Episode 249 – Scheme (4)

Scheme (4)

In the residence of Libra Aerial Garden Section 1.

I looked at the magic share certificate Zia had handed me. I refused to accept it, but she was stubborn as ever.

In five years, this 25% stake in lithium will skyrocket to the value of a top 100 corporation.

─Congratulations~

Grawl said. The creature was, for the first time in a while, in its original form of a black cat.

“Are you analyzing the R-elix?”

The R-elix given by Johanna is currently in Grawl’s laboratory.

─Yes~ It’s a really good R-elix. It will allow me to grow a lot!

“That’s good to hear.”

I’m glad Grawl is here.

I never thought I’d have such a thought, but somehow, I began to understand a little of what Johanna might feel.

─Master~ You seem to be having some embarrassing thoughts~

Grawl purred with a sly smile.

“……Shut up.”

It’s not that I can’t trust anyone.

I shouldn’t trust anyone.

Because I’m in the heart of the enemy, in the jaws of a crocodile.

It’s fortunate that this creature is unconditionally on my side.

─But Beckman’s movements are suspicious.

“I told you. He’s going to go after Johanna.”

Sooner or later, he will definitely kidnap Johanna, dreaming of a romantic escape with her.

“Keep an eye on him.”

─Yes~ Oh, and there have been a lot of inquiries to Jake lately, what should we do?

Grawl’s dual identity, the dark web informer [JAKE].

Informers are usually distinguished by scale, and currently, he is a third-grade ‘Red Scale’. His reputation is high enough to be called the next Black Scale─first grade.

“Increase the price, and only accept tasks from verified individuals.”

Identity is now important. As Jake becomes more famous, both my enemies and allies will start to use him.

─Yes!

“How are the others doing?”

─They’re great~ There’s no better welfare environment than this~

Grawl’s feline connection is more reliable and trustworthy than any informant. They don’t arouse the suspicion of the targets they track, and the possibility of betrayal is 0%.

By the way, there are already inside informants—cats—that have been selected by mafia and cartel executives.

─Just got news. Jesco is about to return.

“Really? Then it’s about to start.”

I looked out the window.

The sky reflected from Libra’s Aerial Garden is unusually vast. The moon, wrapped in a dusky veil, and the stars that twinkle between them.

─Master. There. Johanna is there.

“……?”

I looked over there. A group was walking through the garden of Section 1. Johanna and her entourage.

They seemed to be discussing some business as they walked somewhere… Suddenly.

She looked up in this direction.

Our eyes met for a moment.

I quickly straightened my posture and gave a nod.

She didn’t react, but Beckman at her side was already glaring at me with bloodshot eyes.

─Wow. That guy’s jealousy is scary.

“Tell me about it.”

I closed the window.

* * *

Jesco, the ‘Quantum Mechanic,’ had returned to his base.

The meeting itself was successful. He had pitched Beckman’s uniform mana stones and equipment to expand his territory, and he had secured favorable negotiation terms.

Thanks to that, he was in high spirits, planning to proceed with the executive meeting.

“Trouble!”

Suddenly, the security team guys came looking for the Chairman.

“…What is it? Why are you here?”

Jesco asked coldly, and the head of the security team immediately knelt down.

“Engineer Beckman… seems to have escaped.”

“…”

Jesco was silent for a moment.

After a long while, he glared at the head of the security team.

“──What the hell are you talking about?!”

Face was the first to grab the guy by the scruff of his neck.

“…We hadn’t seen him for a few days, so we thought he was just resting, but-”

There was no one at his mansion. They had searched the area thoroughly, but there was no trace of a person named Beckman…

The head of the security team was pale as he made his excuses.

“…Hmm.”

Jesco scratched his temple.

Prrrrr- He loosened his lips in a scowl.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

The head of the security team banged his forehead on the ground.

“Ha.”

Jesco let out a small sigh and reached into his pocket. He grasped a heavy piece of metal.

Pulling it out,

Bang───!

He detonated it in the middle of the security team leader’s forehead.

The man died on the spot, still kneeling. Jesco kicked the head of the falling corpse.

Crunch─!

“Fucking bastard.”

Jesco looked around at the remaining security team. They had their eyes tightly shut.

“Boss! I told you. Something about that guy couldn’t be trusted!”

Face yelled out loud. Jesco just stared at Face quietly.

“…….”

Face also quietly shut his mouth, lowering his head and holding his breath.

“Damn it all!”

This time it was Crow, the third in command.

Crow seemed to have received a message from someone, his veins bulging as he stared at the phone screen.

“Boss! The funds you gave to Beckman have been funneled into a dummy account.”

It meant that three months’ worth of Beckman’s salary had vanished.

As if he had been waiting for this moment, Face lifted his head again.

“Boss, I await your orders.”

“……”

Jesco looked away, his eyes narrowed with a dry lack of emotion.

Then, as if with a hollow laugh, he spoke.

“Search for him. Release all the hounds, scour the entirety of Edsilla if you must, but find him.”

“Yes!”

“Wherever he is, bring him before me.”

With those words, Jesco raised his gun and pulled the trigger like a madman.

──! ──! ──!

A series of gunshots.

Jesco sprayed bullets from his pistol, killing all the remaining members of the security team.

Covered in the blood that spurted from them, he thought to himself.

The desert does not forgive betrayal.

You should have known that.

Why?

……

Face launched a massive search operation. He mobilized all the members of his organization to comb through the night streets and back alleys of Edsilla.

They roamed day and night for two days, but to no avail.

Beckman had vanished, just like a mirage.

“……Boss.”

Trudging back to the hideout.

One of Face’s subordinates broached a topic with a grave tone.

“What.”

“It’s just a thought, but…”

He glanced around cautiously as he continued.

“Could it be Crow’s doing?”

“Crow?”

“Yes.”

Face furrowed his brow.

If it had been anyone else, he would have told them to shut the fuck up with such a stupid idea, but this was one of his sharpest guys, someone who could be called a strategist, currently preparing for college.

“Crow knows how to design the equipment himself. He knows exactly what to do. So, what does that mean? If he has the technicians, he could build his own independent force.”

“……”

Face and his men came to a sudden halt.

Indeed, it was a plausible story.

Especially if it was Crow, that cunning bastard.

“And boss, doesn’t it strike you as odd?”

“What else is odd now.”

“The guys went to the factory, and it’s swarming with mana stones.”

“……mana stones?”

“Yes. The ones Beckman made. But logically, if you’re going to run away, you’d take those with you, right? They’re all jewels. Leaving those behind and just taking three months’ salary? Does that make any sense?”

At that moment, Crow’s face was utterly convinced.

It made perfect sense.

Mana stones, far more valuable than any salary, piled up like a mountain. There was no way he would have run off and left those behind.

Clearly, he must have been kidnapped.

“You’re right. Your words make perfect sense.”

Face placed his hand on the head of his clever subordinate.

“That bespectacled bastard Crow, that fucking son of a bitch…”

“Let’s catch him and break his legs.”

“Shh. Prepare quietly. That idiot won’t know we’re this smart, so we have to be careful and take him down in one fell swoop. Call the boys first.”

…

Meanwhile, Crow had mobilized all his connections and intelligence to check the records of the identity ‘Beckman.’ Border crossing records, public transport usage, even credit card transactions.

But there was nothing.

Beckman had vanished as if he had never existed.

“It’s suspicious.”

As a result, Crow and even his subordinates naturally came to harbor some rational suspicions.

“Do you think the same?”

At Crow’s question, his subordinate nodded.

“Yes. There’s no other explanation. The mana stones Beckman manufactured are still in the factory, and the equipment, raw materials, and supplies are all still there. So it doesn’t add up that he ran away after pulling a scam…”

“He did his job too honestly. He didn’t take anything with him.”

“Yes. And about the three months’ salary. We’ve traced the flow of funds, and the destination is the desert.”

“The desert?”

Crow furrowed his brow.

“Yes. It seems he made a donation to the desert.”

A donation.

Why would someone from the desert, donate to the desert and then run away?

Especially when he could expect a hefty sum of money in the future and had the protection of the boss, who was also a fellow desert native?

“Furthermore… there’s testimony that there was a conflict with Face over the distribution ratio.”

“Ah.”

Thump! Crow placed his hand on his forehead.

“Face, I knew it would come to this.”

That filthy bastard.

Crow clenched his teeth.

He was not good at controlling his anger.

Even knowing how important a technician was, in a moment of blinding rage, he was beast enough to commit a spontaneous murder.

“It’s certain. He’s caused this mess.”

“If by mess, you mean-”

“He probably killed him.”

Shit!

A curse burst from Crow’s lips.

If the technician was dead, or rather, if Face had killed him, all the business ventures set up by Quantum Mechanic would end in severe losses.

Even Jesco would suffer a significant financial blow, and if financial problems arose…

The routes through which Crow had been embezzling money via bookkeeping manipulations would also be exposed.

“No choice. Get ready.”

“Yes.”

To survive, I must make the first move.

…

The factory, once filled with state-of-the-art equipment, now stood empty.

Jesco surveyed the interior from the center of the space.

“…”

Nothing was missing.

The equipment, the mana stones, everything was still in place.

Only Beckman had disappeared.

Thud… Thud…

Jesco wandered through the factory and suddenly glanced at the office.

[Technician Beckman’s Office]

He opened the door.

It was a space set up like a dormitory.

There was a bed, a TV, a desk, and drawers.

He had insisted on creating this place, saying it was a waste of time to commute, that it was better to sleep and work in the factory.

But the man himself was gone.

Jesco fiddled with various things before opening a desk drawer.

“…?”

Inside was a notebook that looked like a diary.

It was indeed a diary.

Picking it up, Jesco sat down on a chair and flipped through the pages with his dirt-stained hands.

[…I am about to start a new job. It’s much better than being alone. All thanks to a chance encounter with a man from the desert. A brother named Jesco. Even from the same hometown, I wonder if we might have crossed paths when I was a child.]

It was a real diary. He had expected some sort of code.

Jesco scanned the sentences with his eyes.

[…The equipment is complete. All thanks to Brother Jesco’s trust. How fortunate I am to meet someone like him in this vast continent, in the cold-hearted Edsilla. The word ‘gratitude’ doesn’t even begin to cover my luck.]

Rustle, rustle.

He quietly turned the pages.

Some sentences made him chuckle, some left him incredulous, and some…

The fluttering paper came to a halt.

[Face is demanding a share. But I cannot divide or distribute the ratio that Brother Jesco has set for me. So I must deal with Face myself. It’s best not to bother Brother Jesco with this, as it might cause him concern. After all, Face has served him for a long time, he’s someone Brother Jesco trusts…]

A story about Face. Despite Face’s aggressive demands for a share, the diary stated that it was the writer’s responsibility to handle him because Jesco trusted Face.

Jesco turned to the next page.

[The numbers in the ledger are strange. The flow of funds through the companies is also suspicious. These are managed by Mr. Crow… It seems like something I should discuss with Brother Jesco when he returns.]

Page by page.

Jesco’s fingers trembled as they continued to turn the pages.

[It seems there are many insincere people by Brother’s side. Is it because Brother shines too brightly that it can’t be helped? At least I must remain a sincere person by Brother’s side…]

The last words on the last page.

Jesco quietly closed the diary.

Drrring-

Just then, a call came through on his phone.

─Boss. We’ve successfully traced Beckman’s account movements.

“…Speak.”

─The desert.

“The desert?”

Jesco’s face twitched.

─Yes. It seems… the purpose was charity.

“…Ha.”

Jesco sighed silently and leaned back in his chair.

He gazed up at the ceiling light.

Suddenly, the guy’s voice came to mind.

‘To not forget my homeland.’

Beckman.

That guy hadn’t forgotten his homeland after all.

He was better than me.

“…”

Jesco absentmindedly fumbled in his pocket. He pulled out a gravestone mixed with desert sand.

‘I brought it with me when I left the desert. It comes in a pair.’

He toyed with it, sand crumbling from it, and then glanced toward a corner of the office.

Something caught his eye there.

Jesco quickly stood up and picked it up.

It was a gravestone.

A desert gravestone with a streak of blood on it, the ‘pair’ he had mentioned.

“…”

‘Brother.’

Again, the guy’s voice echoed in his mind.

‘Thank you. For taking in someone with just this little talent.’

The last day he saw that guy.

‘Leaving the desert was tough, and I missed it, but after meeting you, brother, this place feels like home.’

The words he spoke as he was about to leave.

‘Turns out, it wasn’t home I was missing, but someone.’

Did the guy sense his own end coming then?

Was he feeling some sort of ominous premonition?

Clench──.

Jesco gritted his teeth. His whole body trembled with a raw ache.

Rage, sorrow, self-reproach… Some damn emotions that were indescribable in words,

were swirling inside him like a sandstorm.

Jesco bowed his head.

Only now had he finally met someone like a brother, who lived in the same world, harbored the same ideals, and shared the same memories.

Drip──

Drip──

Droplets formed on the floor. Sad stains spread on the cold concrete.

They were tears.

Jesco picked up his phone again.

“…Are you listening?”

─Yes, Boss.

“Prepare for war.”

─War, you say?”

“I’ve found evidence. The one who made Belke…”

He paused to catch his breath before continuing.

“…disappear from inside.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say ‘dead.’

He wanted to cling to even the slightest possibility.

“Find that bastard… and tear him limb from limb.”

Jesco, clutching Beckman’s bloodstained gravestone tightly, cherished it.