“R-Rather than kicking them out today, how about the day after tomorrow?”
“I heard the refugee has real estate.”
“……”
“I saw the report this morning. There’s one house in the outskirts under the refugee’s name. A three-story multi-family house. It’s different from the house he lived in when we made the secretary offer.”
Evil seemed to have no interest at all in the citizen group’s sit-in. James felt a bitter sense of relief.
“Ah, so he was living in a self-owned house after all. He must have made a lot of money. For someone like Cheche-ssi… I’m surprised it’s not an apartment.”
“That bastard has no money.”
“He shot a lot of commercials and appeared on various broadcasts….”
“What do you mean a lot? Only four corporate commercials and two public service ads. For broadcasts too, only two documentaries, four educational programs, five appearances in special appearance format uploaded on video sites, only five news interviews, and for print interviews, only six magazines and two newspapers.”
Strangely specific numbers were listed. It had only been a little over a year since he came to Alcity, and James thought Cheche had lived really diligently, and got goosebumps at the specific numbers. Do people normally memorize all appearance counts? That Evil Endem…?
“I heard he didn’t even get paid for his movie cameo appearance. He’s really like an idiot.”
“He appeared in a movie too?”
“Yeah, his bad acting is fucking famous, didn’t you even know that?”
The person who didn’t even know he’d shot commercials until a few days ago….
“It’s a war movie where he appears as a child soldier who gets hit by a grenade and dies. His expressionless face screaming is totally funny. Want to see?”
“Yes, I’ll look it up when I get off work.”
“Watch it now. It’s short, why wait until you go home? How could you hold back wanting to watch it until then?”
Evil sat in his chair and took out his phone. The expression that had been cool when looking down at the window was now lightly smiling. James, who hadn’t been dying to see it, really wanted to see it now that Evil was smiling like this. How funny could it be?
Evil didn’t go on the internet, but entered his phone’s photo album, selected an image file, and showed it to James.
Though wearing dirty military uniform and grimy makeup, the pretty face couldn’t be hidden. In a battlefield with bullets pouring down, Cheche, who had climbed onto a military jeep, pretended to tremble next to a middle-aged actor who appeared to be the protagonist, then when an enemy soldier jumped out from the bushes, worked hard to widen his eyes and pretend to be surprised. Then seeing the enemy soldier pull the grenade pin, let out a very contrived scream. Uh. Ah.
“Isn’t it crazy bad acting? Even without lines, there were a lot of NGs.”
“Yes….”
It was indefensible bad acting.
“I thought the NGs would be funny, so I told **Hips** to get the unedited video. The production company says they’ll give it today or tomorrow, and when I get it, I’ll show it to the refugee. Even he should be embarrassed if he has any shame.”
Evil spoke as if pleased.
Actually ‘as if pleased.’
Even James thought the NG video would probably be funny, but he didn’t particularly want to seek out the unedited video. He tried not to show it, but honestly, he was extremely shocked by Evil’s current behavior.
Memorizing Cheche’s broadcast appearance counts, storing the bad acting scene on his phone, requesting unedited video… Evil was showing strange behavior. Continuously lately….
A few days ago, Evil watched the wildfire victims’ joint funeral press conference live from start to finish. Next to him, James gripped the emergency call transmitter tightly in his hand with an anxious heart. However, Evil didn’t get angry until the broadcast ended. He didn’t call Cheche out to humiliate him, and there was no murder attempt.
He thought it was strange, but far from getting angry, he was finding out about Cheche’s owned real estate and looking up his broadcast appearances.
“Still, he should have gotten paid for appearing. I’m telling you he’s an idiot.”
Evil chuckled and looked at the left wall. He’d been doing the strange behavior of quietly staring at walls lately, but James now seemed to understand the reason.
Because the secretary’s office was on his left.
More precisely, because Evil could sense Cheche sitting quietly in one corner of the secretary’s office.
Like an anti-fan… or something?
He still couldn’t make a definite judgment about which way Evil’s interest in Cheche leaned. Evil was someone who absolutely needed interest. There had to be interest in something, some kind of passion to keep him attached to the world. Until now it had mainly been games, and even the longest interest didn’t last more than a week.
He’d never once directed it toward a person.
He still couldn’t tell whether this interest was a good sign or a bad sign.
“Hey, tell the refugee to come now.”
“…Yes.”
Even at Evil’s sudden summons order, he wasn’t anxious anymore. Because he knew that as long as he held interest, he wouldn’t kill him right away. James went to the secretary’s office to get Cheche.
After the complaint incident, they didn’t even let him do phone work, so Cheche, who had been diligently studying computer programming alone, closed his book and stood up when he heard Evil was looking for him. When James brought Cheche, Evil jerked his chin at James to get lost.
It should be okay not to worry, right?
James withdrew with an uneasy feeling.
In the secretary’s office with just the two of them, looking at Cheche standing there alone, Evil frowned. Whether it was because his face was pretty so he just threw on clothes, the small guy was wearing big clothes. His neck was about to show down to his collarbone, and the cardigan was so big it looked like he’d folded up the sleeves five times.
“Did you buy big ones expecting to grow more? Why are your clothes like that? Don’t you even know your own size?”
“The people from your family bought them for me, Director. I requested a small size but they don’t fit.”
“Ah, right, my family even bought all your clothes.”
“Yes.”
“Being a refugee must be nice. They buy you a house, buy you clothes, get you a job.”
“I’m always grateful.”
“Do you like the house? What floor was it again?”
Evil started off expecting Cheche’s face to be soaked in confusion. However, Cheche was even more shameless than Evil thought.
“Fifteenth floor. The location is also close, so thanks to that I’m living comfortably.”
He lied without blinking an eye, and his face was so shameless that you’d be deceived if you didn’t know the truth. Ordinary people’s emotions fluctuate or their heartbeat speeds up when lying, but Cheche’s emotions still couldn’t be felt and only his heartbeat was very, very slightly faster.
For a Soul Aura User to receive emotions, the concentration of the other person’s emotions had to exceed a certain level. However, Cheche rarely rose above the threshold. He was like an empty water cup.
But if I tell you I know your secret, you’ll be really surprised.
He so looked forward to that indifferent face being surprised.
“I’ll come visit sometime. We should have a housewarming.”
“What’s a housewarming?”
“You don’t even know that? When you move to a new place, you invite close friends, eat food together, exchange gifts, and hang out. Doesn’t Tar have that culture?”
“No.”
“Now that you live in Alcity, you should enjoy this culture too. When should I come visit? I’m a bit busy today.”
“Why would you come to my housewarming, Director? You said it’s a gathering to invite close friends.”
“Fuck….”
Do you want to die? Evil stood up abruptly. The tiny bastard who would smash into the wall if hit once with his fist—how dare he say such things? His blood boiled. Not even knowing that he was kindly hiding the fact that the officetel had already been sold long ago.
“You don’t have any friends to invite to a housewarming anyway.”
“Yes, since I don’t have any, I won’t do it.”
“Ah, fuck. This really!”
Evil spewed curses loudly in anger and approached Cheche. Then he stood in front of tiny Cheche, who was standing blankly. A shadow covered Cheche’s upper body. In the intimidating presence that would frighten an ordinary person, Cheche, as always, didn’t avoid his gaze and met his indifferent golden eyes. Many emotions swirled in Evil’s arrogant red eyes.
Should I just say it? That I know all about the officetel sale, that the place you’re living now is a multi-family house, isn’t it? Then he’d probably show a flustered expression.
However, he didn’t want to reveal it easily. He wanted to burst it with a more dramatic production.
“Such a tiny thing that wouldn’t even be a mouthful….”
Evil raised his fist to threaten him. Cheche’s gaze followed the fist, then he closed his eyes as if preparing to be hit. Thanks to that, Evil leisurely appreciated his face.
Ashen hair reaching his eyebrows, neat brow ridge, clean dark brown skin without a single pore, a delicate nose that suited his small face… his eyelashes were so long he looked just like a doll. And those slightly parted lips were so… No, leaving all that aside, who is this bastard showing off all his neck for?
Just then, Cheche frowned slightly and turned his head.
*Cough.*
Seeing him cough softly, Evil was very surprised.
“You just coughed?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
