Chapter 150 – Isolation (2)
Isolation (2)
The plan is step by step-
As I took the steps, things were happening steadily as I had imagined.
Although we have created an environment where it is difficult for variables to pop out, there are still parts that are annoying to the eye.
No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say that the variable suddenly popped out.
Of course – so variables are variables.
“What about misers?”
Yesterday, ripples arose in the calm pond.
Yeon Si-woo appeared unexpectedly and threw a stone at my quiet pond.
“No. Should I have asked the delivery man instead of the miser?”
Miser.
I remembered the sly smile of a guy I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
The first meeting at the Lions’ Summit, the secret talks, suggestions, and cooperation that took place after Yeon Si-woo and his henchman left…
According to Yeon Si-woo’s words—
It was a hyena that I had to hunt first.
Lee Do-jun, a deliveryman who looked exactly like his owner, was the hyena’s subordinate.
“Have you received any communication from a miser or a delivery person?”
Go Hoon’s smile turned sour at my question.
Jang Hoon nodded his head quietly with a face filled with regret and regret.
“Even on a rock?”
“… Yes.”
“… Ha!”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Strictly speaking, they were my allies rather than Yeon Si-woo.
A group with more aligned interests than Yeon Si-woo, who clearly has a knife hidden behind his smile.
The first faction that the story progressed early on, before Yeon Si-woo.
However, the situation changed rapidly.
I don’t know if it was a sudden change or if it was already changing, but it was clear that something had changed.
While I was settling in Seodaemun-gu, not Eunpyeong-gu-
For sure.
“There is no contact like this…”
A miser is not an idiot.
Meeting at the Lions Summit, and the proposal made to me.
No, he proved his ability just by getting the four kings to the table faster than anyone else in the first place.
The miser, who is not an idiot but can calculate profits and losses faster than anyone else, is silent.
It means that the communication that had been excessively difficult was cut off.
So clear that even the most insensitive people can tell right away.
There is a saying that if you are out of sight, you are also out of mind.
It was a word that penetrated not only romantic relationships, but all human relationships.
That-
Does the miser really not know that obvious statement?
Then, why is the miser, who cannot possibly not know such an obvious statement, remain silent?
Why in Banseok, my home base, and in Seodaemun-gu, where I am now-
Wouldn’t you send a delivery person who is your contact and messenger?
Obviously, when I started this plan, I wasn’t even asked to attend the meeting, so where did Lee Do-jun, who attended on his own, go?
Where has the deliveryman, who acted as a watchdog and agent in an annoyingly subtle and meticulous manner, gone?
Of course, it wasn’t that the miser had nothing to say.
At the end of this consultation, words like Cheongsanyusu, something he would have said, automatically came out.
Now-
It was not an era in which voices and texts could be transmitted by lifting a few fingers.
The era of being able to make calls and send messages at will is long gone.
Now was the era of this ability.
It is an era in which we have no choice but to rely on our abilities, be it Miu or Gou.
Until now, the only means of communication between the miser, and I was the delivery man.
Not only was it one thing, it was also one-sided.
Like now-
If the miser does not have the will to keep in touch, the method of contact disappears.
This is why I cannot completely trust the miser.
This was the fundamental reason why the discomfort did not go away even if he continued to take a step back in the name of ‘rationality’.
In this situation, the excuse the miser would have made was obvious.
It is impossible for one person to take charge of all communications for a large group.
No matter how talented a person is in communication or mobility, there are clear limitations.
Especially now that we are filled with the variables called zombies, situations that even people with special abilities cannot guarantee are common.
Even I gathered all the attendants I had brought in for supply and sent them back to Banseok to carry out the supply, so everything I had to say was said.
In such a world, a brief interruption in communication would not be considered a particularly special event.
But-
As I say again, a miser is not an asshole.
There is no way the misers I have seen so far would allow such variables.
Perhaps, if a situation arises where it is truly unavoidable to contact the miser-
The miser must have contacted me somehow.
He would have explained his current situation and the reason for lack of contact through the delivery man.
It’s not that he’s the type of person who values promises or trust-
This is because it is more advantageous than not doing so.
Like now, I will not allow myself to be in a situation where I am alone in thinking about the miser and having doubts.
But-
The miser suddenly cut off contact.
Without a single word, the delivery man who shamelessly came and went from our rock as if it were his own home disappeared.
What does this mean?
And was it really intentional or someone else’s intention that brought us to this situation?
“So, did I tell you?”
And, of course.
Is it really a coincidence that Yeon Si-woo came to me in such a situation?
“Yeon Si-woo came to visit me yesterday.”
“… Yes?”
Is it really a coincidence that he continued to observe me in such a situation?
Unless you’re an asshole, there’s no way you’d think it was a coincidence.
“… Huh.”
Ko Go-hoon, who had not interrupted his long thoughts, burst into laughter for the first time in a long time.
When Yeon Si-woo said that he had come here, he answered with wide eyes and stared ahead.
“Why department stores?”
Even if you open your eyes wide, your eyes are still narrow.
I asked Ko Go-hoon as we looked at the direction his gaze was directed at.
“… That guy came looking for me and I thought it didn’t break down, hehe—”
It seemed like the exterior of the building was too clean for these guys who had been growling just by looking at each other to have met.
I also smiled at Ko Goh-hoon’s joke and continued.
“Instead of coming and fighting, they actually said let’s stop fighting now.”
“… Yes?”
“They came and offered cooperation. Very sincerely.”
“… Yes?!”
The destructive power itself was different from the statement that Yeon Si-woo had come to visit.
The story is that the arrogant Yeon Si-woo held out his hand first.
If I hadn’t said it myself, it was so strange and outrageous that Goh Koh would never have believed it.
“Do you know what that means?”
“…”
Ko Go-hoon looks at me with eyes that are bigger than before.
I looked at those confused eyes that couldn’t figure out where to tell the story and thought carefully about what had happened.
Cooperation with misers.
It used to be one-sided – communication through a delivery person.
Contact was cut off after I moved from Eunpyeong-gu to Seodaemun-gu and started harassing Yeon Si-woo.
I thought maybe they were keeping in touch through the rock…
Even Koh Go-hoon, who returned from Banseok for supplies, was unable to contact the delivery man.
Yeon Si-woo came to me at such a strange timing.
He proposed cooperation beyond reconciliation, even though he was gritting his teeth thinking that he would definitely kill me.
Is all of this a coincidence?
I asked myself again.
Indeed-
Are all these circumstances surrounding me really a coincidence?
“It means that the temporary protection period is almost over.”
It couldn’t have been a coincidence.
***
“Sister-!”
It was a high-pitched voice full of joy.
Although it had been less than a week, it felt like I had seen a face for the first time in a very long time.
Maybe that’s why Linnea smiled awkwardly as she looked at Kim Hyo-jin, who was very unfamiliar to her.
I waved at the female campers with both hands full of snacks.
The moment I looked at them, focusing my eyes on each of their faces-
Linnea felt that not only Kim Hyo-jin but the entire place had become unfamiliar.
“You really worked so hard, sister!”
Kim Hyo-jin was still as fussy as ever, to the point where it felt a little burdensome.
But-
“…”
That was it.
Kim Hyo-jin, who normally would have been anxious to show off her closeness, was standing a few steps away.
She was looking at herself with a faint smile as she hurriedly crossed her arms and showed it to everyone.
Like pretending.
And her face looks like she is showing off.
“…”
Even before returning to the rock, his face, with only black spots remaining, was as clean as white jade.
Linnea narrowed her eyes and carefully examined every inch of Kim Hyo-jin’s face.
Not only her face, but the faces of all the campers gathered here were clean.
“Wow~! “You brought a lot of snacks, sister!”
Clearly, actions should have been faster than words.
Even if cleanliness is second to none-
Because hunger strips away the very pretense that a person is wearing.
If it was them before they returned to the rock-
No matter how much she was holding the snack, she would wake up in a huff and gather around herself.
“But didn’t you bring too much?”
I didn’t mean to say that I was disappointed that it wasn’t like that.
Just-
That white face, everyone sitting calmly at the table-
And the last joke Kim Hyo-jin made-
“…”
It was so strange to Linnea.
