Chapter 7
Senghus, sprawled out on the ground, finally regained consciousness and stood up.
He wore a completely bewildered expression, as if he had no idea what had happened, before having to rub the throbbing back of his head.
Far away from where he was,
The woman who had been riding with him sat with a terrified expression.
"Hey, what's going on?"
Senghus spoke, but she didn't even reply, her gaze fixed on empty space.
Now, Senghus, his face pale, began to grope for his memories.
Yeah, I drove the car up to here…
And saw two people.
After that, he couldn't remember anything.
Just as he was about to dust himself off and stand up, a light flashed in front of him.
And…
Vroom──!
The sound of a car engine revving.
"What the—?!"
Senghus stared intently at the car idling madly in front of him before belatedly realizing it was his own car.
The car was being lifted sharply from behind, like a trapped animal.
Then, a sharp-looking man walked out from beside the car.
"Senghus Tail, there is justice for you to receive."
He briefly showed a request form that should have been impossible to see in this place before quietly stepping aside.
At this, Senghus—
"Ha, what the hell are you doing? So what are you going to do?"
—shrugged his shoulders as if it were absurd.
"Hey, can't you just give them more money? Huh? Isn't that why they hired you guys?!"
Then, he acted as if he were presenting an offer that couldn't be refused.
"Fine, I'll turn myself in if you want. But I wasn't in my right mind back then, I don't even remember much…."
But behind that shallow bluff was unmistakable fear and terror.
To Senghus, Deliverers had been nothing more than a minor problem to be crushed by his connections,
But now that he was experiencing that problem he had thought so trivial firsthand, the pressure was immense.
"So, my dad…."
Just as he was about to continue speaking.
Vroooom───!
The car, its rear suddenly released without any warning, roared and sped forward at an incredible speed.
The car directly ran over Senghus.
Kwaang──!
Deureureuk deureureuk──!
With a terrible sound, it shuddered a few times before crashing far away, leaving behind a crimson trail.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Hey, listen! Senghus just died, you know?"
After everything was over, the woman who was left alone started talking on the phone, looking thoroughly excited.
"Yeah! He died at the hands of a Deliverer! Why did he go? I don't know, he insisted on going to the scene himself."
There was no sign of sadness or fear.
Rather, her eyes were sparkling.
"Hey, before we report it, should we film a video first? Where am I…? Hurry up and come, okay?"
About five minutes passed after her call ended.
The scene quickly became crowded with people.
They swarmed the area like vultures picking at a corpse, and amidst it all, light jokes and laughter were rampant.
Garrick and I, who were watching this entire situation from a high place nearby, could only exchange bewildered glances.
"Hey, Yohan. Looking at them from here, don't they look exactly like bugs caught in a spider web?"
Yeah, I guess you're right.
It's quite ironic that the name of their communication device, SWAP, includes the words for spider and spider web.
At the same time, I was once again keenly aware that Middle Road was another world.
"Let's head back."
Feeling that my body had recovered to some extent, I dusted myself off and stood up.
Though that recovery only meant I could barely move.
"Hey, you! Don't move so suddenly!"
Garrick supported my staggering body from the side.
The two of us trudged away from the scene and reached a fairly large road,
Where a familiar car was parked as if waiting for us.
"As expected, I knew you would succeed."
Eren, looking nonchalant, got out of the car and greeted us.
＊ ＊ ＊
Awkward silence.
The only sound that could be heard amidst it was the heartbeat of the vehicle.
In the meantime, several noisy official vehicles sped past us in a row.
"By tomorrow, all of Middle Road will be buzzing."
No sooner had Eren uttered his first words, glancing at them—
"How did you find us?"
Garrick, who was sitting in the passenger seat, snapped.
"Because I was the one who took you directly to that scene."
"So you just happened to show up exactly at our location?"
"I merely overheard Senghus's acquaintances openly blabbering on the spider web."
Eren added with a meaningful smile.
"You don't have to worry; I'm not the kind of bug you think I am."
Not the kind of bug we think he is?
I shifted in my seat and leaned between Eren and Garrick.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?"
"Yes."
"What the…?!"
Instead of backing down, Eren answered my question immediately.
At his reaction, Garrick glared at Eren with wide eyes before, with an 'ah-ha' expression, taking out a half-broken SWAP from his pocket.
Eren, looking at the SWAP, smiled and continued.
"I needed insurance. If this were to fail again like last time… wouldn't that just be a meaningless repetition?"
Immediately after, Eren looked alternately at Garrick and me and said—
"Actually, thanks to you, I was able to record crucial evidence, though there might not be a need to use it now…."
No, crucial evidence probably wouldn't have been needed in the first place.
Even right before justice was about to be served, Senghus hadn't even considered that he would be punished himself.
Not even in the moment he mentioned turning himself in.
That meant that no matter how much evidence there was, and even if he did turn himself in, he ultimately had connections to get away with it.
"With that kind of evidence, you wouldn't even be able to scratch Senghus."
Eren nodded at my words.
Amidst all this, Garrick, unable to follow the conversation, just wore a bewildered expression.
"Yes, Senghus won't even get a scratch. But this evidence will sway public opinion, and in return, the Tail clan will collapse."
"So the real goal was the downfall of the Tail clan."
"That's right."
I wasn't really interested in anything else, except for one thing.
"Did you even orchestrate the accident Senghus caused?"
"That was truly an accident. Senghus, provoked, crossed the line."
"However, you can't deny that thanks to that, you gained a definitive justification to bring down the Tail clan."
Eren nodded with a calm face.
Was he unaware that he had tripped himself up with the word he inadvertently used,
Or was even this part of his act?
Intuitively sensing something strange, I relentlessly dug into it.
"Eren, you were directly involved as a member of that biker gang called the Scabblers, weren't you?"
"Of course not."
"Then why did you use the word 'provoked'? As if you were the instigator."
Eren glanced at me with an intrigued look,
"Oh dear, you've poked me with something quite sharp."
He quietly pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"Yes, I used to be active in the Scabblers, the rival gang to Badmad, the biker gang led by Senghus."
Garrick, belatedly catching up, clapped his hands.
"Yeah, I told you! This guy's driving skills are no joke!"
Though his understanding didn't quite reach the core of the matter.
"Eren, you directly instigated Senghus, with the aim of bringing down the Tail clan."
"I merely moved to ensure their corruption would surface."
Eren glanced at me again and asked in a peculiar tone.
"Isn't there anything else you've figured out?"
It was as if he wanted to know everything I had deduced.
"Why don't you just tell us everything, huh?!"
Frustrated, Garrick grabbed Eren by the collar and pressured him, but I quickly stopped him.
"Garrick, stop it."
"Why!"
"There's no reason."
"What reason!"
"No reason for him to tell us."
Garrick, who had been agitated until just now, quickly calmed down, realizing the logic of my words.
Eren had no obligation to tell us anything.
He had simply made a request to us as a member of a citizens' group to deliver justice.
However, judging from Eren's nuances so far, while he wouldn't say anything first, he seemed willing to answer if asked or if we guessed correctly.
That's why I was even more unsure.
His intentions.
Nevertheless, this time I decided to play along with Eren's intellectual provocation.
Because I had become a little curious.
So, from now on, we're moving into the realm of my intuitive deductions.
"Alright, it's not like I've figured everything out, but I'll tell you all the parts that seem suspicious."
Eren smiled faintly at my words.
"Excellent."
Gulp.
Garrick, equally tense, swallowed hard and watched the situation.
"First off, that citizens' group you belong to, we haven't even gotten a glimpse of its reality, let alone any sense of its presence. Except for you."
More than that….
"Before that, the very name of that citizens' group now feels flimsy."
"Please continue."
I looked directly at Eren and said—
"The citizens' group Olleed doesn't exist in the first place. It's just a fictional name you created by slightly twisting the name of your actual affiliation, Olleerd."
"You are correct."
Eren clapped his hands and replied with a practiced smile.
More than the fact that my guess was right, Eren's immediate and willing answer to my deduction sent a chill down my spine.
The three major powers representing the Deliverers:
The Central Association, Olleerd, and the Discounters.
Earlier, I had said that Olleerd merely remained as an organization assisting the Central Association, but to rephrase it,
The fact that it remained as a separate organization assisting the Central Association meant that the content of the organization was incredibly formidable.
A collection of big-headed monsters surpassing superhumans.
Eren was one of the members of such an organization.
"You're starting to pique my interest."
Garrick exclaimed at Eren's subsequent reaction.
"What, you don't mean…."
"...Quiet, Garrick."
Eren didn't miss the opening Garrick created and smoothly slipped away.
"Let's end this conversation here. I'll escort you to the airfield."
Garrick tried to argue with those words, but Eren simply drove the car without any reaction.
＊ ＊ ＊
Having smuggled the two Deliverers out through a secret passage within the airfield, Eren quietly returned to his car.
"They don't seem like much, but you can't read what's inside."
Then, muttering to himself as if leaving a comment, he took out his SWAP and held it to his ear.
"I will now return. Contact regarding 555 Office has been terminated."
Then, after a long silence, a middle-aged woman's voice flowed from beyond the SWAP.
'Return immediately.'
As soon as he heard those words, Eren drove off to another location.
＊ ＊ ＊
As soon as we returned to Jeblin, what caught our eyes was,
"What's with everyone carrying around SWAPs they never used to have?"
Just as Garrick had said, most of the people here were holding SWAPs, either talking on them or operating them.
Then, Garrick looked up at the sky and said, thoroughly excited,
"Hey, Yohan. Looks like a Spider is passing through here?"
"A Spider? Did some celebrity visit?"
Besides the fixed one in Middle Road, there were a few more moving Spiders.
But I never dreamed one would come to a desolate place like Jeblin…
Wait…
If a celebrity were to visit Jeblin….
"Garrick, didn't our rookie come?"
"Oh!"
Garrick slapped his forehead at my question.
Most moving Spiders follow specific celebrities for a set period through a contract.
No, rather than the vague term 'celebrity,' 'entertainer' would be a more accurate word.
The entertainer followed by that Spider causes a huge sensation throughout the period.
Because that entertainer is exposed through a communication device with overwhelming superiority in terms of speed and range.
But has our rookie become that famous?
"Garrick, shall we go buy some alcohol?"
Words I blurted out without resisting the sudden excitement, Garrick jumped up at those words.
"You bet, you little shit!"
Then, he slapped my back once and casually tossed out a single phrase.
That phrase, I don't think I'll forget it for a while.
"Welcome to the shortcut."
