Ch.270[Chapter 270] Repayment

As Sir Dominic entered the Mass Production office, everyone’s attention immediately focused on him.

Sir Dominic silently surveyed the people inside the office, noting that each one looked rough and intimidating.

Of course, he knew that in Gacha Land, appearance and ability were separate things, but these people seemed capable of overwhelming others with their looks alone.

“What’s your business?”

A man with a mohawk smoking by the door asked Sir Dominic about his purpose for visiting.

Sir Dominic was quite tall, but the mohawk man towered over him by a head, looking down at him imposingly.

“I’ve come to repay a debt.”

But Sir Dominic was a veteran knight who had experienced far worse pressure than this.

“Hard to believe.”

A man with slicked-back hair standing next to the mohawk man cut in.

“None of the people who borrowed money from us ever paid back properly. Aren’t you just here to ask for an extension?”

The slicked-back hair man’s doubt was reasonable.

Though he could have made excuses, Sir Dominic silently pulled out a pouch containing 350 million Gacha Stones.

He proved himself through action rather than words.

“…Fine. You certainly seem to have enough money to pay back. Did you hit a jackpot or something?”

The slicked-back hair man denied reality as if he couldn’t believe Sir Dominic had so much money.

Thinking that he must have found a sucker at a gambling den, the slicked-back hair man signaled with his eyes to a clueless-looking man standing in the office.

Since it was clear he had come to repay, they needed to inform the boss… no, the president in the president’s office.

“I guess you can’t use the excuse that the president isn’t here. Very clever. Showing up suddenly like this means we have to accept your repayment without any way to deal with it.”

The slicked-back hair man gave Sir Dominic an arbitrary generous assessment.

“Why don’t you have a drink while you wait? We need to prepare some paperwork and such. The president has been busy running from the poli— I mean, organizing documents lately.”

The slicked-back hair man placed a paper cup with a cheap green tea bag on the table in the middle of the office and threw himself onto the sofa.

“If you don’t want to drink, why don’t you just sit and wait?”

“Hey, man. We agreed to stay away from that kind of business! We’re a legitimate company now, man!”

“What did I do?”

The mohawk man dumped the green tea from the paper cup into the sink and brought a new one.

“I’m telling you, I’ve stopped doing that kind of thing these days.”

The slicked-back hair man just shrugged his shoulders, claiming he hadn’t done anything.

Were these really members of Mountain Bridge Marsh?

Sir Dominic stood silently, observing them.

Despite their claims of being a legitimate lending company, their behavior gave off a distinctly shady vibe.

And in this Gacha Land, the shady side mostly belonged to Mountain Bridge Marsh.

“So, aren’t you going to sit? It might take some time.”

“I don’t mind.”

“No, really! You might waste a whole day. There’s so much paperwork these days that even the president can’t eat meals.”

“I don’t mind. If that happens, I’ll just force my way in.”

“Ha, like that would be eas—”

The slicked-back hair man was about to mock Sir Dominic’s bravado and make him face reality when he looked up at Sir Dominic.

And then he froze with a start.

The slick-talking man realized that Sir Dominic was smiling brightly.

“What? You don’t think I can?”

Sir Dominic was confident.

He was a tank, and since his attack power was low in the system, even if he went wild, it would likely become a drawn-out battle.

If it was going to take a long time anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to warm up by causing some trouble.

Besides, Sir Dominic wasn’t one to shy away from combat.

In fact, he was hoping they would take the bait and attack him, as he could gain both justification and combat.

But as Sir Dominic smiled at the prospect of potential combat, an unexpected side effect occurred.

Sir Dominic’s special ability [Cinematic] activated.

The slicked-back hair man was so overwhelmed by Sir Dominic’s intimidating aura that he momentarily forgot to breathe.

No, everyone in the Mass Production office was so overwhelmed by Sir Dominic’s presence that they couldn’t move a finger.

Suddenly, dark storm clouds gathered outside, and soon heavy rain began to fall, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Click. The building where the office was located experienced a power outage.

And then…

BOOM!

Lightning struck right next to the building with that sound.

Sir Dominic’s face was briefly illuminated by the lightning flash before disappearing back into darkness.

…Those are the eyes of a murderer!

The slicked-back hair man couldn’t think about what had just happened or what might happen next.

His mind was filled only with the thought: I’m going to die!

He wanted to back away, but since he was already sitting on the sofa, he could only sink deeper into the soft backrest, unable to distance himself from Sir Dominic.

“Excuse me…”

The one who saved the slicked-back hair man was the clueless-looking man.

“The president says to bring in the guest.”

Startled by the sudden power outage, the clueless man had opened the president’s door slightly and called out.

“Sir Dominic, please come to the president’s office.”

When the clueless man said this, Sir Dominic immediately stood up.

Someone must have fixed the circuit breaker, as the lights in the building came back on.

The rain was still beating heavily against the windows, but the thunder sounds were coming from a bit further away.

“Good. That was faster than I expected.”

Sir Dominic walked toward the president’s office, still smiling.

The slicked-back hair man, still in his awkward position on the sofa, watched Sir Dominic walk to the president’s office.

The intimidating pressure from before was gone, and Sir Dominic’s smile was now calm and gentle.

Did I see wrong? The slicked-back hair man sighed in relief.

“Is this where I go in?”

“Ah, yes.”

Since the clueless man was blocking the door, Sir Dominic politely implied that he should move aside.

The clueless man was perceptive enough to understand the hidden meaning in Sir Dominic’s words and opened the door wide, stepping outside.

“Please go in here.”

“Thank you.”

The clueless man held the doorknob, waited for Sir Dominic to enter, and then carefully closed the door.

“Haah.”

The slicked-back hair man took a deep breath to calm his trembling heart.

“See? Good thing we didn’t mess with him.”

The mohawk man picked up the untouched green tea and downed it in one go.

It had cooled enough to drink comfortably, but it was bitter from steeping too long.

“…His presence is no joke. There aren’t many people with that kind of aura.”

The slicked-back hair man shook his head as he recalled Sir Dominic’s intimidating presence.

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

Instead, he chose mental victory.

“But it’s probably just presence. If we fought, I’d definitely win—”

Just as the slicked-back hair man started speaking to protect his mental state, the building suddenly lost power again.

In an instant, the office was swallowed by darkness, and everyone was too startled by the sudden blackout to speak.

It was truly an unexpected power outage.

The distant rumble of thunder and the sound of rain hitting the glass windows were the only sounds that could be heard in the office.

“Ha, haha. Another blackout. Maybe the building is old…”

The slicked-back hair man shrugged his shoulders as if the sudden power outage was nothing to worry about.

However, there was an unmistakable tremor in his voice that he couldn’t hide.

Then, a chilling sensation ran down his spine.

Urgently, the slicked-back hair man turned his gaze in the direction his senses warned him about.

“-!”

Looking in that direction, he covered his mouth with both hands and let out a silent scream.

There was a single eye, glowing brightly even in this darkness.

Rumble. The sound of thunder grew closer.

And once again, there was a flash of tremendous light next to the building, followed by a BOOM!

With that boom, the slicked-back hair man’s heart sank.

Revealed in the lightning’s flash, the source of the eye was Sir Dominic’s gaze.

A chilling, predatory stare.

Overwhelmed by that terrifying pressure, the slicked-back hair man fainted on the spot.

…

“Excuse me, could I get two cups of coffee?”

“Ah. Yes!”

Sir Dominic asked the clueless man for two cups of coffee.

One was for himself, and one was for the president sitting before him.

“Thank you for accommodating my request.”

The president thanked Sir Dominic from the darkness.

“Perhaps it’s my age, but I can’t move well when it gets dark. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“H-here they are!”

The clueless man quickly prepared two cups of coffee even in this darkness.

He had run so many coffee errands that he had memorized every movement.

In fact, the clueless man moved with his eyes closed, but his movements were perfectly optimized.

“Yes. You came to repay… no, we should introduce ourselves first. That’s proper etiquette. Excuse me. As I get older, I forget many things.”

The old man rose from his seat with difficulty and looked toward Sir Dominic.

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Dominic. I am the president of Mass Production—”

BOOM! Thunder and lightning struck again.

The flash of lightning briefly revealed the old man in the darkness.

“‘Mister Wang.'”

There stood an old man with a queue hairstyle, wearing Qing dynasty clothing and sporting a beard.