NOVEL WEB Chapter 171
I showed the kids what I found, but I didn’t get anywhere with it. The lock was on, and I had no clue what the password was.
I tried typing in some numbers that Blanca might use, but none of them worked, so I eventually gave up.
After all, the moment my phone gets permanently locked, my only evidence would vanish.
Lapiz seemed to be still hung up on it, obsessing over it, but when I convinced her that just because we couldn’t open it right now didn’t mean it would disappear, she stepped back.
She continued to fidget her fingers as if still regretting it, reminding me a bit of how she was before Blanca ditched her.
But within a minute, she quickly reverted to her cold, emotionless self.
“But she hasn’t completely abandoned us. Can we say Blanca still has feelings for us?”
Yeonhwa mumbled as she surveyed Blanca’s old room.
She marveled at how someone could live in such a cramped space, all while trying to piece together her remnants by sitting on the chair or bed.
“It must be here somewhere. If she truly abandoned us, she would have covered the whole area with poison right away.”
What she murmured and her passive defensive stance during fights hinted that she definitely had lingering feelings for us.
It was possible she acted defensively because she was outnumbered, but the phone and uniforms we found in the room, along with her mutterings, left no room for excuse.
“What’s that? If you’re going to do something, just do one thing!”
Seolhwa looked out the window, seemingly distressed. Despite her sarcastic words, her expression seemed to convey sorrow.
“…I don’t care. Not until I catch her.”
Lapiz muttered coldly, reminding us that our pursuit was far from over.
Ageha silently looked through the notebook Blanca left behind and the book she had been reading, almost expectantly hoping to find something.
However, there was no way a diary would conveniently pop up. Blanca wasn’t the type to write such things.
Even if she did, it would probably just be a couple of lines in a diary app or a chat with herself.
“…We should start helping out soon. It feels awkward just moping around under the excuse of being depressed.”
Honestly, no one would say anything if we didn’t do anything, but I suggested it because it felt better to force ourselves to move rather than sulk.
The kids agreed, and we quickly left Blanca’s place to head elsewhere.
Since I knew the original story, I decided to rummage through the mansion where the Liberators lived, while the others went to the Heros Company branch in the city.
Changwon, Jinhyeon, and Alice had gone to the Portugal branch instead of coming to her room. So they could search comfortably without being watched.
From Justitia’s room to the Boss’s place, the leader’s quarters. I found an overwhelming amount of information, especially in the Boss’s room.
What caught my eye was the battle records of the Liberators. Most of them were records of battles against the Heros Company, but there were rare entries of battles against the Evil Society as well.
This was a plot twist that didn’t even exist in the original, so of course, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. It was a conflict among villains, and I had been completely oblivious to it.
This was the first time I learned they were fighting against the Evil Society.
“The situation doesn’t look too good.”
And the battle situation was turning out to be even worse than I expected.
Compared to when they fought the Heros Company, the records against the Evil Society reflected severe losses.
When they secured ground against the Heros Company, it was because someone like me, Blanca, was with them. But with this situation, I could understand why it was happening.
The Evil Society had never clearly revealed its outline until the very end. Its true identity had never been exposed.
So it was inevitable they would struggle. They would always be on the back foot.
But even so, it seemed they were holding up remarkably well. Considering how often they gave up the initiative, it looked like they hadn’t suffered any irreversible damage.
Still, that was just luck repeating itself. If things continued this way, I felt there would come a moment of significant downfall.
Even if the Liberators were recognized as a somewhat independent faction, the strength of their foundation was far weaker compared to others.
On top of that, with this assault, they had lost their very base; if they confronted the Evil Society again, they would surely get wrecked.
That’s how I predicted it.
– – – –
As the black mist lifted, I had no time to comprehend where I had ended up before Justitia came charging at me, nearly knocking me over, scolding me for being late.
But that arm was hugging me tightly, as if it would never let me go again.
“I just went to see some faces. I got curious about how everyone was doing.”
“You should have said something! I thought you got caught!”
Justitia said her piece, panicking as she believed I had been captured. Seriously, how could she think that? I never expected such a lack of trust!
“I wouldn’t get caught that easily. Do you think I’m still a baby kitten that can only spit out poison?”
As I petted her to reassure her, the door creaked open, and Hanchō barged in.
“Oh my, I thought you went in there on purpose to get caught! Kitty, can’t you speak properly?!”
Hanchō made her mistrust of me more explicit, but at the same time, she showed her concern, so I didn’t feel hurt by it.
I understood how my actions could be perceived. So, Hanchō’s reaction made sense.
A girl who had been moping around because she missed her friends suddenly says she’s going to meet them and doesn’t come back; I’d think the same too!
But hey, I did come back.
“Oh my, even Blanca’s here. What a relief!”
And there she was, entering the room for the second time, genuinely relieved to see I was alright.
I playfully shoved Justitia away before she could ruin her outfit any further, pretending to be clueless about why they were all so suspicious of me.
Since I acted tough, they didn’t feel the need to fuss over me any longer.
“It’s good everyone is safe, but what’s the plan now? If they come back with the same tricks, we have no way to counter it. And the materials we left behind are also a problem…”
She mentioned new worries as the immediate concern subsided.
“They won’t do that. I watched a bit, and it turns out the Returners didn’t take any action.”
“Really? Damn it, did I just run away for nothing?”
“Not really. Looks like the Heros Company soldiers and the Heroes showed up too. Plus, all my friends who are really good at dishing out poison came along. You know how strong they are, right?”
She couldn’t quite hide her disappointment while saying that maybe it was worth trying once.
“That might be true. But if that were the case, the Returners would have definitely acted. They wouldn’t just sit back and watch their granddaughter get bullied by some low-life villains.”
“Low-life villains? That stings a bit, but… that’s probably true from the Returners’ perspective.”
She tried to think as positively as possible since it was an unsalvageable fight from the start; it was better to have cut ties early.
“What about the data?”
“They handed everything over. Justitia’s subordinates stayed behind to erase some materials, so if you’re really curious, go ask those folks.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate.”
She furrowed her brow, muttering that things had just gotten complicated.
“You kind of expected this, right? And starting over is the only option now. We’ve had time to prepare during this phase. It’d be a waste to throw in the towel now.”
“I’m not planning to give up. Just… I feel like it’s going to take a few more years, and I’m still a bit dizzy from it all…”
“That’s… true. The contacts we used will be hard to use for a while, and we have to completely overhaul everything to avoid getting caught.”
“I always knew a day like this would come, but isn’t this a bit too soon?”
It seemed she was genuinely hurt by it all, pouring out a side of her I rarely saw.
Hearing her complain dragged my mood down too, but to be honest, I had no luxury to muster up energy.
The foundation had crumbled, so I had to focus entirely on recovering the losses.
Still, at least the leadership hadn’t been wiped out. I thought as long as we had time, we could figure something out—but the leadership had to be scattered all over the place now.
Lost in imagining that far-off future, one of the subordinates rushed back in, shouting about an enemy attack.
“…You’re kidding, right?”
“No! It’s the Evil Society!!”
First, we square off against the Heros Company, and now it’s the Evil Society?
…I kept saying I was gonna die, but for real this time, I felt a grim premonition.
But since I couldn’t afford to back down here, I had no choice but to face it head-on.
“How did they know to come here…?”
“I don’t know!!”
The loyal subordinate tried to give an answer, but she just silenced them, saying she hadn’t asked for an answer and demanded that we prepare for retaliation immediately.
Would we survive this time?
Today was going to be a long day.