67 – Behind the scenes – 1
“Excuse me. Can you give me a moment please?”
The weekend passed without a good aftertaste. A few days later in the afternoon, a familiar face spoke to me.
“Then, then….”
“Yes. You’re right. See you again.”
A lifeless face and a melancholy voice, as if it had just come out of a grave. And, in contrast, a strangely bubbly attitude. Last time, he was the investigator I saw during Cordelia’s Dalian incident. He handed me a business card.
“A business card?”
“Because the situation is different from last time. Today is quite a private business.”
Cicero, head of the 3rd team of the Imperial Security Department’s Intelligence Bureau. I checked the business card and his face alternately. Intelligence bureau? You said you weren’t part of the Security Bureau?
Of course, it feels like someone who thought he was something like a detective suddenly held out a business card for an NIS agent.
“That, is it okay if I write this proudly on my business card?”
“Of course, I also have a business card for the outside world. I only give it to those who don’t mind revealing my identity.”
That, no, Cicero pulled out another business card. In fact, I doubt if this name is even real.
“It’s nothing different, I’m here to say hello, hoping for a little cooperation.”
“Didn’t you say it was a personal matter?”
It feels a little bad to suddenly come and ask for cooperation in the investigation. He was taken aback by my brusque tone and hit his hand.
“No, no. It is not what Young master thinks. Apart from this case, I came because I wanted to ask you something.”
“Please?”
“It’s a bit far fetched to say here, but please follow me.”
I pondered for a while, then nodded. It didn’t seem like he was just a civil servant, and he was confident that he would deal with it roughly even if he had a plan. I wonder if it’s too simple and ignorant method, but if you have a good body, your head is comfortable.
Besides, time was empty at the same time. Hestia stayed in her dorm room doing her homework, and Cordelia and Seol-ah went out to play together. And I have no one to play with without those three.
As they walked out of the school gates, Cicero lightly clapped his hands twice. A thin layer of mana came out and covered him.
“Is it magic?”
“Yes. It’s the magic of deterrence. There’s nothing good about being noticed.”
Cicero took me out of the academy. His footsteps went to places where there were fewer people, and eventually he reached the crime-prone area at the outermost part of the shopping district. He knew that my suspicious gaze was bothering him, so he started making excuses.
“As you may have guessed, there are some rough parts for the state power to do. I ended up in a place like this because I was looking for a place that wouldn’t draw as much attention as possible.”
What the hell are you doing? As if to stir up my anxiety, he stopped in front of an old building that looked like it was about to collapse. Originally used as a bar, old oak barrels rolled around.
“Welcome in.”
He greeted me in an exaggerated manner. Won’t this collapse? Following his guidance, I opened the creaking door.
Contrary to the precarious-looking exterior, the inside of the building was quite tidy. Contrary to the exterior of the building, which was expected to be an old bar, the interior had a structure resembling a dungeon. An empty place was left in the center, and a room blocked by iron bars was positioned as if to surround the empty place. The area blocked by the barbed wire was bright, but the empty space in the center was dark. It’s a format that I’ve seen in a book sometime. Call it the Panopticon.
Cicero approached the empty space in the center. I also followed him. From the entrance, I could clearly see the faces of the inmates who had been unable to see far away.
“They must be familiar faces.”
As he said, each room was strewn with familiar faces. The three who attacked us a few days ago. And a woman with a vaguely recognizable face. They looked fine, but everyone seemed to be insane that their eyes were out of focus.
To be honest, it wasn’t a very pleasant sight. I didn’t have very good feelings for them, and I thought they should be punished, but I didn’t want to see the traces of torture like this.
“Did you want to show this? What the hell have you done to these people?”
I questioned without hiding my displeasure. Cicero replied casually.
“I swear I didn’t use direct violence or mind-type magic. It doesn’t have a good aftertaste, and it doesn’t have much effect.”
“Then why is everyone so crazy?”
“I didn’t give water and food, and I didn’t sleep. It’s been a little over 70 hours with this. I plan to fill it with just 100 hours. If I go beyond that, there will be after-effects. Don’t worry. Humans are better than you think. It’s strong, and even if it’s like that, after being released, it’ll come back to life after a few days of rest.”
Honestly, it seems more terrifying than using direct violence or mind-type magic. I got a little goosebumps at him saying terrifying words with a nonchalant expression on his face.
He took out a cigarette and held it.
“Is it okay if I smoke?”
“Yes, what.”
“Thank you.”
A small spark appeared at the tip of Cicero’s hand. He took out a cigarette from the bosom of his coat, lit it, and took a deep breath.
He let out a few puffs of smoke and then opened his mouth.
“You must have a lot of questions.”
“Who the hell is that woman over there?”
As he said, there were quite a few things I wanted to ask. Without hesitation, I continued to ask what I was curious about.
He said it must be a familiar face to me, and it does, but I can’t remember who it is. This is something that I can’t think of my narrow personal network.
He asked my question back with a puzzled expression. He must have assumed it was someone I knew.
“Don’t you know? That woman is the one who gave Maxim the medicine at that time. She said she didn’t know it was such a drug, she said, but she just couldn’t believe it. In the first place, she gave such suspicious drugs to others and contracted injuries….”
“Wait a minute, did that woman say that?”
No, for what reason? As I was confused, the inspector was also confused.
“You really don’t know?”
“Yes. I think I saw it somewhere, but I can’t remember.”
The investigator rummaged in his arms at my words. Moments later, a bundle of papers came out of his arms and was placed in my hand.
“Please read it.”
What he gave me was a document related to a woman lying in prison.
“Can I just show you this?”
“I’ve already shown you this far, what could be more of a problem?”
That’s right. I read through the documentation.
Name. What blah blah blah Pass because it’s not important. Age. Of course you must be 18. Pass. Height and weight? I’m not even curious pass.
There was no particularly important information in the personal information. I don’t even know the name, but would you know that I look at things like height and weight? I skimmed through the first page.
What mattered was her statement regarding the incident on the next page.
The motive for the crime. The suspect and his friend A, who were smoking in the smoking room behind the library, were talking about Cordelia von Deneb and were pointed out by Mikhail von Sirius, a friend of Cordelia von Deneb. As a result, the disgruntled suspect….
After reading this far, I was able to remember her face. Last time, she was the tinkerer she ran into in the smoking area of the library during exams. I remember that she told me not to go and do it because she was excitedly going after Cordelia’s gossip.
Because of this, I can’t remember her face. As for me, I completely forgot about it because it felt light, like something I said to a teenager smoking on the street or a man talking loudly on public transportation. Who remembers the faces of people they met on the street a month ago?
I continued reading the story behind it.
The suspect, who had a grudge against Mikhail von Sirius and Cordelia von Deneb over that incident, tried to injure Cordelia von Deneb, with whom he had a bad relationship. The suspect, who heard that there was a swordsmanship match during the midterm exam, purchased a drug that raised the level in the short term from an unknown man through blackout – this part was underlined as a lie in a blown font.
The opponent of the match was known in advance, and since Cordelia von Deneb’s opponent was not economically well-off, she was able to buy it on the condition that she work for her family. The suspect said, ‘Wound moderately. It would be difficult to deal with scars where they can be seen, so I would like them to make scars where they cannot be seen.”
Currently, the suspect denies any relationship with Mikhail von Sirius, but judging from his actions so far, it is assumed that the original relationship was not as good as Cordelia von Deneb.
After that, it was all a story I knew. The ending in which Maxim, embarrassed by Cordelia’s superior skills than she thought, takes her medicine, loses her reason, forgets everything he originally asked for, and goes on a rampage alone and is overpowered.
After reading all the reports, the first thought that came to my mind was this.
“Isn’t this a crazy b*tch?”
“As a result of the psychological evaluation, there was no particular disease.”
Are you just a kid then? No, he’s gossiping and he’s doing this while bribing him for eating some kusari?
“You really don’t know me?”
“Yes. She may have a one-sided grudge against me, but at least I don’t know. As stated, I first saw her in the smoking area.”
Cicero seemed hard to believe that I really didn’t know her, despite my furious reaction.
“She’s a crazy woman. She was insane at the point she tried to harm the duke’s golden jade leaf.”
He puffed on a cigarette for a while, as if his head hurt.
“Huu, if this is the case, then we will have to re-orient the investigation. We have been conducting investigations thinking that there might be a relationship with Gongja-nim, so there is no way that anything will come out.”
After shaking his head a few times, Cicero extinguished the cigarette, which was too short to smoke, in the ashtray.
“Then, now that you have addressed your questions, would it be all right if I proceed with the story I originally wanted to talk about?”
“Yes. Well, you do.”
“To put it bluntly, take our side.”
I felt embarrassed. Help me, what the hell? Do you mean to sit here and do some paperwork?
“What do you mean?”
“It is quite literally. I want to ask you one thing I just said.”
He raised his index finger.
“Please take our side. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you want to do something. It doesn’t matter if you just stay still.”
“Be still?”
“Originally, a sword of power is sharper when it is in the scabbard than when it is wielded openly. Even if Young master doesn’t do anything, the fact that he’s on our side will in itself be a source of strength.”
His words were persuasive. When I was in school, the kids who were rumored to have a scary older brother as their backs never got into a fight, even though they had never called that scary older brother. The pendulum in my heart tipped slightly.
“Then what can you give me?”
“Information. Don’t you want this to happen in the future, Gongja? And I don’t intend to sit still for that. We’ll give you the information we can.”
As he said, if something like this continued to happen in the future, he would have come up with some kind of countermeasure. With Mikhail’s force and Seol-ah, a clumsy but reliable information route, most things could have been solved. However, there is nothing wrong with having too much information.
Looks like a good suggestion. Isn’t it just seeking a trustworthy source of information just by empowering them?
“Can I ask you a few more questions?”
Before signing a contract with anything, you should definitely check it out. I asked other questions.
He was very willing to explain.
“Why was it me?”
“It’s not really necessary. Archduke-nim was originally the number one target to approach. It’s been a bit quicker with this and that incident.”
So you’re saying that you’re holding hands with other students besides me? It’s a romance fantasy world overflowing with conspiracies and scheming, but it’s a bit shocking to think that there are more students than me who make such shady deals.
“Are you like me often?”
“Regardless of how much or how little, I tend to offer this kind of suggestion to the heirs of the family. Original trust eats time and does not grow. For our smooth activities, it is to establish a good relationship while you are still studying. So that you can maintain a trusting relationship with us even after you finish your studies and pass away to your family.”
He looked at my shocked expression and smiled.
“Of course, there are very few cases as hideous as the Archduke’s. Usually, I will give you trivial information. For example, the genealogy of the test. As an extreme example, there are people who receive information about the new girl who has joined the nearby brothel. “
“Why is there such information in the first place?”
It’s too trivial. Despite my contemptuous expression, he calmly answered my questions without any change in attitude.
“Because there is no other place where information is as diverse as Changgwan. Isn’t there such a thing as a pillow head lawsuit? Originally, men are the most talkative in bed.”
Is that so? Considering that even in martial arts, Hao Mun’s essential element is Giru, it might not be so filthy.
“Have you solved all your doubts?”
“Yes.”
“Then, would you like to accept our offer?”
Cicero held out his hand.
“Willing.”
–