On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 374

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed — Episode 374
The Crow in Darkness (5)
Blron pondered.
What if the organization was being destroyed?
All the Crows here were dead.
The Seniors should have returned by now, but it was taking far longer than expected.
‘Are they locked in a life-or-death duel?’
Ideally, they’d win and return safely.
“But are those bastards all dying too?”
“W-we’re destroyed!”
Listening to both of them speak, the situation looked utterly hopeless.
‘My life…….’
Everyone imagines their own form of death.
A Crow’s life was supposed to come and go without anyone knowing, but he’d never imagined dying like this.
Dying to an enemy he’d never anticipated in a strategy he’d never foreseen!
“Ah, the Boss has arrived.”
“M-Master!”
Ziel and Gilbert appeared just then.
Their hands carried nothing.
It meant they’d killed everyone.
‘Damn…….’
“G-Gilbert!”
The moment Kelvin saw Gilbert, he rushed forward and examined him from every angle.
“Wounds!”
“Does it hurt!”
“Are you dying!”
“I’m not dying!”
Gilbert grumbled and pushed Kelvin away. Kelvin looked relieved.
“So you were worried after all?”
“T-training partner!”
“……You were worried because your training partner would be gone and you’d miss him?”
The way he managed to interpret it suggested the two were closer than one might think.
“Boss, how did things go on your end?”
“Finished. Gilbert handled all three of the top-tier Crows, and he’s reached Master Rank.”
“Wow!”
At the words “Master Rank,” Kelvin’s eyes widened in an instant.
“C-crafty!”
“You’ll reach it too, Kelvin. An opportunity will come someday.”
The skill gap between the two, where Gilbert had held only a slight edge, had suddenly widened dramatically.
Yet Kelvin too possessed the talent to reach Master Rank.
More precisely, it was a talent that had only bloomed after meeting Ziel.
“I’ve eliminated everyone except one.”
“Well done.”
Corpses lay scattered across the rooftop, blood dripping steadily from the edges.
But not a trace of pity stirred within him.
“I was already dreaming of revenge, and they came seeking it themselves.”
“Have you determined how they discovered your location?”
At Ziel’s question, Gilbert felt a chill run through him.
Though he’d concealed his face with a Human Skin Mask, he’d still been found out.
“I’m not entirely certain.”
“We’ll need to identify the gap and shore it up. We’re heading to the Red Raven’s main headquarters.”
Ziel was unhesitating.
“We’re going right now?”
“Yes. And you wanted revenge, didn’t you?”
“I did. But my thinking has shifted somewhat.”
“Your thinking has changed?”
“Yes. I’ll limit my revenge to the Branch Leader and Vice Commander—the ones who ordered my death. Since the Branch Leader takes orders from the Vice Commander, eliminating them both will be enough.”
Gilbert felt compassion stir within him.
The deaths of the Crows.
In truth, they shared the same fate.
Creatures that move at a command.
Of course, the fact that they tried to kill him remained unchanged.
But there was no point in slaughtering all of them.
Above all—
“What if we eliminated two of them, extracted information, and brought the Red Raven directly under your command?”
This was actually more profitable.
A golden opportunity to absorb the Red Raven intelligence organization!
But Ziel remained cold.
“I don’t feel like it.”
“Ah.”
“I’m a teacher. Why would I need an intelligence organization?”
Gilbert’s words caught in his throat.
‘And yet this person is involved with the Berte Trading Company and the Solaris Religion…….’
“You choose, Gilbert.”
But hearing those words, Gilbert grasped what the Boss truly meant.
‘This is my revenge.’
Offering him a choice.
Using reluctance as an excuse!
‘Just as I thought—the Boss has deeper intentions.’
No.
Ziel genuinely didn’t want to.
He was already saddled with a strange organization due to being mistaken for a Sun God.
If he took the Red Ravens under his wing as well and was elevated to Commander, it would interfere with his role as a teacher.
“Understood, Boss. I believe if we eliminate the Main Organization’s Branch Leader, it will collapse on its own. Three top-tier Crows have already been depleted. It’s no exaggeration to say the Red Raven’s fighting strength has been halved.”
“I see. Understood. We need to move now so they don’t have time to respond.”
“Your words are wise, Boss. Ugh.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“That’s from your injuries. Bear it.”
…….
This was such a refreshing manner of speaking that while Gilbert was at a loss for words, Zephyros let his worry show.
“But Boss, will this Gilbert guy be alright? Setting aside that he’s reached Master Rank, his opponent was…….”
“I stopped the bleeding and stitched the wound. He won’t die.”
“Ah.”
Then Kelvin stepped forward.
“Then, then it’s my turn!”
“No. Not now. This needs to be handled quietly.”
Kelvin’s shoulders sagged in disappointment as he retreated.
Kelvin was hardly the quiet type.
Wasn’t the roof laid waste just now?
If Zephyros hadn’t cast Perception Blocking Magic, it would have been such a destructive fight that the homeowner and the entire neighborhood would have come running.
Gilbert chuckled softly.
“Keep chasing hard after me, alright?”
“Y-yes, absolutely!”
Kelvin seemed unable to bear the fact that Gilbert had gotten ahead of him.
It was a rivalry worth having.
In any case, now came the turn of the one he’d spared earlier.
Ziel interrogated him directly.
“Answer everything I ask. If you don’t answer, I’ll keep you alive as long as possible.”
“……?”
For a moment Blron was confused about what that meant, but soon he grasped its significance.
‘He means he’ll keep me alive and make me suffer for a long time!’
This time it wasn’t a misunderstanding.
“Will you… will you let me live if I talk?”
From what he could tell, the organization seemed to be finished anyway.
No one could have predicted it would turn out like this, but three top-tier Crows were dead.
That meant the Main Organization’s fighting strength was essentially destroyed.
‘If the Vice Commander on top of that is taken out…… the organization is done for.’
The operation had failed.
The target for elimination had survived, and he’d been discovered by someone who absolutely should never have found out about this.
Whether a top-tier Crow dies makes no difference now.
Ziel Steelheart.
As long as he stands, the Red Raven is finished.
“I’ll tell you everything. The Vice Commander and the Branch Leader are currently at the Capital branch. The Vice Commander came in person and gave the orders. The last progress report was forty minutes ago, and it contained nothing unusual—just noted that tracking was continuing.”
Blron spilling secrets without hesitation!
Watching Blron’s fingers, Ziel abandoned the thought of drawing his dagger.
“Where is the branch located?”
“District 17. They’re using an entire grand mansion. District 17, 135th Street.”
“Understood. Guide us there.”
Blron hesitated for a moment, but given how things had unfolded, he didn’t deliberate long.
“Yes. I’ll guide you to the entrance where I would enter.”
“Cooperative of you.”
Blron struggled to suppress a rising smile.
For a moment, it seemed he might actually survive.
But Gilbert threw a wrench into things.
“Boss, this seems too easy. He’s spilling everything.”
“No. He’s not lying. If he were, I’d have detected it from the changes in his heartbeat and mana.”
“So this bastard really has no loyalty at all.”
Blron wanted to unleash a torrent of curses on them.
‘If I were in his position, wouldn’t I do the same?’
In truth, the Organization’s destruction was already sealed.
If only the Black Sky had collapsed the same way—silently, without warning—the Imperial Palace sweeping in like shadows. But this?
No one had anticipated the operation dragging on this long, and for Ziel Steelheart to intervene in the meantime and devastate everything—he’d never seen it coming!
“He made an efficient choice with his life on the line.”
“True. A living man is better than a dead one.”
And so, the trip to District 17 was decided.
“Lead the way.”
“Yes.”
Leaving behind the corpses of countless Crows.
“Ah.”
Ziel, as if remembering something, rifled through the bodies of the fallen Crows.
He pocketed a few coins.
‘The boss is being thrifty today, it seems.’
He handed them straight to Gilbert.
“Buy more fried bread and chicken skewers with this.”
That was it.
Ziel hadn’t forgotten.

* * *
An hour had passed.
No word.
Progress reports were mandatory during Crow operations.
The absence of a progress report meant trouble during the mission.
“What do you make of this, Vice Commander?”
“We should prepare for contingencies.”
The two men stationed in the Capital Branch Leader’s office made their preparations in advance.
For the possibility of disaster.
To extract themselves quickly.
Everything after that could be figured out later.
“The documents?”
“All accounted for.”
“Pay special attention to Confidential File 183.”
“Don’t worry, Branch Leader.”
Every possibility had to be weighed.
Even the contingency of this operation failing.
The fallout would be severe, but survival came first.
Only then could what remained of the Organization be preserved.
After the Black Sky’s collapse, numerous intelligence organizations had been jockeying for position, threatening the Red Raven’s dominance.
In the midst of all this, the whereabouts of the defector Erso had been pinpointed.
It was a fortunate break, but the intelligence was certain, and a choice had to be made.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve left it alone.’
Regret came too late.
What mattered now was speed.
The Branch Leader gathered the documents in haste, then approached the window on an impulse.
He wanted to check whether a messenger pigeon had arrived, just in case.
‘When did this window open?’
It was the very moment he sensed something wrong.
Clang!
“Gasp.”
A dagger streaked through the air and embedded itself directly in the Branch Leader’s chest.
Dead center.
A fatal wound.
The Vice Commander reacted immediately, seizing the bag of documents the Branch Leader had dropped.
But in that instant.
“Ugh!”
The door burst open and a short blade flew in, pinning the Vice Commander’s hand to the floor just as he reached for the bag.
It was over.
‘Who on earth?’
The answer came swiftly.
The figure who entered through the open window was Gilbert.
“Long time, Branch Leader. Vice Commander. I hope you’ve been well.”
Behind him came another man—silver-haired.
“It can’t be…….”
Ziel Steelheart.
Everything had fallen apart.
“Erso, you bastard…….”
“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not hear excuses. I’ve been holding this in for a while.”
Gilbert meant every word.
He’d done everything he was told, and for learning something he shouldn’t have, they’d tossed him away that easily.
“Even a useless, diseased hunting dog wouldn’t be abandoned like that. Would it?”
“……I’m sorry. At the time, there was no choice. You know how it is. Unauthorized access to classified information is a termination matter.”
Gilbert lifted the bag containing the documents.
He rummaged through it and found what he was looking for.
“This was it. Once I saw the contents, I understood. Confidential File 183.”
“You…….”
“If it had been me, I probably would’ve skimmed it and forgotten. Instead, you made sure I’d remember it forever. Let’s see—the contents have been updated.”
After studying it for a time, Gilbert held out the document to Ziel.
“Would you like to see it too, Boss? It’s quite interesting.”
Ziel glanced at the document without much thought.
Then he paused.
‘After the fall of Black Sky…… they were trying to build a new Black Sky.’
It never ended.
Black Sky.
Such an alluring form of organization.
Powerful enough that the Imperial Family itself had to destroy it.
An assassin collective.
Properly cultivated, a new Black Sky could make the powerful tremble in fear just as the old one had.
That meant new power.
So Ziel made his decision.
Regardless of anything else, the emergence of a new Black Sky could not be tolerated.
He could not leave seeds of future strife.
“Gilbert, leave one alive. I’ll eliminate the Commander myself.”
In this moment.
Ziel’s words were a declaration that the Red Raven would be completely erased.
“Understood.”
Gilbert chose the Vice Commander.
It wasn’t about personal grudges.
The Branch Leader was already mortally wounded.
There was no reason to treat him; better to keep alive someone who could answer questions.
“Tell me the Commander’s location.”
“You speak as though you might actually let us live.”
“No. Of course not. All of you will die here.”
The Vice Commander, his hand still impaled, let out a hollow laugh.
“Then why should I tell you anything?”
“Because if you don’t, you’ll experience every form of suffering imaginable before death takes you.”
Gilbert was beginning to resemble Ziel more and more.
Ziel nodded with evident satisfaction.
“You’re doing well.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————