[74]
The brilliant, gleaming color, almost like that of a beast, scattered warnings.
“Keep him alive for interrogation,” Logan warned quietly, thinking with surprising calm, ‘It’s hard to believe he’s Gwen’s twin.’
Chase’s sister had eyes like downy chick fluff, after all.
“Brother!” Gwen exclaimed, half surprised, half pleased.
‘I should have realized when Logan said he didn’t need to call for his brother.’ He was already there.
Chase, who usually couldn’t be bothered to button up his shirt completely, was dressed in a formal suit with a tie.
‘Did he dress that way to blend in with passersby?’ Honestly, it probably wasn’t much use. Chase was the kind of person who would stand out anywhere. Like noise on a screen.
“Sorry. Your brother is busy with a formal meeting right now. See, I even dressed up like this.”
The man laughed like a madman, “Ha ha!” and kicked the body he had knocked to the ground.
“Ugh!”
The man, whom they thought was dead, twisted his body and let out a pain-filled groan. It seemed he had been holding his breath out of fear of Chase’s wrath.
“One more kick and this will turn from a meeting into a funeral,” Logan said in a blunt tone, trying to restrain Chase.
He bent down, lifted the attacker, and began moving him to the car trunk.
Chase had said he was going to take care of the sniper on the building’s roof, and there were burn marks on the clothes and hair of those sprawled on the ground.
It seemed he had burned them just enough to avoid being fatal.
Perhaps not wanting to appear too cruel in front of his sister, Chase dragged the bodies of the man Logan had taken down and the two he had caught, then stood by the roadside.
The door of a van that had been parked there for some time slid open smoothly.
“I thought that laundry service logo looked familiar,” Gwen muttered grumpily.
“Just borrowed it for a bit,” Chase replied, turning his head and winking at his sister’s voice.
It seemed he had already called in, as Baekyah’s cleanup team was arriving to clear the scene.
Despite it being broad daylight, the street was already empty. All windows were firmly shut.
Gwen gave a bitter smile.
Baekyah’s control over Orum City was solid. Of course, not everyone agreed with Yuri’s methods.
But unable to even think of defying them, people tried their hardest to ignore the abnormal situations that had seeped into their midst by remaining silent.
At times like this, Gwen realized she could never return to living among ordinary people.
She looked down at her blood-soaked hands.
Ordinary people don’t get attacked in broad daylight, nor do they stab attackers.
“Here.”
Just then, a pristine white handkerchief gently landed on Gwen’s hand.
When she looked up, Chase winked at her.
“It’s a handkerchief I particularly treasure, but I’ll lend it to you because you’re my sister.”
Knowing all too well that her brother wasn’t the type of man to carry handkerchiefs, Gwen carefully said:
“There’s an ‘R’ written on the corner. This is Logan’s, isn’t it?”
What was he doing, pickpocketing and then showing the stolen item in front of its owner?
Logan, having heard this, was busily tying up the hostages as if it had nothing to do with him.
Gwen quickly lifted the handkerchief, but it was already stained with blood.
“I’m sorry, Logan. I’ll wash it for sure…”
She was well-versed in apologizing on behalf of her brother.
Logan, who was checking the attackers’ clothes for hidden weapons, answered without even turning around:
“Please throw it away.”
Beside her, Chase grinned and rested his chin on Gwen’s shoulder.
“See?”
His smug attitude, as if he’d known this would happen, was irritating.
Glaring at him, Gwen stepped hard on her brother’s foot.
“Ouch!”
Chase let out an exaggerated scream, jumping up and down on the spot.
“Brother, really…”
A deep sigh escaped her lips at the sight.
While fully aware of why his sister was acting like this, he had no intention of apologizing to Logan. But when Gwen expressed her dissatisfaction, he acted this way to appease her.
“Gasp! Are you upset because I pretended it hurt too much? I’m sorry, my sister.”
Chase’s previously fierce eyes softened.
With that one apology, Gwen’s heart softened a little.
Perhaps he had noticed her feeling down and was trying to take her mind off it.
“I’m just so happy that my baby Gwen has grown up, become so strong… and can even get angry at her only brother’s thoughtless behavior. Right?”
“…Please shut up.”
But that was that, and this was this.
“You’re being annoying,” Logan declared, unable to watch anymore, as he closed the trunk.
Just as Chase was about to narrow his eyes threateningly, Logan added:
“I mean you, Chase, not Team Leader Gwen.”
As his expression softened at Logan’s uncharacteristically long explanation, Gwen rubbed her face wearily.
Really… her brother was embarrassing no matter where they went.
“Anyway. Since we’ve caught these guys, let’s ask them what they heard and where.”
If information about mental-type Espers had leaked, it would be dangerous.
They were called Espers, but most lacked the ability to protect themselves.
Among mental-type Espers, Rosenhauser had built a communication network connecting the entire continent using those without connections.
He controlled the information sent through this network and implanted positive messages about Northernlight in the public’s mind. The latter even involved suggestion.
The mental-type Espers imprisoned for this purpose were terribly exploited.
Janet Fortuna, who could be considered their representative, had barely escaped and joined Baekyah. Her first request to Yuri was to rescue her colleagues.
Those rescued were able to escape their role as living communication networks.
However, many had already become broken people.
The rescued mental-type Espers wanted to leave Northernlight, even though the Esper Union had undergone a transformation. So, after various negotiations, Baekyah had taken custody of them and was providing protection.
The problem was that Thorns Order’s attempted terrorism had become frequent lately.
What if the mentally and physically damaged mental-type Espers got caught up in it?
In the end, Yuri had dispersed them among Baekyah’s safe houses within Orum City.
“It’s okay,” Chase shrugged.
“Any organization inevitably has weak links. The enemy will find and attack them.”
“…”
“So we display the weakness and use it as bait instead.”
He smiled, showing his teeth.
Logan frowned slightly but didn’t rebuke him.
“Did you… deliberately leak your schedule today, Brother?”
At Gwen’s question, Chase shuddered as if shocked.
“Of course not!”
The cruel pressure he had subtly exuded earlier had completely vanished.
“How could I use my sister’s life as bait!”
As he trembled like someone who had been deeply insulted, Gwen sighed and patted his back.
“I know, I know.”
After sniffling exaggeratedly, Chase admitted honestly:
“…If I had done something, I would have leaked the locations of Baekyah’s safe houses, not my sister’s schedule.”
Gwen’s hand froze.
“You’d better shut your mouth,” Logan said with a look of disappointment.
He knew Chase was a pervert who enjoyed seeing his sister angry, but this was at the level of deliberately asking for punishment.
Gwen kept her mouth tightly shut and lowered her gaze to the floor.
“What I want to say is, someone is passing Baekyah’s every move to the other side,” Chase hastily explained.
“You mean internal information is leaking?” Logan asked.
Chase shook his head.
“Rather… it seems like someone is observing people who leave and then reporting it.”
Chase scratched his chin.
“They might be using civilians.”
“That might work once or twice, but not every time,” Logan said.
Chase shook his head repeatedly.
Even if they used civilians who knew the faces of Baekyah’s executives, there would be limits.
If the same person monitored them each time, they would have noticed. Besides, if they operated in multiple teams, they could find them even faster. The more people involved, the more likely information would leak.
“What baffles me most is how they manage to be ready in advance.”
Since the Guide team including Gwen was moving around, Chase had made the schedule as irregular as possible.
Sometimes, as a precaution, he would issue orders that looked like different missions, then deliver the actual work location on the day itself.
Yet these attackers had even prepared snipers and waited for Gwen.
If intimidation didn’t work, they clearly intended to blow her head off.
For that, they would need to know when Gwen would move and which safe house she planned to visit.
No matter how skilled Thorns Order was, it would be impossible to station trained personnel throughout Orum City. There was a limit to how many could secretly infiltrate the Winter Continent.
This was Baekyah’s front yard, after all.
The intelligence and tip-offs that came to Chase were numerous.
“What if they have a mental-type Esper on their side?” Gwen carefully suggested.
“A mental-type Esper who isn’t injured physically or mentally. One who fully cooperates with Rosenhauser.”
Having frequently interacted with mental-type Espers for treatment, Gwen knew a bit more about what they could do.
“…It’s difficult to delve into the mind of another Esper,” Logan muttered.
“They could read civilians instead,” Gwen said.
“But they would have needed to take care of it from a distance?”
“Now… we have drugs circulating. The guiding drug.”
Gwen carefully moved her lips.
“We’ve tried to cut off the distribution as much as possible, but there are drug dealers in every alley of the Winter Continent. This street is no exception. What if they looked into the minds of such people and figured out our movements in advance?”
Once she started theorizing, she was unstoppable.
Originally, when drunk or on drugs, it becomes easier for mental-type Espers to penetrate someone’s mind.
If they used their abilities on drug addicts to track Baekyah’s movements, there would be no worry about information leaking.
Even if someone complained of suffering side effects from mental abilities, people would think they were just using drugs again.
No matter how thick Chase’s surveillance was, it would be nearly impossible to find people who didn’t even know they were cooperating with Thorns Order.
“Is my sister a genius?” Chase muttered with a blank expression.
“It’s worth looking into,” Logan quietly muttered, unable to deny it.
“Huh,” Chase said with his mouth open, “Our doctor won’t help us.”
Logan bluntly replied:
“We have good material, so we don’t need to beg the doctor.”
Chase grinned.
“That’s a good idea.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
