NOVEL WEB Chapter 8: The Pebbles Disappeared within the Black Hole
He was a man of ability, but no luck.
At least, that is what he believes himself to be.
He was supposed to have graduated from one of the best schools in his hometown and went on to graduate from a good university, but unfortunately, an unprecedented job recession suddenly occurred and unable to find a job, he was forced to work as a dispatch worker. He moved from one black company after another, and before he knew it, he was in debt.
He really had no luck.
But now, a chance revealed itself before his eyes.
A chance to turn his life around.
[So…… Kaneda-san, if I can accomplish this job, my debts will be cleared, right?]
[I didn’t say I’ll pay off your debts. I said that if you enter the premises and come up wwith conclusive evidence, I’ll purchase that information at your asking price. Of course, if the information you acquired is valuable, you can ask for an amount of money enough for you to pay your debt.]
[Ohhh!]
He had a debt exceeding ten million from the tortoiseshell glasses.
Being a freelancer in his mid-twenties, he had no way of repaying the debt.
[K- Kaneda-san, we’ll do our best too!]
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[That’s right! Like hell we’ll let you outrun us by yourself!]
[I can also accomplish things when needed!]
The tortoiseshell glasses had gathered a group of people who were scums except for him.
Drug, alcohol, pachinko, sex, gacha games, credit cards…… There are many reasons, but these are the people who have run themselves into the ground and are now unable to pay their debts.
The man believes himself different from the others. He believes he can still start over.
He just wasn’t lucky enough.
Determination within his mind, he resolved himself. His luck is going to change tonight.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
[Now then. I wish you’d be able to find out something.]
Adjusting the position of his tortoiseshell glasses, Kaneda looked at the six scums in front of him.
He gathered only those who were drowning in debts, and to make sure it wouldn’t be tracked, he gathered those who were relatively strong and had been abandoned by their relatives.
Even if anything were to happen to these guys————- even if these scums were to die———– The bereaved family will not be able to run to the police.
They are but scums that society would prefer to see dead.
[Listen closely. All of you received balaclavas and disposable phones. With that, go and find some kind evidence. If the police catch you, don’t tell them anything. At best, you would just be charged with trespassing, and you’ll be released in no time. If such an incident occur, you can be relieved that I’ll have a lawyer by your side. Other than that———– Don’t even think about running away, okay? The GPS on your phones will tell me where you are as soon as you run away. If I catch you doing that, your debt will be tripled, okay?]
Everyone silently nodded at Kaneda’s threat.
But then, even though Kaneda said that, the risk of these guys escaping was probably low.
All of them were given smartphones for information gathering and communication.
They were disposable smartphones———– ones that they could just easily dispose of.
There is no way to trace them back to him.
At first, Kaneda thought about buying a high-end drone to do reconnaissance himself, but the purchase history could be traced back to him, and thinking about it, having humans do it would be much cheaper———— especially the lives of scums like these.
These scums seem to be convinced that this is their chance to turn their lives around.
Some of them even have bloodshot eyes.
You will never know what people can do when they’re trapped in debt.
Well, if Hiroki gets hurt, Kaneda thinks of just leaving things to the future.
Whatever occurs would be their own responsibility.
[Alright. Go ahead!]
Late at night, after dropping off the scums packed in a black one-box car with windows tinted dark near the waste disposal site, Kaneda decided to drive to his office and wait for the report.
In this case, Kaneda didn’t use his subordinates.
If one uses others for something shady, they could possibly be traced back to you.
In his line of business, people are meant to be used, not trusted.
That was the lesson Kaneda learnt through his money-lending business.
Fortunately, there is whiskey and glasses in the office, originally prepared for visitors.
As he sips his whiskey, he gazed at the list of customers he has lent money to, and felt pleasure as he imagined the life of a customer be ruined.
This was the modest hobby of Kaneda, the money-lender with tortoiseshell glasses.
[Well, one or two of them should be able to accomplish it.]
The people he sent may be scum, but they’re desperate.
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There’s no way one or two bodyguards would be able to take down six people at once.
Then, at least half of them could take photos or videos, and send the information to a dummy address.
After that, it was up to their luck and ability to escape from the organization behind Hiroki.
In other words, this is nothing more than throwing a pebble to find out who it is that’s lurking beneath the darkness.
[Whether a demon or a snake comes out, only God knows what will happen. Whatever it may be, that would be their own responsibility. The unfortunate ones here would only be the thrown pebbles.]
Having such thoughts in mind, the melting ice in the whiskey glass raised by Kaneda made a clinking sound.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
However, what occurred was beyond Kaneda’s expectations.
In the end, none of the scums that Kaneda sent had contacted him.
The GPS signal on their phones had also disappeared, and not a single photo or video had been sent.
Suspecting that they had escaped, he had a detective agency investigate, but there were no sightings of them at the nearby train stations or bus stops, nor were there any passing vehicles on the main road that they had to keep an eye on.
The six people Kaneda sent disappeared without a trace.
The pebbles they had thrown into the darkness, without even resounding an echo, was lost in vain.
All within the black hole, darker than even the darkness.