BVSM 07

Chapter  07

It was a voice that went beyond cold — so sharp it felt like tiny blades were dropping from it.

After downing something from a hip flask and tucking it back into his chest, Aden walked ahead.

From experience, Luther knew it was best not to try to start a conversation when Aden was like this. Following discreetly, Luther looked at Aden’s back with a somewhat newfound feeling.

‘The boss is twenty-four now… It’s already been ten years since we first met.’

Luther recalled the moment he first met Aden.

He remembered thinking the boy was unusually mature for his age.

It wasn’t just because he was head and shoulders taller than other boys his age. The problem was his eyes.

A boy with violet eyes so full of venom it overflowed, leaving nothing but pure malice. The first words he spoke were:

“I want revenge.”

At the time, Luther had just opened his one-man information guild. Caught off guard, he repeated the word:

“R-revenge? Revenge is good. Yeah, sure. But… on whom?”

The answer was a masterpiece.

“On every single noble in this country.”

It was obviously a tricky, time-consuming request.

But Luther accepted the job — no, the boy.

Back then, Luther’s organization was an information guild in name only; in reality, it was just a small errand center.

The boy had propelled that guild to staggering heights.

Luther knew his own limits well. It was his own decision to hand over the position of trade company head to Aden.

‘It’s only natural that different people suit different positions, right? The person who’s good at the work should be the one to do it. Of course, of course.’

But sometimes, he was curious.

Aden, who over the past ten years had learned to smoothly mask the anger and poison in his eyes…

‘What does he plan to do once the revenge is over?’

Did he have anything he wanted to do besides revenge?

But he couldn’t ask. Even if he did, he wouldn’t get an answer.

‘It’s not that he wouldn’t want to answer. …Probably, he doesn’t even know himself.’

Lost in an unusually sentimental mood, Luther was staring at the back of his first-ever client — and current company head — when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“It would be best to stop dwelling on useless old memories.”

“Huh? N-no, how did you know…?”

Did he have eyes on the back of his head?

No, even if he did have eyes there, he couldn’t possibly read his thoughts, could he?

While Luther was confused, a bag was thrust into his chest. He realized they had arrived at the conference hall.

“You followed quietly without complaining about the heat for once, so I just guessed. And here.”

“Ah, this is the video magic device installed in the office, right?”

“Yes. Keep an eye on things from the waiting room while I’m in the meeting. Report anything unusual.”

Without waiting for an answer, Aden spun around and entered the hall.

Left alone, Luther shrugged and headed to the waiting room with the attendant.

The employee guiding him gave a look that seemed to ask, ‘Aren’t you supposed to go in together as his aide?’

‘Well, it’s not like I’m his real aide anyway.’

In a manner of speaking, Luther was a ‘fixer’.

The art of conversation? Why would I need that? Just one good crack of my knuckles and everyone answers my questions just fine.

But today’s meeting wasn’t one Luther necessarily needed to attend.

So why had he come on the outside errand with Aden?

“Well, obviously, because I have to be away from the office too, so those spies can run around freely.”

After the employee left and closed the door, Luther let out a small “Oosh” and opened the briefcase.

Multiple views of the office appeared.

Recalling the magic device that Jeremy had secretly installed immediately after joining six months ago, Luther grinned.

“Jeremy must have been running around scheming, not even knowing this thing existed.”

Aden had long since figured out Jeremy’s backers.

But instead of exposing his identity, Aden chose to observe him.

The reason was simple.

“He’s waiting. Until Jeremy and his backers dig their own graves — nice and deep.”

That way, he could bury them cleanly.

There was already plenty of evidence. They had already finished tracking the flow of funds, which was their original goal.

But yesterday, Aden had decided to give Jeremy a few more weeks’ leeway.

“So you wanted to see how Jeremy would treat the ‘new spy’?”

The ‘new spy’ Luther referred to was, of course, the probationary secretary starting today, Ilian Grecia.

If Jeremy showed signs of making contact with Ilian, that would mean they were on the same side, and they’d learn Ilian’s backers at once.

Conversely, if Jeremy was wary of Ilian?

“Even an idiot spy is still a spy. He’ll try to dig up who sent the probie on his own. We just need to wait for the results.”

Looking at the screen, it seemed to be the latter. Jeremy was openly hostile toward Ilian.

Moreover, Ilian’s face was wet after coming back from the bathroom. Did he make her cry?

‘Still, Ilian seemed friendly and nice, unlike Jeremy… No, no. What am I thinking?’

Shaking his head, Luther continued watching the screen.

After staring blankly at the documents for a while, Ilian seemed to make a decision and picked up a broom.

And then?

“She found the mole tunnel Jeremy dug, just like that? Haah… Looks like this one’s a spy too, after all….”

Was his eye for people really that bad?

Feeling a bit deflated, Luther stared at the screen — then shot to his feet.

“What the?!”

At the same time, the waiting room door opened.

“Meeting’s over. Let’s head back to the company now… What are you doing?”

“L-l-look at this!”

Luther shoved the briefcase right in front of Aden’s face.

And for good reason.

“They’re fighting?!”

No, he thought there might at most be a staredown!

The two people on screen were in a physical fight. A full-on, serious fight!

For Ilian to cause an incident like this on her very first day…

Luther turned his head. S-surely Aden hadn’t planned even this…?

“I didn’t see this coming.”

Hmm, maybe not.

He said it in a very calm tone for someone who hadn’t seen it coming, but the next order came immediately.

“Let’s head back. Now.”

All the way back to the company, Luther’s mind was unusually chaotic.

Of course, it was good for them that the spies were fighting each other and might self-destruct!

‘Is Jeremy out of his damn mind?!’

Even for a man without a conscience, how could he lay hands on a woman much younger and smaller than him?

He knew Jeremy was trash, but this was unrecyclable trash.

BAM!

Luther kicked open the office door and stormed in. What he saw was…

A hallway absolutely destroyed.

“Oh, you’re here.”

“….”

“Umm, well, here’s what happened—”

Jeremy, unconscious and slumped over limply.

“There was a bit of a scuffle with Mr. Jeremy.”

“…I can see that, but what exactly was our probationary secretary doing…?”

“I was afraid he’d wake up and cause another scene. …So I was tying him up, ahem, am tying him up.”

It was Ilian, adjusting her glasses as she paused mid-way through binding him with some kind of rope.

Exactly ten minutes earlier.

“Fine! Okay! You wanna go? Let’s go!”

“Just a moment, please calm down—”

Before I could finish, Jeremy lunged at me.

But.

“Wh-what?”

Jeremy’s hands, clearly aiming to grab my neck, sliced through empty air.

So my experience dodging creditors left and right comes in handy at a time like this?

As soon as I saw Jeremy’s hands rise, I quickly ducked and shouted.

“Let’s talk this out, with words! Chairman or whoever, I’ve never even seen such a person!”

Of course I’d never seen him. But I had an idea who it might be. Because he’d been mentioned in the original story.

‘So you’re from Crimson, you bastard Jeremy!’

But the word ‘Chairman’ seemed to have struck a nerve with Jeremy.

“Don’t lie! You say you don’t know anything, yet you dodged my hand that fast? Ha!”

“Then what, I’m supposed to just stand there and take it when someone attacks me?! It’s not that I’m fast, it’s that you’re slow!