222 – The Phantom Thief
The crowd was instantly engulfed in silence.
That was the case for me too. I didn’t know what kind of reaction to show, so I was just trying to understand what I had just heard with my mouth open.
So…
You mean the notice of the phantom thief was found?
The culprit was Raven, the thief. hahahaha. I did someone else Well, in order to steal that much jewel, the thief Raven would have to step in. By the way
As soon as I was denying the reality because my mentality went out properly, I woke up from my thoughts because of Sharon’s reaction next to me.
“Hmm…”
What is it? That significant silence.
You really don’t believe it, do you? You can’t be fooled so easily.
However, public opinion within the restaurant rapidly deteriorated as if they were laughing at my earnest plea.
Passengers who checked the card in the captain’s hand began to believe that the incident was the work of a phantom thief.
“Oh my God….”
“You look like a damn phantom thief!!”
“Then there is a phantom thief among us!?”
Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere was not very good. In the first place, a follower of a phantom thief, no matter what, is a criminal at the root.
Especially, the upper class who can board such a super-luxurious cruise ship have a strong antipathy towards the thief.
It would be difficult for anyone to maintain a good feeling towards the phantom thief at the point where they are pointed out as a suspect in the murder that occurred on the ship they were on.
It wasn’t without very, very few exceptions, though.
“Raven-nim can’t do that.”
As soon as Julia, who was next to her, heard what the captain said, she firmly denied it. Of course, I couldn’t say that in front of others, so the volume was low, but there was no hesitation in my voice.
Rachel, on the other hand, let out a deep sigh as she lamented the situation.
“I thought I wanted to take a longer cruise, but I didn’t want this to happen… It doesn’t look like it will be easily solved. Ugh.”
“That’s not important right now! Raven-nim was framed! I mean, he’s not the kind of person who would kill people carelessly.”
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Rachel, who had listened quietly to Yulia’s strong argument, shook her head as if it were absurd.
“Are you starting again? Does it seem to have gotten worse? You’re not really into the cult, are you?”
“Uh, uh…?”
He’s the follower leader now.
I was quite curious about what kind of reaction would come out if I told you this, but if I did, I would have to disclose my identity as well, so I decided to resist the temptation and save my words.
Fortunately, Rachel didn’t say it seriously either, but she didn’t dig into it more persistently, as if she was just joking around. If she had caught Yulia’s bewildered reaction, the flow could have been strange.
Anyway, that’s not what’s important now.
I don’t know what kind of guy did it, but he seems determined to put the blame on me. And judging by the people’s reactions so far, the operation has been quite successful.
No, while I was active as a thief, I had never touched anyone, even though I had fun robbing jewelry.
Seeing that no one except Yulia suspects that he is an impostor makes me feel a burning fire inside.
I glanced to the side with a slight trembling heart. What do you think of Sherlock, the fateful rival who has clashed the most with the phantom thief Raven, both in name and reality?
I have already been convinced that Sharon is the same person as Sherlock.
Then what about her? What do you think of the Phantom Thief Raven? Are you suspecting that I am a thief? Or did the last incident convince me that I couldn’t be a phantom thief?
I can’t see through Sharon’s heart, but if she believes what she’s saying now, it’s no different than a natural conclusion that I’m not a phantom thief. The two of them have been together ever since they boarded the ship, so it’s like they’ve created a perfect alibi.
···Should I like this?
Am I supposed to be glad that she can’t doubt me anymore?
But why? I was expecting Sharon not to believe that.
It’s better if you keep doubting me, I wanted you to tell me that the phantom thief Raven isn’t a villain who kills innocent people.
It’s a nemesis that I’ve been bumping into for longer than anyone else. In a way, it was only natural that she wanted her partner to acknowledge me as much as I acknowledged her.
So, somewhat impulsively, I asked Sharon.
“What do you think?”
As she pondered something, the answer that came out of her mouth terribly trampled on my expectations.
“How to catch a phantom thief.”
“·······.”
“I’m thinking about how to catch it.”
I hoped for you to firmly deny it in my heart, but I never thought I would doubt it.
In the end, the phantom thief Raven in her head was no more than that.
A vicious criminal who can kill a person at any time if he is wrong.
‘…Well, isn’t it completely wrong?’
Being a thief or a murderer is only a difference in degree, because being a criminal is the same.
What can I do even if both look like villains who disrupt order in the eyes of the general public?
I knew that much from the beginning and was prepared for it, but it was inevitable that my heart would become bitter when I felt it directly like this.
On the other hand, the captain calmed down the confused passengers with his unique charisma and then sorted things out.
“From now on, we will investigate one by one. Please do not leave the restaurant recklessly and follow the crew’s control.”
“Let’s get to the land quickly! I have work this evening right now!!”
“No one can leave this ship until we find the thief. From now on, we will judge those who do not cooperate with the investigation as prime suspects and proceed with an intensive investigation.”
Passengers who complained about the captain’s euphemistic warning became dumb.
This is like having absolute power in your hands. Of course, it would be better than having passengers wandering around in a state of misery and being targeted by criminals, but it was difficult to say that the current situation was very good.
Anyway, under the captain’s control, the passengers were summoned one by one to the captain’s office, investigated, and then returned to the dining room. The progress of the investigation was very slow as there were many people on the cruise.
Naturally, the passengers who initially followed the words of Gobun-gobun began to gradually build up their dissatisfaction as time passed.
“No, how long are you going to do this!?”
“What can I do? I heard that a thief hid on this ship.”
“Are you sure you can find out if you investigate one by one in the first place?”
“Quiet! Don’t make a fuss there, stay still!”
Passengers shut their mouths at the intimidation of the sailor who was in control of the restaurant. But in their eyes, there was a deeper half-heartedness than before.
It was a natural flow. It was not enough to oppress the passengers in the name of an investigation, and the attitude towards them has obviously changed. Even though they were customers who paid the price and were using the service, they were being treated as criminals, so they couldn’t take this situation lightly.
It was the same for us that we did not understand the situation.
A perpetrator locks people in a restaurant and monitors them so they don’t do anything stupid? At first glance, it might seem like a pretty sensible method, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be just a makeshift solution full of loopholes.
How can you be sure there’s a culprit among them? What is the possibility of hiding somewhere on such a wide cruise? Sailors are patrolling, so it’s okay? What if there is a culprit among the sailors in the first place?
The secret room in the storage room where the jewelry was located was in the basement where only sailors could enter and exit.
In other words, there was a much higher probability that the culprit was among the crew than among the passengers.
No, leaving everything else aside, is it really safe to put this together?
If the culprit pretends to be crazy and launches a bombing, a catastrophe unimaginable will happen.
The more I thought about it, the more unclear points kept coming to my eyes.
It’s a very quick response, but it’s a shiny outside and empty inside.
It was a move that could only be seen as a way to show it to someone.
While I was deep in thought in a corner of the restaurant, Sharon, who was sitting next to me, pushed her face in front of her and quietly whispered in my ear.
“Let’s move.”
“… Huh?”
“The sailors are unreliable. We have to investigate ourselves.”
Anyway, it seems that Sharon has come to the same conclusion as me. Even if she quietly stayed in the restaurant as she was now, the chances of the situation being resolved were very slim.
But she is now, she hastily moved.
In particular, as we are the first witnesses, we are constantly under suspicion as to whether or not we are the culprits.
“How are you going to get out?”
All the doors to the restaurant are blocked by sailors. The only way to get out of there is when it’s your turn to interrogate and head to the captain’s office. At that time, it would be difficult to move easily as sailors accompany both sides.
At my question, Sharon pointed her finger somewhere without her words.
The tips of her fingers were pointed at me.