Chapter 98
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 98
This was the second time I had ever used Appraisal on a person. But it might as well have been the first.
The first test subject had been Professor Lee Taek-jin.
He was practically a superhuman whose realm was so far beyond me that there was no way it could have had any side effects.
[Activating trait 'Appraisal'.]
But I used it without hesitation.
"Everything this bastard knows about the luminescent tattoos."
I narrowed the scope and set the mana requirement to the minimum.
[If the medium is a living creature, the trait's effectiveness decreases.]
[The more antipathy the medium holds, the less information can be read.]
Tzzzt—
Then, a moment later, more mana than I had expected drained out all at once, and I staggered for an instant.
Along with a fierce headache, unfamiliar information began surfacing in my mind in no particular order.
"Ugh."
I sat down on the floor, pressing hard against my temples, and checked Scarface's condition.
The bastard shuddered, then flopped over with a thud.
Judging by the rise and fall of his chest, his life didn't seem to be in danger.
Should I call this a pass?
I'd thought he might end up crippled, but apparently the aftereffects weren't that severe.
That was a relief.
It meant I could use it without burden from now on.
"Anyway."
Once the headache that had been stabbing at my head faded, I started sorting through the information I'd obtained.
As expected, Scarface was the lowest of the low among errand boys, so the quantity and quality of the information weren't good.
But one thing was certain: there was a mysterious organization.
An unknown faction that even I didn't know about definitely existed.
Scarface didn't know the exact name either, and the man was simply called a Pawn.
It seemed certain that he had received a transparent liquid called a "Booster," the raw material for the luminescent tattoos, from a brawny man wearing a black mask.
The meeting place was Nice, a city in southern France. It was a two-story old house built on a low hill,
and the method was to inject it into the skin with a syringe to imprint it, with the activation condition being the "will" one wished to use.
I even found out that they were experimenting on thugs.
That was all the useful information.
I gave up at that point and got to my feet.
The scale was bigger than I'd thought, and it felt like stepping into an unclear territory, so I wasn't exactly at ease.
"Are you all right?"
At that moment, along with hurried footsteps, I heard Reina's voice.
I set my questions aside and greeted her calmly.
"Yes, as you can see, they weren't that strong......"
"That's a relief. But the situation is quite serious. You must have felt it too, Ha-yul. Those tattoos, I mean."
"Ah, that......"
But since Reina was another witness, I couldn't hide everything.
"Not that. We need to report this right now. A power that defies reason......"
"Wait a moment. Calm down first."
I cut Reina off for the time being and met her eyes.
Then I continued seriously.
"What happened today must not be revealed to the outside. Absolutely."
"Excuse me?"
Reina's face went blank for a moment, but I raised a finger as if to say I wasn't finished.
And I explained, with some embellishment.
The thugs were merely a side branch, and there was a separate force behind them.
They were so elusive and cunning that the moment an official investigation began,
they would cover their tracks and flee, I bluffed.
I didn't separately disclose the parts that were hard to explain, like the source of my information.
"So you're saying we should just bury this?"
"No. The investigation will continue. We have to find the root somehow. Deciding whether to make it public can wait until then."
"......."
Reina narrowed her eyes slightly as if deliberating, then soon nodded in agreement.
"Understood. If that is truly your wish, I will follow it."
"A wise decision. If you trust me, I'll handle......"
"However."
......However?
"I'm against you investigating alone. I will join you, so know that."
"Excuse me?"
What the.......
"Hey. No, Saintess? Don't decide so hastily. Let me first......"
As the development took a strange turn, I hastily continued speaking.
But Reina was firm.
"Aren't we already in the same boat? Now that I know, I can't just sit still either."
"Why not? Sitting still is such a good thing."
"I don't like it. Anyway, if you keep refusing, I'll move on my own, so know that."
Tch.
With her coming at me like that, I couldn't refuse any further.
Reina was a woman who did what she said she would.
If she went around poking into things and caused an accident, that would be even worse for me.
So I had no choice.
I'd have to take her in for now.
"Understood. In exchange......"
I took a step back and then laid out a few precautions.
First, I clearly announced that I held the initiative in the investigation.
Whatever decision I made, she would follow.
Even if questions arose during the investigation, she was not to ask, and so on.
I tacked on various extra conditions, but the gist was simple.
If we're doing this together, just shut up and follow.
I was coming on strong from the very start.
"Understood. Let's do that."
Reina, seemingly not particularly bothered, extended her hand to me.
Well, if I thought positively, I was gaining a ridiculously strong ally, so I clasped her hand more readily than before.
But then.
"Just answer one thing for me."
The grip strength I felt in her hand at that moment.
Reina's eyes, grown more serious, stared straight into mine.
Realizing I couldn't refuse, I nodded.
Then Reina asked.
"You surely didn't come here without reason....... What are you chasing the tattoos for?"
"......."
It was a question with quite a lot of meaning compressed into it.
Because it was a question premised on the idea that the reason I had come here was because of the tattoos.
So, sincerely.......
This time, without any lie, I answered honestly.
"A person....... No, I'm chasing the traces of a certain person."
"Is it someone important?"
"...Yes. Someone precious."
That was all.
Rather than what kind of person, I had told her what kind of meaning the person held.
.......
[Reina's affection has increased.]
[You have acquired 2 SP.]
I stared blankly at the message, then—ow.......
I suddenly realized the blood wasn't flowing in my right hand.
"My hand......"
"Ah. I'm sorry."
Reina hurriedly let go of the hand she had been squeezing until then.
With her face slightly flushed, she glanced around, then pointed at the bearded man and Scarface sprawled on the floor.
"......What will you do with these guys?"
"Ah. That."
I picked up my phone with my numb hand.
I had no intention of sending them off gently, given how much evil they had done, and a suitable person for the cleanup had just come to mind.
"There's a thug I know. No, a broker. I'm thinking of asking him."
"A thug you know?"
"No, a broker."
"Is there a difference?"
"Not really. But he's reliable when it comes to handling work. From what I've seen......"
Come to think of it, he often had a sharp side.
I laughed lightly, then searched through my received messages and found the number.
Ahem, ahem.
I lowered my voice and made the call.
After a few rings, a gravelly voice burst out from the other end of the line.
—Whoa, look who it is. Limited Lifespan.
"Have you been well?"
—Me? Same as always. Got a lot of mouths to feed, so I'm always busy. But what's the occasion for calling? You coming to a hunting ground or something?
Viper asked me in a subtly excited voice.
He seemed to be expecting something, since he had a precedent of making a lump sum thanks to the Irregular.
But today's business wasn't hunting.
"Do you also handle disposal?"
—Goods? Well, I take most things. As long as they're not too big. How big is it?
"Big."
—Big? How big.
How big?
I wondered how to explain it, then just said it as it was.
"Yeongdeungpo."
—Yeongdeungpo? What do you mean, Yeongdeungpo.
"Exactly what I said. Viper, I'd like you to take over Yeongdeungpo."
* * *
There's an old saying that if you befriend one good person, you can rise all the way to the highest office.
And old sayings are never wrong.
"Puhahaha, what is all this?"
Viper came rushing over as soon as he heard the situation.
In just over thirty minutes, he entered Capital leading a whole crowd of about fifty underlings.......
And now he was sitting face-to-face with the bearded man in that solitary room over there, discussing.
Well, supposedly it was an agreement between the heads for a legitimate succession process.
Anyway, it was blind money. I didn't want wealth bloated by other people's blood and pus, so I said just one thing.
"Fifty percent."
Use Capital's funds to return the interest that had been taken illegitimately, and liquidate all the remaining assets.
I told him to deposit just fifty percent of that.
......Did I ask for too little?
Anyway, he was someone reliable when it came to handling work, so he'd take care of it.
Reina was waiting at a nearby cafe, so there was nothing to get in the way of wearing the human-skin mask.
Anyway, the "Flash Gang" was disbanded in the wake of this incident.
I asked for the criminals to be sent to the police station and the innocent ones to be sent home.
Scarface would be detained for the time being. It was concluded that Viper's side would hold him.
Sending him to the police station felt somehow uneasy, you see.
The deadline was until I visited Nice.
Coincidentally, next week the field-study club's trip destination was Italy, so I decided to hitch a ride then.
I figured I could move separately during free time for the investigation, and although it was a different country, the distance was close, so traveling by portal would be easy.
When the cleanup was roughly finished, I said goodbye to Viper, telling him I'd be going.
Viper came running out in a fluster and lined up his underlings.
"I'll contact you as soon as the cleanup is done. Kids, say hello. This is an honored guest of our Viper faction."
"Take care, Limited Lifespan!"
Why go this far.
We had suddenly become brothers, but as a memento, I gave them one word of well-wishing.
"Let's live without committing sins."
By the time I stepped outside the building, it was already well past five o'clock.
I had meant to make it by six.......
Tch.
No matter how much I hurried, it didn't seem like I'd arrive, so in the end, I sent a text.
It was an unavoidable situation, but it was true that I had broken a promise, so I sent a long, elaborate reply.
Whatever Joo A-rin said, first, yes.......
Even if she cursed me out, I was confident I could take it with a smile.
[......I see. I just remembered too, so don't worry about it.]
But what's this.
Really?
The very fact that Joo A-rin had forgotten our appointment felt somehow unsettling, and I was just about to ask again.
[But can I ask you one thing?]
Since she was the one asking, I decided to hear her out for now.
[What is it.]
But after that, there was no word at all.
There was no reply until Reina and I returned to Taehak and entered the dormitory.
Then, after I lay down on the bed, my phone vibrated.
[Never mind. Just keep it (Keep). I'll ask again next time]
What, how anticlimactic.
It was just like Joo A-rin to deliberately put the English word "Keep" in parentheses like that.
I smirked and sent a reply.
[Okay]