Chapter 118 - Morning Soap Opera (4)

* * *

"What's gotten into you? Are you doing this because you're worried about me?"

Sinu continued with a sigh. Honestly, whether Taejin was his uncle or not, he found it hard to face him. He wanted to leave immediately.

"No. It's right to be suspicious of favors. Seeing and verifying things for myself will prevent trouble later."

Taejin's gaze changed as he looked at Hyeonyul, who seemed to be treating him like an enemy.

"We're better off not seeing him at all. Let's go."

"I'll ask a few more questions I'm curious about, then follow you. Is that all right?"

Hyeonyul sounded particularly shameless. But Sinu couldn't stop him, so he held his head and sighed.

"If that's what you want, go ahead. Oh, I'll trust you not to disclose my identity to anyone outside."

Sinu left without waiting for an answer. Taejin's gaze followed him.

"May I ask now?"

"Before that, how about taking off your helmet? I'd understand if you had no choice, but it keeps bothering me. Isn't it rather rude?"

"I wasn't taught proper manners. I'll take it off now."

There was something strangely grating about his tone.

When Hyeonyul removed his helmet, Taejin narrowed his eyes. He was older than expected. There was something odd about both Sinu's face and that of the Black Eagle before him.

"Go ahead."

But Taejin asked no further questions.

"Had you sensed that villains were targeting you before this?"

"I had."

As suspected, he had known and still hadn't asked the Black Eagles for help.

"I see. Then have they taken anything from you?"

"Not yet. I suppose I'll have to look into it further to know."

"Have there been any other problems? For instance, attacks from competing companies while you're being harassed like this, groundless complaints, or accidents caused by frequent factory breakdowns."

"..."

Taejin didn't answer readily. But his stiff expression made it easy to infer that there had been problems.

'Was he attacked by a major corporation run by villains? If so, should I assume Pyochan went to work under them?'

Having killed Pyochan, Hyeonyul could only speculate. But he had no regrets. The chances that Pyochan would have used this information to sway him were far too high.

"... Do the Black Eagles investigate people's backgrounds too?"

"No. This is purely my conjecture. This faction wouldn't have been the only one targeting you."

"What do you mean?"

"You might think it's over now that this faction was captured today, but it isn't all over yet."

"It isn't all over yet?"

Judging by Pyochan's reaction, Hyeonyul could tell that he had been far too optimistic about the present situation.

"I know that, as chairman, you have many people at your disposal. But to put it plainly, you will fail no matter what. Ask the Black Eagles for help."

"No. I appreciate the advice, but I won't."

"Is a chairman's position one where you can afford to be swayed by personal feelings?"

Taejin showed his displeasure at what sounded like a provocation.

"Don't cross the line."

"This isn't a matter of crossing lines. Just as I don't understand companies, you probably don't understand villains, Mr. Baek Taejin. This isn't simply a matter of your company faltering. Everyone working under you will be tainted with the label of villain."

"I can't disrupt my company over mere conjecture. We've already been undergoing regular inspections by the Black Eagles. If you still failed to notice, wouldn't that be your responsibility rather than mine?"

"It's your responsibility, Mr. Baek Taejin."

Hyeonyul answered without hesitation. Taejin looked uncomfortable.

"I don't believe you could have submitted to a full inspection. You hate the Black Eagles. You see them as the enemy who cost big brother Baek Sinu his parents—"

"Enough."

Taejin raised his voice slightly. Hyeonyul seemed to have touched a very sensitive nerve.

"Do you think my warning is false? First, drugs will circulate inside your company. Then people will disappear, one or two at a time. Usually, the people who disappear are those who know the truth."

"I told you to stop."

"Then who do you think will have killed those people?"

"I clearly told you—"

"Your employees."

Hyeonyul didn't stop talking, and Taejin's tightly clenched hand shook. He was wavering.

"The villains will exploit that opening, and your employees will commit greater crimes to cover up their guilt. At that point, they may still feel some pangs of conscience. When that happens, the villains bury it with money. They'll give them more than they can refuse. Having sold their consciences, those people will become villains. Once they've tasted pleasures they can never experience in ordinary life, they'll never come back."

Hyeonyul had described one very common process. There were many other paths to becoming a villain.

"Can you take responsibility for that?"

Hyeonyul smiled.

"If your petty feelings and stubbornness produce not merely dozens but millions of villains, will you only then regret it and come to the Black Eagles? You should stop doing things whose consequences you cannot bear. That's arrogance."

Until they had confirmation that all the villains targeting Baek Taejin's corporation were gone, the danger remained. That was the truth.

"Ask the Black Eagles for help. I'll be leaving now."

Having finished speaking, Hyeonyul stood. That was all he had come to do.

"... Wait."

"Yes. Go ahead."

Hyeonyul looked at Taejin. Whatever he intended to say, listening first was the right thing to do.

"... Did you call it personal feelings?"

"Yes."

"My... younger sister was killed by the Black Eagles."

"That's precisely why they're personal feelings. This incident and that incident are separate. Good day."

Leaving the decision to Taejin, Hyeonyul put his helmet back on and went outside. Taejin held his head and stared at the desk. His eyes wavered wildly. Overwhelmed by surging anger and despair, he squeezed them shut.

* * *

Team Three.

Sinu stopped before the door and sighed.

"Wait a moment, Hyeonyul."

Hyeonyul followed him. After moving away from the door, Sinu hesitated for quite some time.

"Should I keep it secret?"

"... I'd appreciate that."

Sinu trailed off.

"Understood."

The answer came so readily that Sinu let out a deflated sound, wondering why he'd worried at all.

"Thank you, Hyeonyul."

"Not at all."

"And for today, too. With a Black Eagle dead, it couldn't have been easy to volunteer for the mission. Thank you for doing that."

"I gained more than expected. I'm satisfied as well."

He had learned several things. Shin Daeho had known his identity and even tried to protect him. Park Pyochan had participated in the experiments on him. Even though he'd killed Pyochan, he thought the villains targeting Baek Taejin's corporation would soon lead him to whoever was backing them.

"I'm glad, then."

"May we go in now? I can hear the Team Leader's footsteps quite a lot."

"Let's go."

As Sinu followed Hyeonyul, a smile slowly spread across his face. The man who had suddenly appeared claiming to be his uncle had left his mind in turmoil, but now that he thought about it, wasn't this something to be incredibly happy about?

Normally, they didn't immediately return to a failed mission. The danger was high, and shattered morale increased the chances of dying. Yet Hyeonyul had carried out the mission so well that it could be called flawless.

"Hyeonyul."

Sinu's voice had already swelled as though a balloon had inflated inside it.

"Yes?"

"You got revenge on them on behalf of all of us. How does it feel?"

"Is that what this means? Am I allowed to be part of 'us'?"

"What are you talking about? You're a Black Eagle, aren't you?"

At that matter-of-fact reply, Hyeonyul hesitated, his hand stopping short of the doorknob.

"Well, we did lose at first, but in the end, they all knelt before you, Hyeonyul. We won."

"Honestly, we could respond because we knew beforehand. I don't know whether this is when people say a death wasn't in vain, but using that information, you did everything, big brother Baek Sinu."

Sinu laughed heartily at those words and the look Hyeonyul gave him. Intentional or not, that was quite a lavish compliment.

"You're the one who had the courage. If you hadn't started, I wouldn't even have thought of starting either. Honestly, it is frightening."

Still smiling, Sinu opened the door. Then came the sound of Haeryeon running toward them.

'Is that... really what this means?'

Unsure whether it was true, Hyeonyul stepped inside.

"Welcome back!"

Haeryeon's radiant smile made his steps a little lighter. Whatever else was true, the mission was complete.

* * *

"... That is why I believe we need an official investigation into Sepia, the corporation chaired by Baek Taejin."

Haeryeon spoke as she looked at all the Team Leaders. Hyeonyul and Sinu had brought them a great deal: the villains targeting Sepia, and the fact that Shin Daeho's subordinate Park Pyochan was involved.

"The more I see, the more I want him."

Yang Dojin, Team Two's leader, rubbed their chin and smacked their lips. When Haeryeon kept staring, Dojin raised both hands. There she went again with that look.

"What can I do, Haeryeon? I want him."

Dojin smiled brightly.

"If this is true, we absolutely have to investigate. We all know, don't we? We're pursuing major corporations ourselves, and we haven't been able to break through."

Ye Juhyeon, Team Seven's leader, gripped their phone with a frustrated expression. Honestly, much of it was their own fault. They should have found a way through, but useless scraps of information blocked the way, and clearing them out took even more time.

In other words, it was like being handed mountains of trash and told to find an answer smaller than a grain of rice somewhere inside. It was utterly shitty.

"... Oh, Seo Hyeonyul gave you the files too, didn't he?"

Jeong Narin, Team Six's leader, fiddled with the long bangs covering their eyes.

"He did."

At Haeryeon's answer, Narin fidgeted with their fingers.

"I-I'm sorry. I should have searched more thoroughly."

"It's all right, Team Leader Narin. It's fortunate we've learned about it now. Above all, there's still someone we can investigate."

"Do you mean the Poison King?"

Bong Hyeonho, Team Four's leader, asked sharply.

The Poison King was imprisoned now, but there was no telling when he might get out again. His next target would undoubtedly be the Nest, so Hyeonho couldn't help being on edge.

In particular, after Haeryeon visited the 'special prison for criminals,' Hyeonho had heard directly how the Poison King was being handled. Despite being such a significant, high-profile villain, he wasn't even being properly managed. Ever since, Hyeonho had been voluntarily keeping in contact.

"That's right. We'll need to visit again soon."

After answering, Haeryeon slowly surveyed everyone.

"We've continued searching for the major corporations run by villains because we know how dangerous they are."

"... H-horrifying, really."

The corners of Narin's eyes drooped.

"Even with all the information the new recruit gave us, we failed to find them. Regardless of the villains' tangled control structure, we should be deeply ashamed of that. Today, the new recruit brought us several more things."

Haeryeon looked at them as she argued her case, trying to change their minds. She had to make it absolutely clear that Hyeonyul could never become their weakness.

"He also brought us the most important thing."

To drive that home, Haeryeon spoke with almost palpable force in her throat.

"Victory."

A failed mission meant defeat. She believed no one here could fail to understand what that defeat meant.

"Now you truly must acknowledge him. The new recruit risked his life for this victory."

Haeryeon looked at the vacant seat of Team Five's leader.

"No matter who comes."

She had received word that someone would soon fill the vacant Team Five leader position. Something new wasn't always something good. She finished speaking with a wary look.

"Let's stop this and just take a vote."

Dojin made the suggestion. How long were they going to drag this out? A vote was the best way to settle it decisively.

"Agreed."

Dojin looked surprised by Hyeonho's reply. Wasn't Hyeonho the person who had disliked Hyeonyul most?

As everyone was raising their hands, Narin cautiously addressed Haeryeon.

"Um, b-but, Team Leader Haeryeon."

"Yes?"

"Could I meet the new recruit later?"

"What for?"

Haeryeon couldn't immediately agree. Hadn't Hyeonho visited Hyeonyul without warning just today?

"I-I know the new recruit has done a lot. But I want to see him for myself. Would that be all right...?"

"You're not suspicious of something and looking to dig into it, are you?"

Haeryeon's expression was far from cheerful. Narin was responsible for investigating internal problems and making arrests.

"N-no. I just want to talk with him."

"If it's only a conversation, that's fine. I'll let him know beforehand."

"Th-thank you."

Only then did Narin smile brightly.

"Then let's vote."

Dojin looked at Juhyeon. With an expression that said, Why do you leave all the annoying work to me?, Juhyeon tapped the panel in front of them.

* * *

"... Hello."

At the sudden voice, someone nearly spat out the drink they were sipping.

COUGH, COUGH.

They hadn't even noticed him arrive. Offering water, Hyeonyul lifted the brim of the hat he'd pulled low and looked at the Bomber.

"I've come to kill you again today."

He tried to smile, but having come after finishing work, the corners of his mouth would no longer move.