Chapter 175

I couldn’t believe it.
It’s hard to believe that they were once part of civilized society not too long ago, neighbors you might have passed on the street once or twice.
It’s understandable that the placenta of the septic tank is a poor neighborhood. They’ve always had a rough life, but I can’t help but think it’s excessive considering their circumstances.
“They’re criminals no matter how you look at it.
After four weeks of this, do they go back to the city and resume their lives? Men with families hug their wives and children with bloody hands.
Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
‘I’m a bit of an archer at the moment.
We don’t know if they actually committed a crime or not. Circumstances are only circumstances. You can’t be sure of anything until you’re in direct conflict.
A brief standoff ensued.
A car, a young woman, immaculate clothes. And nearly three times the number of people. It’s enough to make you greedy. Not surprisingly, Kim recognized this.
Then a young man walked out from the crowd.
“Hold on a second, Mr. Dad, you’re scaring me.”
Despite the mask covering his lower jaw, he has a good-natured expression. In the subculture, it is often described as a real eye character.
This means that it looks different on the outside than it does on the inside.
I couldn’t help but look at them with a skeptical eye. They may be simple people who have never hurt anyone in their lives, but it’s better to be cautious.
Kim scanned the room and spoke up.
“Are you the septic guys from the dispatch?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about that, it came across as threatening, and you’ll have to forgive me. This isn’t one of those things where we can all get along because we’re in the same boat.”
The young man smirked.
“It’d be great if we could share equally in whatever group does well, but that’s not the case, and I don’t want the zones to overlap, so that’s why I asked you to stop.”
Please, while swinging a baseball bat. It’s a novelty.
“But I don’t think you’re on the same page as us.”
The up-and-down glances are blatant. They alternate between Chelsea and Leone, as well as Kim. Even Moro doesn’t seem to think they’re in the same septic tank.
‘Sure. It must be weird having only three heads.
Answer with an appropriate mix of false and true.
“I’m Pablo from Colossus Company.”
“Colossus Company…?”
“I used to be a small security company, working underground, and then, well, you know, I had a job in MetroCity, and then I switched gears, and I’m kind of an errand boy, running multiple jobs.”
Behind the young man, I could see the group tense up. The word “security company” seemed to bother them. It implied they were more trained than civilians.
“…Did you come all the way out here on a referral? What’s going on?”
“There are quite a few citizens who have gone missing after going out to clean up, so we have quite a few people asking us to search for their missing family members. We can’t do that because the security forces are not moving.”
“You’re doing something dangerous.”
“I’ve gotten a lot of similar requests. And they pay well.”
The young man grinned at the mention of money. He smiled, a good but fake smile.
“I asked around at base camp, and they said the client went missing around here, and I’ve heard there’s been a lot of trouble around here lately, so I figured I’d at least look into it.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize it was such a nasty place.”
“I don’t know. I’m here to find out.”
Kim looked around at the faces. Some were holding weapons, others bare-handed. The young man’s presence seemed to have dispelled any thoughts of an immediate attack, but that was all.
Your eyes are still glazed over with greed, and your body is tense.
Only two of them reacted differently, and I could see them shrinking like sheep in a herd. Some of them are used to this situation, others are not.
“There must be something there.
Recognizing the differences between the two categories, we decided on a course of action.
“Do you mind if I stop by for a minute?”
I need to know what the hell they’re doing.
* * *
The young man who was supposedly the leader of this suspicious group was named Biya. He personally escorted Kim and his group to the apartment they were occupying.
The 12-story, corridor-style apartment building was shabby from the outside. It’s been about 30 years since Kilikia was reorganized as a city-state, which is 30 years of unrelenting weathering without repair.
Old buildings, untrustworthy others.
The mood is indeed somber.
“Did you get all the doors?”
The front doors lining the hallway had their locks smashed off. Pushing pushes, pulling pulls. It’s like the doors are just a cover.
“We didn’t do it, we just came in and this is what it looks like, and we’re comfortable with it.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. It was called Area E, and the septic tank had been in and out of it for a long time. The explanation that someone who had stayed there before had left the apartment open sounds natural.
“Everything up to the third floor is open, you can pick and choose, but it’s a messy place because of how the people before you used it. Rooms 204, 301, and 302 are the best.”
“I’ll have to take a look around, thank you.”
“That’s not a big deal.”
Biya left, telling her to ask any questions she might have, and then she was gone. As soon as she was out of sight, Chelsea sighed and whined.
“He seems nice, but he’s also cheap.”
“That’s what I thought, too.”
“Really? Which part?”
“What? Hmm. I don’t see why you’d want to specify where to write…? And you’re strangely calm. I’m sure our encounter was an unexpected event for them as well.”
Kim and Chelsea go “oh” and look at Leone in admiration.
“Wow. I have a good eye for people.”
“Look, he’s got talent, he’s a genius, he’s a genius.”
“That’s right,” he said, “I’m a wretch.”
“That, no, the note….”
Leone’s ears flushed slightly as I dropped the tin. He’s a tease in more ways than one.
“Just kidding, anyway.”
Kim peered under the railing in the hallway. A member of the septic tank was looking up at the apartment from below. Even though their eyes met, she didn’t avert her gaze.
Just then, Biya emerged from the building and began to take the man somewhere. They spied this way, looking back several times until they were out of sight.
He didn’t even bother to hide his viciousness.
“I wonder if something will happen if I leave it alone.”
“I agree, it would be more interesting if they didn’t do anything.”
Leone swallowed dryly at the prospect of conflict.
“…Is there a need to intentionally trap them?”
“Why. You want us to hit first?”
“Isn’t it safer to do that?”
Kim chuckled at how motivated he was despite his nerves.
“I used to be like this.
I felt like I was seeing my old self, even though my personality was completely different. The early days of the Polaris. I had no time to spare, so I reacted to the slightest danger just like Leone.
It’s certainly come a long way since then.
“It’s easier, and there’s no backlash.”
“Is that so?”
“He who strikes first knows he’s in the wrong, even if he’s beaten to a pulp.”
They’re going to have a hard time interrogating you.
If you reverse it, you can hope for a more honest answer.
It’s psychological self-defense.
“Let’s just wait and see.”
* * *
I chose room 301 out of three recommendations from Villa.
For no particular reason, it was the cleanest. There were cobwebs everywhere and some of the windows were broken, but some of them were in better shape than others.
We weren’t having a sensitive conversation. We didn’t know if someone was listening next door with their ear pressed against the wall, and there was no urgency to discuss anything other than muting the sound.
I’ve been killing time by chatting.
Thump, thump, thump.
There’s a knock on the front door.
Kim exchanged a glance with them and rose from her worn chair. “I made [Ivory] and handed it to Chelsea, and she took it like water.
“Be careful, just in case.”
“Of course.”
I gripped the [Glitch Knife] invisibly and approached the door. The chain had been removed, so there was no security, but he wasn’t about to let himself in.
I nudged the door open and saw a woman’s face through the crack.
“Oh, that, that….”
She was one of two people I’d noticed earlier. She was the one who hadn’t faltered in the midst of the atmosphere. Her complexion was even more pale as if she had seen a ghost.
“Do, help me.”
You pace the halls restlessly. As if being chased.
“What’s going on?”
“Everyone here is weird, it’s not normal.”
“Weird, what part?”
“Don’t you see? They must be after you too…!”
I whisper in a low voice for anyone to hear.
“They’re forcing you into traffic, they’re surrounding you, they’re pressuring you, you can’t do that to a sane person. I felt like this from the start.”
It was pretty plausible. Kim thought it was strange, too. He looked too much like a tramp to be a citizen who had temporarily separated himself from civilized society.
“Can you tell me more?”
“Well, it was more like they knew each other and were purposely pretending not to.”
“You guys have always known each other, like you’re in a gang?”
“Yes, yes, that’s right, and…….”
The woman cleared her throat.
“Uh, I keep hearing strange noises upstairs, I think something is up there, I’m so scared….”
“Follow me.”
“Do me a favor, please help me just once….”
Kim thought for a moment, then nodded. The woman’s face brightened. Her expression softened, but only for a moment, as she stepped out into the hallway without the others.
“This way.”
You used the stairs to climb the floor.
Fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor. When I reached the seventh floor, I realized that some of what the woman had said was true. Bizarre moans, like forced screams, echoed down the hallway.
“Oh, it’s probably here.”
The sound was coming from room 702. The door was slightly ajar. Kim instructed the woman to stay back and went inside.
In the living room, two things were found.
Old-fashioned cassettes from the ’90s and.
A young man lying on the ground, bound with rope.
The man was one of two people I had my eye on, the same as the woman.
“Sin, sorry…….”
I heard a muffled voice behind me.
Boom!
A bat swung next to me. Two burly men huddled against the living room wall. A metal bat loomed with enough power to turn a single hit into a goal.
Surprises that would have been unanswerable in the past now seem slow.
Bam!
“Ugh!”
He twisted and dodged, then punched him in the stomach. The man went down, catching the missed bat in midair. The other was visibly flustered as his teammate went down in one fell swoop.
“Okay, wait….”
I hit him in the face with the knob on the end of the bat’s handle. Nosebleeds splattered everywhere. Kim frowned at the mess.
“How is this not expected?”
“You, Kool-Aid, you…!”
“But you guys, I think you made a mistake.”
-Taang!
Just then, gunfire erupted from downstairs.
“You’re going to have to make excuses as you go.”