Chapter 79 - Doubts

* * *

‘...Hmm.’

Jihwan hesitated at Hyeon-yul's blunt invitation to the student. Was this really right? Was it something they ought to be doing? Those questions kept circling through his mind.

“...Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“Are you really going to...?”

The student suddenly lunged forward, startling Jihwan. Even though darkness was constricting the student's throat and binding their body so tightly that advancing was impossible, they still strained toward the Black Eagles.

Hyeon-yul narrowed his eyes when he sensed something rippling around the student's body. It was a mental-type ability.

“Step back.”

He warned Jihwan immediately. This required caution.

“Die! Die, Black Eagle!”

The student opened their eyes wide and gave the command with tremendous force. Hyeon-yul had heard that certain mental abilities grew stronger as the user's emotions toward a target intensified. He did not know exactly how strong they could become, but he felt his skin tingle.

‘It's fairly powerful, isn't it?’

The intensity seemed close to what someone might feel when facing an enemy they hated more than anyone in the world. How had the student come to possess such powerful emotions?

Hyeon-yul glanced toward Jihwan. Apart from his initial surprise, the mage seemed unharmed.

“Is that a mental ability?”

Hyeon-yul asked as though he had no idea what was happening. The student hesitated, then twisted their face in anger.

“Why are you so angry?”

“...It doesn't work on you?”

Hyeon-yul's composure had startled the student more than the attack itself. Did it really have no effect on him? The student looked at him as though something utterly impossible had happened.

“What grudge do you have against the Black Eagles? You weren't even brainwashed, were you? I'd appreciate it if you didn't pretend to be stupid.”

“...My family died because of you.”

“Are you saying the Black Eagles killed your family?”

Hyeon-yul tilted his head. It made no sense. Shouldn't the student be replacing the words *Black Eagles* with *villains*? Perhaps they had misunderstood who was responsible.

‘More importantly, is it time for my medicine?’

He seemed to be thinking more than usual, so the time had probably come. Hyeon-yul leisurely took out his medication.

“Why didn't you save my family? Why... why do I have to suffer because of you? If you people had done your jobs properly, none of this would have happened to me!”

The student's face contorted, and their voice rose higher and higher until they seemed ready to explode.

“...Ah. So that's what you mean.”

Hyeon-yul swallowed his medicine and responded without much interest. He no longer felt the need to listen. Simply put, the student was blaming other people.

In the past, people who did that might have felt ashamed when someone pointed it out, or at least fallen silent because of what others thought of them. But now those who blamed others had gathered together, then gathered with still more people, and finally formed organizations. With enough people thinking that way, a group like this was almost inevitable. Hyeon-yul did not know what to call it. It was a new sort of phenomenon to him.

“What do you mean, *that's what I mean*?”

Something in Hyeon-yul's response had infuriated the student, whose lips began to tremble. Hyeon-yul regarded them quietly.

“Do you have any idea how many people have died because you idiots run around pretending to hunt villains? One of my friends was caught by flying debris during one of your operations, and now they walk with a limp!”

“Wouldn't that be the hospital's mistake? The Black Eagles aren't responsible for medical treatment.”

“If you'd left things alone, would the villains have become this powerful? Groups that would've collapsed on their own only grew larger because of you! They got smarter and crueler! You people, bastards just like you, are the ones who raised the villains!”

Hyeon-yul blinked at the tirade. The student seemed completely sincere.

“Did you hear that? Ah, listen from there. Don't come any closer.”

He stopped Jihwan when the mage started approaching.

“Now I understand why the student attacked me earlier. I was a target simply because I'm a Black Eagle. As you heard, they sincerely believe that every increase in the villains' intelligence and cruelty is the Black Eagles' fault.”

He could not call the argument entirely nonsensical. In one sense, opposing organizations could have grown stronger by competing with each other, like rivals. But that did not make the student's conclusion correct.

“Then tell me this. If the Black Eagles disappeared, who would stop the villains?”

“If the Black Eagles disappeared, the villains would disappear too. Why are you asking such a stupid question?”

“How exactly would that happen? Are you saying that once the Black Eagles were gone, all the villains would regret their actions and voluntarily disband?”

Villains? Hyeon-yul's mind filled with question marks. Those people would be delighted if the Black Eagles vanished. They would rush to swallow the Empire itself.

“At least they wouldn't act like they do now! Shut your mouth and die! Just die! Die already!”

“So without thought, judgment, or reason, you simply believe the villains will vanish if the Black Eagles vanish?”

“When the first villains appeared, they weren't like this! They didn't murder people! They only became truly vicious after you lot appeared! Why can't you understand that? Are you stupid?”

“Have you considered that the Black Eagles might have been established precisely because the villains were already vicious?”

“You're laughing at me, aren't you? You think I'm strange! No! One day you'll realize the organization you belong to is the strange one. You keep defeating villains, but their numbers never go down!”

“Yes. I understand perfectly.”

Hyeon-yul brought the conversation to a neat conclusion. There was no need to listen any further. If he tried to argue with every claim, they would be there forever. It was like saying the police created criminals, so getting rid of the police would make crime disappear. How could someone think about just one thing and see only one side of it?

‘If this were only because they're a student, that would be one thing. But an adult taught them this nonsense.’

A former Black Eagle. Why would someone who had once served in the organization pour these absurd claims into the students' heads? Hyeon-yul turned around.

“Please knock the student unconscious.”

Jihwan cast a spell, and the student lost consciousness. The mage approached slowly, his expression dark.

“...That means there isn't just one or two people here who think this way, doesn't it?”

“Correct. If it were only an individual, we could ignore it. But this is no longer an individual. It's an organized group.”

“I don't know if I should say this, but frankly, it's disgusting.”

Jihwan frowned. The Black Eagles were people who worked out of a sense of duty. What would happen if that sense of purpose was shattered?

“I can't believe the person who made them believe all this was a Black Eagle... I just can't.”

Why? The question kept circling through his mind. Why would someone attack fellow Black Eagles?

“I'm not entirely convinced the man actually used to be a Black Eagle. If he really was, perhaps he was expelled for some reason.”

“That's probably it. It has to be.”

Jihwan smiled again at Hyeon-yul's reassurance. The Black Eagles had saved his life. He had admired them ever since. Hearing someone claim that everything he had done for them was pointless made him feel as though all the strength had drained from his body. And what would that mean for his colleagues who had died?

“Ye Jihwan, I used to be a villain. I'm the first person like me to become a Black Eagle. Doesn't that tell you something?”

If the Black Eagles were truly evil, villains should have flocked to join them. Villains would naturally seek out evil. The fact that Hyeon-yul was the first former villain to become a Black Eagle ought to show that the organization's idea of justice was not fundamentally mistaken.

Jihwan merely smiled without speaking. After looking around for a moment, he released a long breath.

“We should be able to wrap things up now. Sit down for a while, hyung. I'll finish it quickly.”

Hyeon-yul stared at him. Something was wrong with his expression. This sort of wavering was not good. The seeds of doubt grew rapidly, and they could spread their contamination through everything. Such a situation would not be good for Hyeon-yul either.

“Don't waver. Believe what you've seen with your own eyes. Even if his claims are true, you can cut out the rotten part. Just as good and evil both exist, there's no organization that's completely spotless.”

“Exactly. I shouldn't waver. This might even be what those people want.”

“Whatever their plan is, they'll use it. What villains want is the Empire. Perhaps they couldn't achieve their goal no matter how fiercely they struggled, so they decided to turn their attention elsewhere.”

The Black Eagles were the Empire's shield. Perhaps the villains had decided that this unwavering shield was the first thing they needed to break through.

“If it still bothers you, ask the team leader. She'll answer you.”

Hyeon-yul gave a faint smile, hoping the team leader could put Jihwan’s unease to rest.

* * *

“...Team Leader, we're back.”

Jihwan smiled brightly the moment he saw Haeryeon.

“Good work, Jihwan. You too, Hyeon-yul. Is your hand all right?”

Haeryeon rose from her seat and approached them.

“It's fine.”

Hyeon-yul hid his bandaged hand behind his back. Jeongmin had already scolded him, but what was he supposed to do about a wound that had already happened?

“You have something you want to ask me, don't you?”

Jihwan nodded at Haeryeon's question, clearly grateful that she had already understood what was troubling him.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then I'll start with the conclusion. It's true that something regrettable happened.”

Haeryeon stated the fact without trying to soften it. The moment she received the report that a former Black Eagle was involved in the incident, she had worried about how shocked Jihwan and Hyeon-yul must have been.

“You remember why Team Five's leader was expelled, don't you?”

“I do. They joined forces with villains.”

Jihwan answered, his gaze filled with complete trust in her.

“That's right. I can't claim things like that have never happened within the Black Eagles. It happened before, and it happened again this time. But those actions don't make everything we've accomplished meaningless.”

Haeryeon explained calmly. She had never expected the organization to be attacked in this way. What she had taken for a small vulnerability appeared to have grown far larger than anticipated.

“The Black Eagles were created because the people we then called criminals began attacking citizens indiscriminately. One day, an entire city was wiped out, and tens of thousands of people were killed.”

“Then why didn't the Empire declare war?”

Hyeon-yul asked, unable to understand. Couldn't the Empire simply have wiped them out with the forces it already possessed?

“The Empire had already been through several wars. We'd only just regained peace, and another civil war would almost certainly have fractured the country all over again. The timing couldn't have been worse.”

“Was the incident covered up?”

“No. It wasn't buried. Jihwan knows about this.”

Haeryeon shook her head and gestured toward him.

“We learned about it in history class. The emperor who briefly concealed the truth eventually admitted what had happened, acknowledged his mistake, and stepped down. I was taught it was the Empire's failure.”

“Is that so?”

Hyeon-yul was surprised. An emperor had relinquished power so readily?

“The former emperor wanted to establish the Black Eagles. The present emperor carried out that vision and created the organization.”

Haeryeon continued. The current emperor had founded the Black Eagles. Hyeon-yul already knew that from his theory training.

“Anyway, whatever those people claimed, the problem is cooperating with villains to obtain personal benefits.”

Hyeon-yul's eyes shifted almost imperceptibly. Lee Seungyu, the figurehead president, came to mind.

‘I haven't taken any personal profit.’

Nothing had actually gone into his own pocket. He had only been using Seungyu and his organization for his own purposes, and for the benefit of the Black Eagles.

“We exclude cooperation that's genuinely intended to eliminate villains. The rules are broad enough to allow it. For instance, if a Black Eagle paid a villain a bribe to obtain information that saved many lives, that wouldn't be punishable. The point is that you mustn't obtain private benefits.”

Haeryeon explained in more detail for Hyeon-yul's sake. He might have learned the basics in training, but they had not necessarily covered every detail. Most recruits learned about these distinctions gradually after finishing their probation.

“Anyone who kills citizens who aren't villains, anyone who harms innocent citizens, and anyone who abuses a Black Eagle's power as personal authority is usually disqualified. The person you saw today, Jihwan, probably fell into one of those categories.”

“But he said the Black Eagles were creating villains. It seemed as though he'd actually witnessed something, rather than simply making up a rumor.”

Hyeon-yul raised the concern. It was something they needed to address properly.

—Do you know what the Black Eagles did? They made deals with villains! They were raising villains just to protect their own interests! Our teammates died, and other Black Eagles died too, but we kept going because we believed we were serving the Empire and its citizens. We believed in that one thing and carried on in silence. But it was all a lie!

The former Black Eagle had said it.

—...The Black Eagles won't be able to give you what you want. They aren't the righteous organization you imagine them to be.

The Poison King had said it too. Why were they all so obsessed with defining justice?

“He said he'd seen something...?”

“Yes. I don't know what he saw, but his claims were almost identical to the Poison King's. The Black Eagles aren't a righteous organization. Why would they both say that?”

“...Hmm.”

Haeryeon's expression turned grave as well. She looked genuinely unaware of anything that would explain it.

“Thinking over everything I know, there's nothing like that. ...Black Eagles who were expelled? There are still some around, of course. We don't make a habit of announcing every case, because doing so would only increase anxiety. That's exactly what we team leaders try hardest to prevent.”

Fear could spread from one person to another, eating away at everyone and eventually contributing to a higher death rate.

“Anyway, I'll say it again. The Black Eagles have one goal: a world without villains. So don't let yourselves be shaken.”

“Understood, Team Leader.”

Jihwan smiled at Haeryeon, looking relieved.

“And Hyeon-yul.”

“Yes?”

“I read today's report. Jihwan tried to remove you from the mission because you were injured, but you refused to comply. Is that correct?”

“Correct. I believed the mission should take priority. And we did complete it quickly.”

“I'm glad you resolved it in a short time. But from now on, I won't tolerate that behavior.”

‘She won't tolerate it?’

Hyeon-yul looked at her as though demanding an explanation. Haeryeon held up a finger.

“Option one: if you're injured, you're removed from the mission entirely. Option two: if you're injured, you receive treatment and then return to the mission. Which one will you choose?”

“...What?”

Haeryeon's expression was firm, and Hyeon-yul could scarcely believe what he had just heard.