Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Fortunately, Mallo withdrew shortly after.
“Well, fine then. Shall we proceed with the investigation, as you wish?”
……
“First, the Invaded Party is basically human. There’s quite a bit of trauma around the prefrontal cortex—looks like there were multiple invasion attempts before this.”
〈The driver’s seat was empty, so climbing in was no trouble at all.〉
So that’s exactly what had happened.
Mallo continued.
“I could force the ‘power’ back on, but it wouldn’t function properly. The overload melted the interior so thoroughly it’s all fused together now.”
Ugh.
Against my will, the image formed in my mind, and I couldn’t help but grimace.
Come to think of it, the Manager had said something similar—that the Broker’s compensation hub melted, and so on.
“What about the Invading Party?”
What happened to the Broker was unfortunate, but really our concern was with the Invading Party—the Manager of the Sarlim Hotel.
“Actually, that’s not what matters. What you want is the information the Broker has, anyway.”
“That’s right.”
“But that’s now in here, and…….”
As Mallo spoke, he tapped the Broker’s head lightly with his fingertips.
“It’s become pulp.”
Pulp? As in, completely crushed and mixed together? The brutal comparison left me speechless.
“But if the Broker is human…… couldn’t you restore him directly, Professor?”
It was Bibi who spoke.
‘Right, that’s true.’
Come to think of it, The Agency’s nickname for Mallo was none other than the “Restorer.”
When I looked at him with hopeful eyes, Mallo laughed.
“You’ve got a lot of questions today. I feel like a celebrity professor.”
Mallo walked over to the sofa and sat down, then spoke slowly.
“First, Restoration obviously requires the original’s information. And second, that’s no longer something you could call human. In principle, such a thing shouldn’t happen to any human at all.”
“That sounds a bit frightening.”
“Not in an ethical sense, but in an ontological one. Human, yet not human—that’s how I’d put it.”
When I made a face indicating I didn’t follow, Mallo kindly elaborated.
“For instance, you can’t call vacuum-packed ground meat ‘beef’ anymore.”
“Ah.”
Once he put it that way, I understood.
You couldn’t turn completely ground-up, minced meat of unknown parts back into beef.
I looked back at the Manager. Bibi, too, was watching the suspended man with a weary expression.
“So…… there’s no solution?”
“There is a way. But…….”
And he fell silent, lost in thought. He’d worn that face before whenever he had something difficult to tell me.
‘Right, before…….’
Before? When before?
“I’m reluctant, but I can extract the information you want. Physically.”
Physically? Surely he didn’t mean actual dissection?
“But the problem is…….”
“The problem is?”
Mallo looked at me as he spoke.
“I’d rather not show you that.”
“……Why?”
Mallo’s gaze drifted into empty space.
“Security…… concerns?”
Security?
‘Ah.’
I had a feeling about this. The sense that knowing too much wouldn’t do me any good.
“Then maybe Bibi and I should step outside for a moment…….”
“Wait.”
It was Bibi who cut me off.
“A report on this incident has already reached Headquarters. The anomalies in Nest Building and the series of events here at the Casino are now an Official Case under The Agency’s jurisdiction. We can’t let an outsider conduct an independent investigation, whether the witness is dead or alive.”
“What……?”
I understood. Bibi was an agent of The Agency, so he couldn’t hand over such a sensitive case wholesale to someone like Mallo, who wasn’t even human.
I didn’t think Mallo would deceive me over something like this, but that was just my assumption.
Superior beings could trap us whenever they pleased. Objectively, I couldn’t know what he might do, what manipulations he might make to the information.
When I raised my head, both of them were still waiting for me to speak.
It struck me as oddly fitting that I, the most powerless and least valuable person in this room, held all the decision-making authority.
But in truth, there was nothing to decide. I’d made a show of deliberating on my conscience, but honestly, there was no other choice.
“Professor.”
“Yes?”
“About that Customer List—you won’t omit anything or manipulate it, will you?”
“I don’t do that sort of thing.”
“Can you promise?”
The corners of Mallo’s eyes softened gently.
“Promise.”
Did you hear that? I looked at Bibi. Of course, Bibi wasn’t convinced in the slightest.
“You can’t just brush past something like that so casually. How are we supposed to entrust a witness investigation to him in the first place?”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“What?”
I looked up at Bibi and spoke.
“I’m saying, what else would you have us do? Leave him hanging from the ceiling until support arrives from Headquarters? How long do you think he’ll keep breathing?”
……
Bibi clamped his mouth shut stubbornly.
Ah, he’s being difficult today. Having his body taken over must have shaken him more than I thought.
‘There’s no choice.’
I gestured to Bibi. He hesitated for a moment, then bent down as instructed, bringing his ear close.
I whispered quietly against Bibi’s ear.
“It’s not me who can’t lie. It’s you, isn’t it?”
Bibi looked at me with a startled expression.
‘Exactly.’
All that talk about an Official Case and such was transparent lies. How could he have filed a report when Gwon Tae-hyun was missing?
The Communication Device I’d received from Bibi in Nest Building was still dead, and if Bibi could actually communicate with Headquarters, we never would have stormed into the Casino just the two of us in the first place.
Then someone clicked their tongue, and I jumped, raising my head.
‘Mallo?’
Did he just click his tongue at me?
“Are you done with your secret chat?”
Mallo asked while keeping his gaze fixed on my hand, which was still gripping Bibi’s arm. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I felt cowed anyway, and I withdrew my hand and simply nodded.
“Just a moment.”
It was Bibi. He exhaled slowly, then looked at Mallo as though he’d reached a decision.
“I understand what you’re saying. As someone in a position to ask a favor, it’s hardly polite to drag this out. But…….”
……
“Could I observe from your side?”
What was he saying?
My eyes widened as I stared, and Bibi pulled a Business Card from inside his jacket pocket. It was one I’d seen before—a card embossed with The Agency’s seal.
Bibi approached the seated Mallo and thrust the card toward him. For a moment, I saw the stains move as if alive, and text materialized before my eyes.
‘Hyun…… Min…… ?’
The surname and title were hidden behind his fingers.
Bibi looked straight at Mallo and spoke.
“You mentioned ‘security concerns.’ Is it still a problem now?”
Mallo’s lowered gaze shifted from Bibi’s Business Card to my face.
‘Are you really going to make me decide this too?’
I gave Bibi’s stubborn back of the head a sidelong glance. I didn’t have the energy to stop him anymore.
“Then I’ll spin a roulette or two.”
I walked out of the Exchange as I said it.
“Sigh…….”
But roulette or not, I sprawled out in a nearby chair instead.
I’d been putting on a brave face the whole time, but my legs were still trembling.
I’d been through all sorts of things since falling into the Fortress, but this was in a league of its own. A wholly different dimension of revulsion.
The Broker’s cold fingers against my nape and lips were still vivid.
Outside Gwangryun Academy, the trials I’d face without favor would surely be no better.
Pride hurt, but I think some part of me had been hoping for Mallo’s help all along.
That baseless faith—that he wouldn’t let me come to real harm—had made me complacent.
Complacency was no good in the Fortress. It wasn’t like me.
Just now, too. A madman chased me for a bit, and I started thinking such weak thoughts—why does my life have to be like this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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