The Voice of the Heavens (3)
The next morning, after hearing the report, Ara Sweet asked again.
"He's dead?"
"Yeah, both of the mercenaries we hired are dead."
"Looks like you found a bodyguard more capable than I expected. How good is he?"
"Uh, well... that's the thing, I'm not really sure."
She snapped at her manager's answer.
"What kind of idiotic answer is that? I told you to go see for yourself. Don't tell me you didn't go."
"N-no, of course I went. I watched it happen with my own eyes. But our mercenaries collapsed flat on the spot before the operation even started, and then they died. When I examined the bodies, there was a single hole drilled through each of their foreheads."
"...Does that even make sense?"
Ara's brow furrowed.
Even as a singer, she knew perfectly well that what she was hearing was beyond absurd.
"So you're telling me the other side noticed us before we even made a move, and acted first."
"I couldn't wrap my head around it either, so I went to the mercenary office and asked. They said it was killing intent."
"Killing intent?"
"Masters can sense it when someone resolves to kill them. Some can even trace that intent back and pinpoint their target's exact location."
"So that lowlife's bodyguard is a master?"
"That would be the case."
"...How interesting."
She had no idea where they'd managed to find a mercenary like that, but it wasn't a bad thing. Quite the opposite — listening to the story had given her a far more entertaining idea.
She rose from her seat.
"Get the car ready."
"Where are you going? Shopping?"
"No. I want to meet this bodyguard of hers."
"...Why would you meet him?"
"What do you think?"
To hire him, of course.
A private dining room in the sky lounge of the Grand Baran Hotel.
It was a place so extravagant that people said a single meal there cost more than the average office worker's monthly salary.
Marin strode into such a place as casually as if it were her own kitchen and asked, "What do you think? The atmosphere and the view here are insane, right? And everything on the menu is delicious."
"..."
This woman. The moment she stepped into any enclosed space these days, she dropped the act entirely.
Oscar, deciding it was high time he cured her of that habit, spoke up. "Watch your mouth in public. There are listening devices installed in this very room, you know."
"...Huh?"
Marin's pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
The moment Evelyn stood up and said she'd go sort it out with the manager—
"Sit down. I disabled them the second we walked in, anyway."
Oscar said it like it was nothing.
Ever since he'd discovered a speaker planted in his own room, running a Scan spell everywhere he went had become second nature.
"Whew. Thank god. Can you imagine a transcript of a certain artist's foul language making the rounds?"
"You never used to be like this when it was just the two of you traveling together. I think having Kilian around has really put you at ease."
"Wh-what the hell is that supposed to mean! What does he have to do with anything!"
While Marin spent a good ten minutes insisting it was nothing of the sort, the dishes arrived one after another until the round table was packed full.
"Here, you've probably never seen any of this before, but start with this one."
Marin, thoroughly excited, pushed a plate forward.
"These are dumplings from Yeon Country. Fair warning — they're incredible. One bite and the broth just—"
"I know. I've eaten them until I was sick of them, back in the day."
Marin tilted her head at that. "Weird. I heard all White Tower mages are dirt poor. Guess that's not quite true, huh?"
"M-Marin. Sometimes the truth can wound the person hearing it."
"..."
Who exactly do these two take me for?
Oscar's eyebrows twitched as he fired back. "Granted, there was a brief period — a very brief period — when our White Tower was poor, but ever since the potion business became a smashing success, we're rich. Our White Tower."
"Oh? Now that you mention it, I think I read about that in the papers. Didn't you develop some kind of cold medicine?"
"Not cold medicine — a cure and vaccine for the Cadena Flu."
"Right, right. And I heard the guy who developed it is a freaking genius?"
"I think I heard that news too. Apparently he was famous as a prodigy even way back when."
It went without saying that the freaking genius the two of them kept talking about was sitting right in front of them.
Marin, mid-gossip with Evelyn, turned her head. "Come to think of it, if you're from the same tower, you two must've crossed paths before, right?"
"Well, yes. We run into each other now and then..."
Mostly in mirrors...
Just as he was praying the topic would change, the door swung open and the hotel manager walked in.
"Oh, Manager! The food here is as delicious as ever~"
Marin switched to angel mode in an instant, greeting him with an adorable smile.
But the answer didn't come from the manager. It came from someone appearing behind him.
"Good to hear. Eat up — I've already settled the bill."
When the woman in sunglasses said this with a smirk, the faces of Marin and Evelyn went rigid at the same time.
One look at their reaction told him exactly who she was.
That woman is Ara Sweet...
Marin, caught completely off guard, forced a smile and spoke up. "Manager? You let a stranger into a private dining room during a meal. What is the meaning of this?"
"Ah, they're old friends — senior and junior from school. She said she'd only stop by to say hello."
Not a trace of unease showed on the manager's face as he answered without so much as flinching. It was a fresh reminder of just how much power that woman wielded in this city.
"...We're leaving. I can't eat another bite. My appetite's gone."
If angel-mode Marin was speaking this sharply, it meant she was truly furious.
As the two of them rose from their seats, Ara crossed her arms and said with easy confidence, "If you're leaving, then only you and your manager go. I have some business to discuss with Mr. Bodyguard here."
"...And what business would you have with my bodyguard, senior?"
"Business, obviously."
"My schedule won't be opening up anytime soon, so look elsewhere."
"Well, isn't it ultimately up to him? If I cover the penalty for breaking your contract and offer him ten times his current fee... I imagine Mr. Bodyguard's thinking might change a little. What do you say?"
From her smiling face flowed an unmistakable confidence — the kind that said, as if a nobody like you could refuse my offer.
Marin and Evelyn grew visibly anxious at her words, glancing his way again and again.
"Ten times, you say? Those are terms I can't refuse. Very well."
Marin trembled under her eyes as if she'd taken a hammer blow, and Evelyn's face went dark.
Ara simply beamed a triumphant smile, watching the two of them like she'd seen this coming all along.
After observing the scene for a moment, Oscar tilted his head.
"That said — exactly how much did you assume I was being paid, to open with ten times?"
"Doesn't matter what it is. I have money to burn."
"My, how refreshing. Well then, my fee is one million bel, so you'd owe me ten million bel, wouldn't you?"
Twitch. Ara Sweet faltered.
The amount was far larger than she'd imagined.
One million as a fee? So she really did spend a fortune.
Well, of course. No mercenary worth the name would have taken the job, so she'd had no other option.
Having pieced together the whole picture, Ara nodded. "Fine. Ten million."
"Oh, wait. No — now that I think about it, the signing fee alone was one million bel, and the total contract came to eleven million. Let's see... that would make one hundred ten million bel? Perfect. Transfer the funds and I'll head over to your side immediately. Instant settlement, you understand?"
"..."
Tremble, tremble.
Ara Sweet's body shook with rage.
She had only just realized that he was toying with her.
Ara bit down hard on her lip and glared at him as if she wanted him dead. A gaze cold as frost flew straight through those sunglasses.
"What's your name?"
"Kilian Lockwood, the White Tower's Rising Star."
"Kilian Lockwood... I'd advise you to look forward to what's coming. Your life is about to get very interesting."
Had a certain someone currently laid up in a hospital bed somewhere in Baran heard that remark, it would have given him quite the shock.
But so what? If it bothered him, he should've been the one sitting here.
Oscar answered that venomous curse with nothing more than a shrug.
"Interesting sounds good to me. My life's always been plenty dynamic as it is."
It wasn't a lie, exactly.
He'd run a magic tower, traded blows with the Great Emperor, even died and come back to life... he'd done a bit of everything.
"..."
Ara Sweet glared at the man who had refused to yield an inch to the very end, then spun on her heel and swept out of the room.
When the manager, who'd been hovering nervously the entire time, scurried out after her, it felt as though a storm had finally passed.
"Why didn't you go? That was ten million bel we're talking about."
Marin blurted out.
"Do you honestly believe I signed a contract with you for the money?"
"Uh, isn't it because there was no penalty fee, so you couldn't back out?"
"..."
That was partially true, but honestly, this woman.
Letting out a soft sigh, Oscar spoke his true mind. "You said you wanted to save your father, didn't you? I want to see that dream of yours come true."
Because he himself had never even been given the chance to save his own master — the man who'd been like a father to him.
That regret had become a wound that never healed, and it was why he could never turn away from people like her.
"..."
After a long silence, Marin Maria turned her back to him and spat out a single word.
"...Thank you."
It was the first genuine thanks she had ever offered to anyone outside of her parents and Evelyn.
CRASH!
"Arrogant bastards!"
The moment Ara returned to her room, she hurled every whiskey glass her hand could reach. Each one was a luxury piece worth thousands of bel apiece, but right now she couldn't have cared less.
She had gone all that way just to watch that lowlife's face crumble — and instead she'd come back with nothing but humiliation.
"...Summon the Udok brothers. Now."
"Y-yes, of course."
Even as allies, meeting those two terrified even her manager.
But at this moment, refusing that frost-laced command was a far more frightening prospect.
Before long, the summoned brothers entered the room. Ara looked them over and spoke.
"The plan has changed a little."
"Hm? How so?"
"Once the concert begins, we kill the manager and turn the singer into a cripple, throat and all — that was the arrangement, yes?"
"That's right."
"Well, now there's one more man who has to die."
The bodyguard who had dared to make a fool of her. Kilian Lockwood would have his retribution, without fail.
"Marin's bodyguard. Kill him — make it as agonizing as you can."
"Consider it done. And the women?"
"Those two proceed as planned. Kill the manager, and make sure Marin never uses her voice again for the rest of her life."
"Heh heh. A beautiful plan, every time I hear it."
"But you do understand? The headcount went up by one, so there'll be extra compensation."
"No problem at all."
Even so, it would never come close to one hundred ten million bel.
She could simply consider it money she'd earmarked for that bodyguard, put to use at last.
I'll show you, plain and clear — exactly what it costs to disrespect me in this city.
In a few days' time, they would learn the weight of their mistake, down to their bones.