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Chapter 07
His voice went beyond cold—it practically dripped with blades.
After taking a swig from something inside his hip flask and tucking it back into his coat, Aden started walking ahead.
From experience, Luther knew it was best not to talk to him at times like this. Quietly following behind, he found himself looking at Aden’s back with a strange sense of nostalgia.
‘The boss is twenty-four now… so we’ve known each other for ten years already.’
Luther recalled the first time he met Aden.
He remembered thinking what an unusually grim child he was.
It wasn’t just because the boy was far taller than others his age. The real issue had been his eyes.
Overflowing with venom and hostility to the point that rage seemed to be all that remained in those violet eyes, the boy’s very first words had been—
“I want revenge.”
At the time, Luther had only just started his one-man information guild, and he’d asked back in bewilderment.
“R-revenge? Sure, revenge is fine. Right. But against who?”
The answer had been unforgettable.
“Against every noble in this country.”
It was obviously going to be an incredibly troublesome and time-consuming request.
And yet Luther accepted the job—or rather, accepted the boy himself.
Back then, Luther’s organization sounded impressive as an “information guild,” but in reality it was little more than a tiny errand service.
That boy had expanded the guild dramatically.
Luther knew his own limits well. Handing over the position of merchant company head to Aden had been entirely his own decision.
‘Different people suit different positions, right? The capable ones should handle the important work.’
Still, sometimes he wondered.
Now that ten years had passed, and Aden had learned how to perfectly conceal the fury and poison in his eyes…
‘What does he plan to do once his revenge is over?’
Did he even have anything he wanted besides revenge?
But it wasn’t something Luther could ask.
Even if he did, no answer would come back.
‘Not because he doesn’t want to answer… He probably doesn’t know himself.’
Feeling unusually sentimental, Luther stared at the back of his first client—and current boss—until he suddenly stopped short.
“It would be best to stop dwelling on useless old memories.”
“Wha—? H-how did you know…?”
Did the man have eyes in the back of his head?
No—even if he did, there was no way he could read minds too.
While Luther stood there in confusion, a bag was abruptly shoved against his chest. Only then did he realize they had already arrived at the meeting hall.
“You were unusually quiet for once instead of complaining about the heat, so I guessed. And this.”
“Ah, the surveillance magic device we installed in the office?”
“Yes. Watch from the waiting room while I’m in the meeting. Report anything unusual.”
Without waiting for a response, Aden turned sharply and entered the conference room.
Left alone, Luther shrugged and headed toward the waiting room under an employee’s guidance.
The employee looked like he thought Luther, as the attendant secretary, ought to be accompanying Aden inside, but—
‘Not like I’m a real secretary anyway.’
In truth, Luther was more like a “fixer.”
Conversation skills? Why would he need those? Usually if he cracked his knuckles once, people answered just fine.
But today’s meeting wasn’t one he particularly needed to attend.
The reason he had accompanied Aden on this outside appointment was simple.
“Well, obviously. If I leave my seat too, the spies will feel free to run wild.”
After the employee left and shut the door, Luther stretched with a grunt and opened the briefcase.
Immediately, views of the office appeared from several angles.
Remembering the magical surveillance devices secretly installed the moment Jeremy had joined the company six months ago, Luther grinned.
“That bastard Jeremy really pulled all sorts of tricks without realizing these existed.”
Aden had long since discovered even the people backing Jeremy.
But instead of exposing him, Aden had chosen to observe him.
The reason was simple.
“He’s waiting. Waiting until Jeremy and the people behind him dig their own graves nice and deep.”
That way, they could bury them cleanly.
There was already more than enough evidence. They had already traced the flow of funds too.
Still, yesterday Aden had decided to give Jeremy a few more weeks.
“So he wanted to see how Jeremy would treat the ‘new spy,’ huh?”
The “new spy” Luther referred to was, of course, Ilian Gresia, the trainee secretary who had started work today.
If Jeremy approached Ilian secretly, then they were on the same side, meaning they could identify Ilian’s backers all at once.
And if Jeremy was wary of Ilian instead?
“Even if Jeremy’s an idiot, a spy’s still a spy. He’ll try to figure out who sent the trainee. We just have to sit back and collect the results.”
Judging from the screen, it seemed to be the latter. Jeremy was openly hostile toward Ilian.
And Ilian’s face was still damp after returning from the restroom. Don’t tell me he actually made her cry?
‘Still, unlike Jeremy, Ilian seemed polite and nice… no, no. What am I thinking?’
Shaking his head, Luther continued observing the screen.
After reading documents for a while, Ilian suddenly stared blankly ahead before seeming to make up his mind and picking up a broom.
And then—
“He found the tunnel Jeremy dug in one shot? Haah… looks like this guy’s a spy too after all…”
So my judgment of people really is failing me these days?
Watching the screen with a faint sense of disappointment, Luther suddenly shot to his feet.
“What the hell?!”
At that same moment, the waiting room door opened.
“The meeting’s over. Let’s head back to the company now—what are you doing?”
“L-look at this!”
Luther practically shoved the bag into Aden’s face.
Because—
“They’re fighting?!”
No, he’d expected some psychological sparring at most!
The two figures on screen were in a physical fight.
And not just a little scuffle—a full-blown brawl.
Who could have predicted something like this happening on Ilian’s very first day of work?
Luther slowly turned his head. D-don’t tell me Aden had anticipated even this…?
“I didn’t expect this either.”
Well, apparently not.
Though for someone who hadn’t expected it, his tone remained impressively calm as he muttered the words. Still, he immediately gave orders.
“Let’s return first. Quickly.”
Throughout the hurried trip back to the company, Luther’s thoughts were unusually tangled.
Sure, it was technically good for them if the spies fought among themselves and self-destructed, but—
‘Has Jeremy lost his mind?!’
No matter how rotten someone was, raising a hand against a girl far younger and smaller than him?
Luther already knew he was trash, but apparently he was the kind that couldn’t even be recycled.
Bang!
Trembling with fury, Luther kicked open the company doors and was greeted by—
A completely wrecked hallway,
“Oh, you’re back.”
“……”
“Well, um. As for how this happened…”
An unconscious Jeremy sprawled limply on the floor,
“There was a bit of an altercation with Mr. Jeremy.”
“……I can see that, but what exactly was our trainee secretary doing in the meantime…?”
“I thought it would be a problem if he woke up and started causing trouble again. …So I was tying him up, ahem.”
And Ilian, adjusting his glasses while halfway through binding Jeremy with a rope.
Exactly ten minutes earlier.
“Fine, then! Let’s do this!”
“Wait, calm down first—”
Before he could even finish speaking, Jeremy lunged at him.
But—
“W-what the…”
Jeremy’s hands, which had clearly been aiming for his throat, sliced uselessly through empty air.
Who would’ve thought all that experience dodging debt collectors would come in handy here?
The moment he saw Jeremy’s hands coming, Ilian had quickly ducked and shouted,
“Can’t we just talk this out?! I told you, I’ve never even met this ‘chairman’ person!”
Though he’d never met him, he had a pretty good idea who Jeremy meant.
After all, the original story had mentioned it.
‘So this bastard Jeremy is connected to Crimson!’
But apparently the word “chairman” touched a nerve.
“Stop lying! You claim you know nothing, yet you dodged my attack that fast? Ha!”
“So what, I’m supposed to just stand there and let someone hit me?! It’s not that I’m fast—you’re just slow!”
