[139]
“Jin is my name.”
The baker extended his hand while standing. Yuri merely stared at it without taking it.
The baker who introduced himself as Jin pressed his lips together and glared at him.
He had a rather irritable appearance, but deep fatigue was evident around his eyes.
If the situation had been slightly less desperate, he probably would have been in a foul mood.
Jin found a seat across and plopped down.
“John Doe.”
Yuri finally spoke. The baker, belatedly realizing that what the other had bluntly stated was a name, looked dumbfounded.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Yuri was faster than Jin.
“Let’s just say I’m somewhat of an expert in these matters.”
At his additional comment, Chris handed over a business card he had prepared in advance.
Jin checked the black paper placed on the table with bloodshot eyes.
The card had the name John Doe along with the plausible profession of crisis management consultant.
‘Would anyone actually fall for such a careless pseudonym?’
The baker, who had been looking at the card with a complicated expression, raised his head.
“…Fine. I was supposed to meet someone else. Are you their proxy?”
He clearly didn’t seem fooled.
It’s just that he couldn’t refuse, even if this side looked suspicious.
Like a fish circling inside a loosely-knit net, aware of the mesh but tempted by the bait.
“Did you bring it?”
Yuri frowned at the abrupt question.
Jin, apparently anxious, lowered his voice to a whisper.
“The leverage. The leverage.”
“I thought you’d be wise enough not to discuss such things in such an exposed place…”
Yuri snorted.
“Seems I was wrong.”
His tone suggested he was more annoyed at his own error than the other’s stupidity.
The baker’s face turned as red as dough placed in an oven. As he tried to stand up, Chris, without moving a finger, pressed down on his shoulder with telekinesis.
Startled by the invisible force, Jin looked around and then stared forward in terror.
Since Chris was pretending he hadn’t done anything, Jin seemed to think it was Yuri who had restrained him, causing his complexion to instantly turn ashen.
‘What a colorful face he has.’
Yuri noticed what had happened but continued without commenting on it.
“Shall we order our meal now?”
At his gesture, a waiting waiter approached and took their order. Meanwhile, the baker kept his mouth shut tightly, only rolling his eyes.
‘Why did they call me here?’
Simple intimidation? Or something else?
‘To avoid outside eyes?’
Before long, the food Yuri had ordered began to be served.
Cold soup, open sandwich, cheese plate…
It looked appetizing. But Jin felt uncomfortable at the mere thought of eating. Wasn’t this a situation where even drinking water might upset his stomach?
He had only tried to live better through the Barrel Society. He just thought he should get a fair return for his dedication.
If he had devoted his entire life to caring for those who would live as beggars, shouldn’t they do something for Jin in return?
‘I should have moved faster.’
Jin found it incredibly difficult to hide his anxious state of mind.
The Barrel Society should have moved more quickly and actively to join hands with the mayor. If they had done so, couldn’t they have gotten rid of those lazy ones who just chirped for food with their mouths open?
Not all illegal immigrants crossed the sea with grand dreams. Not all were diligent, and not all had outstanding talents but became poor due to the tricks of fate.
They were mostly unhappy and poor.
Jin, who initially thought he was helping those worth helping, felt disillusioned.
The romantic outcome where all illegal immigrants would have jobs and be accepted by society didn’t exist in reality.
They just became illegal residents, discriminated against, ignored, groaning with homesickness for home, and eventually died. Jin found it wasteful for the Barrel Society’s resources to be spent on such people.
It felt empty, as if his efforts were being scattered into thin air.
So he had to take the mayor’s hand. Dispose of the surplus workforce, and in return, sponsor those who were worth reaching out to.
“Why? Don’t you like the food?”
Yuri asked while holding a knife.
Jin flinched at the words and reached for the napkin. But before pulling it, he realized something was folded inside.
The napkin, which he casually pulled down to his knee out of sight, was away from external view. After fiddling with the napkin in that shielded space, Jin was convinced.
‘It’s a chip for a terminal. It’s a bit large because it’s an older model…’
A hint of color returned to the baker’s face.
If there really was the mayor’s “weakness” in here, it wasn’t a dream to make a deal with her and leave for good.
“Where did you get something like this?”
“You saw the business card.”
Yuri responded nonchalantly to the fervent question.
Even without checking the contents yet, Jin seemed to believe without a doubt that they had delivered the genuine article.
It appears that trust in the warehouse keeper Victoire, or relief that the current situation could be resolved, had mixed to blind him.
Chris felt no sympathy for the man.
“Would you consider working with me again? I have significant wealth, so if I request later, I’ll treat you well.”
“Work together again?”
Yuri clicked his tongue at Jin’s proposal.
“Just when you’re about to get out of trouble, you’re thinking of causing the next problem. I don’t know if I should call this audacious.”
“I’d rather say I know myself well. People with ambition like me tend to get swept up in problems wherever they go.”
Jin’s face suggested he thought he had given a rather witty answer.
“…A man with ambition.”
Not even deserving of mockery.
“I’ll at least praise your tenacity for already aiming for a comeback when your downfall is imminent.”
Jin’s face began to flush red and then blue.
Yuri faced him with an indifferent expression.
“Why? Are you afraid of going down like this? Do you want to declare to the last person you meet from your intact position that this isn’t the end? And then live your life masturbating to that one declaration, and before you die, rationalize that you lived a diligent life?”
Unlike his sharp sarcasm, his hand holding the knife was neatly cutting the meat on the plate he had pulled in front of him.
“Let me give you some advice. Consider it a once-in-a-lifetime miracle that you’re getting out safely, and disappear forever. If even one person remembers your name or face, run away trembling. If you walk around with your head held high, someday that precious past will catch up with you.”
Yuri, with a frighteningly expressionless face, pushed the plate with the meat dish towards Chris.
It was the steak he had cut into uniform sizes.
Chris stared down at it blankly.
It seemed like it was given to eat, but if he could do such a thing in such a tense atmosphere, he would have been Chase, not Chris.
“What rudeness…!”
“Since I’ve looked after one of your lifelines, you should understand this level of rudeness on your own. Don’t you think?”
Yuri smiled seductively.
A smile that seemed like it could grip the viewer’s throat, laced with mockery and jeers.
“If I were you, I’d take that and go to the mayor before it’s too late. Instead of showing off needlessly here.”
He continued in a low voice.
“…I think you’re not the only one who wants to use that leverage to escape.”
The baker, turning pale, jumped up from his seat.
The shoemaker! He had forgotten about him.
Would the warehouse keeper really have reached out only to him? That indecisive person?
“I’ll be going now.”
Jin gave one last glare at the business card on the table and headed out the door as quickly as he had entered.
Yuri picked up a fork and said, “It’s better now that the face that ruins one’s appetite is gone.”
“Will this really resolve things?”
Yuri turned his head to look at Chris in response to his question.
“It will be resolved.”
A slight upturn of his lips was visible.
“Such people always get blinded by greed, knowing they’ll get sick if they eat alone… He won’t think of sharing this leverage with the shoemaker or any other subordinate.”
If he had a bit more leeway, perhaps. But the baker was cornered.
So now they just had to watch the seeds they had sown grow… and harvest them at the right time.
“And if you have the leisure to worry about a dead guy.”
Yuri nodded towards the plate.
“You might as well eat.”
We made a bet, remember?
His added whisper had a more secretive aspect than the scheme that had just crossed this table.
“…Yes.”
Chris gulped and picked up the fork.
***
“Damn it!”
The shoemaker ran along the narrow alley for quite some time.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Following the one who was fleeing while spitting curses, laughter echoed.
“Haha. Where did you go?”
That chilling woman’s voice.
The place designated by the warehouse keeper was an alley full of abandoned buildings.
The shoemaker, who had wandered all over the place, knew the location well and thought the warehouse keeper had been quite clever. It was a good place for secret transactions with no proper witnesses and difficult for anyone to spy on.
But when he actually arrived there, the shoemaker realized he was being hunted like prey in a drive hunt.
“Who, who is it!” he shouted. He knew he couldn’t get an answer, but he felt he had to do something or he wouldn’t be able to bear it.
“Hahaha!”
But all that followed was a chilling laugh.
The shoemaker tried to go out through the opposite alley. But his path was blocked by ice spikes shooting up.
“Damn it!”
It kept happening like this. Whenever he, who knew the way well, tried to escape, he was blocked in an exquisite manner.
Who would hire an Esper just to kill him?
‘Is it the baker after all?’
The shoemaker gritted his teeth.
Then, unexpectedly, a helping hand came from an unexpected place.
“Take my hand!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
