Chapter 776: Meeting [2]

Chapter 776: Meeting [2]

"Ha."

The sound escaped before I could stop it.

Johansberg watched me as I lowered my head, pressing a hand against the table. I tried to contain myself, but the longer I thought about his offer, the harder that became.

"Hahaha!"

My palm struck the table several times, making the plates rattle. It was considerably louder than I had intended, and by the time I raised my head again, the Section Chief’s brows had drawn together.

I stopped smiling and reached for my glass.

"My apologies. My throat was itchy."

"....."

The drink helped a little. I swallowed, rubbed the front of my neck, and looked back at him.

"Anyways, what were you saying again?"

"I want you to⎯"

"Hahahahah!"

This time, I nearly spilled my drink. I put it down before smacking the table again, catching a plate with my other hand when it came dangerously close to the edge.

That would’ve been wasteful.

"Is this a joke to you?"

"Hm? What?"

I looked up. The Section Chief was no longer leaning towards me, his fingers resting against the stem of his glass.

I took another sip and rubbed my throat.

"My throat is itchy."

"You seem to find that very amusing."

"No, it’s rather uncomfortable."

He stared at me for several seconds. I remained seated on the edge of the table, waiting patiently for him to continue.

It wasn’t my fault that his offer kept arriving at inconvenient moments.

"...You’re still pursuing VILE-1048."

My fingers stopped against the glass.

"Yes."

"Then you should understand the importance of having the right support. You cannot solve this alone. This isn’t a case you can handle unless you have the full support of the Guild."

"I have a squad."

"That isn’t nearly enough."

"...For me, they are."

Johansberg ignored the comment.

"You’ve already seen how difficult it is to investigate. There are limits to what you can accomplish on your own, and with the attention currently on you, every one of your failures will be noticed."

I looked down at the remaining food.

He wasn’t wrong about the investigation. Nobody even knew what VILE-1048 looked like, and I still had very little to work with.

That didn’t mean I liked where this conversation was going.

"Information, personnel, access," he continued. "These things become much easier to obtain when you have someone supporting you."

"...And I need to join your side for that?"

"I need to know that I can rely on you."

"You can. I arrive at work quite often."

"Seth."

"I’m here right now."

His expression hardened.

I picked up my glass again, although there was barely anything left inside.

Joining his side sounded troublesome. He would give me something, then ask for something else, and eventually I would have to start worrying about things I had been worrying about from the previous Guild Master.

One experience was enough.

I also already had enough problems at hand.

"I’m offering to look after you," he said.

I nodded in appreciation.

Now we were getting somewhere.

"That’s very kind. You should do that."

"....."

"I would appreciate it."

"And in return?"

I looked around the table before pushing one of the dishes towards him.

"...Here, you can have the rest."

Ugh.

I groaned.

"I was saving it for last."

It was a sizable piece of braised beef that I saved for last.

The squishy, juicy piece of meat...

"Ugkh."

The Section Chief didn’t look at the plate.

For a while, we remained like that. Then he pushed his chair back and stood, taking his coat from beside him.

"Looks like I’ve gotten your answer."

"Huh? What answer? What for?"

He put his coat on without responding.

I watched him straighten the collar before walking towards the door. He hadn’t even finished his drink.

"...Section Chief?"

His hand reached for the handle.

"About the bill..."

Clank!

The door closed.

I remained sitting on the table for a moment before rubbing my throat again.

"...But it really was itchy."

Eventually, I climbed down and took one of the chairs. It was considerably more comfortable, although I would’ve preferred discovering that under better circumstances.

"If only he told me to stand."

*

By the time I returned to my office, the discomfort in my throat had disappeared.

Unfortunately, the Section Chief wasn’t around to appreciate my recovery.

My phone vibrated as I placed it on the desk. I glanced at the screen, expecting something from him, but the message came from Silver Lantern instead.

They were thanking me for helping locate their missing member.

I read through it before sending a brief response, making sure to mention my squad. Joanna and the others had done the work.

They deserved all the credit.

’I should visit again.’

I was curious about his condition. I wanted to make sure VILE-1048 had nothing to do with it.

There were other reasons someone could end up unconscious.

Jumping to a conclusion because I was already looking for an anomaly would only make things more confusing.

Still, leaving it unchecked bothered me.

I opened Joanna’s report again and looked through the information she had collected, then placed it somewhere I wouldn’t immediately bury beneath other papers.

That could wait until I arranged another visit. There were still things I needed to deal with here.

Starting with my nodes.

I leaned back and tried circulating my energy. The response came slowly, moving unevenly before meeting the same resistance that had been troubling me for a while.

My fingers tightened against the armrest.

"...Still?"

I tried again, then stopped when the discomfort began spreading.

They weren’t completely unresponsive, and I could summon the others without any issues, but they weren’t working properly either. The discomfort was still clearly there, and that bothered me quite a bit.

Who was to say that I wouldn’t face another similar condition to when I was in VILE - 303?

Opening the pill bottle, I took another tablet and swallowed it with some water.

"...Why am I even taking these?"

To avoid dying, probably.

They certainly weren’t doing much for my thoughts. Just a moment ago, I had considered calling the Section Chief and asking whether he would like to join my side instead.

I would treat him well.

Provided he paid for dinner.

My head was filled with so much nonsense that I was struggling to tell what nonsense was good nonsense and what nonsense was bad nonsense.

Sigh.

I wistfully looked up.

"Maybe nonsense is the friends we made along the way..."

I put the phone farther away.

See?

Why did I even do that?

I needed my phone.

So, I brought it back to me.

In that moment, I managed to stop the voices that told me to throw it away.

’No, I need it.’

Thus, I suppressed my thoughts.

I was the suppressor of all intrusive thoughts.

"The Thoughtpressor."

I considered the name before nodding. It sounded like an important position, although I doubted anyone would pay me for it.

Putting the bottle away, I left for my game development office.

The door opened without any trouble, and I entered before sitting down and booting up the laptop. Once the screen lit up, I opened the Gate’s interface and brought up the recording I wanted to check.

The man was still there.

"....."

His face remained turned towards the camera, his body in the same position as before.

I moved through the recording, checking different points before returning to the current feed.

Nothing appeared to have changed.

He didn’t try to leave. He also didn’t approach the camera or done anything that might help me understand him.

He was simply staring.

"...You’re rather troublesome."

I leaned forward, then caught myself and settled back in the chair.

Moving closer to the screen wasn’t the same as approaching him, but I didn’t feel particularly comfortable doing either.

I had managed to trap him.

That didn’t mean I understood what would happen if I stood in front of him again.

Could he get out? Could he use me to get out? For all I knew, getting too close might give him an opportunity to take over my body.

That would be inconvenient.

’Then again, wouldn’t he have done it already?’

He’d had opportunities before.

Perhaps he couldn’t. Perhaps there was something else he needed.

I stared at him for a while longer, my hand resting beside the laptop.

The fact that he hadn’t done anything didn’t make me feel safer. It just meant I had nothing to use when deciding whether approaching him was a terrible idea.

My cursor moved towards the option to enter the Gate.

Then stopped.

"...Not today."

I moved it away.

The man continued staring into the camera, looking exactly as he had before I opened the recording.

Eventually, I was the one who looked away.

"No, today."

Yes, today...

I was going to tame this new anomaly.