Chapter 69 - Welcome Party

* * *

“I think I can hear you cursing me.”

The moment Hyeon-yul placed a hand on Yujong’s shoulder, the information broker trembled violently.

‘This bastard... No, this guy can read minds too?’

Without lifting his head, Yujong answered.

“...How could that possibly be true?”

“It’s fine. You’re free to curse me in your head. Just don’t point a blade at me. I’m not particularly merciful.”

“W-Well... I prepared the information.”

“You did?”

When Hyeon-yul tightened his hand slightly, Yujong’s eyes darted from side to side. It somehow felt as though a hand had closed around his throat instead of his shoulder.

“O-Of course. I didn’t know when you would come, so I kept it ready.”

Yujong hurried to his desk and held out the documents.

He cautiously raised his head, but the moment his eyes met Hyeon-yul’s, he lowered it again.

The madman in front of him was actually smiling.

‘Why the hell are you smiling?’

Yujong felt as though his heart might fall out of his chest and forced himself to calm his racing pulse.

“You terminated the contracts of the celebrities you were holding here against their will.”

“I did as you ordered.”

Yujong swallowed dryly for no reason.

“The Black Eagles will keep watching you for a while longer, so stay quiet.”

“...Still?”

“Yes. Still.”

“Those bastards should change their name. Eagles, my ass. They’re black ticks. Haven’t they already picked me clean enough? What more do they want?”

“If you feel that wronged, why didn’t you use the Black Eagle information you obtained to raid them from the inside?”

Yujong had planted an informant inside the Black Eagles.

The moment the connection risked being exposed, he had even sent an assassin to cut the tail.

Even if he had done it purely to sell information, he had still penetrated fairly deeply.

Why had he never considered exploiting it further?

“Are you insa... No, I mean, that’s impossible.”

Yujong caught himself and hurriedly covered his mouth.

“Why? If you planted an informant, isn’t it natural to at least consider robbing the Black Eagles from inside?”

“You clearly don’t know the Black Eagles. Those bastards are not easy targets. They’re vicious. I poured in money and people just to create that informant network. I even reached someone at team-leader level, but whether it was their conscience or something else, there was a limit to the information I could extract. The instant they discover I was involved, I’m simply dead.”

Yujong swallowed before continuing, and genuine fear showed through his voice.

“The Black Eagles only look unimpressive because their structure makes it impossible for them to focus fire. They’re spread everywhere handling incidents exploding all over the place. But if this becomes personal and all of that force points at me alone... Ha.”

Yujong could not finish the sentence and looked genuinely terrified.

“Didn’t you take that risk when you chose to do it?”

“I never, ever planned to fight them! I’m an information broker, not a fighter. The Empire is behind those people. No, before the Empire even moves, the nobles will.”

“Why would the nobles move?”

Yujong looked up in shock at Hyeon-yul’s question, his expression plainly asking how Hyeon-yul could possibly not know.

“Lower your eyes and explain.”

At Hyeon-yul’s command, Yujong immediately lowered his head.

“...I don’t know who it is, but apparently one of the Black Eagles is a noble. Even our side never touches nobles. Do you know how vicious those bastards are? They spend all day pretending to be refined and noble, but they’re the ones who are properly insane.”

Yujong visibly shuddered as he spoke.

‘There’s a noble among the Black Eagles?’

Hyeon-yul thought for a moment and someone came to mind, but he quickly dismissed the speculation.

He still did not know all the Black Eagles.

Jumping to conclusions would be dangerous.

“Anyway... I’m still tracking the bastard who stole my information. The fact that they’re this hard to catch makes me think they’re a fairly big player.”

“Keep tracking them. I’ll give you a piece of information as a reward.”

“Pardon...?”

“Haven’t some interesting things been happening lately?”

“I don’t know about interesting, but it’s been extremely noisy. As you know, the moment the Poison King was captured, everyone started fighting. But the way things are developing is strange.”

“How?”

“...The Poison King’s faction is winning. It should have turned into a disorganized mob after he disappeared.”

Yujong looked completely baffled by the development. Villain organizations existed because they had leaders.

When a leader died, the members usually scattered in search of someone else strong enough to follow, yet someone new had appeared instead.

“I hear there’s a Rabbit...”

“I took it.”

Hyeon-yul pointed at himself with a smile.

“...What?”

“I took the faction. Wearing a rabbit mask.”

“...”

Yujong recoiled so sharply that he nearly stumbled backward. That was not something anyone could casually joke about.

Yujong could not understand how someone had simply taken over a faction that large.

This was not some minor group. It was the Poison King’s faction.

And those villains were following this mad dog?

Yujong’s lips trembled as he suddenly realized he had no idea what kind of person he had been dealing with.

“And there’s someone behind the Poison King. Find out who.”

“...?”

Yujong’s eyes widened at the suggestion that someone stood behind the Poison King. What kind of nonsense was that?

“One last thing.”

Hyeon-yul handed him one dose of the drug he had quietly taken.

“Find out where this is being distributed and where it’s being manufactured.”

Yujong still had not caught up. His mind had stopped at the revelation that Hyeon-yul had taken over the Poison King’s faction.

“It’s a drug that gives abilities to abilityless people.”

Yujong’s mouth fell open because he had no idea why Hyeon-yul kept casually throwing enormous pieces of information at him.

“For reference, the side effects are severe enough to kill anyone who takes it. So if you try to use this on anyone, manufacture it, or obtain more of it, you die.”

Hyeon-yul spoke quietly, then opened the window.

“Ah.”

Yujong tensed, expecting yet another bombshell.

“When I checked last time, you had a considerable amount of unpaid taxes. Pay them. I pay taxes too.”

Hyeon-yul finished speaking and jumped straight out the window.

‘...Huh?’

Yujong stood motionless as though someone had struck him in the head.

He could not process what he had just heard.

‘Did I hear that wrong? Taxes?’

Ha.

A hollow laugh escaped him at the thought that the mad dog actually paid taxes.

Ha!

Yujong could not stop laughing.

* * *

The man alternated between his tablet and computer, reviewing the territory, businesses, and resources they had recovered.

Everything had proceeded smoothly since that person arrived. Since he did not know the man’s real name, he could only think of him as Rabbit Mask, though he would never dare say it aloud. the man’s name, that was all he could call him, though he would never dare say it aloud.

What mattered was that this person had saved those who had been waiting only for collapse.

He was nothing like the officers who had spent all their time circling the vacant position left by the Poison King.

Those fools had depended entirely on the Poison King’s name, refusing to advance, content to remain exactly where they were.

None of that mattered to this man anymore.

He had already been driven out of his officer position and spent the time afterward simply existing rather than living. What right did someone like him have to judge?

Then, on an otherwise ordinary day, something happened that filled the hole in his chest.

Then something unbelievable happened: the officers all died.

The instant he witnessed that person’s strength, his dead heart began beating again.

‘What does he want?’

Tap.

‘How far does he intend to go?’

Tap, tap.

His fingers moved faster and faster across the keyboard.

‘What did he see in me?’

A broad smile spread across the man’s face.

He wanted to see that person again.

He wanted to speak with him again.

For the first time, it felt as though he had found a reason to live.

「What’s your name?」

The moment a phone suddenly entered his field of view, the man thrust out his hand.

A blade of sharpened wind formed at his fingertips, and at its end stood a man wearing a rabbit mask.

「It’s me.」

The instant he read the text, the man dropped flat and bowed his head.

“...I’ve committed a sin worthy of death!”

Tap, tap.

Hyeon-yul nudged him with one foot and held out the phone.

Even if the man had tried to attack, it was not something Hyeon-yul would have failed to avoid.

「Forget it.」

「What’s your name?」

That was what Hyeon-yul wanted to know. He could not keep calling the man “figurehead president” forever.

“A-Are you asking for my name?”

「Don’t you have one?」

“No! My name is Lee Seungyu! You may call me by any name you wish. Whatever you call me from now on will become my name.”

「You’ve been doing well.」

Seungyu stared blankly at the message on the phone.

‘...I’m doing well? Me?’

His heart pounded at the words.

「Keep doing exactly that. If I hear strange news, you die.」

“O-Of course!”

Seungyu held his breath as heat rose inside his chest.

It was a sensation he had never experienced before.

Right now, it felt as though he could do anything.

「Did I surprise you by coming suddenly?」

“Not at all. Absolutely not. I was waiting for you to come!”

「Really?」

Hyeon-yul let it pass without much interest.

He had expected that level of flattery.

“I cleaned the inside thoroughly. It was the first thing I did. From now on, no one here will even speak the Poison King’s name.”

「Why?」

「Didn’t you follow the Poison King?」

Hyeon-yul asked because the answer genuinely surprised him.

He had killed all the officers, but he had never ordered anyone to erase the Poison King’s presence.

He had not expected them to erase it on their own.

Yet Seungyu had erased it anyway, and as always, these people did not disappoint.

They were creatures that lived by clinging to the power of whoever stood above them.

“Yes. I followed the Poison King.”

The man rolled up his sleeve.

From above his wrist, his skin was covered in grotesque scars as though it had once melted.

“I was an officer loyal to the Poison King, but death was what I received in return. I’ve already died once.”

「Then why did you go back?」

Hyeon-yul genuinely could not understand the decision. How was that any different from Hyeon-yul killing Shin Daeho and then returning to work at Shin Daeho’s company?

“...I don’t know. Even after being poisoned, I somehow survived. They found it fascinating and allowed me back in. From then on, I wandered without direction. I just kept living without knowing what I should do or what I was even doing.”

‘Is he complaining? Why is he telling me this now?’

Hyeon-yul found it difficult to understand.

He had led teams before, so this was not his first time hearing someone speak this way, but the person he had been then was different from who he was now.

Did Seungyu really like being a figurehead president that much?

For now, Hyeon-yul used the best phrase he had learned.

「You worked hard.」

It was an ordinary sentence, but its effect was strangely powerful.

Hyeon-yul still did not understand why people liked hearing it.

Would this man react the same way?

Hyeon-yul watched Seungyu carefully and recognized the same pleased reaction.

‘He likes it too.’

The reaction was unfamiliar enough that Hyeon-yul did not know how to classify it.

“I’ll obey whatever you want. Do whatever you wish with me. If you order me to abandon every business immediately, I will.”

「Really?」

“Yes. So please, I beg you, don’t abandon me.”

Seungyu pleaded with desperate intensity, wanting to tear out his own heart and offer it up if that was what it took to prove his sincerity.

「Fine.」

Hyeon-yul answered without hesitation. Whether Seungyu pleaded emotionally or cut off his own fingers demanding trust did not matter.

Seungyu and everyone around him were still simply villains.

「I came today because I have something to give you.」

“What are you giving me?”

「Use this.」

Hyeon-yul handed over the faction information he had received from Yujong.

“...This is information on the other factions.”

Seungyu asked in obvious shock because no one had yet publicly identified exactly who was participating in the current conflict, so how had Hyeon-yul obtained this?

As expected, his new master was extraordinary.

「Spread it to the other factions too.」

“Pardon?”

「Leak it quietly.」

“Understood. I’ll spread it immediately.”

Seungyu bowed as though it were the most natural order in the world.

「Why aren’t you asking why?」

「Aren’t you curious?」

「If you spread this, every faction will learn about all the others.」

“I assumed that was what you wanted. Some factions will merge, others will resist, and countless groups will fight and consolidate.”

Hyeon-yul gestured for him to continue.

“We can’t monitor every individual faction forever. But if they merge and erase one another until the total number decreases, they become much easier to watch.”

「You’re smart.」

That was exactly what Hyeon-yul wanted.

Once the number of factions decreased, surveillance would become easier, allowing the Black Eagles to predict much more.

The merged factions would also grow larger, forcing them into longer periods of mutual restraint and competition.

Once those rivalries made the factions clearer and more visible, the Black Eagles would have a much easier time catching them.

And if every other faction disappeared and only Seungyu’s remained, that was even better.

Then it would be obvious who needed to die.

「Ah. I should reward you.」

“A reward...?”

「I’ll tell you something interesting.」

Seungyu waited obediently for the promised information.

「Did you know the Poison King was following someone too?」

“...What?”

Seungyu could not hide his surprise.

Even as a former officer, he apparently had not known.

「He claimed to be the greatest, but in the end, even he wasn’t the real leader.」

「Do you still want to follow an idiot like that?」

“No. Absolutely not.”

Seungyu shook his head violently, and beyond simple betrayal, some kind of firm resolution entered his expression.

“How could someone like that be a leader? He was only a defeated underling.”

「Right.」

「I’m going to find the person above him.」

「And then I’ll erase them.」

Hyeon-yul studied Seungyu’s face because the man clearly wanted something from him, so Hyeon-yul was willing to make use of that desire.

「If I’m going to do that, what should you do?」

“We have to find them no matter what.”

Seungyu spoke heavily, almost as though hypnotized.

“No matter what it takes, I have to bring them beneath your feet.”

「That’s what you do.」

「You keep crawling when I tell you to crawl.」

“I’ll gladly do it.”

Seungyu smiled with undisguised devotion while Hyeon-yul touched his shoulder and held out the phone one last time.

「You’re doing well.」

When Seungyu raised his head, no one was there, and only the open window remained.

Cold wind poured in through it, and Seungyu burst into laughter.

The freezing air brushing across his face felt like his own welcome party.

He had finally discovered the path he was meant to walk.

‘I’m going to die by that man’s hand someday.’

Seungyu’s laughter grew louder and louder.