WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 34: It's You (2)
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* * *
“Do you like festivals?”
Sinu asked casually.
“No. I’ve never been to one.”
At Hyeonyul’s answer, Sinu could not hide the tremor in his eyes.
‘Then what was that book?’
Sinu was confused.
Why had Hyeonyul been reading that festival book so intently?
‘...Ah.’
Sinu understood at once.
‘He read it because he was planning to go to a festival.’
He knew it was only a few days away.
His lips itched to say something, but Sinu focused on the mission.
“From now on, I’m Lee Siha.”
Hyeonyul nodded.
Using aliases was definitely better for reducing the risk.
“Then I’ll be Kim Hansu.”
Hyeonyul chose the first name that came to mind.
“Mr. Lee Siha...”
“Let’s be older and younger friends. It’ll look more natural.”
Sinu smiled.
“How is that different from now?”
“I mean you should speak casually.”
“Then I’ll do so when I can, and otherwise try not to speak.”
Hyeonyul considered that acting could make him awkward.
Silence was better than ruining the mission with awkward acting.
“Then we’ll say you’re nervous. That should be fine, right?”
“That is fine. However, I do not know much about celebrities.”
“That’s fine. That’s one of the reasons I decided to come with you. I’ll make the situation feel natural so it’ll be easier for you to talk.”
“What is the plan?”
“The plan? Ah, I was a child actor for a little while when I was young. I’m confident in my acting, is what I’m saying.”
‘A child actor?’
Hyeonyul found that strange.
“It wasn’t anything major. Just for a little while. Back then, with my younger sibling...”
Sinu stopped speaking and closed his mouth.
For a brief moment, his voice shook.
Why had he brought that up all of a sudden?
It was unnecessary.
“Anyway, that’s how it was.”
Sinu soon smiled as though nothing had happened.
He pointed a thumb at himself.
“Pretty dependable, right?”
“I am not sure.”
Hyeonyul shook his head.
“Then watch.”
Showing his confidence, Sinu took out his phone.
“Ah, hello.”
<...Hello?>
A woman’s voice came through.
“Last night, on the street, I received a business card...”
<Ah! Ah! Just a moment. Are you in front of the building?>
Her tone and demeanor changed completely.
She seemed quite desperate.
“...Yes. We are in front of the building.”
<Stay right there! Just stay there!>
“Understood. We’ll wait here.”
Sinu imitated an awkward expression before ending the call.
He looked at the S.T.D. Entertainment building.
This place was practically a battlefield now.
Most of the people who worked there might be ordinary people.
What would a Villain do if things went wrong?
They could blow up the building to destroy the evidence and drag everyone to their deaths.
“Would you like to tell me what the plan is now?”
Sinu looked at Hyeonyul.
“My plans are always simple.”
Hyeonyul looked at Sinu with cool eyes.
“If you buy me enough time, I will handle the rest.”
He sounded incredibly confident.
Wow.
Sinu opened his mouth slightly.
“...That’s the plan?”
“Yes.”
“You... Never, ever say that in front of the team leader. She’ll be horrified.”
Would she only be horrified?
She might beat the ground in regret.
“What is wrong with it?”
Hyeonyul tilted his head.
“It’s wrong. Very wrong.”
“Really?”
As Hyeonyul’s concern deepened, Sinu rubbed the bridge of his nose.
How should he explain this?
How could “I’ll handle it with my body somehow” count as a plan?
It was exactly what Haeryeon hated most.
“I’ll handle this too, so when you see the team leader later, just nod along. All right?”
“Understood.”
Hyeonyul dipped his head slightly.
Sinu was his senior.
Since he had been given an order, it was right to follow it.
“Don’t do that. You don’t need to bow your head. If anyone has to bow, it’ll be me.”
Sinu patted Hyeonyul’s shoulder and walked ahead.
‘...What does that mean?’
Without understanding, Hyeonyul followed after Sinu.
* * *
“...Wow.”
The woman let out an admiring sigh as she looked at Sinu and Hyeonyul.
“My eye for talent wasn’t wrong.”
They looked even better in daylight.
To think she had caught not one, but two huge fish.
‘No, no. Not yet.’
The woman calmed herself.
For now, she was only halfway there.
There was a quota she absolutely had to fill.
If she failed to meet it, she would die.
In that situation, those two were salvation itself.
“First, um, shall we have a light chat?”
Holding back the emotions rushing through her, the woman led them into a room.
It was a neat room in white tones.
Perhaps it had been made to receive guests, because its simple decorations still felt lavish.
“You must have had a hard time getting here. Was it difficult to find? And did you sleep well?”
The woman only spoke after waiting for Sinu and Hyeonyul to sit.
“To be honest... This is our first time with something like this, so we didn’t know what to do. This friend of mine was up all night too, so he seems completely out of it.”
Sinu spoke as naturally as breathing, and the woman looked at Hyeonyul.
His stiff expression looked exactly like the aftermath of an all-nighter.
“Right? Usually, people turn us down because they suspect it’s a scam. We think every day about how to approach people. But the moment we saw you two, we simply could not leave you alone.”
They were perfection itself.
Living statues.
Her eyes seemed to be saying that, and Sinu smiled awkwardly.
Honestly, it was disgusting.
They had ruined ordinary people’s livelihoods, yet they were calmly making sales pitches.
“Ah, what is your relationship?”
The woman asked.
“We’re older and younger friends.”
Sinu answered, and Hyeonyul nodded.
“People must tell you to become singers or actors all the time. Just seeing the two of you walk around makes it feel as though everything around you opens up.”
The woman spread her hands to either side.
‘If we had really come here knowing nothing, we might have been charmed.’
Sinu swallowed the words rising in him and fiddled with his hair with an awkward expression.
“I... Well, I have never heard things like that before.”
“Really? That is surprising. Even with so many people at the movie theater, my eyes kept going back to you. It was like fate.”
As she replied, the woman naturally looked at Hyeonyul.
He had not spoken for a while.
She wanted to at least hear his voice.
Sinu read her gaze and spoke with a smile.
“My friend is shy. I dragged him here.”
“...It is a little unfamiliar.”
The moment Hyeonyul spoke, the woman immediately slapped her own thigh.
His voice was so wonderful that her ears pricked up.
“That is understandable. Oh, what am I doing? What would you like to drink? Coffee? Tea? We also have lemon and yuzu tea.”
“I will have tea.”
Sinu touched his lips as if he were thirsty.
His gaze naturally went to Hyeonyul.
“Should I answer this one for you too?”
Sinu snickered as though whispering.
“...Yuzu tea, please.”
“Yes. Please wait a moment.”
When the woman stood up, Hyeonyul let out a long breath.
It had only been a short time, but he felt as though he had been swept up in something.
He already felt drained.
This did not suit him.
He thought it would be nice if he could just slash through it with a dagger.
“What do you think?”
After the woman left the room, Sinu asked.
He had looked around on the way in, but there was nothing special here.
“I did not find anything unusual either. However, he will be here.”
“Because this is a newly established company?”
At Sinu’s question, Hyeonyul nodded.
That was why he believed the man had to be here.
“Yes. He is clearly behaving differently from before.”
What Villains liked was hiding their identities and digging into the deepest parts of the Empire.
This was the first time Hyeonyul had seen one openly show themselves in public like this.
“Even though he could be exposed as a Villain, he invested this much. That proves how much he has staked on this business.”
“Then it sounds as though most of the employees here are Villains. Is that right?”
Sinu asked, and Hyeonyul nodded again.
“Yes. Most of the employees have to be Villains to keep their mouths shut.”
In the early stages of a business, subordinates who were Villains were easy to mistreat, easy to control, and easy to replace at any time.
‘The easier they are to use, the more tightly they need to be controlled. He has to be here.’
Hyeonyul’s thoughts returned to the beginning.
However, the person who had picked up his dropped wallet could be a major Villain, so judging by appearances was a problem.
Leaning back on the sofa, Hyeonyul covered his eyes with both hands to assess the situation.
“...You did not really stay up all night because you were nervous, did you?”
Sinu asked hesitantly.
“Let me do this for a moment.”
Behind the shelter of his hands, Hyeonyul let his gaze burrow into the darkness.
Noticing that he was doing something, Sinu identified the CCTV cameras one by one.
“Lower your head. Ignore what I do and do what you need to do.”
Sinu punched Hyeonyul’s shoulder with his fist, then put on a smiling face and chatted about this and that.
It was more natural this way.
With his head lowered, Hyeonyul quickly examined the inside of the building.
Since he did not know when the woman would return, he had to find something unusual in a short time.
Countless locations passed before him.
People were working, while some were secretly smoking.
Others were guarding the company park.
The way they acted was strangely like gangsters.
‘Suspicious.’
Looking more closely, he saw several people surrounding one person.
The employee badge of the one in the middle identified them as a new hire.
At first glance, it looked as though the others were giving the newcomer a hard time, but the newcomer confidently held out a cigarette among the higher-ranked employees.
Seeing them smile leisurely and wave the cigarette as though asking someone to light it, Hyeonyul became certain.
‘There he is.’
Unless that newcomer was a nepotism hire, could they ask a senior to light their cigarette?
No, even if they were, Hyeonyul doubted they could.
‘Absolutely impossible.’
More importantly, that face looked very familiar.
After finding the man, Hyeonyul lowered his hands.
Knock, knock.
The woman entered with a knock, followed by a man.
Judging by the scent that spread through the room, they had brought tea.
Hyeonyul looked at the tea placed on the table.
“...I suppose I am nervous.”
Opening his mouth as though hesitating, Hyeonyul looked at her.
“You could be nervous. Something warm will make you feel much better.”
“I suppose so.”
Hyeonyul picked up the cup of yuzu tea.
Steam rose from it.
Smelling the medicine mixed in with the scent, Hyeonyul smiled inwardly.
Just as expected.
What kind of drug it was did not matter.
As Hyeonyul was about to drink the yuzu tea, he deliberately spilled it on his clothes.
The yuzu tea stained them yellow.
“Are you all right?”
Sinu was startled.
The tea had clearly been steaming hot.
Ah.
Seeing Sinu’s shocked expression, Hyeonyul belatedly reacted as though it hurt.
It was awkward beyond belief, but the reactions around him were not bad.
“W-wet wipes!”
The woman jumped up in surprise.
He was going to become one of her company’s precious artists.
‘What do I do?’
She had damaged the product.
‘I’ll kill them...!’
Thinking of strangling the person in charge of the tea, she quickly held out wet wipes.
“Do you know where the restroom is?”
When Hyeonyul asked, the woman spoke to the man who had come with her.
“Take him to the restroom quickly, and bring him some clothes!”
“Yes. Please follow me.”
Led by the man, Hyeonyul hurried into the restroom.
“I will bring clothes and medicine right away.”
“Thank you.”
Watching the restroom door close, Hyeonyul raised the corner of his mouth.
A dagger was in his hand.
The location was perfect.
He briefly operated his smartwatch and removed his disguise.
* * *
Hyeonyul started by destroying the CCTV cameras installed in the company park.
The instant he appeared, a black trail swept across their necks.
Necks and blood drenched the ground like falling rain.
Hyeonyul looked at the man who had been about to put a cigarette to his lips.
The flame had gone out from blood splashing in every direction.
With a face covered in blood, the man stared blankly at him.
He had met Hyeonyul before, and at the time, Hyeonyul had definitely said this.
“Doggy.”
The man stiffened at Hyeonyul’s voice.
The cigarette fell from his grasp.
No matter how he heard it, that was what the mad dog used to call him.
That skill.
That mocking smile.
And that face.
Jet-black hair and gray eyes as heartless as blades seemed ready to pierce his heart.
“...B-Boss.”
The man fell to his knees.
He could not win against that.
He knew because he had felt it himself.
How much damage had he taken when one of his businesses had been destroyed because of that man?
He had only survived after begging pathetically and making a promise.
Had he not sworn never to deal with that man again?
“...What brings you here?”
The man swallowed the dry saliva rising in his throat.
“W-Why have you come?”
Why had he come?
He had kept their promise.
“Did I not warn you clearly back then?”
“B-Boss, I did not follow you. I never gave anyone information about you! If there was any, I erased it all! It is true!”
The man could still vividly recall that voice.
“If you want to live that badly, do one thing for me. Anyone trying to dig up information about me, deal with them yourself. That includes erasing the information about me that others have already uncovered. If you can do that, I will let you live.”
“The Poison King did something interesting.”
Hyeonyul smiled.
Countless scars moved along with his face.
“They came to my house.”
“...What?”
“Night Rat. No, Kim Yujong.”
Hyeonyul called the information broker Night Rat by their real name.
At some point, Shin Daeho had told him to deal with Yujong, and Hyeonyul had found the man and destroyed his business.
He had considered whether to kill Yujong or let him live, but Yujong had been useful, so Hyeonyul spared him.
In a way, it was thanks to Yujong that so little information had leaked despite all the trouble Hyeonyul had caused.
But in the end, information had leaked out.
“You have not properly done what you were supposed to do.”
“...P-Please forgive me!”
Yujong crawled on his knees and begged Hyeonyul.
He had blocked everything, so how had information leaked out?
He had to beg.
Begging was the only answer.
“I have been very interested in Black Eagle lately.”
“...”
All of Yujong’s movements stopped.
It felt as though all the blood had drained from his body.
What that man hated most was anyone touching his turf.
When Yujong raised his head with a face that looked ready to cry, he met Hyeonyul’s upturned lips.
“Is that not interesting?”
Grabbing Yujong by the hair, Hyeonyul asked quietly.
“Did you not know? Or did you know and do it anyway?”
“...I did not know. Truly! I planted an internal informant in Black Eagle because I needed money! I wanted to grow this place!”
‘...So he was Villain B, the one who planted the internal informant?’
Hyeonyul also learned that Yujong had masterminded the internal informant’s assassination, silencing them in advance so his own information would not leak.
He had learned something he did not know before, but Hyeonyul did not show it.
“Did you cross me knowing what I could do to this business you built?”
“I truly, truly did not know you were interested in Black Eagle! I will not do it again!”
“Would it not be more accurate to say that you cannot do it because you have been caught?”
“...”
Yujong closed his mouth.
How could that mad dog know about this?
“Did you leak internal information outside?”
“No! I did not! I have not sold it yet!”
“But it has already leaked out. What do you think about that?”
Yujong’s eyes widened at the information he had not known.
Anger flickered briefly in his eyes.
“I will find out everything! I promise!”
Yujong spoke as though begging.
If that man so much as moved a finger, Yujong would die.
No, it would not only be Yujong who died.
“Ah, please wait a moment.”
Hyeonyul noticed that the employee bringing his clothes was returning.
“I assume you know that you need to behave yourself.”
With that warning, Hyeonyul disappeared.
Only after he was gone did Yujong breathe again.
‘...Crazy, crazy!’
That man was interested in Black Eagle.
Yujong’s eyes shook.
What whim was this?
What was he planning?
‘...I cannot die. I cannot die! I cannot die!’
Whatever it was, the result would not change.
With tears running down his face, Yujong nearly tore out his hair.
How had Shin Daeho been able to expand their influence so much?
It was all because of that son of a bitch.
Despite never pledging loyalty, he would go to businesses run by nearby Villains at Shin Daeho’s orders and kill them.
He was a madman whose thoughts could never be understood.
‘...He will destroy everything I have! He will kill me!’
Yujong bit his lip.
He panted as fear flooded through him.
What Yujong knew was that Hyeonyul had been an experimental subject.
The only successful experimental subject.
Looking at him alone was enough to understand why other Villains staked their lives on experimental subjects.
He was simply a living weapon.
“You behaved yourself?”
At Hyeonyul’s voice again, Yujong trembled.
Only Hyeonyul himself did not know how famous he was in these circles.
“...I-I will give you information.”
“You broke the promise. I cannot work with someone who touches my turf.”
“I truly have not touched it again. I will take responsibility and destroy all information related to Black Eagle.”
“Is that all?”
“V-Villains! Do you not need information about Villains? That is my specialty. I-I will give you all of it!”
Yujong looked at Hyeonyul as though he were ready to offer up his soul.
“How can I trust you?”
But Hyeonyul smiled as though Yujong had said something ridiculous.
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