The Newbie Civil Servant Hunts Villains Before Going Home

Chapter 6: I'm the New Recruit (3)

The man looked at Hyeon-yul.

His eyes were lifeless, almost devoid of any spark.

Eyes like those were dangerous.

He instantly felt that he had encountered a truly dangerous individual.

The man broke into a cold sweat looking at Hyeon-yul.

“If I talk… will you let me live?”

“Are you bargaining right now? Seeing that you haven’t grasped your situation yet, it seems something else is needed.”

“W-w-wait a minute!”

The man met Hyeon-yul’s eyes, then quickly looked down.

His pupils trembled violently.

He could feel his heart pounding as he inhaled sharply.

Fear seeped in.

“Just comfortably tell me what you know.”

At Hyeon-yul’s urging, coupled with the coldness pressing deeper into his neck, the man shouted.

“…Th-they were taken for the test subjects!”

Test subject.

As those words came out, Hyeon-yul’s gaze turned cold.

Silence fell, and the atmosphere became chillingly painful.

‘Can I reach it… just like this?’

The company run by villains had a secretly operated department related to test subjects.

No one allowed him, a former test subject, to go to that department.

Experimenting is fine, but facing retaliation is not.

It felt like looking into their inner thoughts.

‘This easily?’

He had moved secretly countless times, searching for the test subject facilities run by those bastards.

With just one wish.

‘…Can I kill those bastards?’

A cold smile spread across Hyeon-yul’s lips.

Killing all the bastards who experimented on him.

That was what he desired.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know who the ones in charge of him were.

They all wore the same clothes, covered their faces, and even used voice modulators, their builds roughly similar.

Ever since he survived, he had been searching for the bastards who experimented on him.

“Where are they?”

Hyeon-yul asked.

“I, uh, only know the primary… location.”

“So, where is it?”

Hyeon-yul knew this too.

That test subjects passed through numerous locations when moved.

Shortest, 4 stages.

Longest, it could go even further.

“I-if you go up this way, there’s a campground. We were supposed to gather there first. It might be m-moved to the secondary location soon.”

“A campground, you say?”

“Yes, yes! A campground.”

“Understood.”

Hyeon-yul lowered the scissors.

“…Can I, can I go now?”

The man asked foolishly.

“Do you think you can?”

As Hyeon-yul’s words fell, the man’s face crumpled.

“I, I really don’t know your face, and I can’t do anything even if I wanted to! Really!”

“What are you talking about?”

Hyeon-yul reacted as if it were obvious and raised the scissors he had lowered.

“You know I’m a Black Eagle, don’t you?”

He was wearing the Black Eagle uniform.

The eagle emblem was stamped right here on his left arm; it made no sense to say he hadn’t seen it.

“I, I swear I’ll never look for you my whole life! I’ll tell you my name and everything I do, so……”

“Do you think I’d believe that?”

Hyeon-yul sneered and moved his hand.

Following the swiftly drawn dark trajectory, the man’s head fell off, blood gushing out.

Eyes filled with resentment pierced Hyeon-yul.

But Hyeon-yul took off his helmet and smiled brightly.

“What are you gonna do, glare at me?”

Villains didn’t need mercy.

Why should he pity those who had dissected his body countless times?

Hyeon-yul looked at the blood splattered on his body and touched it.

The blood cleanly disappeared where his hand touched.

After wiping the blood off the scissors, he placed them neatly on the table along with the helmet.

He took out his phone and searched for the campground.

It seemed roughly 10km away.

He could go straight there, but he was still on probation.

‘If I act recklessly, I’ll get marked again this time.’

At his first company, he was marked for acting without permission.

It didn’t matter because he found out where the bully lived and killed him as soon as the harassment started, but this time was different.

He was a special civil servant, and he had to do well not to get fired.

‘…This is annoying.’

Hyeon-yul let out a short breath.

After repeating countless job changes, his rank had risen to a position where he gave orders to subordinates.

Going from giving orders to receiving them felt cumbersome and strange.

‘Still, I have to ask. The contact info is…….’

He opened his phone and looked at his contacts.

There was nothing to scroll through.

Only one contact was registered: his doctor.

About to operate the smartwatch, Hyeon-yul instead put his phone away and covered one eye.

Chaeng!

The swords floating around Shin-woo like a legion moved on their own, deflecting the swords of the approaching enemies.

Shin-woo charged forward, swinging his sword not with the blade, but forcefully like a club with the spine.

His hands moved faster than sight.

If it were the blade, dozens of cuts would have already been inflicted at that speed.

Shin-woo danced, and the enemies collapsed one after another.

His hands didn't stop, and just as his forward-gazing eyes turned to the right, his sword moved.

Seeing a familiar face, Shin-woo belatedly stepped back, clutching his chest.

“…Whoa, whoa, you scared me!”

He almost attacked.

“How did you know to come here? No, no, I told you to stay put!”

“I thought you’d be absorbed in combat and unreachable.”

“I can handle that much. I anticipate calls coming mid-way……”

Shin-woo stopped explaining and hit his own forehead.

How foolish.

He hadn't explained it.

Even if he had gone on a mission with Hae-ryeon before, this was only the second time.

Thinking about how he must have rushed over here breathlessly, Shin-woo felt concerned.

“You didn’t get hurt on the way, did you?”

“I did not.”

“Well, that’s a relief then.”

Shin-woo smiled brightly.

‘Didn’t the Team Leader tell him?’

Hyeon-yul wondered.

It was a smile that could never appear if he knew his past.

He thought everything had been said.

‘Should I tell him?’

Jiiiiiing.

His cell phone vibrated, and Hyeon-yul glanced at it.

“Ah, just a moment.”

It was time for his medicine.

As Hyeon-yul reached out, a medicine packet and water popped out from the shadow.

“……?”

Shin-woo’s eyes widened.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He didn't know what kind of power it was.

Was it magic?

“It’s time for my medicine, excuse me.”

“Medicine… you say?”

“I’m a former test subject.”

Hyeon-yul answered nonchalantly.

He wondered if this part would become a rumor too.

Hyeon-yul looked around, walked to a nearby table, and laid out several pills from the medicine packet.

Shin-woo stared blankly at the pills, then saw the syringe and was belatedly startled.

“……T-test subject survivor?”

“I understand. It’s unbelievable that a test subject is alive.”

Hyeon-yul jabbed the syringe into his abdomen area, lifting his clothes.

It was a remarkably familiar motion.

Shin-woo narrowed his eyes.

He only saw briefly, but there were too many deep scars.

He must have been mangled enough to bear so many scars.

“Mr. Baek Shin-woo, …no, hyungnim. After you left, I followed to see where the hostages went.”

“I told you it was okay to stay put?”

Shin-woo’s eyebrows rose.

Was he a workaholic?

“I found out the hostages are at a campground, and searching on my phone, I confirmed there’s a campground roughly 10km away.”

Hyeon-yul said while tearing open a medicine packet and placing the pills in his palm.

At a glance, there were over 10 colorful pills.

“I thought about going alone, but decided against it and came to find you like this.”

After finishing speaking, he popped them into his mouth familiarly.

But he didn't stop there.

He took out another medicine packet.

He placed even more pills than before into his palm and swallowed them.

“What should be done in times like these? Should I just follow silently?”

“…….”

Shin-woo’s brow furrowed deeply, then he closed his eyes and let out a long breath.

Asking if it hurt would be nothing more than mockery, wouldn't it?

He was a test subject.

A being whose survival alone was a miracle.

To think he had to take that much medicine just to stay alive.

Now was not the time to get swept up in emotions.

‘The hostages are alive, he said.’

The Black Eagle had to prioritize hostages above all else.

“Do you know why they were taken there?”

“They are being taken for test subjects.”

At Hyeon-yul’s answer, Shin-woo held up his palm.

“Wait a moment.”

Shin-woo operated his smartwatch.

“Team Leader.”

“The hostages are alive. Hyeon-yul found out where they went.”

“He says it’s a nearby campground. The purpose is to create test subjects.”

For a moment, no answer came from Hae-ryeon.

<…How is Mr. Hyeon-yul?>

At that question, Shin-woo looked at Hyeon-yul.

He seemed completely unfazed.

That was extremely strange.

How could he react so nonchalantly?

Normally, it should have left deep trauma, yet there wasn't even such a reaction.

Just one thing, he didn't know why he covered his eye.

“…He seems fine.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we should hurry. Selection starts at the primary location. They’ll inject drugs there to check for drug resistance.”

Only those who passed the drug resistance test moved on to the secondary stage.

The secondary stage was the same, injecting different drugs and taking those with resistance.

Since they had to inject drugs for a long, long time, it was a natural step from those bastards' perspective.

“If they don’t have drug resistance, they’ll kill them on the spot?”

Shin-woo asked, hoping it wasn't true.

“Yes. You understand well. They’ll use injections like the one I just gave myself, so the time spent there will be quite short.”

He needed to at least hear where the secondary location was.

Only then could he roughly narrow down the location of the experiment site.

The experiment site had a lot of equipment, making moving difficult.

Even if they blew it up, the scale was enormous, making covert disposal impossible.

“Did you hear that, Team Leader?”

Shin-woo urged Hae-ryeon.

Hae-ryeon’s order came down.

In any case, hostages came first.

At Hae-ryeon’s words, Shin-woo’s lips curled up.

“Let’s go out.”

“Yes?”

“An eagle is coming.”

Shin-woo saw the black shadow visible beyond the window.

He opened the window.

“…Don’t tell me, is it that magic we rode when we arrived?”

Hyeon-yul asked in surprise.

“That’s right.”

Shin-woo hung from the window.

“Follow me, recruit.”

“If it’s like that……”

Shin-woo dropped before hearing the reply.

Without any sound, he saw the Black Eagle catch Shin-woo and ascend.

‘……Damn it.’

Hyeon-yul also hung from the window.

He could travel long distances using his own power.

That was more comfortable.

With a tired face, he dropped from the window.

As soon as the Black Eagle snatched Hyeon-yul, he covered his mouth with his hand.

‘Damn it…….’

“…Breathe.”

At Shin-woo’s words, Hyeon-yul let out the breath he had been holding in a long exhale.

Hyeon-yul’s face turned pale.

“Okay?”

“…Yes. Just need a moment.”

“Right. Take a moment.”

Shin-woo carefully took a step.

“…It’s that way.”

“Ah. Good, that way.”

Shin-woo turned towards the direction Hyeon-yul pointed.

A forest stretched out, fitting for a campground.

People could be seen moving busily among the trees.

They ranged from children to adults.

It was almost the first time seeing so many people alive in an incident related to test subjects.

The fleeting surge of emotion passed, and Shin-woo glanced sideways at Hyeon-yul.

He was a test subject.

‘…Is it okay for his first mission to be like this?’

Hyeon-yul wasn’t showing it, but how torn up must he be inside right now?

To encounter such a situation of all things.

“…We came by eagle, won’t we be discovered?”

“Ah, that eagle? Won’t be discovered.”

“You mean that huge thing won’t be discovered?”

“The map displayed on this smartwatch, the mission details, etc. It’s a similar principle. I’m not a mage, so I can’t explain it well, but neither you nor the eagle can be seen. If they could, we would have been discovered multiple times already coming to mission sites, right?”

Shin-woo chuckled.

He was unmistakably a recruit.

It wasn't just any bird; it was strange that villains wouldn't notice an eagle arriving.

“Who exactly is the mage who cast this magic?”

“For security reasons, only those above Team Leader rank, like Department Heads or the Director, know. Meaning, I don’t know.”

“Understood.”

Hyeon-yul accepted it.

If he were a villain, that would be the first entity he'd need to eliminate.

“Baek Shin-woo hyungnim. I have no experience rescuing hostages, so I will take charge of the part I’m good at. Could you handle that part, Mr. Baek Shin-woo?”

“What are you good at?”

“I am good at handling villains.”

“Honestly, asking you feels a bit wrong, but right now, we have to split up. I’m counting on you.”

Shin-woo said with an apologetic expression.

“Could you make me a dagger?”

At Hyeon-yul’s request, Shin-woo immediately created a dagger and handed it over.

“Use it carefully.”

The blade was extremely sharp and required caution.

At Shin-woo's firm words, Hyeon-yul stared blankly at the dagger.

It seemed this was quite a remarkable item.

He had to use it carefully to avoid scratching it.

“Yes.”

Hyeon-yul answered briefly and listened to Shin-woo running off while surveying the surroundings.

One mouth to talk was enough – the leader among them.

Hyeon-yul kept an eye on the target, then looked at the others.

There were patrols around the perimeter, near the hostages, and a few by the cars.

‘First, stop the escaping feet.’

Hyeon-yul looked towards the cars.

After pinpointing their location, he melted into shadow.

The moment he emerged in the back seat via the shadow, he covered the occupant's mouth and quickly stabbed their neck and heart with the dagger.

Not even a sound was made.

There were four cars in total.

One person.

Puk.

Two people.

Pook.

Three people.

The insides of the cars touched by Hyeon-yul’s grasp were all stained red.

Finishing off the last one, Hyeon-yul lowered his gaze.

He saw a cell phone with a game running.

‘Playing games in the middle of this.’

Hyeon-yul clicked his tongue and covered his eye.

He identified the location and number of patrols, then shifted his eye towards Shin-woo.

Patrols were positioned near the hostages, making approach seem difficult.

What should be done in such a situation?

Hyeon-yul boldly appeared in front of the patrol.

“…Wh-who are you!”

After hearing the obvious question, Hyeon-yul naturally approached, killed one person first, and began.

Chaos erupted due to the sudden event.

Chaos brought many things, so Hyeon-yul slightly covered his eye.

Shin-woo was heading towards the hostages.

‘That’s done.’

Hyeon-yul finally lowered his hand and looked at them.

“What use is it for dead men to know?”

As Hyeon-yul took a step, he vanished without a sound.

“……!”

Everyone froze.

Where did he go?

“I’m here.”

Hyeon-yul grabbed the hair of the nearest man and swung the dagger forcefully across his neck.

‘Good performance.’

It could truly be called a masterpiece sword.

He understood why he was told not to scratch it.

As Hyeon-yul threw the severed head, a nearby enemy screamed.

‘Noisy.’

Hyeon-yul turned his gaze.

Simultaneously with extending his hand forward, he moved in front of the enemy.

Hyeon-yul’s surroundings flickered black.

Taking another step forward, he pierced the neck straight through.

Pook!

Along with the sound of a deep stab, Hyeon-yul was already looking elsewhere.

Finally, one man seemed to come to his senses and drew a weapon.

It was a short baton, and sparks flickered as if electricity enveloped it.

“Die!”

He charged and swung at Hyeon-yul.

Hyeon-yul slightly moved his body sideways to dodge, then grabbed the man’s arm and slammed him to the ground.

Kung!

As soon as the enemy fell, he pulled the dagger from the neck of the now-corpse and lowered his gaze.

Eyes filled with fear reflected off the helmet Hyeon-yul wore.

“S-sa……”

When the enemy’s eyes closed and opened again, the dagger had already deeply sliced his neck.

Hyeon-yul took the electric baton in hand and swung it as if excited.

Pajik pajik.

‘Nice.’

Hyeon-yul looked at the target.

He felt the corners of his lips rising.

He saw the target’s hair fluttering on its own.

‘Mage? Esper?’

Perhaps he held an object imbued with magic.

But what did it matter?

“Appearing so fearlessly. Truly a Black Eagle?”

The target raised the corners of his lips.

He touched his side.

Immediately pulling something out, he aimed it at Hyeon-yul.

It was a gun.

‘Wondered why that hadn’t shown up.’

Hyeon-yul barely suppressed a laugh.

The arrogance of thinking a gun would work was amusing.

Just as the outer edge of Hyeon-yul’s body seemed to flicker, the gun fired.

Tang!

“……!”

The target’s eyes widened.

He vanished.

“I’m here.”

Hyeon-yul stood behind the target and held out the electric baton.

Pajijijijik!

The target flopped like a freshly caught fish.

‘Should take him like this.’

He pressed the electric baton down firmly.

There was no reason to ask various questions here; he would confess various things gradually.

Hyeon-yul turned his gaze towards Shin-woo.

The enemies near the hostages seemed to have been dealt with, as no lingering enemies were visible.

“Have you finished?”

Hyeon-yul calmly approached Shin-woo, and Shin-woo looked behind Hyeon-yul.

He had killed all the enemies.

Hyeon-yul’s face, covered in blood, couldn't be seen due to the helmet, but it felt remarkably alien.

‘……To think that’s the recruit.’

Finding the thought absurd even himself, Shin-woo laughed lightly.

‘Amazing, really.’

Monster recruit.

What other words could describe him?

“Hostages rescued, and the one presumed to be the leader among them captured. Is the mission over now? Or is there an additional mission?”

“It ends here. To go further, someone needs to talk.”

At those words, Hyeon-yul hastily checked his watch.

2:24 PM.

Even looking at the time, it was unbelievable.

“……Is it quitting time?”

Hyeon-yul asked cautiously.

“After reporting first.”

“Then, after reporting, it’s quitting time?”

“That’s right. It won’t take long.”

At Shin-woo’s confident words, Hyeon-yul’s body trembled.

“Are you hurt?”

“…No. I’m just wondering if this is a dream.”

Hyeon-yul, helmet off, was smiling very brightly.