Chapter 76 - Stab

* * *

“What is this?”

Hyeon-yul accepted the object Jihwan held out and examined it.

‘A ballpoint pen?’

It looked similar, but there were definite differences.

“If you press the end like a ballpoint pen, it'll send out a mana signal. That'll let me work out where you are, hyung.”

“I'll press it twice for a villain and three times for a civilian.”

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“You don't have to take everything on by yourself.”

“I know. You're going to use the signal to activate spatial magic, aren't you?”

“Exactly. You tell me where they are, and I'll take care of them and freeze them. But let's at least start the mission together.”

“Why is that necessary?”

Hyeon-yul asked because he genuinely could not understand.

“Because we're teammates.”

Jihwan held out his clenched fist.

“Come on, you do it too.”

After hesitating briefly, Hyeon-yul raised his own fist. Jihwan bumped it lightly with his. Hyeon-yul's eyes widened in surprise, and Jihwan burst into laughter.

* * *

Hyeon-yul studied the building. This time, their targets were not university students but ordinary schoolchildren. They were minors. Even if some of them looked no different from adults, the law treated them differently.

There were minors who worked as villains too. In the past, Hyeon-yul had never killed them. He simply took them to the nearest police station and left them outside. He did not know whether the police contacted the Black Eagles afterward or what happened to them next.

The Black Eagles followed the same principle. A minor who became a villain was someone to be *arrested*, not killed. Punishment was another matter, of course. To be honest, Hyeon-yul was not entirely convinced. Those who were old enough to understand right from wrong ought to know what they were doing. Did they really need that much protection? Of the children spared and protected, how many eventually repented after becoming adults, and how many did not? He had not reached an answer yet.

“Ye Jihwan.”

Since he had a more experienced colleague beside him, he decided to ask. Jihwan looked up from the three-dimensional model of the building hovering over his palm.

“Yes?”

“It's unrelated to this mission, but there's something I'd like to know. Could you answer a question?”

“Of course.”

Jihwan gave a confident nod in response.

“There have been minors who became villains, haven't there?”

“There have.”

The Black Eagles possessed special authority to kill villains, but the one group to whom they could not apply that authority was minors. They were required to arrest them instead, although sentencing and punishment were separate issues.

“What became of the ones who were protected?”

Jihwan thought for a moment and looked toward the building. Inside that ordinary-looking structure were both villains and students. Some students might have cooperated willingly, while others might not have known anything at all.

“Statistically speaking, I'd say about sixty-three percent went back to living as ordinary citizens. Isn't that pretty high?”

“It is. That's remarkably high.”

Hyeon-yul smiled. Even thirty percent would have been a significant figure, and this was more than twice that. It confirmed that sparing those minors had been the right decision. He slipped a hand into his pocket and checked the pen-shaped device Jihwan had given him.

“Then I'll move ahead now.”

Hyeon-yul indicated the people gathered in front of the building and informed Jihwan of his intentions.

“Ah, would you like me to open an entrance for you?”

Before moving, Hyeon-yul turned back to ask. He could create an opening before they went in. Jihwan grinned at the offer.

“Hyung, I'm touched, but it's fine. That isn't the only entrance to the building.”

“Isn't it?”

“Besides, I'm a mage.”

Jihwan's smile slowly became more serious.

“Anywhere I go can become a doorway.”

“Is that so?”

Hyeon-yul smiled back and walked forward. The White Sparrows and police officers were facing off against the villains. Demands for surrender and the release of the hostages rang out over and over.

‘Are these villains simply weak? Or do they have something else in mind? Maybe the hostages are already dead.’

With the police and the White Sparrows working together, the villains' original plan had been exposed, and they appeared to be on the verge of defeat. The villains Hyeon-yul was familiar with did not usually take hostages. Hostages were nothing more than a way to buy time. Hadn't he confirmed that during his first official mission as a Black Eagle? The apartment residents had been taken hostage, but all of them had already been murdered. Killing the hostages was such a simple way to erase the evidence.

Yet Jihwan's magic showed dozens of people on each floor. Common sense suggested the hostages must still be alive.

‘How should I interpret this?’

Hyeon-yul thought briefly as he moved directly in front of the building. Black smoke fluttered around his body, and he began melting into the structure itself. Jihwan appeared at the same time, clearing his throat to draw attention. Everyone looked at him. Even the villain facing the police shifted his gaze toward the newcomer.

They had realized that a Black Eagle had arrived.

“Another one of you eagle bastards?!”

The villain raised his voice and openly pressed a knife toward the student he was holding captive. Jihwan borrowed a megaphone for a moment.

“Hello, villains! I'm the Black Eagle you've been waiting for. Come on, greet me properly. Aren't you pleased to see me?”

“Shut up!”

“How rude. Even villains should have some manners.”

“How many times do we have to tell you we're not villains? We're not! Why do you keep treating us like villains?!”

“Oh, really? Is that what you've been saying this whole time?”

Jihwan kept the megaphone raised. This was the first he had heard of such a claim.

“Put that megaphone down and...”

“Go ahead and explain.”

Jihwan turned toward the White Sparrow.

“That's correct. They have been making that claim, but the police and our own investigation established that they are indeed villains.”

“And your evidence?”

At Jihwan's question, the White Sparrow hurriedly retrieved something.

“We have documentation.”

“Documentation?”

“For one thing, the villains...”

Jihwan turned the megaphone toward the White Sparrow. The agent looked startled, but took it and continued.

“Not only did the organizers defend villains, they also forced club members to post claims on online communities that the Black Eagles themselves create villains. The students were told they could only advance to a higher membership rank by doing so. Most of the other tasks required to raise their ranks were of the same nature.”

“That certainly sounds suspicious, doesn't it? The Empire classifies people who support villains as potential villains under its broader criteria.”

Jihwan nodded as though giving the matter serious thought. From the villains' side of the standoff came a shout almost like a scream.

“We're not! We're not villains!”

“If you're not villains, why are you holding students hostage?”

Jihwan asked, but no answer came. They simply kept repeating their denials. The distinction between an ordinary criminal and a villain could be razor-thin. At its core, the question was whether their actions were directed against the Empire. The White Sparrows existed to make those determinations accurately. They had no doubt spent days or weeks investigating this organization, so their findings were not something he could simply dismiss as false.

“Apparently, you have no explanation. In that case, I'll proceed with my official duties without hesitation.”

Jihwan lowered the megaphone with a smile.

* * *

Through Jihwan's magic, Hyeon-yul already knew where the hostages were being held. Many of them had been confined together in rooms. Apparently, the villains had gathered hostages into one room on each floor to prepare for various contingencies.

Hidden within a wall, Hyeon-yul waited and studied the general atmosphere. The room looked exactly as one might expect a hostage situation to look. Some students were crying, while others trembled with fear. It was difficult to believe they were acting. Why would anyone need to go so far to put on a convincing performance?

“...Teacher, you can't do this. Why are you suddenly treating us like this?”

One student spoke through tears, apparently summoning enormous courage.

“Be quiet!”

“But... we were just having a lesson a little while ago.”

The student looked toward the classroom's blackboard. Mathematical formulas were written all over it, suggesting that a lesson really had been underway.

“I told you to shut your mouth!”

The man who appeared to be the teacher approached and slapped the student across the face.

Smack!

The student sat in a daze, tears dripping down their cheeks. Quiet sobs followed.

“I said shut up! Let me hear you crying, and every last one of you dies!”

Even now, the situation showed no sign of being staged. Hyeon-yul continued watching silently from above, having moved into the ceiling. The students' hands and feet were bound, and their eyes had been covered as well. Blindfolding them and striking the student had been meant to intensify their fear.

‘But not all of them are hostages.’

Hyeon-yul noticed that about three students were gripping something tightly in their hands. Whatever the objects were, it would have been natural for the villains to confiscate them, yet nobody had tried. Either those students were accomplices or the objects had been placed in their hands intentionally. He needed to find out which.

He did not know what they were holding, but taking it away was simple. Anything held tightly in a hand cast a shadow. Hyeon-yul used those shadows to swallow up the objects.

“...?”

The students reacted immediately, so he also activated the pen-shaped device Jihwan had given him.

Click.

He took the objects from the other two students and used the device again. The clicks were lost beneath the sound of crying. After transmitting the positions of the villains as well, Hyeon-yul examined the items he had taken into the darkness.

‘Miniature bombs...?’

He could not see what was inside, but the objects were smaller than a finger, and he could think of nothing else they might be.

‘Were they going to detonate them when the hostages were rescued? Or were they supposed to go off now?’

Hyeon-yul put the question aside for the moment and activated his wireless earpiece.

<Ye Jihwan.>

<Go ahead, hyung.>

All three students whose objects had been taken began moving at once, as though signaling that something was wrong. The villains looked at one another, apparently trying to work out how to remove the students separately. At least those three were accomplices.

<At least on the first floor, not everyone is a hostage.>

<...Ha.>

Jihwan's reply carried a long sigh.

<Why does it have to be like that? I really hoped it wouldn't.>

<That's not all. I've found three objects that appear to be bombs.>

<...What?>

<I'll hand them over for examination. I'll wait at the place where we spoke earlier.>

Hyeon-yul kept the exchange brief and traveled back through the shadows. Moving was particularly easy in the darkness of early morning. He waited quietly.

‘First we should release the hostages, then check the next floor.’

“...Hyung!”

Jihwan ran toward him as fast as he could.

“You're here.”

“What do you mean, bombs? What are you talking about?”

In answer, Hyeon-yul opened his clenched hand. Three objects smaller than his finger rested on his palm.

“Please pass these to one of the managers. They're bombs, so handle them carefully.”

“These...?”

“Yes.”

Hyeon-yul handed them over, and Jihwan accepted the bombs with great care.

“I'll go back in and free the hostages on the first floor.”

“Then I'll deal with the villains you marked on that floor. Just focus on rescuing the people they've taken hostage.”

Jihwan sounded unexpectedly calm. His ability to understand the situation so quickly was impressive.

“Understood.”

“Oh, even if I block off the first floor, you'll still be able to reach the second, right?”

“Yes, I can.”

“I knew you could, hyung!”

Jihwan beamed with an almost childlike delight.

“Then I'll deliver these, and...”

He turned his head for barely a moment. When he looked back, Hyeon-yul was already gone.

‘He's unbelievably fast.’

Jihwan did not know how he did it, but he already understood that Hyeon-yul's power was far from ordinary. The right thing was to refrain from asking and pretend not to notice. It was not a power Hyeon-yul had chosen to possess.

Jihwan strode forward confidently, then slowed as he remembered the bombs in his hand.

‘These feel a little... heavy. Or is it just my imagination?’

Oh, right. He carefully set the bombs down on the ground and sat. When he spread his hand, the three-dimensional image of the building appeared again. He could see the targets Hyeon-yul had marked on the first floor.

Jihwan touched the red dots one by one with his finger. Long, threadlike lines appeared, while a magic circle formed on the floor beneath him. He braided the threads together and pulled them downward.

‘Come out.’

Thoom.

A low rumble sounded as space began to distort. Jihwan quickly collected the bombs again and stretched out his hand. Figures appeared within a circular space that only he could see.

‘Now!’

He stripped away their heat in a single instant. Ice formed, and winter seemed to descend upon that tiny area alone. White breath streamed from Jihwan's mouth.

“What is this...?”

The villains summoned into the space could neither resist nor even finish speaking as the cold engulfed them. They stared at Jihwan in astonishment, but he did not stop casting. Once every one of them had frozen rigid like a doll, he approached and checked whether they were still breathing.

‘Good. They're alive.’

Relief flooded him, and he raised his voice.

“Manager! Manager!”

Someone needed to thaw them before they died. Jihwan started running frantically, then remembered the bombs and forced himself to slow down.

* * *

Hyeon-yul had returned first and was hiding within the wall, waiting for Jihwan's spell. A heavy sensation filled the air, and magical formulas began forming in empty space.

‘It's coming.’

Power gathered above the heads of the villains and those suspected of cooperating with them. Then the air rippled, and they all vanished. It resembled the effect of a portal, but there had been none of the usual signs of a portal opening.

‘Could I resist that power if it were used against me?’

Hyeon-yul considered several methods of countering it. It was an old habit. When the sudden disappearance of the captors sent the room into confusion, he put those thoughts aside and emerged from the wall as though nothing had happened.

It was difficult for anyone to notice his approach. He made no footsteps or other sounds. By the time the students realized he was standing there, they merely pressed their lips together rather than screaming.

“I'm a Black Eagle.”

Hyeon-yul turned slightly so that his insignia was clearly visible.

“A Black... Eagle?”

The students' expressions changed as recognition dawned on them.

“Yes. Please keep your voices as low as possible. I'll untie you now.”

Snap.

Hyeon-yul clicked his fingers, and darkness emerged from the shadows, cutting the ropes binding all their hands and feet at once. The students were still staring in surprise when he turned his head. A new doorway had appeared. Was that Jihwan's doing too? Magic never failed to amaze him.

“Please follow me.”

Hyeon-yul took the lead and reached toward the door handle. Something felt wrong. He turned to look behind him, but the students were merely watching him. A faint sense of unease lingered. It was far too weak to be a recognizable power. Was it simply their gazes?

‘...What is it?’

He heightened his senses and opened the door. At that instant, he thrust out a hand in a hurry. Something unfamiliar pressed into his palm.

Stab.

There had been no killing intent. No metallic scent. But there had been the sound of something cutting through the air, a sharp, unmistakable rush.

“I stabbed a Black Eagle.”

The student who had driven something into Hyeon-yul's palm smiled.

Ha ha ha!

“I finally got revenge for my mom!”

At those words, laughter spread from student to student like music filling the room. Applause joined in, adding a grotesque rhythm.

Clap, clap, clap!

The students surrounded Hyeon-yul as the clapping grew louder and louder.