NOVEL WEB Chapter 52: A Place to go Home to
The old man was at ease in the dim red darkness illuminated by the emergency lights.
Even so, he sure walked a lot today.
He did a good job today.
He will go home, play with his grandchildren, and have a good dream at night.
In his dream of a warm…… dark…… endlessly, endlessly descending road……
Machida, immersed in a pleasant sense of satisfaction after a day’s work, suddenly felt the presence of someone approaching his domain and stood up.
Machida bowed his head to the figure who stepped out of the darkness, a large man with a magnificent body clad in a suit.
[If it isn’t…… the President. Are you going home?]
[Yeah.]
Hiroki’s residence is located further inside the break area Machida had set up.
In a section of the head office building that rises above the processing facility, there’s a heavily guarded executive-only living quarters, but that was only a dummy.
The place to which Hiroki goes home to is here.
[Thank you for your hard work today.]
The envelope handed to Machida with words of thanks for his labor was thick.
[Thank you as always.]
[What, it’s just a reasonable bonus for your services.]
Machida bowed his head and reverently accepted it with both hands.
[Would you like some tea?]
Machida indicated the table and chairs behind him, but Hiroki shook his head.
[No. Not “this time”.]
[I see.]
Machida didn’t keep on urging him and just watched Hiroki’s broad back as he walked away.
The back that was moving away stopped for a moment though, and looked back at him.
[Machida-san, would you like to come with me too?]
Machida, who had been smiling at Hiroki’s dark, piercing eyes looking at him, felt a shiver run down his spine and cold sweat dripped down his back.
It took every ounce of his being to keep the smile on his face, something he had never needed to do when dealing with the foreign agents.
[No, I am…… still…… feeling awe-inspired before it.]
With all the willpower he could muster from his tongue, which was tangled up in fear and unable to control itself, Machida managed to twist the words into something that would be enough to refuse the invitation.
[I see.]
As Hiroki turned away again and left, Machida continued to bow deeply, deeply in fear.
This continued for some time after Hiroki had completely disappeared into the darkness.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed.
However, the old man felt another presence approaching.
Following the sound of light footsteps, a man wearing a white coat appeared.
[Errr, did the President come here?]
In contrast to the darkness around them, the man’s voice was unbelievably bright and full of vitality.
[Ishida-san, is something the matter?]
Upon hearing Machida’s question, Ishida hastily shook his head and looked as if he was about to start jogging away.
[There was something I wanted to let him know about the results of the experiment. So, did the President come here?]
[Yes. He went to the room in the back.]
[Thanks!]
Before Machida could finish his answer, Ishida disappeared into the darkness with the same light footsteps he had when he arrived.
As he watched his back rhythmically moving, Machida shook his head and decided to forget about it, unable to fully process his feelings of fear and astonishment.
The old man has a place to go home to, a home to return to.
With his unexpected bonus, he would be able to buy a good souvenir for his grandchildren today.
The tea he had brewed for his visitors had become completely cold.