[…Well, I’m skeptical.]
A red ‘X’ shaped hologram slowly leads the conversation.
It was Mr. Gable from the City Security Department.
Given that his profession values security, it was assumed he had blocked the screen sensor.
With a hmmm sound, Mr. Gable’s voice continued.
[Um…, let me send you some data.]
Soon, a screen was shared through my visual interface.
It appeared to be the contents of an electronic document.
There were names of ‘megacorps’ such as Black Monolith, Kojaka, and Heishukai—easy for even vagabonds from the back alleys to recognize.
Next to the corporate names, the names and numbers of branch buildings were listed, and the document length easily exceeded two digits.
All the contents were the counts of corporate terrorism that had occurred within ‘Neon City.’
[As you can see from the data, the content and articles about the current terrorism being broadcasted on NCB24 are quite condensed.]
Mr. Gable let out a long sigh.
[…The Security Department is applying pressure. There are both internal and external appearances, so the city is trying to hide the spreading incidents.]
Mr. Gable’s face, visible beyond the obscured hologram, was undoubtedly dark.
[When you visited with Ms. Catherine last time, I’m sure I made a comment in passing.]
He meant the remarks he made unofficially while the signal distorter was on.
At that time, Mr. Gable suspected that the upper echelons of the city already had a guess about who the perpetrators of the corporate terror were.
Due to communication security issues, it would have been impossible to discuss that information over the phone again.
[Anyway, in that situation…um…]
Mr. Gable’s voice trailed off as he chose his words carefully.
[Someone holding a grudge against Mr. Siwoon… what should I say? A malicious fan? It does not make sense to say such people caused terrorism.]
Um…
I nodded in agreement.
“You’re right.”
[Of course, from what I see, there’s certainly reason for attempts on Mr. Siwoon’s life.]
“?”
[There are simply too many things he’s done.]
Suddenly, my display was a bit…
[But…]
Ignoring my bewilderment, Mr. Gable continued speaking.
[It would be practically impossible to connect just that to a ‘corporate terrorist act.’]
He then neatly summarized the situation.
[For a terror of this scale, it’s hard for multiple organizations to combine their forces. This is not just my opinion, but also the consensus within the Security Department.]
“…Is that so?”
[So you don’t need to worry about that.]
Huff.
I let out a sigh of relief, silencing myself.
Well, I was, of course, skeptical about the (crazy) elf’s speculation, just like Mr. Gable.
Because realistically, it didn’t make sense.
But there could always be unknown factors.
That’s why I had consulted Mr. Gable, who was an expert in this field.
After receiving a definite assurance from the expert that it wouldn’t be the case, a bit of weight was lifted off my mind.
Mr. Gable continued speaking.
[Anyway, the information about the spirit is good. I will look into this part separately.]
“Will you be alright?”
I deliberately avoided mentioning the term ‘upper’ and just asked if he was okay.
[Hmm… I should be fine. I’m just doing my job.]
Then Mr. Gable expressed his gratitude toward me.
[Still, thank you for your concern. It’s hard to get recognized doing this kind of work, you know? Haha. Also, I appreciate you paying attention, despite what I said to Mr. Siwoon. On behalf of the city’s people, thank you.]
Since I received a quest, if I could handle it, I should.
I scratched my head while secretly joking.
How on earth does this nice guy continue to hold a position in the Security Department?
The world is truly full of strange events.
…
Maybe it’s because he looks like a villain.
36. Not My Specialty (6)
After I finished the call and returned to my seat, Emily and Andrea were still in the midst of an argument.
“It’s true! You can take it!”
“…No, I’m saying it’s fine.”
Andrea pushed away the straw doll that Emily was holding out, looking disgusted.
But it seemed that (the obsessed) Emily didn’t notice Andrea’s expression at all.
“You really don’t have to worry about it! This little one would prefer to be with you, Ms. Andrea!”
They pushed each other back and forth.
In the midst of it all, the straw doll, despite having no face, bore an overwhelmingly gloomy aura as it got tossed around.
I approached Eve, who had quietly been watching the spectacle from the side.
“Is it still not over?”
“That’s right.”
Eve nodded as she looked at me upon my return.
How many minutes had it been so far?
I mumbled as I checked the time on my visual interface.
“I thought I had been on the call for quite a while, but I didn’t expect them to still be at it.”
“It’s been 1457 seconds so far.”
About 24 minutes then.
I clicked my tongue and gazed at the two.
The incident started when Andrea posed a question to Emily about spirits.
– “So, can anyone carry a spirit if it’s an elf?”
It didn’t seem like Andrea had any intent to make her jealous.
Just a light icebreaker.
However.
It apparently didn’t come across that way to Emily.
Her favorite mentions spirits -> Her favorite currently doesn’t have a spirit -> It means she wants one -> I should give her my spirit!
In just 3 seconds, Emily had unpacked this crazy logic in her mind and offered her most treasured straw doll to Andrea.
It was incredibly quick.
If that straw doll didn’t resemble an ordinary curse doll, it might have been fine.
In fact, I thought the reason Andrea was rejecting that doll was simple.
Andrea was a famous singer, but she was also a celebrity leading the trends in Neon City.
From what I heard last time, the number of outfits and accessories she received as sponsorship was quite substantial.
She was an elf, and her aesthetic sense was remarkably high.
Even perusing Andrea’s SNS when I had nothing to do could be described as keeping up with the current trends.
Ahem.
Anyway.
To someone like Andrea, that ‘straw doll’ must look like something that would only be found rolling around in a landfill.
Yet, it’d be difficult to honestly convey that fact to Emily, a fan.
Conversely, it seemed Emily felt that it was considerate of Andrea not to accept it.
When would this end…
I continued watching the two.
Just then, I made eye contact with Andrea.
She seemed to have noticed the fact that I had returned from my call.
After a moment, Andrea bit her lip, concealing her tired face and forcing a smile.
“…Alright. I’ll gratefully accept it…”
“Rather, I’m the one who should be thankful!”
Would she even realize that she was putting her ultimate favorite idol through discomfort at that moment?
Emily joyfully scampered about, her excitement apparent.
Such childish behavior─.
Wait, it hasn’t been confirmed yet that Emily is older. I thought cautiously as I watched Emily holding the straw doll and chatting away.
“See, you like it too, right? Good, right? Yes! You must take good care of it by Ms. Andrea’s side, just like me!”
No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem happy…
I had gained the remarkable ability to read expressions on a faceless straw doll.
Among Andrea, Emily, and the straw doll, I cautiously wager that right now, the straw doll is the most tired one.
With a jittery hand motion, the straw doll made a greeting towards Andrea─.
“Jupiter! Aren’t you going to greet properly?!”
…The straw doll, Jupiter, waved its hand with remarkable speed.
On its chest was a splendid signature reading 『Andrea Rose』. The trace of the signature Emily had received earlier.
Jupiter, with careful movements, flew up and landed on Andrea’s shoulder.
Andrea, perhaps enlightened, nodded slightly toward Jupiter and asked Emily.
“…It cannot speak, right?”
“Yes, but it understands.”
Looks like I didn’t need to treat it like a pet.
Intrigued, I attempted to poke Jupiter perched on Andrea’s shoulder.
– ……!!
However, as soon as Jupiter sensed my touch, it shot upwards, collided with the ceiling, and then fell to the ground.
…Well.
I felt cracks forming in my heart, made of glass.
I didn’t really want to touch it that much anyway…
Emily picked up Jupiter, who had fallen on the ground, and murmured while stroking its straw head.
“…Weird. This happened before too, but I have no idea why spirits seem to be afraid. Hmm, it seems they inherently dislike me…”
Then she gazed at me with a puzzled expression.
“Perhaps you’ve been cursed or something?”
“…”
Come on, where would a curse even come from…
Yet, at that moment, a possibility quickly crossed my mind.
‘Animal Antipathy.’
One of the negative attributes constituting my body.
It meant that animals felt ‘hostility’ or ‘fear’ towards me.
When I first lived in a landfill, I wasn’t attacked just by mice (60cm) or cockroaches (30cm).
Back then, young Catherine, who lived with me, used to joke about it.
– “Wow, did you get cursed or something?”
Typically, ‘animals’ could be summarized in biological or dictionary terms.
I wasn’t sure what kind of classification animals referred to with ‘animal antipathy,’ but if the existence of ‘spirits’ was also classified as animals in this world, that would explain everything.
However, I couldn’t reveal the essence of my negative attribute here.
If I did, then it would naturally lead to explaining how I entered the game world.
For that reason.
“…Well, I’ve received something similar.”
I had no choice but to say that.
“Hmm, I thought so.”
Emily chuckled lightly at my answer.
“……”
I couldn’t help but flick Emily’s head, who was being playful.
– Thunk!
“Why did you hit me?!”
Sigh.
Anyway, we wrapped up all our appointments like that.
We increased our quest progression, and Andrea gained a new Pokémon (not really).
Although, there was a minor incident where, just as we were leaving the cyber-shrine (it’s not even a shrine), Andrea gave her number to Emily for asking questions about spirits, and Emily fainted on the spot.
But I could say that overall, it was a satisfactory outing.
Just one thing.
“So, since we finished quickly, should the three of us go on a date before heading back?”
If only the outing hadn’t gotten longer.
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