TRPM 437

The next day.

I had asked Sofia to look after Yeon Mirae, who couldn’t get up after fighting with Shimma, and headed to the Association.

This morning I’d received a message from Ji Hyung-man asking Yeon Mirae to come to the Association, but since Mirae couldn’t get up, I said I’d go in her place.

“Ji Hyung-man said it’s something I need to know about anyway,” I thought.

I didn’t know exactly what “something I need to know” meant, but I figured it must be important.

“Artist! This way!”

As I entered the Association building, a member of the Ironblood guild who’d been waiting near the entrance called out to me.

I didn’t know his name, but I’d seen him around often enough while coming and going, so I headed toward him.

“Where’s Ji Hyung-man?” I asked.

“If it’s the guild leader, he’s in the Association’s conference room right now. And Artist, you’ll come down to the Association basement with me.”

The basement?

The Association’s basement definitely had…

‘A prison, right?’

The Association’s basement did have other facilities, but in this situation the place they’d take me to would be the prison.

And going to the prison meant… someone was being held there.

With that light deduction finished, I asked the Ironblood member who was guiding me, “Who’s the person in the cell?”

“He’s the one who’d been hiding inside the Association, manipulating things so that the concealment dungeon was discovered late, using comrades in the meantime to amplify the damage, deliberately leaving some children alive, and gaslighting people,” he replied.

Ah.

So he was the mastermind behind the incidents that had been going on.

“What was the motive?”

“That’s not known yet. We arrested him at dawn today, and the formal interrogation hasn’t started yet.”

I nodded at that.

When the real interrogation starts they’ll probably bring in experts — people with psychometry to extract information or truth-detection abilities to catch lies — and then proceed properly.

In an ordinary case, the first questioning would be handled by regular police or Association staff without bringing in those specialists, but this case was so big that I thought they’d called them from the start.

“Thank you for your work.”

“Take care.”

We opened the door that an Association staff member on guard had unlocked and entered the room with the holding cell.

Inside the cell a young man lay in an uncomfortable position.

“Oh… has the world’s strongest Artist come personally this time?”

The man, still lying down, looked at me and said that.

… His attitude was off.

Normally, a criminal who’s been brought into a holding cell understands they’ve done wrong and is worried and afraid about what will happen to them.

But this man…

‘So confident.’

As if he hadn’t done anything wrong at all.

As if he didn’t care what punishment he would receive.

“Seems like he has someone backing him, huh?”

“He says he does… but does he really have to tell us that willingly?”

He actually said that in front of me…

I didn’t want to say it myself, but given my reputation, it would be normal for him to be afraid, right?

“He’ll be scared even if he talks like that. Once the actual interrogation starts, he’ll spill everything he knows,” said the Ironblood guild member beside me.

“…I guess.”

I gave a noncommittal response.

Usually in cases like this…

“People who are this cocky often don’t have much information to begin with.”

“Oh?”

“And even if they have a backer, they must be absolutely sure that the backer will come rescue them.”

“Heh…”

Judging from the man’s reaction, that sounded about right.

“So…”

“You can’t really say this man is the mastermind either. And since he’s so confident, the organization behind him must be pretty powerful.”

What kind of organization could be behind someone that he’d be locked in the Association’s cell—and yet be so bold in front of me, who is called the world’s strongest?

“Excuse me.”

While I was thinking about that, a familiar voice came from behind me.

I turned to see the owner of the voice.

“We’re ready to start the interrogation. May we take him?”

It was Shin Chae-geon, guild leader of Knight Eagle, the guild that specializes in criminal matters.

I could see hatred toward the man in his eyes.

‘… Well, for the past month and a half his actions caused all these incidents — it’s natural to be like that.’

Still, he wouldn’t kill him.

He must understand that they need to draw out the real mastermind behind the man.

“Go ahead.”

“Yay yay~.”

The man shrugged and was led away by the Association staff.

Then Shin Chae-geon, the Ironblood guide who’d escorted me, and I moved along under the staff member’s guidance.

But the direction wasn’t toward the interrogation room.

“Huh? Isn’t this the wrong direction for the interrogation room?”

“There are too many observers today. The regular interrogation room can’t accommodate them all.”

No sooner had Shin Chae-geon finished speaking than…

“Here we are.”

The Association staff stopped and pointed to a door.

It was the Association’s auditorium.

How many observers were there that they’d use the auditorium…

“… There are a lot of familiar faces.”

I murmured before I knew it when I stepped into the auditorium.

There really were many familiar faces.

‘Looks like almost every guild leader and officer operating around the capital is here.’

I guessed the people gathered here had been mobilized to supplement the short police manpower due to the continuing incidents.

Not only guild leaders and officers but…

‘Iban and Ines are here too.’

My disciples who were learning skills from me and who had recently been helping the police were also present.

Including them, everyone here seemed determined to see the face of the man who’d caused this disaster for themselves.

“Artist, over here…”

As I scanned the people in the auditorium, the Ironblood member who had led me to the cell guided me to where Ironblood’s guild leader Ji Hyung-man was.

Shin Chae-geon had gone to where his own guild members were.

“It’s been a while, Artist.”

“Yeah. Long time.”

We’d been in contact and I’d visited the Ironblood guild often, but…

‘I hadn’t actually seen him in person recently because he said he’d been busy.’

So seeing him face-to-face felt like quite a while ago.

“How was the meeting yesterday?”

“Yesterday? It was chaos.”

“Ha ha, if I’d had the time I would’ve gone too.”

… Hey.

If he’d had time he would have gone and stormed the restaurant with Yeon Mirae too?

“Still, since Mirae’s injured so badly she can’t get up today, it’s better I didn’t go,” Ji Hyung-man said.

“Hmm…”

I made a sound and nodded.

Mirae wasn’t unable to get up because of physical injury but because she’d been possessed by rage and succumbed to the junghwa-immersion (possession-like state). Still, considering that Chloe had been thrashing awakened members of the fanclub with bows, tables, and chairs, it was probably for the best that Ji Hyung-man hadn’t gone. Even if he had gone, like the other awakeneds he’d probably have been beaten by Chloe. Ji Hyung-man was an iron-type ability user, so his injuries wouldn’t have been severe.

“Oh… good thing I didn’t go too,” someone nearby said in a familiar voice.

I turned to check who spoke.

‘… Scott.’

A man in his twenties from Chicago who was learning spear techniques from me.

Come to think of it, when I checked my fanatic group site with my mother’s account, his name had been there too.

I’d thought he might be a namesake since he wasn’t at yesterday’s meeting, but it turned out he’d simply not attended.

“… What? Were you a follower who joined that site?” Ji Hyung-man snapped at Scott.

But Ji Hyung-man’s reaction to Scott was sharper than I expected.

“Then you must have joined the fan cafe that only Koreans can join,” Scott shot back.

They both bristled at each other.

Hey.

“Why are you two trying to fight?”

“Ah, sorry. I was just reminded of something from the fan cafe and I couldn’t help it…”

“Last night there were tons of posts on the site calling for fights with the fan cafe. I got caught up in the mood before I knew it…”

… So besides yesterday’s brawl there’d been various tensions between the followers’ site and the fan cafe.

Usually it stayed online and only words were exchanged, but because people met yesterday and fought physically, things got heated.

“… Cut it out.”

I said it because I didn’t think they’d stop just because I told them to.

Ji Hyung-man and Scott met each other’s eyes briefly and then…

“All right. Let’s make sure no one gets hurt — we’ll finish it as sparring.”

“Let’s try using the spear technique we learned from the Artist in a real fight.”

They stood up and left the auditorium.

… I’d only meant for them to keep their online fight reasonably contained, not to actually go fight. I didn’t tell them to fight safely; I meant to tell them to not escalate. Well, not that I wanted them to hurt each other either.

“… Idiots…”

Song Eun-ji, the guild leader of the Cleaner guild near us, muttered disdainfully while watching the two leave.

“Guild leaders…! Keep it down…!” someone hissed.

“Why? They’re leaving anyway; we won’t hear them,” Song Eun-ji replied.

Then…

“Alright, we’re about to start the interrogation. Move to the front.”

As Song Eun-ji said, at the front of the auditorium it looked like they’d finished preparing for the interrogation — the man who’d been in the cell was now strapped into a chair.

… Normally you wouldn’t restrain someone like that for interrogation; you’d seat them normally and then question them, but this interrogation clearly intended to proceed differently.

Come to think of it, I’d already noticed that the man didn’t seem willing to cooperate.

“All right, we’ll begin the interrogation now.”

“Ahh… take this gag off already!”

“Shut his mouth first.”

The interrogator from Knight Eagle said that.

… Shut his mouth? During an interrogation?

A few people looked puzzled.

The person strapped to the chair seemed to think so too…

‘I knew from the start when they strapped him to the chair.’

The interrogator didn’t plan to get information by talking to him.

They intended to extract information directly from his memories, so there was no reason to free his mouth.

“Ugh…! Uuugh…!”

“Now then… where should we start?”

The interrogator said as he began pulling various tools from a box beside him.

Nippers, a drill, a hammer, a saw…

“Ugh?! Uuuugh?!”

The man, who had been relaxed until just a moment ago, turned pale when he saw the tools.

But because he was strapped to the chair and gagged, there was nothing he could do.

“First, shall we drill a hole with this drill?”

“Uuuugh…!”

The interrogator said that and aimed the drill at the man’s head.