Eradication Squad (3)

Thursday.

A text message arrived at exactly 8 AM.

-Cafe Red Town near Hanyu Square.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head.

I had expected that they wouldn’t immediately give me the address of the Eradication Squad’s headquarters, but I didn’t think they would give such a completely different address.

Hanyu Square was a bustling area. A busy area where people swarm even on weekday mornings.

“It doesn’t seem like they sent it by mistake.”

Unable to contain my curiosity, I sent a text message.

-You said I could come anytime, but what time exactly should I arrive by?

Then the red-haired Eradication Squad member, who hadn’t told me her name or position yet, sent a reply.

-It’s true that you can come anytime.

“What?”

-Then can I come now?

-Yeah

“Huh.”

But a moment later, another text arrived.

-Password: A drop of soul in hot black tea.

I have no idea what kind of group this is.

It was so strange that I wouldn’t have even considered joining if they weren’t affiliated with the government.

I put on a white short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans and went out. I didn’t feel like waiting until around lunchtime with this uneasy feeling.

I took the bus to Hanyu Square and headed to Red Town.

When I searched briefly on my phone, Red Town seemed quite popular among young people. Even a quick search showed over 1000 posts on Staragram.

Screech-

I opened the door of Red Town and went inside.

Red Town, which had a sign saying it was a cafe, looked more like a bar than a cafe to anyone who saw it.

I headed to the counter to order.

A man with a friendly smile was standing at the counter.

“Would you like to order?”

I slowly opened my mouth. I said exactly what had come as the password in the text message.

“A drop of soul in hot black tea.”

This sucks.

It really sucks.

The employee who heard what I said gave a subtle smile.

“Yes, I’ve taken your order. Please wait a moment.”

I sat down in a spot that caught my eye. After a while, the employee slowly approached me with black tea. And he naturally placed a key and a torn piece of paper on the table along with it.

Then he disappeared without any explanation.

-Staff-only storage room next to the bathroom. Down the stairs below that. Passage lock password 94653

“……”

I gulped down all the black tea and headed towards the bathroom. I used the key to open the door and entered the staff storage room.

There was an iron door at the back of the staff storage room. When I entered the password, the door opened.

Inside was an elevator.

Inside the elevator were three buttons. 1, B1, B2.

I pressed B1 for now. The elevator went down quietly. And the door opened quietly.

An underground space that contained the same size as the quite large cafe came into view.

But silence flowed. Only one person could be seen. A girl with light brown hair was sitting on the sofa. When our eyes met, the girl blinked.

“Ah… ah, are you the newcomer the leader mentioned?”

Leader?

Who are you talking about?

The girl looked about 155 cm tall. She bowed her head to me modestly and somewhat awkwardly.

And she approached me with pitter-pattering steps.

“Hello… I’m Bae Juha.”

“I’m Lee Dojin.”

“Wooden Sword Holy Knight. I know. Because you’re famous…”

Bae Juha’s voice was very low. Almost to the point of sounding powerless.

“There’s no one here.”

“They’ve all gone out on missions. Um, I’ll wake up the leader and bring her. She keeps sleeping when there’s no work. Sleeping and sleeping again. Sleeping and sleeping again…”

Bae Juha’s charming low voice kept echoing in my ears.

“Would you like some tea?”

“Ah, I just had some, so I’m fine.”

Bae Juha blinked her round eyes.

“Ah… you must have said the password. Black tea, a drop of soul…”

My head started to hurt slightly.

Bae Juha slightly lowered her head and pressed the elevator button.

It seemed she was going to bring the person called the leader. Left alone, I scanned my surroundings. Even if I wanted to look around, there wasn’t much to see.

There were a few papers on the black table.

I picked up one of the papers.

Name: Kim Beomjin

Age: 33

Occupation: Hunter affiliated with Daemyeong Guild – Has not reported to the guild since the incident

Rank: S-rank

Characteristics: Left arm is a mechanical prosthetic

Ability: Attribute type – Fire

Management Bureau Villain Classification Rank: S-rank or higher

Incident summary: On Friday, May 26th, after inhaling cocaine-based narcotic powder at a bar, started causing a disturbance. Killed 4 ordinary citizens by burning them with his fire ability.

4 out of 5 family members died.

Currently on the run.

It looked like an information document on a villain. 4 out of 5 family members died, and a fire ability user. I vaguely remembered seeing it on the news.

The elevator door opened without any noise.

“You came quickly.”

…What is that.

“What are you wearing right now?”

It was the red-haired woman I had seen three days ago. But now she was wearing white pajamas instead of a sleeveless black shirt.

“What does it matter what I wear comfortably in my own home?”

“The leader… doesn’t change no matter how much you nag.”

Bae Juha went to the woman’s side and brought her cute face close to the woman’s pajamas.

Sniff sniff-

“But at least it’s washed pajamas.”

To me, the pajamas themselves were the problem.

The white is too visible. On the top.

“But if you’re the leader… were you the leader of the Eradication Squad?”

The woman nodded at my words.

“Yes, nice to meet you. Call me Leader.”

“If you’re the leader, you must be the head of the entire Eradication Squad.”

The woman grinned.

“That’s right, why? Doesn’t it suit me?”

Now that I heard it, it didn’t seem unsuitable.

Even though she was just wearing pajamas, there was a feeling of the unique aura that martial artists emit flowing out.

The sword scar engraved on her left cheek below her eye made it even more so.

Her unkempt, messy hair reminded me of Hwangbo Seryeong’s lion’s mane-like hair that had disappeared in Mistilteinn’s world not long ago.

I was just a little surprised by the fact that the person who approached me directly to scout me was the head of the Eradication Squad. Ah, rather, because she was the head, she was able to approach and scout so casually.

“This isn’t the Eradication Squad’s main base. It’s where the executives of the Eradication Squad stay.”

“Executives?”

“The Eradication Squad has 5 units. One captain and one vice-captain per unit, a total of 11 people including me stay here.”

She meant that the captains and vice-captains were the executives.

Following the leader’s words, my gaze turned to none other than the small girl with short brown hair, Bae Juha.

The fact that Bae Juha was staying here at Red Town meant that she was also an executive.

It’s true that we’ve become a world where you can’t judge abilities just by outward appearances, but no matter how I looked at her, she didn’t look like an executive of the Eradication Squad.

“As it happens, there’s a captain position vacant now. For the 3rd unit. You can go there.”

I immediately blurted out the question in my mind.

“Was it originally vacant?”

The leader firmly shook her head.

“No, it wasn’t vacant. He died at the end of last year.”

“…I see.”

It’s a job dealing with villains.

Death must always be looming close.

“He was someone who had entered the transcendent realm. Like you.”

Transcendent realm.

Those who had entered that realm called me transcendent realm, but I still didn’t clearly perceive the difference.

I agreed that it was a term encompassing beings beyond the extraordinary that couldn’t be labeled as SS-rank, but the criterion of handling a ‘realm’ was vague.

Thinking back to when I faced So Daecheol just a few days ago, I had a vague feeling. Sword Emperor So Daecheol’s realm, the ‘Emperor Sword Form’. To destroy that realm, I clearly unfolded a broader realm of ‘Heaven Defying’.

But that realization was too instantaneous. As fast as a bolt of lightning.

I needed to concretize that realization. In the end, it would be nothing but training again.

“Who exactly were the enemies?”

Anyway, irregulars exceeding the SS-rank figures. I couldn’t help but wonder who the guys who killed someone who had entered the transcendent realm were.

“You can find that out after you’ve settled into the Eradication Squad. It’s not too late then.”

Avoiding answering my question, the leader picked up the villain profile I had been looking at until just now.

“Were you looking at this?”

“Yes.”

“He’s been on the run for a month. There was one eyewitness testimony a week ago. At Seoul Station bathroom, they say. It means he’s still in Seoul. The members are currently tracking him.”

The leader put down the document with an expressionless face.

“I’ll explain about the Eradication Squad in detail from now on. The Eradication Squad is divided into 5 units, but even though they’re called units, excluding the captain and vice-captain, there are 30 people each.”

It meant that the total number of Eradication Squad members excluding captains and vice-captains was 150.

“When we can’t handle it with the Eradication Squad’s personnel, we get help from the Management Bureau or higher-ranking guilds. However, usually it’s resolved at our level.”

The leader put a cigarette in her mouth.

And she made a chin gesture looking at Bae Juha.

“Sweetheart, go to the break room for a while.”

Sweetheart, how old is she?

Bae Juha did look quite young. But for some reason, her darkish eyes made it difficult to gauge her age.

Bae Juha shook her short brown hair.

“I don’t want to. It’s been a while since we had a new person. Take out that bad thing.”

She stared at me intently as if she wanted to keep looking.

Clicking her tongue, the leader took the cigarette out of her mouth and plonked it on the desk.

“…I’ll continue the explanation. Generally, the executives and 300 members operate individually. The reason executives are executives is because they can exert the power of 30 people, the 30 unit members, by themselves.”

The more I listened to the leader’s explanation, the more curious I became about what Bae Juha’s ability was.

I’ll find out later if I ask her directly.

“For matters that need to be handled decisively, two executives are paired and deployed. And sharing real names and personal information is only done among executives. Even that would be better not to do from a security standpoint, but… first, there needs to be trust among us.”

The leader continued speaking.

“The Eradication Squad is the nation’s sword. Unlike ordinary hunters who are only allowed responsive killing in cases where the opponent is registered as a villain in the Management Bureau’s data, the Eradication Squad can execute on the spot if situational and circumstantial evidence is established, regardless of data registration. Of course, if it’s judged to be a misjudgment in the end, the responsibility lies with that Eradication Squad member themselves.”

A license to kill.

Only now did I start to feel the weight of being affiliated with the Eradication Squad.

The leader stood up.

“Follow me, you need a badge as proof that you’re the captain of the 3rd unit.”

“A badge?”

As I followed behind the leader, Bae Juha clung to my side. A low voice flowed from her small mouth.

“It’s cool.”