episode_0015

It is a morning when my eyes naturally open.

When I see my body refreshed and refreshed, I feel like I slept well last night.

‘Yes, this is what it should be like in the morning.’

I’ve only been freed from Lufia for a day, but it couldn’t be better.

If nothing special happens in the future, I will have to turn off the time independence skill.

I looked at the clock, it was 7 o’clock.

I went to bed before 9 o’clock yesterday, so I slept for over 10 hours.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m so tired, or if I’m just a sleeper.

“Good night, master.”

As I opened the door and went out, Bir greeted me.

Looking at him folding the laundry, it seems like he already woke up a long time ago.

“Good morning.”

I also received a light greeting and headed to the bathroom.

After breakfast, we arrived at the office building at 8 o’clock.

My commute time was 7 o’clock, so I was still late, but I got to work 3 hours earlier than usual.

I confidently opened the front door of the office building and entered, encountering three employees who were just passing by.

“Huh, Director, at this hour?”

“Oh no. I can’t believe I’ve been seeing the director since morning. Does the sun rise in the east?”

“Sophie, the sun usually rises in the east.”

Erica, Sophie, and Kyra, respectively.

All three are employees with distinct personalities, so they are engraved in our minds.

“Hello everyone. Sometimes there are days like this.”

I said hello calmly as if it was no big deal and went to take the elevator.

Three employees blocked my path.

“Director, since you came early, please hang out a little longer~.”

Erica fawns with a charming voice.

He is the youngest of the three who always hang out together, and is a mischievous troublemaker who often causes accidents.

“They say that when a person suddenly changes, it is time for them to die. Director, are you in any pain?”

Kyra speaks calmly with an expressionless expression.

He may seem like a principled person who knows various regulations and laws, but in reality, he only brings up favorable regulations or uses a mix of nonsense and sophistry to annoy others.

“No. I came here to see the director.”

Sophie, a beauty with a cool look.

Contrary to his appearance, he is full of foolishness and is a serious idiot to the point that he was brought into the management bureau simply because the director was handsome.

It’s amazing how these three people, with so many different personalities, ended up hanging out together.

“I’m busy today. I’ll hang out with you later.”

“Ah, always later, later. They said they would have coffee time later, but there has been no news for several months~?”

“Coffee time was postponed for exactly 6 months and 13 days. As Erica said, the Director cannot be trusted in the future.”

“Director, this is too much. It was the vitality of my life… ”

Coffee time, a time to drink coffee and talk one-on-one with office building employees.

It was introduced to create a horizontal organization, but when the number of office workers exceeded 30, it became impossible to handle it, so it was virtually abolished.

Then, employees strongly demanded the revival of coffee time. I had no choice but to revive it, but I put it off until later with the excuse that I was busy with work, and before I knew it, half a year had passed.

“Please take a look. There are now over 40 office workers.”

“To be exact, 46 people.”

“Thank you so much for your comment, Kyra. Anyway, I’ve gone beyond what I can handle.”

“But, Director. The bureau’s regulations state that it pursues a horizontal organization. Therefore, the director has an obligation to have coffee time to promote friendship with employees.”

“So I’m praying like this. Please take a look.”

“Then we have a choice, so I’ll decline. Coffee time is a basic welfare for employees.”

Kaira speaks without hesitation, as if she had prepared in advance.

People around her are always sympathizing with Kyra, saying she is right.

“Of course, I know the director is busy. So, I won’t force you too much. But it would be nice if they gave us an award like they give it to the pixies. I don’t ask for much. We just need some time to talk. It’s not that difficult, right?”

Kyra pushes hard and takes a step back.

They know that I’m not really that busy, but they pretend to step away to stimulate my conscience.

It was successful because I actually felt remorse.

“Ha… Yes, yes, I lost.”

“Wow~ Coffee time is back~.”

Erica twirled her arms and expressed her excitement with her whole body.

“Instead, it is difficult right now, and it will only be possible around this afternoon.”

“I understand. Since we are splitting the time when the director is away, we have to adjust.”

Kyra’s conscience continues to be stimulated.

I feel pressured to make the most of my day.

“And, it wouldn’t be fair if it was just the three of you, so if you’re going to do it, let everyone who wants do it.”

“Then, I will create a coffee time committee and receive applications~. The chairman will be Kaira unni~.”

“You figure out how to do it, just recruit fairly and let me know.”

“Yes, yes~. I understand~.”

As I listened to Erica’s brave answer, I became anxious.

Erica causes accidents in many ways.

Of course, he’s fundamentally a good guy, and he’s competent as an employee of the management bureau, so it’s probably okay.

These are cute pranks that even accidents can be resolved.

I thought the situation was roughly resolved and was about to go back to the elevator when I felt eyes on me.

“……”

I asked Sophie, who had been staring at me without saying anything earlier.

“Why? Do you have something to say?”

“No, there is none. I just watched it in fascination.”

“…Is that so.”

The concept is clear.

*

*

Office Building 4th Floor, Director’s Office.

After getting off the elevator, I knocked on the deputy director’s office and let him know that I was at work.

As expected, Mariela looked surprised and hurriedly opened the door.

“Director? You’re going to work at this hour… I’m not asleep, right?”

Mariela pinching her cheek.

Soon I felt pain and became even more confused, perhaps realizing it wasn’t a dream.

“There are times like this.”

“That… is that so? It would be nice if the director came to work early, but… ”

“But?”

“That… When a person suddenly changes, it is time for them to die… ”

“I already heard that from Kyra.”

“Oh, I see.”

Mariela smiled awkwardly.

“Well, I have something to report to you today. Is the time okay?”

“Of course. What is it about?”

“This is information related to the union that you requested yesterday.”

“Is that out already?”

“Yes. Bureau informants move during the evening hours.”

Perhaps because they are informants managed directly by Mariela, they are quite capable.

“Please wait in the director’s office. I’ll take the materials with me.”

“Oki.”

The director’s office is located right next to the deputy director’s office.

To begin with, the entire fourth floor has a simple structure with only the director’s office, the deputy director’s office, and a data storage room.

When I entered the director’s office and saw the sofa, the desire to lie down arose.

‘Habits are so scary.’

Today I’m in diligent mode, so I’m not going to lie down.

After a while.

Squeak—

Mariela came into the director’s office with some materials.

“For some reason, it looks like Mariela has rotated 90 degrees today.”

“…That’s because the director is lying down, right?”

“Ah.”

Habit is really scary.

This sofa is truly a magical sofa.

It pulls my body like a magnet.

“Then let’s start the report.”

Now Mariela doesn’t even care whether I’m lying down or not.

“First of all, it is true that high-ranking executives of the Liberator and Lud Zetas met. I don’t know the exact purpose of the contact, but given the circumstances, it is highly likely that it was an alliance as Mr. Leger said.”

“That’s right. Otherwise, there is no reason to meet.”

“In addition, it is said that the guard post where the Liberator’s troops originally stayed was empty.”

“Hmm… Either he went to commit terrorism again, or he moved troops for the sake of the alliance.”

“There was no warning of a terrorist attack, so it seems most likely the latter.”

The Liberators give advance notice before carrying out terrorist attacks.

Of course, they don’t tell us the exact date, time, or location at all, and they just provoke us to stop them because they’re going to carry out a terrorist attack.

However, there has been no notice recently. However, since they are not the kind of people who will stop terrorism, it is presumed that they are joining forces to tackle a big case.

Surely that large number of cases are not from the Pixie Management Bureau?

“Several gangs affiliated with the Rud Zetas are also said to have gaps in their ranks.”

“Hmm… No matter how positive I try to think… It looks like they’re getting ready to attack us.”

Who on earth is behind it and is able to control the two organizations to this extent?

An empire is a huge country that spans an entire continent. Like the real-life United States, the administrative districts are divided into several states, but this is not something that requires much attention.

The important thing is that the empire is largely divided into a rich north and a poor south, and the underworld of the empire refers to the dark side of the south.

In the north, where security is good and knights are stationed, the shadowy influence cannot be as great as in the south. Therefore, all fairly large criminal organizations are located in the South.

Even in the southern underworld, which has become home to all kinds of criminal organizations, the Rude Zetas and Liberators are firmly maintaining their positions of power. Their power is almost comparable to that of a small country.

But how much power do you have to control these guys?

What I’m worried about is not the union of the two organizations. Of course, the alliance itself is a threat, but the management bureau’s power is enough to overwhelm it.

The problem is the existence behind it. These are guys with tremendous power whose identity and purpose are unknown.

If we just clumsily wipe out two organizations and end it, the beings behind it will gather even greater strength and come find us.

So, we must take this opportunity to completely destroy it.

“Have you found out anything about the entity behind it?”

“Yes. No known organization had the power to control the Federation. As for the unknown side, the investigation will take a lot of time, so for now… ”

Mariela shook her head.

“Then… What is the possibility that it is Mr. Leger’s own play?”

Mr. Leger is someone who could possibly control this entire situation from behind.

The scenario of leaking information about the Management Bureau and recruiting other organizations in the name of escaping from the Management Bureau’s control is not completely impossible.

If it is Mr. Leger’s own play, Mr. Leger will benefit whether the coalition wins or loses. If you win, you can escape the oppression of the Management Bureau, and if you lose, you can eat up the entire backworld.

but,

“It seems unlikely.”

Even though it was once one of the organizations that divided the underworld into three, now that its prestige has collapsed, it does not have the power to overwhelm the two organizations.

Additionally, the other two organizations would not trust Mr. Leger in the first place. They’ve been fighting fiercely with each other and vying for power, but out of nowhere, they’re calling for an alliance and mentioning some strange national agency? Anyone can see that it just looks like crap.

Therefore, the person behind it must be a third party who has nothing to do with the interests of the behind-the-scenes world. In addition, it must be equipped with such overwhelming force that there is no room for disagreement.

And there is no way such a force would have been unknown to us until now.

“This is not a force, but an individual.”

“Yes?”

“There are two conditions to become a mastermind. One must have the force to overwhelm the coalition, and the other must be a third party in the backworld who has nothing to do with the interests.”

“Hmm… Yes, I guess so.”

“But a force with such force hides its very existence by avoiding our information network? That’s impossible.”

When establishing the bureau, I first requested as many privileges as possible. Because calling louder than what you want is the basis of negotiation.

However, the Prime Minister of the Empire, Yeom Gam-taeng, accepted it right away, and thanks to this, a crazy institution unprecedented in the history of the Empire was born.

And one of the many privileges is to borrow the intelligence agency’s information network.

As the Information Bureau’s information network is added to the Management Bureau’s independent information network, our intelligence power is absurdly superior to that of the Intelligence Bureau, which specializes in information.

A force with such power would conceal itself by avoiding this crazy information network? In fact, this is an issue that will turn the entire empire upside down.

“But for individuals, the story is different. Because there are many strong people who are unknown to the world.”

“That’s definitely true.”

“If it had been more powerful than anything else, the coalition would not have surrendered at once.”

An individual with the power of hundreds of people and the power of hundreds of people. Which of the two would have a higher chance of fighting with? Of course, fighting against individuals has a higher chance of winning.

But what if you are an individual with the power of millions of people and the power of millions of people? At this time, the odds of winning are higher if you fight against the forces.

The power of a force comes from its scale. The problem is that as more people gather, control becomes more difficult and maintenance costs increase, so there is room for attack in this area.

Plant spies to cause internal strife, block supply and kill them, or destroy them individually. Regardless of feasibility, this means that there is room to fight.

But what if you are an individual with the power of millions of people? What if tens of thousands of people die with a single gesture, guns and swords don’t work, and even missiles and bombs don’t kill people?

It’s no longer a person, it’s a natural disaster.

And people know that trying to overcome natural disasters is foolish.

“A hundred ants can fight a million ants, but they can’t fight an elephant.”

“…Then shall we give instructions in the direction of finding that individual?”

“Yes. Please instruct me to collect information mainly on suspicious individuals.”

“Okay.”

In fact, if you think about it this far, you can guess who the person behind it is.

In the end, this is not reality, but a game with a set scenario.

“Mariella. Do you want to make a bet?”

“Bet? The director really likes to bet.”

“It’s fun.”

Mariela and I have often made bets in the past. The reward of a bet is always giving the other person something they want, also known as the right to wish.

Unfortunately, because I had a fraudulent retry ability, I was never defeated. Thanks to this, the number of wish tickets accumulated so far exceeds 10.

At this point, it’s likely that she won’t participate in the bet, but Mariela can’t refuse since she’s set a condition that if I always win, she’ll get rid of all my wish rights.

“What bet?”

“Guess the gender of the entity behind it.”

“…Gender?”

“Yes. Guess whether it’s a man or a woman.”

Mariela looked reluctant, but thought about something for a moment and nodded slightly.

I think I gained confidence that I can win something.

“I will do it. Instead, please let me choose first.”

“Do whatever you want. What gender are you going to be?”

“Of course she’s a woman.”

It is a reasonable choice like Mariela. Perhaps, the person behind this thought was the new pixie.

Until now, all pixies have been women, and I even told Mariela that pixies can only be women.

“You’re not planning on biting me now, are you, Director?”

Mariela was confident of victory and had a confident expression on her face.

Poor Mariela. You fell for my trick.

I said with a slight smile.

“All in on the man.”