Chapter 88 - One More (2)

* * *

“Did you come to observe the factory?”

Hyeon-yul asked again. It was not especially strange for one villain group to keep watch on another. If anything, that was perfectly natural.

This was a drug manufacturing facility. If someone was spying on a place like this, it would be reasonable to assume they wanted the formula badly enough to steal it.

Today, however, Hyeon-yul saw the situation differently. There was only one person.

What could a single man possibly do here?

‘It makes more sense to assume he was only scouting.’

Then why had he come to scout this place? Hyeon-yul found the answer almost immediately.

‘...Ah. Is he from that group?’

Hadn’t they recently confirmed the existence of a villain faction that hated drugs? It seemed worth checking.

“Did you come here to obtain drugs?”

Hyeon-yul lowered his dagger slightly and asked in passing.

“...What kind of bullshit is that?”

The man immediately sounded offended. His expression did not fit someone who had come to make a deal, nor did he look like a thief trying to steal something.

“Do you like drugs?”

“You crazy...”

The villain quickly shut his mouth. Apparently the dagger still bothered him, but Hyeon-yul had no intention of lowering it any farther.

“They sell drugs here, right?”

Hyeon-yul corrected him, “They make them here.”

“...What? They manufacture drugs?”

“Yes. Didn’t you know before coming here?”

“I...”

The villain stopped himself again. He seemed to have quite a temper.

“So you didn’t know.”

When Hyeon-yul answered for him, the villain scowled.

“...Filthy bastards. I know villains don’t have standards, but they’re really selling that stuff?”

“Shouldn’t they?”

“Are you seriously asking that? Where do you think it ends up after it keeps circulating?”

“Where?”

“With us! Us! Why the hell would they go that far? Are they going to stop only after everyone is addicted? What about you? Are you addicted too? Do you like that stuff that much?”

‘It really is that strange villain faction.’

Hyeon-yul reached his conclusion while looking at the man as though he were the strange one. Saying something like this while openly calling himself a villain made him seem almost insane.

“Are you really a villain?”

Hyeon-yul asked suspiciously. It was possible for a villain to dislike drugs, but lecturing someone about the harm they caused felt very far removed from villain behavior. If he was going to act like this, why insist on calling himself one?

“This is ridiculous. Since when do people decide whether someone’s a villain based on drugs? What? Because I’m saying this, do I look like a Black Eagle to you?”

His actions did not resemble a villain’s, yet he insisted that he was one. Hyeon-yul found the contradiction absurd.

‘...Ah. Is this how I look to them too?’

Only then did Hyeon-yul understand how other villains must see him. They probably thought he was a walking contradiction as well.

“Go on, keep talking. If I die, I die. Don’t forget that my people already know where I am. What? Getting scared now? Too bad. If there are that many drugs in the factory, there’s no way you can move all of them today.”

Hyeon-yul calmly revealed his identity. “That’s not it. I’m a Black Eagle.”

“Bullshit.”

The villain snorted instead. Hyeon-yul was not even wearing a uniform. More importantly, how could eyes like those belong to a Black Eagle? Anyone could tell that those were the eyes of someone who had killed countless people.

“I don’t want to waste time arguing. I really am a Black Eagle. Just stay still and cooperate.”

Hyeon-yul raised the dagger back to the villain’s throat. He had investigated certain matters in secret, but he had reported this part honestly to Haeryeon. That meant taking the man back as a Black Eagle was the correct course of action.

“Fuck...”

Before the man could continue, Hyeon-yul moved behind him. He reversed his grip on the dagger and slammed the pommel into the back of the man’s head.

THWACK!

The villain’s eyes lost focus, and his body went limp. Hyeon-yul had not expected to use them, but he pulled out cable ties designed for restraining villains and bound the man’s hands and feet.

Then he turned his head. Jihwan was running toward him at an impressively slow speed.

Hyeon-yul walked forward and informed him, “He’s a villain.”

“I mean, haa... haa...”

“He belongs to a different villain faction from the one inside. I think he’s worth taking back for interrogation.”

“You’re not hurt... haa... are you?”

“Catch your breath first. Why did you run here without using magic?”

“...Ah.”

Jihwan stared blankly at him. Hyeon-yul fell silent for a moment before speaking in an even voice.

“That can happen.”

Something about his calm tone made Jihwan choke on his breath and burst into a coughing fit.

* * *

“...Is that really it? Is it here?”

Shinwoo asked while pointing at the drugs. There were so many different containers that the variety looked overwhelming.

He wanted to go closer, but Hyeon-yul stopped him.

“We haven’t confirmed anything yet, so don’t come any closer.”

Hyeon-yul repeated the same warning he had already given and looked at everyone standing beyond the partially opened door.

“It’s dangerous.”

“Aren’t you in danger too? You said earlier that you shouldn’t casually use basic cosmetics either.”

Nayun’s question made Shinwoo react immediately.

“...What? You said those were fine.”

Shinwoo’s startled eyes turned toward Hyeon-yul. Nayun had been the one to discover this place, but Shinwoo was the one who had specifically asked whether Hyeon-yul would really be fine.

“Cosmetics contain a lot of ingredients I’ve never been exposed to. They’re harmless to ordinary people, but I don’t know how harmless ingredients will affect me. I’m only being cautious.”

“Then what about those?”

Shinwoo felt his throat tighten. What kind of logic was that?

“They’re fine.”

Hyeon-yul answered lightly. He had probably been injected with many of these already. What he was searching for was not a drug he had encountered once or twice, but the ones that had been administered continuously, repeatedly, and at regular intervals.

If a drug had been important enough to use that often, it would be a faster path toward the people who had made him this way.

“Back up and close the door.”

Hyeon-yul gave one final warning. It was time to smell the contents.

Toxic drugs had no effect on him, but the same was not true for the others. A single drop might cause an unpredictable reaction.

Hyeon-yul waited until the door shut and the sound of retreating footsteps faded before he moved. There appeared to be many drugs, but in reality there were only five distinct compounds.

He slightly opened the first container and checked it.

‘Not this one.’

Hyeon-yul closed it and smelled the next container.

‘One.’

He continued to the following container.

‘Two.’

After that, he checked another one.

‘Three.’

After checking the final one, Hyeon-yul set it down.

‘...There are three.’

Three of them existed in this facility alone. Hyeon-yul hid those three inside the darkness.

‘I was right.’

At last, his fingers tightened. The urge to drive a dagger straight into the throats of the people responsible surged through him.

‘...No. I can’t simply kill them.’

He closed his eyes for a moment, then slowly exhaled and opened them again.

He had once believed that test subjects existed solely to destroy the empire. But Asan, the Red Witch, had conducted experiments because she wanted to save her child. After witnessing an exception like that, he could no longer assume every test subject had been created for the sole purpose of destroying the empire.

At first, he had considered the experimentation itself meaningless, but through the Poison King and Asan, he had learned that the empire had begun the work first in order to create power.

Most of the world had eventually gained powers, meaning the empire’s experiments had succeeded. Hyeon-yul finally understood that villains continued pushing similar experiments with almost idiotic persistence because there was already a successful precedent.

‘...Then why was I created?’

Hyeon-yul had no choice but to return to the most fundamental question. What had been their intention? Why had they made him? What had they planned to use him for?

Even while being experimented on, he had never been told the purpose. The only words he remembered hearing were commands such as “Stand up,” “Sit,” “Lie down,” “Get on your stomach,” and “Eat.”

Perhaps that had contributed to the deterioration of his conversational ability as well.

‘...No. I’ll think about it later.’

Hyeon-yul pushed the thoughts aside and took his medicine. Once too many thoughts began piling up, his head became unbearably noisy. If that noise truly started, even medicine could not calm it down.

He turned and walked toward the door, wrapping his entire body in darkness before leaving. He hated the thought of that nauseating smell clinging to him.

* * *

“...Doctor.”

Hyeon-yul handed over the drugs. Jeongmin took one look and immediately startled, glancing toward the CCTV camera.

“I got permission from my team leader.”

“...Ha. You scared me.”

“Why are you surprised?”

“You’re not supposed to remove evidence while working as a Black Eagle.”

“I know. I’m obtaining what I need through another route.”

“Another route...?”

“Take them.”

“Hyeon-yul. What exactly did you mean by that?”

“These are drugs that were used on me.”

“...What?”

Jeongmin’s expression changed completely. The previous detail was important, but nothing mattered more than what Hyeon-yul had just said.

“These three?”

“Yes.”

“W-where did you get them?”

Jeongmin started to reach out, then stopped when his hand began trembling. He was afraid he might drop them.

“Before work, I followed Choo Nayun noona’s suggestion and joined a mission. I obtained them there.”

Hyeon-yul’s expression hardened briefly. The fact that this had happened before work did not please Jeongmin at all.

“Did you find who made them?”

“Not yet. Don’t be too happ... No. You can be happy.”

Hyeon-yul changed his wording. Jeongmin was already visibly delighted.

“How did things end up like this? To think you’d find them this way. I really... I really can’t believe it. You searched for so long. You searched so damn hard...”

Jeongmin could not finish. His eyes reddened almost immediately. He knew better than most how much Hyeon-yul had suffered, so even this small hope felt precious beyond words.

He wanted to grab Hyeon-yul, hug him, and spin him around on the spot. If he actually did that, Hyeon-yul might stare at him with disgust.

“Are you happy?”

“...Of course I am! I need to know what drugs were used on you so I can make medicine for you. Then I’ll be able to call your name more often and for a much longer time than I can now.”

“That’s true.”

Hadn’t he already lived quite a long time? Hyeon-yul kept the thought to himself. It sounded perfectly ordinary to him, but Jeongmin always became sad when he said things like that.

“If they were going to show up like this, they should’ve shown up sooner! Why make you struggle so much? Why make you work that hard? Seriously, these little...!”

“I’ll bring you more.”

Hyeon-yul pulled out a tissue and handed it to Jeongmin. The man truly cried often. Thinking of Jeongmin as someone shedding the tears that Hyeon-yul himself no longer could did not feel so bad.

* * *

Haeryeon looked at everyone and asked carefully, “...Are you all okay?”

They had accomplished something enormous before even coming to work. This was not the first time something like that had happened, but Hyeon-yul had been involved in it.

With a weary but steady voice, Jihwan answered, “I’m fine.”

Nayun raised two fingers and said, “I had two cups of coffee.”

“I went back to sleep for a nap... no, I mean for the rest of the night.”

Shinwoo answered with a tired face. Everyone’s eyes naturally shifted toward Hyeon-yul.

He was not fine. He absolutely was not fine, and that was what he wanted to say.

The White Sparrows had arrived quickly and handled the cleanup. They arrested the villains, separated them from ordinary civilians, and collected all the drugs and records themselves.

It had been convenient, though Hyeon-yul had wondered whether they were truly taking everything without leaving anything behind. Even setting that aside, he had gone home, rested briefly, and then boarded the bus again to come back to work. Life could hardly feel more miserable.

Even doing nothing at home was better. He could sit there knitting and still be happier. The place was larger now, with more sunlight coming in, and nowhere felt better.

‘I want to go home.’

“...Can you work?”

When Hyeon-yul remained silent, Haeryeon asked again.

“I’ll work.”

His voice had less energy than usual. Haeryeon studied his forehead.

“How’s your head? Does it hurt?”

“No. It’s almost completely healed.”

“If it were up to me, I’d let you sit this out, but we have work piled up today.”

“No, seriously, today of all days?”

Shinwoo asked in horror. They had already used plenty of strength before work. It had not even been a small incident.

He had at least hoped their working hours would be shortened, only to feel that hope collapse all at once.

“You remember how I said several villain factions are fighting each other right now?”

“...Did their locations get exposed?”

Nayun asked cautiously. The reason villains were so difficult to eradicate was that Black Eagle rarely knew how far each organization extended or where its real core was located.

Until they identified a site occupied entirely by villains, they had to keep following one tail after another. Today’s operation had been no different. They had found a drug production facility, but it had not been the true core. Ordinary civilians had been working there too.

It was serious enough to warrant disciplinary action, which was why everyone had been carefully watching Haeryeon’s expression.

“They’ve been exposed. Only about two factions so far, but I think more and more will reveal themselves.”

Hearing the certainty in Haeryeon’s voice, Hyeon-yul quietly nodded. This was exactly why he had swallowed the Poison King’s organization in the first place.

If villains kept fighting, their forces would inevitably reveal themselves. Once a conflict had begun, stopping it would be difficult, so being caught by Black Eagle was the natural result.

‘I only took over the Poison King’s faction, and the effect is already this large. What would happen if I swallowed another one?’

Hyeon-yul paid close attention to the idea. It was not something he had never considered before, but back then he had never imagined becoming a Black Eagle.

There had been no reason to think Black Eagle, an organization that kept villains in check, would ever listen to him. He had also assumed they would never accept him, so he had abandoned the idea.

“Is our mission to suppress one of the factions?”

Hyeon-yul asked, but Haeryeon shook her head.

“Not yet. Even if we know their locations, we need to strike them simultaneously, so we need more time.”

“Because even if the leader disappears, the rest could scatter and cause trouble?”

“Exactly. Even if the leader disappears, they can attach themselves to someone else. Our goal is the eradication of villains. Catching the leader is good, but it doesn’t end there.”

Villains were like cockroaches that laid eggs even while dying. If Black Eagle failed to uproot them all at once, they multiplied again. And whenever information about Black Eagle’s methods leaked, the villains returned more evolved than before.

“Today’s mission is escorting the White Sparrows.”

When Haeryeon announced the assignment, everyone except Hyeon-yul looked displeased. No one was unaware of the poor relationship between Hyeon-yul and the White Sparrows.

Hyeon-yul, however, set that issue aside. He simply did not understand what kind of mission this was supposed to be.