Chapter 132
Chapter 132
I Want to Hear More Details
The woman, clasping both hands together, wore an expression as though she were walking through a dream.
“Perhaps, after enough time passes, the owner will pass away as well. I heard that when that time comes, they plan to place an android modeled after him beside that android.”
Even if the couple disappeared, traces of the life they had lived would remain behind. The shop would continue to exist as well. At least as long as it remained profitable.
“I think this is how technology should be used. For ideals, and for life itself.”
Ga-on agreed with that sentiment.
However—
“Just tell me who it is.”
It simply wasn't what interested him.
“Hey, you—”
At that question, which showed not even the slightest consideration for the other person, the woman unconsciously snapped.
“Hey, you?”
The way he repeated it sounded as though he could hardly believe what he had just heard. Faced with her crude choice of words, the woman quickly regained her composure. The crack-like distortion at the corners of her mouth was smoothed into a smile in an instant.
“Ahem, how strange. Everyone who heard this story couldn't hold back their tears.”
Covering her cheek as though troubled, the woman deftly changed the subject. To Ga-on, however, her intentions were completely transparent. He felt as though he could clearly see what kind of person she truly was.
“It’s a touching story, but that’s not the important part.”
“You're lacking a warm heart, Ga-on. If you're like that, even relationships that finally come your way will disappear, you know?”
“I’m just strict about separating business from personal matters. In the first place, there’s no reason for me to act friendly toward someone whose identity I don’t even know.”
“I was trying to get acquainted with you, but perhaps that only made you dislike me instead.”
“......”
Under the piercingly intense gaze that seemed capable of seeing through him, the woman set down her teacup. After straightening her bangs once, she bowed her head.
“Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Hiiragi Alice.”
It was a name he didn't recognize. However, the words that followed made even Ga-on nod in understanding.
“Would it be easier to understand if I said I’m the current Sword Master?”
Now he understood why Dae Gwanmu had recoiled in shock.
Sword Master was a title passed down within the Miyauchi Group, an honor bestowed upon the most outstanding individual. In other words, one of the strongest figures even among the Four Great Underworld factions. It was only natural to be flustered when confronted by someone like that.
“Why would someone as remarkable as you want to meet a fixer like me?”
“Do you really not know?”
“I’m already working on a mystery as it is. I hate being handed a new one midway through.”
When Ga-on answered firmly, Alice openly displayed her troubled expression instead of trying to hide it.
“I heard Kenji was indebted to you this time.”
At that name, the incident from not long ago came to mind.
The former Sword Master, Nasuno Kenji. It was the name of the man he had clashed with in Baekdu. Judging from the fact that two joints of his little finger had been cut off—that is, judging from the Yubitsume—he was undoubtedly someone who had been expelled from the Miyauchi Group.
Ga-on hadn't expected there to still be someone searching for him—
“He must've really gotten on their bad side.”
“There are many things I need to hear from that child.”
“Even if you ask about where he's been, there's nothing I can tell you. We only crossed paths once, after all.”
“We only crossed paths once... You're quite skilled at hiding yourself. There's no way you don't understand what it means to have defeated the former Sword Master.”
Of course he did.
It was practically the same as smearing dirt on the Miyauchi Group's face. The only reason they weren't making reckless moves was probably because the rumor hadn't spread yet.
Or perhaps—
‘Do they know that I’m Chairman Baek Seol’s half-sibling?’
If they had investigated Kenji this thoroughly, they might also have a rough understanding of what was happening within Baekdu. It wasn't an unreasonable guess.
Still, he had to conceal his true thoughts.
And his abilities as well.
“In the first place, it wasn't a fair fight. If he'd still had all ten fingers, the outcome might have been different.”
That was why he was acting uncharacteristically modest.
Suddenly, Alice looked him up and down before smiling meaningfully.
“Personally, I don't think that would have changed anything. Kenji was an oddball, but you're no less unusual, Ga-on.”
“You too.”
Ga-on had already guessed that she was no ordinary opponent.
He couldn't find a single opening in her.
In terms of pure ability, she surpassed even Kenji.
That was why it puzzled him.
If the title of Sword Master was truly determined by skill, then she—not Kenji—should have been the former Sword Master.
So why had she only appeared now?
And why had she only recently received the title of Sword Master?
“I'll have the bounty Ryungyeong placed on you withdrawn on my authority. In return, if you come across any information regarding Kenji, you'll inform me first. How does that sound?”
It was a deal with nothing to lose.
“I can't guarantee he'll appear before me again, but if you're fine with that, I'll accept.”
“He will appear. Ever since he was young, he was the type who couldn't live while owing someone a debt.”
Come to think of it, even the reason he had ended up leaving the Miyauchi Group had originated from that very trait.
Knowing it was not a nature that could easily change, Alice could say it with certainty.
“This is my contact information.”
The moment Ga-on saved the number transmitted through short-range communication, Alice rose from her seat, having finished her business.
“Next time we meet, don't pretend not to know me, okay?”
As Alice left Café Velvet with a bright smile, a new message arrived on Ga-on's device.
The sender was Dobby.
It seemed he had discovered something suspicious in the server records of RG Purification Foods.
“There's definitely a need to verify this information.”
***
Unlike humans, the artificial intelligence controlling the plant neither made mistakes nor complained of fatigue.
The fact that it achieved its assigned quota without being even a second late was proof enough.
As for Halmi's work, all she really had to do was record the results.
A daily life that turned like a hamster wheel. One would think she would have grown accustomed to a routine so repetitive that not even the slightest variation occurred, but she was just as sick of today being identical to yesterday as ever.
Perhaps that was why.
“Sigh.”
The moment she climbed into her vehicle with her exhausted body, a sigh escaped her lips.
[Please state your destination.]
“Home.”
She was about to lean back in the driver's seat and close her eyes.
“RG Purification Foods General Manager Halmi Lautender. Forty-one years old. No children, no lover. Looks like there wouldn't be anyone worried if you disappeared from here.”
Had she not heard a voice coming from behind her.
Startled, Halmi spun around toward the back seat and widened her eyes.
“You are...?”
It was a familiar face.
The man who had been with Wendy.
Ga-on, was it?
But their only point of contact had been their encounter earlier today.
So why was he here?
“Don't tell me you mistakenly thought your girlfriend was being mistreated at work and pulled something this reckless. Birds of a feather really do flock together.”
It was true that she had wanted something to break the monotony of her life.
But this sort of trivial conflict was not what she had been hoping for.
Halmi snorted and was about to call the Public Enforcement Corps immediately, but—
“To clear up a misunderstanding first, meeting her was purely coincidental. I should say she was easy to dig into.”
She froze at the plastic identification card held out before her.
As though mesmerized, she couldn't take her eyes off it.
“Grade 9 Advisor...?”
A government official who worked in cooperation with the Public Enforcement Corps.
“I visited RG Purification Foods because a report came in. From what I can see, duplicate expenditures are occurring under security expenses. The recorded books and the actual spending records are completely different. Considering the company's size, it's completely out of bounds.”
This was the discrepancy Dobby had uncovered.
Absurdly enough, RG Purification Foods was engaging in accounting fraud far beyond its means.
“For this much money to be flowing somewhere, the assistance of an insider is absolutely indispensable.”
Realizing whom Ga-on was pointing at, Halmi shook her head.
It was true that she had worked there for fifteen years, but she had never committed any wrongdoing.
She had only fulfilled her duties.
“It wasn't me—no, it wasn't me, sir. If you've investigated my background, then you know, don't you? My savings are all within the range that can be explained by my salary.”
Halmi desperately defended herself, but Ga-on continued pressing her.
“If the General Manager doesn't know, then who does?”
“The only person who could deceive me and manipulate the records would be the President... no one else. Now that I think about it, he handled everything himself all along. Yes, that's right.”
Unable to withstand the pressure, Halmi lowered her eyes and confessed.
Of course, it wasn't the answer Ga-on was looking for.
Whether RG Purification Foods was serving as a secret funding channel for a megacorp or had blown itself up after getting crushed by debt from financial speculation was none of his concern.
Even so, he had shaken Halmi up for a reason.
To prevent her from making sound judgments.
The real topic began now.
“Then why do you torment Wendy so much? Is it hysteria? Or did she make some kind of mistake?”
“......”
The reason.
Halmi had buried it deep within her heart and avoided confronting it all this time.
But the person before her was an Advisor.
Perhaps—
She couldn't help but cling to that faint hope.
And so she revealed a concern she had never shared with anyone.
“The people at the company don't know this, but that girl was hired as a Management Manager because someone ordered it.”
Even as a secondary vendor, RG Purification Foods was directly connected to the megacorp Trian.
When they posted the opening for a manager position, applicants had poured in like clouds.
Yet the person who survived the brutal competition ratio of 4,400 to 1 was Wendy, who had only just reached adulthood.
“So that's why you bullied her.”
“It was training.”
There was no denying that Wendy lacked experience.
She had joined the company after skipping several stages that she would normally have had to go through.
To Halmi, who had entered through hard work and proper procedures, Wendy was never going to look favorable.
“You can call it self-justification if you want. But how long can we keep coddling a girl who got hired through recruitment corruption? If no one gives her a stern talking-to, she'll start thinking the whole world revolves around her.”
She seemed to feel a sense of unfairness because the hiring process had not been conducted properly.
Not that her way of expressing it could be called correct.
Still, it wasn't impossible to sympathize with.
‘Kurtnik.’
There was only one obvious person who could have been pulling strings behind Wendy's back without her knowledge.
“Take last week's company dinner, for example. She attended for the first time in ages, and it looked like she was talking with everyone, but then she left alone with a man and never came back. It's obvious. She must've come with that intention from the beginning.”
It was a remark tinged with jealousy.
But the word that caught Ga-on's attention was something else.
“Company dinner?”
Wendy had said she hadn't attended a company dinner even once during the past month.
Information she didn't know, but the people around her did.
That discrepancy itself would likely lead him to the answer.
“I'd like to hear more details.”
***
‘Philip Faway.’
Twenty-five years old.
He had joined the company at the same time as Wendy.
Handsome and exceptionally well-mannered, he was said to be popular with everyone regardless of age or gender.
That was why the fact that he and Wendy had left alone together during the last company dinner had quietly become a topic of discussion among the employees.
Viewed up to this point, it looked like nothing more than youthful misconduct between a young man and woman.
To Ga-on, however, it felt deeply unsettling.
He had identified the location and time of the company dinner and checked the surrounding CCTV footage, but found almost nothing.
At a certain point, the traces of both individuals simply disappeared.
The two had moved by skillfully utilizing blind spots.
There was no way to explain it except that it had been deliberate.