BVSM 09

Chapter 09

“Luther?!”

Jeremy was more afraid of Luther than of Aden.

Not only did Luther have the unofficial title of “fixer,” but above all, the muscle he flaunted was no joke.

Because of that, the trading company’s owner—Aden—seemed relatively unremarkable in comparison. A deskbound bookworm with a pale face—surely he couldn’t even use his body properly.

And if Aden lacked confidence in physical strength, wasn’t that why he kept a brute like Luther as his bodyguard?

‘St‑still, it’s okay. Luther’s an idiot, after all.’

The saving grace was that Luther was a fool who just laughed vacantly all the time.

Maybe if Jeremy used the right words, he could talk his way out. Thinking fast, Jeremy raised his voice.

“Luther! Is that you?”

“…….”

“Let me out! That probationary brat tied me up here and ran off!”

This might actually work out.

After all, hadn’t he uncovered that the probationary employee—Ilyan or whatever—was a spy?

Sure, she’d knocked him out with a broom, but she must have fled in fear of being found out.

So couldn’t he just pin everything on that girl?

Even his own embezzlement!

“She kept loitering around the archive room, so I thought it was suspicious and talked to her—and she immediately grabbed a broom and attacked! My gut feeling was right after all!”

“…….”

“She must have been plotting something. Otherwise, why would she attack me…!”

Click.

At the sound of a button being pressed, Jeremy flinched, his eyes slowly widening.

[Good thing I came quickly—I had a bad feeling.]

At the same moment that the scene in the corridor reached his ears through the recording, someone standing with their back to him slowly turned around.

[Who sent you? Was it the Chairman? Did he tell you to spy on me?]
[I‑I think there’s some misunderstanding. Who is this ‘Chairman’…?]

“D‑Deputy Director…?”

“Jeremy Sand.”

[Fine! Let’s do this, then!]
[Wait, please calm down and…]

Click.

Aden, having turned off the recorded video magic tool, asked in a flat voice.

“Do you have any other excuses?”

“Th‑that, well…”

“Not this kind of low‑grade nonsense. Something… how should I put it… something worth listening to.”

This was strange.

Had the trading company owner’s build—which Jeremy had dismissed as good for nothing—always been this… large?

And had his eyes always been so chilling?

The moment he faced Aden, questions like ‘When did he install that video magic tool?’ no longer even ranked among his curiosities.

He hadn’t had a face‑to‑face conversation with the Deputy Director since the interview, so words failed him even more.

Just as Jeremy was about to barely open his mouth—

“I’ll take that as ‘no.’”

“D‑Deputy Director! That’s not it! I, I really…!”

Was this what it felt like to be prey facing a beast?

The pressure radiating through his entire body made it hard to even breathe properly.

He had been terribly mistaken. A truly horrible mistake.

Jeremy’s instincts whispered:

If you want to survive, you have to tell him everything.

But Jeremy’s intuition, as always, was far off the mark.

“Tell me what? That you set up a shell company called ‘Ronnen Logistics Agency’ and embezzled around 300 million gold? Or that you demanded regular kickbacks and entertainment from subcontractors?”

“Th‑that’s…!”

“Or maybe that the original task the ‘Chairman’ gave you was simply to steal the black‑label documents from the archive room?”

Jeremy’s mind went white.

“You’re probably wondering how I know, but I don’t have to answer that. I can tell you when I found out, though.”

Chop.

Aden, wearing black leather gloves, suddenly slammed Jeremy’s body against the wall.

“Kuh!”

No, that wasn’t a wall.

Jeremy, groaning in pain and trembling, raised his head—and saw.

“H‑how can this be…?”

An empty filing cabinet.

Only then did Jeremy realize.

The archive room he had tried to reach even by digging a tunnel…

‘Could it have been a trap all along!’

That there had been nothing there from the start.

His vision blurred. Without even realizing he was crying, Jeremy begged.

“Please, spare me! I’ll do anything you say—hic—anything! So please!”

“Why would I dirty my hands with you?”

Then…?

Jeremy’s eyes flashed with a sliver of hope. He saw Aden’s face—at once composed and yet weary.

In other words, the same expressionless face as always.

“You’re not worth it. That’s a job for the ‘Chairman’ who sent you.”

“Ah, aaah…!”

“Think quietly about what the Chairman will think when you return alive even though your cover was blown.”

He’ll think I betrayed him. He’ll surely think I spilled everything to save my skin!

But Jeremy wasn’t given much time to ponder.

“Of course,” Aden said.

The last thing Jeremy saw—

“I never said I’d send you back ‘in one piece.’”

—were those eerie violet eyes, whispering like a reaper’s as they drew closer.

A short while later.

“…….”

Aden returned to his office, peeled off the blood‑soaked leather gloves, and tossed them into the trash bin.

He straightened his clothes and sat back down at his desk—a series of motions as neat as a ritual.

He raised his always‑carried hip flask to his lips, then turned his head at the sound of mechanical noise.

It was a communication device.

“Yes, Aden speaking.”

—Deputy Director? It’s Lennox! I’m reporting in. More importantly, how have you been? Feels like it’s been a while since I saw you in person! You probably don’t care, but I’ve been doing well…

Through the device, a cheerful voice—belonging to a man who introduced himself as “Lennox”—came through along with the cry of seagulls.

Aden answered shortly.

“Just the facts.”

—Ah, fine, got it. First, that bastard Jeremy—I found his secret account and recovered all the money he embezzled plus what he extorted from subcontractors!

“Any difficulties?”

—You ordered that every payment to him be tagged, right? For traceability. Jeremy tried to be clever and rented the account under a fake name, but that was a piece of cake.

Even the good news that they’d recovered over 300 million gold in full didn’t change Aden’s expression.

Because it was expected.

More than that, he was gauging when the tags attached to money given to others would move.

For example, the 3 million gold welcome bonus given to that probationary employee.

—By the way, I heard another spy joined as a new hire? Aigoo, really. Why do you have so many enemies, Deputy Director? If you ask me…

“Just the facts.”

—Yep. Anyway, the place where Jeremy set up his fake account and the location of Sirena, where the new hire lived, weren’t far apart, so I arrived a little while ago.

If Luther was the fixer, Lennox was the tracker.

Aden had instructed Lennox to contact Mason, the owner of Mason Trading Company—Ilyan’s former workplace.

—Well… it seems this Mason guy has run off somewhere. And recently, too.

Ha.

Aden’s brow furrowed faintly.

“Reason?”

—First, this town is full of elderly folks, so I couldn’t just rashly conduct interviews. Rural port cities are quick to gossip and very wary. So I headed straight to Mason’s house.

A groan came from the other side.

—No signs of life. So I got suspicious, broke in, and…

“Mason wasn’t there, you mean.”

—Not only that. The place was completely trashed! Clothes all pulled out, valuables boxes left open. Could he have skipped town overnight?

Of course, if Ilyan had heard this, she would have face‑palmed.

Mason had simply left on a retirement trip, and he was always a hopeless slob. That’s precisely why he had hired a young Ilyan in the first place.

But Lennox, having no way of knowing that, added gravely.

—Deputy Director. I think… this spy might not be an ordinary person.

Aden turned his eyes to the Ilyan in the video magic tool.

Watching her tap at a creaky floorboard and then suddenly smirk, Aden slowly nodded.

“I agree.”