Chapter 63 - Did You Think I Wouldn’t Know?

* * *

“What? You found them already...?” Shinwoo asked in surprise.

From the CCTV’s perspective, Hyeon-yul was simply holding the remote as he changed the channel exactly three times, adding confirmation that there were three of them.

“Did you memorize their faces?” Shinwoo asked.

“Of course I did,” Nayun answered as though it were obvious.

“Good. Jihwan, stop now.”

At Shinwoo’s words, Jihwan released his magic while Hyeon-yul moved the remote again. After changing channels several times, he held up his phone and moved his thumb.

[There’s nothing interesting on.]

“Hey. Do you think you can just flip through channels that loudly?”

Jihwan blew out a hard breath and aimed his irritation at Hyeon-yul, but his eyes trembled.

‘Sorry, hyung.’

His gaze practically overflowed with the apology. Shinwoo bit his lip hard, trying to suppress his laughter, though from a distance it could just as easily look as though he were holding back anger.

“I’m sorry about that.”

[Then you ask permission before turning it on too.]

Unlike Shinwoo, who apologized, Hyeon-yul brazenly held out his phone. The role he had been assigned was not exactly that of a mentally stable person. If he supposedly had not spoken for five years, there was no reason to think he would have much patience when someone picked a fight with him. Besides, Jihwan seemed to want him to push back.

“What did you say? What did you just say?”

Jihwan’s voice shot upward, and the White Sparrow came running over in alarm.

“New Stars, please calm down for a moment.”

“Move.”

Jihwan shoved the White Sparrow aside. In his current role, he was supposed to be too furious to care about appearances, and he was acting like someone who believed he was being looked down on.

Jihwan was also curious what would happen if they caused a scene like this.

“Mr. Donghoon, calm down.”

Pretending to restrain Jihwan, Nayun gave him a discreet push. If they were truly being monitored, people from the building across from them would surely come rushing over.

That was exactly what Jihwan was waiting for.

“Didn’t you see what he wrote? He’s looking down on me!”

Hyeon-yul held out his phone with the message clearly displayed.

[When did I do that?]

“Chandae, you stop too. As his older brother, I apologize.”

Shinwoo restrained Hyeon-yul while apologizing first.

“No, if anyone should apologize, it’s him. What is this?”

[Is turning on the television really such a crime?]

“...Ha.”

Jihwan let out a hollow laugh as he read Hyeon-yul’s message.

“...So you want to do this?”

He looked around, snatched the remote from Hyeon-yul’s hand, and broke it.

Crack.

At that moment, Shinwoo’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“New Stars? New Stars, please stop.”

The White Sparrow tried to intervene with a flustered expression. He had no idea why they had suddenly started deliberately escalating the situation.

“I hate being looked down on. You understand? When you don’t have money, people treat you worse than an animal. They do!”

“Why are you saying that to my little brother?”

Shinwoo frowned and stepped toward Jihwan. He usually wore such an easygoing expression and genuinely smiled so often that it was hard to notice, but when he became angry, his face looked surprisingly fierce.

“If the older brother acts like this, no wonder the younger one is the same.”

The same was true of Jihwan. His large eyes usually gave his whole face a rounded impression, but right now he looked like someone with serious authority in the underworld.

“Watch what you say.”

“I said it just fine.”

The instant Shinwoo stepped toward Jihwan again, the door flew open and a crowd rushed inside to separate them.

“New Stars, you can’t do this!”

“Please calm down!”

“New Star, you mustn’t behave like this.”

Jihwan stared at them as though a chill had run through him.

“What the hell is this...?”

“No... How did all of you know to come here?”

Nayun took over and pointed toward the White Sparrow.

“He was using both hands just now, so how did you know what was happening?”

“You were listening in, weren’t you? You’re all on the same side, aren’t you? You came to catch me, didn’t you?”

Jihwan shouted, then suddenly glared at Nayun and raised his voice even further.

“Sunbae! What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t know either... This is giving me the creeps too! I didn’t know it was this kind of place! Let’s leave, Mr. Donghoon.”

“We only heard the noise while passing by, so please don’t misunderstand.”

“That’s right. We came because we heard something.”

“This is the fourth floor. You could hear it from downstairs?”

Jihwan pressed them. Common sense said there was no way the noise from this room could have carried all the way down.

He approached them one by one, pushing their shoulders while repeating the same question.

“You heard it?”

As preparation for later, he left traces of his mana on every person he touched.

“We were simply so happy to see the New Stars. I’m sorry if we made you uncomfortable.”

“That’s right. We wanted to welcome you.”

“We’re sorry for suddenly barging in. We just wanted to give you a surprise welcome.”

Even though Jihwan was acting like a complete bastard, everyone wore the same expression and offered nearly identical words. Other than their genders, they seemed like copies pasted from the same template, and they looked ready to start begging if necessary.

“...Is this some kind of lunatic den?”

Jihwan would have wanted to say it even if he had not been acting. He had infiltrated places like this several times before, but none had ever been as organized as this one. It made him want to tear their heads open just to see what was happening inside.

Clap.

The sound of hands meeting rang out. At that single clap, everyone startled and hurriedly apologized before clearing the area.

“We’re sorry!”

It was one of the villains Hyeon-yul and Nayun had seen earlier, and the other two were behind him.

“People have become much more suspicious these days, so New Stars are precious. I sincerely apologize for the discourtesy everyone committed because they were so happy to see you.”

The man smiled gently, and Hyeon-yul looked directly at him. Their eyes met.

The man’s gaze resembled that of a venomous snake.

‘...The smell of blood.’

The scent was so strong it was almost nauseating. Hyeon-yul could not tell what the man had been doing or what he had just come from.

“Now, everyone apologize. The Saint may become angry with you.”

“We’re sorry.”

“We’re sorry for frightening you!”

Hyeon-yul had half expected them to smash their heads against the floor, but they simply bowed and apologized. Jihwan only exhaled as the apologies came in unison.

The man approached him, and when Jihwan instinctively took a step back, the man quietly handed him something.

As the man’s finger touched his palm, Jihwan marked him with mana before checking the object he had received. His mouth fell open the instant he saw it.

“Please accept this as an apology, New Star.”

No matter how he looked at it, the object was gold.

“Ahem. Since you’re going this far, I’ll make a special exception and accept your apology this time.”

Jihwan slipped it into his pocket while trembling internally. As a civil servant, he could not accept gifts like this, and even the Black Eagles were not exempt from that rule.

‘I’m submitting it as evidence immediately. I absolutely did not accept this.’

Jihwan steadied his wavering heart and kept his expression composed.

“Thank you for accepting our apology.”

The man smiled before turning toward the people behind him.

“Everyone, please leave.”

“Wait a moment.”

Shinwoo moved Hyeon-yul behind himself and stopped the man. The man turned back toward him.

“...Something about what just happened feels very strange. I’m asking just in case, but you weren’t listening in on us, were you?”

“Of course not.”

“It just seemed a little... well, too fast.”

“If it makes you uncomfortable, we can move you to another building. We cannot allow a New Star to tremble with anxiety.”

“...No. That won’t be necessary.”

Shinwoo let his words trail off. His assigned role was a timid man who cared deeply for his younger brother.

“Then I’ll personally take responsibility for inspecting this place.”

The man volunteered before Shinwoo could ask. An inspection could reassure an anxious person, but Hyeon-yul found the offer ridiculous. What difference did it make if these people inspected something inside their own territory? It would only be a staged performance.

‘After the inspection, he’ll say there really was a listening device. Then he’ll claim the believer responsible was punished, apologize again, and pretend to treat us even better.’

Hyeon-yul could already see the obvious pattern.

Villains would do anything to obtain what they wanted. According to their covers, the four newcomers had all been cut off from normal society to some extent. What people like that craved most was attention and warmth.

These people intended to treat them so well and embrace them so warmly that it became almost embarrassing. Once their victims grew accustomed to that touch, they would reveal their true nature.

The hand they were extending had only just begun to close around them.

“Will you trust me? I promise I’ll take responsibility.”

The man lowered their guard with a soft voice and a reassuring smile.

‘Mental-type ability.’

Hyeon-yul felt the strange force woven into the man’s words. He had never imagined all those experiments would prove useful on a day like this.

He glanced at the others. Before becoming Black Eagles, all of them had undergone physical examinations, and the mental-defense section had not been omitted.

Hyeon-yul himself was completely immune to mental-type powers because the relevant neural circuits in his brain had already been burned out. The others were different, though they had said they had received training to defend against mental interference.

‘Does that kind of defense really work?’

Shinwoo, Nayun, and Jihwan suddenly smiled as if they had made an agreement beforehand.

Shinwoo’s attitude changed completely as he said, “Of course. For my little brother’s sake as well, I’ll be counting on you. I hope I wasn’t being needlessly suspicious.”

Jihwan smiled even more broadly and said, “I already accepted the apology earlier.”

Nayun visibly relaxed and said, “I was worried, but I don’t think I need to worry anymore. I can feel your sincerity.”

All three looked as though the mental-type power had taken control of them. Hyeon-yul could not interfere now.

Shinwoo naturally looked toward him and smiled as if telling him not to worry. Hyeon-yul understood immediately that they were only pretending to be affected, so he smiled too.

* * *

Everyone returned to their own rooms. They would probably remain there until before dinner, but Hyeon-yul had no intention of staying idle.

He lay on the bed with his back toward the CCTV, curled his body inward, and eventually pulled the blanket completely over himself as the outside world gradually darkened.

His eyes and ears began to melt into the darkness.

‘If I find them, should I kill them or bring them back?’

He considered it briefly before deciding that understanding the situation came first.

His eyes, ears, and nose melted away from him and moved separately, traveling anywhere shadows existed.

The term “New Star” entered his ears again and again. The people here genuinely seemed delighted by the newcomers, and he heard bright voices laughing as they wondered what they could do for them.

If that were all he saw, this place might have seemed incredibly cheerful. Yet the smell of hallucinogens saturated every corner, and the laughter drifting through what looked like a field of flowers gradually began to feel grotesque.

“What do you think?”

A voice caught his attention. When he sent his sight toward it, he saw a building marked with the number 6.

“The new ones?”

“Yeah.”

“One dose of this and they’ll go crazy just like the others. I swear, staying here is enough to drive me crazy too.”

“Watch your mouth.”

“Oh, come on. I am being careful. If I don’t at least say it like this, I really will lose my mind. Watching those freaks whose eyes have gone dead from the drugs is disgusting.”

“Enough. Are you ready?”

“Of course. They’ll happily shovel down dinner without even knowing what’s mixed into it. I can’t wait to see how deliciously they eat. Once they collapse, we stick this into their bodies and see how badly it screws them up. That’s the only fun part of being here.”

The man snickered while Hyeon-yul examined what he was holding. It was a syringe filled with some kind of drug.

‘Is that the hallucinogen?’

He was not completely certain, so he sent his sense of smell closer as well. Only then was he sure.

‘...That’s one of the drugs they used on me.’

The smell was familiar. He tried to remember what effect it had produced.

‘...Right.’

The memory returned slowly. It was one of the drugs used in experiments intended to create powers that did not naturally exist. It had shown gradual effects, but the experiment ultimately failed and the compound was supposed to have been discarded. Hyeon-yul could not understand why it was here, and he suppressed the emotions surging inside him.

‘Including those two, that makes five.’

After confirming the CCTV’s location, Hyeon-yul smashed it and sent separate shadow-hands to seize the backs of both men’s necks.

“...?”

“!”

Their surprise lasted only a moment before they and the drug in the man’s hand were sucked into the darkness.

“Hey.”

At that moment, the door opened and three more people entered.

“...?”

“Where did those bastards go?”

“...Ha. I told these idiots to manage the drugs properly.”

They looked around with irritation in their voices. Their shadows began to writhe.

Something black shot out and covered their mouths.

“Mmph!”

Before they could resist, the three were dragged into the darkness. There was probably chaos erupting inside that darkness by now.

‘I’ve captured five out of eight so far.’

Hyeon-yul briefly emerged from beneath the blanket. A message from Shinwoo appeared.

<Nayun. Did you see anything else?>

<I found four more. So I guess we’re at about seven so far?>

Nayun seemed to have discovered four additional villains. Hyeon-yul judged that none overlapped with his own targets, bringing the total to twelve.

He put in his Black Eagle wireless earpiece, pulled the blanket back up until only his mouth remained uncovered, and spoke after a moment of consideration.

<There are five more, and I captured them.>

Hyeon-yul decided to report the number honestly. It was something the team could verify later anyway, and if the counts failed to match, that would create unnecessary problems. This was a mission, so disclosing it was the correct choice.

Jihwan sounded delighted by Hyeon-yul’s answer.

<I knew it!>

<You caught them! You actually caught them!>

<Uh...?>

Nayun, on the other hand, sounded completely bewildered, while Shinwoo asked in shock.

<...You captured them? When? We all went into our rooms together. Are you outside right now?>

<I am not outside. I’m lying on the bed. I’m also under the blanket.>

Hyeon-yul answered firmly, and laughter came from Nayun and Shinwoo.

<HAHAHAHAHAHA>

Apparently, even laughter could be picked up and displayed in the message log like that.