Vicious Darling

[25]

Chris stared at Yuri as if entranced.

Whenever he looked at him, he felt he understood the heart of a moth flying into a flame, knowing it would burn to death.

Because he felt the same way.

Chris slowly turned his gaze to check on Peter.

Peter, whom he thought would feel similarly, had an uncomfortable expression.

“I’m not sure if letting Baekyah loose here was really a good idea… No matter how I think about it, I don’t know.”

Chris was completely unaware that his sensibilities were somewhat different from ordinary people.

“You’ll get what you want without seeing any blood. What’s the problem?”

“Well, um…”

Peter, who had been hemming and hawing, let out a deep sigh.

“The higher-ups will surely tell us to accept your proposal. I think so too.”

But he felt strangely uneasy.

Ruffling his hair vigorously, he suddenly lifted his head and met Yuri’s gaze.

“You saw my ability, right? If you try to cheat while pretending to help, I’ll chase you to the ends of the earth and torment you. I’ll steal the cup of warm milk you set out before bed, I’ll spray water on all the toilet paper in the bathroom, and I’ll put holes in your toothpaste tube so it gets on your hands.”

It was crude but honest.

“Sure. Do as you please,” Yuri readily answered.

“Then, how do we approach this? It’s not like we can just ask to meet the mayor or his underlings and see their faces right away.”

“Well…”

Yuri narrowed his eyes and tapped the table with his finger, as if thinking of something.

As if recalling something, he asked Chris,

“Which restaurant in the market we saw earlier had a job posting?”

Chris furrowed his brow but soon provided the answer Yuri wanted.

“It was probably… Farmer’s Grill. I remember they were hiring servers.”

“Good. Then I’ll go for an interview there first thing tomorrow.”

Peter’s mouth fell open at Yuri’s proactive attitude.

“You’re a mafia boss. And you’re going to apply for a job as a restaurant employee?”

Aside from the drive, he couldn’t understand the situation of readily volunteering for a job that even a low-ranking member would do.

“They’re rounding up illegal immigrants from the Winter Continent… I’ll have to walk right in myself.”

A faint smile crossed Yuri’s lips. But the belligerence seeping through that smile was real.

Peter tried to gather his dizzy thoughts, but he wasn’t very successful.

He abruptly stood up.

“For now, for now, let’s go upstairs and rest first. I’ll go report this to the higher-ups.”

Yuri nodded as if to say ‘do as you please.’

“While you’re out, you can write down the details of that job posting too.”

“Ah. Alright.”

Peter, who might have grumbled about being sent on an errand, nodded somewhat dazedly and hurriedly left the inn.

Chris, who had turned off his device’s functions, persistently waited until Yuri finished his meal. Finally, as Yuri was about to stand up, Chris pulled out his chair and escorted him upstairs.

The door of the temporary lodging closed completely.

Yuri strode in and sat on the bed. The springs creaked, suggesting they weren’t using very good mattresses.

Yuri gestured to Chris, who was standing guard-like in front of the closed door.

At the command to come closer, Chris strode across the room and knelt on the floor right in front of Yuri.

“This will make the Barrel Society move voluntarily.”

Chris nodded calmly at his words.

It was true that Yuri had become more generous towards Peter, and it was also true that he wanted to help the Barrel Society, which worked for illegal immigrants from the Winter Continent.

But long before that, Yuri was moving for his own purposes.

Baekyah’s foundation is in the Winter Continent. While it’s true that their power is strong due to their solid roots, their influence on other continents was limited.

That’s why he decided to move through the Barrel Society. As a group composed of illegal immigrants, they had small branches spread across various continents.

The problem was that the Barrel Society had much to risk compared to what they could gain.

‘They’ll probably just help with inter-continental movement or create forged identity documents and act like they’re doing us a big favor.’

It would be fortunate if they even did that properly.

‘Moreover, Yuri doesn’t completely trust the Barrel Society.’

He believes in their goodwill and purpose to some extent. But he also knows well that a group involved in illegal activities cannot be completely faultless.

Because that’s how Baekyah was.

Someone like Rosenhauser might have planted one or two of his minions in the immigrant community before he died.

After all, he was desperate to draw out Yuri, who was lurking in other continents, especially the Winter Continent.

‘He would have wanted to bring Espers into the Winter Continent more than ordinary people… There might even be someone belonging to the Thorns Order within the Barrel Society.’

They entered the Winter Continent through a third method, not through the smuggling routes monitored by Baekyah or the airships verified by Northern Light, and they also spread the guiding drug.

So one can’t be too careful.

“According to Anong’s information, there are fewer than three power figures in the Spring Continent who might accept the Thorns Order. Owen, the leader of the farmers’ organization, Jacob Lee, the current leader of the merchants’ guild.”

Yuri picked up where Chris left off.

“And Mayor Chafnil.”

Before coming to the Spring Continent, Chris had received relevant documents from Anong, the temporary leader of the reformed Esper Union.

It didn’t detail exactly who Rosenhauser’s remnants had joined hands with and where.

But he was somewhat familiar with the political situation in the Spring Continent, who the current mayor was, and what his policy direction was.

Also about the situation where people from the Winter Continent were being discriminated against.

“The Barrel Society will think Yuri is giving in to impulse, so they’ll think they can use you.”

Neither Yuri nor Chris ever expected full cooperation from the Barrel Society.

That’s why they prepared bait to draw them in.

‘They might be indifferent when it’s someone else’s business, but they become proactive when they think it’s their own.’

In this plan, Yuri took on the role of someone consumed by revenge.

It started with subtly leaking information about the bad blood between Rosenhauser and Yuri in the back alleys.

This was easy. It was after the fact that Rosenhauser had fabricated malicious rumors about Baekyah’s boss had already spread, and people were curious about the reason.

Afterwards, when Yuri met with the Barrel Society, he informed them that Rosenhauser’s remnants still existed.

It wasn’t difficult to pretend to be a madman who, consumed by revenge, was desperate to erase them from this world and was recklessly jumping in himself.

He chose to move to the Spring Continent right away, barely meeting Peter, the teleporter, three times.

Coming over with just his body, looking as if he hadn’t prepared anything, was also a kind of psychological warfare. To act as if his heart was running ahead of him.

‘As if he came to the Spring Continent without any plan, but now has to start from scratch to investigate the Thorns Order.’

So before they could think that Yuri’s offer to help the Barrel Society was suspicious, they would see it as an opportunity.

It would look like a chance to use the stumbling boss of Baekyah who was consumed by emotion.

“To find mistletoe, you must first find the host,” Yuri’s purple eyes gleamed fiercely.

Chris felt his mouth go dry.

It was Yuri who saw through the reality that the Thorns Order seemed to have become a completely independent criminal organization after Rosenhauser’s death.

“They may call themselves a respectable order, but now they’re nothing more than parasites that have lost their host.”

This is all because of the background in which the Thorns Order was established.

Long ago, Rosenhauser gathered unregistered Espers under him to create a legion.

Even for Rosenhauser, it wasn’t easy to control individuals with powerful abilities.

But don’t Espers have a good leash called a Guide?

In life, Rosenhauser kept his order, the Thorns Order, under control by providing Guides.

Espers with their lifelines held would have had no choice but to obey their master. Furthermore, there would have been those who developed a taste for the wealth and power Rosenhauser provided.

The problem is that there’s always a shortage of Guides.

How much effort would it take to secretly divert Guides that are scarce even in Northern Light?

Rosenhauser, who dreamed of Esper independence, had continuously researched to replace Guiding. The result of those efforts manifested as the guiding drug.

But the fact that this doesn’t properly supply Guiding became a new problem. It’s very inefficient, and the drug itself is so toxic that it creates the illusion of a guiding effect because it works better than ordinary painkillers or sleeping pills.

So Rosenhauser supplemented the insufficient drug effect with addictiveness. For him, it was rather advantageous if the illegally held Espers showed dependence on the drug he provided. Because even if he couldn’t provide Guides, he could just get them addicted to the drug.

The Thorns Order was an abnormally grown organization.

What choice would those who lost their host, Rosenhauser, and could no longer receive Guides make?

‘And parasites are bound to find a host.’

Someone who can provide Guides instead of Rosenhauser.

A parasite that finds a host will suck nutrients until the host withers away, spread its branches luxuriantly, and even steal sunlight. Until it finally bears fruit.

Yuri and Chris intended to burn all the mistletoe before that happened.

‘Since we plan to take out the host as well… the promise to help the Barrel Society’s Keysmith isn’t entirely a lie.’

How many power figures in the Spring Continent could accommodate a force like the Thorns Order?

The mayor was a very likely candidate.

“Is it really the mayor?”

“I hope not. It would be very troublesome to maneuver if it is.”

But if the mayor really was the new sponsor of the Thorns Order, Yuri wouldn’t hesitate to take him down.

“Are you really thinking of getting caught yourself? Can’t I step in instead?”

Yuri pretended not to hear and answered,

“Thinking about carrying plates after so long makes my wrists tingle.”