WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 74: Testing the Waters
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Hyeonyul sat at his desk, staring at his computer.
He was transferring and reviewing the information from the phone he had taken from another Villain connected to the highway bombing incident.
He had even let the man say his final goodbyes, and the chip had already been removed, making it impossible to track.
As Hyeonyul reviewed the information one piece at a time, he examined the various messages.
They contained everything, from simple missions to casual conversations among themselves.
What caught Hyeonyul’s attention was the content related to corporations.
Villains they had already destroyed, Villains they were destroying, Villains they were preparing to destroy.
They had been categorized like that.
There were places ranging from small to quite large. It almost seemed like a gold mine.
The phone’s owner might have held a higher rank than Hyeonyul had thought.
He found a recent message where they had exchanged information, with a photo attached.
Linda.
Prunal.
He saw the names and logos of the two companies.
[Ah, this place? This place sells drugs?]
[Isn’t Linda a cosmetics company, and Prunal the one that sells milk?]
[0000: That’s right.]
[0000: Apparently it’s there. That, what was it called.]
[What is?]
[0000: They sell special drugs related to experimental subjects.]
Hyeonyul’s eyes stopped for a moment.
‘Linda. Prunal.’
Hyeonyul committed the two companies to memory.
[What? Didn’t we do this last time too? About four months ago?]
[We did then too, but is it real this time? We only destroyed innocent places.]
[No. Should we call them innocent places?]
[Anyway, it’s true that they were trying to get close to the drugs.]
[0000: It seems real this time.]
[0000: We’re investigating it more thoroughly now, so hold tight.]
[It better not be wrong.]
[0000: Anyway, keep working on what you’re doing now.]
[0000: You received the materials, right?]
[I did.]
[Our team is investigating.]
[0000: Keep at it.]
[0000: It’s for the boss, and for us.]
[I know.]
That was the end of the conversation.
Hyeonyul looked away for a moment and recalled what the owner of the phone had said before dying.
The boss’s child was dragged away as an experimental subject and died. So he interferes with or wipes out every place where drugs are used, or calls in Black Eagle.
As unbelievable as it was, the group that man belonged to seemed to be working to eliminate drugs.
Even aside from that conversation, the others made them look obsessed with wiping every drug factory off this land.
‘That’s strange.’
Hyeonyul could not help thinking so.
Villains had to be killed.
That conviction had loosened a little when it came to that boss.
The man could prove useful if left alone, and Hyeonyul thought meeting him might lead him in the direction he wanted.
After destroying countless drugs, perhaps he knew where the drugs used on Hyeonyul’s body had come from.
‘I need to find out where he is first.’
He knew that had to come first.
The next problem was what to do with the information he had learned.
‘...Should I tell the Team Lead? What would happen if I did?’
Hyeonyul could not make a judgment on that point.
If he tried to hide it, there were too many overlapping parts, and the pace was frustrating.
There was far too much he had to do alone these days.
He had vowed not to overwork himself, so he needed to maintain a reasonable pace.
Still, when he considered telling Haeryeon, several troubling thoughts came to mind.
If he was not careful, what he had done could be exposed too.
Hyeonyul believed Haeryeon had enough power and intelligence to reach that level of information.
He looked at the phone.
He knew better than anyone that trust was an empty thing.
He also knew that relying on flimsy trust only created more uncertainty.
Hyeonyul. No matter when it is, I hope you try trusting someone other than me. I hope your world becomes wider.
Jeongmin had said that once, but Hyeonyul could not follow that advice.
His world could only ever be narrow, and thinking of someone other than Jeongmin was something that wore away at his life.
Even so, Hyeonyul found it strange that he was considering it at all.
As he fiddled with the phone, Hyeonyul raised the corners of his eyes.
It’s very different. I can’t say it’s like that. But I can say it might be a little different.
‘...Let’s test it.’
If it would be advantageous to his survival, he intended to test the waters very carefully.
He needed to learn how to use the power Black Eagle possessed now too.
* * *
Haeryeon swept back her hair.
I have something to tell you later. Could I see you a little early?
To think Hyeonyul would say something like that.
‘...What does he want to say?’
Hyeonyul had already handed over the experimental-subject information.
She had continued searching the experimental-subject records for the number REX-3333, but had not found it yet.
While organizing the effects and routes of the drugs used at the experimental site, Haeryeon had also added information on what the Villains involved operated, somehow finding it as well.
There were even Villains whose forces had already been wiped out, and she had not left out those notations either.
‘It’s fortunate he organized it properly, and fortunate I finished it today.’
Haeryeon let out a sigh of relief.
She hoped it would feel like a gift of some sort.
Knock. Knock.
At the sound, Haeryeon went outside.
“Welcome, Hyeonyul. You had a hard time yesterday. It was your day off too.”
“It was not just me.”
“I heard you were the first to notice, Hyeonyul.”
“My senses are simply more developed than other people’s.”
Having developed senses was not particularly a good thing.
Hyeonyul did not continue.
“May I ask something, just in case? Is it acceptable to carry out missions even when I am not at work?”
‘Ah, is this because of yesterday?’
Remembering the movie theater incident, Haeryeon smiled to herself.
“Not being at work doesn’t mean you aren’t Black Eagle, does it? Once you become Black Eagle, you can respond to emergencies whenever you want. Of course, I’d appreciate it if you report it afterward.”
After telling him that, Haeryeon examined Hyeonyul’s expression.
His brow creased ever so slightly.
Did he not understand?
“So you are saying that it is acceptable for me to act alone?”
Hyeonyul asked whether he had understood correctly.
Since he was still in his probationary period, various things, such as clocking in and out, lingered in his mind.
“I want to say that of course it isn’t, but the law recognizes it as Black Eagle activity when the target is a Villain. Still, none of us Team Leads would ever recommend it.”
“Because I could die?”
“That’s right. The chances are far too high. You might step forward boldly, or out of a sense of justice. But the results are so devastating that we usually don’t tell people about this.”
Haeryeon stopped in the middle of answering and looked at Hyeonyul anxiously.
Why had he asked this?
Why had he suddenly said he had something he wanted to tell her?
“...Hyeonyul, did you act alone?”
“Yes.”
Hyeonyul answered.
“Are you hurt anywhere? According to what Dr. Jeongmin told me today, the medication you were switched to doesn’t suit you.”
“Ah. I am only trembling.”
Hyeonyul held out his hand slightly.
It was shaking.
Haeryeon’s expression hardened.
It was not a good sign.
Was it not practically an injury?
“I have not gone to see him yet. Since this conversation could take a while, I came to you first.”
“You can tell me. I’ll listen to anything.”
“You told me before that I was a little different.”
“I did. I also added that I could not say you were completely different.”
“I cannot explain the power I possess. It is full of strange things. That is why there are things I cannot tell you.”
It was power that should not have existed in the first place.
It had been forcibly created through experiments.
That made it difficult to define.
Was the darkness itself Hyeonyul?
Or did he not exist at all, his body only being forcibly held together by drugs, and was he merely a part of that darkness?
“When I went on a mission with Choo Nayun, an enemy appeared. I found something on that enemy.”
“...You found something? I did not receive a report like that.”
“I could not tell you.”
“Was that because of the power you have?”
“Yes.”
After answering, Hyeonyul fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
“If anyone learns all of my power, they desire it. If they learn I am an experimental subject, the ending has always been obvious.”
There was no lie in what he had just said.
It was the truth.
“They no longer see me as a person.”
Hyeonyul spoke of all of it as though he were speaking of someone else.
He was too used to it to show any other reaction.
Haeryeon’s brows drew together.
“I was not afraid. I cannot use the methods I have always used against Black Eagle, so I hid it because I hoped such unfortunate events would not occur.”
Those who had desired him.
Those who had learned he was an experimental subject.
They had all wanted him, and the ending was always the same.
Death.
But Black Eagle was not a place where that was easy.
He had to work here.
Even if he could kill someone once or twice out of necessity, a chain of deaths beyond that would inevitably make those inside Black Eagle suspect him.
Hyeonyul did not want to be driven out of Black Eagle.
“This time was the same. I hid it because I could not explain how I found it.”
“Is there more than this?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me?”
“I am currently relying on uncertainty that is close to a gamble. Asking for more than that would be very difficult.”
Hyeonyul looked at Haeryeon warily.
He had already made many decisions.
He could not give any more than that.
Was he not telling her this much only because it was Haeryeon, because she was a Black Eagle Team Lead?
“I’m sorry, Hyeonyul. I was not trying to rush you. I only wanted to know whether it was something I could handle. I won’t rush you. I’ll take it slowly.”
Haeryeon realized she had been hasty.
Everyone had a different pace for approaching others.
With Hyeonyul, she needed to take the long view and proceed carefully.
Haeryeon leaned back.
“What did you hide about the incident that day?”
“I realized that the Villains who attacked the highway were different from the Villains who planted the bombs.”
“They were different?”
“Yes. So I went to find out where they had come from.”
“...Alone?”
Haeryeon’s expression hardened.
“I went alone.”
As he answered, Hyeonyul took out the phone.
“I obtained the phone of one of their employees.”
Haeryeon did not speak further.
What was she thinking?
“I could not identify who led that force. However, unusually, they were eliminating the drugs distributed by Villains and punishing the Villains who spread them.”
“...What?”
Whatever else, those words sounded extremely strange.
Why would Villains do something like that?
“I found it quite suspicious as well. I do not know anything beyond that. I believe you will investigate it further.”
Hyeonyul pointed at the phone.
With Juhyeon’s ability, perhaps she could uncover something bigger.
“I do not think you are telling me this just to give me that information. What do you want from me?”
“Please permit me to conduct an independent investigation.”
“No.”
Haeryeon spoke firmly.
“I will tell you what I intend to investigate and what can be gained from it.”
“Even so, no, Hyeonyul.”
At Haeryeon’s repeated refusals, Hyeonyul’s eyes turned cold.
“Hyeonyul. Don’t look at me like that. Listen first.”
“Yes.”
“What troubles you now is that you cannot reveal how you obtained that information, right?”
“That is correct.”
“I will not ask how you obtained it. Instead, just tell me whether you obtained it by killing someone or not. That is enough. I will put it forward as an official mission. Work openly as Black Eagle.”
“Why must I do that? I can simply hide the incident itself and bring back information...”
“Because you are no longer a Villain, Hyeonyul.”
“...”
Hyeonyul was left speechless.
He reacted as though he had learned a fact he had not known.
But soon, Hyeonyul returned to normal.
No matter how much a cloth dyed black was washed and washed again, it would not turn white.
Haeryeon surely knew that too.
“You are Black Eagle, Hyeonyul. You may have had to be that way all along, but you no longer need to work from the shadows. You can act however you feel comfortable. But do not hide in the darkness anymore.”
Haeryeon’s eyes were unwavering.
It felt as though a strength he had never experienced before was approaching him.
He did not know what this emotion was.
He did not understand it well, but it was an answer he had never heard before.
“To be honest, I desire your power too, Hyeonyul.”
“You desire it?”
His surprise vanished.
The look in Hyeonyul’s eyes as he watched Haeryeon did not change.
“Of course. Your power is more than enough to accelerate the force moving in the right direction.”
She had seen what he could do even now, so she looked forward to what he might do in the future.
He was someone with that much potential.
“I am always grateful, and always happy, that you joined our team, Hyeonyul.”
Haeryeon smiled brightly and gently closed her eyes.
He had heard words like that as a matter of course, yet hearing them at Black Eagle was different.
He did not know why they were different when they were the same words.
“...That is because you do not know me, Team Lead.”
Hyeonyul explained.
He did not know how that feeling might return to him later.
So he needed to extinguish it in advance.
Questions churned within him.
Why did she not doubt his words?
Why did she not see him as different?
“We can get to know each other. You do not know much about me, Nayun, Sinu, or Jihwan either, do you?”
“You would be better off thinking of me as a component. Otherwise, you may regret it.”
Hyeonyul warned her, but Haeryeon smiled broadly.
“I don’t like that. You are not a component to begin with, Hyeonyul. There is no one who can replace you.”
“...”
Hyeonyul was speechless again.
It was difficult.
It was difficult like when he had first met Jeongmin.
“Ah, shall we make a bet?”
Haeryeon raised the corners of her mouth.
“Later, we can see whose words were more right.”
“Why should we do that?”
“Because it will be fun. The winner buys a meal.”
“Shouldn’t the loser buy it?”
“You won, so you would be happy.”
“...I do not really understand.”
“Anyway, Hyeonyul, you worked hard. I had no idea you had been struggling on your own.”
He might say that he had not been, but it must have been exhausting.
How long had he continued living that way?
“I’m sorry about that, and thank you for telling me. From now on, I won’t send you off alone.”
Before Haeryeon finished speaking, Hyeonyul rose from his seat.
Yet Haeryeon remained calm.
It seemed as though Hyeonyul had been overloaded.
If she said any more, it might become too much and make him burst.
‘This is enough.’
Haeryeon smiled to herself.
She had learned one more thing about Hyeonyul.
He was not only awkward with conversation, but with emotions too.
Far, far more than she had thought.
“Go see Dr. Jeongmin, Hyeonyul.”
“...Yes, understood.”
Unlike usual, Hyeonyul left the room with quick steps. Haeryeon looked at her phone.
She smiled warmly.
He might not realize it himself, but that was the trust Hyeonyul had given her.
‘...Ah, this is so nice.’
Haeryeon was happy, and happy again.
‘This time, at least this time, I have to... I have to protect him.’
She clenched her fist.
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