Chapter 61
“That person? Why? He seemed nice.”
To Choi Kkang-kang’s words, I made up an excuse.
“He manages all the paperwork. So it’ll be easier to gather information about suspects.”
“Oh. Well, that’s true…”
“Besides, didn’t Kim Seo-min-ssi say he’d come at dinner time? He can also explain our absence.”
“Understood.”
Baek Yi-heon nodded like a soldier receiving orders.
“Sehun-ah. Stay close to Yi-heon Hyung, okay?”
“Yes!”
Sehun nodded eagerly.
Fortunately, the child didn’t mention hearing strange sounds anymore.
Maybe because Baek Yi-heon was there, he didn’t seem anxious about being separated from me.
“…You’re a good boy.”
As I said that and patted his head, he grinned again.
Seeing that, an emotion I didn’t want to acknowledge stirred somewhere in my chest.
…We should practice separating like this bit by bit. After all, I’ll be leaving soon.
After looking at the child for a moment, I quickly removed my hand before stranger feelings could arise and said,
“Well then, shall we get going?”
Baek Yi-heon nodded and added with a serious face,
“Please be careful. …And behave well.”
I smirked at those words, which sounded like scolding an elementary school student.
To avoid suspicion, we decided to leave one by one, pretending to go to the bathroom.
“Noona! Come back safely! I’ll stick close to the Hyung!”
I gave the child calling out softly one last awkward smile before slipping out of the conference room.
💎
The adjacent building was connected by an arched corridor.
“What the hell. Everyone else is crammed in the conference room. Are they saying just five people use this huge building?”
The man who had been smiling sweetly at the woman was gone.
Choi Kkang-kang, back to his usual self, grumbled.
‘It really does look quite spacious… Do we have to search all of this?’
I slightly furrowed my brow as I looked around the dark building.
Having come this far, the Messenger who guided me here should give some hint, but it remained utterly silent.
Fortunately, we didn’t need to search every room in the building.
“Hm? Wait a moment. I hear something. Music sounds, and… laughter, I think.”
We had an awakened contracted with one of the strongest battle gods.
Yu, who had been silently listening for a moment, raised her hand and said in a calm tone.
“Upstairs, towards the end of the corridor, I believe.”
“Wow, Nunim. What’s up with that hearing?”
Leading Choi Kkang-kang, who flexibly called her ‘Nunim’ only when he felt like it, we immediately ran up the stairs.
“It’s there.”
As we reached the third-floor corridor, sure enough.
A faint light was seeping through the door crack of a room at the end of the corridor.
As we got closer, even my ordinary human ears could hear loud music.
Along with frivolous shouts of ‘Drink, drink!’ mixed in.
“…No way.”
Choi Kkang-kang, with his ear to the door, muttered with a grim expression.
“What’s happening in there isn’t what I’m thinking, right? At a time like this.”
No, reality is twice as cruel as what you’re imagining.
The people right there are the culprits of this kidnapping case.
Click.
I tried turning the doorknob, but of course, the door was locked.
“Yu.”
When I called her name in a low voice, she immediately understood my intention and raised her hand.
“Yes. Step back a bit, Noah. You might get hurt by flying debris.”
“What about me? Why don’t you worry about me, Nunim?”
Ignoring Choi Kkang-kang’s playful complaint, Yu swung her arm filled with mana.
Bang—!
With that single gesture, not only the locked iron door but also the wall crumbled down.
The scene revealed inside the room was…
“What on earth…”
“Holy sh…”
Choi Kkang-kang, next to me, spewed out a crude curse.
Even Yu lost her usual gentleness, her face hardening.
The moderately spacious room was lavishly decorated.
It was hard to believe this space existed in a world facing its end.
Various snacks and expensive whiskey were placed on a luxurious wooden table.
Outdated trot music played endlessly from a cassette tape.
Middle-aged men in suits sat there, looking at us with bewildered expressions.
There were women in the room as well.
“You, what are you!”
One of the men who had belatedly come to his senses shouted.
He had a tie ridiculously tied around his head.
“How dare you do this here! Do you know who I am?”
“Who cares who you are. You bastard.”
Choi Kkang-kang retorted with an angry face.
“Everyone’s living on rations in those cramped spaces, what gives you the right to act like this here?”
Then a heavily drunk man shouted back with a slurred voice, not backing down.
“Of course! They’re common people, and we’re the ones who rule!”
“Besides, we were just having a quiet conversation here…! Politics is…”
‘Just as in the original work.’
I calmly observed them, neither surprised nor disappointed by this chaos.
“Then what about those women!”
“Ah, we just thought of them like daughters…”
“Well, everyone?”
I smiled, focusing everyone’s attention on the chaotic situation.
“I’m going to ask something now. Would you mind sitting down here for a moment? …While I’m asking nicely?”
Then, as I expected, without any twist, came the stereotypical response.
“How dare you order us around! Do you know who I am!”
“Such an impertinent young girl, acting all cocky!”
As Yu tried to walk out with an angry face, I quickly blocked her.
If she, still unskilled in controlling her strength, intervened, it would truly result in death.
As Yu possesses great strength, her casuality would be severe.
‘So I, an unawakened one, should be the one to beat them.’
I rummaged through my hip pouch and picked out the largest and hardest mana stone among many.
Of course, I couldn’t use divine power on humans, so it wasn’t for using abilities.
“You insolent brat, how dare you disrespect your elders—!”
Whack!
…It was for use as a cudgel, of course.
💎
“You want to look at the additional resident documents?”
Kim Seo-min tilted his head with a naive face wearing glasses.
“Yes.”
Baek Yi-heon answered simply, with Sehun clinging tightly to his thigh.
At that calm response, Kim Seo-min explained with a troubled tone.
“That’s personal information… As you know, people are quite sensitive about such issues these days.”
In this ruined world, it was quite an unexpected statement.
Seeing the man who seemed to have maintained his civil servant identity, Baek I-heon finally confessed honestly.
“Actually, I heard about the kidnapping incident.”
“Ah, already…”
“And we might be able to solve that problem.”
“What? How…?”
Kim Seo-min wore a wary expression.
It was understandable, given that these newcomers were suddenly offering to solve the case.
However, Baek Yi-heon knew exactly how to act in such situations.
You just need to show your power.
From his life experiences, he knew there was no more effective way to demonstrate that he could enforce his beliefs.
As Baek Yi-heon momentarily utilized his blue mana, an unseasonable cool breeze blew through the small room.
At the same time, the papers that had been scattered around the room began to rise into the air.
Kim Seo-min gasped in shock.
“Wha—what is this…?”
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
