WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 29: It Won't Work That Way
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* * *
“Is that not possible?”
As Hyeonyul looked anxious, Haeryeon swallowed.
What was she supposed to make of this?
‘People say someone changes before they die. It can’t be that, can it?’
She did not know why this felt so strange.
Hyeonyul clearly seemed to be planning something, but she could not guess what it was.
‘It definitely isn’t just my imagination.’
Haeryeon could not simply let it go.
As her thoughts whirled, she finally understood the situation.
‘...Ah. He’s angry.’
Hyeonyul was not showing it, but who would feel good after learning who had tried to throw him out?
Perhaps this was what quiet anger looked like.
“If Hyeonyul is fine with it, then I’m fine too.”
“Thank you. Then could you tell me who is holding the mole right now?”
Hearing the Team 5 leader already being called an internal informant, Haeryeon became certain that she had been right.
“Team Leader Dojin has him. Since Dojin is his elder, he’ll have no choice but to stay put, even if he doesn’t like it.”
“He really has no choice.”
Nayun nodded.
Dojin had been with Black Eagle from its earliest days and was still active now.
Who could refuse Dojin’s suggestion?
‘...Well, there is one person.’
Nayun glanced at Hyeonyul.
She had personally seen that Dojin was after Hyeonyul.
‘Keep refusing him. Keep refusing him.’
As Nayun’s gaze deepened, Hyeonyul felt a strange pressure.
Had he said something odd?
After hesitating, Hyeonyul spoke.
“Is there something... you want to say to me?”
“Can I speak casually?”
Nayun and Hyeonyul were both startled by the words that slipped out so readily.
‘Are you crazy, Choo Nayun? What are you doing? Die! Just die...!’
Something she always thought had simply come out of her mouth.
Nayun wanted to grab her own hair.
“N-No, that’s not what I meant...”
“...Yes, please do whatever makes you comfortable.”
“Really...?”
“Yes.”
Since she had already been speaking casually, Hyeonyul looked at her as if wondering what she was doing.
“Good, Hyeonyul. Let’s go help the team leader.”
Hyeonyul only blinked at Nayun’s words.
‘...Help? Me?’
He had no intention of doing that.
Haeryeon would surely handle beating up the Team 5 leader herself.
Hyeonyul had only meant to create an alibi.
If he went with those two, no one would cast pointless suspicions on him.
‘Villain B will probably try something unnecessary under the excuse of escorting the Poison King.’
Had he really planted a bomb somewhere inside the Nest?
Hyeonyul intended to inspect things carefully on the way.
Black Eagle’s benefits and many other aspects were appealing, but when it came to dealing with people, they always did something half-baked.
Quite a few people placed meaning in repentance.
But if they were going to repent in the first place, why become Villains?
If they could not handle it, then Hyeonyul should deal with them cleanly.
This was Hyeonyul’s Black Eagle, after all.
“...What, that’s all it was? I’m really touched.”
Haeryeon warmly looked at Hyeonyul after hearing Nayun’s words.
Nayun nodded as though she understood that feeling.
“Let’s go.”
Haeryeon smiled brightly, and Nayun stood beside her, chatting away.
Hyeonyul deliberately walked slowly.
He absolutely did not want to join that conversation.
* * *
Haeryeon and Nayun did not stop talking for even a moment.
No matter how closely Hyeonyul listened, he could not understand what was so funny or entertaining.
He was simply relieved not to be part of that conversation.
‘Are they doing this on purpose?’
Hyeonyul looked around.
No matter where he looked, the two did not seem like they were on their way to finish off the Team 5 leader.
“Ah, the interrogation rooms are this way.”
Haeryeon stopped for a moment and pointed left.
Hyeonyul’s gaze followed.
“Does it look familiar?”
Haeryeon smiled.
“Yes. How could I forget the place where my hands were tied?”
“...Tied up? Hyeonyul was?”
Nayun had no choice but to react to something she was hearing for the first time.
“It couldn’t be helped then. Hyeonyul was carrying Shin Daeho’s head around and asking whether they offered Four Major Social Insurances.”
“...Ah.”
Nayun understood immediately.
Anyone would have had no choice but to detain him.
Nayun discreetly watched Hyeonyul’s reaction.
He did not seem bothered at all.
“I hope you understand how desperate I was.”
“I do. I understand now, more than enough.”
Haeryeon nodded.
Perhaps that had been Hyeonyul’s final gamble.
What would have happened if they had thrown Hyeonyul out then?
“But it was you who said you would not go home right away today, Hyeonyul.”
“I know.”
Hyeonyul let out a breath.
It was not as though he had no regrets.
He slowly followed Haeryeon and Nayun as the two started walking again.
As Hyeonyul took a deep breath and exhaled, he sensed tightly restrained killing intent and the smell of blood.
He did not look in that direction.
But he could feel it.
Ahead.
Someone was coming toward them.
Pretending not to notice, Hyeonyul focused on the approaching footsteps and his other senses.
As the person passed by, the scent of blood struck his nose intensely.
‘...They just killed someone?’
Hyeonyul felt like laughing.
The smell of blood, at this very moment.
‘Who did they kill?’
At least it was not the Team 5 leader.
Yang Dojin, the Team Two leader, was with him.
‘They could have killed any one of the internal informants.’
A screw you to Black Eagle.
A warning to the moles.
That was likely the intention.
‘To think I would see firsthand how badly security has been breached.’
Hyeonyul’s lips curved upward.
Countless shadows followed the person walking behind him.
Like an incredibly long tail.
The shadows swayed lightly, then spread out, creating a darkness so immense that it swallowed even the lights behind them.
The darkness covered the person’s mouth and swallowed them whole.
The lights flickered back on.
Just as Haeryeon and Nayun turned around, Hyeonyul spoke.
“Are we close?”
“Yes. Each team has different room numbers, though.”
Haeryeon was still smiling.
She seemed confident.
“Team Leader, may I go to the bathroom for a moment?”
Haeryeon was briefly surprised.
But she quickly composed herself.
He must be desperate to go.
Haeryeon checked her phone.
There were no messages from Dojin.
“Go ahead.”
“I’ll stand by the door.”
Nayun pointed at her eyes.
She could see well even from far away.
Since Hyeonyul was still unfamiliar with the interior, what if he got lost?
“Yes. I’ll be right back.”
Hyeonyul gave a slight bow.
Once he had gone farther away, Haeryeon’s expression changed completely.
“Nayun, I’ll settle this before Hyeonyul gets back. If he comes, send me some kind of signal.”
It was almost a relief.
She had been very surprised when Hyeonyul said he would come along.
“Of course.”
Nayun’s lips curved upward as though this was not her first time doing something like this.
“We can’t let Hyeonyul dirty his hands over this, can we?”
“Of course not, Nayun.”
Haeryeon held out her clenched fist, and Nayun bumped it with her own.
“They messed with our team member. Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?”
“I want to put a bullet through their head.”
“No guns, but I’ll put my fist through their head.”
Though her opponent was a team leader, Haeryeon wore a confident expression.
* * *
Hyeonyul brought the person out in the forest near the Nest.
Not much time had passed since they had been swallowed by the darkness, but they were already drooling.
Within Hyeonyul’s darkness lay a sea of countless spaces. It was enough to drive anyone mad.
‘Nothing brings someone to their senses like pain.’
Hyeonyul placed the person’s hand against the ground, pulled out a dagger, and drove it through.
“...!”
The person’s eyes widened at the horrible pain.
“Who are you?”
“...?”
“I’ll ask again.”
Hyeonyul placed the other hand against the ground as well.
“Who are you?”
As the dagger pierced flesh with the question, the person felt their skin prickle.
They wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
Only then did their eyes shift.
After looking around frantically, they spotted the Black Eagle insignia on Hyeonyul’s left arm.
‘...H-How did he knows?’
They had definitely been on their way back after quietly carrying out an assassination.
There had been no one nearby, and no one had seen them.
“Is my question difficult?”
Hyeonyul tilted his head.
He had said he was going to the bathroom, so there was no time to waste.
‘It can’t be helped.’
Hyeonyul looked at the fingers spread wide.
The person’s gaze followed downward.
‘...They’re going to cut them off? Black Eagle is?’
No way.
They nearly laughed at the thought.
Crunch!
As the dagger dug into the ground, the person’s entire body jolted violently.
Even the veins in their neck stood out.
“Who are you?”
Hyeonyul asked.
Cold sweat streamed down the person’s face, and blood vessels rose around their reddened eyes from unimaginable pain.
‘...My fingers! My fingerrrs!’
He had really done it.
He had really cut them off.
“I have particularly little patience today.”
“...”
The person panted and looked down.
Their index and middle fingers were gone.
“...”
Despair seeped through their parted lips.
“You have eight left.”
When Hyeonyul raised his hand, the person urgently cried out.
“An assassin! I’m an assassin!”
“How did you get inside?”
“I-I disguised myself as a Manager.”
“You must have been in quite a hurry.”
Hyeonyul smiled.
The main reason for planting an internal informant was to gather internal information over a long period.
The fact that they had used an assassin like this made their situation obvious.
Along with cutting off loose ends, it was a warning that anyone who confessed would be killed.
“Yes. That’s right. Absolutely.”
The assassin bowed their head.
Their tear-filled eyes looked at Hyeonyul as though they could nod even more.
But Hyeonyul was not swayed by such displays of emotion.
If Hyeonyul could not tell whether they were lying, it was best to simply throw out a question.
“Did you kill an internal informant?”
“...Yes.”
The assassin’s voice trembled.
They looked as though they might burst into tears at any moment.
“It seems the internal informant you just killed betrayed you. For example, perhaps you learned that they were handing Black Eagle evidence that you planned to tamper with things inside the Nest before fleeing.”
The fact that Black Eagle had internal informants within it had been exposed.
They could no longer stay.
But would they really leave quietly?
Would they not try something to damage the inside?
Hyeonyul looked at the assassin.
They could not hide their surprise.
They hurriedly lowered their gaze a moment later, but their wavering eyes could not deceive Hyeonyul.
“Good.”
Hyeonyul smiled.
What could possibly be good about this?
The assassin trembled uneasily.
“Who is your boss?”
Hyeonyul asked one final question.
But there was no answer.
Hyeonyul glanced at the time, then reached into his pocket.
“Nothing will change just because you refuse to answer. You’ll die if you go back anyway.”
The assassin stared with wide eyes at Hyeonyul’s words.
“You did not think you would survive, did you?”
Hyeonyul took out a packet of medicine and smiled at them.
The moment the assassin accepted this job, they had learned far too deep a secret.
“If you were someone irreplaceable, they would not kill you. They would be even more eager to make you do other things.”
Hyeonyul spoke from experience.
No one could replace Hyeonyul.
That was why he had not been killed despite knowing so many secrets.
“I do not think you are. So tell me. I will kill that person for you. It is not exactly a loss for you, is it?”
“...”
“Your wages are probably overdue, and you are working like a dog. Is that person really worth your loyalty?”
“...Please spare me.”
“Even if I do not kill you, you know that person will find you and kill you eventually. Or are you confident that you can escape?”
The assassin shook their head.
It was as though the word escape did not even exist for them.
“Do you have family?”
“...I do.”
“You understand that no matter what choice you make, the ending will not be good.”
If they fled, their family would be killed first.
Of course, they would not simply be killed.
They might be murdered in the most miserable way and placed before the assassin.
Crunch.
Hyeonyul chewed the medicine and looked at them.
By then, tears and snot were streaming down the assassin’s face as they looked at Hyeonyul in desperation.
Hyeonyul could predict what they would say.
“Do not ask me. You knew everything when you chose this, did you not?”
The moment someone became a Villain, they had no choice but to learn that being a Villain was not as light as the name sounded.
Their comrades would start dying from the beginning.
Once killing others became familiar, other things grew dull as well.
Hyeonyul, whose mind had been damaged by drugs, was different from them.
They pretended otherwise, but guilt held their ankles, and they committed even worse deeds to escape it.
“There is only one thing I can promise you. I will kill that person and settle your grudge. What do you say?”
Hyeonyul smiled kindly.
If nothing else, it was something he was good at.
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