good at. Can you handle the rescue?”
“What are you good at?”
“I’m good at taking care of villains.”
“I feel a little bad asking you to do that, but we need to split up for now. I’m counting on you.”
Shinwoo said with an apologetic expression.
“Could you make me a dagger?”
At Hyunyul’s request, Shinwoo immediately made one and handed it to him.
“Be careful with it.”
The blade was so sharp that he needed to be careful.
Hyunyul stared at the dagger. Shinwoo’s warning had sounded serious.
This must be quite a weapon. He’d have to avoid damaging it.
“Okay.”
Hyunyul gave a brief reply. As Shinwoo ran off, he surveyed the area.
He only needed one person—the leader—to talk.
Hyunyul took note of his target, then looked over the others.
There were several near the perimeter patrols, some by the hostages, and a few near the cars.
First, I’ll stop anyone from escaping.
Hyunyul looked toward the cars.
After noting their positions, he melted into the shadows.
The moment he appeared in the back seat of a car, he covered a man’s mouth and quickly stabbed him in the neck and heart.
He didn’t make a sound.
There were four cars in total.
One.
Two.
Thud.
Three.
Thud.
The insides of the cars Hyunyul had touched were now all stained red.
As he dealt with the last man, Hyunyul lowered his gaze.
He spotted a phone with a game open on the screen.
Playing a game at a time like this?
Hyunyul clicked his tongue and covered one eye.
He checked the positions and numbers of the patrols, then shifted his gaze toward Shinwoo.
The patrols were stationed around the hostages, making it hard to approach them.
What was the best way to handle this?
Hyunyul walked straight up to the patrol.
“...W-Who are you?”
After hearing the obvious question, Hyunyul approached naturally and started by killing one of them.
The sudden attack caused an uproar.
An uproar could be useful, so Hyunyul covered one eye again.
Shinwoo was heading toward the hostages.
Good.
Hyunyul finally lowered his hand and looked at the others.
“What does it matter if people who are about to die know?”
Hyunyul took a step forward, then vanished without a sound.
“...!”
This thing’s incredible.
It really was a fine sword.
Now he understood why Shinwoo had warned him not to damage it.
Hyunyul threw a severed head. One of the nearby enemies screamed.
Too loud.
Hyunyul turned his gaze away.
The moment he stretched his arm forward, he moved right in front of an enemy.
The shadows around him rippled.
He took another step and drove the dagger straight through the man’s neck.
Thud!
Everyone froze.
Where had he gone?
“I’m right here.”
Hyunyul grabbed the hair of the nearest man and swung the dagger hard across his neck, almost as if slicing through it.
The sound of the blade sinking in rang out. Hyunyul was already looking elsewhere.
One of the men finally snapped out of it and pulled out a weapon.
It was a short baton, wrapped in electricity that flickered with light.
“Die!”
He charged at Hyunyul and swung.
Hyunyul shifted slightly to the side to dodge, grabbed the man’s arm, and slammed him into the ground.
Thud!
As soon as the enemy hit the ground, Hyunyul pulled the dagger from the now-dead man’s neck and looked down.
Fear was reflected in the eyes behind Hyunyul’s helmet.
“P-Please...”
The enemy’s eyes opened and closed.
By then, the dagger had already slashed deep into his neck.
Hyunyul picked up the electric baton and waved it, looking pleased.
Crackle, crackle.
Not bad.
Hyunyul looked at his target.
He could feel the corners of his mouth lifting.
The target’s hair fluttered on its own.
A mage? A psychic?
Maybe he was holding an item enchanted with magic.
But so what?
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here. You really must be with the Black Eagles.”
The target’s lips curled into a smile.
He touched his side, pulled something out, and pointed it at Hyunyul.
A gun.
I was wondering when he’d bring that out.
Hyunyul barely stifled a laugh.
It was amusing how arrogant the man was, thinking a gun would work.
Just as the edges of Hyunyul’s body began to ripple, the gun fired.
Bang!
“...!”
The target’s eyes widened.
Hyunyul had vanished.
“I’m right here.”
Hyunyul stood behind the target and held out the electric baton.
Crackle!
The target convulsed like a freshly caught fish.
I’ll take him in like this.
Hyunyul pressed the baton down firmly.
There was no need to question him here. He’d confess plenty once they took him in.
Hyunyul looked over at Shinwoo.
The enemies near the hostages had been dealt with. None of them were wandering around anymore.
“Have you taken care of everyone?”
Hyunyul calmly approached Shinwoo.
Shinwoo looked past him at the bodies.
Hyunyul had killed every enemy.
His face was hidden by the helmet, but the blood covering him made him look deeply unsettling.
“...To think he’s a new recruit.”
Shinwoo gave a quiet laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
He’s incredible. Seriously.
What else could you call a new recruit like that but a monster?
“I rescued the hostages and captured the man who seems to be their leader. Is the mission over now, or is there another assignment?”
“That’s it. Anything else will have to wait until someone talks.”
At that, Hyunyul hurriedly checked his watch.
It was 2:24 p.m.
He could hardly believe the time.
“...Are we off work?”
Hyunyul asked cautiously.
“After we file the report.”
“So after we file the report, we can go home?”
“Right. It won’t take long.”
At Shinwoo’s confident answer, Hyunyul shuddered.
“Are you hurt?”
“...No. I’m just wondering if this is a dream.”
Hyunyul took off his helmet, beaming.