He glared at Sinhyeok with a sinister gaze.
“You?”
“Yeah, me.”
Sinhyeok picked up the knuckle duster that had fallen to the floor and slipped it tightly onto his hand.
“A black mage?”
He pulled both arms free and overlapped his palms.
“Darkness.”
Darkness expanded from his overlapped palms.
As everything around them seeped into the dark, he said,
“Devour them.”
Sinhyeok’s vision was blocked, but he did not waver.
Quietly, he gave instructions to Ichan and Arin, who should be beside him.
“Ichan, prepare as many wraiths as you can.”
“Hyung? Those won’t do any damage.”
That was how wraiths were. They could shriek their heads off, but it was hard for them to deal physical damage.
“That’s fine. It’s enough if they startle him.”
“Baek Arin, you hide and ambush him when you see an opening. I’ll make one for you.”
“Okay.”
After giving his orders secretly in the darkness, he looked around.
That black mage thought he had cut off their sight, but he was wrong.
In Sinhyeok’s eyes, the fallen guild members were getting back to their feet.
What was unusual was that their eyes had rolled back, as if they had lost all reason.
“Kill him.”
At the black mage’s command spreading through the darkness, they charged in like madmen.
Sinhyeok tore through the darkness and advanced straight ahead.
The black mage smirked.
It was because he found the movements of those trapped in his barrier amusing.
“Within that darkness, you can neither see, smell, nor hear.”
Sinhyeok immediately burst out.
“An uncivilized hu—who cannot even comprehend a fragment of mag—”
Thwack!
Defying his expectations, Sinhyeok drove his fist into the black mage’s face.
“Urgh!?”
The black mage was sent flying and slammed into the wall of a building.
“Keugh.”
The guild members who had been rising like zombies collapsed at once.
The black mage touched his own face with a bewildered expression.
As he felt the spot where he had been hit, he asked Sinhyeok in confusion,
“You pierced through magic?”
One of a mage’s basic skills was a shield.
Since they did not train their bodies, maintaining a shield in real time was fundamental.
Sinhyeok did not give him time to speak.
“Hup!”
He dodged the outstretched fist and chanted a spell.
“Bind.”
Dense black mana threaded together like rope and bound Sinhyeok.
“Khup.”
Sinhyeok struggled.
“Hrrrgh!”
Azar, the black mage, let out a disbelieving laugh as the Bind spell began collapsing the more Sinhyeok struggled.
“What kind of mad breed is this!”
Snap.
The Bind came undone.
Sinhyeok’s eyes flashed as he threw another punch.
“Dark Spear.”
A spear drawn in midair shot toward Sinhyeok.
Sinhyeok saw the spear and dodged.
“You do have an interesting constitution, but that’s the end of it.”
Rotating Dark Spears shot out like bullets.
Under the continuous barrage, Sinhyeok was busy dodging.
“I’ve seen all your pathetic tricks, so die now.”
Sinhyeok glanced to the side.
He spotted Ichan hiding in a corner, desperately squeezing out mana.
Their eyes met, and Ichan nodded.
“Now!”
Hong Ichan stepped forward and removed his necklace.
“Hm? Ooh! A Dark Elf!?”
Ichan poured out the wraiths he had been holding in and said,
“Get lost.”
Azar flinched for a moment at the wraiths pouring out like mad.
But when he saw that they were only shrieking noisily, he smirked.
“Pathetic. Now that I look, you’re just a small fry who hasn’t even awakened black magic power. Ahh~ From the looks of it, you haven’t made a contract? Hahahah!”
Azar was sneering when he felt a chill.
“Is this the time to laugh?”
A tiresome voice came from beside him.
“How dare you! Strength!”
Azar grabbed the blade thrust at him from the side with his bare hand.
“I’ve figured out your petty tricks!”
Sinhyeok smirked and let go of the sword.
“Yeah. Then try dodging that, too.”
Baek Arin, who had been watching for her chance, thrust her sword with exquisite timing.
“Shield!”
A black barrier appeared, but Arin’s sword, imbued with white aura, pierced through it.
“Light?!”
The rare attribute of her aura pushed away the black mage’s shield.
Thunk.
Arin’s sword lodged in his solar plexus.
“Kyaaaagh!”
Azar let out a horrific scream.
Sinhyeok raised a spare sword and brought it down on his neck.
“Kerk.”
The black mage collapsed just like that.
Azar, his head severed, laughed grotesquely and warned,
“I… have remembered you! My master will never—”
Crack.
Sinhyeok stomped on his head and burst it.
With a disgusted expression, Sinhyeok said,
“So what do you want me to do about it?”
After roughly sorting out the situation, the three went down to the basement.
When they descended, they found iron bars set up in a corner, imprisoning two men and one woman.
Whether they were unconscious or not, they stared blankly ahead.
“Go take care of them.”
Baek Arin and Hong Ichan stepped forward to rescue the people.
Sinhyeok looked around the black mage’s laboratory.
Herbs were spread across a table, and the large table in the center was covered in bloodstains.
“Looks like there aren’t any finished products.”
Just as he was about to sweep up only the herbs, blue slime was dripping down from behind a shelf.
“Hm?”
He roughly shoved the herbs into a bundle and held it in one hand.
Curious about what the dripping slime was, he moved that way.
“Hyung, I’m going to take the people upstairs.”
“Yeah, go on ahead!”
He carefully approached the shelf and flung it open.
Kiiing.
There, he found a single puppy made of blue slime.
“What the hell?”
“Were slimes shaped like puppies?”
The slime-like puppy trembled and shrank deeper into the corner.
Its body stretched out, and it slipped through a gap in a flash.
“A chimera?”
It seemed to be one of the research specimens.
“I’ll recover it for now.”
“Puppy. Come out for a second.”
He reached out his hand, but it was no use.
It only went farther in.
“What do I lure it with?”
He looked around for a moment.
“He must’ve given it something.”
Looking around, he did not see any dog food or anything like that, only a bunch of low-concentration mana potions.
“Why are there so many of these?”
When he took one out and shook it, the puppy peeked out and looked at him.
“No way.”
He opened the lid and gently set it down on the floor, and it slowly approached.
“Wow… You eat some expensive meals.”
The puppy stuck a front paw into the glass bottle and sucked it all down.
Then it cautiously looked at him.
“Hey, look at this. There’s a lot.”
He shook more mana potions.
At that, the puppy’s tail wagged like crazy.
Grab.
When he caught the puppy, it trembled and struggled, but he did not let go.
Once caught in Sinhyeok’s hand, its limp body hardened and its form fixed in place.
“Kiiing.”
For now, Sinhyeok held on to it tightly.
“Sorry. For now, you’re coming with me.”
He tucked it safely into his arms, then swept up all the herbs and potions and stored them in his subspace.
When he came outside, the dispatched police and Awakened in black suits had already arrived.
One of them stepped forward and spoke to him.
“We’re from the National Intelligence Service. Are you the person who reported this?”
“That’s right.”
The man stared at Sinhyeok and sighed.
“We meet again.”
“Ha, ha…”
Sinhyeok avoided his gaze at the familiar face.
It was because he recognized him.
“Ah, that investigator.”
He had been wondering where he had seen him before, and it turned out to be the man who had investigated a related case after he had caused trouble.
“This is the second time, Sergeant ‘Yu’ Sinhyeok.”
“I feel a little wronged this time.”
At Sinhyeok’s excuse, the man smirked and glanced him over.
The agent checked the name “Bu Sinhyeok” written on his name tag.
“It does seem that way. So your real name was ‘Bu’ Sinhyeok.”
He glanced at what was inside Sinhyeok’s arms and asked,
“Do you have something in there?”
“I think this is one of their test subjects. What should I do with it?”
The puppy popped its head out from his arms.
“Uh. Some country mutt?”
“It’s mixed, at least. Looks like that demonic bastard was doing chimera experiments.”
“Haa. This is tricky. Criminals can be locked up, but there isn’t any institution to send a creature like this to.”
He simply pretended not to know.
“It’d be disposed of anyway. Why don’t you just take it, Mr. Yu Sinhyeok?”
“Pardon?”
“Think of it as raising a dog. Please take good care of it.”
“Pardon?”
At the absurd answer, Sinhyeok spoke to the NIS agent who was pretending ignorance.
“Mister? Are you doing this because it’s a hassle?”
“Hahaha. Me? Hey, hurry up and arrest them! Preserve the scene over there, and someone go down and check the lab!”
Sinhyeok was dumbfounded as he watched the NIS agent smoothly slip away.
“Ah, yes~ Mister. Then I’m leaving?”
The man turned back and nodded.
“Yes, I’ll handle the rest. You’ve worked hard.”
Sinhyeok gestured to the two soldiers.
“Let’s go.”
Ichan and Arin, who had been watching from behind, quietly asked Sinhyeok,
“Mister.”
“Hyung.”
“What?”
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Ichan quickly asked,
“How do you know the NIS?”
“Ah, I caused a huge incident before.”
“Huh?”
After that, Sinhyeok said nothing and quietly called a taxi.
Baek Arin was strangely bothered by the name “Yu Sinhyeok” that the NIS agent had used for him.
“Mister, what’s Yu Sinhyeok?”
“You don’t need to know.”
When he leaned his head against the window and shut his mouth, irritation surged up in her.
“No way.”
“Mister, did you maybe carry out an operation in Hannam-dong a long time ago?”
At the mention of Hannam-dong, Sinhyeok recalled the past.
“Probably. There was some Gate Break, so I was urgently called in once.”
Having blurted it out without realizing it, Sinhyeok hurriedly held his tongue.
“No. I’m not sure.”
When it seemed like she was almost right, she looked like she was about to cry.
“Ah… why! Why does it have to be you, Mister, why!”
Sinhyeok was startled when she suddenly started freaking out beside him.
“What is?”
“Ah…! Whyyyyy!”
At her near-sobbing reaction, Sinhyeok flinched.
“Give it back. My ideal, my hero, my dream!”
“Why!?”
“It’s because of you, Mister, aaaaaaagh!”
“What are you even saying…”
She raged the entire way.
Spouting words he could not understand.
After an impassioned drive, they arrived in Nonsan.
When they got out and returned to the base, Captain Kim Chanyeol, looking slightly pissed, was pacing around the guard post.
“Loyalty!”
“Ah, yes, loyalty. I hear you had quite an entertaining time out.”
Sinhyeok gave an awkward laugh. Hong Ichan and Baek Arin quietly took one step back behind Sinhyeok.
“You said you were going to buy herbs, but you killed a black mage and destroyed a guild. Is that true?”
“……”
Silence was as good as affirmation. Captain Kim Chanyeol smiled brightly and ordered,
“Until evening lights-out, you will run laps around the parade ground in full combat gear.”
“Pardon?”
“Hohoho. Hurry up and get started, and I hope you sleep well tonight.”
Behind him, the senior instructor came dragging over three rifles, gas mask bags, and backpacks that looked particularly heavy.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
The three stared blankly as they picked up their gear.
Under the senior instructor’s supervision, Sinhyeok ran with the two of them.
“Hyyuuung.”
“Mister, give me back my ideal.”
“You stop saying that.”
At those words, the two fell silent at once.
In Sinhyeok’s arms, the small puppy was still there, letting out a long yawn.
“Ah, this little guy’s surprisingly heavy.”
Ichan quickly ran forward and peered into his arms.
“Hyung, where’d you get a puppy?”
“It was there. The NIS said they didn’t know what to do and handed it over to me.”
“Huh? Why’d they give it to you?”
“No idea. I’m just going to keep it.”
“It’s cute, so whatever.”
Only after running around the parade ground for two straight hours after returning did the light punishment end.
“Ah.”
“Aaah.”
Sinhyeok and Ichan entered the room and collapsed.
“I’m exhausted.”
Without even wiping off his sweat, Ichan immediately passed out.
Sinhyeok set the blue puppy in his arms down below.
“Don’t go anywhere and stay there. I’ll give you food instead.”
He placed two mana potions he had obtained from the laboratory on the floor.
One bottle was opened, and the other was left as it was.
“If it gets hungry, it’ll open it and drink on its own. It’s not just some ordinary animal.”
Exhausted, he simply sprawled out.
“I have so much to do.”
He had to combine the herbs he had brought and make potions, and he also had to consume the lesser dragon’s blood.
“Ah, whatever. I’ll do it tomorrow…”