I’m Looking for a Job 2: Chapter 2.
I’m Looking for a Job * * * BANG!
Someone slammed a clenched fist down onto the floor of the conference room.
Deep creases gathered across the already wrinkled face as the middle-aged man glared sharply and vented his frustration.
“How does this make any sense?!” BANG!
Veins stood out across his thick forearm as his fist struck down again.
The clothes he wore bore the Black Eagle emblem.
“We finally found where that bastard was hiding, and it was a fake!
A fucking fake…!” “Old man, keep that up and you’re going to drop dead.” A woman glanced at the middle-aged man while idly fiddling with her phone.
“Who plays with their phone in the middle of a meeting?” “Old man, my ears still work.
Why are you acting like such a fossil today?” Click.
The woman winked with one eye and snapped a photo.
“What…?
This only happened because your Team 7 screwed up!” “You’re the one who needs to get the story straight, old man.
You were leading the operation to catch Shin Daeho.
How were any of us supposed to know that place was bait?
We ended up demolishing an innocent building for nothing.” A smile spread across the woman’s face, making the middle-aged man tremble with anger.
“And do you know who gave us that information?” “Ah.
That was our Team 7.
Sorry.” The woman stuck her tongue out at him.
A star-shaped mark adorned her face.
“All right, both of you, please calm down.
Getting worked up isn’t going to bring Shin Daeho back.” The woman with a light brown hippie perm smiled pleasantly.
“We lost Shin Daeho, but we haven’t lost his trail.
It may have been bait, but didn’t we capture the subordinates he left in that building?
That was the combined result of Team 7 and Team 2, thanks to both of you team leaders.” The woman tried to change the mood.
If this kept going, the relationship between Team 7 and Team 2 would only deteriorate further.
Because their work frequently required cooperation between teams, it was important for them to remain on good terms.
Unfortunately, the two team leaders were always snarling at each other like they were desperate to tear the other apart.
“You heard what Haeryeon unni said, right, old man?” “I heard her.
You heard what Haeryeon said too, didn’t you?” “Old man, I said it first.” “This is why children are hopeless.
So immature.” “You want to go, is that it?
Right, old man?” “Fine.
Let’s go.” As the tension flared all over again, Haeryeon stepped between them and set something down.
Inside the bottle was a thick, glowing green liquid.
“If you drink this, you’ll get along wonderfully for about three minutes.
Should I force it down both your throats, or would you rather stop fighting?” The corners of Haeryeon’s eyes lifted.
Since she was the kind of person who would actually do exactly what she threatened, the other two immediately cleared their throats.
Ahem, ahem.
“By the way, are we really allowed to make a decision about this by ourselves?
Not every team is here.” Only Teams 2, 3, and 7 were present.
“Unni.
Didn’t you hear?” The woman turned her gaze toward Haeryeon.
“Hear what?” “Everyone got sick of me and the old man fighting again, so they left and told us to handle it ourselves.
They handed us the authority to decide whatever we want.” “Hmph!
Those youngsters.
Instead of staying to stop a fight, they just walk out!” “Maybe everyone leaves because you keep acting like such an old-fashioned fossil.” When the woman raised an eyebrow, the middle-aged man glared at her in displeasure.
Judging by their ages alone, she could have been his granddaughter.
Her habit of talking back at every opportunity irritated him, but he could never bring himself to truly dislike her.
“How is that my fault?
It’s those bastards who do nothing but say irritating things after getting assigned a mission.” The man supplied the detail the woman had conveniently left out.
“So that means we can decide anything we want among ourselves, right?
Anything at all.” The corners of Haeryeon’s mouth rose.
At that suspicious smile, both the woman and the middle-aged man shouted at once.
“That’s not what it means, unni!” “She’s right.
That is absolutely not what it means, Haeryeon!” “It is exactly what it means.
They even handed us their authority, so what does it matter what we do?
We all know perfectly well how understaffed and busy we are.” Haeryeon smiled brightly and flexed her fingers.
Since the opportunity had fallen into her lap, she was already thinking about loosening some of the most suffocating regulations.
“What should we start with?
Maybe how to fill all those vacancies we’re struggling with?
Since we’re already at it, perhaps we should shake some money loose from the national budget too…” BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
At that moment, frantic pounding sounded against the door.
All three of them turned toward it at the same time.
“I’ll get it.” Haeryeon rose and opened the door.
“W-we have a huge problem!
There’s…
there’s a lunatic outside!” “What…?” Haeryeon stared blankly at him.
A lunatic?
This was the Nest, home to the Black Eagles who beat villains into submission.
Who in their right mind would come here and pull something insane?
“H-he says he brought Shin Daeho’s head.” “…?” Question marks practically exploded inside Haeryeon’s mind.
* * * “…My god.” Haeryeon stared at the test report in her hand, unable to close her mouth.
The results were a match for Shin Daeho.
It really was Shin Daeho’s head.
A man had shown up only moments ago carrying the severed thing in his hands.
Calling him a lunatic was entirely understandable.
BWAHAHAHA!
The middle-aged man burst into laughter beside her.
“Old man.
You can actually laugh right now?” The Team 7 leader narrowed her eyes.
“He brought us Shin Daeho’s head.
How could I not laugh?” “How is this even possible?
We worked ourselves to the bone trying to catch him.” The Team 7 leader gripped her phone and moved her thumb rapidly over the screen.
How had that man killed Shin Daeho when none of them had managed it?
With an expression of disbelief, she took a photo of herself.
Click.
“Did you just take a picture of me?” The man’s voice came through the speaker from the interrogation room, where he sat bound to a chair.
Even in this situation, he sounded remarkably unfazed.
“No.
I took one of myself.
Was I allowed to take yours too?” The Team 7 leader actually sounded delighted.
Aside from the bizarre number of scars covering him, he was very much her type.
Untidy black hair obscured much of his face, and the loose tail tied naturally at the back suited him surprisingly well.
“No.” The man rejected her flatly and shook his head.
The hair that had been swept upward fell back down over his face.
“Wait, you can hear us?” The Team 7 leader asked in surprise because they had not even switched on the microphone yet.
When Haeryeon headed for the door, the Team 7 leader stared at her with wide eyes.
“Unni, where are you going?” “To see him myself.” Haeryeon entered the interrogation room and took a seat.
“I’m Oh Haeryeon, leader of Black Eagle Team 2.” She introduced herself first because that was the proper place to begin.
“I’m Seo Hyeon-yul, currently looking for work.” Hyeon-yul’s answer drew a small laugh from Haeryeon.
She could not tell whether he was joking, but at least he was being extraordinarily cooperative.
“First, I apologize for the inconvenience.
We’ve temporarily detained you according to procedure.
Are the restraints hurting your wrists?” Whatever Hyeon-yul’s intentions, he was still an outsider.
Regardless of the reason, an outsider who appeared without an appointment could be temporarily detained.
“I’m fine.
I consider this a reasonable response.” Hyeon-yul remained calm.
Considering that he had arrived carrying a severed head, the treatment was understandable.
“Have you confirmed both Shin Daeho’s identity and mine?” He was cooperating as much as possible for their sake.
“Yes.
We’ve finished the checks.” Haeryeon nodded.
The man really was Seo Hyeon-yul, and he had no criminal record.
The unusual parts were that he had never even completed the basic education curriculum and that his medical history showed an excessive number of hospital visits.
She could not understand why he seemed to visit the hospital practically every other day.
‘Is he sickly despite the way he looks?’ Haeryeon dismissed the thought without much concern.
“First, I want to ask whether you were the one who killed Shin Daeho.” “I killed him by myself.” “By yourself?
You mean…
alone?” For the briefest moment, Haeryeon’s eye twitched.
How was that supposed to make sense?
On the larger scale, Shin Daeho was considered a major villain.
“Yes.” “…How did you manage to kill him?” “I cut his head off with a dagger in one strike.
Did you see the surprised look on his face?” “…I did.” “I suppose he never imagined he could die.” Hyeon-yul smiled faintly, and Haeryeon paid close attention to that expression because it looked rather vicious.
“Then why did you kill him?” As Haeryeon asked, she simultaneously recalled what she had been told a little earlier.
—H-he said it was Shin Daeho’s head.
Then he asked something about…
the four major insurances?
Yes.
He asked whether we offered them.
He’s a lunatic.
“I brought that bastard’s head here for my job search.” “…” Haeryeon blinked.
She failed to see any connection whatsoever between job hunting and Shin Daeho’s head.
“I saw the special recruitment notice.” “…You mean the Black Eagle recruitment notice?” Haeryeon’s eyes visibly wavered at the question.
“Yes.
What else would I mean?” “The notice should have said to capture the target, not kill them.” Haeryeon’s voice rose slightly as she answered him.
“Isn’t it basically the same thing?
Black Eagle has exceptional authority to kill villains, so you’re going to kill them eventually anyway.” Information at that level was all over the internet.
The idea that anyone in modern society could be granted legal authority to kill showed just how serious the Empire was about eliminating villains.
Villains were not one unified organization.
They were closer to scattered individuals and independent groups.
Deploying the military against them would obviously create even greater chaos, but leaving them alone would allow the threat to grow.
Black Eagle had been created to prevent exactly that.
“Mr.
Seo Hyeon-yul, you’re a civilian.” “I know.
I also know the law overlooks it when a private citizen kills a villain, so there shouldn’t be a legal problem.” Hyeon-yul pointed out the loophole in the law.
After briefly searching through past rulings, he had found the judgments remarkably one-sided in favor of anyone opposing villains.
Since he was technically correct, Haeryeon could not immediately argue.
None of that mattered much to Hyeon-yul.
“Anyway, the notice never said I wasn’t allowed to kill the target, so I fulfilled the condition.
Isn’t that right?” “That is correct.” Haeryeon hesitated for a moment before answering.
Broadly speaking, he had indeed satisfied the requirement.
“The qualifications said there were ‘no restrictions.’ Does that really mean it doesn’t matter what I did in the past?” Hyeon-yul asked just to be certain.
Interviewers had an unpleasant habit of changing their story once you were actually sitting in front of them.
“Yes.
There are no restrictions in the eligibility requirements.” Haeryeon answered firmly.
With their current manpower shortage, they could not afford to raise the bar any higher.
“And the listed benefits are exactly as written?” “Of course.
Why would we write them down otherwise?” “The terms and benefits have changed on me quite often once I reached the interview stage.” “What…?
Who commits something that vicious?” Haeryeon recoiled halfway through her own sentence.
Posting a recruitment notice with the intention of deceiving applicants from the start was despicable.
“Quite a few people.” Hyeon-yul kept his explanation brief because, for all practical purposes, this was an interview.
“I intend to embrace Black Eagle’s mission and wipe villains out by the roots.” Hyeon-yul strengthened his voice.
His old employers had promised the four major insurances and then failed to provide them.
They had denied him vacation and sick leave, forced him into overtime as casually as breathing, and refused to pay overtime wages.
Trash like that needed to disappear.
“I thought it would be better to demonstrate my ability than just talk about it.” “What kind of work have you done until now?” Haeryeon went along with Hyeon-yul’s view that this was an interview and asked the obvious question.
There was no record of him attending school or working for any company.
“I worked for companies run by villains.” “Voluntarily?
Or were you threatened into working for them?” Haeryeon was startled internally but forced herself to remain composed.
“Very few companies paid enough to cover my hospital bills, and those people recruited me directly.” “…What did you just say?” It was the Team 7 leader, not Haeryeon, who reacted in shock.
Recruited?
“It’s true.
You may consider me a villain if you wish, but my desire to become a Black Eagle is genuine.” Hyeon-yul had placed the decision in their hands.
From here onward, the choice belonged to them.
‘I hope they don’t reject me.’ This was the only job he knew where killing villains was literally the work and he would even get paid for doing it.
If they rejected him, he intended to ask whether he could at least collect Shin Daeho’s bounty.
“Then let me ask you something first.” Haeryeon spoke calmly.
This was a problem unlike anything they had dealt with before, and perhaps unlike anything they would ever face again.
Because it was such a troublesome problem, however, it also made her blood stir.
“If you are hired here, you may face unfair treatment from others because of your past association with villains.
Would that be acceptable?” “What exactly do you mean by unfair treatment?
Would it affect my salary, sick leave, annual leave, or benefits like those?” Hyeon-yul’s eyebrow rose slightly.
Surely these people would not behave the same way villains had.
“No.
I mean the way other people might treat you personally.” “Ah.
If that’s all, I don’t care.
I can just ignore them.” Hyeon-yul relaxed.
For a moment, he had wondered what she was talking about.
“Good!
That’s the spirit!
I like you!” A deep male voice rang out.
Hyeon-yul did not miss the significance of that.
‘One more person.’ There were three people in the area altogether.
“No, old man!
This isn’t something you can decide that easily!” A startled woman’s voice immediately followed from outside.
“No, old man!
Where are you…” BANG.
The door opened, and a middle-aged but extremely muscular man walked in with a hearty laugh.
“We have seven teams in total.
By good fortune, only three team leaders are still here today, and we’ve been given authority to make a decision that the others have agreed to accept.
I don’t care whether you used to work for villains or what you were.
I vote yes.” The Team 2 leader spoke decisively.
Hyeon-yul’s lips curved upward as though the pleasant start were only natural.
BANG.
The door flew open again, and the Team 7 leader emerged.
“I vote no.
There’s no prior record on you, and I see no reason we should accept you solely because the head you brought happens to belong to Shin Daeho.” “You chose your words well.
It is Shin Daeho.
He took that bastard down alone.
What more do you need to see?
We are Black Eagle.” The Team 2 leader confronted the Team 7 leader with the simple reality of the situation.
Listening to them argue, Hyeon-yul learned something he had not known.
‘Looks like that bastard Shin Daeho was a bigger deal than I thought.’ He had never expected the man to be useful after death.
“I understand what you’re saying.
Being strong is good.
But the fact that he managed this alone is exactly what bothers me.” The Team 7 leader lowered her phone.
What kind of power did he possess that made something like this possible?
And what would happen if that power were ever turned against them?
That possibility was what made her uneasy.
Hyeon-yul naturally looked toward Haeryeon because she was the only one who had not decided.
Just as Haeryeon was about to speak after some thought, something began to ring.
BZZZZT.
Light swirled simultaneously around the smartwatches worn by Haeryeon and the leaders of Teams 2 and 7.
“What happened?” Haeryeon asked while manipulating the device.
A report came through the wireless earpiece connected to her smartwatch.
<One minute ago, we received a message from a villain.
They claim to have planted a bomb in a village approximately ten kilometers from here.
The explosive yield appears sufficient to destroy the entire village.> GRIND.
Haeryeon clenched her teeth at the report.
The timing was so perfectly awful that it almost felt staged.
“…Understood.” She cut the communication immediately and looked at the other team leaders.
“Contact the bomb disposal unit, please.
I’ll check whether any teams have already been deployed to the area.” “…Unni.” The Team 7 leader finally broke the silence.
“What?” “The bomb disposal unit isn’t here right now.” “…?” “She’s right.
A bomber appeared elsewhere, and they’re dealing with that situation now.” Even the Team 2 leader’s expression stiffened.
The timing truly could not have been worse.
But when the opponent was a bomber, there was no choice.
One mistake could result in an entire city being blown apart.
“Are you having trouble?” When Hyeon-yul spoke, every eye turned toward him.
Looking satisfied, he continued.
“I can handle that.” Every face seemed to ask the same question: You can?
“Do you need my help?” The corners of Hyeon-yul’s mouth rose slightly.