Blame v2c12

Ahem, the chauffeur cleared his throat and quickened his steps. Moving from behind Cheche to his side, he observed the expressionless Cheche.

‘If he criticizes this place that our young master is so fond of, he’s immediately out.’

He began the test with great vigor.

“Now that you’re actually walking instead of just looking, how is it? Do you think it’s desolate and barren, like land swept through by hellfire? Doesn’t the person who keeps such a bleak place as a garden seem insane? Does this make sense to you? That crazy bastard who took drugs…”

“Now then.”

Hips gave a hint with a clearing of his throat to the chauffeur who was continuing without giving a chance to answer.

“I already did all that.”

“…Pardon?”

“I didn’t know you’d been watching for a chance to test him while driving him around in the car for almost a month now.”

“Hey, it’s not a test…”

Hips looked at the trailing chauffeur pathetically. The chauffeur scratched his cheek as if embarrassed.

“So what did he answer…”

“I told him he didn’t need to insult someone he really liked just to test me.”

“I-I see. That’s… right.”

Since Cheche answered directly, the chauffeur showed a reaction similar to Hips from the other day. Watching the chauffeur whose face heated up and was very awkward, Hips thought he hadn’t been that bad. It wasn’t a wrong thought. Because Hips had been worse.

Whether the two middle-aged men thought each other pathetic or not, Cheche, who had been walking slowly, suddenly stopped.

“In this garden, plants aren’t allowed but insects are okay?”

“Of course not. Don’t living things all make sounds? We can’t disturb Evil-nim’s sleep because of the sound of insects crying.”

“What about ants?”

“There’s no way ants would be in this garden.”

At Hips’s confident words, Cheche pointed at the ground. Hips and the chauffeur furrowed their brows and glared at that spot. It was only visible when they bent their knees.

Indeed, one ant was crawling around diligently. It was a really small red ant.

“You have good eyes…”

“……”

“Since it’s an insect that doesn’t cry, he probably doesn’t know. Something like an ant doesn’t make any sound.”

“He couldn’t not know.”

Cheche looked up at Hips. His round, large eyes held a question as if asking why he would say such a thing.

“Director-nim already knew there were ants in the garden, so he must have allowed them to live together.”

“Well, through this conversation he would know of the ants’ existence, but…”

Hips doubted whether even Evil could have heard the sound of such a small ant crawling. At that moment, a low voice was heard from behind them.

“Of course I can hear something like an ant crawling.”

“…Evil-nim.”

Evil, who had carefully brushed back his hair to reveal his handsome face to the world, was standing crookedly.

“I apologize. I’ll tell the garden manager to have it cleaned.”

“Leave the few dozen that are left. They’ve all become quiet because it’s winter.”

Evil answered nonchalantly and approached Cheche, grabbing his wrist.

“Why are you outside when it’s cold?”

“Today the weather is relatively mild.”

“Even if it’s mild, it’s winter. Are you planning to catch another cold and be sickly? I clearly warned you I’d kill you if you catch a cold.”

Evil grabbed Cheche’s wrist without hurting him and walked briskly toward the car. The chauffeur, who thought ‘oh no,’ succeeded in running at full speed to open the car door.

The car slowly crossed the garden. Cheche looked out the window and asked.

“What else lives in the garden?”

“Well… ants and spiders and various bugs. Sometimes birds perch on empty branches, stray cats lie around. Oh, bats fly around too.”

“What plants grow?”

“Right now it’s winter so there’s nothing, but when spring comes dandelions bloom. There are also weeds I don’t know the name of, and in that corner kidney beans grow absurdly. The manager doesn’t seem to know.”

“More things live here than I thought.”

“Yeah, if I wanted to get rid of everything I could, but… I just left them because it’s bothersome. No matter how noisy they are, they’re quieter than humans.”

Evil pressed one button on the seat. The car interior, which the chauffeur had already adjusted the temperature of in advance, became even warmer. Cheche’s expression, leaning against the seat in a cozy sweater bathed in bright yellow sunlight, relaxed without realizing it. The corners of Evil’s mouth also rose as if satisfied.

“You look like a sparrow basking in the sun.”

“……”

Evil probably thought Cheche didn’t know the meaning of sparrow, but Cheche had looked up the Alcity language dictionary right on the day Evil called him a sparrow and found out what it meant. He had even searched the internet. It was a very cute, round, small bird with dark brown coloring.

For someone with anthropophobia, he finds humans too cute. Evil himself didn’t seem to know, but Cheche vaguely sensed it.

The elevator arrived at the 201st floor. Cheche didn’t head straight to the secretarial office but looked up at Evil.

“Follow me.”

Evil walked ahead and Cheche followed behind him familiarly.

During this time, Evil hadn’t sent Cheche to the secretarial office, making various excuses. Until the remeasurement, he was still a secretary, but only dust was piling up on Cheche’s desk in the secretarial office.

“Today we’re going to try Luzem crafting. I know how, so I didn’t call a separate instructor. The crafting room isn’t finished yet, so let’s do it here.”

“Isn’t the crafting workshop in the Center on the 158th floor?”

“We’re doing it in my office.”

“Don’t you need gems and tools for crafting?”

“They’re all here, what do you take me for.”

Evil flung open the office door. James, who had been waiting while cleaning an orchid, was startled and greeted them.

“You’ve arrived.”

“Hello.”

Unlike the polite Cheche, Evil walked in briskly without greeting.

“The tools?”

“We decided to choose the raw stones first and then send up tools to match. This place is small, so it’s difficult to prepare all the tools.”

Five raw stones were displayed on the central table. Cheche clenched his fists. Because he almost approached as if entranced, he had to endure by clenching his fists with force.

“Go look.”

Evil tempted with a voice tinged with laughter. Cheche approached the table very slowly, so slowly that James wondered ‘did he hurt his leg?’

The five raw stones James had obtained were of considerably high quality. Even Cheche, who knew nothing about Luzem, could feel that they were too good for a beginner to handle as practice.

“How much are all these?”

“What are you going to do knowing? It’s not like you’re going to pay back.”

Evil sat on the sofa with a smirk. He pointed to the opposite side with his chin. Cheche sat properly with his knees together.

“I’m going to craft one. Which one do you want to do?”

“May I touch them…”

“Yes.”

Cheche slowly reached out and stroked the gems. The first was a round gem of a mysterious color mixing green and blue. It was the size of Cheche’s fist, with a smooth surface and cold temperature. The second was a polygonal gem with a purple tint, which was a bit rough and cold. The third was the smallest among them. It was white as if covered in dust and bumpy as if it had been kicked and rolled around on the roadside. The fourth gem was very large. The black gem was like it held the night sky. The fifth gem was bright red like fire and actually hot in temperature.

Evil watched Cheche examining the gems with his chin propped up. How Cheche’s eyes, his expression changed. James didn’t know the change, but Evil’s eyes saw everything.

Cheche put down the last gem.

“Director-nim, please choose first.”

“…Really? Then I’ll take this.”

Evil pointed to the third gem. Cheche obediently lowered his eyes and picked up the first gem.

“You like that one?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going crazy. You like this one more.”

Cheche’s fingers opened. An invisible force took the gem from Cheche’s palm. And then the third gem Evil had chosen descended like a snowflake on top of it.

“I told you to do what you want, why are you being like this. Dum…”

“……”

“Anyway… you don’t need to do that kind of yielding stuff. Do you think I’m not a No User and won’t notice one change in your emotions?”