136 – It’s dark under the lamp – 2
The expression on the host’s face hardened. Lyra’s lips twisted. It was a smile close to a mockery.
“From the look on your face, you seem to know everything about what is going on underneath.”
“… So, what about the students below?”
He answered Lira, suppressing her voice. There are so many things I want to say, but I could feel that I was holding back.
“Go and get them all.”
“Yes?”
“Did you not hear? Go get them all and let them breathe clean air!”
Lyra screamed. But no one moved. However, she replied as if only the owner of the bar had given up. His voice was a mixture of resentment and anger in exquisite proportions.
“I don’t know if you don’t know, but it’s a completely different organization from us and those guys underground. Although we are renting a place, we cannot interfere in the affairs of other organizations.”
“I know. You are the stone that got stuck here, and the stone that the guys down there rolled over. As soon as I told the stone with the rolled stone to give it to me because this place is good, I handed it all over.”
Somehow, as soon as I said the password to the underground, there was a reason for the sudden hostility in my gaze. It wasn’t just a hatred for drugs, but also hatred for the invaders who took their place.
The host must have felt quite humiliated by the analogy of Lira’s rolling stone and studded stone, so she made many excuses.
“I don’t know who the hell is that, but we didn’t want to hide the raccoon den like this. Behind those bastards….”
“I know, that means that His Highness, the Crown Prince, is looking after those bastards.”
“Huh.”
And when Wilhelm’s name finally came out of Lyra’s mouth, silence flowed once more with the sound of someone gasping.
I’ve hit myself once before, and since it’s a completely turned relationship, I don’t particularly feel intimidated by the name, but it seems that the weight is unusual for these people in the back alley. Only Lira moved alone in the bar, where everything stopped as if she had pressed pause.
“But, what about that? Guys, if you have a head, let’s do something called thinking. Huh?”
She tapped the owner’s head with her index finger. It was a fairly humiliating gesture, but he continued to make a stupid face, as if he was half-fazed by the prince’s name that had already come out of Lira’s mouth and the remark about what to do.
Lira strode towards the center of the bar, the middle of the hall where all eyes were focused. No, she’s as tall as she is, so maybe she’s a bit more straight-forward than stride.
Standing in the center of her hall, she received everyone’s attention and started selling drugs to everyone with a raised voice.
“His Highness the Crown Prince, he is a scary person. Hmm. But I mean, you’re afraid of an uncertain back stomach, aren’t you afraid of a fist right in front of you?”
She said, pointing her finger in my direction. Rather than responding to it for no reason, I just stood there in silence. Sometimes silence is worth more than a hundred words.
When an actor first appeared in a drama, he couldn’t act at all, so he didn’t say a single line, and he was just kept standing next to him as a bodyguard.
Because I’m a ‘fist in front of my eyes’ here, and I’m in a strange posture for no reason, or I’m forced to say awkward lines, it’s going to feel several times more frightening to just stand still.
“No, do you think such a high-ranking person would care about such scumbags in the first place?”
“But, their drugs and money were real.”
Someone raised her voice in protest at Lyra’s words. Unlike before, the coins did not fly away. As if she had waited, she insisted on why she did not have to fear the prince.
“That must be true. What I’m trying to say is, do you do any post-processing after that? You know, I’ve been trying to think of something from before. Huh? You are the prince I’ve come up with a little something like that to experiment openly. Would you like to do a little experiment with the lower-class people down there who don’t mind dying at any time? Then, should I give you a bunch of stuff and money at first and cut off the tail, saying you guys do it yourself, or should I carefully follow-up from start to finish? Huh?”
Lira’s tongue dribble was truly dazzling. She even looked quite cool when she gave a speech while constantly mixing facial expressions and hand gestures. She’s honest, if it were me, she would have just been duped.
“If you don’t want to do it, don’t. If it’s not you anyway, I don’t think it’ll matter if I just call the guards outside. I’m asking because you guys can handle it a little faster and more stealthily.”
When her opponent started to waver, she even resorted to threats. Regardless of whether I should call that a request.
“I don’t know if the guards will see this and let you go. You know? In relation to drugs, it is almost unconditionally life imprisonment. Also, did you touch the academy students?”
“Ugh… , As I said before, we only provided a place in the first place, and it has nothing to do with this job at all.”
“Make excuses like that in front of the guard commander. And, who do you know as a caregiver? Didn’t a large-scale underground facility have a share in the price of bread that you pass into the mouths of the guards every year?”
Where did you get this information from? As the words came out of Lira’s mouth that were unknown to anyone outside, her intestines were visibly agitated. The meaningless question of how the hell did she know appeared on the owner’s face.
“Where did I get this information? It doesn’t really matter. The problem is that there is nothing I don’t know about you already, and I intend to use it if necessary.”
The decisive blow was again money. When money-related talk came out of her mouth, the thugs’ eyes widened incongruously.
“I’m not particularly in need of money, am I? Everything you find down there is up to you. If only the students are saved intact. So, the way to eat bean rice after being caught by the guards after being scared by the name of the prince, who is not sure whether or not he will exist, and the way to avoid the fists that are right in front of you and take care of ‘this’. Do you need more time to think about which one to choose?”
At the ‘this’ part, she rolled her thumb and forefinger and made a very secular hand gesture. With the addition of suitable carrots, people started to shake one by one. And, it is always a small crack that brings down a great dam. A buzzing sound spread all over the place. From there, it was an instant. The atmosphere changed rapidly.
“Hyung-nim, can we just do it?”
“Close your mouth. Is this something to be decided so easily?”
“As she said, if we stay still, we will be the only ones killed. You saw how Jack passed out with a single blow to the back of the head!”
A man with a stern expression tipped off to the owner. In my opinion, he probably lowered his voice so we couldn’t hear him, but unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid me or Lyra’s ears. The corners of her mouth went up, almost sure that they would accept her offer.
“Are you sure you keep what you said?”
“I don’t lie like anyone else. Prince’s revenge? Doesn’t exist. A raid by the guards? I don’t have this either. What riches did you find down there? It’s all yours Isn’t that enough?”
“… All right.”
The owner lowered his head and eventually accepted Lira’s offer. She clenched her molars so tightly that thin drops of blood ran down her lips. Aside from her practical interests, she didn’t like being so easily swayed by a little girl whose identity she didn’t even know. Lyra snorted as if she wasn’t even funny. At least the lower ranks seemed quite excited, perhaps blinded by the money in front of her.
Having got everything she wanted, she walked out of her bar with her arrogant but light steps. I, too, followed her right behind. After a while, a shout mixed with harsh profanity was heard from the back of the head.
“What the f*ck you guys!”
“Oh, I don’t know! Hey hit!”
It seems that Lyra’s suggestion was put into practice right away. It wasn’t until she heard the clatter of her fight that she took a deep breath.
“Hoo! It’s been a while, but it wasn’t bad.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
I spoke to her in her voice, half fed up with her. I heard that they are constantly pushing me to the level of just going away from some swindler. Although she’s far worse than a cheater given what she’s been doing.
“The job was a bit easier this time. Besides, even though what I just said was a bit harsh, it wasn’t a lie. It’s true that Wilhelm can’t keep looking after those fiends. ? Using it to do what you want is a different story. Or what, did you ever need money?”
“No need. Besides, even if it was necessary, money earned like that is a no-brainer. Even if you give it to me for free, I have no intention of accepting it.”
I said disgustingly. It was because the scene from below was too terrible to say where money was clean and where was dirt. Those two eyes without focus. Besides, aren’t there some of Cordelia’s friends among the victims? Even if you give them billions of dollars, that kind of money is a no-brainer.
Well, it’s funny to expect such a moral notion from such bullies. Actually, that’s what I was really worried about.
“By the way, is it really okay to leave things to thugs like that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Because neither of them would be able to treat students like that anyway. Of course you don’t feel much of it, but for ordinary people, the status of an academy student is a greater thing than you think. And the bar thugs are so much better than the underground drug lords in terms of scale or anything, so if you make up your mind to organize it, it will be over soon.”
Her answer was clear. Neither of them would think of directly hurting the students’ bodies anyway, so it seems that the stones on the upper floor with an overwhelming power difference could soon push the stones rolling downstairs and rescue the students. I didn’t know that there would be such a sure power difference, but it seems that the value of Wilhelm’s name was heavier than I thought.
The alleyway at night was dark. I shut my mouth and followed Lyra. It was she who broke her silence and opened her mouth first. She explained to me the next unspoken plan. Even while running at high speed, her breathing was not disturbed.
“I’m going to my safe house now.”
“What is there?”
“If you go and see it, you will know. You’re probably quite surprised.”