WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 69: Welcome Party
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* * *
“I think I can hear someone cursing in my ear.”
When Hyeonyul placed a hand on Yujong’s shoulder, Yujong shuddered violently.
‘This bastard... No, this guy can read minds too?’
Without lifting his head, Yujong spoke.
“...How could that be?”
“It’s fine. You’re free to curse me in your head. Just don’t point a blade at me. I’m not very merciful.”
“Um... I-I have the information ready.”
“You do?”
When Hyeonyul tightened his grip, Yujong’s eyes darted from side to side.
He felt as if his throat were being squeezed.
“O-Of course. I didn’t know when you would come, so I prepared it.”
Yujong hurried to the desk and held out the documents.
He cautiously raised his head, then immediately lowered it again when his eyes met Hyeonyul’s.
That lunatic was smiling.
‘Why the hell is he smiling?’
It felt like his heart might drop out.
Yujong tried to steady his racing heart.
“I heard you released the entertainers from the contracts that had forced them to stay.”
“I did as you ordered.”
Yujong swallowed dryly as he answered.
“It’ll take longer before Black Eagle stops watching you, so keep your head down.”
“...Still?”
“Yes. Still.”
“They need to change their name. What Eagle? They’re Black Ticks. They already shook us down that badly. What more do they want to dig out?”
“If you feel that wronged, why didn’t you use the Black Eagle information you acquired to dig into their insides?”
Yujong had planted an internal informant within Black Eagle.
As soon as that fact was uncovered, he had even sent an assassin to cut off the loose end.
Even if it had been to sell information as an information broker, hadn’t Yujong gotten fairly deep inside?
Why had he never considered doing that?
“Are you cra... No, I mean, that’s impossible.”
Yujong hurriedly covered his mouth halfway through speaking.
“Why? If you planted an internal informant, shouldn’t you at least consider digging into Black Eagle?”
“You don’t seem to know Black Eagle very well, but they aren’t easy opponents. They’re vicious. It took pouring in money and people just to barely make an informant. We got as far as a Team Lead, but perhaps they blew the whistle. There was a limit to the information we could get, and the moment they learn I was involved, I’m dead.”
After swallowing dryly, Yujong continued.
Fear showed plainly on his face.
“Black Eagle only looks unimpressive because their structure makes focused fire impossible. They scatter to stop incidents breaking out everywhere. But this is different. If they all come after me alone... Ha.”
Yujong could not continue.
He looked genuinely terrified.
“Didn’t you do this prepared for that possibility?”
“I never, ever intended to fight! I’m not a fighter. I’m an information broker. The Empire is behind those people. No, the nobles would move before that.”
“Why would nobles move?”
At Hyeonyul’s question, Yujong stared with wide eyes.
You don’t know that?
That was what his gaze said.
“Lower your eyes and explain.”
At Hyeonyul’s words, Yujong immediately lowered his head.
“...I don’t know who it is, but apparently one of Black Eagle’s members is a noble. We don’t touch nobles either. Do you know how vicious those bastards are? They act all damn refined, but they’re the real lunatics.”
Yujong shuddered.
‘There’s a noble in Black Eagle?’
Hyeonyul thought for a moment, and someone came to mind.
But he soon dismissed the thought.
He still did not know all of Black Eagle.
He could not jump to conclusions.
“Anyway... I’m still tracking the one who stole my information. The fact that they haven’t been caught suggests they’re a fairly big player.”
“Keep tracking them. I’ll give you a piece of information as a reward.”
“Yes...?”
“Interesting things have been happening lately, haven’t they?”
“I don’t know about interesting, but it’s been quite noisy. As you know, after Poison King was captured, fighting broke out everywhere. But the way things are going is strange.”
“How is it strange?”
“...Poison King’s faction is winning. They should have become a motley rabble after Poison King disappeared.”
Yujong wore an expression of complete confusion.
Every Villain existed only because they had a leader.
When the leader died, they would leave to seek the next person to lead them.
Sure enough.
Someone had appeared.
“I heard there was a rabbit there...”
“I ate it.”
Hyeonyul pointed to himself and smiled.
“...Excuse me?”
“I ate it. While wearing a Rabbit Mask.”
“...”
Yujong recoiled in shock.
That was not something one could casually say, even as a joke.
How could someone swallow up such a large faction?
He could not understand what had happened in the slightest.
It was Poison King’s faction, of all factions.
Those people followed that Mad Dog.
Yujong’s lips trembled.
He had no idea who he had been dealing with.
“And there’s someone behind Poison King. Find out who.”
“...?”
Yujong’s eyes widened.
Someone behind Poison King?
What kind of bullshit was that?
“Lastly, this.”
Hyeonyul handed over a drug he had brought with him.
“Find where it’s being distributed and where it’s being made.”
Yujong could not keep up with Hyeonyul’s pace.
He had already frozen at the part about him swallowing up a faction.
“It’s a drug that turns non-powered people into powered people.”
Yujong’s mouth fell open.
He had no idea why Hyeonyul kept throwing things at him.
“For your information, the side effects are severe enough to kill you. So anyone who uses this, makes it, or tries to acquire it is dead.”
Hyeonyul spoke quietly, then opened the window.
“Ah.”
Yujong tensed, as if something else was coming.
“I saw last time that your unpaid taxes were considerable. Pay them. I pay taxes too.”
After saying that, Hyeonyul jumped out the window.
‘...What?’
Yujong stood still as though he had been struck in the head.
He had no idea what he had just heard.
‘I must have misheard, right?’
Taxes?
Ha.
A hollow laugh escaped Yujong.
That Mad Dog paid taxes.
Ha!
He could not stop laughing.
* * *
The man looked back and forth between a tablet and a computer.
He examined the recovered faction, business establishments, and various other things.
Ever since that person had arrived, everything had been running smoothly.
Rabbit Mask.
He had no choice but to call that person so because he did not know their name, but he could not bring himself to say it aloud.
What mattered was that they had saved people like him, who had only been waiting to fall.
They were different from the executive bastards who had constantly coveted the place Poison King had left behind.
Those fools had leaned on Poison King’s name, neither moving forward nor leaving, only lingering and settling into comfort.
But none of that had anything to do with him.
He had been driven from his position as an executive, and ever since, he had merely let time pass as though he were alive without truly living.
It had been an ordinary day.
Then something happened that could fill the hollow in his chest.
The executives died.
Something impossible happened.
The moment he saw that person’s strength, it felt as if his dead heart had begun to beat again.
‘What does that person want?’
Tap.
‘How far do they intend to go?’
Tap tap tap.
His fingers moved faster and faster across the keyboard.
‘What did that person see in me?’
The corners of his mouth lifted high.
He wanted to see them.
He wanted to speak with them again.
It felt as though he had finally found a reason to live.
「What’s your name?」
The moment he saw a phone suddenly thrust in front of him, the man held out his hand.
At the end of the razor-sharp wind he had created stood a man wearing a Rabbit Mask.
「It’s me.」
The moment he saw the words on the phone, the man immediately prostrated himself and lowered his head.
“...I have committed a sin deserving death!”
Tap tap.
Hyeonyul nudged the man with his foot and held out the phone.
Even if the man had attacked him, it was not as though Hyeonyul could not have dodged.
「Forget it.」
「What’s your name?」
Hyeonyul was curious.
Figurehead boss.
He could not keep calling him that.
“Y-You are asking my name?”
「Don’t you have one?」
“No. I am Lee Seungyu! You may call me by any name. From now on, that will be my name.”
「You’ve been doing well.」
The moment Seungyu saw the message on the phone, he went blank.
‘...Doing well? Me?’
At those words, Seungyu felt his heart pound.
「Keep doing that. If I hear anything strange, you’re dead.」
“...O-Of course!”
Seungyu spoke while holding his breath.
A hot sensation rose from his chest.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before.
It felt as though he could do anything now.
「Were you surprised when I suddenly came here?」
“No. Not at all. On the contrary, I have been waiting only for you to come!”
「Really?」
Hyeonyul let it pass without much thought.
He had expected that level of flattery.
“I have cleaned up the inside. It was the first thing I did. From now on, Poison King’s name will not be spoken.”
「Why?」
「Didn’t you follow Poison King?」
Hyeonyul asked, finding it unexpected.
He had killed all the executives, but he had not told them to erase Poison King.
He had not even thought they would erase Poison King like this.
As expected, they had not disappointed him.
They were creatures that clung to the power of their leader.
“Yes. I followed Poison King.”
The man rolled up his sleeves.
Hideous scars covered his arms from above his wrists, as though his skin had melted.
“I was loyal to Poison King as an executive, but all I received in return was death. I have already died once.”
「Why did you come back?」
Hyeonyul genuinely could not understand.
How was it any different from staying in Shin Daeho’s company after killing Shin Daeho?
“...I do not know. They said it was remarkable that I had miraculously survived the poison, and they let me return. From that moment on, I wandered without direction. I simply lived on, not knowing what I should do or what I was doing.”
‘Is this a lament? Why is he saying this now?’
Hyeonyul found it hard to understand.
He had led a team before, so it was not as if he had never faced things like this, but he was different now from who he had been then.
Had the position of figurehead boss really been that good?
For now, Hyeonyul used the best phrase he had learned.
「You had it rough.」
It was nothing special, but it worked well.
He did not know why people liked it.
Would this man like it too?
Hyeonyul looked at Seungyu.
‘He likes it too.’
Still, it was a kind of reaction he had never seen before, so he was unsure what to make of it.
“Whatever you want, I will follow. You may do whatever you wish with me. Even if you order me to quit everything related to the business immediately, I will obey.”
「Really?」
“Yes. So please, do not abandon me.”
Seungyu pleaded desperately.
He wanted to hand over his own heart if it would convey his sincerity.
「Fine.」
Hyeonyul answered willingly.
Whether Seungyu pleaded with emotion or cut off a finger to make him believe, it did not matter.
Seungyu and the others were only Villains.
「I came today because I have something to give you.」
“What are you giving me?”
「Use this.」
Hyeonyul handed over the faction information he had received from Yujong.
“...Is this faction information?”
Seungyu asked in surprise.
No one had yet clearly identified exactly who was participating. How had he acquired this?
He truly was no ordinary person.
「Spread it elsewhere too.」
“Pardon?”
「Spread it secretly.」
“Understood. I will spread it immediately.”
Seungyu lowered his head as if it were only natural that he should do so.
「Why aren’t you asking?」
「You’re curious.」
「If you spread this, everyone will learn about each other’s factions.」
“I assumed that was what you intended. Some will unite, some will struggle desperately, countless factions will fight, and some will merge.”
Hyeonyul gestured for him to continue.
“It is impossible for us to watch every faction. But as factions merge and disappear, their number will decrease, making them easier to monitor.”
「You’re smart.」
That was exactly what Hyeonyul wanted.
Once the number of factions decreased, they would be easier to watch, and it would become possible to predict more things.
Furthermore, as they merged, they would grow considerably larger, so the period in which they kept each other in check would inevitably grow longer.
Once the fallout from that rivalry made the factions clear, it would be easier for Black Eagle to catch them.
Even if all the others disappeared and only this faction remained, that would be better.
Would it not be obvious who needed to die?
「Ah. I should give you a reward.」
“A reward...?”
「I’ll tell you an interesting fact.」
Seungyu waited quietly.
「Did you know that Poison King follows someone too?」
“...What?”
Seungyu could not hide his surprise.
It seemed that even a former executive had not known this information.
「He called himself the best, but he wasn’t the leader in the end.」
「Do you want to follow an idiot like that?」
“...No. I could never follow him.”
Seungyu shook his head forcefully.
Beyond betrayal, there was even a trace of determination in his expression.
“How can that be a leader? He is only a defeated underling.”
「That’s right.」
「I’m going to find the one he followed.」
「And then I should erase them, right?」
Hyeonyul looked at Seungyu.
Seungyu wanted something from him, expected something of him, so Hyeonyul willingly gave it to him.
「What do you need to do for me to do that?」
“I must find them.”
As though possessed by something, Seungyu spoke heavily.
“I must make sure they reach beneath your feet.”
「That’s how you do it.」
「That’s how you crawl when I tell you to.」
“I will gladly do so.”
Seungyu smiled.
Hyeonyul touched his shoulder and held out the phone.
「You’re doing well.」
When Seungyu raised his head, no one was there.
Only the window stood open.
As the wind blew in through it, Seungyu burst into laughter.
The cold wind brushing his face felt like his own welcome party.
He had found the path he needed to follow from now on.
‘In the future, I will die by that person’s hand.’
Seungyu’s laughter gradually grew louder.
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