Volume 3 - CH 16

Chapter 16: Visit

It felt like the intercom was beeping.

The electronic sound that faintly echoed in my head made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t loud, but it felt awfully irritating.

The intercom beeped again. This time, I realized it wasn’t just a feeling.

It sounded louder than before. It was so annoying.

When the intercom beeped for the third time, my eyes snapped open.

“What the…?”

I searched for the alarm clock with my blurry vision. Squinting, I looked at the clock and saw that it was 7 AM.

“…Tch. Who the hell is it?”

It’s way too early for someone to ring the intercom. It’s so out of the ordinary.

Sayu, who was next to me, groaned as she got up.

“Maybe a delivery?”

When she said that, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“I don’t think it’s a delivery, especially not at this hour. …Besides, I didn’t order anything.”

I mumbled back and then scratched my head.

I figured if it was a solicitation or something, they would just go away if I keep ignoring them. As I lay dazed on my bed, the intercom rang again.

I was annoyed.

“I’ll go out for a bit.”

I walked to the door to give them a piece of my mind.

“Who is it…? Do you know what time it is?”

I opened the door while complaining and was mortified by what I saw.

Standing in front of me was a young man dressed in a suit and behind him was a well-built man with dark glasses. It was obvious from his attire that he was a bodyguard.

“…Huh? What is it?”

The two men, clearly dressed in unusual outfits, made me wary.

“Excuse me for coming so early in the morning. I thought this would be a good time to have a quiet conversation.”

Saying that in an extremely polite tone, the young man took a business card out from his pocket and held it out to me.

“My name is Issa Ogiwara, CEO of Ogiwara Foods.”

“Huh…?”

I took the card and was even more confused. Ogiwara Foods… I think that’s a famous frozen food manufacturer. Why is the CEO of that company standing at my front door?

As I absentmindedly stared at the business card, something occurred to me.

“Ogiwara…”

The moment I read the name, I realized everything. When I looked up, my eyes met the young CEO’s. He had a creepy smile on his face.

“I’m Sayu Ogiwara’s older brother.”

The CEO said. Suddenly, his expression changed. He glared at me and continued.

“I’m here to pick up Sayu.”

When I turned around, I saw Sayu standing behind me completely petrified with a dumbfounded expression on her face. That was enough for me to know that this person was indeed Sayu’s older brother.

The time has come, I thought.

The young CEO in front of me was a clear personification of Sayu’s “time limit for a life on the run.”

For some reason, the image of Sayu’s “bitter” smile appeared in my mind, and then it disappeared.