WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home ◈
Chapter 92: I'm About to Pass Out
──────
“...Do you know me?”
Hyeonyul asked cautiously.
He had tried not to waver, but the shock hitting him seemed greater than expected.
It felt as though something were tightening around his chest.
He did not know what this sensation was, but suddenly, his throat stung.
It was strange and unfamiliar.
“...You're an experimental subject.”
The answer flew straight from the bastard's mouth.
There was no doubt that he truly knew.
But Hyeonyul's mind grew colder.
He needed to be more careful.
“...You were a monster then. How did you become human?”
The man's expression changed completely.
What could he call it?
It was as though he had seen an actual god.
There was no other way to describe it.
“Where did you see me?”
“Where else? At the experimental site. ...Right, I remember. Your name.”
How could he forget that name?
He thought he would remember it until the day he died.
It was the most beautiful darkness in the world.
“...REX-3333.”
At those words, Hyeonyul quietly removed his helmet.
The man's eyes widened.
There was a face attached to him.
Two eyes and ears, one nose and mouth.
He was not merely human-shaped. He was truly human.
Hyeonyul even dispelled the magic on his smartwatch.
The man's already wide eyes looked ready to pop out.
Even as cold sweat ran down his face, he made no more groans.
“...Th-this can't be. Is that your real appearance?”
The man's voice trembled.
He sounded almost choked with emotion, as though he might cry.
Beautiful.
There was no other way to describe that experimental subject.
Their experiment had succeeded.
He looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.
“Yes. Do you remember me?”
“...You've grown.”
The man could not believe it.
The child had become an adult.
“You... grew up.”
He wanted to shout louder, but he could not.
His breathing grew weaker.
Cold swept through his entire body.
“...Yes, this isn't so bad.”
To die by that hand.
It was more of an honor.
Would that not mean he, too, would be part of the hand that covered the Empire?
“I'll ask again. Where did you see me?”
“...Wait. That person will come looking for you.”
The man smiled.
“No, they probably already know.”
That person.
The words sounded unfamiliar, yet not unfamiliar.
“Who is that?”
Hyeonyul clenched his fist.
The fact that someone had led this, rather than him merely being caught up in it, kept shaking him.
“You need to become... something against the Empire. You have to.”
Become what?
The man went limp before he could finish.
When there was no movement in his chest, Hyeonyul's fingertips trembled.
Should he not have killed him?
Should he have been more careful?
Countless thoughts rushed in, then abruptly stopped.
That was not what mattered now.
‘...This bastard was one of them?’
Hyeonyul looked down.
Reality crashed into him.
The bastard had died with a smile on his face.
Even in death, he was mocking him.
That worthless piece of trash had been looking at him.
Every day.
Every day.
He must have watched him with that disgusting gaze, laughing at him.
“...Ha.”
A sound escaped Hyeonyul's lips.
He felt like laughing.
Why was that?
His heart raced.
He could hear the wind in his ears.
The sound seemed to grow fiercer.
‘...Ah, this is horrible.’
He had finally found one of them, only for him to lose him so pointlessly.
He did not even know his name.
He knew no further connection.
Where should he start looking?
Where should he begin again?
Beyond the completely shattered wall, he could see the night sky.
Darkness.
A perfectly quiet darkness.
Hyeonyul's gaze shifted toward the door.
Bang!
It was loud.
Baaang!
At the next blast, Hyeonyul's eyes sank deeply.
He was not in a good mood right now.
He hoped nobody would provoke him any further.
His self-control was slipping.
Realizing that, Hyeonyul thought of his medicine.
‘...Take the medicine.’
This was not good.
He could not remember how he had escaped that place that day, or where it had been, with his broken mind.
All he remembered was the blood covering his entire body and its disgusting smell.
He had thought he killed them all.
‘...No. The blood covering me was not theirs. They aren't dead yet.’
The corners of Hyeonyul's lips rose.
He giggled.
‘They aren't dead.’
A dagger appeared in the hand Hyeonyul had been using to take out the medicine.
Clack.
The medicine fell and rolled away.
‘Me.’
His gaze turned beyond the door.
How many would there be?
‘...I can kill those bastards.’
Black power flowed toward the dagger.
It looked as if a black beast had opened its jaws viciously.
Kill them.
Let's kill them.
They made us this way.
Countless voices rang out.
He felt someone gripping his throat, drugs seeping into his veins, and pain as though his skin were being peeled away.
Hyeonyul looked down.
His hand was melting away.
It meant he was not in control.
The sound in his ears grew louder, and so did the pain.
‘...No.’
Trembling all over, Hyeonyul let out a long breath and closed his eyes.
He had promised Jeongmin that he would not become a monster.
He had to keep that promise.
“Hyeonyul!”
At the sound that came with a hand gripping his shoulder, Hyeonyul opened his eyes in surprise.
“...Y-you, are you okay?”
‘...I didn't hear him. When did he get here?’
Hyeonyul was startled by that realization.
His gaze turned toward the door.
It had suddenly gone quiet.
Had he heard wrong?
Or had Sinu used his power?
“Your hand... What's wrong with your hand?”
Sinu's gaze turned to the vanished hand.
Something was melting.
He had no idea what power had caused it.
“First, let's go. Hurry!”
“I'm fine. ...More importantly, didn't you hear the sounds outside the door?”
Even as Hyeonyul spoke, he felt his own voice being buried beneath the voices in his ears.
His breathing was speeding up.
“You're thinking about the mission even now? I did it. I caught the things outside, so let's go. Hurry.”
“...I'm fine.”
“How is this fine...? Your hand melted.”
“I just need to take my medicine.”
When Hyeonyul clenched his remaining hand into a fist, it trembled.
Sinu's face twisted as he looked around.
The medicine was rolling on the floor.
He immediately ran over and brought back the medicine bottle.
“This is what you mean, right?”
“Thank you.”
When had he dropped it?
That had almost been a disaster.
Hyeonyul casually took out the medicine and chewed it before swallowing.
“You take it without water? It must be really bitter.”
“I'm fine.”
After speaking, Hyeonyul let out a long breath.
The whispering voices quieted.
The sensations pressing in from all sides faded as well.
Sinu examined Hyeonyul's condition.
‘What happened that he did not even see our messages?’
Only Nayun knew.
Sinu did not know the details, but seeing something that had made Hyeonyul's hand melt filled him with dread.
As Sinu could not take his eyes off Hyeonyul's hand, it returned to normal as though a recording of falling sand had been played backward.
Sinu composed his expression.
But inwardly, he was deeply shaken.
‘...Damn it.’
He knew Hyeonyul was an experimental subject, but Hyeonyul looked fine on the outside, so he kept forgetting.
‘Without medicine... he can't even control his body?’
“It is true that I'm a little shaken, but I'm not usually like this.”
Hyeonyul spoke to Sinu.
Had he not just shown himself to be useless?
That would be a problem.
He reactivated the magic on his smartwatch and pulled his helmet from the darkness.
“That bastard said he knew me.”
“...What?”
Hyeonyul pointed at the dead bastard as Sinu stared at him in shock.
He did not even know the man's name.
He had not been able to ask what he had done then.
He could not ask where he had been, either.
But he would find out soon.
Was that not why he had saved White Sparrow?
Hyeonyul glanced upward.
His messages were filled to the brim.
<Hyeonyul? Hyeonyul?>
<What's wrong? What's happening to Hyeonyul?>
After Nayun, Sinu had sent messages too.
<I don't know. Hyeonyul, what's wrong? Are you okay? Don't do that. Don't manipulate the magic! Jihwan! Block the door, block the door!>
<I already blocked it! What's wrong with Hyeonyul-hyung? What happened?>
<I don't know. Something is different. I think he's losing his mind.>
He could see how urgent things had been.
Hyeonyul dragged both hands over his face.
He had made a mistake.
He did not know how they would see him now.
‘...This is bad. If I get kicked out, I'm in trouble.’
He could barely afford the hospital bills as it was.
And what about his debt?
He had died from overwork and come to another world, but reality was harsh everywhere.
Money.
That damned money was holding him back.
‘Teacher will be worried.’
Jeongmin had been so happy just because they had moved from that cramped home to a bigger one.
How sad would he be if they lost it again?
Overwhelmed by his thoughts, Hyeonyul took another dose of medicine.
“Hyeonyul?”
At Sinu's voice, Hyeonyul lowered his hand.
His expression was as impassive as usual.
But Sinu wondered whether the real Hyeonyul was truly the same as always.
“The White Sparrow I was trying to save is already dead. That person is a fake.”
Hyeonyul returned to the mission, pointing at the dead White Sparrow.
“Did you save the other White Sparrow agents, Baek Sinu-hyung?”
“I did.”
Sinu did not know why that mattered now, but he answered first.
Hyeonyul reached toward the door.
“We can leave now.”
“...Wait, Hyeonyul.”
Sinu glanced toward the door with the Villains behind it before speaking.
“I'm fine.”
Speaking almost coldly, Hyeonyul moved beyond the door.
That bastard said he knew me.
Sinu slowly realized that those casually spoken words were not light at all.
‘...No, how can he be okay?’
Hyeonyul had said he had no memories of his past.
He had finally found a clue, only to lose it right before his eyes.
He had to be on the verge of madness with despair.
Was he holding it in?
Sinu looked at the dead man and searched his body.
He thought he needed to find anything he could.
He rummaged through it until his hands were stained bright red.
“Why aren't you coming?”
Hyeonyul's voice rang out.
He could not hear footsteps, but Hyeonyul's voice reached his ears from closer behind him.
“What are you doing with the corpse?”
“Searching it.”
“What are you searching for?”
“Evidence.”
“There is none.”
“No, there must be more.”
“There isn't.”
“Still, we have to look.”
“They aren't that careless. You'll only get your hands dirty.”
Hyeonyul's eyes turned cold.
Why would he not know that?
He knew better than anyone.
They were the kind of people who set up countless useless businesses to prevent their true location from being identified.
“There must have been a reason you thought that. But Hyeonyul, there is a way to find it. His clothes, accessories, shoes, all kinds of things could identify him.”
“You do not need to do that. Didn't White Sparrow infiltrate this place to learn that information? We can hear it from White Sparrow.”
“Normally, I would think the same and stop. But right now, you desperately want this.”
The hand holding Hyeonyul's unused helmet trembled briefly.
Wrinkles formed around his eyes.
He did not understand.
That was what Hyeonyul was saying.
“I said my younger sibling died, but the truth is, I'm still looking.”
“You're looking?”
They were dead, though?
Why?
Hyeonyul did not continue the thought.
He did not know much, but he thought it was something he should not say.
“I... never found the body. I cannot say it is the same as you, but I have never forgotten, either. You have not forgotten too, have you?”
“I cannot forget. How could I? Those memories are all I have.”
“That's how it is. If I had even found a clue, I would have done this.”
After finishing, Sinu bit his lip hard.
They were dead, so he could not do it, but if they were alive, he would have found every article of clothing, every shoe, every accessory, and tracked down where they had bought them.
He would have searched for where even a single strand of hair had fallen.
Even after hearing they were dead, he could not accept it as fact because he had not seen it.
“Don't throw away an opportunity you barely found so easily.”
“I am not throwing it away. Do you think you can find them through clothes like that? He did not even buy them himself. Even if he had someone run errands for him, they would be replaced regularly. The errand runners change companies over and over, this company, that company, countless places they claim to work at. Even the cards they use change. They make it impossible to distinguish what is real and what is fake. ...You know it is all a waste of time.”
Hyeonyul approached Sinu.
He had already tried everything.
He had looked countless times.
He had even learned hacking for that purpose.
“No leader of a Villain faction uses their own bank account. It is all fake. I tried everything, but listening to them directly and tracking them down is fastest. No matter how powerful a Villain leader is, the one thing they cannot completely control is people.”
People were not systems.
That was why they inevitably had the most loopholes.
“You do not need to do this.”
At his calm words, Sinu's face crumpled.
It hurt all the more because he was so calm.
“...I'm sorry, Hyeonyul.”
Sinu apologized.
He had crossed a line.
Hyeonyul would know better, yet Sinu had pushed his own emotions onto him.
“I do not understand why you are saying that, or why you are doing this.”
There was no shared interest between Sinu's situation and his own.
Fake or real?
After weighing that, Hyeonyul held out his hand to Sinu.
Even if he was fake, this was the first time someone had gone this far.
So he held it out.
“I do not understand, but you do not need to apologize.”
“My hand is... a little dirty right now.”
Sinu hesitated.
It was stained with blood.
He could not bring himself to take Hyeonyul's hand.
Then the darkness beneath their feet suddenly writhed and wrapped around his hand.
It was much colder than expected.
As Sinu stared in surprise, his hand became clean.
“Now it's fine.”
“...That's convenient.”
“I also thought Baek Sinu-hyung's ability was convenient.”
“It is convenient.”
Only then did Sinu smile and take Hyeonyul's hand, pulling himself up.
“Anyway, good job.”
“Yes...?”
“Thanks to you, we completed the mission.”
“But that bastard is the boss.”
“Huh?”
“He is the leader of this faction.”
“...W-what?”
Sinu was horrified.
What was that supposed to mean?
“I killed the leader. Is that really okay?”
“Wait a second!”
Sinu knew it was disgusting, but he immediately picked up the corpse.
He had no choice.
He ran straight for the door.
Hyeonyul watched him blankly, then moved beyond the door holding the arm he had failed to pick up.
“You forgot an arm...”
The moment screams broke out, Hyeonyul stepped back.
“A-are you crazy?”
Nayun shouted in horror.
Then she saw Hyeonyul's hand and raised her voice even more.
He was holding an arm.
“You're copying him! What are we supposed to do about this?”
Hyeonyul copying that idiot Sinu.
That could not happen.
“I know it's crazy! But this bastard is the leader!”
“...What?”
Nayun blinked at Sinu's shout.
What was any of this supposed to mean?
“Hyeonyul told me. Right, Hyeon...?”
Sinu's eyes widened.
Hyeonyul's face was tilting to the side.
Someone pushed past Sinu, ran over, and caught Hyeonyul.
“I-I caught him!”
Jihwan ended up beneath Hyeonyul.
“Hyung! Stay awake...”
Jihwan froze when he saw the arm drop with a thud.
The arm.
The arm had fallen.
“Th-the-the arm fell off!”
“It is not Hyeonyul's arm.”
Sinu set down the corpse and carried Hyeonyul on his back.
“Let's go first.”
“...Th-the corpse?”
Nayun stared at the body with confused eyes.
“We have to bring it.”
“You're insane, Baek Sinu...”
Nayun looked at Sinu as though she wanted to shoot him in the head immediately.
But calling the eagle came first.
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
