Chapter 17 - I've Been Kidnapped

* * *

"... U-urgh."

The man groaned, but the loud music drowned it all out.

"Why do people think they're safe in a crowd?" Hyeonyul wondered aloud. "I can see anywhere and go anywhere, you know."

He had already obscured the CCTV cameras. Pretending to place a friendly hand on the man's shoulder, he extended his finger. Black power wrapped around his index finger, sharpening into a blade. He quietly drove it into the man's neck.

"Did you think you could mess with someone else's livelihood and get away unscathed?"

If they hadn't touched his food bowl, he would never have thought of biting. If they had only barked, he would have let it go in one ear and out the other.

"You won't be going alone, so if there's an afterlife, wait there. I'll send the others along one by one."

Hyeonyul stepped back, walked naturally into the crowd, and vanished.

THUD

The man slumped over the table. Drowned out by the loud music, he quietly bled.

* * *

'Ms. Chu Nayun told me something useful.'

Hyeonyul climbed the hill toward his house with a light step.

She had said that leaving the building while wearing his smartwatch would log the time. In today's classroom training, he had learned something else: the times he boarded and got off the bus were automatically updated too. They said this wasn't an invasion of privacy, but a measure to protect the Black Eagles. For instance, if a boarding time was recorded but no exit time followed, they would assume something had happened along the way and send someone.

Only two or three minutes separated the death of the man he'd just killed from the time he'd gotten off the bus.

'What will they do this time? Will they keep quiet?'

Still speculating and wondering, he removed his smartwatch. As he neared the top of the hill, a long, irritated sigh escaped him.

"... Ha."

An unwelcome visitor stood outside his house. The Poison King had sent them, no doubt. Today had been rather tiring.

"What is it this time? Get straight to the point."

At Hyeonyul's words, the woman silently held out a letter. He lowered his gaze to it, gave a brief snort of laughter, then opened the envelope and examined its contents.

「Through the incompetence of a subordinate, you were presented with a poisoned business card. I would like to treat you to a meal by way of apology.」

It appeared polite, but not to Hyeonyul. It was merely pretending to be polite.

"Are they angry that I haven't called?" Hyeonyul asked with a smile.

Only one person stood before him, but dozens already surrounded the place. Why else would so many have come? It meant refusal would bring nothing but death.

"I know nothing about that. I was only told to escort you," the woman said politely.

"What if I don't want the meal? Are you supposed to drag me there?"

"Please, we ask that you come."

"Will the Poison King be there?"

"I don't know."

Hyeonyul looked past her into the distance.

"Do you realize how inconvenient it is to have this many people come to a hillside slum like this?"

As the woman blinked, Hyeonyul vanished and appeared behind the man hiding farthest away. By the time everyone began searching for him, he had clamped a hand down hard on the man's shoulder.

"It draws attention to me."

The man flinched and slowly turned to look at him.

"Doesn't it?"

The man trembled at the murderous intent surging from Hyeonyul's fingertips. Something was different. The sensation was intensely cold and clammy.

"Would you tell them to fuck off unless they all want to die? I don't particularly enjoy attention."

Hidden or not, the mere fact that they were watching him made Hyeonyul feel like shit. It reminded him of the time he had been trapped in a transparent tank, put on display.

"If you don't answer, I might draw my own conclusions."

He waited quietly, then felt a powerful wave of murderous intent directed at him.

'Not a shred of consideration.'

Did they know he worked for the Black Eagles, or did they genuinely have no idea? But only one thing mattered. They were the ones who had first shown murderous intent.

"Do you think you can subdue me with so few people?"

A derisive laugh escaped him.

They ought to know what he had done. He had cut off his boss's head. Slaughtered every last one of those who struggled. Simply erased an entire company.

"Are you really going to try?"

Despite his warning, their attitude hadn't changed. Since they were right outside his house, he honestly didn't want to make a scene, so he asked once more.

"We only follow our orders."

Hyeonyul smiled quietly at that answer.

"Very well."

If that was what they wanted.

He glanced up at the sky. Summer had already passed, and the sky was rapidly darkening. A smoke-like power writhed in the shadow beneath his feet.

Whatever powers they used, whatever they did, it was useless unless they could stop the night. As a test subject, his body had become darkness—or shadow. This entire place was him.

'Into the darkness.'

Power reached out of the darkness like grasping hands and snatched their bodies. The moment it touched them, they felt an indescribable revulsion. Before they could even move to escape, they were dropped into the shadows.

It was as though they had fallen into a hell of endless falling. With every breath, all manner of smells flooded their nostrils until their heads felt ready to split. Countless places—the sea, mountains, buildings, someone's room, the inside of a company—were tangled together there, making their eyes burn as though on fire. They wanted to scream in pain, but even that was denied them.

CRUNCH

With that final sound, like something being chewed up, they stopped breathing.

Hyeonyul looked down, and pure white teeth emerged from the shadows. The expression seemed to beam at him, asking whether it had done well. He felt a profound disgust.

'... You're the ones who made me this way.'

They had turned him into a monster, not a human. Hadn't they wanted a monster that would destroy the Empire?

Hyeonyul covered his face with his hand, then slowly lowered it, revealing a blank expression. He pulled a phone from the shadows. He had taken it before its owner was eaten. He called the most recently contacted number.

"Is it so difficult to ask whether I'm available before inviting me?"

He was off work. He had been about to go home and relax.

'If I meet them, I'll kill them.'

<It seems my people have been rude.>

"Whether I have a meal with you is up to me. You're not even my boss, so why the fuck are you giving me shit?"

Why didn't they realize that this sort of thing pleased him quite a bit?

<I'll send someone again. Would you wait a moment?>

"Why should I?"

<It won't take long. Aren't you curious about me?>

Without answering, Hyeonyul swallowed the phone into his hand. Watching it vanish silently, enveloped in darkness, he took out his own phone.

'What... should I send the Team Leader?'

He'd never needed to do anything like this before. In a company run by a villain, people were merely parts. He thought this place wouldn't be much different, but hadn't Haeryeon said that to him last time?

["You can't even pretend to go. That's dangerous in itself."]

What should he do at a time like this? Hyeonyul closed his eyes for a brief moment.

["Come up with a reason your superior can at least understand."]

'Understand...?'

After a moment's thought, his eyes slowly widened. There was only one thing that perfectly suited the situation.

[Team Leader. I've been kidnapped.]

Wasn't suddenly coming for someone and trying to take them away by force commonly called kidnapping? He hadn't even pretended to go. He was going to be dragged away against his will, so he wasn't disobeying Haeryeon either.

To make it more believable, he immediately switched off his phone.

'Leaving this near the house would make it convincing, wouldn't it?'

He was about to leave it outside his front door, but reconsidered and gently set it in some nearby bushes. He had only recently replaced it; losing it would be a problem.

'Stay right there.'

* * *

Perhaps even the route to the destination was a secret, because they blindfolded him. But it was useless against Hyeonyul. He moved his two eyes around, examining where they were going and every building in view.

'After switching cars twice, I wondered where we were going. It's actually a restaurant?'

The place was far from the city. It looked like an upscale restaurant.

The sight immediately soured his mood. The places he had occasionally visited while acting as Shin Daeho's designated driver had also been fairly large restaurants like this one. They might have rented the entire place.

They concealed the location, used the stairs to mislead him about which floor he was on, and even led him into a space enclosed on all sides so that he couldn't get his bearings. As the cloth covering his eyes was removed, Hyeonyul withdrew his power. Once it was off, he saw a masked woman seated before him.

He understood that she intended to conceal her identity, but he couldn't help laughing.

'Not the Poison King.'

Just as he'd expected.

"Thank you for accepting our invitation."

It was the voice he had heard a short while ago.

"I'm not sure you can call this accepting. I came because I wanted to see the Poison King, not you. Will the Poison King be coming?"

"You'll be able to meet next time."

"Is that guaranteed?"

"If you join hands with us, it is."

She smiled gently. He was incredulous.

"Do I look like a pushover?"

"Of course not. Surely we have to exercise some caution as well?"

"A sensible attitude. However..."

Hyeonyul pulled a dagger from his palm and drove it into the table.

CRACK!

The table broke apart under the powerful impact. The corners of Hyeonyul's mouth rose.

"You should have considered who you were dealing with."

He stared at the villain before him.

"Do you think you can leave here alive?"

"..."

The smile lingering on her lips swiftly disappeared.

"... Please forgive my rudeness. I am acting under orders too. But I will do my utmost to meet your conditions."

"Everyone who's recruited me so far has been a president. Does that alone tell you how rude this is?"

Even villains had ranks. What an insolent situation this was. Hyeonyul regarded the woman with a defiant air. As his thick murderous intent swept over her, she trembled.

"I'm hungry right now, so I'll eat first. I'll take my time thinking it over during the meal."

"We'll have the food ready shortly."

"Oh, if the Poison King wants me, would you say to come in person next time? And add that if they pull this pointless shit again, I'll simply kill whoever they send."

"Understood. I will... be sure to relay that."

Hyeonyul watched the tense villain and gave his dagger a light wave.

"One moment."

His gaze darted around. There were exactly nine people here.

"There are nine people here, aren't there?"

A mouth to give him information. A mouth to pass information to the Poison King. One would be more than enough.

Hyeonyul smiled softly. He was off work, but he was a Black Eagle now. Somehow, simply letting villains go seemed ridiculous.

"Who would like to deliver the message?" he asked lightly.

What did the Poison King want, anyway? Even if every subordinate died, that bastard wouldn't bat an eye. He could sense the expression of the villain before him stiffening.

"But I need to explain the terms—"

"Have you forgotten how villains do things?"

Meet force with force. Get what you want by any means necessary.

"I'm putting that into practice to raise my price. Why are you getting in my way?"

Hyeonyul reacted as though dumbfounded. He was trying to act like a villain. What was the problem?

"Don't like it? All you have to do is win."

"... No. You're truly excellent."

"Let's begin once I've finished eating," Hyeonyul said as brightly as he could.

They had dragged him here against his will, so of course they ought to accept at least this much. The man he had killed was Shin Daeho, a major player, after all.

Hyeonyul turned his gaze. In that instant, he vanished from his seat and stood before a man.

"Oh dear. Now there are eight."

As though his words had foretold the future, he swung his hand, and the man's head fell.

"You have one less competitor. Be happy."

Hyeonyul smiled amid the spray of blood. As everyone held their breath, the sound of his footsteps rang clearly through the room as he began to walk slowly.

Crazy bastard.

Watching Hyeonyul, the villains there could think of nothing else.