Chapter 18: I Was Kidnapped (2)
"...Puhat."
Laughter finally burst out.
He seemed intent on killing every subordinate sent until they met in person.
Well, it didn't matter.
"That friend is quite an interesting one.
Isn't he?"
Someone wearing a mask rested their chin on their hand and put a cigarette to their lips.
Hoo.
The long exhale of smoke strangely wasn't acrid or stinging to the nose.
Instead, it spread like a sweet fragrance.
"...Yes, he is."
The subordinate kept his head bowed, unable to even lift his gaze.
He could only barely hide his trembling hands.
His heart wasn't holding up, having suddenly skipped the intermediate steps to have a private audience with the Poison King.
"Seo Hyeon-yul.
Seo Hyeon-yul, you say."
The Poison King uttered the name.
Whatever his confidence stemmed from, he was still maintaining the same place of residence.
"He doesn't seem aware of it himself, but in this industry, he's often called a monster.
Did he seem like that?"
"...Yes. He did.
Just before I could even blink, my colleague was killed."
"Yes, yes. I like that."
The Poison King's voice was smooth.
Hyeon-yul was the test subject everyone desired.
A living test subject.
What would that feel like?
With just that monster, how many heads could be taken?
Conquering the Empire really just ended with taking the heads of the King and the Prime Minister.
It was that easy, but the Black Eagles were blocking the central area where they lived, so they hadn't even been able to lay a hand on it yet.
The Black Eagles received immense support from the Empire and acted like guardians.
They tracked their movements and cut them down before they could take root.
What if someone appeared who could directly attack that place?
What if that someone was Seo Hyeon-yul?
'Shin Dae-ho cherished him so much, he should be capable of at least that much.'
It was quite unsightly how he mentioned that name like singing a song every time they met.
'He died well. Handing something like this over to me.'
The Poison King smiled faintly and looked at his subordinate.
"......Keeeoook."
The subordinate, who had been bowing, suddenly clutched his neck.
Instantly, blood started streaming from his eyes and nose.
'I need to get him before someone else does.'
Ignoring the subordinate's agony, the Poison King finally wore a satisfied smile.
Because he had finally made up his mind.
"...Mr. Hyeon-yul!"
Hearing Hae-ryeon's voice, Hyeon-yul stopped climbing the hill, startled.
He looked up.
She wasn't alone.
Shin-woo was there too.
"......?"
Hyeon-yul's head tilted sideways involuntarily.
Why were they here?
For a very brief moment, Hyeon-yul's pupils trembled.
'Did they... find out I lied?'
Anxiety washed over him.
Hyeon-yul's fingers tensed.
'They said I wouldn't get kicked out for lying, but still, who knows?'
They might think he disobeyed an order.
Disobeying orders and being disposed of was the natural course.
Would it be different here?
Hyeon-yul looked at Hae-ryeon and Shin-woo.
At least, they didn't look angry.
"...Why did you come here?"
Hyeon-yul asked quite cautiously.
Hae-ryeon and Shin-woo didn't get angry.
Instead, they were surprised by Hyeon-yul's reaction.
Because he looked genuinely surprised they came, and seemed extremely wary.
'...No.'
Hae-ryeon touched her forehead.
—Respected Team Leader. I've been kidnapped.
After sending a text like that, who wouldn't come?
The meeting had just ended, and Shin-woo was writing the report in her stead, so they could come together.
"How could we not come...? You said you were kidnapped?"
Shin-woo asked, surprised.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
When Hyeon-yul asked back, the two were lost for words.
Wasn't he reacting as if their very act of coming here was strange?
"It does matter. It's like that here."
Shin-woo said calmly.
In other companies, colleagues were just people you wanted to keep at a moderate distance, enough not to become enemies.
But in the Black Eagle, the meaning of a colleague was different.
They were beings you could trust with your back.
It was different from other places, so it made sense that Hyeon-yul couldn't immediately understand.
"Are you hurt anywhere?
No injuries?
What exactly happened?"
Hyeon-yul blinked at the rapid-fire questions from Hae-ryeon.
He couldn't help but think things over.
Only one thing was important.
'...They didn't come because of the order violation.'
Maybe he was a pretty decent component?
Hyeon-yul felt relieved by that fact.
"I'm not injured or hurt anywhere.
It was just something that happened because villains forcibly took me from here."
Hyeon-yul gently spread his arms.
"It seems they threatened to kill everyone here if you didn't follow them......"
Hae-ryeon spoke with displeasure.
The villains' methods were obvious.
They usually grabbed bystanders and threatened them.
Above all, this was a Moon Village.
The houses were packed incredibly close together.
If threatened in a place like this, anyone would surely comply.
"Of course, they threatened him."
Shin-woo let out a long breath.
It was obvious that even a single bomb exploding here would kill hundreds or more.
Knowing Hyeon-yul's power, Shin-woo felt even more sorry.
He could have resisted, but probably couldn't.
Hadn't Hyeon-yul saved people who were about to become test subjects?
'...Framing someone like this for murder?'
Shin-woo was baffled thinking about it again.
—Mr. Hyeon-yul has a movement ability. Mr. Ji-hwan from our team has one too, and some other Black Eagles do, but given the current atmosphere, someone might pick on this point.
Before coming here, Hae-ryeon had told him something.
That if someone saw Hyeon-yul's power, they might suspect him as the culprit in this incident.
—Don't worry. The doctor who came this time, Lee Jeong-min, said that the incident site, about an hour's drive away, is impossible for even Mr. Hyeon-yul to reach. He said it's practically impossible because the body would almost have to turn into particles, and he can testify to that anytime.
The doctor named Lee Jeong-min who had recently joined was a specialist in test subjects.
He hadn't known, but he was also the person who had treated Hyeon-yul for a long time.
That doctor said it was impossible.
Therefore, there was no suspicion Hyeon-yul needed to face.
"Yes. They threatened me."
Hyeon-yul didn't bat an eye.
Although he had killed them all, it was true they had threatened to take him.
Hyeon-yul soon looked around.
Finding the phone he had left in the bushes earlier was the priority.
"This is it, right?"
Shin-woo waved the phone.
It was something he found while searching the area earlier.
"That's right. Thank you."
Hyeon-yul held out his hand.
He finally felt relieved.
It was an amount that would be burdensome to replace.
"Well then, before we get into the details, shall we go somewhere?"
Hae-ryeon had been feeling the stares pouring from behind the windows of each house for a while now.
She couldn't carelessly say anything here.
"Then, please come inside."
Hyeon-yul opened the door without hesitation.
This was more efficient.
But it felt somewhat like working overtime, which didn't sit well with him.
As soon as Hae-ryeon entered Hyeon-yul's house, she barely managed to stifle a gasp.
The first things visible were medicines and medical equipment.
The already small-looking house was so crammed with that stuff that she worried if there was even space to sleep; there was barely room to step.
"Sorry the house is small."
Hyeon-yul spoke first.
"Ah, no. It's just right for living alone."
Hae-ryeon tried to smile naturally, and Shin-woo also waved his hands.
"Right. It's just right."
"I thought this place would be good since you have to go down the hill quite a bit, but it seems it was a poor judgment."
"No. It's a very good thought, Mr. Hyeon-yul."
The corner of Hae-ryeon's lip twitched slightly.
—I hope the salary comes on time. Because I want to eat.
She knew he had been ripped off by the villain, but his living situation was worse than expected.
It hit home how much the medical expenses must really cost.
She thought she needed to make sure he could receive the medical support funds sooner.
"Mr. Hyeon-yul, have you eaten?"
"I ate there."
Honestly, it was delicious.
It was the most satisfying meal he'd had.
"Kidnapped... there?"
Shin-woo asked in surprise.
"Yes. They told me to eat before leaving.
Coincidentally, I didn't have anything at home either."
At Hyeon-yul's answer, Hae-ryeon and Shin-woo looked like they were about to wipe their faces any second.
Certainly, everything visible right now was just medicine.
"Ah, oh dear, look at me. I came to someone's house empty-handed."
Shin-woo stammered, suddenly raising his voice.
"Exactly. Mr. Shin-woo, you said it well, haha."
As Hae-ryeon laughed awkwardly, Hyeon-yul looked back and forth between the two.
'Should I laugh along...?'
He didn't know what the situation was.
As an oddly descending silence fell, Hyeon-yul, seemingly used to it, spoke first.
"Although I was kidnapped, I managed to dig up some information."
Saying he was kidnapped could make him look incompetent beyond expectation.
So, he made sure to extract information somehow.
After saying that, Hyeon-yul looked at the two.
As expected, their expressions changed drastically.
He had clearly brought up the right topic.
"This incident was indeed perpetrated by the Poison King.
This, too, like the business card last time, was to test me.
I've drawn enough interest now, so I can meet him directly next time."
"Mr. Hyeon-yul."
Hae-ryeon called Hyeon-yul heavily.
"Respected Team Leader. I will not go to meet the Poison King.
I will handle him during a mission."
"During a mission...?"
"I don't know the exact details, but I've obtained information that he's preparing something big soon."
"You mean a terror threat?"
"That's correct.
The Poison King owns several corporations, and I know one of them."
Out of the eight people at the restaurant, he sent only one.
The place that one person had to go to was for reporting.
He even knew the location of that place.
But he didn't monitor further.
The report going to the Poison King might go through several processes, and not knowing what those processes were, waiting seemed like a waste of time.
The reports coming to Shin Dae-ho also went through similar processes, so it wasn't strange.
He judged it more efficient to inform the Black Eagles of the location and have them investigate and approach it.
"Can you tell me the location?"
Hae-ryeon looked at Hyeon-yul expectantly.
This was a different matter from Hyeon-yul going to the Poison King.
"I will send you the pinpointed location."
Hyeon-yul opened a map and confirmed the location.
"Ah, did you hear from Team Leader Ye Ju-hyeon that there's an insider colluding within?"
Hyeon-yul stopped pinpointing the location and briefly lifted his head to look at Hae-ryeon.
"......W-wait a minute. What does that mean?"
Shin-woo's eyes widened.
When he looked at Hae-ryeon with surprised eyes, she nodded.
Although shocking, it was something Yang Do-jin, the Team 2 leader, had warned about before.
"Only we know about it for now.
Right now, only a manager has turned out to be a collaborator, but soon it could be a Black Eagle too."
"Respected Team Leader. Is that... true?"
Shin-woo still couldn't hide his confused expression.
An insider collaborator.
It felt like being hit hard on the back of the head.
"Mr. Shin-woo. Sorry for telling you so suddenly, but I can't give you detailed explanations yet.
Nothing concrete has come out.
Mr. Hyeon-yul probably doesn't know the details either."
"Yes. The person who knows the most details is Team Leader Ju-hyeon."
Hyeon-yul nodded.
He had merely given the phone to Ju-hyeon to catch the guys badmouthing him.
Some strange incident had just gotten tangled up with it.
"I've sent the location."
"Thanks, Mr. Hyeon-yul."
After confirming the location, Hae-ryeon looked at Hyeon-yul again.
She had said stealing was bad, but honestly, if Hyeon-yul hadn't given that phone to Ju-hyeon, they wouldn't have known anything.
Hae-ryeon squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a brief moment.
'Still, stealing is not okay.'
When asked who was good and who was evil, she believed the objective distinction lay in whether one followed the law or not.
Shaking off the distracting thoughts, Hae-ryeon asked naturally.
"The results of the initial meeting regarding today's incident are out.
You were waiting, right?"
"I was waiting."
Hyeon-yul's expression remained unchanged.
His eyes just seemed more devoid of light than usual.
If anything, they seemed sharper.
Wondering if it was because of the kidnapping earlier, Hae-ryeon asked, thinking 'no way'.
"Mr. Hyeon-yul."
"Yes."
"I'll just say this and leave quickly.
Is that okay?"
"It's okay."
Only then did Hyeon-yul's expression relax slightly.
'He really... hates working extra.'
Hae-ryeon firmly imprinted this in her mind.
Perhaps he was perceiving this very moment as overtime.
"Since it was the first meeting, the discussion centered on matters related to you, Mr. Hyeon-yul, rather than処分(punishment/disposal).
You won't face any backlash or harm from this incident.
By any chance, could you tell us what kind of 処分(punishment/disposal) you desire?"
"I know I can't receive the 処分(punishment/disposal) exactly as I wish.
I just want to work quietly and peacefully.
That's all."
Hyeon-yul spoke realistically.
Anyway, even if he mentioned a 処分(punishment/disposal), the real punishment would only come after being handed over to the police.
"Of course, it will be like that.
However, that part will come out after the meeting results, which will be held again soon.
This incident is the first of its kind since the Black Eagle was formed... so the shock is significant in many ways.
Of course, Mr. Hyeon-yul must be the most shocked."
"Respected Team Leader."
"Yes, Mr. Hyeon-yul."
"No matter what I do, there will be no one in the Black Eagle who acknowledges or likes me."
Hyeon-yul spoke with resolute strength.
In the past, he had never killed ordinary civilians, but he still worked for a company run by a villain.
No one liked someone who used to be a villain.
"Whatever I do in the future, rumors will always follow me like a tag.
They will always put me on a scale and weigh this and that.
I fully understand, and I think it's an unavoidable issue.
So you don't have to try so hard."
Hyeon-yul informed Hae-ryeon and Shin-woo of the reality.
Those two didn't know how much the world hated and loathed someone who used to be a villain.
As always, he would just continue moving forward today, tomorrow, killing obstructors.
"But thank you for always caring."
Hyeon-yul slightly bowed his head and lifted it.
He didn't know about other things, but this required a proper greeting.
Because even if he was useful, no one had done this much for him until now.
As Hyeon-yul smiled, Hae-ryeon and Shin-woo barely swallowed the many words that rose to their throats.
Perhaps because it was a simple smile that didn't match his usual expression, it felt incredibly poignant.
Because they wanted to beat up everyone who had doubted Hyeon-yul, even for a brief moment.
'This isn't right......'
Hae-ryeon clenched her fists on her knees, and Shin-woo also wavered.
This wasn't right.
No matter how many times they thought about it, it was the wrong issue.