WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 81: What a Ruckus
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* * *
“The newbie found it again?”
Hyeonho sounded thoroughly fed up.
The newbie was at the center of every incident.
Did that make any sense?
Why did it have to be that newbie?
“Isn’t that impressive?”
When Haeryeon asked with a smile, Hyeonho’s eye twitched.
“There is something bothering me.”
“Was there any team that did not receive help from our newbie during the Poison King incident?”
Haeryeon immediately countered, looking at Hyeonho.
“Team Lead Oh Haeryeon. I fully understand that you protect him because he is your team member. I am merely saying that we must not forget to consider the newbie’s past.”
Hyeonho spoke while concealing their displeasure.
The newbie had been a Villain.
No matter what he did, that origin would never be erased.
“I understand why Team Lead Bong Hyeonho would say that. Every Team Lead is responsible for protecting the Nest, but Team Lead Bong Hyeonho oversees its defensive magic and facilities, so you can’t help being sensitive about it.”
Haeryeon nodded as she spoke.
Besides managing their team members, each Team Lead had their own duties.
In Haeryeon’s case, as an alchemist, she had to make medicines that would aid missions.
That was why she had made the antidote.
Hyeonho was responsible for creating and managing all the defensive facilities and defensive magic surrounding the Nest.
“But if our newbie intended to do that, wouldn’t he have done it sooner?”
Haeryeon answered calmly.
With Hyeonyul’s abilities, he could have done so whenever he wanted.
This was no joke. If he wanted to, he could probably slit the throats of all six people sitting here.
That was how highly she regarded him.
“I agree. Why would the kid do something like that? If he really wanted to attack us, he would’ve done it when White Sparrow was making all that fucking noise. Why would he stop the Poison King’s poison? It would’ve benefited him more to just let us all die.”
Dojin took her side.
“But what if he has some other scheme...?”
“Stop it.”
Juhyeon cut Hyeonho off.
She raised the corners of her eyes as she looked at them.
“What kind of idiot Villain not only reveals there is an internal informant by handing over internal information, but also catches the Poison King for us? Just say you don’t like that he came from the Villains. Why are you going around in circles?”
“...It makes me uneasy. I’m afraid that the countless defenses carved into the Nest will be paralyzed.”
“Um, everyone, please calm down.”
Jeong Narin from Team Six clasped her hands and spoke.
The room fell quiet.
She was the one assigned to capture defected Black Eagle agents and White Sparrow agents.
“...I understand what you mean. But Team Three’s newbie has undergone all sorts of checks, hasn’t he? The newbie is an experimental subject... We failed to properly look after him, which is why this happened. I think that if we had known and rescued him, he might not have gone over there...”
Narin tightened her clasped hands.
“...I apologize if my words were harsh. I was thoughtless.”
Hyeonho rose and bowed to Haeryeon.
Haeryeon gladly accepted the quick admission and apology.
“Team Lead Jeong Narin made a good point. The realistic reason our newbie had no choice but to go over there was that there were no living experimental subjects, so there was no system in place to support them. He is still drowning in debt because of expensive medicine. Is that right? Why does the victim have to live like this?”
Haeryeon looked at everyone.
If they were going to keep calling him a Villain, shouldn’t they know why?
“The newbie has never killed an ordinary citizen. If he had, he would’ve become our target long ago.”
Killing Villains was tacitly not treated as a crime.
Everyone knew that.
They all knew it was a twisted reality, and that there was no choice but to do it.
“The newbie brought us Shin Daeho from the start. Do you think Shin Daeho was all he caught? He helped us catch the internal informant, and he caught the Poison King too. He brought us news that some White Sparrow agents infiltrating the cult had suffered mental corruption, and that former Black Eagle agents had formed a group to attack us during this mission. What more must he do? What does he have to do for you to see him as Black Eagle?”
The more Haeryeon spoke, the more her expression twisted.
Honestly, she was annoyed.
If the Team Leads saw him that way, how much worse would it be for their team members?
Haeryeon took a long breath and calmed herself.
“I would like you to stop framing him as a Villain. This is not a request. I won’t tolerate it any longer. Consider this a clear warning, so please keep your team members in line.”
Haeryeon issued her final warning.
She had to protect her team member.
“Everyone understands. Now, let’s discuss it. The former Black Eagle agents.”
Dojin changed the atmosphere by bringing up the subject for which the meeting had been called.
“Those bastards happily fucked off before, and now they’re crawling back to attack us?”
Ha.
Even as he spoke, Dojin sounded dumbfounded.
“They are trying to cause unrest. I apologize for bringing this up again, but they may use Team Three’s newbie.”
Hyeonho spoke while watching Haeryeon’s reaction.
But this was something that had to be mentioned.
The newbie was the only apparent weakness in Black Eagle right now.
There was also the internal informant, and information like that could leak from someone else’s mouth.
“From a psychological perspective, I think they will have no choice but to use it.”
Dongwoo spoke cautiously.
“I am aware of that as well.”
Haeryeon accepted that it was unavoidable.
“But they don’t know what our newbie is really like. Rumors will spread in the wrong direction. I’m asking you to prevent what may happen.”
“I agree.”
Juhyeon raised her hand.
“As Black Eagle agents, we should not have to suffer such injustice.”
Juhyeon gripped her phone again, moving her thumb.
Soon, she stopped and held out her phone.
“Must Read”
“Black Eagle’s newbie used to be a ‘Villain.’”
“I looked into it, and it has already spread.”
At Juhyeon’s news, Haeryeon immediately ground her teeth.
“...Damn it.”
A chilly voice left Haeryeon’s mouth, and every Team Lead watched her carefully.
They had not expected her to become so fierce.
“Uh, sis? I’ll delete as much as I can. Calm down.”
“Yeah, calm down, Haeryeon.”
“Team Lead Haeryeon? P-please calm down!”
Juhyeon and Dojin raised their voices, followed by Narin.
“...I ask for everyone’s cooperation. I will start by catching the fucking bastards who spread that rumor. Right now.”
Haeryeon intended to find out who inside had spread this information again.
* * *
“...Seo Hyeonyul.”
The moment he got off the bus, a woman with dark purple wavy hair stood waiting for him.
Her hair looked even darker against the night.
She was Team Seven’s Team Lead, Ye Juhyeon.
“Hello.”
Hyeonyul bowed when he saw Juhyeon.
“I was late in thanking you.”
“It is nothing. Thank you for telling me.”
“There is something I need to talk about while we walk. That’s alright, right?”
As usual, Juhyeon kept looking at her phone and moving her thumb, but the hidden edge in her attitude and voice was not as sharp as before.
‘Was stopping the poison really that big a deal?’
Hyeonyul still had his doubts, but seeing even White Sparrow agents apologize to him, he had no choice but to accept that it was.
“By the way, aren’t you going home?”
“I had something to tell you before I leave work. Sis will explain it, but I thought it would be better for you to see it yourself, so I waited.”
“Understood.”
Hyeonyul answered impassively, and Juhyeon glanced at him.
“You’re not surprised? I guess you already expected it?”
‘...?’
Question marks filled Hyeonyul’s mind.
What was she talking about?
“...I knew it. I thought you’d be surprised this time, but you expected this too.”
Juhyeon seemed disappointed.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect this either. To think they would use you again.”
‘Ah.’
Hyeonyul finally understood.
It seemed something had emerged that intended to use him.
There was only one thing he could infer from that.
His information had leaked to the former Black Eagle agents.
As expected, nothing changed.
Because he had known, he was not shocked either.
Did he not know better than anyone that no matter what he did, he would always be a Villain?
“What did you see to find out?”
When Hyeonyul asked, Juhyeon sighed first.
It was not good news.
“This came up.”
Juhyeon held out her phone.
“Must Read”
“Black Eagle’s newbie used to be a ‘Villain.’”
“Have you found out who gave them my information?”
“Not yet.”
“I expected it from the moment my information leaked to White Sparrow. You don’t need to try so hard.”
“What do you mean by that?”
One of Juhyeon’s eyebrows rose.
“Though I wear this uniform, I know I was only given its outer shell. Some people thank me for the Poison King incident. But that will only last for a moment, won’t it? If something like the internal informant incident happens again, they’ll turn on me. They’ll use it wherever they can.”
“You’re more pessimistic than you look. Have you always been like this?”
“You may call it pessimism, but it is the truth. No matter what I do, I will be a Villain. I expected it well enough.”
“So you’ll just sit back and watch? I can hear sis being driven crazy from here.”
“No. Why would I do that?”
Hyeonyul looked ahead.
He intended to ignore them if they left him alone.
But they had targeted him.
“Are they former Black Eagle agents?”
“Yeah. Honestly, it pisses me off to call them former Black Eagle and even attach the Black Eagle name to them, but there is no other term for them.”
“How are they classified?”
“Classified...?”
“Are they Villains or not?”
“Under Imperial Law, anyone who attacks the Empire or Black Eagle is defined as a Villain. Criminals never target us.”
There were many similarities between what criminals and Villains did.
But criminals targeted individual citizens and never turned their blades against the Empire or Black Eagle.
Villains were different.
They targeted not individual citizens but citizens as a whole, attacking the Empire and Black Eagle directly or indirectly.
“So they are Villains?”
“Of course. They would deny it even if they died, but they are Villains too. Besides, they targeted you. You are Black Eagle. They targeted all of us.”
Hyeonyul stopped walking for a moment.
Juhyeon turned her head.
“...Do you recognize me as Black Eagle?”
“What will you do if I don’t? You’ve shown us. I don’t like where you came from either. But I can’t help recognizing it. You are better than any Black Eagle agent right now.”
Even as Juhyeon spoke, her expression remained displeased.
Her feelings and the facts did not align, and that much could not be helped.
Still, she had to acknowledge what she had to acknowledge.
“You might not like me saying all this when I’m not even your Team Lead, but like Haeryeon, I don’t want you to become a Villain. I don’t want you to become our enemy.”
“That will not happen.”
“I sincerely hope you hold on to that feeling.”
“I will.”
“An article came up a little while ago, though it was deleted.”
“An article came out?”
Hyeonyul was impassive about this too, which displeased Juhyeon for some reason.
‘How badly has he been treated for him to be like that?’
Juhyeon narrowed her eyes slightly and held out her phone.
“Black Eagle Newbie, Actually a Former Villain?”
“This means the attacks have already started. The Villains will deliberately seek you out.”
“Is that so?”
Hyeonyul’s expression did not change.
“...Is that all you have to say?”
Juhyeon was instead flustered.
Was that not surprising enough?
Attacks could come from every direction.
“What should I say here?”
Hyeonyul truly seemed not to know how he was supposed to react.
It was frustrating.
She could understand, just a little, why Haeryeon was so concerned.
“...Well, what could you say? Other than that it makes you angry? I made a mistake. Sorry.”
“It is nothing.”
“As an apology, I will say this clearly.”
Juhyeon raised the corner of her mouth.
“I will find out who did it. Of course, I will stop posts like that from spreading around.”
“Did you not dislike me?”
“As long as you do not betray us, you are Black Eagle. As a Team Lead, I merely protect Black Eagle.”
Juhyeon naturally moved to the side.
“You don’t have to follow me. That’s all I had to tell you. Hear the rest from sis.”
Juhyeon waved as she headed toward where the buses stopped.
Hyeonyul hesitated, then waved back. Juhyeon burst out laughing.
“That doesn’t really suit you, but it’s not bad.”
* * *
The moment Hyeonyul entered the room, he took two steps back.
There were strangers inside.
‘...Did I come to the wrong room?’
He glanced outside the door.
“You came to the right place, so come in, Mr. Hyeonyul.”
At Haeryeon’s voice, Hyeonyul entered and looked at the three people.
“Who are they?”
“The bastards who sold your information to the former Black Eagle agents.”
Haeryeon did not treat them as people.
They were among the White Sparrow agents who had infiltrated the cult in this incident.
They had repaid kindness with enmity.
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