76
Family
Saturday was the day of reckoning.
When I heard that my father and orphanage brothers were waiting at the hotel, my stomach churned for the first time in a while. Sebastian asked with a smile if he should come along to greet them, but I refused. I couldn’t predict how he would react if he saw me getting beaten up. It seemed better to let only one side go wild. If both sides went crazy, even I couldn’t handle it.
As soon as I got off at the hotel lobby, I let out a sigh.
Now I really get sick just seeing this hotel’s sign…
It was the hotel where I met Sebastian and was also suspected to be connected to those Canaris bastards. They put my brothers and father here? Are they out of their minds? I was about to curse, but seeing the general manager trembling, I thought I could somewhat understand what Sebastian might have been thinking.
“Welcome. I’m Romchen, the general manager.”
Looking at the general manager sweating profusely, I felt sorry for him. Well, why did you make an enemy of someone like Sebastian? Even if this person had some sort of relationship with Canaris, would he have thought Sebastian Riegel would become an enemy? If he had thought that, he should have reconsidered before getting involved with Canaris.
I don’t want to incur Sebastian’s wrath either. I can handle those who charge at me with an axe, threatening to kill me outright, but it’s hard to prepare for someone like Sebastian who maintains a nonchalant expression, acts elegant, and then suddenly strikes.
“We meet again. I’m Armin Schnieke.”
“Welcome, Agent Schnieke.”
Ah-ha, so you know my workplace too.
It seemed pointless to ask how he knew about my job here. I just nodded and said, “Yes,” as I entered. The general manager followed, asking, “How is Mr. Riegel doing?”
“He’s fine.”
“Please give him my regards.”
“Of course, of course.”
Should I really pass that on? It seems right not to relay such greetings, but his expression looks terrible. As I was about to close the elevator door, I saw him smiling awkwardly outside. Hmm, I understand, it can be scary. I’d be scared too. I was nodding my face compassionately with an understanding expression when suddenly a hand thrust into the gap just before the door closed. What the… I frowned as the door opened again. It was the general manager.
“Mr. Romchen?”
“I-I’ll guide you personally…”
As Romchen was about to speak, an employee standing behind him grabbed his shoulder.
“General Manager, you forgot about the meeting. You need to go.”
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but Romchen was trying to come towards me, and the employee was trying to pull him away. And because force was being used in this situation, I got off the elevator and removed the employee’s hand. Because he resisted with force, I had to use a bit more strength, resulting in him being thrown to the floor.
With a crash, he yelled, “What are you doing?!” The other employees around also glared at me with hostile gazes.
I really don’t know what’s going on here…
“General Manager, let’s go.”
At my words, Romchen mumbled, “Yes, yes,” and quickly reopened the elevator door that was still on the first floor and got in. As I followed, his employees also tried to get in.
“It’s full.”
The employees flinched at my words. I saw their eyes scanning the elevator interior, which was clearly empty except for me and the general manager, but I ignored it and pressed the close button. The door slid shut.
“Take the next one.”
Try to get on this one if you want to die.
My warning seemed to have been conveyed sufficiently, as this time the door didn’t open. As the elevator started to ascend, Romchen collapsed with a gasp. Seeing him panting, I crouched down in front of him to check his complexion.
“Are you alright?”
Suddenly, he shouted at me.
“Why are you so oblivious?!”
“Me?”
“I tried so many times, so many times to ask for help, I even used Morse code with my eyes, and with my hand, this too!”
He showed me four fingers with his thumb tucked in, slowly opening and closing them.
“I even did this, why couldn’t you take the hint?!”
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“It’s a sign asking for help when people are in trouble, isn’t it?!”
There’s such a thing?
I was amazed. Wow, there are such things in today’s world. It’s something I’ve never seen or heard of in our industry, but apparently it exists. And blinking eyes for Morse code, who would understand that?
I was about to say that no one would understand such things, but I hesitated. The faces of people who might understand flashed through my mind. Sebastian, the director, the department head, maybe Nakaban too, maybe Kouri as well, and… Damn, am I really the oblivious one here?!
“I’m sorry.”
I decided to just apologize. The number of people who might understand was already threatening to exceed one hand, so what’s the use of insisting, “Most people wouldn’t understand!” here? My father would probably understand too, so it seemed better to just accept it.
I grabbed his hand and helped him up, and he stood on shaky legs. Just then, the elevator arrived at our floor, and we got off together. As we walked down the corridor, I asked:
“What’s the deal with your employees?”
He shuddered at my question.
“Employees? They’re Canaris people! They said they’d kill me if I didn’t hire them.”
“Oh my, that’s terrible.”
“They even held my family hostage, but yesterday I got a call from Mr. Riegel. He said they’d extract my family today and send Agent Schnieke at the right time, so I should join you. He said it would be safe then.”
“Ah.”
“He did say that Agent Schnieke wouldn’t know about this situation, so I’d have to manage joining up on my own!”
It seems our fiancé has started to grasp the knack of handling me. Throwing me into a situation without any explanation.
“But you understood in the end, didn’t you?”
“I almost got dragged away!”
“Come on, I saved you, are you going to keep complaining?”
As I grumbled, Romchen glared at me. It seemed that after such a dangerous situation, his heart was still pounding and his reason hadn’t fully returned. Eventually, he managed to gather his wits and apologized to me.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry. I was a bit… rude.”
His attitude was impeccably polite. I shrugged.
“Well, I’m sorry for being oblivious too.”
As we were talking, we arrived at the suite in question. It seemed that Sebastian’s choice of this hotel was to save General Manager Romchen, but I wondered if there might have been a second reason? For example, to provoke Canaris.
There was a line of security personnel in front of the suite. Yeah, with this level of security, not even Canaris’s grandfather could break through. It’s like taunting Canaris by putting the hostages in the palm of their hand and saying, “Try if you can.” Wow, what a temper.
“I’m Armin Schnieke, I have an appointment at 1 o’clock.”
“Please show your ID,” came the reply. As I was handing over my company ID, Romchen beside me also took out his wallet and offered his employee ID and business card together. Only after confirming that we were the hotel’s general manager and a security bureau agent did the guards create a gap just big enough for us to squeeze through.
As soon as we entered, we saw another group of guards, and in the middle of them, I spotted my younger brother from the orphanage.
“Jochen!”
As I called out, my brother, who had been asking something to the guards, whipped his head around.
“Good Lord, it’s the traitor Armin!”
Jochen shouted. Immediately, men started pouring out from various rooms. Traitor Armin! Those words made my head spin. What betrayal… While I was dumbfounded, they charged at me. I quickly pushed the stunned Romchen to the side and moved myself in the opposite direction to lure the boar-like men. They leaped into the air and lunged at me.
Aaargh—
With my scream, they started piling on top of me like limp pandas. As the men piled up, I found it harder and harder to breathe. Some might have broken ribs before, but these guys never learn to quit this habit.
“Get off me!”
They remained unmoved despite my shout.
“Traitor Armin!”
Even the guys who had already left the orphanage and gotten married were on top of me. I could see their wives laughing from a distance. Come on, ladies. Shouldn’t you stop your husbands? Your husbands are trying to commit murder, and you’re just laughing there!
As I was gritting my teeth, I saw a familiar pair of shoes in front of me. Black sneakers. The brand of these sneakers isn’t expensive, but they’re known for being comfortable. And I know one person who only wears black sneakers of this brand. I managed to move my head and look up as far as I could, and I saw priestly robes.
“Well, my son.”
A benevolent voice came down. And then fingers caressed my cheek before pinching and stretching it.
“It hurts, it hurts, Father!”
“Well, you ungrateful child, trying to get engaged behind your father’s back. Let’s hear your excuse from that mouth of yours.”
My father. Richard Schnieke, the parish priest of Romberg Cathedral, the only cathedral in the Romberg slums, was looking down at me with mischief in his green eyes.
And around us, shouts of “Traitor!” continued. I couldn’t see clearly, but I could feel even the guards watching with interested gazes. Wait, that’s… I was about to open my mouth when suddenly the thought ‘Why should I make excuses?!’ struck me, and I jumped up. This caused the guys on top of me to tumble to the floor.
“It’s not a crime to fall in love!”
My father chuckled at my boldness. Then he said:
“It is a crime to get engaged without telling your family, you rascal!”
“There’s no such crime in the Bible or the Constitution!”
“It’s in my law, you bad boy!”
I got dozens of smacks on my back. It hurt like hell.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
