Chapter 277:
Yu-hyun couldn’t understand what Romulaxis was saying.
“You picked they because I’m pretty?”
“Yes? Of course. Why else would I pick they?”
“Wait a minute.”
Yu-hyun rubbed his throbbing head and tried to sort out the situation.
“Don’t you usually say that you picked someone based on their abilities or potential, or something like that?”
“Abilities? Everyone looked like they had some. Potential? I don’t know anything about that. So I pick based on what catches my eye at first glance.”
“And that’s appearance?”
“Exactly! But you’re not in a position to say that to me, are you?”
“No, I mean…”
Yu-hyun’s mind flashed with the images of Kang Hye-rim, Kwon Jia, and Seo Sumin.
He was about to say that he had picked them based on their talent, skills, and attitude, but he was at a loss for words.
Wouldn’t it be more embarrassing to make excuses? Wouldn’t the others already think that way?
“…I have one man, at least.”
That was the only rebuttal he could come up with after his dilemma.
“Oh, you do? Well, if I were to pick a fourth one, I would choose a woman!”
Romulaxis didn’t hesitate to cheer for his own answer, and Yu-hyun sent a look of desperation to the three of them.
Bang Sang silently drank her coffee through the hole in her mask, Huang Se-eun just stayed still, and Yoo Seong-ah didn’t even bother to reply, saying that she knew he would say something like that.
The moment he saw their reaction, Yu-hyun had no choice but to realize.
‘Ah. These people have already experienced how weird Romulaxis is as a teller.’
That reaction was only one thing.
It was something that only people who had given up on everything could show.
Yu-hyun sent a sympathetic look to the three of them. Huang Se-eun let out an awkward laugh from behind her helmet, and Yoo Seong-ah turned her head away as if she didn’t want to receive Yu-hyun’s gaze.
Only Bang Sang wondered why Yu-hyun was looking at him like that.
‘They’re a perfect match of weird people and a weird teller.’
Come to think of it, they couldn’t be more compatible. Two collectors who never showed their faces and always hid them, and another one who was a badass of the association with a quirky personality.
This side was also a bunch of collectors with their own personalities.
Romulaxis’s recruiting ability proved that he was good at his job, even if he was not very pleasant.
He might be mentally exhausting to talk to, but he wouldn’t do anything to harm or threaten the collectors.
Romulaxis said.
“I’m glad you already knew each other. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to come here today according to my whim. You can go now.”
“What? Then why did you call us?”
Yoo Seong-ah frowned at the situation where they had to part ways after exchanging a few words.
Romulaxis shrugged and answered.
“I originally wanted to introduce you to Teller Kang Yu-hyun, but you said you already knew him. Well, what can I do? It’s good to have good things. Wahahaha.”
“Are you laughing now?!”
“Yoo Seong-ah. Don’t get too angry, just leave.”
Huang Se-eun, the oldest and most thoughtful one in this place, stopped Yoo Seong-ah who was sitting next to her.
She said that while sending a glance at Yu-hyun across her helmet.
She probably had the most questions about Yu-hyun in this place.
She must have dreamed of Yu-hyun and Choi Do-yoon while experiencing the second Fantasm Shock, just like Guseo Yoon and Jamila.
But she didn’t ask him on purpose and rather tried to leave, because of her consideration for his actions.
“No, don’t you get angry too?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. And getting angry here will only hurt others. Let’s go.”
“Ugh.”
Huang Se-eun dragged Bang Sangchee with one hand and Yoo Seong-ah with the other out of the place.
Yu-hyun watched them and felt like they were two unruly daughters being taken care of by their mother.
‘Would she get angry if I said that?’
Yu-hyun shook his head and dismissed his random thoughts. What mattered more was the meaning behind Romulaxis sending those three away.
“You have something to say to me alone?”
“Oh. How did you know? Amazing.”
“It just looked like that.”
“Well, it’s easier for me if you know. I told you, right? The director told me to help you. So.”
“You said you would help me, but what exactly are you going to do?”
“Hmm. To be honest, from what I see, you’re so perfect that you don’t seem to need much help.”
“That’s not true.”
“Hey. Don’t be so modest. Anyway, I thought a lot about it. What can I do to make a good reputation for helping you?”
“I can’t let the rumor spread.”
“Oh, really? Well. Anyway, I have one conclusion that I’ve reached. I decided to provide you with some information. I’ve picked up a lot of things while wandering around here.”
Yu-hyun’s eyes sparkled at those words.
He straightened his posture and listened carefully to what Romulaxis had to say.
Romulaxis cleared his throat once and was about to tell Yu-hyun what he had learned.
Yu-hyun reached out his hand and told him to stop for a moment.
“Wait a minute.”
“Huh? Why are you doing this? I was just about to tell you something important.”
“Do we keep talking like this, sitting down?”
Yu-hyun realized one important thing.
The current position where Yu-hyun and Romulaxis were sitting was next to each other with their shoulders touching, with a table in front of them.
They had not changed their seats after the three people who were sitting across from them left, and it was awkward to have a conversation while touching shoulders.
“Huh? What’s wrong? What’s wrong with the seat?”
“…Never mind. I’ll move.”
As soon as he heard Romulaxis’s voice, which sounded stupidly asking him back, Yu-hyun realized that convincing this teller was a difficult task and moved his seat himself.
“Okay. Now that I’ve moved, let’s continue the conversation we were having.”
“Yes. I’ve recently found out various things. You know, right? That Exodus and Tragedy Defeat have infiltrated Earth.”
“I know because I saw it myself.”
“The two groups don’t get along well, and they’re not in a good relationship with our Celestial Corporation either. But recently, Exodus’s movements are suspicious.”
“Is that so?”
Yu-hyun couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed at that.
He already knew what Exodus was up to from his own experience.
The Exodus tellers had somehow obtained the seeds of stories and handed them over to the terrorist group Unleashed.
The recent five-dimensional world incident in Japan was also their doing.
“Hmm. You seem to know something. Then do you know this?”
“What is it?”
“Shamat, who was confined in the disposal chamber by the headquarters, escaped with someone’s help.”
“…!”
Shamat escaped? That was something Yu-hyun didn’t know.
“I need a detailed explanation. Someone helped him?”
“Yes. According to the traces engraved inside, there was some kind of fight.”
“A fight? The surveillance room tellers should have been guarding it, who could have fought with them? They have such powerful authority within the headquarters that no one can touch them easily…”
Yu-hyun stopped talking and narrowed his eyes.
“Was it an insider’s act?”
“That’s what they think for now.”
“Then it must be, the Pentagram Director’s…”
“No. It can’t be that.”
Romulaxis denied Yu-hyun’s suspicion with certainty.
Yu-hyun asked curiously.
“Why do you think so?”
“The evidence is clear. At the same time, Director Demialos was quietly staying in his living space. The culprit wouldn’t have risked himself and moved personally. He cut off his tail very well.”
“…Then it’s another insider’s accomplice act.”
“Yes. That’s right. But there’s one more strange thing. There were four tellers guarding the disposal chamber, two inside and two at the entrance. But the two at the entrance left their posts on Director Utata’s orders.”
“Director Utata?”
“The surveillance room director.”
“Oh. But he ordered them to leave their posts?”
“Yes. Weird, right? That means it was a fake. The culprit who helped Shamat escape imitated Director Utata’s appearance and sent away the two at the entrance, and killed the two inside when things went wrong.”
“That’s not a trivial problem.”
“The surveillance room was turned upside down, of course. Director Utata suspects that it was the work of another surveillance room director who is hostile to him.”
“What about Shamat’s trail?”
“They tried to track him down, but they lost his trail near an asteroid far away from the headquarters. They said they couldn’t track him any further.”
They couldn’t track him?
Yu-hyun stroked his chin and pondered for a moment.
Assuming that what Romulaxis told me was all true, this was a much bigger deal than I thought.
It meant that there was someone in the headquarters who was doing something that even the head of the pentagram wouldn’t do.
It was more likely to be an insider than an outsider. The answer was clear just by looking at the fact that they knocked down two tellers from the surveillance room.
‘The fact that Shamat’s trace was cut off means that he might have been killed by a silencer there. This is something that only a head-level can do.’
It might have been the act of another surveillance room head who wanted to check on Utata.
But, there were more than one or two suspicious parts.
‘I don’t know what Utata’s head looks like, but anyway, he said he disguised himself as him. And the two who guarded the entrance didn’t know and let him pass. They couldn’t have had no doubt about why they had to step back.’
That meant that he had enough evidence to quell their doubts.
What could be the evidence that convinced them that he was not a fake?
‘It wouldn’t be something obvious like an employee card. They said they left their seats for a moment. Maybe the fake said he had something important and asked them to step back. What was that important thing? What was it to prove it?’
An official document came to mind.
But, no matter how head-level he was, he couldn’t have made such a document by himself. All official documents came only through the central office.
‘Wait. Central office?’
A spark flew in my head.
Until now, I thought the culprit was the head of one of the seven rooms.
But, there was another one in the Celestial Corporation.
That is, the central office where only executive-level officers gathered.
“Did you say anything about the central office?”
“The central office? Well, they ordered us to find out somehow from the surveillance room.”
“Hmm.”
Romulaxis noticed something from my lukewarm reaction.
“Don’t tell me, you think the central office is involved in this?”
“Not all of it. Maybe some of them… No, even if it’s some of them, it’s a big deal. It means that the board members are related to this.”
I hastily added.
“Of course, it’s just a suspicion, not a certainty.”
“…No. I can see why you think that. If a director-level being was involved, the puzzle that didn’t fit well would all fit together.”
Looking at Romulaxis muttering seriously, I felt anew that this teller was serious when he was serious.
Romulaxis, who was serious for a while, soon returned to his original tone.
“Well, anyway, this is not our job to solve! Anyway, I just have a suspicion that there is some connection between Pentagram and Exodus.”
“…Is that so.”
“Oh, and did you hear about the Comedy Troupe?”
I shook my head.
Exodus was something I was watching out for, but Comedy Troupe was a topic that was out of my interest.
“What are they doing?”
“They are the clowns who can sell their parents for fun. They did something funny this time. Walker, did you say?”
“A group that refers to progressive awakeners who defected from the existing collectors.”
“Yes. That’s right. And Comedy Troupe made a contract with those walkers and agreed to support them. You know how noisy the country is lately, right?”
Yu-hyun nodded.
The issue of whether collectors should sacrifice themselves or not by using the text shredder was still a hot topic of debate.
“Originally, the workers were going to volunteer and select the candidates themselves, but the Comedy Faction stopped them.”
“The Comedy Faction?”
“Yes. They said it would be no fun. But I see it differently. I’m sure the Comedy Faction guys are also plotting something. They’re not the type to force their contractors like that. Of course, their fundamental reason is their own amusement.”
“They’re not a good place either.”
“They’re all like that, right?”
Romelaxis chuckled and did not deny Yu-hyun’s words. Rather, his voice seemed to imply something that encompassed even the Celestial Corporation.
Yu-hyun thought he needed to think about what the Comedy Faction had done as well.
In his previous life, he had never encountered them, but the danger that their extreme ideology could bring was the same for Exodus and Comedy Faction.
Just then, a crowd of people shouting through loudspeakers passed by outside the cafe.
They were protesters denouncing the collectors who did not fulfill their duties.
“Ah, I don’t understand why people are so noisy.”
Romelaxis shook his head and lamented the current situation.
“They’re all anxious. You never know when Korea will face the same situation as the neighboring country.”
“The Fivefold Mental Realm? It’s unlikely that such a big event will happen at a good timing.”
“You never know.”
Yu-hyun tapped the table lightly with his fingertips and looked at the scenery outside the cafe.
Normally, it would be impossible for such absurd events to happen randomly.
But Yu-hyun, who had already climbed to the center of the flow of fate, had become an existence that attracted events more than anything else.
He was well aware of that, so he could not easily agree with Romelaxis’s words.
“Maybe, somewhere in Seoul right now, something big is happening.”
“Come on. No way.”
That’s when it happened.
Beep beep beep!
A disaster safety text message flew into Yu-hyun’s phone in his pocket.
The loud sound did not stop at Yu-hyun, but rang from all the customers’ phones in the cafe at the same time.
Romelaxis was curious about this unfamiliar event.
“What’s this sound?”
“It means an incident has occurred.”
Yu-hyun checked the disaster text message on his phone and answered.
“A big event that happened at a good timing.”
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