episode_0288

“Hmm… I guess things are roughly sorted out for now.”

Meanwhile, at the villain organization 【Abyss】’s hideout.

In that hideout, which felt lonely and empty now that No. 13 was going to be away for a while, everyone was busy carrying out their respective roles.

Among them, Apple was finally able to take a breather after finishing the recent rush of work that had suddenly started yesterday.

Having been recognized for her contributions during 【Dawn】, Apple was now fully a member of 【Abyss】.

Even though she was just a low-level grunt, and her position was more accurately described as a slave of the organization rather than a member, Apple seemed satisfied with her place.

After all, as long as she could be with No. 13, she could be happy no matter what.

That was how she had been brainwashed.

Anyway.

As such, she was in charge of various tasks for the villain organization 【Abyss】–mainly using brainwashing to recruit specific individuals, and collecting and controlling information through the internet.

She had been very busy for the first time in a while due to the bizarre events that had started just two days ago.

Suddenly, anonymous communities and minor domestic news outlets had begun to talk about Leader Rahe and Squad 7.

If it were just about Squad 7, she could have ignored it, but the name of this organization, 【Abyss】, had also appeared.

The content was “Leader Rahe’s contact and collusion with villains.”

It was just an urban legend, filled with fabrications, but some parts were close to the truth.

There was no clear evidence, but blurry photos were surfacing, and there seemed to be a movement to add substance to the unexpected topic.

In a normal case, she would have thought that it would disappear on its own if she watched it for a while.

However, Apple’s instincts warned her that she couldn’t let it go, so she immediately deleted those posts and news articles, blocked the IPs, and threw other topics to divert people’s attention, preventing the topic from resurfacing.

Despite that, there were people somewhere who were trying to talk about the topic again, and Apple used her magic to the fullest to deal with them one by one.

Anyway, doing that had kept her up all night.

As a result, unlike usual, there were faint dark circles under Apple’s eyes, who was always thorough in her self-management.

“Still, it’s strange… why suddenly?”

No. 13 was always careful when contacting the heroes he had brainwashed, the heroes of Squad 7 and Squad 4.

Apple also always paid attention to ensure that no evidence was left behind while assisting No. 13.

However, it was very sudden, and the fact that a baseless story suddenly started to surface made her feel uneasy.

Moreover, the contents contained less than 10% of the truth, just trashy gossip.

She didn’t know how the stories had originated, but if the provocative and diverse contents had been left as they were, they would have heated up communities and the internet.

It was fortunate that she had discovered and dealt with it early.

Even without clear evidence, if people talked about it as if it were a confirmed fact, the ‘suspicion’ would become ‘truth.’

‘It’s unnatural.’

Anyway.

Apple was roughly half convinced that someone was intentionally creating this flow.

The remaining half was not that she didn’t suspect the mastermind, but that the mastermind’s purpose would not end with Rahe.

It was clear that someone was interfering.

Otherwise, Apple wouldn’t have been struggling for two days.

Anyway, measures had been taken, so it would be good to rest for a while.

Report to Violet, and then go back to her room and… masturbate and rest.

If No. 13 was here, she would have begged him to have sex with her… what a shame.

***

…………………………………

…………………

……

As Violet instructed, No. 13 contacted a designated villain organization through a broker named 【Market】.

Villain organization 【Mud】.

This organization consisted of three young women, all of whom were said to be Awakened.

With the broker’s help, No. 13 met them in a sealed basement, and his first impression of them was ‘immature.’

To put it nicely, there was room for improvement, but to put it bluntly, they were green.

They were young, just barely adults, and he heard that they had become villains not because of any grand ambition, but simply because they had nowhere else to turn in society.

Also, if they had mediocre abilities or were just doing villain activities without thinking, they would have quickly been caught and either executed or arrested by the heroes.

But the fact that they were still alive without being caught meant that their abilities were undoubtedly outstanding.

Just, good for disposable pieces.

That word came to No. 13’s mind.

He felt he knew to some extent why Olivia had contacted them.

“So, the one who came is… an uncle?”

“……”

Uncle.

He was a little shocked by the title.

He was about to turn 30 soon, but wasn’t it too early to be called an uncle by a girl who was about 20 years younger?

But at university, if you’re a returning student, you’re an uncle… no, let’s not think too deeply about it.

“I came through the introduction of broker 【Market】. Please take care of me.”

“Oh, don’t be so formal. Speak comfortably, uncle. You’re older than us, right? Did she say 37?”

“29.”

“Haha, that’s right. You would have been twelve years apart if you were just a bit older, so speak comfortably, comfortably.”

The woman, who had a surprisingly neat appearance and attire compared to her outgoing tone, casually tapped No. 13’s arm as she spoke.

She seemed to be overflowing with sociability.

Apart from this outgoing woman, the other two were standing slightly apart, as if wary of him.

Then, one of the two, a woman with a cool impression wearing glasses, approached him.

“Hello. I’m Akam from 【Mud】. Nice to meet you. As that child said, you can speak comfortably.”

This lady had a calmer feeling.

Perhaps because of her composure, she seemed more mature than her age.

The remaining one person.

The gloomy girl across the table didn’t say a word to No. 13 until the end.

Outgoing, composed, gloomy.

No. 13 gave each of them a nickname in order.

He had heard their names, but they weren’t very memorable, so it would be better to call them by nicknames when he thought of them.

“Uncle, why did you come to us? How did you meet Broker Unnie?”

“The villain organization I belonged to collapsed. Everyone was caught… But since the skills from the organization remain, I receive requests from the broker to make a living. I’ll skip how I met 【Market】 since it’s not worth mentioning.”

“Ah~! There, there you go again. I told you to speak comfortably, right? If you’re like that, we’re uncomfortable, too?”

The outgoing one huffed cutely and threatened No. 13.

When he calmed her down by saying he understood, she quickly smiled brightly.

“Well, anyway, you passed. Nice to meet you, uncle.”

The outgoing one reached out her hand as if to shake hands.

When No. 13 looked at her hand for a moment as if surprised, she quickly noticed and answered No. 13’s question.

“Are you surprised because it’s too sudden? Should we have done something more like an interview? But 【Market】 Unnie introduced you. I can trust her introduction.”

It seemed they trusted the broker who introduced No. 13, not No. 13 himself.

She was a well-known person in this industry, and maybe they had a personal relationship.

Because she was a woman who didn’t lie because of trust issues, that broker.

“Ah, but your looks… It would have been nice if a more handsome oppa had come. Oppa, you’re not bad, but you’re a little… ordinary. Yeah. You look like someone who would be okay if you dressed up?”

Whether it was a lack of consideration or a lack of subtlety.

Anyway, there was no problem since he passed.

When No. 13 firmly grasped her outstretched hand to shake it, the outgoing one still did not lose her smile and gestured with her chin towards the desk next to her.

There, junk food such as pizza and cola prepared by the broker 【Market】 was lined up.

“Unnie prepared it for us. Let’s eat together, and then let’s go to our hideout. We’ll talk in detail then.”

“…Then, I won’t refuse.”

The outgoing one, with her overflowing sociability and eloquence, pulled No. 13 to the desk.

The gloomy one, looking forward to the pizza, had finished setting the table and was staring intently at the pizza, and the composed one had not yet taken her wary gaze away from No. 13.

Each of the three people had different personalities, but it seemed that none of them noticed that No. 13, who was reluctantly sitting down because the outgoing one had grabbed his arm, was showing a strange and dark emotion in his eyes.

***

—What happened next was according to the staff’s plan and No. 13’s schedule.

The three people really liked junk food, and the broker gave them a ‘gift’ of pizza, spaghetti, and other meals.

It was a meal that had been prepared with trouble, and 【Market】, who was someone they had relied on in many ways since they first started the organization, was a trusted figure, so the three ate and drank what had been prepared without hesitation.

Even if they were just young women who had just become adults, they weren’t fools who would readily put something prepared by someone else into their mouths in this industry.

But the fact that the other party was a sister they trusted must have relaxed their minds.

And, currently.

Ssss… Ssssseu…

Ssae… sae…

Four villains sitting around a table.

Among them, two of the three belonging to 【Mud】 had their faces buried in the desk or were leaning against the back of the chair, as if their souls had left their bodies.

Their eyes were half open, but there was no light in their eyes.

Other than that, they looked like they were sound asleep.

“Kuh… euk… eu…”

And one person, the woman whom No. 13 decided to nickname Composed, was barely maintaining her sanity and enduring.

She kept turning her head back, trying to regain her head, and struggling to keep her swaying body upright, glaring at No. 13.

But there was no strength in her glare, and her focus kept blurring or her pupils were swimming around.

“Why are you trying so hard? You can relax?”

No. 13 watched Composed as he drank the cola in the paper cup.

Composed gritted her teeth and tried to regain her senses somehow.

It would be a futile effort.

No. 13 just leisurely watched her efforts.

“T-That bastard… w-what… did you do… to the food…”

As she said, he had already put drugs in both the pizza and the cola.

It wasn’t No. 13 who did it, but 【Market】, who had fallen into his grasp beforehand, prepared it according to his instructions.

Since she had consumed a large amount of powerful brainwashing drug, the effect would last for at least an hour.

Moreover, since it was immediate effect, the other two had lost consciousness right away like this, but the fact that only Composed was enduring meant that her mental strength was that strong, or that she had been picky and didn’t eat properly because she was wary of No. 13.

Composed staggered and tried to get up somehow, but eventually her legs gave way and she collapsed.

Putting her arms on the desk and leaning against it, Composed tried to regain her senses somehow by rubbing her head against the desk legs.

“Give up. It’ll be easier if you give up. I won’t be too bad. I won’t sell you guys off somewhere, so rest assured and fall asleep.”

“S-Shut up…!”

Composed trembled and barely raised her body halfway.

Whoo-oong…!

The light of magic gathered in her one hand.

She could only use 1/10th of the power compared to when she was in normal condition, but even that would be enough to kill the defenseless No. 13.

“I’ll kill you, I’ll–”

But before she could complete her magic.

Before her magic was released and pierced No. 13… Suddenly, someone blocked Composed’s mouth and nose.

It should be a space where no one was except for the four of them.

But an invisible someone blocked Composed’s respiratory organs with something like a handkerchief.

A handkerchief soaked in medicine, invisible.

Smelling the strong medicinal smell that deeply permeated her respiratory organs, Composed eventually dropped her head and lost consciousness.

Behind Composed.

“Good work, Executive Officer No. 13.”

“Oh, good job, Coco. Thanks for waiting, it must have been boring.”

Coco, a member of Squad 7 who had been waiting while hiding her body with magic, greeted him like that, holding a handkerchief in one hand and supporting the unconscious Composed in one arm.