Chapter 1 - Do You Offer the Four Major Social Insurance Plans?

* * *

I fucking died from overwork.

Death was my reward for working my ass off for a pittance of a salary.

It was unfair. I swore that if I were born again, I would never overwork myself.

And then I was reborn in another world.

* * *

"..."

The man let out a long breath. His face was covered in scars, and even the hand he used to sweep up his long black bangs, which nearly poked his eyes, was scarred. As he lifted the hair out of the way, his gray eyes came into view, glaring fiercely at someone.

"Hey, Seo Hyeonyul. What are you going to do, glare at me?"

The man reclining deep in his chair looked up at him with a sneer.

"I distinctly remember requesting sick leave yesterday."

Hyeonyul spat the words at his supervisor. He looked thoroughly tired and worn out.

"Sure, you requested it. But I told you quite clearly that you couldn't take sick leave. ... What are you doing? Get back to work."

His supervisor jerked his head.

"It was clearly stated in the employment contract I signed when I joined."

"What?"

"That working hours would be strictly observed, statutory annual leave would be honored, and legitimate sick leave would count as paid leave."

PFFT!

His supervisor burst out laughing. He seemed to find the situation tremendously amusing.

"Hey. Do you think this is some ordinary company? Don't you know where you are?"

"I do."

Hyeonyul answered calmly.

This was the modern era, but it wasn't the modern world he knew.

The Taesen Empire.

An empire existed here, complete with an emperor. There was a prime minister, too, but the emperor wielded far greater power. Apart from a handful of small countries, the Taesen Empire had swallowed every nation and ruled the world, ushering in an age of peace and prosperity.

Throughout history, however, there had always been people who disrupted the peace. Those who resented the Empire, those who coveted its throne, and others carried out indiscriminate acts of terrorism.

The Empire officially designated them "villains" and took the lead in exterminating them.

The man before him was a villain, and this company had been founded by one of them.

"Then get lost. What the hell do you expect from a villain like me? Would I be a villain if I followed all that? Show a little pride as a villain yourself."

"I don't care whether you're a villain or anything else, sir. I am requesting legitimate sick leave in accordance with my employment contract."

Hyeonyul spoke as though issuing a warning.

The terms he had agreed to before joining were good. He liked the pay, too.

With nothing to put in his cover letter, he hadn't cared whether the owner was a villain or something else. Any workplace where he wouldn't have to overwork himself was fine by him.

"What a joke. Cut the bullshit and get back to work if you don't want to die, Seo Hyeonyul."

Despite his supervisor's threat, Hyeonyul didn't so much as blink. If villains refused to honor their contracts simply because they were villains, who would work for them?

"Very well. I'll ask the president."

"Hey. You think you can just ignore what I..."

His supervisor stopped speaking.

Hyeonyul had vanished.

As he looked around for him, his shadow writhed, and Hyeonyul emerged from within it.

Not a sound.

Standing behind his supervisor, Hyeonyul aimed a ballpoint pen at his neck.

"You don't even keep your promises. Why should I consider the garbage you spout worth listening to?"

"Y-you... What are you doing?"

His supervisor's breathing quickened. Hadn't Hyeonyul been hired as an ordinary civilian? He had no idea what was happening.

"It occurred to me that I'm a villain, too. I suppose I should just do things the villain's way."

If you need something, take it by force if you have to.

If you're dissatisfied, kill.

THUNK.

Hyeonyul rammed the pen into his supervisor's carotid artery. Watching the blood spurt, he felt liberated.

He should have done this sooner.

"Even villains need trust, sir."

"... Ghurk, hhk."

"You went on about offering all four major social insurance plans, but you don't provide a single one."

Hyeonyul released his grip and dropped the pen.

"I'll ask the president. If he says no, I'll just kill him."

When Hyeonyul wiped the blood splashed on his face, it disappeared completely, as though it had never been there.

Why start a company if you couldn't even provide the four major social insurance plans? Unlike when he'd first joined, the overtime had been steadily increasing, and he was getting irritated.

He absolutely loathed the idea of dying from overwork.

* * *

Hyeonyul checked his wristwatch. Taking a bottle of medicine from inside his jacket, he walked over to the water dispenser.

Thick blood pooled on the floor, and corpses lay in rows. Every one of them had been pierced only through the neck.

Even amid the pile of bodies, he calmly poured himself some water and took out his pills one at a time.

He was ill and wanted to take sick leave. Why wouldn't they let him? Why were they all giving their lives over something so trivial, as though the world would collapse if he went to the hospital?

'I don't get it.'

As if the dark shadows beneath his eyes weren't enough, Hyeonyul looked exhausted.

"Are you going to attack me, too?"

He asked after swallowing his medicine.

"No. We're business partners, so I tried calling, but fuck, I couldn't get through for two hours."

"Oh, I'm sorry. They wouldn't even let me answer the phone."

Hyeonyul remembered the phone ringing earlier. It had rung quite a few times, come to think of it.

"I can see that. You must've been busy."

The man surveyed the surroundings and took a cigarette from inside his jacket.

"Yes. This nuisance is going to make me a little late to the hospital. My doctor will scold me."

"Oh dear. Not feeling well?"

Hyeonyul looked at the man as he listened to the question. He was ready to kill him at any moment. A chill settled between them.

"I don't know which villain's company it was, but I was born there as a test subject, and they tore through me from head to toe. They pumped me full of every kind of drug, took my organs out, and put them back in. Do you think my body would be fine after that?"

"Holy shiiit! A test subject? You?"

The man had been about to light his cigarette, but he threw it away instead. His voice brimmed with delight.

To stand against the Empire, they needed powerful test subjects. The survival rate had to be abysmal, yet this man had survived.

Whatever experiments he'd endured, his strength had already been proven. This was the third floor, and apart from that man, no one had survived.

"Yes. Does that make you happy?"

"Yeah. Fucking ecstatic."

Hyeonyul turned to face him. Confronted with Hyeonyul, the man felt a chill and grinned.

Hyeonyul took the ballpoint pen from his pocket and clicked it. His eyes slowly narrowed.

"I'm rather busy. Are we doing this?"

"Want to join my company? I'm Kim Daean!"

Daean made his offer as he looked at Hyeonyul. Power was everything in this world. With talent standing right in front of him, what else was he supposed to do?

"Do you offer the four major social insurance plans?"

Hyeonyul stopped clicking his pen.

"Of course! Take sick leave whenever you like! In exchange, can you kill the people I tell you to kill?"

"I'll only kill villains. I don't want to kill innocent people."

"Sure, do that!"

"Honestly, I prefer paperwork, but as long as you let me leave on time, that's fine. I'll put up with overtime two or three times a month."

"Great, great! Then let's get going."

Daean gave him a friendly smile.

* * *

THUNK!

Hyeonyul rammed a ballpoint pen into someone's throat.

He'd liked that pen, but it couldn't be helped.

"... Are you all idiots? Why do you keep breaking your promises?"

He looked annoyed. When he wiped the blood on his clothes with his hand, it vanished without a trace.

"Answer me, President Daean."

"... Ghuuurk."

Blood streamed from Daean's neck and mouth.

Why was office life so difficult?

"I said I'd put up with overtime three times a month. How many times has it been now? Twenty in a month? And you only paid me for ten days. Would that make a person angry or not?"

Daean floundered, looking ahead through his fading vision. At the ends of the black power extending from Hyeonyul's shadow were Daean's subordinates.

Every one of their necks was broken.

Looking at Hyeonyul, Daean became certain.

That thing was a monster.

["I've put up with quite a lot. Give me paid leave and pay my overdue salary."]

Hyeonyul's demands had been simple. But Daean had refused.

From that moment on, the shadow had begun moving of its own accord. Even bursts of light had been useless.

That shadow had killed them all.

"... Cough."

Hyeonyul coughed and checked his wristwatch. He let out a long breath.

"Now I'm late to the hospital again. Do you know how hard it is to get an appointment at a university hospital?"

His doctor was going to be very displeased. Why did they keep turning him into someone who couldn't keep an appointment?

Hyeonyul took Daean's phone from inside his jacket.

"I'll only take the overtime pay I never received and the salary you quietly skimmed off."

He moved Daean's hand and scanned his fingerprint.

"Don't worry about the password. You were stupid enough to tell me while you were drunk. ... Oh, you also used me as your designated driver a few times, so I'll take payment for that, too."

This was an account under a borrowed name, and his own account was virtual as well. The company itself had paid a small country to pose as a foreign corporation, and the employees, including him, had been given the same cover.

They were simply people who didn't exist. As far as the records were concerned, he'd never been employed.

This wasn't to protect the employees; it was to protect the people running the company from the Empire's reach. Some villains openly established companies, but others didn't.

"Cling to your remaining money and pray to that precious god of yours. See whether he comes or not."

Hah.

Hyeonyul let out a soft breath. Now that he was effectively out of a job for good, he would have to start looking again.

'I haven't even paid off my hospital bills yet. And now it's come to this.'

His medical expenses were considerable. They had left him heavily in debt.

He'd considered freelancing, but it didn't suit him. If he chased the money, one careless moment could leave him overworked. If he focused on avoiding overwork, he couldn't make enough.

Only a company run by villains, like this one, could cover what he needed.

"Finished watching?"

Hyeonyul looked ahead. This was a very familiar scene. Hadn't it been like this when he'd met Daean, too?

"That bastard Daean asked for help, so I came to laugh at him. Looks like something interesting happened instead."

To think this was the work of a single person.

The newcomer could hardly believe it. The corpses and the stench of blood encountered on the way here had been enough to send chills down the spine.

A smile formed.

Why had someone so talented been wasting away under Kim Daean? Why hadn't the newcomer known about him until now?

It was a shame. Such a shame.

"Come work for me. I'll help you grow into something greater."

He was the very model of a villain. How much more impressive could he become with proper nurturing?

Take what you want.

Kill whatever gets in your way.

Someone like this was exactly the talent needed to bring down that vast Empire.

"I don't need you to raise me. I've already grown up on my own."

Hyeonyul was tired. He didn't know why he had to have this conversation again. Still, the sooner he found another job, the better.

"Do you offer the four major social insurance plans?"

Hyeonyul asked with a sharp look.

"Of course."

The answer came back.

"If you don't keep your word, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

Hyeonyul gave fair warning: fail to honor the employment contract, and he would kill them.

* * *

"... Hah."

Hyeonyul swept up the long bangs covering his eyes. Hearing his sigh, the subordinates who had been working glanced at him warily.

'How many times has it been now?'

He destroyed a company, someone saw it and applauded in delight before recruiting him, and then they broke the employment contract all over again.

Strangely enough, every recruitment offer came with a higher position. He knew that meant more work, but that didn't mean they could work him like a fucking dog.

["Why are you acting like this, after everything between us?"]

Employer and employee.

That was the entirety of their relationship.

["We agreed we'd be like brothers, didn't we? Can't you let this slide?"]

How long had they even known each other to be spouting that brotherhood crap?

'All I asked was that they honor the contract. Is that really so difficult?'

His salary fell behind, his overtime increased, and more and more often, they wouldn't even let him take annual leave, let alone sick leave.

He'd lost count of how many times he'd changed jobs, or how many recruitment offers had come after someone surveyed the blood-soaked remains of his workplace.

Now he'd reached his limit. Wherever he went, however high he rose, it was all the same.

In the end, not a single promise was kept.

After countless job changes, Hyeonyul reached a conclusion.

Villains were villains.

He wasn't claiming his own hands were clean. But he at least did the basics. He'd never been late, he'd followed work instructions, and he'd been polite to his superiors.

'... Oh.'

It belatedly occurred to him.

'Right. This is an exploitative company, isn't it?'

All his workplaces had been so similar that he hadn't noticed. Only now did he realize it.

Somehow, it was funny. To think he'd only just figured that out.

Hyeonyul clicked his ballpoint pen. His subordinates watched him at the sound, fear in their eyes. They seemed to be wondering what that lunatic was going to do this time.

'... Five.'

He had counted them and was about to stand when something caught his eye.

It was a job posting on a web portal.

「Black Eagles Now Recruiting New Members.」

The Black Eagles were an organization established by the Empire to capture villains. In other words, they were a special class of civil servants. Some said they were civil servants who operated more like a private company.

'An organization that kills villains?'

Curiosity seized Hyeonyul, and he scrolled with his mouse wheel.

「*Eligibility Requirements

—No restrictions on gender, age, education, or prior experience.

—Must possess power (physical or magical; either is acceptable).」

'No restrictions on prior experience?'

That line caught his attention.

「*Special Recruitment

—Applicants with a record of subduing and arresting wanted villains (police officers excluded).」

'Would killing them count, too?'

Every company president he'd killed had been a wanted villain.

「*Employee Benefits

—Paid sick leave available.

—Additional paid leave for overtime work.

—Early departure permitted under qualifying conditions.

—Medical expense assistance.

.

.」

The corners of Hyeonyul's mouth lifted. More than anything else, he liked the benefits.

Such enticing terms were a sign of how dangerous the work must be. But that meant nothing to him.

He'd already taken the heads of countless villains.

'Let's go with this one.'

Everyone sitting nearby felt a chill at his smile.

"... Um, Team Leader?"

As his subordinate spoke, Hyeonyul rose from his seat and said,

"I'll be stepping out for a bit."

"W-where?"

"To meet the special recruitment requirements."

Despite the follow-up questions, Hyeonyul left, walked down the corridor, and took the elevator.

This company was large. The fact that it had a chairman gave some idea of its scale.

All he needed for special recruitment was one head.

He headed straight for the chairman's office.

* * *

DING.

The elevator opened. Hyeonyul straightened his tie.

"What brings you..."

Just as Hyeonyul's gaze sharpened, the head of the guard approaching him fell from his neck. Blood dripped from the dagger in Hyeonyul's hand.

Before another guard could notice, Hyeonyul's body collapsed downward. He flowed onto the floor as though he'd turned to liquid, then appeared behind the guard.

THUNK.

He stabbed the back of the guard's neck and slashed sideways.

'Two left.'

Hyeonyul's gaze shifted left. Whether through magic or natural speed, one of them closed in on his side extraordinarily fast, while electricity shot out directly in front of him.

The side and the front.

Apparently, the two were going to attack him simultaneously.

Hyeonyul reached toward the one coming from the side. A shadow shot out, seized the man's leg, and yanked him forward as Hyeonyul vanished.

CRACKLE-ZZZZT!

As his colleague's body convulsed under the electricity, the guard who'd cast the spell went pale.

"This is why you're told to be careful when using magic."

The voice came from behind the last remaining guard.

He gulped.

When had he gotten behind him? How?

Seo Hyeonyul.

Had this man always been so strong?

His thoughts stopped there as a dagger pierced his throat.

THUNK.

Blood streamed down.

"... Ghuuurk."

Listening to the sound of blood being coughed up, Hyeonyul walked forward and opened the door.

"What's going on?"

The chairman was leisurely reading a newspaper as he finished his drink.

At this hour of the morning.

"I told you, didn't I?"

At the voice behind him, the man froze. Goosebumps rose on his skin.

"I asked you to honor the contract. I absolutely despise overwork. Yet this is already the fifth day I haven't been able to go home."

"... Seo Hyeonyul. Let's talk. Just talk."

"I did talk. You're the one who didn't listen."

"I'll do better. All right? From now on..."

"No. I'm ending this before I die from overwork. Isn't that the villain's code?"

Speaking matter-of-factly, Hyeonyul moved the hand holding his dagger.

* * *

Hyeonyul stood in front of a building. A black eagle emblem was emblazoned on the building itself.

A simple internet search had been enough to find its location. That was rather funny.

Villains went to desperate lengths to hide, while the people who hunted them were this brazen.

"... Is this where the Black Eagles are located?"

Hyeonyul asked.

"It is."

The man standing outside the main entrance answered.

He'd been told this was where the Black Eagles were, but apparently not everyone here was a Black Eagle. The guard had a sparrow emblem on his left arm.

"I've come because I'd like to become a Black Eagle."

Hyeonyul took something out of his bag and held out a severed head crusted with dark red blood.

"This is the head of Shin Daeho, the bastard you've been looking for."

Everyone recoiled in horror, but Hyeonyul smiled confidently. Full of anticipation, he asked,

"Do you really offer the four major social insurance plans here?"