Chapter 99 - Cosmetics Made from Blood (3)

* * *

Silence lingered for a moment as everyone processed what Nayun had seen. The situation unfolding beneath their feet was happening in other buildings as well.

“Be specific. Are there hostages too?”

Shinwoo turned toward Nayun and asked her directly.

“Half the buildings I saw have hostages. I couldn’t see any in the other half. If dozens of villains are scattered through each building, that would explain why the number Hyeon-yul found suspicious seemed so low.”

“We won’t be able to call in the White Sparrows until the bombs are dealt with.”

“...Damn it.”

Shinwoo’s expression twisted. Just as Hyeon-yul said, they could not bring in the White Sparrows yet because doing so might become the trigger that caused the other buildings to explode.

‘How are we supposed to...’

Shinwoo’s thoughts cut off when Jihwan staggered. He rushed over immediately.

The spell seemed to have ended, and Jihwan’s eyes had lost focus as though his mind had gone blank.

‘Oh boy.’

Shinwoo carefully helped Jihwan sit down.

“May I make a suggestion?”

Hyeon-yul looked at Jihwan before asking calmly. Once he had noticed how few enemies were inside the main building, he had expected something like this.

“Say whatever you want. As much as you want.”

Nayun nodded. Right now, they needed every idea they could get.

When Hyeon-yul turned toward Shinwoo, he gave an awkward smile and pointed at his own head.

“To be honest, my brain’s frozen right now. This got a lot bigger than I expected.”

“It looks complicated, but it’s actually simple. We can even make it far more hopeless for them.”

If they were going to erase these villains anyway, Hyeon-yul believed it was better to thoroughly toy with them before doing so.

“Simple...?”

Shinwoo asked doubtfully, unable to see how any part of this was simple.

“We remove the bombs and rescue the hostages. Fortunately, we don’t even need to do the hardest part, which is identifying which people inside the buildings are infiltrating villains.”

Distinguishing civilians from villains was usually the most difficult task. Here, the enemy had practically announced who they were, so there was no reason they could not act.

“Removing the bombs and rescuing the hostages... Hyeon-yul, you’re not saying you’ll do all of that yourself, are you? Right?”

Nayun asked as if hoping she was wrong. Given that Hyeon-yul was the one proposing the plan under these circumstances, however, his intention was obvious.

He planned to shoulder all of it.

“For now, I’ll handle removing the bombs. If I can rescue the hostages as well, I’ll do that too.”

“That alone is dangerous, Hyeon-yul.”

“No. It isn’t dangerous, and it won’t take as long as you think.”

Hyeon-yul lifted his head slightly. It was nighttime, and today was the final day before the weekend.

With darkness spread across the city, he could do far more than usual.

“More importantly, this is something we have to do now.”

When Hyeon-yul put more force into his voice, Nayun hesitated. He was not wrong.

“The villains in the other buildings may be waiting for a signal from this place so they can destroy everything simultaneously.”

“...So you’re saying those bastards were going to wait until we approached without knowing anything, then blow up every building except this one?”

Shinwoo asked to make sure he understood correctly.

“Yes. That’s what I believe.”

At Hyeon-yul’s answer, Shinwoo let out a long breath.

‘...We’ve always done things this way. I never thought this position would become our weakness.’

They could only see the villains directly beneath them, and the White Sparrows had provided no information concerning the surrounding buildings. Because of that, Shinwoo had not even considered what might be happening elsewhere.

His stiff expression did not relax.

“It isn’t strange that you failed to notice the bombs.”

“But...”

“They intend to blow up this building too. That’s what the explosives here are for. The reason their forces are divided above and below the fifth floor is so one side can escape while the other detonates the bombs.”

Hyeon-yul continued explaining. Whether the upper group or lower group was sacrificed, the surviving side could flee while triggering the explosion.

That was what the setup looked like to him.

“...Ha. I already knew those lunatics weren’t sane, but this is way beyond the line. They’ll do it even though they might die too? Are they actually insane?”

Nayun clenched the hem of her clothes in frustration. The fact that she had failed to properly recognize the situation despite possessing these eyes seemed to tighten around her throat.

“They are insane.”

Hyeon-yul answered matter-of-factly. If someone asked why, he would not know what to say.

This was the kind of place where new recruits could be ordered to take a colleague’s life from the moment they joined. How was he supposed to explain people like that?

“Anyway, Hyeon-yul. You’re saying you’ll take the most dangerous part, right?”

Nayun asked with the same rigid expression as Shinwoo.

“No. We still need to rescue the hostages, don’t we? We also have to capture the villains spread throughout these buildings. I said their numbers were low, but there are still dozens here.”

Killing all of them would not be impossible. Hyeon-yul had done similar things more than once, but there was no need to say that aloud.

“How much worse do you think it is in the other buildings? We don’t even know how many hostages are mixed in among them. I’m only preventing the worst outcome.”

As Hyeon-yul finished, he looked toward Shinwoo.

If Jihwan’s power gave them the villains’ exact positions, Shinwoo could deal with any number of enemies at once. He might refuse to kill them, but being able to restrain an unlimited number of targets was still an enormous power.

It would almost be a waste not to use it.

‘The biggest variable is still the bombs.’

If there were enough explosives for Nayun to notice them with the naked eye, then there were a great many of them. Even if they called in additional personnel afterward, that part had to be dealt with first.

‘Without disarming the bombs, the mission is only half a success.’

Hyeon-yul could not accept that. The way the villains were burning everything in one final act made it obvious that this really was the end of their faction.

It was a faction created by one of the bastards responsible for making Hyeon-yul what he was. They deserved to experience despair before the end.

“I’ll handle what I can. I’ll start by removing the bombs below us, then I’ll move out.”

“Wait, Hyeon-yul.”

Shinwoo reached toward him, and Hyeon-yul reflexively stepped back.

“Yes. Go ahead.”

“Is this really okay? Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

No matter how many times Shinwoo thought about it, Hyeon-yul’s role seemed the most dangerous. That was what bothered him.

“Jihwan is carrying the heaviest burden, not me.”

There was a great deal that had to be accomplished through magic, and Jihwan might need to do even more than they had already planned.

“Ah, Nayun noona.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you still see inside those buildings?”

“I can see everything except the parts covered by blinds. I’ll see even better through my scope.”

Nayun took the bag off her back.

“What if the lights are turned on?”

“Perfect.”

The corners of Nayun’s mouth rose. After hearing her answer, Hyeon-yul turned to Shinwoo.

“Shinwoo hyung, what do you need?”

“Just their locations. My power needs more distance adjustment than you might think. If they’re somewhere I can see, I can estimate it pretty well, but those buildings are too far away. And I can’t exactly borrow her eyes.”

Listening to the two of them made Jihwan’s importance feel even greater. They needed to reduce his burden in case something unexpected happened.

Hyeon-yul approached Jihwan and gently shook his shoulder.

“Jihwan. Please focus.”

“...Y-yes!”

Jihwan finally blinked himself back to awareness.

“I understand that expanding the spatial range puts a heavy burden on you. In that case, can you restrict your spatial magic to something around the size of a bullet?”

Jihwan blinked for a moment at the question.

“You mean, can I shrink my magic down to about the size of a bullet?”

“Yes.”

“I can.”

“Would that reduce the burden?”

“By a lot.”

“Then can you change that power into something like an explosion?”

Jihwan’s magic was related to space. If so, perhaps he could cause the designated space itself to burst.

Jihwan thought for a moment before his eyes widened. He had realized what Hyeon-yul was suggesting.

“You mean I should turn the bullet itself into my space? Moving a whole space around with magic increases the burden, so instead I use noona’s power to spread my magic to the target through the bullet.”

The more Jihwan spoke, the brighter his eyes became. He had never considered using his magic this way.

“Correct. But before that works, we need Shinwoo hyung’s power.”

“Me...?”

Shinwoo pointed at himself with surprise.

“You should restrain as many of them as possible. Personally, I think killing them would be better. Fear is useful when applied correctly.”

It would be a true surprise attack, and chaos would inevitably follow.

Hyeon-yul swallowed a breath and continued while watching Shinwoo tilt his head slightly.

“But Shinwoo hyung won’t do that. In that case, we should at least use fear to keep their feet planted.”

“What kind of... fear?”

Shinwoo asked the question in a careful, uncertain tone.

“The fear that the same thing could happen to them. People naturally feel fear when danger reaches them personally.”

“Ah, that kind of fear?”

“Yes. I’ll share the enemy positions with you, Shinwoo hyung. I’ll also open the windows so Nayun noona can act without being noticed.”

“That would help a lot. Breaking windows makes a seriously loud sound.”

Nayun spoke while assembling her rifle.

“There’s another kind of fear too.”

“What kind?”

Shinwoo turned his attention back to Hyeon-yul once more.

“Even after the attack begins, one place after another will stop responding. What could be more frightening than that?”

Hyeon-yul smiled faintly after finishing. The fear of knowing your own turn was steadily approaching could be even greater than fear felt in direct combat.

“...You sound like a professional.”

Jihwan licked his lips as he spoke. Hyeon-yul looked like someone who had orchestrated this kind of thing more than once.

“I’ll deal with the bombs below us first.”

Hyeon-yul melted into the darkness and descended through the building.

After he disappeared, the other three looked at one another and felt a strange sense of reassurance.

“Learning something new like this actually makes me really happy.”

Jihwan spoke first. Hyeon-yul had shown him a way to lessen the burden on his magic.

“I guess this is why bringing in the right person matters.”

Shinwoo manipulated his smartwatch and brought up a map. Since team members shared their positions with one another, he prepared to track Hyeon-yul immediately.

“Let’s get ready.”

Nayun adjusted the position of her scope while holding the rifle, then handed a bullet to Jihwan.

“Yes!”

Jihwan answered energetically, took the bullet, and immediately began applying his magic.

* * *

Hyeon-yul continued downward without hesitation after slipping inside the building.

As he approached the sixth floor, he encountered the people guarding it. They were not standing in the hallway, but waiting inside rooms so they could rush out at any moment.

The determination on their faces showed that they had genuinely prepared for their final deaths.

‘Are they at least getting paid for this?’

Rather than mock them, that was the first thought to cross Hyeon-yul’s mind. If he were still a villain, he might have been standing in the same position as them.

Feeling once again how much his circumstances had changed, he descended to the fifth floor.

He slipped into the walls and moved through them while searching for the hostages. Normally, several guards would stand outside a room containing captives, but there were only two here.

‘It’s definitely bait.’

Whether Black Eagle came down from the roof or moved up from the first floor, they would inevitably encounter villains and enter combat.

They would be exhausted afterward, so naturally their rational judgment would become less reliable. If they then discovered a room that looked as though it contained hostages, they would instinctively search it.

What emotion did the villains hope Black Eagle would feel after defeating them and opening that door?

‘Despair.’

Villains wanted Black Eagles to suffer and die in agony forever.

Hyeon-yul passed through the wall and entered the room. The captives’ hands and feet were bound, their eyes and mouths were covered, explosives had been attached to their bodies and the walls, and even the doorway had been rigged with a trap.

‘The placement is pretty good.’

The moment someone opened the door to rescue the hostages, they would end up killing everyone instead. It was an arrangement perfectly suited to crushing Black Eagle with despair.

Hyeon-yul extended a hand slightly. Hands emerged from the hostages’ shadows and swallowed the bombs as though chewing through meat.

When Hyeon-yul shifted his gaze toward the wall, a black wave surged across it, leaving nothing behind where the explosives had been.

He typed something into his phone, then removed the cloth covering the eyes of the nearest woman.

「I’m with Black Eagle.」

The moment she read the words Black Eagle, tears filled her eyes.

She was saved. That emotion surged through her so clearly that Hyeon-yul leaned his neck back slightly, uncomfortable with a feeling he had rarely received in his life, and hurriedly looked down at his phone again.

His thumb moved rapidly across the screen.

「I’m going to free you, so please remain quiet.」

「If you understand, nod your head.」

The woman immediately nodded to show that she understood.

Hyeon-yul used the darkness to cut the restraints around her hands and feet and remove the gag, then moved on to the next person.

He lowered the cloth covering that person’s eyes and showed them the same message on his phone. Even though the words were identical, nearly everyone reacted in the same way.

They were alive. They were safe. They could survive.

Those emotions appeared again and again before him. They were feelings he could never have encountered while living as a villain.

Hyeon-yul did not fully accept the emotions directed toward him. They were looking at him that way only because of the uniform he wore.

He simply continued doing what needed to be done.

「Please remain here quietly for a little longer.」

「Do not move.」

After freeing roughly half of them, Hyeon-yul showed the captives another message. He judged that they could release the others themselves from there.

「I’ll come back.」

Leaving those words behind, Hyeon-yul disappeared quietly and traveled upward through the walls.

“The bombs are clea...”

A rifle barrel swung toward Hyeon-yul, and he immediately raised both hands.

Nayun hurriedly lowered the weapon and asked in alarm, “A-are you okay?”

“You didn’t fire.”

At this distance, Hyeon-yul was not certain he could have properly dodged if she had.

He continued speaking without dwelling on it.

“In any case, as I was saying, I removed the bombs. I also removed the restraints covering the hostages’ hands, feet, eyes, and mouths, then told them to wait. Once I move to the other buildings, I’ll turn on their lights. Please use that as the signal.”

“...That was incredibly fast.”

Shinwoo sounded impressed even by the mechanical way Hyeon-yul delivered his report. Barely any time had passed.

“Thank you.”

When Hyeon-yul bowed politely, Shinwoo smiled lightly.

“Hyung, I’ll open a path to the other side for you.”

Jihwan pointed toward a distant building.

“Yes. Please do.”

Hyeon-yul readily accepted. Jihwan’s route could be faster than traveling there under his own power.

A door formed on the floor, and Hyeon-yul opened it before speaking calmly.

“I’m going.”

Without hesitation, he stepped through the door.