The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home

Chapter 3. Currently Job Hunting (2)

To work in a villain's company, one needed to know how to handle bombs, at the very least.

Was it just bombs?

He even knew how to make simple poisons.

“…Can you really defuse a bomb?”

When Hae-ryeon asked, Hyeon-yul nodded.

“Is there any reason for me to lie?”

“You seem to be gambling with people’s lives for acceptance, but that won’t work.”

As the Team 7 Leader spoke up, Hyeon-yul instead shrugged his shoulders.

“I said I would help, I never made acceptance a condition, nor did I threaten you.”

The Team 7 Leader chuckled lightly at those words.

If it was a provocation, it could be considered one, and if he intended to backstab them, he was halfway successful.

“Interesting. You, you’re quite interesting.”

The thumb of the Team 7 Leader, holding her cell phone, moved quickly.

It was an obvious situation.

Hadn't everyone heard?

They were in a situation where they had no choice but to receive help from Hyeon-yul.

Even if he didn't demand it, they would naturally incur a debt.

How was this different from what she herself had said?

“I’m honored.”

As Hyeon-yul smiled, electricity spread out beside him.

Even at the sight of the crackling flash, Hyeon-yul didn’t bat an eye.

“Yes, enjoy this moment.”

The Team 7 Leader smiled brightly.

“Kiddo. Right now, you need to get a grip and just look at the situation.”

The Team 2 Leader pressed down on the Team 7 Leader’s head, trying to stop her.

This wasn't the time to raise voices.

“Get this off, old man!”

“Team Leader Ye Ju-hyeon. Now is not the time for that, is it?”

When even Hae-ryeon intervened, Ju-hyeon looked at her and lowered the corners of her eyes.

“……Unni.”

Hae-ryeon looked at Hyeon-yul.

His relaxed attitude made her uneasy and suspicious.

This must be why Ju-hyeon was being so sharp.

“I will take him.”

Hae-ryeon volunteered.

For now, there was no choice but to take charge of Hyeon-yul and watch him closely.

There was no time.

Hae-ryeon undid the handcuffs that bound Hyeon-yul’s hands.

“Follow me.”

Hae-ryeon urged, and Hyeon-yul stood up from his seat.

“I know you suspect me. Therefore, I will prove myself through results.”

He bowed his head slightly towards the team leaders and followed Hae-ryeon.

For now, whatever he said would likely sound grating.

Hae-ryeon walked quickly, almost running down the corridor.

Her fluffy hair bounced along with her movements.

“Do you know why the Black Eagle is called the Black Eagle?”

“I do not.”

“Then, you can learn on this occasion. From now on, we will ride an eagle to get to the location.”

Hyeon-yul thought for a moment.

Riding an eagle.

What could that mean?

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I hope that your desire to join the Black Eagle is genuine.”

Hae-ryeon grinned.

If Hyeon-yul’s words were sincere, it was clear he would be an incredible asset.

Hadn't he accomplished something no one else could?

“……Ugh.”

Hyeon-yul leaned against the wall with a pale face, covering his mouth.

He wondered what the Black Eagle was, and it turned out to be magic.

This place he was reborn into was modern, but it was a strange world where various powers existed.

Magic naturally existed.

‘Isn’t magic usually just about tricks…?’

It was the first time he had seen such powerful magic.

An eagle covered in black, like an illusion, appeared.

He was just staring at it, wondering what it was, when it suddenly snatched him up and flew into the sky.

They moved at an unbelievable speed without him even being mentally prepared.

He wondered why there were no common cars, aside from buses, near the building they called the Nest, but it turned out they traveled like this.

‘……This is the worst.’

Hyeon-yul sensed a crisis.

If he became a Black Eagle, wouldn’t he have to ride this every day?

“Are you okay? You seem a bit weak.”

Hae-ryeon smiled awkwardly at the unexpected situation.

The Black Eagle was fast, and it was true that first-timers were startled, but it was perfect enough not to cause even common motion sickness.

However, Hyeon-yul experienced different side effects.

Despite his sturdy physique, how weak was his body?

“…Yes. My body isn’t well.”

Hyeon-yul checked his watch.

It was almost time to take his medicine.

He turned his head to look at Hae-ryeon.

“That said, I’m not uselessly weak. It’s manageable with medicine, so I’m always grateful for modern medicine.”

“Is it a chronic illness?”

“No. I’m a former test subject.”

“…….”

Hae-ryeon’s expression froze instantly.

‘…A test subject?’

Anti-government forces sought to create soldiers possessing power to overthrow the Empire.

They experimented on countless people, calling them test subjects.

The survival rate was abysmal.

Nevertheless, those bastards continued kidnapping people and turning them into test subjects.

‘How is a test subject still alive?’

A question formed in Hae-ryeon’s mind.

‘Is that why he came to the Black Eagle?’

The question gave birth to another question.

His motive for coming to the Black Eagle was honestly too weak.

But if he was a test subject, it was different.

How deep must his grudge against the villains be?

The fact that he was here with all his limbs intact could be called a miracle.

“If you find it hard to believe, you can examine me later. My insides were messed up here and there trying to inject strange powers.”

Hyeon-yul said, covering his mouth.

His body was different from that of an ordinary person.

He needed medicine to maintain his form and consciousness, and that medicine wasn't free, so he couldn't afford it without working for a black company.

“…No. I saw the records of countless hospital visits.”

Hae-ryeon said hesitantly.

She had seen living test subjects a few times, but this was the first time seeing one who continued to live, so she was flustered.

“I’m glad the time needed for persuasion is reduced. It’s essential for me to visit the hospital. The medicine is expensive too. In that sense, the conditions here at the Black Eagle were very good.”

Hyeon-yul smiled lightly.

‘……This is driving me crazy.’

Hae-ryeon felt her resolve wavering.

She knew this wavering began the moment she heard the words ‘test subject’.

She had rescued many test subjects, but they all ended up dying.

Perhaps it was due to guilt.

Hae-ryeon finally noticed the scars revealed on Hyeon-yul’s face.

Aside from a few deep scars, there were quite a lot of faint scars, as if he had been mangled.

They were all traces of experiments.

‘…That’s why he had the strength to kill Shin Dae-ho.’

Understanding Hyeon-yul’s power, Hae-ryeon viewed the situation calmly.

There were quite a few dangerous factors involved to judge Hyeon-yul based solely on sympathy.

‘I have to judge Seo Hyeon-yul with my own two eyes.’

Hae-ryeon rummaged through the bag she brought.

She held out a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses.

“Put these on.”

“Is there some magic on these to lower facial recognition?”

“No. It’s just a disguise.”

The magic to lower recognition was on the smartwatch Hae-ryeon was currently wearing.

But she didn't elaborate further.

She took out her cell phone and checked various things.

People were currently being evacuated, and the location was identified as near where they had landed.

‘First, the bomb.’

Hae-ryeon solidified her objective and activated her smartwatch.

“Do Black Eagles usually move in small numbers?”

Noticing that no one else was coming, Hyeon-yul couldn't help but ask while putting on the glasses.

“It depends on the mission.”

She could have asked why he was prying, but Hae-ryeon gave a vague answer for now.

“This time it’s a bomb. Damage must be minimized. As a team leader, I can’t sacrifice my team members, can I?”

As Hae-ryeon smiled, Hyeon-yul stared blankly at her.

‘…Is she stupid?’

Hyeon-yul couldn’t understand.

If the team leader disappeared, the team would collapse.

For the sake of the team, sacrificing members was the right thing to do.

But Hyeon-yul thought differently.

‘I need to learn this.’

What he had learned was the way of the villains.

The Black Eagle was not a villain.

“Mr. Seo Hyeon-yul, what kind of power do you use?”

To disarm the bomb, it was necessary to know Hyeon-yul’s power.

“Shadow. You could also call it darkness. I don’t know exactly what it is.”

As Hyeon-yul reached out his hand, his fingers melted smoothly into shadow and dropped.

Where his fingers had been, there was nothing.

Fingers emerged from the shadow and wriggled.

“You can roughly see it as this kind of power.”

“……Fucking bastards.”

Hae-ryeon cursed involuntarily.

What on earth had they turned a person into?

She couldn't even imagine what had happened before he could melt like that.

“Does it hurt…?”

Hyeon-yul was momentarily surprised by Hae-ryeon’s question.

Why was she asking that?

‘Is she trying to assess my health?’

Hyeon-yul shook his head.

“No. It’s fine if I take my medicine. No matter what happens, I will definitely accomplish the mission before leaving, so you don’t need to worry.”

The words he uttered were strangely odd, making Hae-ryeon blink.

It felt almost like an appeal.

But Hyeon-yul’s expression was quite calm.

“If you tell me where the bomb is, I will take care of it. If you see how I handle it, you’ll know I deserve to clock out exactly on time.”

At his renewed words, Hae-ryeon raised an eyebrow.

At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but hearing him say this much, she was certain.

“You seem to place considerable… importance on work-life balance.”

“That’s correct. I hate overwork.”

As Hyeon-yul stated proudly, Hae-ryeon burst into laughter.

“Honestly, I want to tell you that you came to the wrong place, but clocking out on time isn’t impossible. If you do well, that is.”

Hae-ryeon walked forward.

Hyeon-yul followed, listening to her words.

He hadn't noticed because of the Black Eagle they rode, but the neighborhood was strangely quiet.

“Villains are always overflowing, and the Black Eagle are few, so the more villains you catch, the more benefits you receive. Because you’re valuable talent, you’re treated accordingly.”

At Hae-ryeon’s confident voice, Hyeon-yul felt as if he were drinking warm tea.

“…It sounds like a good place. A place that treats you according to your work is truly. Truly rare.”

Could this place really uphold at least the basics?

Anticipation blossomed at the thought.

“I hope Mr. Seo Hyeon-yul is a good person too.”

Hae-ryeon also spoke quietly, planting a seed of expectation.

“I don’t know about being a good person, but I will strive to be a good component.”

Hyeon-yul knew what the company wanted.

Talent that could be used cheaply. If that wasn’t a component, what was it?

Since they could fire him at any time, it was easier to discard the thought of truly belonging.

“That’s not exactly a good thing to say.”

Hae-ryeon’s brow furrowed slightly before she turned her back.

Somehow, she seemed angry.

Not knowing why, Hyeon-yul followed, turning his gaze.

He saw an empty playground.

Traces of a hasty departure caught his eye.

As they entered the tall apartment building, visible even from afar, the frequency of items dropped on the floor increased.

Hyeon-yul adjusted his glasses that had slid down and took a deep breath.

‘The smell of blood.’

The thick smell of blood permeated the air.

Sure enough, as they climbed the hill, corpses began to appear one by one.

Hyeon-yul’s gaze turned towards the apartment building.

‘It’s there.’

Even without explicitly asking Hae-ryeon, he could clearly tell where the bomb was.

‘Their information network is good.’

There’s a bomb.

How long had it been since they received that report, yet they could already pinpoint the location?

‘Their timing seems well-coordinated.’

From the team that gathered the information, to the team that transported them to the location, and finally, the Black Eagle acting.

Not bad.

“Is it there?”

Feeling satisfied, Hyeon-yul pointed at the apartment building.

“Yes. The bomb is in there.”

As Hae-ryeon answered, Hyeon-yul covered one of his eyes.

The eye covered by his palm melted away and headed towards the apartment.

Moving along the shadows, a different scene unfolded from the uncovered eye.

He was moving inside the apartment to find the bomb.

“Did something get in your eye?”

When Hae-ryeon asked, Hyeon-yul shook his head.

Two completely different spaces were visible in Hyeon-yul’s vision.

Outside the apartment and inside the apartment.

“Ms. Oh Hae-ryeon, what kind of power do you use?”

After asking, Hyeon-yul thought for a moment before speaking again.

“Ah, if you’re suspicious, you don’t have to tell me.”

“I’m an alchemist.”

As Hae-ryeon lifted her outer garment, it revealed numerous small bottles filled with various substances.

“I have many things, including acid strong enough to melt Mr. Seo Hyeon-yul right away.”

“Do you have poison too?”

“I do.”

“Then, could you give me a poison capable of killing all the villains in the room? I’ll bring the bomb out simply.”

Hyeon-yul made it clear he wouldn't refuse, whether there was a bomb or anything else there.

“There’s a bomb inside, are you going to go?”

Hae-ryeon asked cautiously.

“I’m going.”

“You could die.”

“Even if I don’t go, I might die in a different sense. I want to live a long life.”

To afford his medicine, he had to work.

He didn't know how long he could live, but he had to live as much as possible while he could.

“Any poison is dangerous. Don’t go in immediately.”

Hesitantly, Hae-ryeon held out a thumb-sized bottle.

“Thank you.”

Hyeon-yul smiled as he took the bottle.

‘I wondered if she’d give me poison of all things, but she actually did?’

With the male team leader approving and the female team leader objecting earlier, leaving Hae-ryeon's choice remaining, a signal like this could only be highly positive.

Hyeon-yul made the hand holding the bottle disappear.

It was as if black rain was dripping down.

The hand covering his eye remained, searching for the bomb's location.

It didn't take long.

Exactly 11 seconds.

‘Found it.’

A total of 9 people.

The bomb was amongst them, huddled together in one room.

‘Good positioning.’

It was a setup where all 9 could be eliminated if necessary.

Considering they even thought about cleaning up neatly afterwards, the villain mastermind behind this bomb incident seemed to have a working brain.

‘But advantages come with disadvantages.’

They were rats trapped in a jar, so to speak.

Hyeon-yul sent the hand clutching the poison towards his eye's location.

Moving under the sofa, he shattered the poison bottle.

Shifting his eye's view there, he saw the poison spreading like faint smoke.

He grabbed a long nail that was rolling under the sofa.

Moving his eye upwards, he located the CCTV.

Quietly moving his hand, he destroyed the CCTV and looked down.

One person collapsed.

While the others were panicking at the sudden event, two more collapsed.

As someone tried to operate a radio, Hyeon-yul moved his hand and stabbed their neck with the nail.

Kwak.

Feeling the nail dig into flesh, Hyeon-yul looked at Hae-ryeon.

“I’ll be back shortly.”

They had already noticed the poison and were covering their noses and mouths.

It would be troublesome if they escaped like that.

“Yes?”

Before even hearing Hae-ryeon’s reply, Hyeon-yul melted into shadow.

As soon as his vision shifted, he reached out his hand towards the door of the room containing the bomb.

Hyeon-yul’s hand, seemingly passing through the door, grabbed the neck of an enemy trying to escape and crushed it.

Bba-gak.

He calmly opened the door and walked inside.

“Nice to meet you.”

As the nonchalant greeting continued, in the eyes of the enemies clutching their throats, Hyeon-yul appeared as a monster.

Coming into this poisoned place without even a gas mask.

“You don’t have to look at me like that.”

Hyeon-yul himself possessed immunity to poison.

Having been messed with so much for experiments, wouldn't it be strange if he didn't?

He calmly put on gloves.

He snatched the dagger from the waistband of the first guy charging at him and stabbed him in the neck.

Pushing him away with his foot to avoid blood splatter, he pulled out the dagger.

‘Ah, the window.’

Hyeon-yul ran and grabbed the hair of a man reaching for the window, throwing him to the floor.

He tumbled over and over, and before the man could get up, Hyeon-yul approached and stomped on his face.

Bba-ak!

The sound of facial bones breaking was clear.

Hyeon-yul glanced around once, then moved his hand to the side.

Pook.

An enemy approaching quietly trembled as the dagger embedded itself in his throat.

Slashing sideways, he looked at the last remaining person.

“……Mo, monster!”

Faced with the unbelievable situation, the enemy screamed.

“Monster or not, you’ll die if you scream like that. Do something with your remaining life. Send a text to your family or something……”

Teol-seok.

Hearing the sound of collapsing, Hyeon-yul shook his head.

“See, I told you not to scream.”

Hyeon-yul approached the bomb.

Now, no one else was standing here.

He operated the laptop.

A disarm code was bound to be hidden somewhere.

After moving his fingers dozens of times, he found the disarm code and entered it.

It would have been fine even if there was no disarm code.

There were always ways.

Looking around, Hyeon-yul wiped the blood off his body with his hand.

It became clean, as if blood had never been there in the first place.

‘This is an interview, can I show up looking disheveled?’

After checking again for any bloodstains, he picked up the laptop and the disarmed bomb.

He naturally reappeared in front of Hae-ryeon.

“I thought this might be needed, so I brought it.”

“……?”

Hae-ryeon wore a dazed expression.

“The bomb has been disarmed, and all 9 people in the room with the bomb are dead. So, is the mission accomplished?”

As Hyeon-yul stared intently, Hae-ryeon wiped her face with her hand.

That wasn't what needed to be done first.

“First, take the antidote.”

“It’s fine. I have poison resistance.”

Hyeon-yul shook the bomb and laptop he held out.

This was the most important thing.

“Aren’t I quite useful? I resolved the incident in just 5 minutes. At this rate, don’t I deserve to clock out exactly on time?”

At his rather sly words, Hae-ryeon blinked, then quickly covered her mouth.

She couldn't laugh out loud as there might still be enemies.

But she genuinely thought he was amazing.

Honestly, Hyeon-yul had just accomplished something unbelievable.

Not only simple suppression, but he also handled the tasks of the Bomb Disposal Team, all within 5 minutes.

How many people would it take to resolve it like that?

Hae-ryeon set everything aside and looked only at what Hyeon-yul had resolved.

‘I initially came for surveillance purposes, but I really need to treat this as an interview, huh?’

Hae-ryeon became serious.

In a way, Hyeon-yul was poison.

A dangerous poison to both the Black Eagle and the villains.

Not knowing what results that poison might yield, Hae-ryeon asked.

“Are you confident you won’t become a villain?”

“Yes.”

Hyeon-yul answered without hesitation.

He would sooner wipe them out; he had no intention of ever becoming a villain again.

At his firm answer, Hae-ryeon extended her hand to Hyeon-yul.

She absolutely could not let him fall into the hands of villains.

“I approve of Mr. Hyeon-yul joining the Black Eagle.”

“……Really?”

Hyeon-yul reacted as if he couldn't believe it.

“Instead, come to our team, Mr. Seo Hyeon-yul. That’s the condition for approval.”

Hyeon-yul gazed steadily at Hae-ryeon.

He was happy, but what was she thinking?

“I will protect you, Mr. Seo Hyeon-yul.”

“Me…?”

Because the words were extremely unfamiliar, Hyeon-yul’s brow furrowed.

“Yes. Because I have the power to do so.”

Hae-ryeon smiled brightly.