Chapter 41 - Bombs Are Not Art (3)

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GRIND

The man clenched his teeth.

Collaborator.

The word sent heat rushing to his head.

He had gone to meet the reinforcements after hearing they were coming. Just as he was about to greet the newcomer, he saw the Team Three designation, and his insides burned. As far as he knew, at least, no one on Team Three could defuse bombs. As it became increasingly likely that this was their new recruit, resentment surged through him.

Wasn't it all that bastard's fault? Even if the collaborator had been there all along, nothing had happened until he showed up. Even if it was bound to come to light someday, why now? Why had it happened to his team? Did that bastard have any idea how much loathing everyone directed at him and his team?

"If you have nothing else to say, let's move on to the mission. Are there any bombs other than those shown on the map?"

Instead of answering Hyeonyul's question, the man stared at him, swallowing his mounting rage.

"Answer me."

At Hyeonyul's prompting, the man squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. For now, he had to focus on the mission.

"... No."

"Are you certain?"

"I'm certain."

"Check again. There may be additional bombs."

"We checked several times before you arrived."

"Who checked?"

"A member of my team."

"Was it a mage?"

The man clenched his fists at Hyeonyul's words and the look in his eyes. He had felt belittled by him from the start.

"Why? Is it so surprising that we have a mage who can't even defuse bombs?"

Hyeonyul nearly scoffed at the sarcastic remark. He already knew there were additional magical bombs. Claiming there weren't any sounded like an admission of incompetence.

"We're on a mission. You'll have to put your personal feelings aside."

Hyeonyul explained the basics to him. No emotion, no fact could take precedence over the mission. Failing a mission was as good as admitting your own incompetence, wasn't it? This man might be fine with that, but Hyeonyul wasn't.

"You kept asking even after I repeatedly told you we'd checked and there weren't any."

Hyeonyul was dumbfounded. What kind of childish argument was that?

"I have to ask as many times as necessary. Defusing the bombs is the core of this mission. We can't leave even one behind."

"Are you a mage?"

"No."

"Yet they sent you here anyway. I suppose they teach you that sort of thing over there?"

Over there.

Did you learn that when you were a villain, too?

The insinuation dripped with sarcasm.

"Yes. They do."

Hyeonyul answered without hesitation. It was the man who was taken aback. He had admitted it so readily.

"Then contact your teammate and have them check again. Don't let your petty pride blind you to your duties."

Hyeonyul turned away.

If the bomb disposal team was inside, some of them would be stationed outside as well. Team Five might have a mage, but they weren't as specialized as the bomb disposal team. It would be far better to go to them and request their cooperation.

'Team Five was only sent here to protect the bomb disposal team.'

Hyeonyul quickly finished assessing the situation. The bomb disposal team was what mattered.

'At least they'll be easier to talk to than that bastard.'

"... Petty pride? Our team became collaborators overnight... You call that petty?"

The man's voice reached him, but Hyeonyul looked ahead without responding.

["Whatever that team tells you to do, Hyeonyul, don't do it. Just remove the bombs."]

It was time to follow Haeryeon's instructions. Nothing he said would help anyway.

"Why... do we have to end up like this? All we ever did was catch villains for people's sake. Why... why was our Team Leader a collaborator?"

People were coming toward Hyeonyul. They looked quite hurried.

'Is there a time limit that wasn't mentioned in the briefing?'

Watching their movements, he speculated that these might not be ordinary bombs, but time bombs.

"If only you—no, if only a bastard like you hadn't shown up, none of this would have happened! You're just a villain... You think becoming a Black Eagle now will absolve you of your crimes? How many people have died at the hands of you bastards? How many people have cried because of you...!"

Yes. It was all that bastard's fault.

Ever since their Team Leader had been exposed as a collaborator, the man had given up his days off and worked longer than usual to clear up the misunderstanding. Other people's gazes frightened him, and he couldn't sleep properly. Could any day be more horrible than this? Waking up tomorrow had never felt so agonizing, so terrifying.

"Hey!"

The man grabbed Hyeonyul by the collar.

"Why are you ignoring me? Can't you hear what I'm saying..."

Hyeonyul's chilling gaze silenced him.

He was going to die.

The thought flashed through his mind, and his entire body froze. Was this really a person? Was he truly human? The fear crashing over him stopped even his breath. What on earth was that thing?

"What do you think you're doing!"

The Team Five man flinched at the shout. People came running.

The moment they saw Hyeonyul and the words "Team Three," they understood the situation. Team Five's leader had been a collaborator, and Team Three's new recruit was the very reason that fact had come to light. This man was probably the new recruit they had heard about. Team Five could be sensitive about it.

But this was unacceptable.

"Have you lost your mind?"

The rebukes and accusations were directed at the Team Five man. The bombs could explode at any moment. Was this any time to fight?

"Is this how you treat someone who came to help?"

They immediately separated him from Hyeonyul.

"Are you all right?"

As he listened to the question, Hyeonyul saw "Bomb Disposal Team" written on their clothes. They belonged to the Black Eagles, but they were different. He raised his gaze to meet their eyes. Unlike other people's, their eyes betrayed no emotion.

"Thank you."

Only then did Hyeonyul bow in acknowledgment.

"We know... this isn't our place to interfere, but we're going to step in this time. I'll apologize afterward."

A woman from the bomb disposal team spoke. Before Hyeonyul could ask what she meant, she approached the Team Five man.

"Would you return to the perimeter, Team Five?"

"... Do you realize what you're saying?"

Under the barrage of stares, the Team Five man reacted to her words with disbelief. Wasn't she saying she would exclude him from the mission?

"I know perfectly well. Let me be more direct. You're hindering the mission."

"..."

The Team Five man started to retort, then even unclenched his fists. As more and more eyes turned cold, he came sharply to his senses.

'... I made a mistake.'

Soon he lowered his gaze as well.

"... I'm sorry."

The Team Five man apologized.

"If you don't want to see this place explode, would you please go somewhere far away?"

The woman spoke again. The man hesitated, then looked at Hyeonyul.

"... Yes. I'll come apologize to you later."

He bowed and left.

As Hyeonyul watched, the woman approached him.

"I apologize if my stepping in without asking offended you."

"Not at all. Thank you."

"... Hmm, he hasn't seemed himself for a while now. I should have told him to stop and go back sooner, but I was late on that, too."

"It's all right."

"I hope you won't take it to heart. We're grateful just to have you here to help."

The woman smiled. Simply having someone with knowledge of bombs was tremendously reassuring.

"You seemed to be in a hurry. Are these time bombs?"

The woman shook her head at Hyeonyul's question.

"No, they're not. It's just that this is taking so long, and we're worried about the students trapped inside. We were also happy to see reinforcements, so we came running. We don't often get help."

"Then have you checked for additional bombs?"

"We've finished our second sweep. We were checking carefully because we don't know which objects are bombs."

"If I told you there were additional bombs, would you bel—"

"Where?"

Her eyes held nothing but utter seriousness.

"Please tell us where the additional bombs are. Right now!"

Her voice rose steadily. At the mention of bombs, other members of the bomb disposal team came over.

"Is that true?"

"Where are they? We won't ask how you know. Just tell us."

"You're a Black Eagle. We all have at least one unusual power, don't we? We'll assume that's how you know, so please tell us!"

Hyeonyul's eyes widened at their pleading words. This wasn't what he had expected. He had thought they wouldn't believe him, but instead, their eyes had taken on a frantic look. As they crowded closer and closer around him, he stepped back.

"Everyone, hold on."

A man from the bomb disposal team spoke. As if accustomed to this, they all clapped hands over their mouths and backed away.

"You can speak now."

The man wore an amiable expression. He looked as though he might offer to bring out some tea next.

"... You believe me?"

Hyeonyul asked in disbelief.

"Of course we do. Our specialties may be different, but we're all Black Eagles, aren't we?"

"We can't do anything inside. We've already failed twice. The formulas are too complex. We have to succeed next time, and the pressure is getting to us."

Some of them smiled, while others earnestly shared what was on their minds.

It was strange. The Team Five man's reaction earlier should have been the normal one.

For now, Hyeonyul set his thoughts aside, pulled up the map, marked the locations one by one, and shared it.

"These are the locations I found."

As soon as they received the locations, the bomb disposal team touched their wireless earpieces and began speaking. Watching them move in perfect coordination, Hyeonyul considered his next step. The Bomber might be watching them, too. Having played this little game, he would naturally want to know how it unfolded.

"I'll go check the other areas for a moment."

"Understood."

At the reply, Hyeonyul quickly moved away. He went between buildings where no one could see him and covered one eye.

There were several buildings alone. Checking them would take time. Moving his eye through the darkness, he inspected them one by one and marked the map.

HEH HEH

Just then, he heard laughter.

As Hyeonyul drew his dagger, something was flung out from farther inside. Before he swung, he stopped and caught it.

It was a person. Team Five. The man from earlier.

He was asleep, with no sign of a struggle, and bombs wrapped around his body. All this had happened in that brief span of time.

'They were watching? From where?'

Hyeonyul's eyes darted about. It was unnervingly quiet. He set the Team Five man down and looked toward where he had fallen.

'... A psychic power.'

He could faintly see a trace, like a long scratch. Psychic powers were the hardest powers to sense.

'They must be hiding nearby.'

Perhaps it was a power that made the body invisible, like a chameleon.

Hyeonyul walked forward quietly. His eyes gradually turned black. As the wind blew, he saw a shimmer in the air.

'There.'

He didn't let that fleeting moment escape. He took a step. Black smoke engulfed him as he vanished from the spot, and his dagger emerged from thin air first.

THUNK!

"... Aaaaargh!"

A scream erupted. The villain appeared, stabbed through the shoulder. As light flickered in the villain's eyes, Hyeonyul slashed his throat without hesitation.

Hyeonyul looked at the fallen enemy. He was probably a disposable pawn anyway.

'How many more are there?'

He considered it briefly.

<... Did you know?>

A voice came from the limp corpse.

<The most beautiful art is an explosion.>

No sooner had the words ended than a strong smell of gunpowder filled the air. Black smoke spread out from Hyeonyul's body.

BOOOOM!

The corpse exploded with a harsh roar. Hyeonyul walked out through the thick smoke, and even that smoke seeped into the darkness.

'... That stings.'

Hyeonyul covered his mouth. Just because the darkness could swallow anything didn't mean he would be unharmed. His insides burned. When he looked at his hand, it was smeared with blood.

'The Doctor is going to give me an earful.'

But what else could he do? This left him less injured than enduring the pain of his body being blown apart.

<That was too simple, wasn't it? Now the clock will start ticking.>

The voice came from behind him. Hyeonyul vanished from the spot. He had seen the bombs wrapped around the Team Five man's body earlier.

<I'll give you thirty minutes. Tick, tock.>

Hyeonyul grabbed just one of the many bombs wrapped around the Team Five man. Only one was making a sound. There was no time to defuse it. As he threw it upward, people came running.

BOOOOM!

It exploded in midair. Hyeonyul looked up, but nothing reached the ground. All he could sense were several powers blocking the debris. He lowered his gaze. Those powers belonged to the people before him.

"Are you all right?"

"Are you sure you're all right? You're... bleeding."

People were there, looking at him and asking those questions. Why were they saying that? Swallowing that small question, Hyeonyul looked ahead.

Someone came running over and spoke.

"... There's a time limit now."

The voice was filled with despair. The thirty minutes the Bomber had mentioned. That time was simply ticking away.

"It's all right."

Hyeonyul rose to his feet. There was one more bastard he needed to kill.

The Bomber.

"We can defuse them in time."

Hyeonyul did not make empty promises.