## Chapter 78 – (5)
Perhaps it was exploiting the fact that the darkest place is under the lamp.
Or maybe it was simply because this was one of the best hotels in Korea.
The address Bella sent was a luxury hotel in the heart of Seoul.
The highest and best room, no less.
From this room’s windows, you could see the entire city.
That felt a bit infuriating.
A world-shaking underworld crime organization should be hiding, yet they brazenly occupied the best room in a hotel.
Would they have done this if there was an S-rank hero in Korea?
I heard they were quietly hiding in the US and Russia, which made it even more displeasing.
“…It’s here…”
As I pulled up to the hotel, a staff member rushed towards us.
Then, they paused and stopped in their tracks.
Wondering what was wrong, I lowered the window, and the staff member stammered.
“…Uh, the valet…”
The person, who appeared to be a hotel employee, was looking over our van.
Well, it was rare for someone to bring a van to such a nice hotel, especially with two rough-looking men covered in tattoos visible when the window was down.
“…It’s okay, park the car and come up.”
“…Yes.”
I got out of the car alone and entered the hotel.
A splendid chandelier and soft yellow lighting throughout the lobby.
I had never heard it before, but a calming classical song played softly.
I prided myself on frequently using expensive hotels, but the top-rated hotel in Korea was indeed different.
And the only problems in such a hotel were me and Bella upstairs.
I resisted the urge to tear off the tattoo stickers and hurriedly got on the elevator.
Luckily, an elevator was already on the first floor.
The top floor of the hotel.
I knocked on the door of the largest room among those here.
“It’s open.”
“…”
I lightly turned the doorknob and pushed, and the door opened smoothly without resistance.
Was it a lack of security awareness? Or simply confidence?
Bella didn’t seem to care much about locking up properly.
Stepping into the room, it felt more like being in a wealthy person’s home than a hotel.
There was a kitchen, a master bedroom, and a living room.
Bella was sitting on the living room sofa.
A sharp, blunt bob cut and tattoos all over her body.
Bella, whose face still had a hint of youth, sat on the sofa and stared at me coldly.
“Hmm…”
…Did she figure it out?
I only changed my clothes and put on tattoo stickers, but it wasn’t like I completely transformed.
“…Ugh, Korean gangsters all look the same… They all just get those flashy tattoos on their arms.”
It was a blatantly racist remark, but since Bella herself didn’t look that Western, it was strangely forgivable.
Bella relaxed her stiff expression slightly and crossed her legs.
“So? Why do you want to join our side?”
“…Because Wolf is the best villain organization in the world.”
Of course, that was a lie.
There was another villain organization that was the best in the world.
But I lied without batting an eye.
“Such obvious flattery.”
That was exactly right.
Still, Bella’s eyes curved into crescent moons.
“But I prefer flatterers to clueless guys.”
“…”
That seemed likely.
Because I could see it.
[Fortress: Praise, Desire to be dominated, Master]
Reading Bella’s fortress, I thought.
This world was like a vacation for me.
How could I slowly imprint myself on her as her master?
I pushed that concern aside for later.
Infiltrating Wolf was the priority.
“Alright, someone like you is a pass.”
Bella nodded readily.
However—
‘The quest hasn’t been completed.’
Strangely, the quest wasn’t cleared.
Seeing that, I realized that the acceptance was just words.
‘Bella doesn’t trust me.’
That was also the implication.
Her wariness was higher than I thought.
“What do I do now?”
“…Okay, give me your phone. Get our colleague out of here. Within two days.”
“…I will.”
I deliberately answered bluntly.
Even if I said good things about Wolf, I shouldn’t flatter Bella from now on.
I shouldn’t be kind or subservient either.
Because I had to become her master.
She looked at me strangely at my changed attitude, but I didn’t care.
And my driver came up.
“B, Bella-nim…”
“…What? Oh, the one you spared…?”
“My driver.”
“Who said you could?”
“Is it a problem?”
Bella spoke coldly, but without backing down, I looked down at Bella’s eyes.
The one who was most scared by our confrontation was the driver.
“N, no…”
He trembled, looking back and forth between me and Bella.
Then Bella chuckled and waved her hand.
“Fine, use him as your driver.”
It was as if she was casually giving away someone unimportant, but this moment would often come to Bella’s mind in the future.
It had been a while since someone dared to stand up to her knowing who she was.
I left Bella’s room with the driver.
And I told the driver where we needed to go.
To the place where the colleague we needed to rescue was.
Then the driver reacted with confusion.
“…Are you going to turn yourself in or something?”
“Just going to see a friend.”
“…Yes.”
I sat in the car and sighed.
“…I need to give an interim report.”
I headed straight to the violent crimes division.
***
“I, I heard the rough story from the guys at the bookstore… They said you did it quite spectacularly…”
“…Yes.”
“…No, well, it’s natural for a hero to catch villains. There’s no need to be discouraged.”
When I answered passively, the chief smiled reassuringly and gently touched my shoulder.
It was a good thing I acted discouraged.
If I had said it casually, he would have looked at me strangely.
Even I thought I had made a mess of things spectacularly.
“You met Bella.”
“Yes, here it is.”
When I turned on the map app and showed the location, the chief’s expression frowned.
“Huh, geez…”
He looked at the app with disbelief and clicked his tongue.
“Knowing the location doesn’t help much.”
That was true.
The opponent was an S-rank villain.
“Do you have any other information?”
“They don’t completely trust me yet.”
“…I guess not. There hasn’t been a villain who tried to join Wolf on their own yet.”
The chief nodded and said.
Wolf’s reputation was feared by all domestic villains, but even so, they didn’t try to join Wolf.
Even if they did join, it would be difficult to secure a position in Wolf.
Because it was a real villain organization that used even A-rank villains as pawns.
“I think I need to work as they tell me and build trust first.”
“…If you need any help, contact me anytime. Come often for interim reports.”
Nodding at those words, I mentioned the favor I wanted to ask.
“…Is that man still there?”
“That man…”
“The skinny one with sharp eyes and a wolf tattoo…”
“Ah, Alex. He’s in the interrogation room.”
When I recited the characteristics, the chief immediately said the name as if he knew who I was talking about.
“Can I interrogate him?”
“…Personally?”
The chief hesitated before nodding.
“It’s not difficult. But that guy only speaks Russian.”
“That’s, alright.”
“…You can speak it?”
The chief looked at me with surprise at my words.
Certainly, it would be rare for someone to speak Russian. But I could.
Because I had a translation skill.
Then the chief set a second condition.
“And all conversations and videos in the interrogation room are recorded. So, no killing or torture…”
“I won’t.”
“…Really?”
I wondered how the guys at the bookstore had conveyed the story, but the chief was thinking of me as some kind of psychopath.
I promised that I wouldn’t do that and was able to enter the interrogation room.
And I added one more thing.
“And this man. Is it possible to take him out for about a week? It’s a mission Bella gave me directly.”
“…That, I’ll have to look into it.”
The chief looked flustered and made a call somewhere.
In the meantime, I entered the interrogation room.
“…The idiot came again.”
It was Russian.
Of course, it wasn’t a problem for me.
Because I had a translation skill.
“I understand everything.”
“…I’ve told you everything I’m going to tell you.”
I leaned in and whispered in his ear.
“The handmade burger place near the police station, and the top floor of the Baekho Hotel.”
“…”
His eyes wavered.
But after taking a few deep breaths, he regained his composure.
“What are you doing?”
“You know these places, right?”
He looked towards the glass.
The inside couldn’t see out, but the outside could see in.
“Yeah, I know them well… Do the guys outside know?”
“No, they don’t, but I might tell them.”
“…You haven’t told them?”
I shook my tattooed arm.
And whispered to Alex in front of me, just loud enough for him to hear.
“Yeah. I came to rescue you.”
“…Me? From here? …Bella, that idiot…”
Even as he said that, a smile appeared on Alex’s lips.
“Wait, before that, I need to confirm that you’re Alex.”
“This tattoo on my neck is enough, isn’t it?”
Alex pointed to the wolf tattoo on his neck.
But I shook my head.
“No, someone said that our actions are leaking to the violent crimes division.”
“…Yeah, I suddenly got caught by these guys…”
As if there was a story to tell, Alex nodded at my words.
“It’s not a difficult question, you have to tell me about Bella. What’s her birthday?”
“Haha, typical Bella.”
He was nervous, but Alex started answering my questions without much suspicion to the surprisingly easy questions.
In a much more relaxed atmosphere than before, he answered all my questions.
Information for targeting Bella began to accumulate.
