Chapter 48 - It Always Starts With the Little Things (2)

* * *

“I'll buy you some later, so give me a moment.”

After soothing Hyeonyul, Sinu turned away from the people surrounding him. Sinu's expression slowly hardened. Behind Hyeonyul lay a wealth of suspicious evidence.

The contents of the box that had been thrown open. A broken syringe. The crowd surrounding Hyeonyul. A familiar smell.

The more Sinu looked around, the sharper that expression became.

“What's going on here?”

“Drugs,” Hyeonyul answered simply.

“...”

Sinu lowered their gaze to the box.

Sinu had deliberately allowed the people watching so desperately to hold them up. But then someone had spoken.

[“... You need to go. Your colleague is in danger.”]

Sinu had been picking up boxes at the time and had unwittingly brought one along.

But those were drugs. Which matter was more urgent and serious? There was no comparison.

Sinu set the box down and spoke in a low voice.

“... Stay where you are.”

Sinu's eyes turned toward a man. Before anyone knew it, a sword was pointed at the back of his neck.

“I mean you.”

Those dark-blue eyes grew as cold as a snowfield. The phone fell from the man's hand.

“Did they try to use drugs on you?” Sinu asked Hyeonyul.

“Yes.”

“They didn't inject you, did they?”

“No. And even if they did, I'd be fi—”

Before Hyeonyul could finish, Sinu slapped his back.

SMACK!

“...?”

Hyeonyul stared at Sinu. He had allowed the blow because there was no killing intent, but he didn't understand why Sinu had hit him. Had he made some mistake?

“Did I...”

“You don't let anyone inject you with things like that.”

“Understood.”

Hyeonyul didn't mention that it would be fine if they did.

“We'll have to deal with this first.”

Sinu looked at the pile of drugs. Was this all there was? To think drugs were what the president had been trying to hide.

Sinu took out a phone.

“Hello.”

<Has something happened...?>

Haeryeon sounded very cautious.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

<... How can this be?>

“Is this the Hyeonyul effect after all?” Sinu heard Haeryeon murmur. Not understanding what she meant, Sinu gave the report.

“We've found drugs at the company we were assigned to investigate.”

<What?>

“We aren't certain whether they're manufacturing or distributing them yet. I'd like you to send someone.”

<I'll contact the police. Keep them there for a little while.>

“Understood.”

Sinu ended the call and looked at the people, letting out a laugh.

“If you want a lighter sentence, you'll have to cooperate.”

They would be better off not running. Sinu's sword never missed its target.

* * *

The matter was wrapped up quickly. The police arrived promptly, and no one tried to run. Everyone seemed well aware of how severe the Empire's drug laws were.

“We've brought him,” a police officer told Hyeonyul and Sinu.

[“Please bring just the president, quietly.”]

The moment the police refused, saying they couldn't do that for Ministry of Labor personnel, an official ID identifying them as Black Eagles appeared. Everyone else's civil-service ID had a white background, but the Black Eagles' IDs alone had black backgrounds. There was no mistaking it.

Cooperation with the Black Eagles was mandatory, regardless of the reason. Since that was the law, the police had no choice but to comply.

“Thank you,” Sinu said.

The officer looked at Sinu and Hyeonyul for a moment. Not knowing had been one thing, but now the officer knew. The longer the officer looked, the more admiration welled up.

“Could I... shake your hand?” the officer asked hesitantly.

“Of course.”

Sinu took the officer's hand and shook it.

“Thank you!”

The officer hurried away.

‘What was that about?’

Hyeonyul couldn't understand the officer's behavior. Why suddenly take someone's hand? And why enjoy doing it?

“We're more popular than you'd think,” Sinu said cheerfully upon seeing his expression.

“... Are we?”

“Of course, we're popular in the other sense too.”

Those who liked them liked them, and those who hated them hated them. That was true everywhere, but feelings about the Black Eagles often ran to extremes.

“I don't really like having attention focused on us.”

The smile vanished from Sinu's lips. A deep emptiness flickered around those eyes, then disappeared.

“Anyway, we've brought him. What are you planning to do?”

“I want to ask him something.”

Hyeonyul looked at Sinu, then picked up the box and approached the president. Handcuffed, the president trembled all over.

“... I-I'm going to die. Please spare me!”

Where he had received the drugs. Through what channels they had reached him. The moment he so much as mentioned those things, death would be his inevitable end.

“These snacks. Which company ordered them?”

“... Pardon?”

“?”

The president and Sinu were startled at the same time. Snacks? What was so important about them?

“... Well, j-just a moment. I can remember.”

“Calm down and take a deep breath.”

The president followed Hyeonyul's instruction. Once his color had improved considerably, Hyeonyul asked,

“Are you all right now?”

“Better than before.”

“Then I'd like you to tell me.”

Hyeonyul's courteous request left the president feeling strange. He had felt as though Hyeonyul might kill him at any moment. Had that only been his imagination?

“... They started working with us a month or two ago. Jaeil Bakery. That's the name, but they make snacks.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

After thanking him, Hyeonyul opened the door. The president blinked.

“You can go out now and follow the police officer's instructions.”

“... This means I'll get a reduced sentence, right?”

“A reduced sentence?”

“Yes. Didn't I cooper—”

“Why are you trying to get one?”

“... Pardon?”

“If you wanted leniency, why didn't you kill a villain instead? The Empire lets you off for killing villains. Beyond that, I can't understand doing something you shouldn't and then crying for a lighter sentence. You're not a minor. Adults should only do things they can take responsibility for.”

“...”

Hyeonyul pushed the dazed president out and shut the door. There was no point in talking any further.

The room was quiet. When Hyeonyul looked at Sinu, Sinu clutched their stomach and burst out laughing.

“... Wow. You're really something.”

How could he cut someone so deeply without changing his expression or using a single nasty word? Sinu couldn't stop laughing.

“I don't understand why you're laughing.”

“Because you're amazing.”

Was that sarcasm? Hyeonyul simply let it pass.

The Empire hated villains and tacitly swept the crime of killing them under the rug. Villains were the only people he had gone after.

He must not harm ordinary people. He must protect children and the elderly. He repeated these basic principles over and over until his body would respond to them.

“Did you hear what you wanted?” Sinu asked, pointing at the door.

“Yes.”

“Is there something in that box?”

Hyeonyul had been paying attention to the box for a while now.

“A villain is definitely involved.”

“Do the snacks contain something like that?”

“I don't know. I think I'd have to eat them to find out.”

When Hyeonyul glanced at the box, Sinu rubbed their face. Sinu had feared it, and he really was about to eat them.

“Hyeonyul. We can request a composition analysis. You don't have to eat them.”

“That takes too long.”

“It won't take long.”

“Eating them is faster. Besides, I've been injected with all kinds of drugs many times, so I can easily identify them by taste.”

His utterly unhesitating words left Sinu momentarily speechless. This wasn't how it should be, yet he spoke so casually that it filled Sinu with sorrow.

As a Black Eagle, Sinu had seen countless things: gruesomely dismembered corpses, people used in drug trials to develop test subjects, and the corpses of test subjects that were no longer human. Countless gazes came back to mind.

Many words circled through Sinu's mind, but none could be spoken. Wouldn't it be presumptuous pity? Afraid of letting something useless slip out, Sinu said something else.

“Hasn't anyone told you why you shouldn't do that?”

“Someone has.”

“Who? Oh... Doctor Jeongmin?”

“Yes. The Doctor told me not to eat random things, but I'm simply acting quite rationally.”

“Then I'll have to tell on you.”

“... Pardon?”

“I'll have to tell Doctor Jeongmin you've been eating random things again today.”

“... Are you serious?”

Hyeonyul stared as though he were looking at something horrifying. A grown adult tattling like a child. Even imagining it was unpleasant.

“I'm serious.”

“That is unnecessary.”

“Would the Doctor agree?”

“...”

Hyeonyul was at a loss for words. That was a difficult question. He wasn't Jeongmin.

“All right, all right. I'll request an analysis of these. Shall we head back now?”

Sinu beamed, pleased to have learned a little about how to handle Hyeonyul.

“Why would we head back?”

Hyeonyul tilted his head slightly. Jaeil Bakery. They had learned its name. They needed to go there immediately, before those bastards escaped. There was a strong chance they had caught on by now.

“Calm down, Hyeonyul.”

“I am calm.”

“I'm not an idiot. Would I suggest simply going back?”

“Please explain what you have in mind.”

“As you know, villains are best at cutting off their loose ends. Jaeil Bakery. Even if a villain runs it, ordinary people are probably the ones working there, right?”

“I know that. That isn't what we're discussing. We have to go there to find clues.”

“I'm not saying your approach is wrong.”

Sinu calmly tried to persuade him. This was a difference in approach. Hyeonyul had worked alone until now and had grown accustomed to it. But he was no longer alone.

“You wouldn't be satisfied with just a loose end either, would you, Hyeonyul?”

“Of course not.”

“This is the White Sparrows' specialty. We can't focus on just one case. We have other cases to solve too.”

“I don't understand.”

On what grounds could he trust them? Who would take responsibility if they lost the trail? The more often those bastards were discovered, the more meticulous they became.

“If my name comes up, do you really think they can handle it impartially?”

‘... Oh dear. They really have it in for him.’

Sinu fiddled with their hair as Hyeonyul's expression hardened further. His relationship with the White Sparrows had gotten off on the wrong foot from the very beginning.

“This time will be different.”

On what grounds? That was exactly what Hyeonyul's eyes were asking.

“Unless we each have multiple bodies, getting buried in one case could mean missing several others.”

Sinu narrowed their eyes after saying it. Would that persuade him? It needed to be put in terms Hyeonyul would understand better.

“You'll keep getting other assignments besides this one. You can dig into this if you want, Hyeonyul, but it'd be on your own initiative, so I don't know whether it would count as work hours. That would mean after wor—”

“I'll wait.”

Hyeonyul couldn't bear to hear any more of those dreadful words. He didn't even know their faces yet. It would be different if they directly harmed him like the Red Witch, but they weren't even hanging around in front of him. He had no desire to sacrifice his time off to search for them.

“An excellent choice. Our assignment was to uncover what was suspicious here, so we've accomplished it. Shall we eat before heading back?”

“... Yes.”

Hyeonyul answered with an uneasy expression. Knowing how he felt, Sinu chuckled. Sinu had been the same at that stage, brimming with confidence that everything could be solved.

But once he saw the volume of assignments pouring in, he would realize he couldn't devote himself to just one. There wasn't only one villain they needed to eliminate.

* * *

“... They say the snacks contain a small amount of a hallucinogen,” Haeryeon told Hyeonyul and Sinu.

“Why would they put something like that in snacks?”

Sinu narrowed their eyes. Tampering with food, of all things.

“I looked into it, and apparently these aren't meant for sale on the open market.”

“They commissioned a factory to make them when they aren't selling them on the market?”

Sinu couldn't understand.

‘... There's no way they like snacks that much.’

What were they up to?

“They only sell them on their own premises,” Hyeonyul answered.

When Sinu still looked puzzled, he continued explaining.

“Simply put, they copy what cults do and create an enclosed community they call a ‘village.’ They use self-sufficiency as an excuse to make goods sold only within it. Those snacks are one such product.”

It had come to Hyeonyul the moment he heard the word “hallucinogen.” It was a method some villains frequently used.

“They're sold within the community, so they don't get out, and the people living inside won't say they've eaten them. Who's going to know what they've mixed in?”

“And they... willingly agreed to that?”

“We found drugs in that factory. Why are you surprised?”

At Hyeonyul's words, all Sinu could say was, “Oh.” Seen in that context, there was nothing surprising about it.

“But Hyeonyul, how did you know just by looking at the box?”

“Didn't I tell you before?”

Haeryeon waited for him to continue. He had told her more than one or two things.

“Villains have their own emblems or identifying marks. I knew because I saw the emblem on the box.”

“... What? Don't you only know Shin Daeho's?”

Haeryeon stood up in surprise.

“I have seen several. But I only saw them once or twice, so I couldn't call them to mind and wasn't able to tell you about them.”

“Then... if you see them, you recognize them?”

“Only the ones I've seen before.”

At his answer, Haeryeon covered her mouth with both hands and gazed at him like someone who had discovered treasure.