Chapter 125: Interlude. The Detective who becomes a Thief in 7 Days (15)

The lobby of the valuables vault was as quiet as ever.

The vault keeper, who had been complaining of stomach pains since yesterday, had finally left his post.

Thanks to that, the massive bronze door, a symbol of the vault, was firmly locked, and a notice reading [No New Customers Today] was posted at the entrance.

“As expected, the boss is irreplaceable.”

“I know. If anything happened to him, we’d have to go through all sorts of tedious procedures to verify new customers like other vaults. Our workload would double immediately.”

On a quiet weekday morning, the lobby was relaxed enough for small talk.

Only one person, the employee with the green bow tie, was detached from this peaceful atmosphere.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you today?”

The employee with the orange bow tie asked worriedly.

“You’ve been fidgeting since earlier.”

“Haha, well… my stomach hurts a little.”

Cold sweat dripped down the pale face of the green bow tie employee.

The orange bow tie clicked her tongue sympathetically.

“You were the one who had tea with the boss yesterday, right? Guess there was something wrong with the refreshments.”

“…Looks that way.”

The green bow tie bit his lip and kept glancing at the clock.

As if he couldn’t bear it any longer, he hesitantly spoke up.

“Um, may I take a short break?”

“Oh, of course! It’s not a busy time anyway.”

“Thank you. Then…”

The green bow tie hurriedly left like someone being chased.

The orange bow tie watched his retreating back with concern, then tilted her head.

‘He said he wanted to rest, but where is he going?’

The green bow tie wasn’t heading to the restroom or the employee break room.

He was moving toward the inner corridor, beyond the iron gate.

‘Well… maybe he plans to take a nap in a corner.’

The orange bow tie soon erased her doubts.

Because the red bow tie tapped her shoulder and informed her of a customer.

“Welcome…?”

Her welcoming voice faltered involuntarily.

The customer who entered through the side door was dressed bizarrely.

‘Why is he wearing a black hood?’

At first, it was hard to suppress a laugh.

She thought it must be a customer trying to hide their identity thoroughly.

But through the open door crack, a black mass surged in like a wave.

“…Huh?”

The side door was pushed wide open by the wave of people.

Beyond it, she could see the guards lying as if unconscious.

“…!”

It was only then that the orange bow tie employee realized the situation and tried to scream and get up.

“Freeze!”

A gun barrel aimed at her.

Her heart felt like it would freeze.

‘Th-that’s a real gun…!’

A large sack was thrown in front of the frozen orange bow tie employee.

“Put the money in this sack! If you try anything funny, I’ll shoot you!”

It was the beginning of an uproar that shattered the peaceful stillness of the morning.

—

It felt strange pointing a gun at the trembling employee.

‘I feel like a villain.’

No, let’s stop with the escapism.

It wasn’t just a feeling—I was clearly a villain.

‘So, I have to make sure that old man doesn’t try anything funny.’

At the edge of my vision, I saw the yellow bow tie employee moving stealthily.

He circled behind one of the thieves who was busy threatening the employee in front—then—

“You bastard!!”

“Gahk!”

He reached out from behind and snatched the guy’s gun.

Then he pulled the barrel and started choking the thief’s neck.

‘Oh, nice moves.’

I wanted to whistle and cheer, but unfortunately, I was the villain right now.

—Thud!

I struck the employee’s nape with the butt of my gun and knocked him out.

The thief I’d just rescued snorted awkwardly.

“I could’ve handled it even if you didn’t help!”

“Yeah, right. Just give me the rope.”

It wasn’t because I liked the guy that I helped him.

I just acted first in case another thief shot this old man.

‘We agreed to avoid shooting as much as possible to not cause a commotion…’

But those thugs wouldn’t listen to that.

Especially in the middle of a robbery, with blood boiling and eyes red from excitement.

If things went even slightly wrong, they wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

‘As long as I’m here, I can’t let that happen.’

I tightly bound the yellow bow tie employee’s hands and feet with rope and stood up.

“Stay still. Once we achieve our goal, I’ll let you go unharmed.”

It might sound like a mockery to anyone listening, but this was my resolve.

I had known about this crime in advance, yet I abetted it.

Not only that, I even joined the crime myself.

Would my face even be visible when I take off this black hood?

Or would it be covered in black shadows?

‘Even if that happens, I thought I had to do this.’

It was to prevent more sacrifices.

I had resolved to solve the case by any means necessary.

But I never intended to put human lives on the other side of that scale.

If that happened, I would definitely lose sleep for the rest of my life.

So.

“For my peaceful sleep!”

—Crack!

The cane that was being swung at one of the organization members shattered on the spot.

“Oh dear!”

The middle-aged customer, full of chivalry, flailed and lost his balance.

I quickly grabbed him by the collar before he fell backward and growled.

“Don’t act on a reckless impulse and stay still. Got it?!”

“Y-yes, I understand, so let go…”

A trembling voice.

I released his collar roughly.

—Clatter!

The gentleman fell flat on his backside.

The sound was loud, but since I paused mid-fall to cushion it, he probably wasn’t seriously hurt.

Probably.

My temporary companions, watching the scene, burst into disgusting laughter.

“Not bad, huh? No wonder you’re the Phantom Thief’s assistant!”

“You’ve got no blood or tears.”

“You were the one who took down all the guards, right?”

“Didn’t he say earlier he hits people for a good night’s sleep?”

“Guess he can’t sleep at night unless he beats someone up. Total lunatic.”

…Let’s think positively.

It was better to be acknowledged by these guys right now.

I clenched my fist silently.

Just then, the red bow tie employee asked tremblingly.

“What… is your purpose?”

His gaze was clearly fixed on me.

It seemed he had been watching the whole situation and recognized me as the leader of this group.

“Purpose? I told you earlier.”

I recalled the script and recited.

“Hand over the money. You rich folks must be making a fortune charging expensive storage fees. Share the wealth.”

“And don’t even think about hiding anything. Bring all the cash from the lobby!”

The thief next to me chimed in excitedly.

There was only a thin line between thugs and thieves.

Thanks to his natural acting talent, the atmosphere was perfectly set.

‘We’ll look just like petty criminals after money.’

That was the core of this plan.

To disguise ourselves as amateur thieves after cash, not a specific item in the underground vault.

You might say both are robbery? Completely different.

It’s like the difference between a convenience store robber and a professional bank robber.

Just look at the lobby employees.

While the red bow tie spoke to me, drawing my attention, the orange bow tie employee kept tapping under the desk.

Then they exchanged glances and smiled confidently.

Clearly, they had pressed the emergency call bell.

When that bell is pressed, a siren sounds in the underground vault floor.

Then the armed guards protecting the underground would charge up to the ground.

For an ordinary criminal, that would be the end.

But for professionals who came specifically to crack the vault?

They would have prepared countermeasures for this level of security.

‘Why would I know such information in the first place?’

This morning, the bribed employee had already taken care of everything.

That emergency call bell wouldn’t ring.

The underground guards wouldn’t know anything.

‘Of course, the police won’t come either.’

The Grand Duke had already made arrangements.

There would be no police patrolling this area today.

‘When they realize neither the police nor the guards are coming, they’ll resist desperately.’

They might even risk their lives and charge out.

To call for help outside, or toward the underground guards.

That would be troublesome, so I maintained the disguise of a petty criminal.

“Is this all the money? Don’t make me laugh!”

The thief shouted fiercely.

His acting was so realistic that I couldn’t tell if it was acting or genuine.

Maybe he couldn’t tell either.

“There must be more hidden somewhere! That’s it. Lock them all up!”

The thieves made everyone stand up.

As expected, the employees obediently followed.

They believed that if they stalled for time, the police or guards would show up.

‘Sorry, but that won’t happen.’

I apologized inwardly while escorting the employees.

To the inner corridor, beyond the iron gate.

Between the second and third iron gates.

We herded everyone inside, and the thieves positioned themselves in front of each gate to block them.

“If you try anything funny or try to escape, we’ll shoot you! Got it?!”

Of course, the employees had keys.

But opening the door would take time and make a loud noise.

The thieves wouldn’t miss that chance.

The security measures meant to prevent thieves had instead become a rat trap for the thieves to exploit.

“Good. Let’s start the search in earnest.”

Once the obstacles were gone, the slit-eyed man gave orders.

With no eyes watching, the thieves moved swiftly.

But they weren’t looking for gold coins.

“Oh! Found a gold coin! Sweet!”

Well, it was also gold coins, but… anyway, that wasn’t the main goal.

“Where the hell is that damn ledger?”

“Shouldn’t it be around here?”

The thieves’ real target.

It was the vault keeper’s ledger.

To open the princess’s vault underground, three things were needed: the princess’s key, the employee’s key, and the vault number.

Two of these were already resolved.

‘The slit-eyed man had the princess’s key.’

It seemed the Grand Duke or his heir had done something.

It wasn’t genuine, but a replica of the princess’s key was here.

‘As for the employee’s key, we can just use the bribed guy’s.’

Only one thing was problematic.

The number that would tell us which of the hundreds of vaults belonged to the princess.

‘We must secure the vault number to avoid the underground guards.’

The armed guards underground were too dangerous to confront head-on.

The best method was to use the bribed employee to deceive them, pretending to be ordinary customers.

For that, we had to find the right vault at once and open it.

If we showed any suspicious behavior, we’d be met with a hail of bullets.

“Found it.”

At that moment, the slit-eyed man pulled out a thick ledger from a drawer.

“According to the bribed guy, the princess’s vault number is written in this ledger.”

But after flipping through a few pages, the man frowned and closed the book.

“…It’s in code.”

Code?

“I can’t decipher it at all.”

It was a difficult situation, but fortunately, the slit-eyed man didn’t look too troubled.

It seemed he had some solution.

He strode off somewhere with the ledger in hand.

‘Where is he going?’

Soon, the slit-eyed man’s footsteps stopped right in front of… me.

‘…?’

The slit-eyed man tapped my back and handed me the ledger.

“It’s time for you to shine, Sting.”

I unconsciously pointed at myself.

‘Me? I’m your solution?’

“I have to admit it this time. I’m glad I brought you into the operation. Who else could decipher this code but you?”

His voice was utterly without doubt.

“The Phantom Thief’s assistant, who cracked the drug lord’s vault and boldly stole a pocket watch from the Grand Duke’s bedroom. Show us that legendary skill that even faked evidence held by the police.”

…Damn, that’s all true, not a single lie.

But I have no idea how to decipher codes.

‘This is bad. Did I bluff too much?’

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

But I couldn’t back out now.

I swallowed hard and answered with feigned nonchalance.

“Of course. Leave it to me.”

The moment I opened the ledger boldly.

I realized.

‘This is…’

This wasn’t a code.

The vault keeper couldn’t perceive faces in the normal way.

This ledger was a record written by the vault keeper, capturing only his own field of vision, so he could recognize his customers.