Chapter 84 - A Cup of Tea, a Slice of Cake

* * *

The ends of Haeryeon’s eyebrows lowered slightly.

“Team Leader Haeryeon. Hyeon-yul isn’t saying that because he has some hidden intention.”

Jeongmin glanced at Haeryeon as he explained. He understood Hyeon-yul well enough, but those words could easily create a misunderstanding for someone else.

“I know. Don’t worry.”

Haeryeon raised the corners of her mouth. How could she not know by now that Hyeon-yul was simply bad at conversation?

“I’ll do it.”

“Understood.”

Hyeon-yul answered without hesitation. He could give permission for his own treatment information to be shared, but everything beyond that belonged to Jeongmin’s area of responsibility.

“I’ve given permission, but the rest will be up to the doctor’s judgment.”

Hyeon-yul did not know much about medicine. He had watched Jeongmin work beside him countless times, so he could imitate the basic procedures he had seen, but that was about the limit of his knowledge.

When Haeryeon’s gaze moved to Jeongmin, the doctor still looked uneasy.

“Team Leader Oh Haeryeon.”

“Yes.”

“This absolutely, absolutely cannot leak. The moment Hyeon-yul’s identity is narrowed down, I know they’ll come after me.”

Jeongmin had no idea how he had managed to avoid discovery until now, but he had always been prepared for that possibility.

“I will never talk, even if it kills me. I would rather die myself.”

At those words, Hyeon-yul shot upright in surprise. Haeryeon was startled as well. It was the first time she had seen Hyeon-yul display such a dramatic emotional change.

“Why would you... die, Doctor?”

Hyeon-yul’s eyes shook violently. He had done everything in his power to make sure that would never happen. Among other things, he had desperately used Yujong, who was useful as an information broker, to suppress information about himself.

Just in case, Hyeon-yul had deliberately avoided creating any connection between himself and Jeongmin. The only time that connection had become visible was after he joined Black Eagle, but he was not the only person constantly coming and going from the clinic now. Countless others visited as well.

There was only one condition that could isolate Hyeon-yul from everyone else who came here: Team 3.

Murderous intent began to enter Hyeon-yul’s eyes, but Jeongmin quickly grabbed his shoulder.

“It was a hypothetical. Just a hypothetical. Calm down, Hyeon-yul.”

“Do not say it. You should not even make that hypothetical.”

Hyeon-yul gripped Jeongmin’s arm, the corners of his eyes lowering.

“I hate even the thought of it. I would rather be the one in danger, no matter how difficult it becomes.”

“Hyeon-yul, I said it was hypothetical. That won’t happen.”

“Doctor. I...”

“Calm down, Hyeon-yul. This was my mistake.”

Jeongmin apologized immediately. It was something he should never have said in front of Hyeon-yul. He knew exactly what he meant to the young man, yet the fear that suddenly surged through him had shaken his judgment.

“I’ll make the same promise.”

Haeryeon spoke with a smile. Both Hyeon-yul and Jeongmin turned to look at her.

“I would rather die than reveal it.”

“...Do you really mean that?”

Jeongmin asked the question with a slight stammer in his voice.

“I don’t know how to make you believe me, but I know someone who had power and still did nothing, wasting every opportunity in front of him. I refuse to become a fool like that person.”

Haeryeon looked directly at Jeongmin and made the strength of her resolve clear. This was her purpose and her pride. Without it, the person called Oh Haeryeon would not exist.

“I have power, and I know very well that this is my opportunity. So I’ll do it. I would rather die than speak.”

Jeongmin could only take those words as genuine, and a slow smile spread across his face. Someone could ask why she was only offering now, but it was precisely because of everything that had happened now that such an offer had become possible.

Jeongmin had seen a great deal of Team 3 himself. More than most people, he had witnessed how Haeryeon treated Hyeon-yul up close.

“I thought... I would always be alone.”

“I can support you with anything you need. I have plenty of money too.”

Haeryeon smiled and held out her hand.

“That is reassuring to hear.”

Jeongmin spoke as he handed her the paper.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“The pleasure is mine. Just don’t get upset if I can’t come by very often.”

Haeryeon tossed out the joke, and Jeongmin chuckled. Once the atmosphere between them softened, Hyeon-yul lay back down again. Haeryeon moved to another part of the room while Jeongmin peeled away the bandage.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Almost not at all.”

“Wait a moment. Blood pooled under the bandage, so I’m going to replace it with a different one.”

“Yes.”

Hyeon-yul stared blankly at the ceiling.

‘...Ah. The connection broke.’

He could no longer sense the location of the villain who had given him the drugs. It seemed someone had killed the man. Hyeon-yul was not particularly curious about who had done it.

‘So that’s the place.’

He had identified the location, and that was enough to satisfy him.

‘Let’s rest today.’

Determined not to overwork himself, Hyeon-yul closed his eyes.

* * *

“...Good morning.”

Hyeon-yul spoke while sitting on the edge of Yujong’s bed.

“...What the hell are you saying?”

Yujong mumbled and turned over.

“Do you not understand what I said?”

When Hyeon-yul called him again, Yujong blinked, rolled the other way, and slowly lifted his head. The moment he met Hyeon-yul’s eyes, Yujong took a moment to steady his breathing.

“Please stop installing so many cameras. Breaking them every time is inconvenient in several ways.”

At the word cameras, Yujong jolted upright. When he looked around, broken pieces of equipment were scattered everywhere.

“Cameras, recorders, wiretaps. I don’t know why you installed so many devices. Was all of this because of me?”

“N-no. Of course not. Why would it be?”

“I confirmed that you even put them on the windows. Your security preparations are very thorough, considering we’re on the seventeenth floor.”

Hyeon-yul stared steadily at Yujong, who swallowed hard.

‘His damn instincts are ridiculously sharp.’

Why had Hyeon-yul come again? Why did that mad dog keep showing up so often?

“Have you heard anything useful lately?”

“...Useful information?”

“Yes. Anything will do, so tell me what you have.”

Hyeon-yul brought over a chair and sat down. Reading the situation, Yujong got out of bed on his own and knelt in front of him. His hair was crushed into a greasy mess from sleeping, and there was even dried sleep in the corners of his eyes, but Yujong did not care about his appearance right now.

“...About that drug you gave me before.”

“Yes?”

“I found out where it’s being produced. They’ve been distributing it strangely widely lately. There are several production sites.”

“Is this one of them?”

Hyeon-yul took out his phone and showed him a location.

“...Give me a moment.”

Yujong hesitated, then studied the map carefully.

‘Huh...?’

“Bring the materials.”

At Hyeon-yul’s order, Yujong got up from the floor. Once he disappeared from the room, Hyeon-yul yawned and felt his eyelids drooping.

‘Flipping day and night really is miserable.’

While waiting, Hyeon-yul looked around the room before lowering his gaze to the bed. Something looked different. He used the darkness to lift away the mattress.

“I’m ba...”

“What is this?”

Hyeon-yul stared down at the gold bars hidden beneath the mattress. Apparently, Yujong had completed a recent transaction, and the sight made him recoil in horror.

‘How did that... mad dog even know this was here?’

They were gold bars he had not yet managed to move into the safe. He had only hidden them there temporarily because he was in a hurry.

“Did you sell my information?”

“N-no! Absolutely not!”

Yujong shook his head violently, then dropped to his knees. He needed to explain himself properly before that mad dog bit him to pieces.

“Then what did you sell this time?”

“I... I’m an information broker, so...”

“An information broker. Right. I heard you’ve become an unrivaled information broker. Who made that possible?”

At some point, Hyeon-yul had pulled out a dagger and was lazily waving it.

“...The person sitting right in front of me!”

Yujong shouted the answer with desperate force before fear took over again.

‘Fuck! Fuck, did you really make me? There are barely any information brokers left because you killed everyone you didn’t like!’

Yujong swallowed the words with every ounce of strength he had because saying them aloud would get him killed.

“What information did you sell?”

“...Well, I have information on Black Eagle, don’t I?”

“Yes.”

“Someone wanted it, so I sold it.”

“Was it updated information?”

The real question was whether Yujong had planted another traitor, and he frantically shook his head.

“No, nothing like that. But I did hear something strange.”

“Something strange?”

When Hyeon-yul tilted his head, Yujong lowered his voice.

“They say there’s a villain among the Black Eagles.”

“There is a villain?”

“...It’s a little difficult to investigate properly, so I brushed it off, but does that even make sense?”

“Who bought that information?”

Yujong started to question why Hyeon-yul cared, then abruptly came to his senses. He needed to answer. That was the correct choice.

“For starters, it was a new face. The Black Eagle information I had was losing value, so I was thinking about throwing it away. Then one of my people brought me a post.”

Yujong moved carefully and brought over his phone. He tapped a link in a message, but the page had already disappeared.

“This was the site, but it seems to be gone now. My people sent me several other posts too, and I think they were all written from the same place.”

CLICK.

Hyeon-yul immediately photographed the address so it was clearly visible. He intended to hand it over to Black Eagle later when he had time.

“So they’re buying information about Black Eagle?”

“That’s right. I don’t know why either. I just thought it was strange. ...And to be clear, this wasn’t me going out and doing business again. It happened while I was disposing of information I already had. As you know, you can’t clean up everything at once. I’m trying to leave this line of work, but I’m connected to too many places and people keep feeding me information, so I need some... time.”

The more Yujong spoke, the smaller he felt himself becoming. It was pathetic.

‘...Fuck. Fuck! Fuuuck!’

He had no idea why he had to grovel like this, but there was nothing he could do. He really was cleaning things up, and the operation had been so enormous that it genuinely required time.

“I know it is difficult to close everything immediately. Some people want to strip information from you, while others come to sell it. I don’t care about the other categories, but anything involving ordinary civilians needs to be shut down as quickly as possible.”

“Yes. I’ll handle that side first and definitely finish it quickly. Three weeks, no, within two weeks. And these are the places producing the drugs.”

Yujong watched Hyeon-yul’s expression and handed over the materials he had brought. Several maps had been printed out.

Hyeon-yul flipped through them until his hand suddenly stopped.

‘The location I found is here.’

After work, he had visited the place connected to the villain who died while fleeing. The man had been killed inside a bar. Hyeon-yul had investigated the interior but found nothing particularly unusual, though it had clearly been a place where villains gathered.

‘More precisely, that bar must have been one of their transaction points.’

Holding the papers in one hand, Hyeon-yul pretended to reach into his pocket and produced the drugs instead. He had smelled and checked one of each, sorted them, and brought them separately.

He had obtained six drugs in total, and two of them were connected to the substances used on him. He had found more in a single night than he had discovered throughout all his previous efforts.

“Find out where these drugs are being made.”

Yujong could not help thinking when he saw what Hyeon-yul handed him.

‘He already took over the Poison King’s faction, and now he’s trying to take over the drug trade too?’

Hyeon-yul kept ordering him to find information related to drugs.

‘There is... that person in the drug trade. Is this really safe?’

There was a major figure with a network so vast that people said they practically controlled the entire drug market. Yujong had never met the person and did not even know where they were based. People simply called the figure the Drug Merchant, and it was possible the title referred to more than one person.

There was even a story that someone once called the figure the Drug King, only for the Drug Merchant to become enraged and wipe everyone involved out with drugs. Yujong could not tell whether that story was true. In the first place, drugs were something nearly every person wearing the title of villain sold in one form or another.

“I know there is a major figure in the drug trade. Can you track that person?”

“As I told you before, that’s impossible.”

Yujong immediately shook his head. Sweat broke out across his skin because he had no idea what that mad dog might demand next.

“Then find only this much for me. I’ll be the one who digs deeper.”

‘...Is he serious?’

Yujong was suspicious and bewildered at the same time. He had expected Hyeon-yul to pressure him without caring what happened to him.

‘Has he gotten gentler?’

When Yujong’s eyes wavered, Hyeon-yul smiled.

“You already walked away from the business. Well, you’re in the process of walking away. Why would I need to force you like that?”

“...Ah.”

Yujong immediately corrected himself. Hyeon-yul had not become gentler. He was simply choosing to let him off.

“If any faction is harassing you, tell me.”

“...You’ll kill them for me?”

“If they are villains. You’re trying to get out, so I can at least do that much for you.”

‘Meaning I’m dead if they aren’t villains...’

Yujong could not stop a bitter laugh from escaping. He had done everything imaginable to escape that mad dog, yet after going in circles he was right back in Hyeon-yul’s grasp.

Even after Yujong moved homes, Hyeon-yul found him. Cameras, recorders, wiretaps, every kind of security system Yujong installed was destroyed or bypassed. Hyeon-yul was a shadow, one that could never be separated from him.

Yujong suddenly felt like crying. He honestly wanted to hire someone to kill Hyeon-yul, but he could not even muster the courage. Had his entire organization not already been destroyed by that man once? Yujong had survived only after offering up everything he had.

‘How the hell am I supposed to live like this...?’

Yujong desperately held back his tears.

“To be honest, aren’t you curious about the big player controlling the drug trade?”

At Hyeon-yul’s question, life immediately returned to Yujong’s expression.

‘He’ll tell me? He’s really going to tell me?’

The idea was insane, and that was the only thought Yujong could form.

“I’m curious!”

The words shot out of Yujong’s mouth before he could stop them. He immediately clapped both hands over his mouth in shock.

‘I got... way too excited.’

Yujong pulled his neck inward like a turtle and swallowed dryly as he stared at Hyeon-yul in fear.