Chapter 91 - I Know You (3)

* * *

<What do you mean?>

Shinwoo asked for an explanation over the channel.

<Yeah, what exactly are you saying?>

Nayun agreed with him. Hyeon-yul was saying he would deal with the suspicious man himself.

<I have a bad feeling about this.>

Hyeon-yul gave them a vague excuse. There was no time to argue.

Jihwan’s expression darkened at Hyeon-yul’s message. Hyeon-yul had good instincts.

<The mission says to avoid encountering villains whenever possible, but that won’t work in this situation. We’ll have to fight.>

Hyeon-yul pressed the point more strongly. There was no way to bring the White Sparrow out without a fight, so fighting was the correct choice.

<Once combat starts, security inside will tighten. That means Baek Shinwoo hyung needs to rescue both of the other targets.>

<Choo Nayun. How many people are in there right now?>

Shinwoo asked with a stiff expression.

<Five.>

<It doesn’t matter how many there are. I’m the best person for this. Moving through one of Jihwan’s doors is too conspicuous. Isn’t that why we disabled the CCTV in the control room? And the whole reason Choo Nayun noona has been using her eyes to survey the villains is because this is an infiltration mission in the first place. I’ll go in and launch a surprise attack.>

Hyeon-yul continued trying to persuade them. They were running out of time.

The situation around that White Sparrow was suspicious, but there was still a real possibility the man would die.

<Right now they’re only using physical violence, but they might use drugs later.>

That would be the natural progression. The villains were interrogating the White Sparrow far too gently, and that was exactly what Hyeon-yul found suspicious.

Villains had no reason to go easy on someone connected to Black Eagle.

<Go, Hyeon-yul.>

The moment Shinwoo said it, Jihwan jolted in surprise.

“Hyung!”

<Hey, Baek Shinwoo!>

Nayun’s message came in almost like a scream.

<Do you understand what you’re saying? If Hyeon-yul makes a scene, every villain nearby will converge on that location. It won’t stay at five. There’ll be more. And that’s not even the only problem. We don’t know how strong these people are. You want to send him in there alone?>

<I’ll get there fast. Trust me, Nayun.>

After Shinwoo sent that, Nayun did not reply right away.

<Damn it, Baek Shinwoo. You’d better actually get there fast.>

<I said I will.>

<I’ll help too, Hyeon-yul. I’ll use the rifle.>

<Understood. I’m moving.>

After answering, Hyeon-yul looked at Jihwan.

“Just conserve your mana.”

Hyeon-yul took a step forward, then melted into darkness.

“...Hyung.”

Jihwan glared at Shinwoo. A bitter smile appeared on Shinwoo’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

“No. I’m glaring because I’m angry. I still respect your decision. I probably would’ve made the same choice.”

Jihwan understood him. Choices were painful. Neither he nor Nayun had been able to make this one, so Shinwoo had carried it for them.

“Don’t worry, hyung. I’ll protect him properly with my magic.”

They had only refrained from separating the White Sparrows because they needed to avoid being discovered. Once the operation was exposed, the situation would be different.

“Yeah. I trust you.”

“Don’t worry.”

After answering Shinwoo, Jihwan repeated the same words to the uneasy White Sparrow beside him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

* * *

Hyeon-yul descended into the basement and looked down from the ceiling.

‘One door.’

There were naturally no windows in a basement.

‘Five people.’

The number matched exactly what Nayun had reported.

“Good. That’s enough of treating you like an employee.”

A man wearing his jacket loosely over his shoulders like a cape handed it to the subordinate beside him and tilted his head.

“For your sake...”

The man suddenly stopped speaking. He seemed to scan the area before lifting his head toward the ceiling.

‘...He saw me?’

Hyeon-yul could not understand how that had happened.

The instant the thought formed, Hyeon-yul reached out.

CRRRK.

An invisible force surged upward. Deep marks like giant claw wounds tore across the ceiling.

The force never reached Hyeon-yul. Something in front of him blocked it.

‘...Magic?’

It seemed to be Jihwan’s magic.

“Who’s there?!”

The man shouted toward the ceiling, and his subordinates immediately tensed and looked around.

If Jihwan’s magic had protected him, then there was only one way that man could have noticed Hyeon-yul.

‘...An ability user.’

Hyeon-yul quickly assessed the situation. Ability users normally had something like a defensive barrier around them.

It was invisible and troublesome because you only knew it existed once you touched it. This man’s barrier simply extended much farther than most.

Hyeon-yul retreated slightly, then reached one hand forward. The instant he touched the boundary, a tingling sensation ran through him like an electric shock.

That was the defensive field of an ability user. The magic covering him had disappeared, but the field itself had not reached him yet.

‘How far does it extend?’

Hyeon-yul slowly moved closer while testing the invisible boundary.

“...Aaaagh!”

A scream came from below. One of the subordinates seemed to have been injured by the man’s previous attack.

The man looked down at his subordinate, then extended a hand.

“...Boss.”

The subordinate never managed to finish the sentence.

CRACK.

His head was crushed by the invisible force.

“If you want to die cleanly, come out.”

The man smiled as if he had finally understood something. He looked delighted, like someone convinced he had cornered a rat.

‘His power is concentrated in one place.’

Once Hyeon-yul understood that, he continued approaching.

CRRRK.

Another harsh scraping sound tore through the ceiling, leaving gouges as though claws had raked across it.

‘About this far.’

Hyeon-yul now had a rough idea of the range. Slightly less than one meter.

He looked at the White Sparrow. The man had already been beaten badly enough that his eyes were swollen, making his face difficult to recognize.

Was he really the right person? It was hard to be certain.

‘What if the real one is already dead?’

Hyeon-yul considered the possibility and pulled out his phone from the darkness.

The sex matched. Both were men. Hyeon-yul did not know the target’s voice, and the face was too swollen to verify.

The hair color was similar. Even if this was a fake, the villains would naturally have chosen someone who resembled the real man.

Hyeon-yul moved through the wall and emerged behind one of the subordinates. He did not stab immediately. He simply pressed a dagger to the man’s throat and used him as a hostage.

“...!”

The other subordinates spotted Hyeon-yul, and the man in charge burst out laughing.

“Puhahahaha!”

Ignoring the laughter, Hyeon-yul dragged the subordinate closer to the person he believed might be the White Sparrow.

<I’ll block for you.>

Jihwan’s message appeared. Magic began forming around the supposed White Sparrow.

“Release him if you don’t want your subordinate to die.”

The words felt awkward the moment Hyeon-yul said them. They did not suit him at all.

“Right. You people always do this.”

The man looked at him calmly, apparently unconcerned about whether his subordinate lived or died.

“I’m a Black Eagle. What team are you from?”

Hyeon-yul quietly asked the supposed White Sparrow.

“...Uh, well...”

The man hesitated instead of answering the question immediately.

Was he suspicious of Hyeon-yul? Or did he genuinely not know the answer?

Hyeon-yul could not yet tell which possibility was correct.

“Whenever we take a hostage, some stupid Eagle always comes running. Why is that?”

“Exactly.”

Hyeon-yul agreed as if sympathizing with him, and the man charged.

He ignored the supposed White Sparrow and came straight at Hyeon-yul. Hyeon-yul watched the movement without changing expression.

‘That one is fake. The real one is already dead.’

If the hostage had really been the White Sparrow, the man would have prioritized securing him. There was no longer any reason to continue the awkward act.

“What a shame. He’s already dead.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Hyeon-yul answered calmly. It was almost helpful that the man had confirmed it himself.

When the man raised a hand to attack, Hyeon-yul threw the subordinate at him like bait.

“...What?”

The man panicked and killed his own subordinate before he could stop the attack.

Hyeon-yul was no longer at the end of the man’s line of sight. He had already appeared in front of another subordinate behind him, black smoke wavering around his body.

<The real one is already dead. That person is a fake.>

After notifying the others, Hyeon-yul moved the hand holding his dagger in the simplest and fastest way possible.

He pierced the subordinate’s throat, then immediately disappeared into the shadows.

When the man spun around, only the corpse of his subordinate remained.

The man laughed again as he looked around the empty room.

“...What the hell are you? What are you supposed to be?”

Hyeon-yul was wearing a Black Eagle uniform. There was no question about that.

So what was this supposed to be? A Black Eagle, someone whose job was to save people, was casually killing them instead.

Hyeon-yul stayed cautious of the man’s barrier and targeted the final subordinate. He reached out and grabbed the man by the leg.

“...!”

The instant the subordinate looked down, he fell into endless darkness.

When the leader turned his head, no one was there. His eyes darted around rapidly.

“...You bastard.”

This enemy was clearly no ordinary opponent. Even so, the man saw no reason he should lose.

The greatest weakness of Black Eagles was always the same.

The man looked at the fake White Sparrow, whom he had neither killed nor seriously harmed. He grabbed the man by the throat.

“You’d better come out. This one isn’t ours.”

Stupid Eagle bastard. You’re going to try to save him anyway.

The man laughed internally, unable to stop smiling.

“Before I really kill him.”

“You may kill him.”

The voice came from behind, sending a chill down the man’s spine as he turned.

CRACKLE.

Something sparked at his fingertips as his hand moved. Muscles bulged beneath his clothing, and a crushing force tore through the figure in front of him.

The figure in front of him was not Hyeon-yul at all.

It was the subordinate who had disappeared earlier.

Flesh tore apart beneath the pressure, and something dark and thick shot outward.

CRUNCH!

The man’s eyes widened at the brutal sound.

‘...What?’

He reflexively stepped back. Something had shattered.

Surely it had not been the power surrounding his own body.

“As expected, that defensive force around ability users is annoyingly durable.”

Hyeon-yul’s voice came from behind him.

The man flinched and spun around. Black power coiled around the two daggers in Hyeon-yul’s hands.

It fluttered like the silhouette of an ominous demon.

The man’s eyes began shaking with sudden uncertainty.

‘Huh...?’

He felt as though he had seen that before. Where had it been?

While he searched his memory, the Black Eagle had already closed the distance and brought down one dagger.

Sparks flew against an invisible point in midair.

‘One more.’

Hyeon-yul had expected the first strike to be blocked, so he swung the other hand as well.

A line appeared. As it thickened, the sound of power breaking rang in Hyeon-yul’s ears.

Just as the dagger blade was about to carve through the man’s throat, the man’s hand moved quickly.

He jerked it upward, and a heavy force surged with the motion.

Hyeon-yul was lifted toward the ceiling, but before the pressure could crush him, he melted into it.

CRRRK.

The sound was like flesh being violently torn away.

‘Heavy.’

Hyeon-yul looked at his hand. It trembled from the weight of the impact.

The power felt different from ordinary gravity. As expected, it seemed to concentrate more mass in a smaller point.

‘He’s not a heavyweight yet, but he might become one in a few years.’

That confirmed the subordinate had not been lying when he called the man president.

Hyeon-yul steadied his breathing and tightened his grip on the dagger.

‘Next time, I’ll kill him.’

He intended to separate the man’s head from his neck.

Before Hyeon-yul emerged again, another sound reached him. It was different from before.

A window shattered as a bullet punched through the man’s shoulder and made his body stagger.

“...!”

The man flailed and unleashed his power toward the place the bullet had come from. All he destroyed were the remaining windows and part of the building wall.

He began panting. The unexpected attack had clearly shaken him.

‘Good timing.’

Hyeon-yul moved in immediately. The barrier had broken and would need time to recover.

Not every ability user could wield multiple powers. This man’s entire ability seemed to revolve around force.

Hyeon-yul immediately chose the man’s arm as his target.

Black smoke spread behind the dagger like wings. As Hyeon-yul swung with that power supporting the blade, the entire area fell silent.

There was no sound at all, as though everything around them had died.

The dagger drew a thick line from the outside of the man’s arm inward. Nothing obstructed it as the blade cut through the arm and dug deep into his body.

Hyeon-yul considered cutting deeper, then stopped. It might be useful to hear something from the man first.

“AAAAAAARGH!”

Even after Hyeon-yul lowered the dagger, the man’s scream shattered the silence.

Hyeon-yul heard another sound. Something buried itself near the man’s leg.

Judging by the way it struck the floor afterward, it was a bullet.

‘Her accuracy is excellent.’

Hyeon-yul briefly glanced toward Nayun’s position. By then, the man had staggered and collapsed to his knees.

His shrill screaming made Hyeon-yul’s eyes narrow automatically.

The screaming was far too loud for Hyeon-yul’s liking.

‘I may have overestimated him.’

The man seemed to have fallen into a state of panic.

Hyeon-yul revealed himself. The man did not seem to notice. He was staring in shock at his severed arm.

<Don’t let your guard down, Hyeon-yul.>

<Understood.>

Following Nayun’s warning, Hyeon-yul remained alert. Panic itself could easily be an act.

“Where is the real White Sparrow?”

Hyeon-yul asked the question in a cold, even voice.

“...Ptoo!”

The man spat blood onto the floor. The whites of his eyes were turning red.

“I heard someone call you president. That means catching you should be enough, doesn’t it? Think carefully before you die.”

Hyeon-yul looked at the blood pouring steadily from the severed arm. At this rate, the man might die from blood loss.

“Is the real one dead?”

“...Want me to tell you?”

“Yes. Tell me.”

“There’s something else I want to tell you first.”

The man smiled as if he had finally understood something.

Only now did he understand why Hyeon-yul had felt familiar, why he had hesitated after seeing him.

He had thought the feeling was humiliation, but it was not. Suddenly everything felt clear.

“What do you want to say?”

Hyeon-yul tilted his head. If it could provide information, there was no reason not to listen.

“...I know you.”

At those words, everything in Hyeon-yul stopped.

It was the first time he had heard someone say that since escaping that place.

Hyeon-yul could not tell whether the claim was actually true.

Even Hyeon-yul’s breathing stopped completely for a moment.