Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Idol, Stalker, Management (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest clue was the photo taken late at night inside the company building.
Was that how they were able to narrow down the list to those without an alibi?
Aisha’s manager, a company designer, an accountant, a photographer, and even a fellow idol.
The list of suspects in the stalking case had been narrowed down to these five.
Just in case, Raven asked Bold, who wore a grave expression.
“Hmm, were these five suspects really in the office at the time the photo was taken?”
“Yes, I saw them with my own two eyes. For their own reasons, they were the only ones who remained in the office late that night.”
“That’s all I needed to hear. The culprit must be one of them.”
With that statement, Raven seemed to have brushed away any lingering doubt, nodding with a look of conviction.
He then explained the situation to the suspects, who had no idea why they had been summoned.
For the past month, Aisha had been receiving messages containing death threats from a malicious stalker, as well as emails with photos of her back or places she had visited.
Fortunately, a piece of evidence that could identify the culprit was found in one of the photos, and based on that, they had been singled out as potential suspects.
It was a sufficient summary for them to grasp the situation, even without knowing all the details.
“That’s what was happening….”
“Ha, honestly. Why would I do something like that to Aisha? We’re colleagues at the same agency.”
“Being treated like this is so unfair! Who’s stalking who?”
“Hey, please calm down. We’re not saying you’re the culprit, just that there’s a possibility….”
“That’s what’s so upsetting! Why would I harass Aisha?”
Alice struggled to calm down the protesting individuals, who were raising their voices.
It seemed some of them were genuinely offended by the mere suspicion of being a malicious stalker.
But Raven’s expression remained unchanged in the face of their outrage; he simply continued speaking calmly with a professional demeanor.
“There’s no guarantee you won’t be the next target. So, the faster we catch the stalker, the more at ease you’ll all be, wouldn’t you agree? If you cooperate, we won’t keep you for long. Now, one by one, please tell us what you were doing at that time.”
Perhaps it was because he remained stoically businesslike, not even twitching an eyebrow at their commotion.
Those who had been furiously protesting their innocence slowly began to calm down and explain, one by one, what they had been doing.
The manager was waiting to drive Aisha home, so he was warming up in the break room.
The designer had an urgent album design to work on and was working overtime alone in the studio.
The accountant was also at her desk late into the night, fixing a mistake she had made during the day.
The photographer had left behind a photo he needed to submit the next morning and had briefly stopped by the office.
The fellow idol said she had just finished her dance and vocal practice and was about to leave.
Of course, since they were all being treated as suspects, there was no one to corroborate their stories.
But since they each had a reasonable explanation for being at the company, Raven stroked his chin with a puzzled expression.
“Thank you for your stories. It seems you all have what could be considered alibis.”
“Haa…. I don’t know. To think the stalker is among them….”
Bold, the general manager, muttered that it didn’t seem like anyone was telling a major lie.
Well, for him, who had worked alongside these people, it was probably hard to believe one of them was the culprit.
But just then, Raven, who had been slowly nodding, turned his head toward one person.
His gaze fell upon none other than Aisha’s manager.
“But this is strange. The manager there claimed he was quietly sitting in the break room that day and couldn’t have taken the photo…. Yet there’s evidence you visited a cafe outside the company at the same time, isn’t there?”
“Ugh…! Th-that’s…!”
“You seemed to have moved very cleverly to avoid the company’s CCTV…. I suppose you never imagined we’d access the external CCTV footage?”
*Flick.* Raven confidently held up a photo in front of the manager.
It was a still from an external CCTV camera, and the person in it was, by all accounts, the manager himself.
To tell such a blatant lie that could be so easily exposed.
A murmur went through the crowd, and I swallowed hard, imagining I was eating popcorn.
As if to add credibility to Raven’s words, David stepped forward and spoke.
“I also have something to say. At the scene where the stalker’s photo was taken, there was a testimony that a red-haired man was quietly following Ms. Aisha….”
“Gasp! The manager’s hair is….”
“A vivid red!”
All the suspects except the manager gasped and turned their heads toward the red-haired man.
An alibi proven to be a lie, and now circumstantial evidence pointing to him as the stalker.
No matter how you looked at it, he seemed to be the culprit. Even Aisha’s eyes widened in shock.
“M-Manager… that’s not true, is it? W-Why….”
“…”
“Answer me! It’s not you, is it? We… we said we were family!”
Aisha’s expression, thick with betrayal, broke through her heavy makeup.
She seemed unable to believe that the man who had taken care of her since her debut was the stalker who had tormented her so cruelly.
Just as the deeply shocked Aisha was about to approach her manager…
Raven stopped her and strode forward, as if he still had more to say.
“No, as it happens… the manager here is not the stalker.”
“Wh-what?”
“Wait, you’re the one who said the manager was a liar! What do you mean by that….”
“The manager has no motive to stalk her, nor anything to gain from it. He was simply used, like a tool. Isn’t that right? Mr. Bold.”
“A-ahem? What are you suddenly talking about….”
“The stalker… it’s you. Am I wrong?”
*Gasp!*
The people gasped, involuntarily sucking in a sharp breath at the shocking twist.
To think that Bold would be revealed as the true culprit, bypassing the prime suspect, the manager!
Well, I knew from the beginning, but still.
As someone who enjoys a story even when I know the ending, I found this development quite entertaining.
Of course, Bold, taken aback by Raven’s sudden accusation, began to sweat profusely from the top of his head as he denied it.
His stance was that Aisha was like a child he had raised, so why would he ever have a reason to do such a thing.
“I-If the manager has no reason or gain, then neither do I. What could I possibly gain from harassing Aisha?”
“Hmph, nothing to gain? You have one very big thing to gain. And that is, making Aisha quit of her own accord. You wanted to reduce the number of unprofitable Maximized Idols like Aisha, didn’t you? This position is practically a demotion for you.”
“Ha, haha…! What are you talking about! We’re family! How can you slander me like that…! Even if you’re a Fixer, arresting an innocent person like this is absurd! I’ll call the police…!”
“Innocent? Even after hearing this?”
Raven, whose polite tone had shifted to a casual one, looked at Bold with a pathetic gaze before pulling a device from his pocket and playing an audio file.
The quality was slightly poor, but the voice coming from the file was unmistakably Bold’s.
[ “Sir. What’s this about…?” ]
[ “*Sigh*, I need you to help me out. It seems the higher-ups think our kids aren’t making any money. They want me to get them to quit as soon as possible. Hah, Maximized, my foot. Don’t they mean trash?” ]
[ “But, can’t we just not renew their contracts after the one-year period is up?” ]
[ “*Tsk*, who knows. I guess they’re too impatient to even wait for that. I’ll put in a good word for you, so do a good job. I’ll even get you a new position if things work out.” ]
*Click.* The voice from the device stopped, and silence descended upon the room.
The contents were that shocking. The manager who treated the idols like family was actually a traitor, eager to abandon them all and run!
Even worse, the fact that he resorted to threats and intimidation like a stalker was to avoid creating grounds for a breach of contract on the company’s part. Aisha, deeply wounded, could only hang her head low.
Raven put the device back in his pocket and looked at Bold with a “what are you going to do now” expression.
“Looks like you’re the one who’ll be needing the police, don’t you think?”
“Gr, grr… Th-this is fabricated….”
“I guarantee on my honor as a Fixer that this recording has not been tampered with in the slightest. So, what will you bet? Your entire fortune? Or your life?”
“D-damn it!”
It seemed Bold had planned to sacrifice the manager as the culprit in the stalking case and slip away unnoticed. His face crumpled in frustration, realizing his plan had gone completely awry.
His expression was a far cry from the benevolent bald man I had seen this morning; it was the face of scum, tainted by evil.
The situation had completely turned. The stalking and death threats against Aisha were crimes that could damage not only him but the entire Codria organization.
If the police were called and the facts were confirmed, only judgment awaited him.
Just then, Aisha, with tears welling in her eyes, rushed over to Raven.
“W-wait a minute!”
“Huh?”
“Um… could you… not report Mr. Bold to the police?”
Aisha’s sudden defense of Bold threw the room into confusion once again.
After being tormented for a month, why would she suddenly stand up for him now?
Her unexpected action was enough to make even the manager, who had been blackmailed and used as a tool, protest.
But Raven paid little mind to the reactions of others and simply watched Aisha intently.
Realizing her intention was not born of petty pity or self-comfort, he calmly asked her a question.
“May I ask why?”
“It’s… not really for Mr. Bold’s sake. There are still idols at Codria whom I respect and like…. If we report this to the police, innocent people will be harmed because of it. I… I don’t want that to happen.”
Aisha wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at Raven, her eyes now blazing with a strong will.
What she was thinking about wasn’t regret for the traitor Bold or the manager who helped him.
If this incident spread and Codria itself became implicated, the ones who would suffer would not be the company, but the idols under it.
For an Idol of Apocalyptic Destruction, she was remarkably kindhearted and didn't want innocent people to get hurt because of this.
At that, Raven scratched his head as if in thought for a moment, then shrugged as if to say, “do as you please.”
“Then do that. My job was to find the stalker, not to punish them.”
“Jin!”
“What’s the big deal? The victim doesn’t want it. If that’s what she wants to do, let her.”
Let’s just wash our hands of this and get out. Despite Alice’s protest, Raven casually took a step back.
Aisha bowed her head to him in gratitude, then walked purposefully toward Bold.
She spoke in an icy voice to the man, who jutted out his chin as if to say, “what are you going to do about it?”
“Manager… No, baldy.”
“B-baldy?!”
“Yeah, you. Should I call you octopus instead? Want me to pluck out that little bit of hair you have left on the side? Who do you think you’re raising your voice at? Aren’t you ashamed of what you’ve done?”
“What, you… you…!”
Aisha glared at Bold with savage eyes, like a horse with its reins cut loose.
Perhaps he was no longer someone who deserved her respect.
The menacing aura she exuded, as if she might pull a hammer from her pocket and smash his head in at any moment, was enough to make one’s knees tremble just by watching from the side.
“Tell the higher-ups the contract was terminated because of your mistake. If you don’t, I’ll immediately let the whole world know about this.”
“Gr, ghk….”
“Are you not going to answer?!”
“I-I will! I will, so just!”
Bold hung his head low, looking completely intimidated by Aisha.
It seemed he instinctively realized that with his weakness so thoroughly exposed, antagonizing her now would be a disastrous move.
And so, the case was closed.
Aisha decided to terminate her idol contract due to a breach on the agency’s part.
They agreed that if he didn’t keep his promise, she would leak the story to reporters everywhere.
In the end, for Aisha, who had dreamed of being an idol since she was a child, it was a sad ending that left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Ugh, I really thought things were going well up until the middle….”
“With the general manager as the culprit, she couldn’t have continued as an idol there. In the end… it couldn’t be helped. Ugh…!”
They thought catching the stalker would bring happiness. But in the end, she had to quit being an idol.
Perhaps feeling regret over the bittersweet conclusion, Alice and David were slumped over the table at the cafe they visited after finishing the job, looking thoroughly depressed.
But Raven, sipping his chocolate latte, simply clicked his tongue at the two of them, as if wondering why they were even thinking about such things.
“Why are you getting worked up over every little thing? We just have to do our job. Whatever choice the client makes, there’s no reason for us to interfere.”
“But still….”
“Tsk, tsk, look at the part-timer. She’s acting perfectly fine, like nothing’s wrong. What are you two, grown-ups, doing? Aren’t you embarrassed in front of a kid?”
“…?”
Why are you suddenly dragging me into this?
And David aside, isn’t Alice still high school age?
I gave him a baffled look while sipping my apple mango juice.
However, Raven met my gaze with a confident air and continued speaking to the two slumped over the table.
“Get rid of the idea that everything will have a happy ending. Most things in this world tend to go in directions you don’t want them to. Don’t get too hung up on the outcome. That’s how you live a long time without stressing out.”
“*Sigh*…. I guess you’re right.”
“And from what I heard, it doesn’t seem like she’s planning to quit being an idol completely. She’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future. Can’t guarantee she’ll succeed, though.”
Raven added those cold, realistic words and finished his chocolate latte.
Did his mature demeanor offer some comfort?
Alice and David also started to finish their own coffees.
For a while, no words were exchanged, and only a quiet silence filled the space.
Suddenly, Alice, who was resting her chin on her hand and gazing out the window, muttered a small thought to herself.
“Come to think of it, I wonder when Ms. Aisha will be back. She said she was just going to remove her makeup for a bit.”
“Well… she had a lot of stuff on her face. It’s probably taking some time.”
In fact, it wasn’t just the four of us at this cafe.
There was one more person in our party, and that was none other than today’s client, Aisha.
Now that Maximized Idol, Aisha of Destruction, was no more.
She had left for a moment to remove her makeup, perhaps as a way to gather her thoughts.
And then, a beautiful woman approached from inside the cafe, looking somewhat awkward.
She was so stunningly beautiful that she made you gasp, captivating all eyes.
She was the owner of an overwhelming aura that would make even Alice, the official beauty of the Fixer agency, seem a little dim in comparison.
Surprisingly, this incredible beauty, who seemed to be just passing by, came to a sudden stop at our table.
As Raven glanced up to see what she wanted, she smiled bashfully and spoke cautiously.
“Uh, excuse me…. Mr. Raven. Could I possibly make one more request? There’s something I’d like to ask….”
“…Who are you?”
A woman who was speaking to him like an acquaintance, though he had clearly never seen her before.
Raven’s jaw dropped so far it nearly hit the floor at her next words.
“It’s me, Aisha.”
“What!”
“Huh?!”
“…?”
*Pfft!*
I burst out laughing internally, far more amused now than when Bold was revealed as the culprit, surrounded by my companions who were ten times more flustered.
Ah, so this is why people love surprises.
It felt like I had learned something new.