Chapter 81: All sorts of things are running rampant (1)
“Again, the newbie discovered it?”
Bong Hyeon-ho reacted as if he was fed up.
The newbie was at the center of the incident.
Did this even make sense?
Why, of all people, that newbie?
“Isn’t he amazing?”
As Oh Hae-ryeon asked with a smile, Bong Hyeon-ho’s eyes twitched.
“There is something that bothers me.”
“Is there any team that didn’t receive our newbie’s help in the Poison King case?”
Oh Hae-ryeon immediately countered, looking at Bong Hyeon-ho.
“Team Leader Oh Hae-ryeon. I’m well aware that you’re protecting him because he’s your team member. However, I’m saying you shouldn’t forget to consider that newbie’s past.”
Bong Hyeon-ho spoke, hiding his displeasure.
The newbie was a villain.
That origin would never be erased, no matter what he did.
“I know why Team Leader Bong Hyeon-ho is saying that. All team leaders are responsible for protecting this Nest, but among them, Team Leader Bong Hyeon-ho is in charge of the overall defense magic and facility management of the Nest, so he can’t help but be sensitive.”
Oh Hae-ryeon nodded and began to speak.
Each team leader had roles beyond managing their team members.
In Oh Hae-ryeon’s own case, as an Alchemist, she had to create medicines helpful for missions.
That was why she had made the antidote herself.
Bong Hyeon-ho was in charge of creating and managing all sorts of defensive facilities and magic surrounding the Nest.
“But if our newbie intended to do something, wouldn’t he have done it much earlier?”
Oh Hae-ryeon replied leisurely.
With Seo Hyeon-yul’s skills, he could have done so anytime.
It wasn't a joke; if he wanted to, he could probably cut off the heads of the six people sitting here right now.
She regarded him that highly.
“I agree too. Why would he do something like that? If he really intended to attack us, he would have done it when the White Sparrows were causing all that trouble. Why would he have blocked the Poison King’s poison? It would have been more beneficial to just let everyone die.”
Yang Do-jin sided with her.
“But if he has other ulterior motives……”
“Stop it.”
Ye Ju-hyeon cut him off sharply.
She looked at Bong Hyeon-ho, the corners of her eyes raised.
“What kind of idiotic villain would offer up internal information, not to mention alerting us to the fact that there’s a mole, and even capture the Poison King? Just say you don’t like him because he’s a former villain. Why beat around the bush so much?”
“…It’s unsettling. I’m afraid that all the defense facilities set up to protect the Nest might be paralyzed.”
“Um, well, everyone, please calm down.”
Team 6’s Jeong Na-rin spoke, clasping her hands.
It became quiet.
She, of all people, was in charge of capturing renegade Black Eagles and White Sparrows.
“…I understand what you mean. But didn't the Team 3 newbie go through various checks too? The newbie is an experiment subject… he is. This happened because we didn’t look properly, didn’t it? If we knew and rescued him, would he have gone… that way?”
Jeong Na-rin’s clasped hands tightened.
“……If my words were harsh, I apologize. I was shortsighted.”
Bong Hyeon-ho stood up from his seat and bowed his head to Oh Hae-ryeon.
Oh Hae-ryeon willingly accepted it.
“Team Leader Jeong Na-rin pointed it out well, but the reason our newbie had no choice but to go that way was due to practical problems. Since there were no living experiment subjects, there was no system to support them, and he’s still struggling with debt due to expensive medicine. Is this right? Why does a victim have to go through this?”
Oh Hae-ryeon looked at everyone.
If they were going to call him a villain, shouldn’t they know the reason?
“The newbie has never killed an ordinary citizen. If he had, he would have already become our target.”
Killing a villain was implicitly not questioned.
Didn’t everyone know?
Everyone knew that this was a distorted truth, and also that they had no choice but to do so.
“From the very beginning, the newbie brought us Shin Dae-ho. Did he only catch Shin Dae-ho? He helped us catch the mole, and he also caught the Poison King. He even brought us news about the mental alteration of some White Sparrows who were on infiltration missions, and for this mission, he brought news that former Black Eagles had formed a group to attack us. What more does he have to do here? What does he have to do to be seen as a Black Eagle?”
The more Oh Hae-ryeon spoke, the more her expression contorted.
Honestly, she was annoyed.
If even a team leader viewed him like that, how much worse would the team members be?
Oh Hae-ryeon took a long breath and calmed herself down.
“I hope you’ll stop framing him as a villain. This is not a request. I won’t tolerate it any longer. I’m warning you clearly, so please keep your team members in check.”
Oh Hae-ryeon uttered her final warning.
She had to protect her team member.
“Everyone must have understood. Now, let’s talk about that. About the former Black Eagles.”
Yang Do-jin, intending to lighten the mood, brought up the main topic for which the meeting was held.
“Those bastards, they left whenever they pleased, and now they crawl back in to attack us?”
Ha.
Yang Do-jin let out a voice as if exasperated even as he spoke.
“They’re trying to cause a stir. I’m sorry to bring it up again, but they might use the Team 3 newbie.”
Bong Hyeon-ho spoke, glancing at Oh Hae-ryeon.
However, he had no choice but to mention this.
If there was a vulnerability in the Black Eagle right now, it was that newbie.
A mole had existed, and that kind of information could have easily leaked out through someone else.
“Psychologically speaking, I think it’s a part they will inevitably try to exploit.”
Ha Dong-woo carefully brought it up.
“I am aware of that too.”
Oh Hae-ryeon accepted that it was an unavoidable part.
“But they don’t know he’s our newbie, do they? Strange rumors will spread. I’m asking you to prevent that from happening, if it possibly could.”
“I agree.”
Ye Ju-hyeon raised her hand.
“As a Black Eagle, he shouldn’t have to suffer injustice.”
Ye Ju-hyeon, still holding her phone, moved her thumb.
She soon stopped and showed her phone.
「Must Read」
「The newbie Black Eagle is a former ‘villain’」
“I looked it up there, and it’s already spread.”
At Ye Ju-hyeon’s news, Oh Hae-ryeon immediately gritted her teeth.
“…Damn it.”
As a chilly voice came from Oh Hae-ryeon’s lips, all the team leaders watched her cautiously.
To think she could become this fierce.
“Uh, Unni? I’ll try my best to erase it. Calm down.”
“Yeah, calm down, Hae-ryeon.”
“Team Leader Hae-ryeon? Ca-calm down!”
Following Ye Ju-hyeon and Yang Do-jin, Jeong Na-rin also raised her voice.
“…Everyone, I request your cooperation. I’ll start by catching those rotten bastards who spread that rumor. Right now.”
Oh Hae-ryeon was determined to find out who else from within had spread this information.
“…Seo Hyeon-yul.”
As soon as he got off the bus, a woman with wavy, dark purple hair stood there.
Her hair color appeared even darker in the night.
She was the Team 7 leader, Ye Ju-hyeon.
“Good evening.”
Seo Hyeon-yul bowed his head upon seeing Ye Ju-hyeon.
“My thanks are late.”
“Not at all. Thank you for telling me.”
“There’s something I need to talk to you about on the way, is that okay?”
Ye Ju-hyeon, as usual, was looking at her phone and constantly moving her thumb, but the hidden edge in her attitude and voice was less pronounced than before.
‘Was blocking the poison really that big of a deal?’
Seo Hyeon-yul still felt a sense of doubt, but seeing even some White Sparrows apologizing to him, he had no choice but to admit it.
“By the way, aren’t you heading home from work?”
“I had something to tell you before I left. Unni will explain it, but I thought it would be better for you to see it yourself, so I waited.”
“Understood.”
Seo Hyeon-yul replied calmly, and Ye Ju-hyeon glanced at him.
“You’re not surprised? Looks like you already expected it?”
‘……?’
A question mark popped up in Seo Hyeon-yul’s head.
What was she talking about?
“…I knew it. I thought you’d be surprised this time, but to think you expected this too.”
Ye Ju-hyeon reacted as if disappointed.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect this either. That they’d use you again.”
‘Ah.’
Seo Hyeon-yul finally understood.
It seemed something that intended to use him had appeared.
There was only one thing he could deduce from this.
The fact that his information had leaked to the former Black Eagles.
As expected, nothing changed.
Because he knew, there was no shock to receive either.
Didn’t he know better than anyone else that he would be a villain no matter what he did?
“What did you see to know?”
When Seo Hyeon-yul asked, Ye Ju-hyeon let out a sigh first.
It wasn’t particularly good news.
“This came out.”
Ye Ju-hyeon held out her phone.
「Must Read」
「The newbie Black Eagle is a former ‘villain’」
“Has it been revealed who leaked my information?”
“Not yet.”
“I predicted it when my information leaked to the White Sparrows. You don’t have to try too hard.”
“What do you mean by that?”
One of Ye Ju-hyeon’s eyebrows rose.
“I may be wearing this uniform, but I know I’ve only received the shell. There are people who occasionally thank me because of the Poison King incident. But this is also momentary, isn’t it? If something similar to the mole incident happens, they’ll turn hostile towards me again. I’ll be used anywhere.”
“You’re more pessimistic than you look? Are you always like this?”
“You might call it pessimism, but it’s the truth. No matter what I do, I’ll be a villain. I fully expected this.”
“So you’re just going to stand by and watch? I can hear Unni’s voice, sounding like her heart’s about to burst, all the way here?”
“No. How could I?”
Seo Hyeon-yul looked ahead.
If they didn’t provoke him, he had planned to ignore it.
But they had provoked him.
“Is it the former Black Eagles?”
“Yeah. Honestly, it pisses me off to even call those bastards ‘former’ and attach the name Black Eagle to them, but there’s no other term, so what can we do.”
“How are you classifying them?”
“Classifying…?”
“Are they villains or not?”
“According to Imperial law, those who commit any attack against the Empire and the Black Eagle are defined as ‘villains’. Criminals never, ever mess with us.”
The actions of criminals and villains had strong similarities.
However, criminals only targeted individual citizens; they never turned hostile towards the Empire and the Black Eagle.
Villains were different.
They targeted not individual citizens, but the entire citizenry, and launched direct or indirect attacks against the Empire and the Black Eagle.
“So you mean they are villains?”
“Of course. They’ll deny it even if they die, but those guys are ‘villains’ too. Besides, they messed with you. You’re a Black Eagle. They messed with all of us.”
For a moment, Seo Hyeon-yul’s feet stopped.
Ye Ju-hyeon turned her head.
“…Do you acknowledge me as a Black Eagle?”
“So what if I don’t? You showed them. I don’t like your background either. But I have no choice but to acknowledge it. Because you’re more outstanding than any other Black Eagle right now.”
Ye Ju-hyeon made a displeased face even as she spoke.
Her heart and the facts were at odds, so this much was unavoidable.
However, she had to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.
“I’m not your team leader, so it might be unpleasant for me to say this and that, but like Hae-ryeon Unni, I hope you don’t become a villain. I hope you don’t become our enemy.”
“That will not happen.”
“I sincerely hope you keep that resolve.”
“I will.”
“It was posted a little while ago and then deleted, but an article did pop up.”
“An article came out?”
As he acted calmly about this too, Ye Ju-hyeon seemed displeased by something.
‘How much has he been through to act like that?’
Ye Ju-hyeon narrowed her eyes slightly and showed her phone.
「Black Eagle Newbie, Actually a Former Villain?」
“It means the attack has already begun. Villains will intentionally seek you out.”
“Is that so?”
There was no change in Seo Hyeon-yul’s expression.
“…Is that all your reaction?”
Ye Ju-hyeon was, on the contrary, flustered.
Wasn’t it something to be a little surprised about?
Attacks might come from all directions.
“What am I supposed to say here?”
Seo Hyeon-yul truly seemed not to know how he was supposed to react.
It was frustrating.
She thought she understood, just a little, why Oh Hae-ryeon cared so much.
“…Right, what would you say. What more could you do than get angry? I made a mistake. Sorry.”
“Not at all.”
“As an apology, I’ll say this for sure.”
Ye Ju-hyeon’s lips curved upwards.
“I’ll find out which bastard did it. Of course, I’ll also stop such posts from circulating.”
“Didn’t you dislike me?”
“As long as you don’t betray us, you’re a Black Eagle. I’m just protecting a Black Eagle as a team leader.”
Ye Ju-hyeon naturally moved to the side.
“You don’t have to follow. That’s all I had to tell you. Hear the rest from Unni.”
Ye Ju-hyeon waved her hand as she was and moved towards the bus stop.
Seo Hyeon-yul hesitated then waved back, and Ye Ju-hyeon burst into laughter.
“That doesn’t quite suit you, but it’s not bad.”
As soon as Seo Hyeon-yul entered his room, he took two steps back.
There was someone he didn’t know.
‘…Did I come to the wrong room?’
He glanced outside the door.
“You came to the right place, so come in, Mr. Hyeon-yul.”
At Oh Hae-ryeon’s voice, Seo Hyeon-yul came inside and looked at the three people.
“Who are those people?”
“The bastards who sold Mr. Hyeon-yul’s information to the former Black Eagles.”
Oh Hae-ryeon didn’t treat them as humans.
They were some of the White Sparrows who had infiltrated the recent cult incident.
They had repaid kindness with betrayal.