WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 27: Look at the Answer First
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* * *
‘There are two main possibilities in a case like this.’
Either the group that planted internal informants in Black Eagle was right here.
Or there was another group that had planted internal informants in Black Eagle, and this place had happened to obtain the relevant information.
Either way, there were simply more people Black Eagle had failed to uncover.
‘Now that I have this list, do I just need to pull them out?’
Hyeonyul liked that part.
Those who had survived as internal informants within the group for a long time were as tenacious as weeds.
Weeds were hard to pull because their roots ran deep into the ground.
But now, Hyeonyul had the power to uproot the internal informants.
‘Wouldn’t the team leader be here too?’
If Hyeonyul dealt with that bastard, the rest would come crumbling down.
Before heading outside, Hyeonyul photographed the entire list and sent it to Haeryeon.
Someone could take it on the way, or tamper with it.
[This is the list of internal informants found during the mission.]
Hyeonyul tucked away the documents and casually wiped the poison from his body as he headed out.
The first thing Hyeonyul saw was a gaze filled with surprise.
It was closer to an expression of disbelief that Hyeonyul was truly alive.
‘...Was it really true that he defeated Poison King?’
They had thought it was just a rumor.
Only then did Hyeonyul seem different to them.
“I brought them.”
Ignoring the attention focused on him, Hyeonyul handed the documents to Nayun.
“...Wow. Wow, thank you so much! You aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?”
“No.”
“You don’t feel nauseated or uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Not at all. But there’s something bothering me.”
Instead of answering, Nayun narrowed her eyes as though she were about to act immediately.
“If that poison gets out, it’ll lead to the worst possible outcome. Do you have something to collect the poison with?”
At that, Nayun naturally looked toward the talisman sorcerer.
That person had all kinds of equipment.
“I-I do!”
The talisman sorcerer stammered, then hurried over and handed Hyeonyul a device.
It looked like a mosquito, with a bottle attached to its rear.
“You just need to press this button.”
Hyeonyul nodded at the explanation.
“Understood.”
Hyeonyul calmly went back inside, collected the poison, and returned.
“Here.”
When Hyeonyul held out the device, the talisman sorcerer wrapped it in talismans, said they would be right back, and ran off somewhere.
Hyeonyul waited quietly, then looked at the Black Eagle approaching him.
Despite his sharp impression, he had a great many ear piercings.
He had the air of someone Hyeonyul might encounter somewhere secluded.
His hair reached down behind his ears, and its tips were dyed green.
He looked flashy.
The man tapped his ear, then moved his lips.
<It’s a hassle, but thank you for helping.>
“Ah. He was born unable to speak.”
Nayun explained on their behalf.
“It’s nothing. I heard we’ll be working together often. I look forward to working with you.”
At Hyeonyul’s neat greeting, the man smiled lightly.
‘The mission is over now, but...’
Apart from work, Hyeonyul was curious about the secret base.
“Choo Nayun.”
The moment Nayun was called, she gave Hyeonyul a look full of disappointment.
Noona. Noona.
She mouthed the words.
Did it really have to be this way?
After hesitating, Hyeonyul had no choice but to say it.
“Choo Nayun, Nu...nim.”
“Yes!”
Nayun approached, and Hyeonyul turned his head slightly.
“...May I take a look at the secret base?”
“Of course! There could be other secret bases like this, so it might help us in many ways. So...”
Nayun’s bright smile vanished as her eyes suddenly turned cold while looking somewhere.
Hyeonyul turned his head, but there was nothing there.
There was only a mountain.
‘How far can she see?’
Nayun grabbed a sniper rifle from among the various firearms slung across her back and immediately took aim.
She was astonishingly fast.
When she pulled the trigger, energy compressed at the muzzle, followed by a heavy sound.
Thoom.
Something flew away.
“They were spying on us from over there.”
Keeping one eye shut, Nayun moved the barrel to the side.
“There are two of them. I hit one, but we need to capture the other, so I’ll shoot them in the leg.”
Boom.
Light shot out from the barrel, and Nayun’s body shook.
<I’ll go check.>
As the man moved his lips, a message appeared.
“Yes. Contact us. We’ll keep watch here.”
At Nayun’s words, he nodded and ran.
Sparks of electricity flew from him as he practically vanished in an instant.
Watching that, Hyeonyul’s lips curled up.
It was a habit, but Hyeonyul often imagined what would happen if he faced an opponent.
‘Nice.’
Wouldn’t that make for a very interesting fight?
Nayun suddenly felt a chill and looked at Hyeonyul.
His face was hidden by the helmet.
“I’m sorry, but could you check on the secret base, Hyeonyul? It seems we might have missed something.”
“Please tell me the location.”
“Just a moment.”
Nayun immediately pulled out another gun at her side and fired it somewhere.
Something flew through the air, and red smoke rose in the distance.
“It’s over there.”
“Thank you.”
“I should take you there, but I’m sorry to have to guide you like this.”
“That’s not the case. Just telling me the location is enough. Thank you.”
Hyeonyul bowed his head and headed that way.
‘...What is going on?’
Nayun furrowed her brow.
She had asked Hyeonyul because it was supposed to be simple, but now there was an attack.
‘What did we overlook?’
They had definitely searched the entire secret base.
All they had to do was return with those documents.
‘Were there documents we missed?’
Was someone keeping watch because of those documents?
Or was the secret base itself the target?
Either way, Nayun was angry.
* * *
As Hyeonyul walked, he assessed the situation.
‘It seems the Villains’ situation has gotten tangled up.’
Hyeonyul did not know why the Villains operated this secret base, but their purpose was obvious.
They were monitoring other Villains and Black Eagle.
Hyeonyul had not seen anything that strayed far from that.
‘What they failed to account for was Miss Nayun.’
Who could have known that one of the Black Eagles assigned to this job would have such abnormally developed eyesight?
The Villains fleeing the secret base had likely been nothing more than one of the procedures the company had issued for memorization.
They must have waited for Black Eagle to leave, intending to take something truly important, only to get caught.
‘Then what were they trying to take?’
That was difficult to guess.
‘Whatever it is, it’s sinister.’
Holding a dagger in one hand, Hyeonyul seeped underground through the darkness.
The moment his view changed, two people came into sight.
They were carrying documents.
Hyeonyul immediately looked for the eagle emblem attached to their left arms.
‘It isn’t there.’
Without it, they were Villains.
Hyeonyul approached the closest one softly and slit their throat.
As blood sprayed out, a horrified sound escaped the Villain.
“...Eek!”
Hyeonyul pointed the dagger at the remaining Villain.
The Villain only breathed heavily, wearing a confused expression.
Judging by their behavior, perhaps they were a rookie.
“What are you doing here?”
At Hyeonyul’s question, the Villain rolled their eyes toward the Black Eagle emblem.
If you encounter Black Eagle, die.
Remembering that order, the Villain clenched their teeth.
But their upper and lower teeth could not meet.
Hyeonyul was gripping their cheek as though he was about to crush their face.
“Suicide is not allowed.”
Darkness stretched from Hyeonyul’s hand and removed the pill hidden between the Villain’s teeth.
Then Hyeonyul grabbed their throat.
“Why are you here?”
In an instant, the Villain’s face turned red.
“I...”
Hyeonyul knew what they were about to say.
You think I’ll tell you?
“I decide that.”
The moment Hyeonyul released his hand, he punched the Villain in the face.
Smack!
The Villain rolled across the floor as though sliding.
Hyeonyul slowly approached, and black smoke seized the Villain’s hand.
When their fingers were forcibly spread apart, the Villain flinched.
“Did you guess what I’m about to do?”
Hyeonyul showed them the dagger.
“You filthy... Aaaaagh!”
A scream burst out.
Amid spraying blood, one finger flew away.
“You have nine left. I’ll ask again. Why are you here?”
Hyeonyul’s voice, heard through the pain, was different from before.
He was Black Eagle, yet he was not Black Eagle.
If nothing else, this was not Black Eagle’s way.
All Black Eagle ever did was say stupid things like, “Don’t do that,” and, “Stop.”
Tears burst from the Villain’s eyes as their body trembled.
That person would surely do anything.
As that thought dug into their mind, their mouth moved on its own.
“...There’s... something we have to take.”
“What were you trying to take?”
“...Documents. We were told to get rid of documents. That’s all. That’s everything.”
It seemed true that they did not know the contents.
Hyeonyul asked something else.
“Are those the documents you were supposed to get rid of?”
Hyeonyul pointed to the documents they had been trying to take.
The Villain nodded.
“What is in this place?”
“Materials... There are lots of materials. Information stolen from other... factions.”
“Is that all?”
“I-I don’t know anything else. Really!”
“Understood.”
Hyeonyul answered calmly, approached, and picked up the envelope.
As he stood, he drove the dagger into the Villain’s throat.
Stab!
“Ah, I never said I would let you live.”
Hyeonyul wiped away the blood on his body and dagger, then walked slowly onward.
Hyeonyul had expected something special from a secret base, but it was simply modeled after the inside of an office.
An office underground.
‘...This is a horrible place.’
Hyeonyul stopped looking around and took out the documents.
His finger stopped as he turned several pages.
‘...Estimated location of Shin Daeho’s faction?’
The title alone was unusual.
This really was a place that gathered information on Villains.
‘They put in quite a bit of effort, only for Black Eagle to uncover it?’
The location and even all their materials were about to be looted by Black Eagle.
Perhaps this was the person in charge’s final blaze.
Hyeonyul stopped walking.
‘They’ll be moving together, so I should find them all at once.’
Hyeonyul’s eyes and ears naturally dissolved into the darkness.
All his senses scattered, burrowing deep wherever darkness existed.
Countless things entered his sight, accompanied by faint sounds.
Then they heard a rustling sound.
Hyeonyul sent his eyes in that direction.
Several people were gathering materials.
‘Shall I go?’
* * *
The moment Hyeonyul appeared through the darkness, he grabbed one person.
After watching everyone’s attention turn toward him, Hyeonyul cut off the person’s head for all to see.
Crunch.
He made the sound deliberately loud.
Everyone’s hands stopped. Using that silence, Hyeonyul tossed the now-dead Villain to the floor and quietly asked,
“What is this place?”
Fear was a very useful tool.
With this many people, at least one would confess out of survival instinct.
“...”
They watched each other’s reactions until someone spoke first.
“I-It’s like a surveillance hub for other factions!”
“...You crazy bastard. You’re telling them?”
“You were all going to talk anyway, so quit acting tough!”
The Villain raised their voice.
No matter how they looked at it, the helmeted man was Black Eagle.
What else could it mean that Black Eagle had come here?
It meant everyone else was already dead.
The only unbelievable thing was that that lunatic, who killed people without hesitation, was Black Eagle.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Hyeonyul dipped his head slightly, then walked toward those who had not spoken.
His footsteps were as heavy and frightening as the Grim Reaper’s.
Seeing the darkness rising around him, even the will to fight vanished.
“W-We were only following orders!”
“What is the most important thing here?”
At Hyeonyul’s question, someone held something out.
The hand holding the documents was trembling.
“T-This is it.”
“Thank you.”
The moment Hyeonyul accepted the documents with thanks, he examined them on the spot.
How important was it for them to step forward and carry it themselves?
“...”
After checking inside, Hyeonyul could only breathe out.
“How to employ Black Eagles as experimental subjects.”
Experimental subjects.
Just seeing those words made it feel as if blood were boiling throughout his body.
“...Is there a place for experimental subjects here?”
As Hyeonyul’s voice grew heavy, black smoke rippled around his body.
It seemed as though it might swallow everything.
“I-I don’t know!”
“R-Really, we don’t know!”
The Villains backed away while trying to explain themselves.
“You don’t know?”
Hyeonyul asked while suppressing the murderous intent surging within him.
“...Yes.”
Ha.
Hyeonyul found this situation laughable.
“Do you think I’ll believe that?”
The Villains were not fools.
In situations like this, they tended to assign people they could trust, in their own way.
“There’s no way you don’t know.”
Hyeonyul pierced the throat of the man who had spoken.
Stab!
“There’s no way you don’t know.”
Pulling out the dagger at once, Hyeonyul looked at the others.
They backed away, appearing ready to flee at any moment.
When Hyeonyul stepped forward, the Villain closest to him screamed and collapsed.
But Hyeonyul was not there.
He appeared behind the Villain farthest away.
“When did I allow you to run?”
The pointed end of the dagger emerged from the back of the Villain’s neck.
No one could run.
As if to make that clear, Hyeonyul pulled out the dagger.
The corpse fell, and no one could speak.
Hyeonyul held the dagger toward the nearest Villain.
“Answer me.”
The Villain looked once at the blood spreading thickly across the floor, then at Hyeonyul.
He was a demon.
Who would lie before a demon?
“...T-There is. It’s below here. Far below.”
“This is why I can’t trust you.”
They knew everything, yet lied again.
Following Hyeonyul’s hand, blood sprayed violently.
“Do you know how much you deceive me?”
Thick hatred could be heard in his voice.
Only then did the remaining people realize it.
That person had never intended to let any of them live.
Who was the Villain now?
* * *
How far down Hyeonyul had gone did not matter.
What mattered was that a setting different from the office-like place above had appeared.
Pure white walls.
The glossy surface had a tile-like quality, as though it had been made easy to wipe clean when something got on it.
Hyeonyul knew this place, which was so clean it felt cold, all too well.
‘...I found it.’
Footnotes:
“Noona” is a Korean form of address for an older woman. Nayun prefers it over Hyeonyul’s formal address, while “nunim” is a more deferential form that creates Hyeonyul’s comic overcorrection.
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