Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 9

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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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Chapter 9
Joel paid no mind to Ryan’s assumption that he’d lost his senses.
That wasn’t what mattered now.
“Hand it over.”
“Ugh. Always so tactless.”
He snatched the Binoculars from Ryan’s grip.
Ignoring the reproach from beside him, he trained the lenses on Nina.
Through the Binoculars, into the interior of the opposite Balcony, he could see Nina carefully tending to her Magical Gun.
She disassembled the weapon, inspected each component meticulously, then sprayed and wiped them clean.
‘We didn’t issue her that separately—must be her own personal item. She’s certainly worthy of wielding my Magical Gun.’
Nina, absorbed in her work, looked peaceful and content.
Something had gone awry from the moment Nina arrived at the house.
Originally, he’d planned to take her straight to the second floor, extract information over tea, and only then return her handkerchief before sending her on her way.
‘Pressing her for answers during that first visit would only yield poor results.’
Yet seeing someone recognize how magnificent and impressive the Magical Devices he’d designed and built were—an entirely natural and fitting reaction—he’d ended up showing her the Workshop itself.
It was an action he wouldn’t normally take, though it posed no real danger.
‘Which is why I felt no resistance when I took Nina down to the Basement.’
Or so he’d thought……
Now he was beginning to understand why he’d acted that way.
A person with the ability to recognize that Magical Device Development was his destiny.
A Magical Gun designed with perfect precision, embodying the very form of spring personified.
An existence whose worth matched his own Magical Devices.
‘It was pure instinct—sensing in her a Magical Device worthy of study.’
Joel set down the Binoculars and found himself growing quite fond of this Espionage Operation.
Ryan rested his forearms on the railing, asking a question.
“How much does Nina Bonze know?”
“If she’s not simply pretending ignorance, probably just that her grandmother’s name and the inheritance she’s to receive are quite substantial.”
“Tsk, tsk. Poor thing. No idea her whole family’s a lie.”
“That’s rich coming from an Intelligence Agent who married the Target for this operation and faked his own drowning three months later.”
Joel’s flat response made Ryan bristle.
“Hey. I was the only fake in that scenario. Nina Bonze—her entire life is a fabrication.”
……
“Though I suppose it’s fair to be cautious. Her grandmother might be a spy for some nation, or an undercover agent of a defeated country’s hidden intelligence service.”
……
“But Likita Bonze was such an extraordinary spy that the word ‘exceptional’ hardly does her justice.”
……
“The Dotchen Kingdom was foolish indeed—cultivating such a spy and then……?”
Ryan, who had been rambling on alone, suddenly noticed that Joel’s gaze had grown sharper than before, and realized he must be listening after all.
“……You bastard. You’re not hearing a word I’m saying—you’re just thinking about Magical Devices again, aren’t you?”
Only then did Joel’s eyes lose that distant look and return to their usual half-lidded state.
“I’ve thought it for a while now, but you seem quite perceptive.”
“Just pretend otherwise, will you.”
“Why would I lie to someone who isn’t even a Target of surveillance?”
“Sigh. Just shut up.”
Joel fell silent as expected and returned to the blueprint he’d been mentally composing.
Watching his golden eyes brighten with renewed focus, Ryan could only shake his head in incomprehension.
Just as he was about to raise the Binoculars again to observe Nina Bonze once more—
Joel snatched them from Ryan’s hand and shoved them into his pocket.
“She’s observant enough to notice if someone watches too long from the Balcony. Don’t create variables.”
“What? Come on. I’ve had years of Espionage training—would I get caught?”
“Either way, stop looking. She’s my Target.”
Ryan stared at his presumptuous, insolent junior in disbelief and pressed a hand to his forehead.
‘This guy’s impossible. Hoarding the Magical Device he spotted first like he discovered it himself.’
Regardless of what Ryan thought, Joel remained absorbed in contemplation of both the Magical Device and Nina.
Nina—a Magical Device designed to perfection.
And his own perfectly crafted Magical Gun.
When Nina held the Magical Gun he’d created specifically for her, that was when a truly flawless Magical Device would be born—interlocking with perfect precision, without a single gap or misalignment.
Joel smiled darkly with absolute certainty.
Watching Joel, Ryan was equally certain of his own conviction: the man was completely mad.
* * *
That night.
A small paper fragment slipped through the crack of Nina’s door as she slept soundly.
The paper, with a tiny spark attached to its edge, gradually burned and spread sleep incense throughout the room.
How many minutes had passed?
Soon enough, Excy, wearing a gas mask, stepped into Nina’s room.
‘I need to find the magical gun.’
After much deliberation, the four members of the Bonze family’s false household decided to steal and dispose of the magical gun that Joel had gifted without any discussion.
It was Excy, a master of poisons, who would carry out the operation.
She confirmed that the sleep incense smoke had spread all the way to the bed, then walked casually toward the wardrobe.
‘I lit an especially potent sleep incense just in case. She won’t wake even if I dance around in here.’
The moment that thought crossed her mind—
“Mmm…….”
Nina stirred and rolled toward Excy’s side of the bed.
Startled, Excy immediately threw herself flat against the floor and held perfectly still.
“Ugh……!”
At the same moment, she barely stifled a cry that nearly burst from her lips.
‘This—what the hell? Someone’s here?!’
There was someone underneath the bed.
A woman in dark clothing, her eyes wide open, lay unconscious with wire wound around her hands.
She must have crept in quietly and been caught by Excy’s sleep incense.
‘None of the other spies mentioned anything. Who in the world is this?’
Excy fought to calm her racing heart as she slowly dragged the unconscious intruder out from beneath the bed.
Worried that she might wake and make noise, Excy gagged her mouth and bound her wrists behind her back.
To uncover the intruder’s identity, she would need to search her clothes, but there was no suitable place to do it.
In the end, she had to leave Nina’s room without properly searching for the magical gun.
But getting out of there was its own problem.
Every time Excy rose to her feet and stepped toward the door, Nina stirred as though she might wake at any moment.
Excy had no choice but to crawl on her belly, cradling the intruder at her side, moving forward with every ounce of silence she could muster.
‘Even a turtle would move faster than this. Nina keeps stirring whenever I move, despite the sleep incense. I have no idea how this intruder managed to hide under the bed in the first place.’
Even as she grumbled to herself, Excy felt a chill run through her. The intruder’s skill was anything but ordinary.
* * *
The morning after.
The four members of the false household, gathered early in the dining room without Nina, were lost in deep contemplation.
They hadn’t found the magical gun after all, but that wasn’t the problem.
The strange intruder Excy had discovered beneath Nina’s bed the night before—they’d failed to extract any useful information from her either.
She had stabbed her own palm with a fingernail that had been coated beforehand with concentrated poison and taken her own life.
It happened before they could even begin interrogating her once she’d regained consciousness.
“We had her blindfolded, and before we could even confirm the location or identify who she was—the moment she came to, she just…….”
Natalisha murmured in disbelief.
It was common for intelligence agents to be deployed on operations with suicide poison on them.
But usually, they at least managed to ascertain which organization had subdued them, and if nothing else, they could send whatever trivial information they had to their allies before using it.
To commit suicide before even that window of awareness opened was truly an exceptionally rare occurrence.
“Whoever she was, her loyalty to her superior was remarkable.”
“Then her superior isn’t the state.”
Excy nodded in agreement with Kathari and Chaison’s words.
“It’s either someone she owes a debt to, or someone being held hostage. Failing that—brainwashing.”
Natalisha, who had searched the intruder’s body, spoke up as well, her expression cool.
“There was no trace of anything on her clothes or belongings that would identify her organization. If I’d at least heard her speak, I might have been able to make some inference.”
She paused for a moment, then continued.
“But are we even sure she was an intruder?”
“What do you mean?”
When Kathari asked for clarification, Natalisha answered uncertainly.
“I mean, it’s definite she wasn’t one of Nina Bonze’s people.”
“……Right now, we can’t be certain of anything. For now, I’ve installed a detection device in Nina Bonze’s room. If another intruder tries to break in from outside, we’ll get a signal.”
Excy sighed as she said this—
“My goodness. You’re all up early, aren’t you? Good morning.”
“Did you sleep well? The weather is absolutely lovely today. If you open the window, you can see the garden directly.”
Nina came down into the dining room.
“Come here, Nina. Did you sleep well?”
“Good morning.”
In an instant, the family members swapped their peaceful, drowsy expressions for ones of alert attention as they exchanged morning greetings.
Yet Nina stood motionless before taking her seat at the table, her expression distinctly grave.
“Everyone. During these past few days here at the Townhouse, I’ve noticed something…….”
The family’s attention shifted from Juger Number 4, who was serving up a plate of food they regarded with suspicion, to Nina.
“I have a strong feeling someone has been surveilling this house.”

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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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