Chapter 222
[Shouldn’t you contact her right now?]
‘She’s probably on the plane right now. How can I?’
[You said you have a skill that allows you to communicate remotely with other contractors. Use that!]
‘I can’t. You think that skill is omnipotent, but it doesn’t work if we’re too far apart.’
[What?]
‘It only works within the range of my library’s authority. I mainly operate in Korea, so I can call anywhere in Korea, but if I go overseas, I can’t because it conflicts with the authority of other tellers.’
Kwon Jia left early in the morning, so by now she must be crossing the border between China and Russia.
If I wanted to call her right now, I would have to contact a teller in charge of that area and connect the line.
I didn’t know any tellers overseas.
As a result, there was practically no way to contact Kwon Jia until she arrived at her destination, except for using an international phone call with her cell phone.
‘I told her to contact me when she arrives safely, so it won’t be too late to talk to her then.’
[Hmm. Well, I guess there’s no choice then. I hope everything works out well.]
‘Let’s hope so.’
Baekryeon felt frustrated by the unexpected situation, but he didn’t show it.
He knew that Yu-hyun was more worried than him, even though he pretended not to be.
Yu-hyun came from the future and used his knowledge of regression to gain a lot of benefits and grow quickly.
He didn’t just stop at his own growth, but he also changed the flow of this world itself.
He knew how much effort he had put into it.
He was always by his side, closer than anyone else.
‘He must be worried a lot, even though he doesn’t show it.’
The world changing meant that a completely different future unfolded than what Yu-hyun knew.
His knowledge of the future was practically useless.
It wasn’t all like that, but losing an overwhelming advantage was a painful loss.
Who could empathize and understand that loss if not him?
‘I hope everything goes well from now on.’
He felt uneasy for some reason.
It wasn’t just a hunch as a sword’s ego.
‘Dream.’
Baekryeon suddenly felt like he had a dream in the past.
He was a sword, but she had lost him in the past.
He didn’t remember how he was made or why he became like this.
The only thing he knew was that he was desperately looking for someone.
He hadn’t slept since he woke up with Yu-hyun’s help, but strangely enough, he felt like he had slept this time.
Was it a mistake or did he see meaningless illusions without knowing it?
He couldn’t find a clear answer.
The memory was faint and elusive as if it would slip away from his grasp.
There was only one thing he remembered.
‘Someone was crying next to me.’
Who was that?
The image was too blurry to recall, but he remembered feeling sad when he saw it.
Was that person the one he had been looking for?
Was it related to the memory that had disappeared now?
He didn’t know.
The more she knew, the more he felt like sinking into a swamp.
Baekryeon couldn’t find an answer no matter how hard he thought, but he didn’t want to worry Yu-hyun so he kept his mouth shut.
***
Shamat was locked in a disposal box and bowed his head low as a lowly mongrel.
It didn’t seem like he could escape by leaving him alone.
The disposal box was designed to be impossible to open from the inside unless someone opened it from the outside.
It wasn’t impossible to break the disposal box from the inside. But Shamat lacked the strength.
He wasn’t a low-ranking employee at Celestial Corporation, but his position as a manager wasn’t enviable either. He had no say in being called ‘just’ a manager.
“Tsk. How long do I have to stay here? It’s boring.”
“Tell me about it.”
Two tellers from the surveillance department who were guarding the disposal box couldn’t stand their boredom and chatted.
“Do we really need to guard this place? He’s already locked in the disposal box.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I really don’t get it. Why do we have to waste our time here?”
“We can’t just skip out either. Chief Utata ordered us personally.”
“That’s why we’re here. If it wasn’t for that, we would have left long ago.”
“That’s true.”
The two tellers didn’t understand why Utata kept ordering them to guard this place from time to time. But they did as they were told since they were ordered to do so. However, they didn’t hide their complaints either.
In a place where there is no king, people even curse the king, let alone their boss.
But the two tellers didn’t cross the line. Chief Utata of the surveillance department was originally a good-natured person and good at handling work, so he was trusted by his subordinates.
“Yawn. I wish we could just dispose of this guy and move on.”
“We can’t help it. Even if he committed a capital crime, we have to go through a complicated process to start the disposal work. If we kill him with brute force, it will cause trouble.”
“I know, I know. Can’t I complain a bit?”
“Still, it’s about time for the results to come out. This boring guard duty is finally over.”
As the two tellers were chatting, the door to the disposal room opened and another teller came in.
The tellers who were gossiping straightened their backs as soon as they saw the newcomer.
“U-Utata, sir!”
“Good day, sir!”
“Oh, hi.”
The teller with a shiny white sphere for a head, Utata, waved his hand casually at the two tellers and told them not to be nervous.
“Well, you’ve been guarding diligently. Good job.”
“Yes! Of course, sir! But, sir, did you come here because the disposal results are out?”
“No, not yet. It seems like it will take a bit more time.”
“Oh, man.”
“I came here because there are some more things to scan while we wait. Can you step aside for a moment?”
“Huh? Oh, well…”
The teller who usually grumbled was about to nod his head when the other teller intervened.
“But, sir. Why did you come alone today? What about the other department staff?”
“They have some other things to deal with, so they left their posts for a while. Why do you ask?”
“Hmm.”
The subordinate teller looked at Utata with a slightly suspicious expression.
His colleague who was guarding with him nudged him and whispered in a low voice.
“Hey. What are you doing? Are you crazy? How can you talk to the boss like that?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“Haha. Sir. I think this guy is a bit tired from working too much lately.”
“Huh? Oh, is that so? That’s not good. You shouldn’t work too hard these days. So, can you step aside for a moment?”
“Sir.”
The teller who had been silent until then stepped forward and asked.
“I was ordered to guard this place no matter what. You were the one who gave me that order, sir. I’m sure you remember.”
“That’s right.”
“But now you’re telling me to leave my post, and I find that very questionable. Didn’t you usually conduct your interrogation without caring if we were here or not? Did something happen all of a sudden?”
“Huh? Now that you mention it…”
Even the colleague next to him seemed to realize something was off and looked at Utata with a strange gaze.
Utata felt their distrustful emotions but remained still.
“Sir. Please answer me. Are you… really our boss?”
“…”
The atmosphere became heavy in an instant.
The two tellers tensed up.
They were ready to use force as soon as they saw any suspicious signs from their opponent.
Until then, Utata had just stood still and shook his head.
“Well. It seems like I made you guys too wary of me.”
“…You know very well.”
“I understand that. Yeah. I was the one who gave you that order. So it might seem suspicious that I’m saying something different now. But look at this.”
Utata said that and held out a piece of paper.
“It’s a document from the central office. It says to handle the matter quietly and by myself as much as possible. You’ll see that it’s not a fake when you read it.”
“…You’re right. It has the seal of an executive teller, after all.”
“That’s why. This is a top-secret mission. We don’t want any witnesses.”
That was true even for the subordinates from the same department.
The two tellers finally relaxed their guard at Utata’s words.
The one who had doubted him first bowed his head.
“I’m sorry. I was rude to you without knowing anything. ”
“No. Don’t worry about it. You did a great job with your assigned task. I feel more secure because of you. If you keep doing your work like this, I’ll be more grateful.”
“Yes, sir. Then we’ll wait outside the entrance.”
“No need for that. I already sent away the two tellers who were waiting at the entrance.”
“Oh. I see. Then we’ll wait at the ‘designated point’.”
“Do that.”
Utata nodded and spoke at that moment.
The two tellers suddenly thrust their light spears toward Utata.
They were ‘arrest spears’ given to the surveillance tellers to eliminate any potential threats.
Whoosh!
“Hmm?”
Utata, who was pierced by the arrest spears, couldn’t understand what was going on.
“What are you doing?”
“What are we doing? That’s what we want to ask you. Utata, sir. No, something that’s wearing his disguise. Did you think we were so easy to fool?”
“Huh. Did you go crazy? This is absurd.”
“Absurd? No way. We’re doing the right thing.”
“Really.”
Utata sighed as if he couldn’t believe it.
And then, his voice changed.
“How did you find out?”
A cold and dreadful voice of something else.
The two tellers turned pale at the sound.
“You underestimated us too much. How dare you imitate Utata’s appearance and try to deceive us and get that traitor out?”
“Oh. Is that so? There was a secret code among the surveillance tellers in the keyword I said in the middle. Does that mean that the word I used without knowing was ‘designated point’?”
“…We don’t have to answer you.”
The surveillance teller felt a chill down his spine as he realized that the fake Utata had figured out their code in an instant.
This guy, he didn’t just take on the appearance of Utata.
He didn’t seem to care about being hit by the arrest spears, and his insight to see through their code in a flash was…
“Whatever happened, we’re going to arrest you here. You tried to fool us and get that traitor out, so you shouldn’t have any complaints. Just think of it as bad luck.”
“That’s why I don’t like smart guys.”
The fake Utata said that and moved his feet to get up.
“Stupid! You think our arrest spears are just…”
The teller who was about to shout that couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
Crackle!
“Huh?”
The binding spear that had pierced through the fake Utata’s body and pinned him to the ground began to crack.
“What, what is…?”
“A binding spear that can restrain a chief-level?!”
Before their questions could end.
Clang!
The binding spear shattered and scattered fragments in all directions.
The two tellers immediately tried to prepare for the next response.
That’s when the fake Utata’s hands moved.
His gloved hands twisted strangely, and from inside his palms, countless black tentacles poured out like a waterfall and wrapped around the two tellers.
Resistance was futile.
The countless thread-like tentacles exerted force.
Crunch!
With a chilling sound, the two tellers’ flesh was horribly destroyed and collapsed.
The two tellers died without making a sound.
“Did you try to resist with your body, trusting in your protection? How foolish.”
The fake Utata’s appearance had changed completely into a different being.
A black hood over his head and a baggy black outfit.
The countless tentacles were retracted back into his wide sleeves.
“How nice it would have been if you just fell for it stupidly? You wasted time by thinking too much, when it could have ended quickly.”
The intruder muttered as he stepped over the two tellers’ corpses that turned into dust and scattered.
He approached the disposal bin.
Shamat, who had been watching this situation from before, trembled as he saw the black being coming towards him.
“Wh-who are you…?”
“Come out. Manager Shamat.”
Two red glows flowed out from inside the black hood.
They were curved like crescents, as if there were two red new moons floating in the space.
“It’s liberation.”