Chapter 183
Chapter 183
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: The Elder's Mansion (3)
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The man was wearing a bulletproof suit.
He even had handcuffs on him, perfect for restraining us. We put them to good use. After cuffing the unconscious henchman, we propped him up in the corner of the room.
Before we could decide whether to wake him, a small scuffle broke out.
The subject was who would hold the pistol.
Jaeyeon insisted on taking it.
“How can you give a weapon to a psycho?”
Yoon immediately objected.
I didn’t want to hand a gun over to Jaeyeon either.
I nodded in agreement, and Yoon held out his hand toward me.
“Give it to me. I’ll hold it.”
“And trust that bastard?”
This time, Jaeyeon jumped up from his spot.
“You want to hand a gun to a sociopath? To the guy who just punched first without any reason?!”
And that’s how I ended up holding the pistol.
To the only normal person among us, the one least likely to spray bullets at people for no reason.
The crazies eyed me holding the gun with clear discomfort.
“It’s like giving glasses to a blind man.”
Jaeyeon grumbled.
Yoon watched me reluctantly holster the pistol and let out a sigh.
“Better than last time, at least.”
I doubted it….
I hadn’t fired a gun in a while, so my skills had probably rusted, not improved.
But I didn’t have the guts to confess that to Yoon.
I gave a faint smile and changed the subject.
“We waking him up?”
No one disagreed there.
We woke the unconscious henchman.
The guy snapped awake the moment Jaeyeon slapped his cheek.
The henchman’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s as he looked up at us.
My master stood behind Jaeyeon, who was crouched down, glaring coldly at the man.
“Isn’t this the guy?”
Yoon said, pointing at me.
The henchman stared blankly at me.
“No….”
Quick on the uptake, he stammered out polite speech.
“I’ve never seen you before… who are you, sir?”
“Never mind.”
Yoon replied curtly.
What? The henchman blinked in confusion while Jaeyeon smirked in front of him.
Jaeyeon reached out and grabbed the henchman’s chin.
“You know me, right?”
Terror flashed across the henchman’s eyes.
Jaeyeon’s reputation must be infamous among the elder’s henchmen. It was no wonder. If I were a henchman to a lesser elder, facing Jaeyeon would be the last thing I’d want in the world.
But thanks to Jaeyeon’s notoriety, we got the information easily.
This place was inside A-14 Mountain in the Center Core, for starters.
The mansion, Patrick Yates’s base. We were currently in the basement of the main building.
This storage room was on the third basement level. The second basement and first floor were half parking garage, half archive.
Yates’s office was on the fifth floor. He was apparently up there now, working.
“How about we head to the parking garage, steal a car, and drive out?”
I muttered, arms crossed, and Jaeyeon clicked his tongue.
“You think that’ll work? We’d get a barrage of bombs the second we exit the underground garage.”
Probably.
But since this was in the mountains, we’d need some kind of vehicle to escape properly.
I hung my head, pondering escape routes, when I noticed Yoon furrowing his brow.
“What’s wrong?”
Need to use the bathroom?
Yoon looked up and spoke in an irritated tone.
“I just feel like shit all of a sudden.”
“Huh? Why?”
“No idea.”
Yoon grumbled grumpily, genuinely seeming puzzled by it.
I blinked a couple times, observing my master.
Was it because things were about to get complicated?
Or had he sensed something?
No way to know right now, so I didn’t dwell on it.
It was a situation where getting irritated would be weirder than not. Maybe the physiological disgust of being in the same space as Jaeyeon was finally hitting him.
I turned my gaze and looked down at Jaeyeon toying with the restrained henchman.
“Alright, here’s the plan.”
Everyone turned to look at me.
“Jaeyeon, you disguise yourself as that henchman.”
Jaeyeon’s eyes narrowed.
Then he didn’t move for a long while.
I knew that wasn’t a good sign. But I also knew my suggestion was extremely efficient.
Sure enough, Yoon gave a short compliment.
“Good idea.”
Yoon didn’t hand out praise easily.
“But he’s too ugly. I hate it.”
Finally, Jaeyeon broke the silence with a long, meaningful smile.
He slapped the bound henchman’s cheek lightly with one hand as he did.
“You want me to ruin my handsome face with that?”
“You made the mess, you clean it up. This is because of you that Yoon and I ended up here.”
“You can’t escape without my help?”
“Correct.”
I shot back shamelessly.
“I can’t do it without you.”
Yoon shot me a look like, *This guy can be *this* shameless?*
Jaeyeon looked like he was about to puke. I ignored both their reactions completely. I even ignored the bound henchman’s stare of, *What the hell is wrong with these people?*
The pale room fell silent, everyone frozen.
A brief silence passed, but Jaeyeon finally stood up.
“Ugh, if you’re begging that hard, what choice do I have? Guess I’ll have to step up again.”
“How about the three of us bury him nice and friendly-like and get out? Perfect spot for it, right?”
“Tempting offer, but I don’t want to cause Ye-hyeon any kind of hassle.”
“It’s privacy. Can’t look.”
While Yoon tossed me a 100% sincere suggestion and I sadly turned it down, Jaeyeon switched to a cutesy tone before heading to the corner.
The shadowy corner, steeped in gloom.
Jaeyeon stopped in front of the three-walled nook and buried his face, mumbling something.
It wasn’t anything pleasant to hear.
So I turned my head as he’d asked, and a few minutes later, someone appeared who was eerily identical to the henchman we’d tied up.
“Pardon.”
Jaeyeon’s speech had turned strangely stiff too as he stripped the henchman of his clothes and belongings.
He put on the guy’s outfit and pocketed his phone and ID badge, perfecting the transformation.
“What about this one?”
Jaeyeon, transformation complete, dusted himself off and looked down at the henchman in his underwear.
“Kill him and bury him?”
“Cleanest option.”
“Wait, wait, wait.”
Why were those two suddenly in perfect agreement?
I grabbed the two who were treating the trembling henchman like trash for separate collection.
“No need to kill him.”
“Hey, you gonna keep acting like an amateur?”
Jaeyeon smacked my hand off his shoulder and snapped irritably.
“You think he’s some innocent little victim?”
“We can just hide him somewhere good. Do we really have to murder someone?”
“He’s too big to hide well.”
Yoon turned to me and countered calmly.
“We’d have to chop him up to reduce the volume.”
I let out a deep sigh.
The henchman was shaking like a leaf. He knew full well they were serious. Or maybe he was extra terrified because he knew what kind of people Jaeyeon and Yoon were.
I missed Ye-hyeon and Colton so much.
I pressed my throbbing temples.
After a moment’s thought, I spoke.
“If it’s about the risk of discovery, just cut out his tongue.”
The henchman, mouth gagged with a tie, writhed and mmph-mmphed.
Jaeyeon snickered, and Yoon narrowed his eyes.
“You psycho, pretending to be a gentleman after all that!”
“Or we bury him alive. He gave us all this info—killing’s a bit much.”
I walked over to the henchman as I spoke.
I bent down and untied the necktie gagging his mouth. Terror welled up in the henchman’s eyes as he looked up at me.
He stared holes into me as I tossed the tie on the floor.
He stammered.
“Y-you’re going to… c-cut out my t-tongue…?”
I gazed down at him calmly.
Expression unchanging, I studied him for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“Give us more escape tips, and I’ll bury you alive with an air hole.”
Bonus points if you tell us a good spot for the burial.
***
“Frappuccino!”
Ami shouted the moment she emerged from the operating room.
“My frappuccino!”
“Better recovery time than regular Green Dream. No vital organs hit.”
Samuel ignored Ami’s outburst.
He didn’t even look up from his tablet.
This grumpy reaction meant the situation wasn’t serious. Sca’s tense expression softened the instant he saw the doctor.
“Week till discharge. Don’t make a fuss—just let her rest for a week.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for your hard work, Doctor.”
“My favorite striped shirt got torn too.”
Ami lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and mumbling.
Her tone was glum.
“My fave striped shirt…”
Sca ignored everything Ami said and wheeled her to a private room.
The bed wheels squeaked down the hall. Ami, who’d been dozing off while the aide personally pushed her, snapped awake the moment they reached the room. She started wondering aloud in an excited voice when she could eat solid food.
After something like this, the frappuccino she hadn’t gotten to drink looked even tastier.
But Sca didn’t indulge Ami’s chatter.
He looked down at her with a troubled expression.
“Gotta be the Anti-Black Badger group, right?”
“Nope.”
Ami’s babbling stopped.
“Seemed like they were after Hilde.”
“What?”
Sca’s voice shot up.
“Hildebert?”
The aide listened to Ami’s explanation with a stunned look.
He’d already contacted Ye-hyeon.
He’d tried Yoon too, but his phone was off. Hilde’s was off as well—no way to reach them. Sca muttered a quiet curse and left a ton of texts and voice messages for them to see the second they got out of the party.
He contacted someone else too.
Someone who needed to hear this before anyone.
The man arrived at the room shortly after the call.
“Ami~…”
Ricardo dragged out the end as he opened the door.
“Long time no see….”
“Rick!”
Ami beamed.
“You got here super fast! I was bored—perfect timing!”
Smack!
A gentle flick landed on Ami’s forehead.
Ami’s eyes went wide as she cupped her forehead with both hands.
She looked up at the green-eyed man with utter confusion about why she’d been hit. After staring at her with elongated eyes, the badger sighed.
“Is Senior Yoon on his way~?”
“Tried calling, but his phone’s off. Hilde’s too. They both had meetings with sensitive types today, so maybe they turned them off for that. Left messages anyway.”
“Oh~.”
Ricardo replied in a displeased tone.
He kept his dissatisfied gaze fixed ahead, mumbling to himself.
“What the hell are those two doing in a situation like this….”
***
Yoon and I, Jaeyeon and the nameless henchman were diligently digging into the ground.