novelraw Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61: Beetle Comics (1)
[Beetle Comics]
As I passed the office entrance, my view immediately opened up.
A widely stretched office room.
Low partitions were dividing the zones like barriers.
Colorful panels were hanging from the ceiling of each zone.
[Webtoon Team 1], [Webtoon Team 2], [Editorial Team], [Global Team]……. Signs revealing at a glance that this was a living, breathing manhwa factory.
Posters of popular characters were stuck all over the walls, and a cute beetle mascot doll was smiling brightly in one corner of the hallway.
“Yes, author! I checked today’s submission! Let’s discuss the next manuscript together too~.”
From the Webtoon Team 2 partition, the face of a female employee who had just put down the receiver shone brightly.
Although a pile of manuscripts was stacked like a mountain on her desk, no sign of fatigue could be found.
Rather, as if excited by a sense of accomplishment, her fingertips tapping on the keyboard were light.
A male employee on the reception sofa in one corner gave off a similar vibe.
His eyes were bloodshot as if he had stayed up all night, but he turned the pages with a strangely smiling expression.
“This one, the reader response will be good, won’t it? Good work.”
He spoke with a smile to the man with glasses sitting opposite him.
It seemed to be an author he was in charge of.
The man in the [Editorial Team], rubbing his eyes while yawning widely, also had a faint smile hanging on his lips.
“I’m dying of exhaustion” flowed out lightly like a joke, and laughter flowed out from the surroundings along with responses of “Tell me about it.”
Inside the office of Beetle Comics,
Everyone here was tired. Also, everyone was busy.
Yet, everyone was joyful.
In a way, it seemed like an ideal workplace.
A heaven filled with the joy of doing what one loves.
And within that scenery.
“Team Leader Ryu! Have some coffee!”
An employee in a sky-blue shirt held out a coffee carrier and smiled broadly.
His voice calling Jack ‘Team Leader Ryu’ was too natural.
‘Team Leader Ryu Jeongyeol,’ who didn't even exist until a few days ago, was being accepted as naturally as if he had been here for a long time.
“Jinwoo, it’s been a while too, right? You should come visit often with your uncle! Since you’re a kid who likes manhwa. Let’s see, did you bring a friend today? Wow, Jinwoo, you’re popular~.”
And he spoke to me welcomingly. Laughing heartily.
But I don’t know this person.
I have never conversed with this person, nor have I even seen his face.
Yet he welcomed me familiarly.
“……Yes. I’ll come often.”
It wasn’t that difficult to realize the cause of this bizarre happening.
Because the Eye of Deception was showing the full picture.
[Kang Taehyeok]
[Drowsiness, Fullness, Joy]
[Status: Suggestion]
That space where his emotions were written, the word that appeared at the end.
‘Suggestion.’
That could be said to be the background of this entire farce.
The person who founded this company possessed one ability.
Cognitive Alteration Spell.
Simply put, an ability to plant non-existent memories and emotions inside a person’s head.
For instance.
‘Ryu Jeongyeol has originally been working as a team leader, and I have seen his nephew Ryu Jinwoo.’
Imprinting sentences like this into their memories.
It doesn't touch other parts.
Therefore, everyone acts routinely.
That is why this naturalness, which doesn't feel like acting, permeates the place.
And all the employees with ‘Suggestion’ embedded in their emotion windows were under the influence of that ability.
“The atmosphere is really good. Is it because everyone likes manhwa? I guess it makes sense. It means being able to see the manhwa you like faster than anyone else, right?”
Do Haru whispered to me while looking around.
It’s worth being fascinated. Still, it’s a company, yet everyone is working energetically as if they are happy.
On the surface, there wasn’t anything particularly strange.
People were literally acting ‘naturally.’
Just an impression that it was a company with a good atmosphere.
However, to me who knew the full picture, this space itself looked like a giant masquerade.
‘This kind of thing is creepy.’
Faces soaked in fatigue, yet expressions that didn't crumble, the energetic atmosphere wafting from every corner of the office.
All of that was like a thoroughly fabricated illusion.
Depending on how you look at it, it could even be called a nightmare.
“Excuse me, do you happen to know where Author Yu Nara is?”
Do Haru quickly adapted to the atmosphere and sought the main purpose of coming here.
“They say she’s working downstairs right now. It’s... about time she finished.”
He looked down at his smartphone and nodded.
“Shall we go? Downstairs.”
“Gasp! Yes!”
Do Haru shot up to follow Jack.
Then Jack turned back to me and asked.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m good.”
I answered that question simply.
Because I knew well that this wasn’t the time to leisurely go look at an author’s face.
“Really? Then I’ll drop Miss Haru off and come back. Ah, right…….”
He paused for a moment, then pointed upwards with his finger.
“I told the representative that I brought you here after a long time. He said that’s great and wants to see you.”
He brought it up significantly.
The representative wants to see me. I had a rough idea of who it was.
“Then I should meet him. Where did I have to go? My memory is a bit fuzzy.”
“That is……. Miss Haru, can you wait here for a moment? I’ll take this guy there first.”
“Huh? Ah, yes! Have a safe trip!”
Do Haru nodded, and Jack took me and walked out just like that.
“You don’t remember? Are you kidding me? Tsk.”
When Jack clicked his tongue and scolded me, I inwardly felt a sting.
If it were the real Balzac, he naturally would have known where to go.
“I just had something separate to say.”
To Jack, who was eyeing me sideways, I answered nonchalantly.
“What words?”
“The kid I came with, Do Haru. If you do anything strange to her, I’ll be in a bind. Like disappearing, or getting hit with suggestion like the employees here……. As long as I am living in this body, for now, we are in a ‘friend’ relationship.”
If something happens to Do Haru, it would be very troublesome.
So I should at least give a warning.
But at my lightly tossed words, Jack opened his mouth as if finding it strange.
“Friend?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed into slits.
“You use such a word? I’ve heard the word emergency ration, but friend?”
A tone implying something was odd.
For a moment, an awkward current flowed between Jack and me.
When I raised my heavy gaze to look into Jack’s eyes, stiffly hardened eyes greeted me.
My breath was choked off.
Jack genuinely considered it strange.
Well, Balzac was indeed a figure far removed from making friends or anything like that.
But it should be fine. It was merely a trivial mistake. I just need to gloss over it appropriately.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and tidied up my tone.
For now, using Balzac’s tone would be better.
“It is natural in order to blend in as a cadet of Zero. How do you think I deceived everyone around me?”
Hmph, a light snort mixed with arrogance was a bonus.
At this level, Jack would probably just click his tongue, shrug, and move on.
To me, who thought so.
“……Again, you’re doing something unlike you.”
Jack’s voice settled heavily.
“What?”
“You bastard, your hand is inside your pocket.”
Jack frowned and pointed towards my pocket.
It was true that my right hand was inside my pocket.
Even so, why is he suddenly being a pain about it?
Disbelief vanished and bewilderment filled its place.
Is putting a hand in a pocket a problem?
Just as the question was turning into bewilderment.
“What are you trying to do? Didn’t you bastard extremely loathe having something touch your right hand, especially the palm? That damn eye is hidden there.”
Jack began to corner the flustered me.
“Putting your hand in a pocket, and it seems there are coins in there too. What happened?”
Indeed, the Eye of Deception initially settled in my right hand.
When Balzac took out the Third Eye, he also took the eye out from his right palm.
If so, it wouldn't be strange if Balzac had such a habit.
But the fucked up part was that I had just successively said and done things that Balzac would absolutely never do.
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
[Jack]
[Annoyance, Suspicion]
It wasn't that Jack was openly suspecting me yet.
Just a state of being ‘annoyed and wondering.’
The problem is that all seeds of doubt grow from there.
An ominous feeling began to seep into my mind.
I am currently naturally perceived as Balzac.
Probably, the Bremen side had a reason to be certain I was Balzac.
Like someone witnessing the scene of Balzac infiltrating me at the Mystery Hall.
Moreover, I recognized Jack as soon as I saw him.
That was information only Balzac could have known.
Thanks to that, Jack had perceived me as Balzac without any doubt until now.
But what if a seed of doubt gets planted?
And if a precise investigation proceeds because of that?
The result is fixed.
It’s inevitable that I’ll be exposed as not being Balzac.
For instance, if questions start coming in digging into past memories and events one by one, I can’t properly respond.
“Just in case, let me ask once. What was the password?”
And Jack immediately stabbed at that point.
‘……I’m screwed.’
Password?
How the hell would I know something like that?
It wasn’t like Balzac’s memories had entered me.
What I know are Balzac’s lines, tone, personality, and organizational relationships I saw in the original work.
If such a specific question comes in, I have no way of knowing.
“The password we decided on before proceeding with the operation at the Mystery Hall. I’m asking what that was.”
Jack pressured the frozen me once more.
[Jack]
[Suspicion, Doubt]
The feeling that started simply as ‘annoyance’ gradually deepened.
Jack was now holding a clear doubt.
The fog of suspicion was slowly closing in around me.
‘I can’t ignore this. He’ll find it strange.’
I have to answer quickly.
But I don’t know the answer.
My identity has come under suspicion right in Bremen’s main base.
‘Damn it.’
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
What happens if I can’t answer here?
Will he immediately draw a sword and try to cut my throat?
Or will I be dragged somewhere and an interrogation will begin?
Countless scenarios began to simulate in my head.
Most were endings where I finished miserably.
Screwed.
Screwed just because I put my hand in my pocket.
Is such forced unluckiness even possible?
At that moment, when I couldn't open my mouth due to bewilderment.
[Kkiiihihihit!]
The Mimic burst into cheerful laughter.
[Kkihihi! Candy! It’s candy! I’m going to lick and melt it down to eat ittt!!!]
Making a fuss, the guy stuck out his tongue.
And then started licking my body wildly.
‘This crazy bastard…….’
Jack’s eyes were staring at me heavily.
A desperate crisis situation.
But this crazy Mimic bastard started licking my body without reading the room.
Why are you suddenly acting up too?
Is that it? Are you trying to lick as much as you want before I die?
At that moment, when my body froze not knowing where to look.
[Yihihi! It’s Balzac! Balzaaaac!]
The Mimic spat out the name ‘Balzac.’
‘What?’
Simultaneously, a message appeared before my eyes.
[Mimicry Instinct: Mimicking ‘Balzac’.]