WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 19: Got It!
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* * *
* * *
“...This feels strange.”
Haeryeon roughly rubbed her face with both hands as though washing it.
Their conversation had ended quickly.
They had only discussed the essentials, without any small talk.
Still, Hyeonyul’s remark that he had nothing at home stuck with her. Before she could even ask what he liked, they stopped by a nearby supermarket, swept up everything they could, and gave it all to him.
Then they fled as though running away after seeing Hyeonyul’s deeply flustered expression.
“...I feel the same way, Team Leader.”
Sinu drove as though possessed.
“It really did look like... it was his first time receiving food and things like that, right?”
“It certainly seemed that way.”
“This is bad... I’m weak to this sort of thing.”
“Me too.”
Haeryeon and Sinu let out breaths almost simultaneously.
They could not even begin to imagine what kind of life Hyeonyul had lived.
“Villains keep coming after him. We should get him to move as soon as possible, but do you think Mr. Hyeonyul would?”
“Honestly, I don’t think he would move without a particular reason. It looked like he had lived there for quite a long time.”
“Right...? Our benefits are good, but we don’t run dorms separately because of security. If we did, I’d have had him apply right away.”
What a shame.
With exactly that expression, Haeryeon fiddled with her seat belt.
“I’ll try persuading him indirectly. First, let’s solve the other problems.”
“That’s right. You see what Mr. Hyeonyul brought us, don’t you?”
They had found the internal informant and learned the location of a building owned by the Poison King.
Today’s events alone could be considered the success of one enormous mission.
“It makes no sense to drive out someone this capable.”
Haeryeon crossed her arms, while Sinu smoothly turned the steering wheel and repeatedly nodded.
“Of course. It’s not easy to find someone like him.”
“Can we really let someone this capable go unrecognized for his abilities?”
“Absolutely not. Hyeonyul has already proven himself through his abilities. In only one week, he’s been accomplishing things we couldn’t manage.”
“Exactly! You can tell from how high-ranking Villains covet Mr. Hyeonyul. Team Leader Dojin too.”
“Team Leader Dojin as well?”
“Yeah. It gives me chills. Team Leader Juhyeon... I’m not sure about her yet, but you never know, right?”
“Team Leader. Honestly, I like Hyeonyul because he makes me feel certain that I won’t die on a mission. I don’t want any more team members to die.”
“...Yeah. That really is... something I hate.”
Haeryeon looked out the window.
No matter how good Black Eagle’s conditions were, its high death rate meant that eventually, they would have to experience a teammate’s death.
Was that not why she was desperately trying to manage things now?
“So, Team Leader, when should we hold Hyeonyul’s welcome party?”
Sinu asked as though tossing aside the mood from moments ago.
Wouldn’t it finally feel like Hyeonyul had joined Team Three once they held a welcome party?
“Sinu. Can Mr. Hyeonyul handle us? The energy we unleash? It’ll be even worse once alcohol is involved. Will he be okay?”
Haeryeon was genuinely worried.
There had even been team members who ran away after just one welcome party.
“...It is pretty scary. He can’t run away over this.”
“Mr. Hyeonyul still hasn’t met Mr. Jihwan. They’ve kept missing each other lately.”
“Don’t you think they’d get along?”
“Who knows? Maybe they will.”
“If they’re destined to be teammates, won’t they meet at just the right moment?”
Sinu threw out the remark and laughed loudly to himself. Haeryeon shook her head as though used to it.
* * *
‘...Hmm.’
Hyeonyul rested his chin in his hand as he looked out the bus window.
According to 101 Ways to a Smooth Office Life, when someone gave you something, you had to return the favor.
Yesterday, Haeryeon and Sinu had given him enough things to fill his completely empty refrigerator.
‘How... do I return the favor?’
Hyeonyul had been thinking seriously when he abruptly stood.
“Driver, turn the wheel left immediately.”
He approached the driver and spoke firmly.
Something was coming.
It did not feel right.
‘This is another kind of power.’
It was also the kind of power that would bring no good if he clashed with it.
As Hyeonyul looked through the front window, the bus sharply turned, and he grabbed a pole to keep himself steady.
Screeeech.
The sound of the road being ground apart stabbed at his ears.
“Argh!”
Screams filled the bus.
‘It looks like I’m the only Black Eagle here.’
Before Hyeonyul could go outside to stop whatever was approaching, an unknown power wrapped around the bus and protected it.
At the sight of the transparent, barrier-like force, Hyeonyul raised his brows.
‘...Magic?’
Someone leisurely walked over from beyond it and stopped in front of the bus.
The yawning man grinned at Hyeonyul and held up three fingers.
What else could that mean?
‘...Team Three?’
Only then did Hyeonyul recognize him as a teammate.
Haeryeon had told him there was one more team member.
She had said they had strangely kept missing each other.
‘To think he’s a mage.’
Hyeonyul turned his head.
Something sprang out from behind the bus and collided with a car following behind it.
Crash!
As he watched the car fly away, Hyeonyul let out a long breath.
‘What kind of power is that?’
A person stood where the car had been.
Had they targeted the morning commute?
“Please open the door.”
Hyeonyul told the driver, then stepped outside after the door opened.
The moment his feet touched the ground, his mood darkened.
Other cars had been damaged by the impact of the car that had just flown away, and blaring horns pierced his ears.
Come to think of it, it was not even time for work yet.
Who in the world wanted to work before work?
“Kyakyakyakya!”
Hyeonyul turned at the strange laughter.
A man with massive muscles, as though he had inflated them with a pump, was slowly turning around.
Hyeonyul did not care who the bastard was.
Anyone who casually destroyed someone else’s car had to be a Villain.
He drew his dagger.
He slowly surveyed his surroundings.
There were suspicious footsteps, but the man had no companion.
For now, he was alone.
“You’re going to come at me with that?”
The man looked Hyeonyul up and down and laughed.
He looked scrawny compared to the man’s size, but how satisfying would it be to beat him?
Licking his lips, the man lost himself in the fantasy.
“Good, good. You’ll make a perfect addition to my glorious record.”
At the word record, Hyeonyul approached without hesitation.
He definitely was a Villain.
Just as Hyeonyul was about to melt into the darkness, he helplessly stopped.
A wall had suddenly appeared, and Hyeonyul looked behind him.
The first thing he noticed was a head of curly blond hair.
He looked quite young at a glance.
“...What are you doing right now?”
His teammate asked in horror.
Apparently, Hyeonyul was not in his right mind.
The man who had appeared was not merely large.
He was as tall as the roof of the bus.
The car that had collided with him would not have looked out of place in a scrapyard immediately afterward.
It was one of the most common sights among Villains with enhancement abilities.
They forcefully enlarged their bodies from within to strengthen their power.
“If anything, I should be asking you that. What are you doing?”
Hyeonyul asked with irritation.
What was he doing in a real battle, not training?
Did he not know that a tiny difference could get someone killed?
“How can you go straight at someone that big? Something terrible could happen.”
“Nothing terrible will happen.”
Hyeonyul answered firmly as he looked ahead.
The muscular man was openly showing that he mainly fought with physical blows.
So what?
A tremor ran through the ground, and the wall his teammate had raised with magic shattered into pieces, scattering fragments everywhere.
Crack!
Along with a heavy fist came the Villain’s wide smile.
The fist approached, but Hyeonyul was certain.
That fist would never reach him.
He deflected the incoming fist and fragments, then raised his dagger.
“Pfft!”
The Villain burst out laughing.
The dagger was too cute and small to cut even through his muscles.
What could it possibly do?
The moment his feet touched the ground, the Villain immediately turned around.
He swung his fist again, as though determined to smash Hyeonyul’s head.
Looking at the Villain’s rock-like fist, Hyeonyul smiled as well.
Black power spread around the dagger.
It looked just like a demon spreading its wings.
The spreading power instantly settled into the dagger, turning it into a longsword, and the Villain panicked.
Following its black trail, the sword effortlessly severed the Villain’s arm.
It was clean and easy.
Hyeonyul stepped back to avoid the spurting blood, and the Villain’s scream rang out.
“Arghhhhh!”
After watching the Villain clutch his severed arm and roll across the ground, Hyeonyul turned his gaze toward his teammate.
Even after seeing this, he could hear a car moving.
It was heading toward them.
‘As expected, there are more.’
Could it be the source of those suspicious footsteps?
“I’ll handle it.”
His teammate, who had been approaching to join the fight at any moment, urgently spoke.
He pointed the staff he was holding toward where Hyeonyul was looking.
Wind gathered around him, and a magic circle appeared before the staff.
A glittering light appeared and vanished. Then, a fierce snowstorm swept in from somewhere.
Hyeonyul narrowed his eyes.
Even from a distance, the breath in front of him had turned white.
He looked at the instantly frozen car, then at his teammate.
How would he have dealt with that power himself?
It was the kind of power that made him think such things.
‘If it were me, I would have killed him the moment he raised that staff.’
That was the easiest way to deal with a mage.
“Wow! That car had magic on it. How did you know and react?”
His teammate asked in amazement.
It was difficult to detect magic.
Why else would magic always rank among the top five most terrifying powers?
‘There was magic on it...?’
Hyeonyul looked at the frozen car.
He had not been able to see it.
“I heard it.”
“It was magic that silenced sound, and you heard it? You really must be sensitive to sound.”
“Several of my senses are sharp.”
Hyeonyul briefly lowered his gaze.
Wherever there was a shadow, he could feel vibrations.
“Anyway, nothing terrible really happened, huh? I’ll definitely keep that in mind next time.”
His teammate grinned and approached Hyeonyul.
Was he simply easygoing?
“Nothing terrible happens over something like this.”
If he were incompetent, he would be fired.
Hyeonyul answered as he walked toward the Villain.
Fear had already filled the Villain’s eyes.
“Why are you making such a fuss? If you picked a fight, isn’t it only natural to be prepared to lose a limb?”
The Villain recoiled at Hyeonyul’s blunt words.
“That isn’t natural...”
“I’ll ask simply. Where was the job posting that made you want to build up your record?”
Hyeonyul did not let the word record he had heard earlier pass by.
Companies run by Villains accepted people even without work experience.
Their standards were that low.
But changing jobs was different.
Hyeonyul himself had changed jobs after cutting his boss’s throat and receiving a scouting offer, but ordinarily, to change jobs, one needed experience, proof of how much villainy they had committed.
Here too, they called that a record.
“...Ah, you must have seen the job posting put out by the Poison King.”
The Poison King was the only person trying to extend their influence into this area at the moment.
The Villain’s shoulders shook for just a moment.
‘It really is the Poison King.’
Hyeonyul gained certainty from that reaction.
Whenever someone tried to monopolize everything in one place, other factions always became wary.
The Poison King did not seem to care.
‘Well, their scale is large...’
Wrinkles formed around Hyeonyul’s eyes.
‘Wait.’
“...They said they were preparing one big thing.”
He remembered the phrase one big thing, which he had heard while killing seven of the eight people yesterday.
Hyeonyul took out his phone and searched for something.
A festival.
When he had worked under Shin Daeho, Shin Daeho had once casually said something.
“Wouldn’t someone who has the nerve to kill people in a crowded place, then make a clean escape, be pretty useful? Of course, they have to take a proof photo while killing them. If they overlap with someone else, well, tell them to kill each other. What do you think? Isn’t that a pretty good job posting?”
He had not answered, wondering what nonsense that was.
His work had mainly involved killing competitors, in other words, other Villains.
‘To think there’s a crazy bastard who would actually do this.’
“...Excuse me?”
His teammate called to Hyeonyul.
He still did not know Hyeonyul’s name.
“Can I stop the Villain’s bleeding?”
“Do whatever you want.”
Since he had no more business with the Villain, Hyeonyul lowered his phone.
There was a festival due to open nearby soon.
He had never even known such a thing existed, since he had no time to attend festivals.
‘The timing makes this the right place.’
He had a feeling.
What better time was there to carry out a terrorist attack than during a festival?
‘If they plan to interfere with the festival, they must have already met with the festival organizers.’
Usually, the first thing they tampered with was festival security.
‘A security company...’
The deeper Hyeonyul’s thoughts went, the more the corners of his lips rose.
Companies run by Villains were spread widely across society.
Naturally, there were quite a few businesses serving ordinary people that were also run by Villains.
Was Black Eagle not searching among major companies for ones run by Villains as well?
Villains always had the Empire as their goal, and because they wanted the Empire, they wanted to become deeply involved in its economy.
Therefore, a security company could be run by Villains too.
‘The day before the festival, an incident that could draw Black Eagle’s attention will happen.’
Thinking of the chatroom contents on the phone he had entrusted to Juhyeon, Hyeonyul recalled that there were also cases where they lured Black Eagle away to keep them from going somewhere.
Would they not do the same this time?
As he considered several things, Hyeonyul clenched his fist tightly.
‘...It’s before work. Why am I having to think about this?’
Reality hit him.
When he turned his head, several cars were tangled together.
The bus was among them.
The thought of how he was supposed to get to the Nest made irritation rise in him.
This was why he hated Villains.
Ever since becoming entangled with them, his life had become a complete mess.
“...Excuse me.”
His teammate called to Hyeonyul.
Seeing the serious look on Hyeonyul’s face, he had become cautious.
“What is it?”
But when Hyeonyul answered, his expression changed as though nothing had happened.
It felt as if his sharpness had vanished.
“First, I’m Ye Jihwan, your teammate. Nice to meet you.”
Jihwan introduced himself first.
His curious gaze turned to Hyeonyul.
“I’m Seo Hyeonyul.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you like this. I had no idea you were so strong!”
Jihwan’s face lit up.
He had heard that a rookie had joined, but Hyeonyul was no different from a veteran.
For a moment, he had even wondered whether he had mistaken him for a rookie.
“I know that anyone in Black Eagle can easily handle someone at this level.”
Hyeonyul spoke truthfully.
If someone did not possess this level of power, they could not become a Black Eagle in the first place.
“You’re humble.”
Jihwan smiled and praised him.
Who disliked praise?
But Hyeonyul denied it.
“I’m not being humble. It’s the truth.”
‘Does he dislike empty compliments?’
Jihwan was briefly flustered, then smiled again.
He grew curious about what sort of person Hyeonyul was.
“Mr. Ye Jihwan. There’s something I want to ask.”
“Go ahead. Ah, just a moment.”
Jihwan pressed down on the forehead of the Villain, who was still screaming.
Light seemed to gather at his fingertips, and the Villain went limp.
“I put him to sleep. He isn’t dead.”
“I don’t care whether you kill him or not.”
“...Really?”
Jihwan felt relieved.
Magic had such great innate power that it often killed people unintentionally.
“I want to call another bus now. How do I do that?”
Jihwan blinked at the question.
‘A bus...?’
For a moment, he wondered what Hyeonyul meant, then brightly smiled.
‘He’s kind of an airhead.’
Why was he worrying about a bus?
Black Eagle was not a title given lightly.
They were highly valuable personnel.
Even without anyone saying anything, a rescue team and another vehicle would be rushing over by now.
But for some reason, Jihwan did not want to tell him.
‘He really is a rookie.’
* * *
Hyeonyul glanced at Jihwan.
Since Jihwan approached him as naturally as Nayun had, he expected him to be as talkative as her.
But aside from saying that he had called a bus, Jihwan said nothing until they arrived.
He merely sat there blankly.
Managers came out and quickly took away the Villain they had brought in, just as before.
Because Jihwan was quiet, being with him was more comfortable than Hyeonyul had expected.
It even felt as though the troubles he had suffered before work had disappeared.
When they opened the door, Haeryeon greeted them.
“Welcome back.”
Seeing Jihwan, usually so blank-faced, and Hyeonyul, who somehow looked comfortable, Haeryeon swallowed the laugh that nearly escaped.
She had known the two would get along.
“Don’t you two get along well?”
“I was really moved by my older brother.”
Jihwan pressed between his brows, and Hyeonyul was about to quietly nod when he asked a question.
“Why am I your older brother?”
“Then am I your older brother?”
Jihwan looked at him expectantly.
“...”
Hyeonyul was at a loss for words.
What did it matter?
“Well, you two are the same age.”
When Haeryeon cut in, Jihwan grinned.
“I’ll still call you older brother. You were incredibly strong.”
‘That must be what captured Mr. Jihwan’s heart.’
Jihwan liked strong people.
Haeryeon felt proud that Hyeonyul seemed to be adapting well.
As Jihwan and Haeryeon smiled, Hyeonyul forced the corners of his lips up, reading the room.
He did not know why they were smiling.
But was this not office life?
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