Chapter 58: Uninvited Guest

“Eunho! Eunho!! Are you okay?!”

“Hyungniiiim!”

Ji-eun and Jaehyuk rushed over, checking my body from head to toe.

Like parents inspecting their child for any injuries.

If it were a normal day, I’d have thrown out a joke or two about their fussing, but they looked like they thought this was a pretty serious situation.

He let out a long sigh and then finally spoke.

“So, let me get this straight... You were bombed, and the terrorist is here among us?”

“Well, that’s about right.”

“Wow, damn!”

Yokjaengi clapped a trembling hand over his mouth and cursed in surprise.

He pulled off his hat and raked his hair with it, clearly rattled.

And he wasn’t the only one thrown off by the sudden turn of events.

“R-really? I didn’t hear a bomb... Oppa, did you hear anything?”

“No... I didn’t. Not at all.”

To his girlfriend’s question, the man shook his head.

The woman clung even tighter to her boyfriend’s arm, her eyes full of suspicion.

“That’s weird...”

“It is. If there really was a bomb, how come Lee Eunho is perfectly fine?”

“And besides, there’s no way we’d do something like that, right?”

The model and the chef both chimed in to protest.

Only one person seemed to believe me straight away.

“Ha... I was looking for everyone since I couldn’t see any of you.”

Only Yokjaengi.

“Hey! Don’t answer him!”

“Are you really going to believe that nonsense?”

Yeah. Even I was surprised at the question I’d asked.

There was no evidence, so I doubted anyone would believe me immediately.

That’s why I’d brought Ji-eun and Jaehyuk along, to make sure I had the upper hand if force was needed.

But then—

“If you don’t trust this guy, there’s no one here you can trust.”

I didn’t expect Yokjaengi to go along so willingly.

Not that I was complaining. If he set the tone, the others would likely follow.

“From 10:00 to 10:30. What were you doing, and where?”

“I was in the dining room with everyone else, then got up and left. You got up too, but when even those other people left and didn’t come back, I thought something was wrong.”

True, I’d stood up for everyone to see, then got Ji-eun, Jaehyuk, Hanul, and Yul involved in my scheme.

From Yokjaengi’s perspective, he’d have wondered where everyone had disappeared to.

“You were alone? Did you meet anyone?”

“Yeah. That snappy girl asked where I was going at this hour.”

That snappy girl...?

“You mean Lee Yeji? What time was that?”

“Just before ten, I guess. Maybe around 9:50? She said she needed to sleep by ten or her skin would suffer.”

“So that’s right after I got up.”

That meant his last alibi was before ten.

I got locked in the ‘office’ at 10:20, and it was 10:40 now, so there was plenty of time.

“And when I couldn’t find anyone, I went downstairs. I swear I didn’t do anything else!”

Which means, he had time to commit the crime and come back.

Unfortunately—

“Yokjaengi, no alibi.”

“Huh? I don’t?”

Yokjaengi stammered, flustered, but there was nothing to be done.

No alibi means no alibi.

Next suspect.

“Chef?”

“I-I don’t know anything about this. And I have no obligation to answer.”

Hmm. True, he doesn’t have to answer.

I’m not a cop, not a prosecutor, and the Miranda rights are for criminals, not for me, so he wasn’t exactly wrong.

“If you don’t cooperate, I’ll consider you the culprit.”

“Then what? You gonna call the cops?”

“Haha, as if.”

If you can’t be judged by the law, you can’t be protected by it either.

“I’ll just pay you back in kind.”

Meaning, if I decide you’re the culprit and do the same to you, there’s no safety net to save you.

“Isn’t this the kind of place where fists matter more than the law now?”

Flinch!

When I glared coldly, the chef recoiled and averted his gaze.

He seemed to ponder for a moment, then swallowed and spoke.

“I was... with Rina.”

“Rina?”

“Yeah. With me.”

I frowned at the unfamiliar name, and the model next to him shot up her hand.

“Yoo Rina. That’s me. Nice name, right?”

So bold, or should I say, shameless?

“Why?”

“Hm? Isn’t it just a pretty name?”

“No, why were you with him?”

“Oh, that?”

At my flat response, Yoo Rina raised her eyebrows.

Instead of answering, she just stared at the chef.

“We just had something to talk about, alone...”

The chef gave the unhelpful answer.

Hmm.

“When were you together?”

“I came out of the restroom and saw him there... We just talked for a bit since we bumped into each other. Is that a problem?”

“So you met in front of the restroom. What time was that?”

“Around ten? Then we talked on the landing for a bit, but it got stuffy so we went downstairs.”

Restroom, then the stair landing, huh.

They sure picked all the secluded spots. I decided to ask one more thing.

“What did you talk about, just the two of you?”

“Come on, we’re adults! Do you really need to know everything we talked about?”

The chef bristled.

“You sure have a lot of questions.”

The model blinked, shrugging her shoulders. And as she said, there were still a lot of questions left...

“...I’ll move on for now. Next, the couple?”

The man, laser-eyed and arm draped over his girlfriend’s shoulder, waited.

“Second floor cafe. My girlfriend wasn’t feeling well, so she was lying down the whole time.”

He volunteered, without even being asked.

His look and tone screamed, “Let’s get this over with.”

Clearly, he hated this situation.

“So you chose the empty second floor? Just the two of you?”

“Well, she had a headache, and it’s noisy where people are...!”

“Alright. And when were you there?”

“Since nine. The whole time.”

The way he snapped back at my check-in question said a lot.

“Oppa... my head hurts.”

“When is this ending? I want to go rest.”

It seemed the girlfriend really wasn’t feeling well.

‘I’ll have to check.’

As I sorted out the five people’s movements by time, the chef spoke up.

“Then the only one without an alibi is just one of us, right?”

He stared straight at Yokjaengi.

And then everyone chimed in.

“Yeah? Only one person?”

“Then we’re done, right? Can we go upstairs now?”

“W-what? Damn, are you talking about me?”

All eyes turned coldly toward Yokjaengi.

“You’re the only one who was alone.”

“Sigh, we got dragged into suspicion for nothing.”

“N-no, it’s not me! Why would I kill him? It doesn’t make sense!”

Yokjaengi turned pale and waved his hands desperately.

“Seriously, it’s not me! I swear on everything!”

“Calm down.”

Well, the answer was out.

“Give me five minutes. Just wait a bit.”

Time to wrap up the deduction.

---

[You sent a gift to ‘Yoon Sola’!]

As I called for the helper who would finish my deduction,

Yokjaengi was nearly confirmed as the culprit in everyone’s eyes.

“No way... right? Eunho’s saved our lives how many times...”

“If you really tried to kill hyung, I won’t let it slide!”

Even Ji-eun and Jaehyuk shook their heads, not wanting to believe it, their eyes wavering.

Yokjaengi clutched his hair and beat his chest in frustration.

“Damn it! I said it’s not me...”

“Yokjaengi.”

I stepped forward.

“W-what? It’s really not me! Believe me!”

“How many Welfare Points have you been sponsored in this mission?”

“Huh?”

Yokjaengi blinked, taken aback by the abrupt question.

“Welfare Points?”

“It’s important. Please answer.”

His face said, “Why ask that now?” but with no further explanation, I pressed him again.

Yokjaengi hesitated, then answered.

“...I didn’t get any.”

As expected. I knew it.

After playing Marvel movies for everyone and getting nothing but praise for the heroes, of course he got nothing.

“No sense, really. Showed you all a masterpiece of mankind, but...”

“What are you even saying? What’s with Welfare Points all of a sudden?”

...I had plenty to say, but what mattered right now was this.

“So, it’s not you. You’re not the culprit.”

Yokjaengi wasn’t the one.

“Huh? Why?”

“How does that make sense?”

The model and the chef stared wide-eyed.

The couple squinted suspiciously.

So I explained.

“He couldn’t afford the bomb.”

“You mean... the bomb with the poison gas?”

“Yes. That bomb is only sold at the Intermediate Shop.”

I kindly spelled it out.

The reason this guy couldn’t possibly be the culprit.

That is—

“Your first grade in MS Tower was F. Second, you got C at Seoul Station, right?”

“!!”

“So all your incentives put together aren’t even a thousand points. You said you barely managed to pay the daily wage during the hunting mission.”

He didn’t have the money for the bomb.

...A very realistic reason.

“You remembered all that?!”

It’s 10,000 points just to upgrade to the Intermediate Shop.

Add another 5,000 for the bomb, that’s at least 15,000 points.

“If you’d gotten over 15,000 in sponsorship, maybe you could have scraped by, but you weren’t even on the upper ranks. No way.”

“Wow... that’s scary as hell...”

Yokjaengi backed away, rubbing his arms.

I had cleared him, but I didn’t know why he was still trying to flee.

“But... then who’s the culprit?”

“We all have alibis!”

“No.”

Anyway, now there were four suspects left.

“None of you have a solid alibi.”

“What?! We all explained! We were together!”

“How can I trust that? You could be accomplices.”

“Ha! That’s insulting!”

Just as the chef clenched his fist like he was about to throw a punch—

─ Ding!

The elevator came down and stopped.

“Who’s that?”

Sola stepped out as the doors opened and nodded at me before walking over.

She walked up to the couple’s girlfriend and, without a word, held up her palm.

And, as I’d asked her beforehand—

─ Flash!

“W-what? Suddenly?”

“Why is she healing...?”

A pale light shone from Sola’s hand and soaked into the woman.

The boyfriend tried to shield her behind him, but the goal had already been achieved.

Sola lowered her hand and spoke.

“It’s just a cold.”

“...?!”

“What are you doing! What was that all about?!”

Then, the culprit was...

“!!”

‘It’s you!’

Thwack-!

As soon as Sola finished speaking, I dashed forward.

Behind him.

I grabbed both wrists from behind, twisting and pinning them.

“What the hell?! What are you doing?!”

His panicked voice rang out, but I had no intention of answering.

Thud!

Still gripping his wrists, I kicked the back of his knee.

He collapsed instantly.

I pinned him against the wall and quickly called out to Sola.

“Sola! Now!”

“Yes!”

Our precious healer—and status checker.

─ Flash!

Blue light burst from Sola as she cried out like an arrow.

“Poisoned! That’s right!”

“!!”

This is the one.

Fssshhhh!

I activated the gas bomb.

Thwack!

He was the only one who had entered the area before the gas had fully cleared, thus getting poisoned.

“You’re the only one who was alone.”

And yet, to avoid suspicion, he kept pretending ignorance.

“You got greedy.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?!”

“You could have waited for all the gas to clear and then come back. Were you worried someone else would take it first?”

“...!”

If you had been a little less greedy...

If you’d just waited a day, or even a few hours, instead of acting right away, it would have been hard to catch you.

But—

“Poisoned?! That’s impossible...”

You had no idea.

You didn’t even know you’d inhaled the gas.

「99.94%」

No one lives tracking their own stamina down to 0.01 percent.

▣ Omniscient Observer’s Eye

- When activated, you can see the remaining stamina of anyone in your sight.

However, only as a percentage.

Unless you’re wearing the lens that shows stamina as a percentage.

“I thought something was fishy.”

His thin, lanky build looked familiar, somehow.

So...

“Are you X?”

You’re the culprit.

“...Yoo Rina.”