Chapter 75 - Testing the Waters (2)

* * *

Bang!

The door flew open so suddenly that Jeongmin looked up at Hyeon-yul in alarm. The young man appeared deeply unsettled.

“...Hyeon-yul, are you all right? Did something happen?”

“Doctor...”

“Yes?”

“I don't understand why the team leader is defending me. Why she wants to know more about me. Why she keeps telling me she's grateful and sorry.”

Hyeon-yul was speaking much faster than usual. It was almost as if something inside him had malfunctioned. Jeongmin studied him with care.

“Even after taking my medicine, these questions won't go away. Why is that?”

“Hyeon-yul.”

“Didn't you tell me before that you wanted me to try trusting someone else? That you hoped I could make my world bigger?”

“I did. And I still hope you'll try.”

Jeongmin was Hyeon-yul's entire world. There was nothing beyond him, and that could not possibly be healthy for the young man.

“So I shared a small part of the work I've been handling alone with the team leader.”

It had only been a fraction of the enormous amount of information he possessed. After all, Hyeon-yul had seized control of the Poison King's faction. The mysterious new villain everyone was speculating about could very well be him. Of all the heavy secrets he carried, he had only revealed the smallest one. And yet Haeryeon had responded by asking about him.

“Then why doesn't she suspect me? Why is she willing to accept what I ask? I'm not doubting what you told me, Doctor. I simply can't understand it.”

Haeryeon had said she would not question him about how he obtained his information. She only wanted him to tell her whether he had killed someone or spared them. She had even promised to register his investigation as an official mission.

“She called me a Black Eagle even though I used to be a villain. She told me not to hide in the darkness, even though she doesn't know whether I'm darkness itself or merely a shadow.”

Hyeon-yul was asking Jeongmin for an answer.

“Doctor, none of those things make any sense to me.”

His face twisted. He wanted to strike his own head and force his frozen mind to work. Once again, things that everyone else seemed to understand naturally were incomprehensible to him. Moments like these made him feel all the more like a monster. As always, the only thing he could do was ask Jeongmin to explain. He wanted so badly to understand.

“The people who recruited me before said similar things. I don't know why the words sound different this time. Am I losing my balance?”

“Yes. Hyeon-yul, you're being shaken right now.”

“...That can't happen. I mustn't waver.”

Hyeon-yul frowned. If he allowed himself to waver, he might die. Too many people were after him.

“Hyeon-yul, couldn't it be all right to waver this time?”

“No. I have to remain rational at all times. If I make a mistake, even you might be killed. One wrong step and I'll be dragged back to an experimental facility. The same things will happen all over again, and this time I might not escape.”

His voice no longer trembled. He had already returned to his usual detached manner. The very calmness of that statement made Jeongmin's heart ache, and he pressed his lips together. He knew how important he was to Hyeon-yul, but the thought that he might be holding the young man back had crossed his mind more than once. Jeongmin pushed it aside. That was not what mattered right now.

“...That's not what I mean, Hyeon-yul.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“You wanted to see if you could trust Team Leader Oh Haeryeon, so you did something you were capable of doing. Isn't that right?”

“Trust has no meaning to me outside of you, Doctor. I know that very well. What I did was closer to an experiment.”

“Whatever you call it, you did something along those lines, didn't you?”

“Yes.”

“And you expected her to reject you?”

“Statistically, that would have been the correct prediction. Yes, I expected it. But I also wanted to make use of the Black Eagles' resources.”

“That's exactly why you're shaken. Something happened that you never expected. Team Leader Oh Haeryeon chose to trust you.”

Jeongmin could not keep a smile from spreading across his face. Trusting someone or not trusting them mattered to anyone, but to Hyeon-yul, it had a special significance. Little by little, without Jeongmin even noticing, the young man had been changing. Today, he had witnessed that change for himself.

“You always said you didn't want to depend on uncertainty. But now you've seen that uncertainty begin to turn into certainty. Just like when you met me as a child.”

Jeongmin pointed to himself with a smile. He had been the first example of something uncertain becoming certain in Hyeon-yul's life.

“You've discovered that there might be someone besides me.”

“But the team leader isn't you.”

Hyeon-yul's eyes trembled. He looked at Jeongmin with deepening emotion. He owed this man a debt that he could never repay, even if he devoted everything he had to it.

Love was the word for it, though once it had been nothing more than letters on a page. Jeongmin was the person who had taught him what it might feel like and what form it could take. Hyeon-yul still could not identify the emotion clearly, but even that imperfect understanding was precious.

“That's right. Team Leader Oh Haeryeon isn't me. That means she'll be different from me. And because she's different, the standards you've relied on will sometimes be shaken, just as they were today.”

“...That's dangerous.”

“It isn't. That's what it means to be human. People grow by being shaken over and over again.”

Jeongmin approached Hyeon-yul, embraced him, and gently patted his back. Hyeon-yul turned his eyes toward him.

“See? You're not a monster. You're a person.”

Was that really true? Of everything Jeongmin had said, this was the one claim Hyeon-yul could not help doubting most.

“Please don't cry, Doctor.”

“I'm not crying.”

“I can feel all of it.”

Hyeon-yul did not know why Jeongmin was crying, and he still found much of what the man said difficult to understand. Why did Jeongmin keep explaining things to him anyway?

‘...But I don't dislike it.’

Hyeon-yul could not bring himself to ask any more questions. He rested his head gently against Jeongmin's shoulder and closed his eyes.

* * *

「*Incident Report: Beginning

—Recently, a parent became suspicious when their child began behaving strangely after joining a well-known study club, despite a marked improvement in grades.

*Incident Progress

—Investigators obtained evidence that the child was posting strange messages in online communities, including claims that the Black Eagles actually create villains.—After questioning the child and consulting various agencies, the parent identified further suspicious behavior and reported the club.—Police investigated and discovered that the club was operated outside the school and that its organizer was not an educator.—Police located and questioned other members, discovering that they exhibited behavior similar to the reporting parent's child.—The club was found to have a considerable number of members.—Investigators also discovered the existence of branch chapters.—The information was transferred to the White Sparrows, who participated in the investigation.—Investigators located the headquarters, but as they were preparing to approach, the club's organizers abruptly took the students hostage.

*Precautions

—Prioritize the students' safety and take active measures to protect them.—Do not allow the standoff to drag on.—It has not yet been established whether the organizers are villains.」

Hyeon-yul looked up from his smartwatch to find Jihwan staring into space.

“Have you been to see Dr. Jeongmin?”

Hyeon-yul touched his arm lightly as he asked.

“...Huh? Oh.”

Jihwan shook himself out of his thoughts and smiled.

“He said he'd make some medicine for me.”

“I'm certain it will be effective.”

“Of course it will. Dr. Jeongmin really is a wonderful person.”

Hyeon-yul nodded at Jihwan's words with quiet agreement.

“Oh, and while you were taking your medicine earlier, I asked one of the managers about details missing from the report. Apparently, the group is publicly known as a study club, and it was popular even in online communities.”

“...Is that so?”

“They charged a membership fee, but it wasn't expensive. They even supplied study materials and tablets, which made the club more popular.”

“Then why is this still a standoff?”

Hyeon-yul was more interested in the present situation than the background information. Their duty hours now ran from six in the morning instead of one. That meant the Black Eagles who had arrived before them had been unable to resolve the incident, and the two shifts had effectively traded places.

‘Weren't missions supposed to be resolved quickly?’

Hyeon-yul considered the question in silence.

Ahem, ahem.

Jihwan cleared his throat discreetly and looked around. They were still some distance from the scene, but caution was wise.

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“This hasn't been officially confirmed, but people have been saying that Team Three has the highest mission completion rate.”

“Does it differ from team to team?”

“It does. The atmosphere, the completion rate, and even the assignments are different.”

“Is that why your team kept carrying out missions with just three people rather than requesting additional personnel? Most people would avoid that.”

“...That's part of it. We do tend to receive a fairly demanding workload. When missions are assigned, there's an internal completion-rate score, and Team Three gets priority. This is a real secret, though.”

Jihwan lowered his voice even further.

“Team Three actually gets paid a little more.”

Hyeon-yul nodded. If the work was harder, the pay ought to be higher. That was perfectly reasonable. He found the Black Eagles remarkably appealing in such matters.

“Anyway, are you saying the previous team failed?”

“Wouldn't it be more accurate to say they ran out of time...?”

“I consider those the same thing.”

Hyeon-yul found the excuse unacceptable. Running out of time was simply another way of saying they had failed.

“...Well, you could look at it that way, but things like this happen more often than you'd think. The Black Eagles are stronger than ordinary people, but we're not invincible, you know?”

Jihwan studied Hyeon-yul's expression nervously. The young man was unusually severe today.

“It seems they passed their work on to someone else.”

‘...Ah.’

Jihwan finally understood what had upset him. From that perspective, it really could look that way.

“I heard the hostage situation started around eleven last night.”

“That was enough time to resolve it.”

“...Right? That would've been enough time, wouldn't it?”

Jihwan swallowed nervously. Had it really been enough time? Maybe it was possible, and maybe it wasn't.

‘Pull yourself together, Jihwan.’

He gave himself a mental slap. He had just learned that Hyeon-yul held extremely strict standards when it came to completing missions. Jihwan himself tended to take missions at a more relaxed pace. Simply being strict or rushing did not necessarily bring a faster resolution.

“While you were getting your sedative earlier, I took a look at the building.”

Jihwan opened his hand, and a building appeared suspended in the air above his palm. It looked like a three-dimensional model, and he could even move it from side to side.

“Is that magic?”

“Of course. Can you see how capable I am?”

Jihwan grinned with obvious pride in his own skill.

“I can. But you didn't use this sort of power during our previous mission. Was there a particular reason?”

“That was a building full of villains, so I didn't use it. This time is different. The villains and civilians are mixed together.”

Jihwan tapped the projection lightly with his finger. Red dots appeared throughout the interior.

“Those are people.”

“Is it safe for you to use this spell?”

“Ah, something at this level is fine. I'm not actually manipulating space, so it doesn't consume much mana. Anyway, there are quite a lot of them, aren't there?”

“There are indeed quite a few.”

The building had five floors, and each floor contained at least several dozen people.

“Now, if I apply the information we received from the earlier teams, it looks like this.”

Several red dots changed to white. Apparently, the previous team had spent all its time classifying the people inside. But there was no guarantee the classifications were correct. The possibility of mistakes made the situation troublesome.

“I'll go in and take a look.”

“...What?”

“If I mark them myself, how will it appear on your display?”

“You, hyung?”

Jihwan extended his hand toward Hyeon-yul, palm facing upward.

“Try it here. I'll register your signature.”

Hyeon-yul placed his hand over Jihwan's. Jihwan blinked. Why wasn't anything happening?

‘Ah. I never told him when to start.’

Jihwan smiled sheepishly at the realization.

“You can use your power now.”

“I already did.”

“What...?”

Jihwan's eyes widened. Hyeon-yul raised his outstretched palm, and black smoke rose from it. He let the darkness settle over Jihwan's hand.

“...?”

“That's why I was curious. I wanted to know whether you could recognize it.”

Darkness and shadows could not be perceived unless someone actually saw them. Hyeon-yul shared that quality.

“...Hyung, are you really all right?”

Jihwan's sudden question made no sense to Hyeon-yul, so he gave a vague nod.

“I'm fine.”

“Just a moment.”

Jihwan forced himself to calm down.

‘...Is this really all right?’

He looked at the spell hovering over his palm. Every red dot and every white dot in the projection was supposed to appear automatically whenever the spell detected a living being. Registering Hyeon-yul's power had only been intended to make him easier to distinguish from the others at a glance.

‘Hyung... what are you?’

For the first time, Jihwan found himself confronting that question. He rummaged through his bag, his fingers almost trembling. He bit his lip hard to keep a question he had never imagined asking from escaping his mouth.

‘...Those fucking pieces of trash.’

What had those people turned a human being into? How had they changed him so drastically?

Jihwan forced the tangled thoughts out of his mind and took a pen-shaped device from his bag.

“Here, hyung. Take this.”

He offered it with his expression carefully controlled. It was exactly what Hyeon-yul needed right now.