Chapter 158

Chapter 158

When did John Doe prepare such things? Did he steal them while grabbing the nail polish? The atmosphere became heavy.

Shin Hae-ryang, who had been staring at John Doe sitting on the floor with his hands tied for a few seconds, approached and whispered something in his ear. John Doe’s eyes filled with terror. He quickly nodded at Shin Hae-ryang with frightened eyes. Observing his reaction, Shin Hae-ryang connected the middle part of the backrest of a fallen chair nearby to John Doe’s bound wrists with a single rope. Then he said to the others:

“You can start moving now.”

“What about John Doe?”

“He says he wants to part ways here.”

To verify the truth of those words, I looked at John Doe, who, sensing my gaze, started headbanging back and forth. As I stared blankly at that scene, Baek Ae-young gently pushed my shoulder towards the exit. My feet were reluctant to move. Baek Ae-young whispered softly to me:

“The faster we leave, the quicker he can cut the rope and escape.”

Baek Ae-young said, kicking the glass shards on the floor. Ah, I see. With glass everywhere on the floor, he could cut the rope and escape.

Maybe this is better, since he was someone who originally wanted to part ways with the Engineering Team A. John Doe seemed to want us to disappear quickly. I took one last look at John Doe and left the accessory store. Shin Hae-ryang was the last of our group to exit the store.

I expected us to go straight to the escape pod port since the accessory store was close to it, but Seo Jihyuk said we were heading for the beauty salon located right next to the escape pod port. At those words, Tumanako started walking confidently and maturely in a straight line towards the beauty salon.

She was about to overtake Seo Jihyuk, who was walking at the front of the group. Seo Jihyuk looked slightly flustered at the confident Tumanako and quickly said:

“Stay behind me. We don’t know what might be ahead.”

“What could be there?”

When Tumanako asked boldly with her hands on her hips, Seo Jihyuk hastily replied as if making an excuse:

“...The door might be locked?”

“The door’s not locked. We can just go in. We operate on a reservation basis in principle, but we don’t turn away walk-ins.”

“That’s not the only problem. What kind of customer pushes past the guide in a high-crime area? Wait, wait! ...Ae-yong, Ae-yong, Ae-yong!”

As Tumanako acted like she was about to sprint to the beauty salon in one go, Seo Jihyuk gritted his teeth and called out behind him. Baek Ae-young, who had been walking beside me, quickly stuck close to Tumanako. She separated Seo Jihyuk and Tumanako and explained rapidly:

“He’s worried that there might be two men inside the salon holding scissors backwards waiting for you, Tumanako-ssi, or that they might have set up something strange on the door. We’ll push Guide Seo in first, and if everything’s normal, we’ll go in. ...Call me that one more time and you’ll die by my hands?”

Baek Ae-young explained kindly to Tumanako. However, she changed her attitude and left a vicious threat for Seo Jihyuk, who didn’t even look back as he watched ahead and said:

“Hey. Didn’t you tell me to watch my words and not scare you too much?”

“Then that’s fine.”

What’s fine? Shin Hae-ryang seemed to think that was a sufficient answer. It’s like having a conversation with an AI whose programming is slightly off. I’m really curious about what Shin Hae-ryang is thinking. Even if I knew his concerns, I probably wouldn’t be able to help solve the problem at all. Fearing the answer I might receive, I threw a direct question:

“Don’t you think I’m a bothersome person to keep around?”

“Why do you think that?”

Why do I think that? Even I think there are too many reasons. From Vladimir onwards, every person we meet picks a fight or threatens us, we take turns carrying people on our backs, I insist on bringing along a cult follower. Moreover, I haven’t been particularly friendly or cooperative with the Engineering Team A people. Every action is suspicious.

If I were Shin Hae-ryang, I would have concluded that I was a cult follower. Besides, I’ve already told Shin Hae-ryang all the information I know. To someone who prioritizes efficiency, I’m a person who has already been squeezed dry. ...Then again, they brought me along before when I had no information and was practically just baggage.

At the place Tumanako had pointed out, Seo Jihyuk found a few cookies and several water bottles. He threw one bottle to Baek Ae-young and was about to throw one to me, but then sighed and came over to hand it to me directly. Shin Hae-ryang took the water bottle Baek Ae-young had drunk from, took a sip, and answered:

“I think you’re an ordinary civilian caught up in a disaster situation. Please drink.”

Then he chewed on a broken cookie. Is this attitude normal? Then are there civilians who act in extraordinary ways?

Tumanako, who had been running around with a towel, brought a small flowerpot from a corner. Is that the Rhaphidophora? Tumanako tried to separate the plant from the pot, but for some reason, the roots wouldn’t separate. If she pulled too hard, only the stem above the soil might come off.

As I held the pot with both hands, Shin Hae-ryang was about to smash it with the butt of his gun. Seo Jihyuk approached while chewing a cookie and stopped Tumanako’s hand as she was trying to grab and pull the stem.

“You’re trying to pull the roots out of the pot, right?”

“Yes.”

Seo Jihyuk tapped the pot a few times, then grabbed the very bottom of the stem and lifted. The entire plant separated from the pot I was holding. Didn’t he say he had separated flowering trees before? Where on earth does one learn such skills?

Tumanako grabbed the stem and shook off most of the soil. Then she laid the plant on a towel. She sprayed water on the roots with a spray bottle and wrapped it in the towel. Then she pushed it into the old cloth bag she had been holding. The plant was neatly stored in the bag. Only then did Tumanako sigh, sit down on the floor, and say:

“Okay. We can carry it like this.”

“Have some water.”

Following Seo Jihyuk’s suggestion, Tumanako drained the water bottle in one go and hugged the bag tightly. Broken cookies were forcibly fed into Tumanako’s mouth from Baek Ae-young’s hand.

As Tumanako was chewing the cookies, she suddenly seemed to remember something and opened a drawer nearby. There were 5 large chocolate bars inside, which she took out and threw at people as if lobbing them. Seo Jihyuk was the happiest about it.

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