# Chapter 71
After long deliberation, Zenon finally spoke. His voice was filled with hesitation, as if he couldn’t easily make a decision.
“…What is it?”
“It’s simple. I just need you to help me a little, Zenon-ssi.”
“…Tell me first.”
His attitude suggested he was only willing to listen, but for now, that was enough.
“Before I explain, first, how were you planning to kill me?”
But I couldn’t reveal everything yet. What I knew yesterday was just fragmented information.
There were too many variables to form a plan based solely on the fact that I would be killed. That’s why it was impossible to devise a meticulous strategy last night. Still, I had roughly planned something with Zenon at the center, but…
The reality was that it wasn’t enough to persuade Zenon. So now I needed to move his heart as much as possible to extract more information from him.
Fortunately, Zenon seemed to think there was no reason not to speak in a situation where he had nowhere to retreat, so he willingly confessed everything.
“I was going to disguise it as an accidental death. Peace said there would be an incident here today. Peace intended to kill you and then make you look like the mastermind behind it all.”
“So I’d appear to have been caught up in an accident I caused myself?”
“Yes.”
“In that abandoned factory, right?”
So they didn’t come here just to cover up my death? According to Zenon, Peace’s target wasn’t me, but something that was about to happen in there. I was just a tool to cover it up.
“People from Peace and… villain… organizations are going to do something.”
I sensed a moment of hesitation in Zenon’s words. Could it be an organization related to him? There were too many villain organizations to narrow down. But if I had to name organizations that could either collaborate with Peace or confront them, I could count them on one hand. Among them was “Alice,” of course.
If it was related to Zenon, the villain organization was most likely “Alice.” However, “Alice” had no reason to deal with Peace. Especially not in an abandoned factory like this. The only thing that could connect Boss with Peace was Alice, but they wouldn’t target a place like this instead of headquarters.
But this was just speculation, and I couldn’t rule out the possibility that variables had emerged in my absence. So I shifted my focus from the villains to Peace. Originally, I had planned to use one of the villains, but since I couldn’t identify the organization precisely, choosing Peace would be the safest option.
“…Are all the people from Peace volunteers?”
I just hoped they weren’t in the same situation as Kane. If I was going to use someone, I wanted it to be someone I wouldn’t feel guilty about.
“Probably. They seemed happy about the chance to mess with you. Said something about using you as an experimental subject if they caught you. All bullshit.”
Fortunately, finding such people didn’t seem difficult. According to Zenon, they were all people who deserved to die anyway. With this, the outline of my plan was somewhat formed.
“I’m going to create an illusion.”
Now all that remained was convincing Zenon, which was most necessary for my survival.
“An illusion?”
“The higher-ups asked you to bring evidence of my death, right?”
It had to exist. Zenon wasn’t in a position of trust. Moreover, if this matter was important to Peace, they would demand evidence in some form.
“Photos and videos… but…”
“Is that all they asked for?”
“Yeah, but why?”
Their demands were weaker than I expected. I thought they would ask for a part of my body—a finger or an ear. But just videos and photos?
“Are there surveillance cameras installed here?”
“No, and even if there were, they’d be neutralized by my barrier.”
True, people who knew Zenon’s abilities well wouldn’t try such a thing.
“Does Peace not care whether I’m actually alive or dead?”
“They just need someone to blame for what’s about to happen there. If that person is already gone from this world, that’s enough for them.”
Even if I were alive, I’d die under Ben’s mind control if I carelessly spoke about Peace, so that makes sense. It seems I was too concerned about Kane’s death. The lingering doubts in my mind gradually faded with Zenon’s words.
“I’ll create an illusion using disguise. Using Zenon-ssi’s barrier.”
“My barrier?”
It was the only plan I’d thought of overnight that seemed feasible. This was the only way to avoid death while simultaneously evading Peace’s suspicion.
“We’ll use the barrier to overlay my appearance onto someone else.”
“And then film that and hand it over?”
“Yes.”
His barrier was nearly perfect, so filming wouldn’t reveal any flaws. The plan wasn’t flimsy enough for immediate rejection, and Zenon began to deeply consider it. But that was brief—he urgently spoke as if suddenly realizing something he’d overlooked.
“What about the other person? According to you, we’d have to kill them, right?”
“…That’s right.”
If simply pretending to die were enough, I would have done that. But what if someone from Peace came looking? Not finding a body at the place where I supposedly died would inevitably raise suspicion. That’s why we needed to kill someone to take my place.
“I’ll use someone from Peace as a substitute.”
That’s why I had asked Zenon earlier. Originally, I had planned to persuade Zenon to kill a villain in this area. It was a plan with a high probability of failure due to time constraints, but I couldn’t kill an innocent civilian just to save myself.
But fortunately, quite a few people had gathered at the place where I was supposed to die today. And among them were people from Peace, whom I currently despised the most.
Villains affiliated with organizations are difficult to gauge individually in terms of strength, and they have strong unity. So capturing a villain would not be easy, even if I asked Zenon. But Peace is relatively weaker than organizations. The probability of them gathering in one place is also lower than organizations, so the most suitable replacement for Kane had to be someone from Peace.
I opened my mouth to convey these reasons to Zenon. However, Zenon suddenly smiled brightly as soon as he heard my words, as if a wind had blown through him.
“I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“I’ll join your plan.”
At first, I couldn’t understand Zenon’s smile, which was even eerie, but soon I realized why he had agreed to my plan.
“…Could it be because you get to kill someone from Peace?”
“Of course. When else would I get to kill them?”
I suspected it, but to think it was really for that reason. Zenon, picking up a knife that had fallen on the car seat, was so different from the crying person earlier that I questioned if he was the same person.
* * *
“I’ll go out first.”
“Call me when you find one.”
I nodded at him as he waved the walkie-talkie, then opened the car door. Zenon had parked in a thicket a bit away from the abandoned factory area, so the car wasn’t visible.
Because of this, I could immediately avoid a threatening situation as soon as I got out. But since unexpected situations could still arise, I bent my upper body and hid myself as much as possible. Hidden behind the thicket, I carefully observed the factory. The spot where I stood was higher than the factory area, making it easier to survey the surroundings.
There were a total of six factories where Peace might be. The rest were either just skeletons or factories so old they wouldn’t be dangerous even if they collapsed.
“One of these places.”
The factory interiors looked enormous at a glance. Therefore, finding someone to replace me would inevitably consume a lot of time. But that much time wasn’t available. I needed to find out which factory Peace was in as quickly as possible.
As if someone had sensed my thoughts, a person started walking out of one of the factories. It was the second factory from the right.
The man’s build was similar to Kane’s. He was wearing a suit, but his body didn’t seem trained like a security guard’s. He was moving in this direction while talking on the phone with someone. Since he was suitable for disguise, I immediately contacted Zenon.
“I found one, Zenon.”
After a crackling noise, he replied right away, suggesting he had heard my voice.
“I’m coming. But… your way of speaking sounds a bit strange?”
“…I’m nervous.”
Momentarily, my original speech pattern came out. But Zenon seemed to understand, as he didn’t mention anything more about my way of speaking.
“Even for someone nervous, you’re pretty calm.”
“I need to stay composed to increase my chances of survival. The location is behind the second factory on the right, between piles of boxes.”
“Got it.”
After ending the call, I put the walkie-talkie in my pocket and assessed the situation. As soon as I spotted the man, I had moved, so I was now positioned near a pile of steel frames, not far from him.
I hid my body between the steel frames and peeked out. The man’s figure appeared right in front of me.
“I’m telling you, those bastards are nothing special. They’re just all talk and no substance. They’re rushing in without even knowing they might die soon.”
He was laughing uproariously, as if something was incredibly funny.
“Since it’s come to this, I should take them to the lab. It’d be a waste to just let them live. Ah, it’s fine. If I break just one part of them, they won’t even think about escaping.”
The man smiling wickedly looked almost like a devil. Madness flickered in his eyes, and he continued to spout revolting words as if just imagining it brought him joy.
Seeing him like this, I thought it was rather fortunate. Since the person we had to kill was such trash, I could discard any pangs of conscience. Zenon would also kill such a person without hesitation—
“……”
At that moment, a massive mistake I hadn’t recognized emerged through the gap in my thoughts.
