“Just now… I heard the word ‘punishnt’.”
“Yes?”
“You said we’d be punished.”
“Oh, it’s nothing major—just the usual. If soone’s trying to forcibly break this restriction, wouldn’t that an sothing serious has gone wrong?”
Director Ho smiled, lacing his fingers together.
“And as for that ‘punishnt’… You’ll be reunited with whatever you hold dearest.”
“……!”
“I’ll make sure to take good care of it.”
“Wait a second! That’s—”
I made deliberate eye contact with Go Yeongeun-ssi, cutting off her protest.
“……”
“You were saying?”
Go Yeongeun-ssi slowly cald herself, then spoke up again in a steady tone.
“…So, will we be bound by this restriction until the ‘project’ succeeds?”
“No, this is rely a support asure to help you during your assignnt!”
He really knew how to twist words.
‘Support’, huh?
“As soon as you bring back the information I asked for regarding the Annihilation-sanctioned Disaster, this auxiliary asure will disappear. And then…”
Director Ho rested his chin on his hand,
Leaning toward us.
“Whoever contributes to the success of this mission… will receive the potion right then and there.”
“……”
Wait a second.
Beside , I heard Jang Heowoon’s trembling voice.
“P-Potion… you an…”
“The Wish Ticket.”
“…!!”
“You’ll receive the Wish Ticket as soon as you fulfill your assigned role! Isn’t that amazing?”
Goddamn.
“I worked hard to make it so you wouldn’t have to wait until the project succeeds.”
Suddenly, the tiline to receive the Wish Ticket had been drastically shortened.
This spy work was starting to feel absurdly enticing.
‘If I do well, I could get it unbelievably fast.’
As long as I perform well!
“……”
At the sa ti, a chill crept down my spine.
‘He revealed that on purpose.’
It was a secondary incentive, ant to make us cling to this like our lives depended on it.
Instead of disclosing everything from the start and letting us make a careful decision, he controlled the information.
‘So now it feels like it’s just within reach.’
I’d thought it before, but his thods were sweat-inducingly elaborate and layered.
‘…And that’s not even all.’
I recalled sothing Director Ho had said previously—
What he told when he assigned to the spy role.
– And since I figured it’d be a bit lonely for you to go in alone, you won’t be infiltrating by yourself.
Just hearing that, it sounded like he was sending others into the bureau for my sake to join in the infiltration.
But once I agreed and confird the details, it turned out to be the opposite.
‘My batchmates had already been deployed to the bureau before I was.’
Director Ho never lied about the facts of a situation.
But he would freely manipulate the framing of intent and interpretation to steer people exactly where he wanted them…
Just look at my peers’ faces.
‘Their eyes are shining.’
The phrase ‘you’ll get the Wish Ticket once this is done’—how sweet that must sound.
But.
“Then, may I ask whether we would all be acknowledged equally?”
“Hm?”
Now’s not the ti to miss the details.
“If we ‘contribute’ in the delivery of the docunts, will we all receive a Wish Ticket potion?”
“Ah, of course.”
“…Then, will you be the one to determine whether we ‘contributed’ properly, Director?”
“……”
Director Ho locked eyes with for a brief mont, then smiled again.
“I’ll trust your report, of course!”
Huu.
“Thank you.”
With that, I prevented the situation where Director Ho might deny the group’s joint effort and designate only one MVP to skimp out on distributing the Wish Ticket potion.
“Ah, it’s ti.”
Just then, Director Ho glanced at his wristwatch and stood up.
And then, clap! After bringing his hands together once, with a cheerful expression on his face, he spoke to us in a friendly tone.
“Take your ti chatting, you three. You won’t get many chances to gather together like this ‘outside’ anymore. I set this up just for that.”
In other words, don’t gather together and raise suspicion.
Still, he left us with at least a sliver of professional courtesy.
And that’s the signal that the senior officer was finally excusing himself, leaving his junior staff to have their eting.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
He waved, bead as he left us with the parting words that he’d try to arrange for more chances to et in the future.
We hurriedly stood from the table and bowed.
“You didn’t have to stand! But thank you.”
He walked all the way to the counseling room door, and just as he grabbed the doorknob, he turned back as if sothing had occurred to him.
Our eyes t.
Director Ho gave a subtle nod toward the silver ring on my left hand’s finger.
The silver ring.
My ntal protection item.
“That thing. It’s completely worn down, you know.”
“…!”
Srrrk.
“Well then, I’ll see you at the next session.”
The Fox Counseling Office door closed with a soft, courteous sound.
Thuk.
“……”
“……”
Director Ho was completely gone.
And then—
“Haah……”
A heavy sigh filled the waiting room.
It was the sigh of low-ranking staff who’d just faced off with an absolutely insane, far-above-them superior…
‘Still, I guess it helped that it wasn’t a one-on-one eting.’
And I had the chance to reunite with these guys after a long ti.
“Um… It’s been a while, Soleum-ssi.”
I turned to look at my fellow batchmate.
A forr mber of the Round-Off Team.
The long-haired man greeted with clear relief and concern in his voice.
“Have you been doing well?”
It’s Jang Heowoon-ssi.
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