Chapter 148
“Sir?" the subordinate questioned.
"Sun-Woo. If he had noticed the presence of a bugging device, wouldn't he have also realized that we were skeptical of him? There was no need to destroy the bugging device in such a blatant fashion."
"Maybe he’s hiding something, and that’s why he needed to destroy the bugging device quickly..."
"If that were the case, it would be better to use a different method. It would be more natural for him to monitor our actions for a few days and then accidentally destroy the bugging device. And that’s the closest textbook move as well."
If Sun-Woo had been trying to avoid suspicion, he wouldn't have destroyed the device immediately. It would be better to wait a few days, intentionally break or lose the holy artifact, and pretend it was an accident. That way, he could have seamlessly escaped from the bug surveillance.
If Sun-Woo had taken those courses of action, Joseph's suspicion toward him would have deepened instead.
"But Sun-Woo destroyed the bugging device as soon as he found it, which makes it seem like he was trying to increase suspicion toward him. Why would he do that?"
Why would he do such a thing? Even after thinking for a long time, Joseph could not understand the thought process behind Sun-Woo’s actions. After discovering the bugging device, Sun-Woo might have broken the device and couldn’t control the spewing rage.
Although Sun-Woo didn’t seem like someone who couldn’t control his emotions to that extent, the problem was that he was a teenager. Teenagers often engaged in behaviors that adults couldn’t understand. Joseph participated in so-called actions himself frequently when he was young, too.
He once broke all the windows at school because he had been curious about the difference between the shapes of the broken shards of reinforced glass and regular glass. He also stayed up for several nights to see what would happen to a person if they didn’t sleep.
However, he wasn’t sure if he should dismiss this as a youthful adventure and move on. He couldn’t help but think that this might have been Sun-Woo's plan.
It might seem like thoughtless actions on the surface, but there might be a very meticulous and cunning calculation behind it...
───!
At that moment, a strange sound came from Joseph's phone.
"Arggk...!" his subordinate screamed, covering his ears.
Joseph smirked. "Ha, why are you making such a big deal out of a phone call?"
The loud noise from the phone was called “healthy frequency music” and was Joseph’s ringtone. Shrugging it off, Joseph checked the caller ID. It was Sun-Woo. Without hesitation, Joseph answered the call.
"Yes, Sun-Woo. What's the matter?"
—Well, I just wanted to let you know that I received the recommendation letter, allowance, watch... and the hydrogen water or something.
"Glad to hear that you received them, but wasn't the allowance a bit too much? That wasn’t an allowance—it was a bribe."
—Ah, it was a bribe. Anyway, I received it. Thank you for that.
"Do you like the watch?"
—Yes, I do. It fits perfectly. How did you know my wrist size?”
"There's no need to measure wrist size. After meeting someone a few times, you can roughly guess the size."
—How many watches do you have to give to develop that kind of ability...?
"Hahaha... What a jokester you are. Very funny."
Joseph immediately sensed that Sun-Woo was trying to provoke a fight.
Seeing a child trying to engage him in childish word games, Joseph couldn't help but smirk. Sun-Woo only mentioned the recommendation letter, money, and hydrogen water and said nothing about the holy artifact. Sun-Woo had been leading the conversation in such a way that Joseph would have to bring up the holy artifact first.
Joseph had a sinister and eerie smile on his face.
"Alright, Sun-Woo! Did you receive the holy artifact? I thought that a holy artifact wouldn’t be enough, so I included a bugging device as a present!"
"Uh, s-senior, what...?" the subordinate asked in confusion, but Joseph didn't even glance at him and continued speaking.
"The bug was broken today. We think that you intentionally broke it. You don't have to say why. After all, who in the world would enjoy being spied on?"
—Inquisitor, I...
"What I'm curious about is how you discovered that. Do you happen to carry a metal detector? Oh, come to think of it, you could have easily discovered it with something like a magnet," Joseph said with an even deeper smile. "So, how did you discover it? I'm really curious."
- ...
There was a moment of silence over the phone.
—Intuition.
"Intuition!"
Joseph couldn’t help but chuckle at Sun-Woo's casual and shameless excuse.
"It’d be more believable if you said you received a revelation from Adonai. Do you think I would believe that?"
—Wouldn’t you send a plastic bug next time if I say that I found it with a metal detector?
"That's true."
—In order to prevent further eavesdropping, I won't disclose the method I used to discover the bug. Please forgive my rudeness.
"Rudeness? If we were to discuss rudeness, wouldn’t you say we’re more rude for trying to eavesdrop? You're trying to teach a fish how to swim."
—I'm glad you know.
The subordinate had been quietly listening to the conversation by Joseph's side. Even at the first listen, it seemed like neither of them were sane.
Joseph laughed heartily while tapping on the desk, enjoying the conversation. He thought Sun-Woo was the gentlemanly type who only knew how to say pleasant things, but now he seemed to be completely insane. Oddly enough, Joseph liked it. Joseph stopped laughing and brought the receiver to his mouth.
"So, what's the real reason you called?"
—I would like to ask why you were eavesdropping on me.
"Get the facts right. You broke the bug before we got a chance to use it. Well, anyway, of course, I could tell you the reason,” Joseph said and caught his breath.
Then he pondered. Should he lie or tell the truth? No, it would be meaningless to lie now. It seemed better to tell the truth.
"Alright, I'll tell you. A vice priest is no different from a regular priest. That's why we have no choice but to monitor you. Are you with me so far?"
—Is it because of a potential leak of information about the Satanists?
"Yes, you’re on the right track. All the students from F.A., except for you, think that the Satanists were just a wandering vagabond. Only you know that Jun-Hyuk was a Satanist."
—Right.
"But what if you suddenly became enlightened and started saying this? Jun-Hyuk, a Florence Academy student, was actually a Satanist, and the Holy See is covering it up! If you go around spreading that, the situation will become complicated for us. Do you understand?"
—I understand, but why do you think I would go around spreading the word? Do you not trust me?
"I do. But the bugging device makes our trust even stronger. We can fully trust you as long as you and the wiretapping device are together. Talking about trust, do you trust me?"
—I trusted you until I discovered the bug, Inquisitor.
"Hahaha!" Joseph laughed.
His subordinate next to him jumped in surprise and cowered.
"Your words are contradicting. The reason why you discovered the wiretapping device is because you were suspicious of us, right? This intuition you mentioned can only be exerted when there is suspicion beforehand."
—That's correct.
“It seems like we didn’t trust each other. That’s great news. How about we slowly build trust from now on? After all, we're in the same boat. We should trust each other, shouldn't we?"
—Yes, sounds good.
"I apologize for attempting to bug you. I’ll send you another holy artifact that’s not taped with a bug. If you have any doubts, we can meet in person and buy the artifact on the spot. What do you prefer?"
—Do as you please. Actually, it would be best if you don't send it.
"Haha. I love your honesty! Understood! I'll hang up now."
After the call ended, Joseph placed his phone on the desk. His fingers were trembling, perhaps due to excitement. Joseph looked at his subordinate with cold, piercing eyes.
"Have a new holy artifact purchased and sent to Sun-Woo. Send it to F.A."
"Should we install a bug in it again?"
"No."
Joseph shook his head. The smile that lingered on his lips disappeared.
"There's no need to wiretap anymore. It turns out that this guy, Sun-Woo, has a very similar personality to mine."
"What do you mean?" his subordinate asked, somewhat bewildered. The personalities of the two individuals were nothing alike.
Joseph spoke with a confident expression on his face. "He’s not the type to risk losses just to uncover the truth. Neither does he seem like someone who talks lightly. There's no need to worry about information leaks. Got it?"
“Ah, yes!"
"...Alright. By the way, you resemble a Venus flytrap."
"Sir? What do you mean?"
"You have to spoon-feed flytraps everything. Although they are called flytraps, they hardly catch any flies on their own." Joseph looked at his subordinate, sighing as if he found him pathetic. Then, he took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and continued, “I’m saying you're useless. Do I even have to clarify this? You truly are a personification of a flytrap."
Joseph then lit his cigarette. With the sizzle of the cigarette, the smoke made its way down his windpipe, filling his lungs. Joseph replayed his conversation with Sun-Woo as jolts of pleasure swept through him.
First of all, Sun-Woo wasn't a fool, nor was he naive enough to spread information about Jun-Hyuk. There was no need to bug him or keep him under surveillance. Joseph would only need to occasionally contact Sun-Woo as a business partner and keep an eye on him.
His words and actions had more than one or two suspicious aspects. However, Joseph didn't want to suspect Sun-Woo for the sake of just being suspicious. He was intriguing, manly, and had a bit of a show-off personality. He was quite an interesting guy, to the point where it would be a shame to dismiss him just like that.
"By the way, they say that Min-Seo has regained consciousness. Why don't you go visit her?"
Joseph flicked the ash off his cigarette, then took out a second one and put it in his mouth.
"You’re not coming, senior?"
"Yeah, I don’t plan on it. My knee hurts, and above all, I find it bothersome."
Joseph looked at the Venus flytrap while smoking a cigarette. The sight of it closing its jaws little by little to eat bugs was quite cute.
***
[You fool! Why would you do such a thing?] Legba shouted angrily.
I flipped the blanket over my head and felt the overwhelming drowsiness sweeping over my body. I had completely depleted my energy reserves after talking to Joseph and listening to the supervisor's chatter.
Even in the midst of drowsiness and blurred consciousness, Legba's nagging continued to echo in my ears. Afraid he would nag all night if I didn't respond, I reluctantly replied.
"Isn’t it fine if nothing went wrong?"
[You’re being careless. With one more slip of the tongue, the Holy Army would have stormed in by now.]
"Yeah, I guess so. But my tongue doesn’t slip."
Legba momentarily closed his mouth.
[Even considering that, it was a reckless gamble. Be more cautious in the future.]
"You can’t be cautious when dealing with guys like Joseph."
I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to darkness and drowsiness.
"Just by looking at the letter... I knew. Guys like that will overwhelm you if you deal with them conventionally...”
As soon as I saw the letter, I realized Joseph was a different breed. I’d lose if I proceeded with caution. Rather, the best course of action was to fight fire with fire. After all, only a madman can beat a madman.
Since it was an intuition-based plan, I was uncertain. But the results weren’t too bad considering that fact.
[...Yeah, it seems like I meddled too much.]
I listened to Legba in a daze, and he sounded a bit gloomy.
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