Chapter 110
After carefully thinking about what he should do, Mrs. Stelyn's husband immediately walked steadily toward the room ahead.
The moment he arrived there, the gaze of the three of them shifted toward the man as their conversation came to a halt, causing the surrounding air to freeze for a moment because of his presence.
"Ah, darling," Stelyn said as she stood up. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked while staring intently at him.
With his deep voice, the mustached man named Richard said, "It's nothing. I was just bored in the room."
He looked at the two women sitting side by side on the cold floor in front of the heating furnace before quickly adding:
"Where are you two from?" Richard asked before continuing his steps and sitting on the sofa beside his wife.
'This might answer my curiosity,' Richard added inwardly.
The two exchanged glances before Hana finally answered the question.
"Vinohoshi, Mazakyy City, in Paraksen."
'That's far from what I imagined,' Richard thought before recalling where he had seen those two women before.
"So," Richard said while lowering his head, his arms crossed. "How did you end up in this place?" he asked cautiously after remembering the newspapers Sanerva had distributed two years ago.
Mine Rasuha's face had been clearly printed in that newspaper along with six other names.
Meanwhile, the two of them fell silent at that question. Richard immediately continued his thoughts, remembering the months he had spent in Sanerva because of his work in the capital city two years ago.
'That was two years ago, but it still feels like that incident is stuck in my mind. If I'm not mistaken, I remember two of the seven names written in bold ink.'
Not wanting to make the head of this household suspicious of her, Mine decided to become his conversation partner while subtly signaling Hana not to interfere in her business.
"Simply put, I came back to my hometown." She gave a bitter smile before continuing, "and got dragged into the destruction of that city."
A two-faced human, disguising herself perfectly. Not the slightest flaw, pretending to be a victim while putting on a gloomy expression so her objective could be achieved as quickly as possible.
Richard let out a sigh as guilt filled his chest. Meanwhile, his wife, Stelyn, sat in silence while staring at her husband's face with furrowed brows because of his strange question.
Stelyn stayed quiet as she took a deep breath, gathering her resolve before speaking in a low voice:
"Darling, she's a victim of the 'Terrorist' attack. Don't you feel sorry for them after they've gone through difficult times for almost two months?" she whispered, reluctant to look at them out of awkwardness.
"Don't think too much about it," Mine said calmly. "I don't mind if the two of you ask us about it."
Stelyn straightened her posture again while staring intensely at the two of them before asking, "You really don't mind that question?"
Mine gestured with her hand for her not to worry before speaking softly, "We should be the ones thanking you both for giving us shelter from the freezing air outside, and also for giving us warm drinks and proper spare clothes."
Seeing the kindness reflected on the faces of the two women sitting below him, Richard finally spoke from the heart.
"I'm sorry if I was rude for asking about the lives of you two." Richard immediately stood up and lowered his head for several seconds before walking away from the room with a face full of pressure.
The three of them watched Richard's back as he was slowly swallowed by the darkness of the hallway.
"Once again, I'm sorry, alright?"
With both palms pressed together, he raised them toward his face as a symbol of apology.
"Ah, it's really okay," Hana said while scratching her cheek.
With a faint smile and a relieved chest, Stelyn decided to explain why her husband had become extremely sensitive toward other people lately.
"My husband just got laid off from the famous Karuoo company..."
"Decasskelin?" Mine interrupted, familiar with the massive building that had emptied within days and which she had passed the previous night.
"That's right," Stelyn replied. "Well, because the company stopped receiving supplies from an important figure in Tezny, Moran City, the manager laid off a huge number of employees, and because of that the company was forcibly shut down—basically bankrupt within days."
While the two of them became immersed in that story, from within the dark hallway—hidden from the room's perspective, though still able to see one side of the room clearly—
Richard stood there with his back and left leg leaning against the wall while secretly listening to their conversation, lost in memories from two years ago.
'Afalan Norwich, Keilta Zamora. Aren't those male names? And both of them are women. Could she really be that skilled at disguising herself and hiding her identity perfectly?'
Feeling that he would never solve that puzzle, Richard pressed his right palm against his forehead, dragging it down to his chin because of the pressure inside his mind.
....
On the other hand, in Kenotalle, specifically on the street called High Ground, inside one of the houses on the edge of a narrow alley, several people had gathered in a room lit by dim lenteea lighting, tension filling the air as they realized they had lost something.
They were; The Devil is Here.
"Until today, we still don't know whether the two of them are alive or not..." Elmer said through gritted teeth, feeling guilty for letting that unfortunate woman leave on her own.
Hagi, who had been sitting with his left leg resting on top of his right thigh, switched positions before finally voicing his thoughts.
"I... don't know what else to say, but I'm going to look for that woman and Karl too."
He paused for a moment while looking at the two of them with an intense gaze and a calculating expression before standing up and adding;
"The snowstorm out there won't kill me that easily, at least not for now." At the end of his sentence, his voice lowered until it was almost a whisper.
Veranica, who usually stayed silent, obeying or rejecting her companion's ideas with alternatives just like before, felt her chest tighten as her breathing slowed from thinking about something terrible, making her completely disagree with Hagi's plan.
"I won't let you go," Veranica said with a flushed face—not out of embarrassment, but out of anger and fear of losing someone close to her again.
Elmer remained silent with a serious face after hearing that statement.
Meanwhile, Hagi immediately left, allowing his previous words to linger like fog hanging in the air. He walked steadily through the half-open door before closing it with a heavy heart and a frozen hand that remained gripping the doorknob for several seconds.
Veranica immediately stood up and chased after him in hurried steps. However, her actions were stopped effortlessly by Elmer as he grabbed Veranica's left arm with his cold right hand.
"Elmer?" she muttered softly. "What are you doing? Let me go already and let me stop him from going outside alone in weather like this." She slightly raised her voice, trying to convince Elmer.
But reality struck her thoughts the moment Elmer spoke in a calm yet calculating tone.
"Just let him search for the two of them, and staying here can also help him without becoming a burden."
"But..."
Elmer immediately released his grip before stepping back and sitting down on a chair with a cushioned backrest.
Meanwhile, outside the tightly closed room, Hagi still stood silently while listening to their conversation and thinking.
'This... this might be the worst start of the year for all of us, and I don't think I'll stay silent after seeing them. Damn you, Morotuane.'
Hagi growled in irritation as he released the doorknob and immediately continued walking through the dark hallway with silent footsteps and a chest that continued to rage from within.
....
On the other side, in Karuoo, not far from the building where the year-end performance or party had been held. One of the rundown alleys, rarely passed through yet often used as a meeting point for both illegal and legal trade among some of the people there, including those coming from outside the city.
A simple two-story house stood there, its chimney roaring loudly among the surrounding buildings, located three houses away from the road that was always crowded on ordinary days and directly connected to the main street.
Inside the first-floor living room, there were two men. One of them had his hair tied back and wore ordinary clothes despite the cold weather engulfing the city, a pair of slightly thick long-sleeved shirts combined with black trousers.
The two were Afalan Norwich, the ponytailed man, and the other man named Raki Viuesquart, sitting across from each other while each held a cup of warm tea.
"Wandering from place to place, doing cruel and good deeds alike, don't you ever get tired of all that, huh?" Raki finally voiced his thoughts while remaining disguised, including when he became a man named Reynald at the refugee camp in the logistics area.
Norwich slowly sipped the tea before answering softly like silk.
"This was never part of the plan I arranged."
Raki placed the cup onto the table before wiping his mouth and saying:
"About your friends? Did you involve those two as well?"
"Yeah, of course," Norwich answered casually.
'Huh, this man really has gone insane. Designing a plan to destroy a city for one definite purpose, while sacrificing hundreds or even thousands of residents who died in different ways; crushed by rubble, starving to death, their bodies burned into ashes by flames, and killed through fighting.'
Raki truly finished that thought as he stared at and imagined Afalan Norwich, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"About turning that woman into the destroyer, was that also part of your plan?"
Afalan Norwich stared at him with a sharp and profound gaze, his mouth tightly shut, unwilling to answer the question because it had already become a secret he wanted to hide from everyone else.