Chapter 64 - Did You Think I Wouldn’t Know? (2)

* * *

Hyeon-yul did not know why they were laughing, but he continued explaining.

<I caught them a little while ago. There were no civilians nearby. It was exactly five villains and no one else.>

It would have been better if there had been more, Hyeon-yul thought as he waited for a reply.

<I’m sure you handled it properly, but what did you do about the CCTV?>

Shinwoo asked because even Hyeon-yul understood that they could not afford to do anything that would expose them now.

<I broke it.>

Jihwan’s next message appeared on the screen.

<That’s actually perfect. They’re watching us through the cameras in our rooms right now, aren’t they? Even if they want to suspect us, they won’t be able to.>

<For reference, they were holding drugs.>

Hyeon-yul silently moved his lips, and a message from Nayun appeared.

<You mean hallucinogens?>

<No.>

<Not hallucinogens? Did it look like some other narcotic? There are truth serums too.>

Nayun’s messages came rapidly, but Hyeon-yul denied every guess.

<None of those.>

<...Mm. I keep thinking of something bad.>

Jihwan’s message was cautious. He seemed to have an idea of what it might be, so Hyeon-yul told them without delaying.

<That drug temporarily gives an abilityless person an ability. It was used in experiments on test subjects, and because the side effects were extremely severe, it was discarded. Anyone injected with it dies eventually, whether sooner or later.>

<...No. That... That’s...>

Nayun could not finish, and Shinwoo’s long sigh appeared in the message log.

<I don’t know his name, but the man who handed Ye Jihwan that piece of trash earlier smelled very strongly of blood. It could have come from disposing of corpses, but it felt more like he had been directly involved in something.>

<Wait, hyung. Trash? What do you mean trash? What I got was gold. My heart was pounding because I thought I was in serious trouble.>

Nayun’s message appeared immediately after Jihwan’s reply.

<Right. It was definitely gold. Hyeon-yul, didn’t you see it wrong? I saw it clearly.>

<It looked like gold to me too.>

Shinwoo had apparently seen the same thing. Hyeon-yul thought for a moment before replying.

<No. It looked like trash to me. The hallucination must have activated sometime in between.>

There was no other explanation. Hyeon-yul waited, wondering whether they would believe him.

<Then doesn’t that mean the man is an important figure? There’s no way Hyeon-yul would see it wrong.>

Jihwan followed Nayun’s message with one of his own.

<Hyeon-yul hyung’s mental resistance is insanely high. ...Ha, what a relief. I really thought it was gold, and I thought I was screwed. Thanks, hyung.>

<We’ll find out at dinner whether he’s actually important or just pretending to be. Either way, I think we should keep an eye on him. If all three of us saw the same thing, his mental power must be enormous.>

Shinwoo was referring to the strange mental force the man possessed.

<Where should I send the five I captured?>

After giving his report, Hyeon-yul asked the question he cared about most. He had imprisoned the villains inside his darkness, or rather, inside his shadow.

A sea of countless intertwined spaces existed there, and if he left them inside too long, they might go insane. More importantly, merely knowing they were there made him nauseous with disgust, like he was holding every kind of filth imaginable inside his mouth.

<I locked them inside my darkness. If I leave them there much longer, they may go insane and become unable to testify.>

<Wait, wait!>

Shinwoo sent a message in a hurry.

<Calm down, Baek Shinwoo. Hyeon-yul, I’ll ask the team leader whether we can send an Eagle. The managers should get an emergency message too.>

<I am calm. Jihwan, find a suitable place where we can launch an Eagle and let us know. Hyeon-yul, I’ll come to you, so just play along.>

Nayun’s message was followed by Shinwoo’s.

<Yes. That’s what I’m best at.>

Jihwan’s reply was the last one. No more messages came.

Hyeon-yul pulled the blanket up again. The mention of the White Sparrows reminded him of the one who had come here with them, someone who had already been bothering him for a while.

‘Let’s check.’

There was no harm in confirming his suspicions. If he doubted and stayed on guard, he was less likely to be stabbed in the back.

Hyeon-yul sent his eyes and ears through the shadow mark he had already placed on the White Sparrow and discovered someone else with him.

‘Another White Sparrow?’

Both men were holding paper cups, apparently drinking coffee. The other man spoke first.

“Did you know there are still mosquitoes in this weather?”

“What? No wonder I got bitten too.”

“I wonder when they’ll finally disappear.”

“We have electric mosquito swatters, so they’ll disappear eventually. Right?”

It sounded like an ordinary conversation, except winter was only now giving way to spring. There should not have been mosquitoes in weather this cold.

‘Ah.’

If the other man was also a White Sparrow, then “mosquitoes” likely meant villains, while “electric mosquito swatters” meant Black Eagles.

“That’s true. Ah, are there any flies buzzing around?”

Sip.

The man drank his coffee while asking the question with great care.

‘Do flies mean traitors?’

Hyeon-yul inferred the meaning and listened closely. The answer did not come immediately.

“I thought I saw a few, but there weren’t any.”

“Understood. It’s cold, so I’m going inside.”

The White Sparrow raised his coffee and walked away first. The White Sparrow who had come with Hyeon-yul watched him leave, and Hyeon-yul was still watching as well when he felt a vibration.

Knock, knock.

“Chandae, want to go for a walk?”

Shinwoo spoke, but Hyeon-yul’s attention did not reach his voice. Only after confirming something did Hyeon-yul rise, open the door, and hold out his phone.

[What is it?]

Then he quietly clenched a fist and tapped his forehead twice, giving the signal for an emergency. Shinwoo’s expression wavered the moment he saw it. Another emergency? What had Hyeon-yul seen this time?

Shinwoo steadied his voice and answered.

“I asked if you wanted to go for a walk.”

[Okay.]

[You’re not bringing anyone else, right?]

[If you do, hyung, you’re a traitor.]

The key word Hyeon-yul had given him was “traitor,” and Shinwoo swallowed dryly as he read it.

‘Who...?’

The first person who came to mind was the White Sparrow. Hyeon-yul continued by pointing directly at the issue.

[Do we have to go out with that man from earlier?]

Before Shinwoo had entered this place, Hyeon-yul had seen something very clearly.

「Saint. The Black Eagles currently do not know there is a traitor among them.」

‘As I thought. No matter how mentally resilient someone is, there’s only so much they can do when they’re continuously exposed to a stronger power.’

Was this really the only time it had happened? Hyeon-yul could only wonder.

From the perspective of villains obsessed with expanding their influence, even knowing that Black Eagles had infiltrated them did not necessarily mean they should expose it.

If they quietly sacrificed one branch like giving up a single finger, the Black Eagles would believe they had succeeded. Meanwhile, the villains could exploit that confidence, blind the Black Eagles’ eyes and ears, and spread into places no one expected.

Looking at Hyeon-yul’s impassive face, Shinwoo forced himself to recognize that this was real.

‘...Information leaked. His mind was infiltrated.’

Shinwoo rapidly organized his thoughts before answering.

“Get ready. I’ll get ready too.”

[Okay.]

After Shinwoo left, Hyeon-yul watched new messages appear.

<The White Sparrow who accompanied us has had his mind infiltrated.>

Nayun’s reply made her shock obvious.

<What...?>

<Nayun, tell the team leader. Jihwan, keep doing the work from earlier.>

<Understood.>

Jihwan sent his own reply. Everyone else seemed urgent, but Hyeon-yul simply stared into the distance and wondered who the leader was.

* * *

Shinwoo and Hyeon-yul walked outside with the White Sparrow accompanying them.

A road wide enough for buses ran through the center, while twin rows of buildings stretched along both sides. There were decorated spaces here and there, but none of them paid attention to the scenery.

“...It’s safe outside.”

After the silence continued for a while, the White Sparrow whispered to them. Shinwoo did not lower his guard.

Their first priority was to restore the White Sparrow’s mind and then determine whether any other White Sparrows had also been brainwashed.

‘They performed mental evaluations and still didn’t notice this. It must be chaos inside right now.’

Shinwoo felt troubled. Hyeon-yul was entangled with the White Sparrows yet again, and this was even the same White Sparrow who had apologized to him.

He had assured Hyeon-yul so confidently that everything was fine, only for another problem to happen. Shinwoo could not help worrying.

‘Will Hyeon-yul ever be able to trust the White Sparrows now?’

Tap, tap.

Hyeon-yul poked Shinwoo with one finger and held out his phone.

[Why do you keep looking at me?]

Shinwoo gave an awkward smile as he answered, “...No reason.”

‘Is he thinking about the White Sparrows?’

Hyeon-yul looked toward the White Sparrow. If someone asked whether the White Sparrows were competent, Hyeon-yul could answer yes. Their competence was separate from the incidents that happened to involve him personally.

[Don’t worry about it.]

Hyeon-yul did his best to communicate what he thought about the current situation. Something had gone wrong with the White Sparrow, but this incident had to be judged separately. The enemy’s power had simply been stronger, and Hyeon-yul had no intention of blaming them for something they could not have anticipated.

What troubled him most, frankly, was having to type all these messages on his phone. Just thinking about what his cover identity should write was enough to make his head hurt.

As Hyeon-yul walked ahead, he spotted a magical formula marking the word “Here.” It was Jihwan’s magic, so Hyeon-yul immediately turned right.

“Chandae. Where are you going?”

[I want to go this way.]

It was a narrow gap between buildings, exactly the sort of place unlikely to have CCTV coverage.

Shinwoo carefully stepped into the passage. After checking their surroundings, he prepared something Haeryeon had given him.

It was medicine capable of breaking mental domination. They could either make the target swallow it or inject it, but they had not prepared a syringe. Feeding it directly was their only option.

Shinwoo remained conscious of the person behind them. When he glanced back, the White Sparrow was following several steps behind.

Hyeon-yul extended a hand and counted down with his fingers from one to three. The instant he gave the signal, only black smoke remained where he had been standing.

He reappeared behind the White Sparrow, who was already typing a message on the phone he had taken out.

‘He’s fast.’

Hyeon-yul raised darkness and snatched away the phone first. As the startled White Sparrow lifted his head, Shinwoo was already approaching.

Hyeon-yul seized the White Sparrow’s face from behind while Shinwoo opened the medicine container and forced the drug into his mouth.

Gulp.

Even after the White Sparrow swallowed it, Hyeon-yul did not release him. They waited for the medicine to take effect.

“...!”

The White Sparrow stared at them with suddenly widened eyes. His memories came flooding back, and he exhaled as his breathing rapidly grew harsh. The look he gave Shinwoo changed completely.

“Are you back to yourself?” Shinwoo asked.

“...I’m sor...”

The White Sparrow began to apologize, then his eyes shook violently. All kinds of emotions surged through him with the returning memories, and he could not continue.

What had he been doing all this time?

Despair swallowed him, followed by nausea.

“Tell us how far this has spread before anything else.”

Hyeon-yul tightened his grip on the White Sparrow’s face. The situation had to come before emotion. They needed to know how far the compromise extended and how it had happened before they could respond.

“Be precise. Who has been mentally dominated?”

“Including me, three people...”

“Are you certain?”

“I’m certain.”

“Feed this to them.”

Hyeon-yul handed the White Sparrow the spare doses he had received just in case. The White Sparrow nodded. This was something he absolutely had to accomplish.

“It was that man from earlier who did this to you, right?”

When Shinwoo asked carefully, the White Sparrow nodded again.

Shinwoo had already felt that there was something unusual about that man. Was he the leader?

“How much did you reveal? What does he know?”

Hyeon-yul saw no need for personal questions. They did not have time.

“He knows the number of villains.”

The White Sparrow retained his memories from while his mind had been controlled and forced himself to regain his resolve.

“How many are there?” Shinwoo asked.

“Forty-five.”

That was more than expected. They had already seen eight, which meant thirty-seven remained.

“Before dinner, can you take one of our team members around at a reasonable time and pass by places where those villains are likely to be? I don’t care what excuse you use for moving together. Just roughly describe what they look like as you go.”

Shinwoo trusted Nayun’s ability. If she knew their appearances, she could coordinate with Jihwan and mark them properly.

The White Sparrow held his breath and nodded. Right now, he could only do exactly what they told him.

“I’ll do it. I absolutely will.”

He forced down the emotions surging inside him.

“Ah, and can we call in an Eagle?”

Shinwoo had not forgotten the villains Hyeon-yul had captured.

* * *

“...If you wait just a little longer, delicious food will be served. We didn’t know what our New Stars liked, so we prepared many different things.”

Myeongja clapped her hands together and spoke as though the occasion were personally making her happy.

Four seats were arranged in a row with a long table in front of them. Beyond the table, the floor was packed with people. Every one of them knelt, prayed, and muttered under their breath.

Anyone would have found the scene strange, yet no member of Team 3 showed even the slightest discomfort. They merely smiled as if intoxicated by drugs.

A man walked forward through the murmuring crowd and smiled with satisfaction at the four seated side by side.

“My apologies. There was a listening device installed in your room.”

As though beginning the real performance at last, the man started spinning his story. September 23, 2026