Chapter 24 - Found You (2)

* * *

Hyeonyul raised darkness from his body, pried the Poison King's hand off him, and pinned it into the wall.

"... Pfft."

It must have hurt, yet the Poison King laughed instead. Whatever pleased him so much, his gaze held nothing but satisfaction as he looked at Hyeonyul.

"... The Black Eagles won't give you what you want. Unlike what you think, that place isn't righteous."

"You're talking about justice?"

Hyeonyul's derisive response came reflexively.

Apparently, the man still had plenty of life in him. Hyeonyul had intended to cut off a few fingers, but stopped, having never expected even his blood to be poisonous. In his present condition, never mind interrogating him—other people would be dropping dead one after another.

'What am I going to do with him...?'

Hyeonyul pondered the problem.

"... By now, all the others will have heard that some lunatic subordinate of Shin Daeho's killed him."

The Poison King spoke, his face flushed red.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"... They're all looking for you. You, the one who killed Shin Daeho."

What was he supposed to do about that? Hyeonyul lifted the Poison King higher.

"Everyone will realize it! That you... are the very hope that will bring down the Empire...!"

That power. That decisiveness. Above all, that absence of emotion. Everything about him was perfect.

Without answering, Hyeonyul slammed the Poison King into the wall.

BOOM!

What bullshit. He had no interest whatsoever in the Empire. All he cared about was getting off work and going home to enjoy life's small pleasures. Tonight, he intended to watch a movie he had spent weeks carefully choosing, with popcorn.

"Do... we look like villains to you?"

The Poison King steadied his trembling eyes and looked at Hyeonyul.

"Of course."

"... You're wrong. The villains are..."

The Poison King went limp before he could finish.

Hyeonyul threw him to the floor and stamped hard on his leg.

CRUNCH.

Something broke.

'Should I break the other one too?'

He looked at the remaining leg, then decided against it. People could die of shock, after all.

He searched the Poison King's clothes and took out his phone. This alone could yield a wealth of information.

'I'll give this separately to Team Leader Ye Juhyeon.'

BZZZZ.

Was it a coincidence? Someone was calling.

Customer – 018.

<"I'm almost there. You're ready, right?">

It was a woman's voice. A familiar one.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but the Poison King has stepped away for a moment. Where are you now?"

<"Five minutes away. But who are you, sweetheart? I've never heard your voice before, yet it sounds so familiar.">

"I'll come meet you in person."

<"Our Poison King's gotten more thoughtful. He's doing something he never usually does.">

The woman laughed to herself, delighted by something.

"Then I'll see you shortly."

<"All right. Come here, sweetheart, and I'll treat you nicely.">

Hyeonyul waited for her to hang up first.

'... Is she someone I've seen before?'

He wasn't sure when it would happen, but he thought the day might come when he would have to thank Shin Daeho for occasionally introducing him to people.

Hyeonyul took out his own phone.

"Team Leader."

<"Yes, how did it go?">

"We have a serious problem."

<"... A serious problem? What problem? Are you hurt? Does it hurt badly?">

"No. The Poison King's blood releases poison too."

<"Huh...?">

"I discovered it while subduing him and didn't inflict any further wounds, but no one else can move him in this condition. I'll transport him myself."

<"Are you all right, Hyeonyul? You don't feel anything? You're really sure you're fine? No dizziness or any other symptoms at all?">

"None. Poison doesn't work on me."

<"... That's a relief. And you haven't been wounded anywhere?">

He didn't understand why she kept asking all these questions. Did he look weak? His brow creased slightly. Perhaps her standards were as high as the Black Eagles' reputation warranted.

"No."

He had cloaked his body in his power just in case, and apparently that had been a good decision. Might things have been different if the Poison King weren't using magic or supernatural powers?

'It was easy because it was poison.'

With poison taken away as a weapon, the Poison King was nothing more to him than an ordinary person with slightly better strength and endurance.

"Team Leader, there's one more thing I'd like to tell you."

<"Sounds like you found something?">

"Yes. First, I already brought the children somewhere safe. They were all asleep from the drugs, but otherwise in good condition."

<"I heard that from Jihwan. I've sent people over there.">

"I just spoke to the villain who came to collect the children."

<"What?">

"If the Poison King saved them under 'Customer,' they may be a fairly high-ranking villain. I'll make contact immediately."

Hyeonyul said it naturally. It was little different from what he had done while working under Shin Daeho: casually make contact, flatter them, and kill them. On days when there was no target to kill, he would clear the backlog of internal work. That had been his life, without a single day off.

<"Hyeonyul.">

"Yes, Team Leader."

<"First of all, this is urgent, right?">

"Yes."

He faintly heard Haeryeon sigh.

<"Only make contact. Nothing more. I'll be there soon too.">

"Yes. I'll see you later."

After speaking with impeccable courtesy, Hyeonyul waited for Haeryeon to hang up.

Putting his phone away, he glanced at the Poison King.

'I should have killed him.'

He kicked the man, then covered his eyes.

Moving his eyes through the shadows, he concentrated on inspecting the cars approaching the building. Among the many vehicles, he singled out the most expensive one, which stood apart from the rest. Villains cared far more than one might expect about how they appeared to others. As if to demonstrate that, the Poison King was wearing a suit himself.

'That's the car.'

As a precaution, Hyeonyul left just one hand gripping the Poison King's throat before disappearing.

* * *

When Hyeonyul appeared in front of the car, its horn blared furiously.

HONK! HONK!

It was almost as if it were calling him a lunatic.

Hyeonyul held out his dagger. Darkness rising from the shadows wrapped around it, turning it into a long sword. He swung his hand down at the oncoming car. A broad black arc swept through it, splitting the vehicle in half.

SHHHH.

The two halves slid apart, and someone leaped out.

"That's a rough welcome."

Someone was floating in midair. That suggested a psychic or a mage. Seeing the red-haired woman, Hyeonyul remembered who she was.

'She's a mage.'

She was sometimes called the "Gravity Mage" or the "Red Witch." Those were only her public names, however. Shin Daeho had called her "Asan." He had no way of knowing whether that was her real name or a nickname.

'The Witch...?'

The corners of Hyeonyul's mouth lifted as he looked at her. There had recently been an incident in which a villain spread poison, attempting to make it look like the Poison King's work.

'... So that was this witch's doing.'

He was certain. He had seen Asan's subordinate there.

"Do you know which bird I hate the most?"

Asan smiled brightly.

Hyeonyul focused on the long nails extending from her fingers. Studded with tiny gemstones, they were extraordinarily ornate. Something was emerging from them now.

"The Black Eagles."

Asan's smile widened. With a violently advancing ripple, gravitational force bore down on the ground where Hyeonyul stood. The ground collapsed and shattered. But he was no longer there.

He was right beside Asan. Her head turned immediately. The smile she directed at him held nothing but arrogance.

'You think I don't have any ranged attacks.'

To overturn that certainty, Hyeonyul leaped up in one motion and grabbed her throat. Without hesitation, he slammed her toward the ground. But before she hit it, power extending from beneath the ground forced him to let go. If he hadn't, wouldn't his arm have snapped?

Asan floated in midair, apparently having reversed the force of gravity. Her hair fluttered as she laughed loudly.

"You're entertaining. Really entertaining."

"I'm honored."

"It was you."

The moment Asan heard his voice, she recalled the recent phone call. What could it mean that a Black Eagle had answered?

'The Poison King's fallen!'

Only then did Asan take a good look at Hyeonyul. One hand was missing. Why else would it be gone?

'The poison got him.'

His helmet-covered face made it obvious. This was his final desperate struggle.

"Is the Poison King dead? Is that it?"

Asan asked gleefully.

Annoying as that Poison King bastard was, his power was real. He had expanded his influence indiscriminately, and she hadn't been able to rein him in. That damned poison alone gave him enough power to wipe out every last one of her darling subordinates.

"Are you pleased?"

"Of course I am. Oh, I'm in a good mood. I'll back off today."

Asan retreated farther. He would die anyway. That Eagle would probably die without ever knowing what he had done.

'Oh, why not? I'm feeling generous.'

Her smile never faded.

"You've just done something incredible. I'm withdrawing as a compliment for a job well done, so you're welcome to be happy about it."

She wasn't the only one whose expansion the Poison King had blocked. The other villains' circumstances were obvious too. Now that he had been removed for her, what else should she do?

'I'll take it all.'

Asan felt as though she might be engulfed in ecstasy.

Shin Daeho was dead, and now the Poison King was dead too. This was an opportunity. In such a cramped playing field, how could there possibly be enough of the pie to share? It was only right for one person to take it all.

"Is that so?"

Hyeonyul answered impassively. Sometimes, they were truly laughable. If they wanted to destroy the Empire so badly, they ought to join forces, yet here she was celebrating the Poison King's death. That was why they would die without ever touching so much as a hair on the Empire's head.

"Why did you need test subjects made from children?"

"You saw that too? Were you shocked?"

"Answer me."

"Why? Isn't it obvious? Questions like that are so boring they make me want to yawn."

Great power. The power to destroy the Empire. And amusement. There were other reasons too, surely.

"It seems you have quite a few people working on creating test subjects."

Hyeonyul's voice grew heavy.

"Want to come see how many, Eagle?"

Asan extended a hand, smiling. Her thickly applied lipstick made the sneer look even deeper.

"You'd make a rather good test subject—"

Before Asan finished, Hyeonyul's hand vanished. It appeared silently behind her and stabbed.

Asan turned her head at the violent pain surging from her back. At some point, a dagger had sunk quite deep into her.

"... Ha. Ha!"

The moment she turned forward again, she found herself facing a helmet. It was far too close. A dagger blade drove fiercely toward her, but Asan laughed.

BOOOM!

A powerful downward pull sent Hyeonyul's body crumpling. Feeling something sharp skim his skin, he retreated. Part of his dagger had shattered into powder.

"You're pretty good, aren't you?"

"This is company property."

Hyeonyul made his displeasure plain.

"Was it? Shall I buy you another? I can buy you snacks too."

Just as an unmistakable sneer formed on Asan's lips, Hyeonyul's hand appeared before her. Her finger moved downward.

THUD!

Gravity took effect, dragging his arm down under its heavy force.

"Tone down that bloodlust. You're giving yourself away."

"Did I startle you?"

Hyeonyul stepped back, moving his arm behind his back as if to hide it.

"Me?"

"You're sweating."

Hyeonyul chuckled.

Even knowing it was a provocation, Asan felt her head grow hot. A moment slower, and her throat would have been pierced. He truly was abnormally fast.

'Even so, I'm stronger.'

As Asan narrowed her eyes, Hyeonyul moved. Though his arm had clearly been bent out of shape, it suddenly shot toward her. It was like a snake. Asan retreated and drove down an even greater force of gravity.

BOOOM!

She poured her determination to crush him into it, but Hyeonyul vanished. There was no sound. Silence. She felt a chill hovering around her neck. Before his dagger could touch her throat, she caught it with magic.

SNAP.

'Got you.'

She thrust her fist toward Hyeonyul, accompanied by enough gravitational force to crush his face.

WHOOSH!

Amid the violent rush of wind, black smoke lingered where he had been.

"...?"

"I'll be taking my dagger back."

The voice came from behind her. Hyeonyul calmly pulled the blade out of Asan's back. Her face contorted as pain surged through her.

"... You bastard!"

"I told you it belongs to the company."

Hyeonyul spoke as though it were nothing.

Since she didn't use poison like the Poison King, he considered taking a few fingers as well.

'No.'

He reconsidered. He couldn't kill her. Haeryeon had only authorized a meeting. He couldn't disobey any further, and for now, he wanted Asan alive too. He withdrew.

"... Hahahaha!"

Asan laughed loudly. He had gotten her. He had made a complete fool of her.

With her laughter, everything around them—the cars, streetlights, roads—collapsed under gravitational force. That power reached Hyeonyul too, but he retreated far enough to avoid it. The throbbing in his twisted arm told him how dangerous taking it head-on would be.

'So this is a big shot.'

It was a different experience.

"If you survive, I will find you."

Retreating through the air, Asan glared fiercely at him.

"Yes. If I survive, I'll see you again."

Hyeonyul bowed his head slightly. For his own sake, he absolutely had to hear what she knew about the test subjects. Killing her could come afterward.

'Ah.'

CLICK.

Hyeonyul took a picture, capturing at least a fleeting trace of Asan, then photographed the remaining damage. It was for his report.

'That's done.'

He approached Asan's crawling subordinate. How rushed must she have been to forget to kill this man? Hyeonyul laughed briefly, then kicked him in the abdomen.

"... Guh!"

Hyeonyul looked down at him as he clutched his stomach and trembled. If he had just seen what Hyeonyul could do, that mouth would spill most things.

"Where did you come from?"

The man shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck. Hyeonyul grabbed his hair and turned his head toward the butchered corpse of his companion.

"Stop shaking and answer. I have to get off work too, so I can't give you much time."

* * *

"...?"

Hyeonyul shifted his gaze as everything fell silent. In the middle of placing the Poison King into a specially treated protective restraint, one of the people handling him had suddenly died.

"I didn't do anything."

Watching from a distance, Hyeonyul raised both hands. Afraid of another misunderstanding, he spoke first.

"I know. You can lower your hands."

Haeryeon approached and examined the dead manager. When she removed the protective equipment, the skin beneath was dark purple.

"The protective equipment wasn't checked properly."

At Haeryeon's words, the remaining manager hurriedly inspected their gear. She narrowed her eyes. One of the poison-filtering screens had stopped working.

There were multiple screens for safety, yet the failure of just one had resulted in death. Who would have thought the Poison King's poison was this potent?

"Are you all right, Team Leader?"

Hyeonyul addressed Haeryeon, who was wearing no protective gear.

"I'm highly resistant to poison too. And I took an antidote just in case."

What sort of alchemist would succumb to poison?

Haeryeon looked at the remaining manager, who was trembling.

"This won't do."

She turned to Hyeonyul. At her peculiar look, he sighed before she even spoke.

"The two of us will have to move the Poison King. We can't trust the protective equipment."

Otherwise, there might be more casualties.

"I'll contact the technical team separately, so please arrange the funeral for this person."

Haeryeon gave the manager instructions. She needed to tell the technical team to rework the protective equipment.

"... Yes. Thank you."

The managers hurried away carrying their colleague.

"Hyeonyul, I'll drive. You've worked so hard today, haven't you?"

Only then did Haeryeon smile brightly. He had captured the Poison King. The Poison King. She was so happy herself that it was difficult to hold back her smile.

"I'll drive."

"No, it's fine. Get in first and rest a little."

"..."

Hyeonyul's face turned grave. Rest?

'Did I do something wrong...?'

"Oh, is it because you think I can't move the Poison King alone?"

Haeryeon glanced at him, then lifted him demonstratively.

"Hyeonyul, I am a Team Leader, you know. I take so many different things that I suppose you could say I'm always doped up. I could carry you too, right here. Want me to?"

Hyeonyul immediately shook his head, then asked,

"... What did you take?"

"Something I made..."

Haeryeon stopped herself before saying 'potions.' Whatever that might sound like to other people, it couldn't carry a good meaning for Hyeonyul.

"Something delicious."

She grinned. When Hyeonyul narrowed his eyes at the evasive answer, she hurried him along.

"Come on, let's go."

They loaded the Poison King into the car and got in. Haeryeon tried to hurry into the driver's seat, but Hyeonyul was already there.

"I'll drive."

"What if I say no?"

At Haeryeon's subtle test, Hyeonyul's eyes wandered as if he had malfunctioned. Something looked ready to go pop at any moment. She had meant to tease him, but instead, she was the one caught off guard.

"All right, all right. I was joking. Let's see how good a driver you are."

"You needn't worry. I have an accident-free record."

At his quietly boastful words, Haeryeon turned her head and snorted with laughter. Afraid he would misunderstand again, she stifled her laughter, climbed into the passenger seat, and fastened her seat belt.

"By the way, Hyeonyul."

"Yes."

"Is it just me? Why do villains flock to you like this? Was it similar in the past?"

"It was."

Hyeonyul didn't consider it anything special. Villains had always flocked to him, and he had always killed his way upward.

"You must have... been through so much, Hyeonyul."

The corners of Haeryeon's eyes drooped slightly.

"That was fine. The only painful part was working overtime and not even being allowed to go home."

Even recalling it now was enough to make him grind his teeth. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel for no particular reason.

"Just drop the Poison King off at the Nest, then clock out."

"Understood."

At the mention of clocking out, Hyeonyul's face brightened. As if his earlier expression had never existed, he looked ready to break into a radiant smile.

"Oh, Jihwan's already gone home."

"... Ah. Of course. The work is finished."

For the briefest moment, Hyeonyul glanced behind him. He should have killed that Poison King bastard.

'... That's some unmistakable bloodlust.'

Haeryeon turned her head, pretending not to notice. Had it been directed at her, it would have stung quite a bit.

"Team Leader."

"Yes?"

"... Will the festival go ahead as expected?"

"Now that we've caught the Poison King, it'll go ahead as scheduled."

Haeryeon wanted to ask more, but firmly held herself back.

'What? He likes festivals?'

She decided she would absolutely give him paid leave that day. He had captured the Poison King—what would be so difficult about that? She found herself smiling.

* * *

The entryway light came on as Hyeonyul entered his home.

'I'll stop by the doctor tomorrow.'

Gravity had twisted his arm. It didn't hurt, but he couldn't be sure.

He collapsed onto his bed and examined the book he had bought on the way home.

「How to Have Fun at a Festival」

["I want to see the fireworks at the festival!"]

Serin's bright voice lingered in his ears. A promise was a promise.

'... What's so fun about watching them with me?'

What a strange child.

'I'll report about Asan tomorrow.'

He had forgotten, distracted by getting off work.

Hyeonyul opened the book. After all, he was off the clock now.

RUSTLE.

He turned the page.