Chapter 7
A chilly silence flowed.
Noah Roshan wore a genuinely exhausted face before parting his lips.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I want to be executed.”
Even though she must have read his faint sign of refusal, Oh Ji-yoon remained steadfast.
“I can’t live bearing a Quest Window like this. The risk is too high.”
“Life inherently carries high risks. Humans generally consume a lot and use up a lot, after all.”
Looking at the negative impact the human species has on the world, I don’t see why you should die. Noah Roshan touched the desk ominously while spouting random words.
He spoke up:
“If you insist on treasuring only humans, I have nothing to say, but…”
The way he glanced with his yellow eyes carried the meaning of whether she was really going to do that. Why is he being like this? Oh Ji-yoon raised her lip in a pout.
“That’s not it; I mean dying would be much cleaner.”
If Representative-nim puts it like that, I have nothing to say. Honestly, the Fracture itself has little impact on other living creatures.
Just as Representative-nim said, humans dying from Fractures might actually balance nature better…
Of course, the reason Representative-nim was acting like this wasn’t because of that.
Oh Ji-yoon let out a sigh.
“Representative-nim, do you dislike the idea of me dying?”
“Yes.”
As expected. As if it were the correct answer, Representative-nim nodded his head.
“Don’t make me miserable. If you die, I’ll die along with you. No, I’d prefer if you stabbed me before going.”
Good grief. Look at this guy. Oh Ji-yoon’s mouth fell wide open.
Representative-nim was subtly tearing up the tissues arranged on the visitation room desk, as if he genuinely hated the idea. Even while his face remained completely expressionless!
Her only regret was that she couldn’t point her finger at him. Oh Ji-yoon clicked her tongue.
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ clicks its tongue tut-tut with its squirrel hands.]
[Feels proud that it was an emphatic expression.]
[Your Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ eats a nut it pulled out with a satisfied face.]
‘Thank you.’
Though she didn’t particularly want to hear the tongue-clicking sound twice.
After roughly offering her thanks, Oh Ji-yoon turned her gaze. As if he had been waiting, Representative Noah Roshan opened his mouth.
“And I’ve arranged it so that if I die, the company will go bankrupt.”
“Hey, don’t threaten me with your company!”
You wouldn’t want the employees bound to the enterprise and all the subcontractor businesses relying on it to end up out on the streets, right? Representative-nim spoke with his expression.
Good grief. Oh Ji-yoon let out a sigh.
“Don’t do that; speak with a bit worse of an attitude.”
When he pleaded like that, it felt a bit strange. No, more than that, if you act like that, people will look down on you.
Being the company representative and all. Oh Ji-yoon clicked her tongue. However, Representative-nim didn’t say much else.
Instead, he merely twisted his lips into an odd expression.
“Do you like it when I get angry?”
“It’s not that I like it.”
Who on earth likes angry people?
However…
“…Fine. I won’t use you to get executed, Representative-nim.”
It was just that… it felt a bit strange. Sometimes it almost felt like an act? Though she wasn’t valuable enough for him to bother acting.
Oh Ji-yoon shook her head.
“I just wanted to go the easy way.”
She had tried leaning on him, thinking that if Representative-nim cooperated well, she could take an easy path. But it seemed Representative-nim had no intention of doing so.
‘It’s not like I absolutely need Representative-nim anyway.’
In the first place, it wasn’t a matter that could be solved by a death sentence alone. Even if she received one, it would merely be postponed indefinitely so she could be exploited. Oh Ji-yoon decided to change the sequence.
‘Break Director Cha Ho-bong first.’
If she couldn’t obtain Representative-nim’s cooperation, it would take longer, but it wasn’t impossible. It couldn’t be helped.
Oh Ji-yoon decided to make a concession for Representative-nim, who had come all the way here for a visit.
“Then why did you come today, Representative-nim?”
Of course, it was a concession that merely deferred her death. Oh Ji-yoon knew as well that it was polite not to show it.
Perhaps this was the reason her face wore an exceptionally submissive expression.
Noah Roshan feeling a kind of helplessness was a natural result. Blinking his tired eyes, he soon let out a dry, simple chuckle.
“I told you, I came to pick you up.”
“Uh… but, I,”
Oh Ji-yoon blinked with a bewildered face. ‘I have no intention of going.’ She seemed to be saying that. Noah Roshan burst into an indifferent laugh.
“I know.”
The laugh sounded like a hollow sigh. Soon after, he erased his smile.
Leaning his broad shoulders forward toward Oh Ji-yoon, Noah Roshan whispered:
“I just said it. Because if I say I won’t help you, you’ll cause an even bigger mess, and that would be more exhausting.”
For now, he was satisfied with just this much. When he closed his mouth, silence flowed.
After a silence long enough to settle their minds had passed, Noah Roshan opened his mouth to speak.
“I know you’re trying to use me to prod Director Cha Ho-bong.”
“You know, then.”
Oh Ji-yoon nodded her head. She didn’t think Representative-nim wouldn’t know. After all, they had been together for a long time.
Noah Roshan affirmed as well.
“That’s right. If we put it your way… yeah. You picked a fight with him.”
Oh Ji-yoon’s world was structured in that manner. People who picked a fight, and people who didn’t. People who didn’t consider the lives of the majority,챙기는 taking profits while looking out only for their own lives.
From the moment Oh Ji-yoon held the potential to create a super-large Fracture, Director Cha Ho-bong should never have thought about utilizing her.
Oh Ji-yoon let out a light smirk.
“I think so too. Director Cha Ho-bong came up with quite an interesting plan.”
When fighting a person, the thing to watch out for is not making hasty trades. In other words, one shouldn’t try to obtain what they want by giving the opponent what they want.
Look at Director Cha Ho-bong. Didn’t he try to exploit her simply because she was imprisoned?
Even if it was an unpleasant choice, it was the textbook move. Because a trade is something proposed when the opponent is backed into a corner.
Oh Ji-yoon had to find the key to flip the board.
“Representative-nim, will the Ranker Support Headquarters feed a dog they’ve already fully captured?”
…And Oh Ji-yoon didn’t miss the interesting difference.
“…What does that mean?”
“Literally. I’m a dog that’s already been fully captured. And I don’t even look like I have the intention to bite.”
Haha. Oh Ji-yoon laughed, shrugging her shoulders. If both her hands were untied, she would have even mimicked a surrender pose.
She continued speaking in a gentle voice.
“If Director Cha Ho-bong hadn’t thought to exploit me, and Representative-nim hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have known. But Representative-nim came, and the Ranker Support Headquarters ‘changed’ their mind.”
“Right. He intended to let you out from the start.”
That’s right. Oh Ji-yoon laughed like a sigh.
“This building. The floor I’m on has no inmates.”
It was only after coming to the visitation room that she realized it was strange. Of course, unless Director Cha Ho-bong was insane, he wouldn’t imprison Oh Ji-yoon in the ‘same’ prison.
Before the trade fell through… that is, if he intended to let me out from the start, giving me a ‘special’ room feels natural.
Why? Because he never intended to truly imprison her in the first place.
However…….
“If he had no intention of imprisoning me from the beginning, this floor wasn’t prepared just for me. Meaning, this floor of the building was originally empty.”
It also connected to the reason why the guards’ break room was located on the outside, and in an awkward spot at that.
The structure of the building itself was strange.
That wasn’t the end of it. Oh Ji-yoon lightly tapped the floor with her foot.
“Secondly. The floor below is entirely empty.”
Noah Roshan clasped his hands together. Loosely clasped hands scraped against the desk.
Glancing at him, Oh Ji-yoon spoke up:
“Think about it. Even if a single spot might be empty, isn’t it strange for the entire floor below to be empty?”
Ah. Empty here meant physically empty. Why is it strange?
Because this building has no basement. This is the 1st floor.
So, there is an impossible basement, and the inmates who should be imprisoned are nowhere to be seen.
There was only one conclusion.
“The real prison must be underneath the empty space.”
Not a fake roughly built for appearance’s sake, but a prison that detains the real deal.
Calculated that way, it made sense why the guards’ break room was outside yesterday. It probably connects to the bottom through that side, doesn’t it?
“…That makes sense. Then what do you need me to do?”
Bingo. Sensing she had hit the jackpot, Oh Ji-yoon smiled like a demon.
“I’m sorry, but please lend me your phone just once.”
“Ranker Oh Ji-yoon, visitation time is over.”
“I’ll be going then.”
Oh Ji-yoon humming a tune, stood up from her seat. It was a harvest much larger than originally planned. Becoming happy, Oh Ji-yoon smiled brightly.
The guard who had approached before she noticed grabbed her forearm.
“Cell phone. Possession is not allowed.”
“I know.”
Oh Ji-yoon nodded her head happily. The way she turned her body while gently making eye contact was subtle. The guard grimaced at her obvious maneuver to evade a search.
“It is a matter of procedure, so please cooperate—”
“Oh Ji-yoon.”
At that moment, Noah Roshan called out to Oh Ji-yoon. Because he was too much of a giant figure for a mere employee to ignore, the guard closed his mouth.
However, his sharp gaze was conveying a determination to conduct the search. What would Representative Noah Roshan say? Oh Ji-yoon was a bit curious about that too, so she blinked her eyes.
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, what came out of Noah Roshan’s mouth was neither a threat nor a conciliation. Hesitating for a moment, he spoke:
“…Would you dislike it if I killed someone?”
“……Of course I’d dislike it?”
…What. Sometimes Oh Ji-yoon couldn’t understand Representative Noah Roshan. Instantly becoming the king of suspicion, Oh Ji-yoon opened her mouth.
“Representative-nim. I know this is a rude statement, but by any chance, do you have a plan to stab me in the back…”
She wanted to ask ‘do you have one?’, but their conversation couldn’t continue. The guard, who finally snatched the cell phone away, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and dragged her out by force.
“Visitation is over.”
“Ah…! Wait a second! I’m curious about the answer to this?!”
Oh Ji-yoon shouted, asking if the guard wasn’t curious either. If she had known what Noah Roshan was thinking right now, she wouldn’t have been able to just leave like this.
It was a lamentable thing that no one could read Noah Roshan’s thoughts. The guard recited the manual as he dragged Oh Ji-yoon away just like that.
“Since you possessed prohibited items, there will be no next visit.”
“Sir!”
Oh dear! Oh Ji-yoon squirmed. Unexpectedly, the recoil was severe, so the guard clenched his teeth. Oh Ji-yoon was equally flabbergasted.
‘No, Representative-nim did it again…!’
Again, again, again! Oh dear. Representative-nim is doing something strange again! Aaargh, let go of me! When Representative-nim says things like that, something is bound to happen!
Oh Ji-yoon, who had suffered a fiery experience when she was young after failing to answer the question, ‘Where did your guardian go leaving you behind?’, wept bitterly.
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ likes it: ‘Ji-yoon is like a cat.’]
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ furies: ‘Don’t insult the biological species known as cats.’]
‘Can you really say such things right now……?!’
As expected, it’s easy when it’s someone else’s business, huh? Is this what they call solitude in a crowd! Oh Ji-yoon, who was moving down the corridor while caught by the scruff of her neck, kicked the air out of nowhere.
Even if she was an F-rank, she was still a ranker. Stumbling for a moment, the guard lost his temper.
“Stop it already. Are there any other prohibited items…… what is that?”
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ hastily covers its ears: ‘Ah.’]
“Mnengh?”
What is it? Oh Ji-yoon, who was pretending to cry with her mouth, opened her mouth with an innocent face. Her slightly opened mouth grew exponentially large.
【Skill: ‘Steel Esophagus (F-rank)’ is activated.】
【Chews and swallows any substance to store it inside the stomach. Select ‘Retrieve’.】
【Oh Ji-yoon retrieves ‘Awakened-Exclusive Special Smoke Bomb (A+ Rank)’.】
“Ranker Oh Ji-yoon!!”
In the blink of an eye, what Oh Ji-yoon threw up was a bomb. The guard, who was an A-rank Awakened, narrowed the distance in an instant.
However, Oh Ji-yoon was just a tiny bit faster.
【Uses ‘Awakened-Exclusive Special Smoke Bomb (A+ Rank)’! Awakened beings within a 2km radius lose their sight.】
【Uses ‘Awakened-Exclusive Special Smoke Bomb (A+ Rank)’! Awakened beings within a 2km radius lose their sense of smell.】
【Uses ‘Awakened-Exclusive Special Smoke Bomb (A+ Rank)’! Awakened beings within a 2km radius lose their hearing…】
Crack. Along with a musty odor, the metallic object shattered.
