Chapter 117 - Morning Soap Opera (3)

* * *

Sinu also informed the White Sparrows that Baek Taejin was missing. At first, they merely nodded, but the moment they learned he was the chairman of a major corporation, they seemed to go on high alert. Not because he was a corporate chairman, but because of the repercussions his position could bring.

Apparently, the Black Eagles already conducted regular surveillance of major corporations. Those corporations employed hundreds of thousands of people, and the jobs connected to them numbered in the millions. Despite these ongoing investigations, they were anxiously struggling to identify the major corporations run by villains. It showed just how meticulous villains were, and how much patience was needed to track down the true core of their operations.

Hyeonyul searched for Taejin with Sinu before they split up to cover ground faster. Everyone else would search the obvious places, so Hyeonyul checked the less obvious ones: cleaning-supply cupboards, beneath vending machines, even places where someone might be disguised as a plant.

People had all sorts of different abilities. Even powers considered insignificant could sometimes prove useful in a crisis. Taejin seemed to be one such person.

'... Continuing to search like this would be a waste.'

One man, Taejin, was holding everything up.

Hyeonyul stopped walking and listened to the darkness spread throughout the hospital. What he needed to find was a heartbeat. Every living person had a heart. From the darkness touching the soles of his feet, his power branched into the other shadows like roots. He could not maintain it for long, so he had to find him quickly.

THUMP-THUMP.

He heard them one by one. Some were incredibly fast and irregular. Others were simply fast. As the sounds overlapped again and again, until they violently rattled his head, Hyeonyul withdrew his power.

'One sounds like an animal, and the other... a person?'

An odd sound was mixed in among the various heartbeats. Animal and human hearts differed in size to begin with, so the volume should have differed too. Yet the rhythm resembled a human heartbeat, while the volume was only that of an animal's. What could it be?

Hyeonyul thought for a moment before an ability came to mind.

'A power that lets someone change their own size?'

He had actually seen it a few times. Usually, there seemed to be a limit to how far someone could shrink, leaving them about the size of a small child.

'Usually, anything scurrying around would be an insect or a mouse. Could someone shrink that far?'

But nothing else could explain the situation. If Taejin had shrunk to the size of an insect or a mouse, the villains would have failed to spot so much as a hair on his head, let alone find him.

To be more certain, Hyeonyul decided to search every place where he had heard a sound, and informed Sinu.

<Let's hear it.>

<... Huh? They can get that small? Is that possible? That's actually possible?>

His bewilderment came through even in the messages.

<Yes. Understood.>

Hyeonyul nodded, then entered the darkness. It was time to check them one by one.

* * *

There were thirty-four sources of sound in all. Around the time he reached the twenty-third, Hyeonyul took out his phone and searched for Baek Taejin. The face in the photograph was younger than he had expected. He looked to be in his late fifties at most.

Hyeonyul stared at the tiny figure hiding behind a flowerpot, then looked back at his phone.

'They look alike, don't they?'

He glanced around. He wanted to call someone over to confirm it, but Sinu was the only person he knew. He was checking Sinu's location when he turned his head.

"Did you find him?"

At Sinu's question, Hyeonyul pointed to the figure behind the flowerpot. It immediately flinched.

"Huh...?"

Bewildered, Sinu rubbed his eyes. He looked again, but the figure behind the flowerpot had not disappeared.

"Wh-what, what is that?"

"Does he resemble this person?"

While Sinu asked in alarm, Hyeonyul calmly held out his phone. Sinu looked back and forth between the phone and the figure behind the flowerpot several times, barely swallowing the scream threatening to escape.

<... They're identical! That's him!!>

<No, no, what the hell is this?! How can a person get this small? Is that possible? Is he even alive?>

<That's why I was checking under vending machines and everything, but this is... wow...>

Sinu was speechless. To think it really was possible.

As Hyeonyul reached out, Sinu caught his hand.

<Wait.>

<Yes.>

"Um, excuse me."

Sinu cautiously addressed Taejin.

"Are you Mr. Baek Taejin?"

Taejin looked around from behind the flowerpot, then glanced behind him. The window was closed. He edged about as though looking for a way to escape.

"We're Black Eagles. Are you Mr. Baek Taejin?"

Sinu held out his government employee ID.

Taejin was examining the ID out of the corner of his eye when he suddenly turned his head toward it in earnest. Though he had seemed unlikely ever to emerge from behind the flowerpot, he ran over and grabbed the ID. It looked rather like a doll moving. His mouth moved, but his voice was too quiet to hear.

"... Sorry?"

"He's asking whether you really are Baek Sinu."

When Hyeonyul spoke, Sinu stared at him with wide eyes.

"You can hear that?"

"Yes, I can."

"You've got good hearing."

After complimenting Hyeonyul, Sinu answered.

"Yes. I'm Baek Sinu. I'm also a Black Eagle."

At that, Taejin leaped down. Startled, Sinu started to reach out, only for his gaze to rise as Taejin's body suddenly grew.

"... Uh, uh."

Taejin approached the bewildered Sinu and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"What are your parents' names? Tell me!"

Hyeonyul nodded at Taejin's urgent words. People thought films and dramas made no sense, but reality was even worse. He watched with interest.

"Hold on. Please calm down. First of all, that's personal information."

Sinu lowered Taejin's hands and held up his palms. He understood that being pursued by villains had left the man shaken, but this was still far too hasty.

"I suspect this may be a secret about your birth."

Hyeonyul spoke with conviction.

"... What are you talking about?"

Sinu was dumbfounded. Earlier, Hyeonyul had asked if they were related simply because they shared a surname. He had gone too far then, and he was going too far now.

'What on earth has he been watching?'

Sharing a surname did not make everyone in the world family. Sinu decided he would have to explain a few things to Hyeonyul later. He really was the most scatterbrained of them, and had the weakest grasp on reality.

"Baek Chayeon. Baek Seonho."

Two names came from Taejin's lips. The moment Sinu heard them, he froze. His mind went blank. Once could be a coincidence. But could the second time still be called a coincidence?

"I'm your uncle."

"... What?"

Everything stopped for Sinu under the sudden onslaught of facts. It felt as though a giant drum were pounding inside his head.

'I knew it.'

Hyeonyul had sensed it immediately from Taejin's behavior. Reality always went further.

* * *

This wasn't some morning soap opera. Did any of this make sense? He had gone on a mission, found a corporate chairman with the same surname, and now that man was his uncle?

'Both my parents died. I'm an orphan now, aren't I? They said I had no relatives.'

Sinu sat down and gripped his hair. No matter how many times he thought it over, it was strange. He could not even comprehend whether this was real.

'Is this a dream? Am I dreaming?'

Until a short while ago, he had been fighting villains inside a hospital steeped in the smell of blood, surrounded by countless corpses.

"It isn't a dream."

Hyeonyul brought him tea and sat beside him. When Sinu looked over, he explained.

"I found it in the hospital's staff kitchen, so I brewed some. Cold water is also effective for calming down, but I thought warm tea would be more appropriate right now."

"... Hyeonyul."

Sinu looked at him, his face contorted.

"Yes."

"I'm definitely an orphan, you know?"

"So am I."

"No, that's not what I mean. Why is this happening out of nowhere? When I watched dramas, I'd scoff and wonder what the hell was going on, but part of me also thought, wow, that would be pretty amazing."

"If you scoffed at it, why would it be amazing?"

"That's not the point. Does this make any sense?"

"It does."

"It does...? This makes sense? How does it make sense?"

"First of all, Mr. Baek Taejin did not trust the Black Eagles. We can tell because he said nothing despite clearly seeing us pass by. No, he never asked the Black Eagles for help in the first place, even though he could have. That means he harbors some deep resentment toward the Black Eagles."

Hyeonyul drank his tea, then looked at Sinu.

Today's events might have happened without warning, but they might not have. If there had been ongoing warning signs, yet Taejin had still not sought help from the Black Eagles, it could only be a personal grudge. And in this case, there was only one possible source of that grudge.

"Big brother Baek Sinu, were both your parents Black Eagles?"

"... You're sharp."

Sinu smiled awkwardly. To think he had deduced it immediately.

"They were."

"That explains Mr. Baek Taejin's otherwise incomprehensible behavior. He believed he had lost his family because of the Black Eagles."

"... Then he should have come to see us. He didn't know my parents had died? A corporate chairman?"

"The only conclusion is that he opposed their becoming Black Eagles. Simply put, perhaps they cut ties. Of course, that is only my conjecture."

Family estrangement was common enough to appear on the news from time to time. If they had remained out of touch, time could simply have passed without him knowing. It was possible.

"Then he could have pretended not to know me today too. Why say something like that? It's strange."

With a pained expression, Sinu stared at his interlaced fingers.

"I don't know. Emotional matters are extremely difficult to infer. Concern... doesn't quite seem to fit. Happiness at seeing you...? That seems odd too. Why not simply ask him?"

Hyeonyul turned his head. The door opened. Taejin seemed to have returned from being questioned by the White Sparrows.

"... It was impulsive."

He sat down as he spoke. He looked neater than before, apparently having smoothed his disheveled hair. His expression was composed as well.

"The news reached me late."

"What news?"

At the edge in Sinu's voice, Hyeonyul quietly stood.

"It's fine. Sit down. I'm not going to listen for long before leaving anyway."

At those blunt words, Hyeonyul looked at Taejin. When the man nodded with a calm expression, Hyeonyul sat back down. Taejin and Sinu did not look all that much alike.

"News of my younger sister. Your mother, that is."

"So you really are my uncle? I've never heard of you."

"Don't take that tone with me."

"I'm trying not to, but the sharp edges keep slipping out. It's giving me trouble. You'll just have to listen carefully."

"This was my mistake. I never imagined that even you... would be a Black Eagle."

"Am I not allowed to be one, Uncle? Were you there when I became a Black Eagle? No, were you even there when I lost my parents, Uncle?"

As Sinu kept needling him, Taejin exhaled.

"You're not a child. Can't you mind your tone? Your colleague is watching beside you."

Taejin glanced toward Hyeonyul. It did look rather strange that he was still wearing a helmet.

"Unfortunately for you, he already knows I'm like this."

Hyeonyul looked at Sinu. He had had no idea. Still, he did not bother to say anything.

"I know you'll resent me. If you ask how I could have failed to know whether my own sister was alive or dead, I have no excuse. I only found out recently myself, and I've been looking for you. Is your younger brother... doing well?"

"... How did you know I had a younger brother?"

Sinu's expression hardened.

"I reached out to my sister first. That's when I found out."

He did not say when he had contacted her. Unable to meet Sinu's gaze, Taejin fidgeted with his fingers.

"He's dead."

"... What?"

Taejin abruptly raised his head.

"He died over ten years ago, Uncle."

"How...?"

Taejin's eyes wavered. His face was profoundly shocked. When he could not continue, Sinu drew a breath.

"I don't want to talk about it."

But he had never forgotten it, not once.

["... Big bwother! Help me!"]

With that voice that still could not pronounce words properly, his brother had desperately reached for him. Sinu had reached out too, but his short arms could not reach.

Someone had grabbed Sinu and fled. His brother had grown farther and farther away. He knew now where they had taken him.

A test subject.

That poor child must have died as a test subject. That was why he worried about Jihwan and Hyeonyul, who had escaped that hell.

"If you're planning to stop me, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

Sinu rose from his seat. Taejin did not look at him.

"Still, you saved me. I'd like to treat you to a meal sometime. Would that be all right?"

"No..."

"It would."

Hyeonyul answered. Sinu stared at him in disbelief.

End of Chapter 117

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