Vicious Darling

Chapter 4. Crush, Crush, Crush!

[15]

Noticing that obvious gaze, Chris quickly pulled himself together.

“I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t strange that he was caught, having zoned out in front of such a perceptive person.

Yuri parted his lips as if he had something to say, but ultimately closed them.

“Let’s go.”

It was the conference room where Baekyah’s executives gathered. Logan, Gwen, Chase, and others were already in their seats.

Chase, who had been chattering with his sister, approached with a fox-like smile when Chris and Yuri appeared.

He took out a black envelope and handed it to Yuri.

“The milkman brought this this morning.”

Chris lowered his eyes.

He thought the Barrel Society was subtly flaunting their abilities.

It wouldn’t be strange if they were scared, considering how they had stormed into their headquarters and knocked everyone down.

But if they planned to cooperate long-term, there was a need to reassure them a bit.

‘Yuri will handle it, I suppose.’

If Chris went himself, it would be like pointing a missile at the Barrel Society’s temple.

“They want to meet at the square in Orum City,” Yuri said, reading the telegram Chase had handed him and placing it on the desk.

“It’s too open a space,” a woman with white hair spoke up.

“We can’t send the boss to such a place now that it’s been revealed there are remnants of Rosenhauser’s group.”

She was Janet Fortuna, a psychic Esper who had escaped from Rosenhauser’s bondage early on.

For Janet, Yuri was not only her boss but also her benefactor.

“Are you worried about an attack?” Chris asked.

Janet nodded.

“If there’s a sniper… or if bombs are prepared, it’s dangerous. Especially Rosenhauser often used the method of accompanying an Esper with wind abilities and a sniper.”

Her argument was that Yuri shouldn’t be taken to such an exposed place, knowing the risks well.

Chris calmly said, “I’ll cover the boss with my ability.”

Janet asked back, “You mean deploy telekinesis as a shield? Is that possible?”

Her voice was tinged with astonishment.

After all, isn’t telekinesis usually used to pull or push objects?

She knew Chris could shake the ground and even twist the wings of flying airplanes. But a shield perfectly covering a single person? Let alone how densely it could be deployed, the total amount of ability an individual possesses couldn’t possibly reach that level.

Chris replied plainly, “It’s possible. I just need to block physical forces.”

Of course, if attacked repeatedly at a single point, it might break through.

But Chris was confident he could detect the attacker’s position with just one shot, hide Yuri, and simultaneously blow the sniper’s head off.

This was one of the reasons why Yuri always took Chris with him when going out.

“I can’t believe such a thing is possible,” Janet muttered, shaking her head as if dizzy.

As a psychic ability user, Janet knew well how inefficient abilities like telekinesis were.

She had heard many times that Yuri’s dog, Chris Danil, was a monster, but this was the first time she truly felt it.

“I’ve heard many times that Chris Danil’s abilities exceed those of a typical S-class Esper… but I thought there might be exaggeration in the news crossing continents.”

Janet had only started participating in formal meetings after Rosenhauser’s downfall, having been under protection in case of emergencies before.

In other words, Janet didn’t know much about Chris’s abilities.

“Anyway, there’s no one better at putting Espers in their place than him,” Chase, who had been listening silently, clicked his tongue and shrugged.

Janet looked around.

The executive members who had been with Baekyah all along were calm.

These were people who, like her, owed a great debt to Yuri and Baekyah. If those who knew Chris Danil better than her were keeping their mouths shut like this, there must be a good reason.

“I have no reason to object anymore,” Janet said, leaning back in her chair with a slightly paler face than before.

“Then, it’s decided that we’ll go in person,” Yuri calmly summarized the situation.

His face showed no particular agitation, as if he knew from the start that things would turn out this way.

The reason he didn’t intervene was probably to give Janet time to adapt.

Chris inwardly laughed bitterly.

Yuri doesn’t often reveal his inner thoughts through words or expressions. So, one often has to guess his thoughts by observing his actions.

But the greedy dog felt uneasy whenever his master gave even a glance to others.

If he growled or tried to bite, Yuri would treat Chris like any other common Esper.

So Chris could only whine and wait for his master to look back at him.

“They said noon today, so we can have lunch there,” Yuri said in an indifferent tone as he stood up.

Chris immediately stuck close to his side.

After the door closed, the remaining members tidied up.

Fortuna left the room with Logan’s support, and the other executives murmured a bit before standing up.

The last to remain were the Dalton siblings.

“The boss sometimes seems too indifferent,” Gwen whispered softly to her brother, lost in thought.

“He didn’t get angry even when Chris suddenly disappeared. He immediately reinstated him after barely finding him. Now he’s not particularly defending Chris even when the new executive is suspicious of him.”

Her voice was tinged with concern.

“You… should always stick close to your brother. Understood?” Chase held Gwen’s waist tightly with a pained expression.

It’s troublesome how naive the child is.

Gwen stared blankly at her brother trying to take advantage of the situation.

She silently blocked his guiding and continued her unspoken pressure until Chase finally surrendered.

“As soon as someone expresses concern about Danil’s abilities, he ostentatiously takes him along for a meal.”

“Ah,” Gwen blinked.

“It means he trusts the guy’s abilities that much.”

Honestly, Yuri wasn’t the type to show off Danil.

To be precise, he was a person with secretive aspects and extremely reluctant to reveal what he possessed.

However, now was a situation where it was necessary to show that Chris belonged to Yuri.

His right-hand man, who had suddenly disappeared one day, returned to the winter continent as an agent of Northern Light, which had been their biggest enemy.

The executives know that Chris would die if Yuri told him to, but it’s difficult for the lower-ranking members to truly feel this. He was such a distant existence to them.

Traitors deserved punishment. They needed to make an example.

But Yuri said he would enjoy lunch in the square in broad daylight without taking any attendants except Chris.

This should quiet the voices of concern about Chris Danil within Baekyah for a while.

Because Yuri was not only the boss of Baekyah but also their god.

Chase scratched his head.

“No, maybe he was bragging that his dog would tear apart anyone who tried to take his life?”

“Either way, that’s a relief,” Gwen said with a relieved face.

“Do you think Chris knows the boss’s mind?”

“…Well,” Chase tilted his head.

“If he doesn’t, you’d wonder if he’s human, but that guy is a beast, you know.”

Gwen looked at her brother with a complicated gaze before standing up.

“…I’m sleeping alone tonight.”

“What? Gwen, Gwen!”

***

Orum City was a place that repurposed the ruins of a once-prosperous city.

As a result, there were twelve squares in total, and the one closest to the downtown area was where they were now seated.

Despite the rush hour having long passed, people were bustling about.

A bit further away, an old man could be seen throwing bread to birds, and on the opposite side, a street cleaner was sweeping.

Chris and Yuri were waiting, seated at a cafe on one side of the square.

This was the meeting place chosen by the Barrel Society.

“Newspapers for sale! Newspapers!”

A child was shouting at the top of his lungs, moving among the people.

The boy was quite resourceful, moving through the gaps between people who didn’t even look at him, seemingly annoyed.

The boy gradually approached their table.

“Here’s your newspaper.”

Chris received the newspaper that the boy cheekily placed on the table, which had nothing but two cups of coffee.

At Yuri’s gesture, a silver coin slipped into the boy’s grimy hand.

“W-wow…!”

It was magic performed by Chris.

“Thank you!”

The boy exclaimed with wide eyes before moving away.

Before handing it to Yuri, Chris opened the newspaper first.

‘There’s something… inserted here.’

Sure enough, an envelope fell out from between the pages.

Chris quickly examined its contents.

“They’re IDs.”

“It seems the Barrel Society has already made preparations.”

They had come out expecting something like an interim report.

Chris took out the IDs. Yuri read the names written on them.

“The names are Yuri and… Christopher.”

There wasn’t much effort put into it. But it’s adequate enough since they weren’t planning to infiltrate any major enemy facilities.

From now on, they were planning to smuggle themselves to the Spring Continent, the land of dreams and opportunities.

Chris’s heart pounded. Unintentionally, he had mainly operated in the Winter Continent and briefly experienced the Summer and Autumn Continents.

But he had never set foot on the land of Spring.

This was largely because the movement of Baekyah organization members was strictly monitored in various ways, but more so because Chris didn’t want to leave Yuri’s side.

“Since the photos on the IDs are different, we’ll need to change our faces.”

“It won’t be difficult if we overlay an illusion.”

Yuri quietly affirmed.

“It’s fortunate that thanks to the device sent by Northern Light, we don’t need to renew the illusion intermittently.”

Because they were receiving cooperation from Northern Light, they were able to obtain equipment not yet available on the market.

It was a small device with a function to extend the duration of illusions.

This device was originally developed as a substitute for digital advertising boards. It was designed to minimize the consumption of resources like oil and gas.

However, as psychic Espers became increasingly rare, it ended up in storage.

‘Come to think of it, it’s Rosenhauser’s fault that this hasn’t been commercialized.’

He captured most of the already scarce psychic Espers and then made them legally dead.

Then he put all those Espers into capsules and used them to establish inter-continental communication networks.

The rescued psychic Espers were in a state of above-average overwork.

As a result, they are not in a suitable condition for long-term travel or missions like this.

“And this.”

Chris discovered a flat box inside the envelope.

It even had a keyhole attached to it.

“They’ve really prepared some strange things…”

He checked the inside of the envelope and between the newspaper pages again, but there was no key enclosed.

“I’ll break it open right now.”

No sooner had Chris finished speaking than a cheerful voice was heard, as if it had been waiting.

“Anyone lose a key?”