Chapter 38 - Festival (3)

* * *

"Why would you say that? Someone has to stop it."

Hyeonyul looked at Sinu in turn. Was this really something that warranted being called crazy?

"Why does that someone have to be you?"

"Do I look like I'm doing this because I enjoy it?"

Hyeonyul's expression hardened further as irritation welled up. He didn't want to work either. Who wanted to work on a day off? But he had to do it. Perhaps planting and defusing bombs were virtues among villains; among the Black Eagles, no one outside the bomb disposal team knew how to defuse them.

"Then do you know how to disarm it?"

Hyeonyul asked calmly. If Sinu knew, he could simply hand the job over.

"... No."

"That's why I have to do it."

"What if..."

"Have you forgotten who I captured?"

He had captured the Poison King. Poison had no effect on him whatsoever. Surely Sinu ought to know that.

"I've already encountered this poison. I think any further objections would be stubbornness."

When Hyeonyul spoke again, Sinu turned away. Stubbornness? There was another word for this: sacrifice. What if the poison inside had changed? What if it wasn't poison this time? Countless possibilities swirled through Sinu's mind.

'... Now I see why the Team Leader had such a hard time.'

A new recruit ought to know to protect himself, yet Hyeonyul was stepping forward as though it were nothing. Sinu clenched a fist.

"... Not here."

"There won't be room to stand anywhere. It's a festival."

"People could get caught—"

"Do you think no one's watching?"

<Hey.>

No sooner had Hyeonyul spoken than a message appeared in midair. It was Nayun.

<What?>

Sinu moved their lips as well.

<I'm seeing suspicious movement.>

<What kind?>

<They're openly watching people leaving the festival.>

<If we go outside...>

<Not now. There are places I can't see from here. If they have someone watching from a distance like me, it's over. Those bastards' goal is to set off the new weapons in the first place, isn't it? They'll kill everyone!>

Sinu faltered at Nayun's words, and another message appeared.

<Are you convinced now?>

It was Hyeonyul. Sinu hadn't noticed when he had put on the Black Eagles' exclusive wireless earpiece. Sinu bit their lip. That stubborn bastard.

<Don't worry. I won't do anything that isn't useful.>

<That isn't the point.>

<It is important.>

Hyeonyul answered firmly. Whether he was useful or not mattered very much. After all, being useful was the reason he could exist here.

Hyeonyul surveyed his surroundings, then closed his hand around the new weapon. It was small enough to fit in his grip. He sent darkness into it to examine the interior. It was no different from before. First, to reassure Sinu, he removed the bottle of poison inside.

What came next was simple. Behind the area bearing the pattern was a switch that stopped its operation. After switching it off, he crushed it with darkness for Sinu to see.

<Did you see that?>

After addressing Sinu, Hyeonyul handed over the bottle of poison he had just removed. Sinu took it for the moment.

<What's this?>

<Poison. Please take it to the Team Leader. Everyone will die if it breaks, so be careful—>

<Why are you only telling me that now?>

Sinu recoiled in horror. This was not something to handle casually.

<Because you just saw it.>

At Hyeonyul's answer, Sinu suddenly burst out laughing.

PFFT!

Forcing a hand over their mouth, Sinu pushed away from the streetlamp and waved a hand.

<Incredible. Excellent.>

'Is that sarcasm?'

Hyeonyul said nothing.

<We'll do it your way. Just enjoy yourself, and we'll come find you. I'll only need your help when we hand over the new weapons.>

<How will you handle the poison—>

Hyeonyul turned his head, and a man who had appeared from nowhere took the poison from Sinu and calmly disappeared. To anyone else, it would have looked like nothing more than a bump of shoulders.

<We have the managers, don't we? The villains tried to damage our relationship, but we have to trust them. Right?>

'How long has he been here?'

Hyeonyul found himself looking more closely at the crowd. Just as the villains concealed themselves among the people, so did the White Sparrows.

'Not bad.'

Some people said uniforms were worn merely for show, but that wasn't true. There were things you could only see once you wore one. To think wearing a uniform made such a difference.

His admiration was brief before reality came flooding back.

'... Right. My reality doesn't change.'

Day off ≠ Day without work.

The equation had fallen apart.

As Hyeonyul's eyes narrowed, something abruptly entered his view, and he turned toward it. Jeongmin flinched. Hyeonyul looked murderous, as though he might kill someone.

"... You're back?"

Swallowing his emotions, Hyeonyul greeted Jeongmin.

"Why are you so angry?"

"Did you... wait long?"

Serin asked hesitantly. Hyeonyul lowered his gaze. The child was fidgeting with small fingers while holding a chicken skewer in both hands.

"... I, um, wanted to watch them grill the chicken skewers a little longer."

"You can watch longer. I just had an unpleasant thought."

At Hyeonyul's words, Jeongmin's gaze deepened. Hyeonyul had lived as a test subject for a very long time. With even his basic humanity disregarded, he had endured countless gazes as nothing more than an object. How could he welcome anyone looking at him?

"Mister, eat your chicken skewer!"

Serin's voice suddenly rang out.

"Hurry, hurry!"

As Serin stamped impatiently, Jeongmin held the chicken skewer out to Hyeonyul as though being pushed into it. Hyeonyul was being pushed along too.

"It's yummy, isn't it? Nice and hot?"

Serin looked at Hyeonyul expectantly.

"Yes. It's delicious and warm."

"Eating yummy things makes me happy. I hope it makes you happy too, mister."

"I hope so too."

Hyeonyul looked at the chicken skewer. He ought to feel something, yet it stirred nothing in him.

"Then let's try something else!"

Serin sniffed the air repeatedly. The countless food aromas seemed to tickle the child's tongue. Right now, Serin felt capable of eating everything, no matter how many dishes there were.

"Yes. Let's do that."

Hyeonyul nodded, then looked at Jeongmin.

"You can empty my wallet today."

Jeongmin sounded pleased. People really did need to eat something, after all.

* * *

While making the rounds of the food stalls, Hyeonyul received three new weapons in total. The handoffs were perfectly natural. With so many people around, they passed him a weapon while bumping his shoulder, or simply slipped one into his pocket. He had expected Team Three to approach him, but each of the three weapons was delivered by a different person. Apparently, they were all White Sparrows.

'This is really convenient.'

Holding a spiral potato, Hyeonyul chewed as he watched the performance.

"Just a moment."

The last person passing in front of him swayed. Recognizing the deliberate motion, Hyeonyul raised the hand holding his spiral potato and naturally extended the other. The person pretended to fall and placed a new weapon on his palm; he immediately closed his fist.

"S-sorry! Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Apologizing repeatedly, the White Sparrow backed away.

"... Mister, are you okay?"

"Are you all right?"

Serin and Jeongmin asked almost simultaneously.

"I'm fine."

"The lighting is a little dim. It's a light festival, but it's dark."

"That's right. I almost fell too."

As Serin agreed, Jeongmin nodded several times.

"I'm really fine."

It had all been staged anyway. As Hyeonyul put the new weapon into his pocket, he extracted its poison and crushed it again. So this was what it meant to have everything taken care of without lifting a finger. Even if he were expelled or left of his own accord, he doubted he would forget this part. It was convenient.

As Hyeonyul quietly resumed watching the performance, his eyes twitched. He could no longer shake the question slowly creeping into his mind.

'It's awfully quiet, considering there's been a murder.'

Before distributing the new weapons, those bastards had caused an incident to draw the Black Eagles' attention. He didn't know how or how far its effects had reached, but something was strange.

'They don't like this sort of quiet.'

The enemy wasn't stupid. They knew exactly how to spread suffocating fear and screams. He had destroyed four new weapons in total. That could be considered few or many. Given their power, those might have been all of them. If not, with the Black Eagles sweeping through the festival grounds, the enemy had now had time to realize things weren't going their way.

'... What will they do next?'

Listening closely to the song ringing through the performance area, Hyeonyul thought quietly. What would he do in their place? How would he spread his notoriety?

His gaze shifted. The sun had completely set. Even from the performance area, he could see the lights coming on one by one. The corners of his mouth rose. Where would everyone look in the same direction at once?

'The fireworks.'

Today was the final day.

"Shall we get up now?"

Hyeonyul asked Serin and Jeongmin. It was time to see the lights, as befitted a light festival.

"There may be even more people if we go later. There will be fireworks too."

"You're right. We'd better go now."

Jeongmin answered, then looked at Serin.

"Serin."

"Yes?"

"Can you walk some more?"

"I can! I want to see the lights!"

"All right. Let's see them together."

Jeongmin smiled, and Serin smiled along with him.

Hyeonyul rose first and reached out to Serin.

"I can walk."

"I know. It's because there are so many people. We can't have you getting lost. Is that all right?"

"... Then I'll stay still."

The moment Hyeonyul picked Serin up, the child clutched his clothes. Being left alone might be terribly, terribly frightening.

Serin looked around, then gazed at the spiral potato Hyeonyul was holding.

"I've been eating this. Is that all right?"

"I don't mind."

"Then have it."

Hyeonyul handed Serin the spiral potato and moved on.

How long had they walked? Serin's chewing mouth fell open, and small legs waved. A tunnel decorated with lights had come into view.

"... Woooow!"

Light cascaded over the tunnel as though stars might come pouring down. How beautiful would it be from inside?

"It's all sparkly!"

Serin couldn't contain a smile.

The child's delight felt like a push at his back, and Hyeonyul quickened his pace. Walking ahead, he looked at Jeongmin. He wore the same expression as Serin. He looked happy. These lights only sparkled a little more than the streetlamps. Did they look different to him?

'... So seeing this is supposed to make me happy.'

Hyeonyul took in the other people. It was hard to find anyone who wasn't smiling. He had learned something he hadn't known, yet his expression remained impassive as he walked through the light-filled tunnel. Alongside the light, the shadows deepened.

* * *

The light festival.

True to its name, once night fell, light filled the festival grounds, illuminating everything. Countless lights gathered into butterflies, whales, and beautiful flowers. The air was filled with the sounds of cameras capturing the lights and cheers from people captivated by the sparkling beams.

With a hat pulled low and a different coat over his clothes, Hyeonyul walked among them. The shadows beneath his footsteps seemed to ripple faintly. The farther he walked, the farther he moved from the lights.

Today, he had intended to turn a blind eye and not work. As Sinu had said, he had planned only to accept and destroy the new weapons the White Sparrows brought him. But how could he stand by when he saw the Black Eagles' complacency? They didn't know what villains were truly like. Why didn't they realize those leeches were lunatics who would sacrifice themselves to complete their missions? They would do anything, yet the Black Eagles were so distracted by the new weapons that they couldn't see anything else. So he had no choice but to act.

With the fireworks about to begin, he had briefly excused himself under the pretext of using the restroom. What those bastards intended was exceedingly simple.

'Turn the festival into a sea of blood.'

They had far too many cards they could play to achieve that. They weren't the sort to cling to the new weapons alone.

Hyeonyul stopped and looked ahead. Neatly wrapped gift boxes sat on a stall somewhat removed from the center of the festival grounds.

「Free Gifts.」

Reading the words on the sign almost made him laugh.

"Hello. Please take one."

The kindly smiling face, alongside words urging people to believe in God, looked neither clumsy nor suspicious. Hyeonyul thought it was a fairly good move. Religious people often did this sort of thing as part of their outreach. Those who wanted a gift could take one, and those who didn't could simply pass by. Neither the location nor the familiar sight was likely to draw the Black Eagles' attention.

'They're really something.'

Where did they learn to devise schemes like this?

"Am I the first?"

Hyeonyul asked, already knowing everything.

Finding them hadn't been particularly difficult. It was evening now. With darkness spread over everything, this was the hour when he could become every shadow. Every sound and sight was practically beneath his feet.

"... Pardon?"

"I've passed through here a few times, but I've never seen you."

"Oh, you must have missed us. We were somewhere else—"

"What's inside these?"

Cutting them off with his question, Hyeonyul approached. One step. Another step. His weighty yet utterly silent footsteps and the chill in his eyes made them sense that something was wrong.

"Shall I guess?"

That single remark made them realize. But it was too late. Every light in the area was devoured by Hyeonyul's darkness. As silent night descended, countless hands reached out and seized their throats all at once, clamping down hard.

"... Urk."

A groan escaped. When the lights came back on, only Hyeonyul stood there.

"... What? Why did the lights suddenly go out?"

People wondered at the strange phenomenon. But they would never know. Hyeonyul walked among them, collecting every wrapped gift box.

'Chu Nayun didn't see that, did she?'

He had been keeping track of Nayun's position. The angle was a little uncertain, so he had changed his hat and coat before approaching those bastards. Even if she had spotted him, the lights had gone out, so she wouldn't know it was him. There was no problem now.

* * *

"... Hurry, hurry!"

Seeing Hyeonyul, Serin urged him on anxiously. Not knowing when the fireworks would go off made the child impatient.

"There should still be time."

"It was crowded, wasn't it? I was shocked when I went to the restroom earlier too. The line was so long."

"Yes. The line was very long."

Hyeonyul lied without looking at Jeongmin.

FWEEEE!

The sudden sound startled Serin. Hyeonyul picked the child up.

BANG-BANG-BANG!

Countless fireworks burst, as though embroidering the sky.

"... Woooooow."

Serin's exclamation stretched out like the trailing sparks of a firework. Hyeonyul looked up at the sky. The beams of light filling its vast expanse looked just like bombs.

'It sounds like a building exploding.'

He thought he understood why people liked fireworks. A faint smile spread across his face.