“Do you come here often?”

“Yes. I know the owner, Eleanor.”

“I see. As it happens, there are a few things I’d like to ask you. If you don’t mind, could you spare me a little time?”

So that’s it… Whether he wanted to ask about the “mystery craftsman” or about Persilla, I couldn’t be sure yet.

“Then perhaps we should step inside. If I ask Eleanor, she’ll let us use a room.”

I glanced around. Every eye in the crowd outside was fixed on us.

“Good. Let’s do as you say.”

Cheon Jiwon nodded.

“Understood. Then, please—this way.”

And so, I walked into Platinum Wing side by side with the mayor, drawing the kind of stares usually reserved for celebrities.

Avoiding him would’ve been worse. Better to face this properly.

Inside, Eleanor and Lee Donghyuk both wore slightly tense expressions.

“Eleanor, could we borrow a back room? The mayor has some questions for me.”

“…Alright.”

Just then, someone tugged on my sleeve.

Meiling. Her face was tight with worry. Right, she was still here.

“Wait outside for a bit,” I told her.

She scowled, clearly unhappy, but she hadn’t been invited in the first place. She’d followed me on her own—her problem.

“No, she should come too. There are questions I’d like to ask Miss Meiling as well.”

That caught both of us off guard.

“You… know who I am?” Meiling’s voice came out awkwardly polite.

“Of course. The city is involved in hosting HAUT. I make it a point to know the faces of all selected participants.”

Strange. A department head might bother, but the mayor himself memorizing every single cadet? Hard to believe.

“Miss Eleanor, I’d like you to join us as well. There were things I didn’t get to ask you earlier.”

“…Understood, Mr. Mayor.” Eleanor replied stiffly.

Once we were seated inside, the reason he’d gathered us became clear immediately.

“You were involved in the rescue operation at Valhall, weren’t you?” His very first words.

“…How did you know?” I met his gaze.

There was no need to hide this part.

“Those ‘clients,’ as well as the Hunters Valhall employed, are all suspects now. From their testimonies, there were seven outsiders present that night. One of them, they said, could vanish completely—like a ghost. And there is such an ability in your squad, isn’t there?”

That was Lumina.

“They also mentioned three who clearly looked underage. That would be you, Meiling, and Miss Iris. And among those rescued from Valhall was Seo Yui, another member of your squad. Hardly seems like coincidence, does it?”

“…So we couldn’t hide it completely.”

“But Eleanor wasn’t there. How do you know she was involved?”

“At the award ceremony, Iris herself told me. She praised her sister, saying she had supported from outside and never once tried to take credit, out of principle. She was quite proud.”

I glanced at Eleanor.

“……”

Her lips curled into a bitter smile, but her hands, folded in her lap, were clenched tight. Clearly, Iris had earned herself some sisterly resentment today.

“Thanks to you all, those who deserved punishment have been caught. And dozens of children were rescued into safety. It was a great deed. Why keep it hidden?”

“…Because we didn’t want entanglements—with Forward Group or anyone else.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

For a brief moment, his eyes flicked toward Meiling.

“But was Valhall the reason you called us in?” I asked.

“That, and something more.”

His gaze sharpened.

“I already asked Miss Eleanor, but I’ll ask again: have any of you noticed a suspicious woman visiting this shop recently?”

There it is.

“Anything at all. Even just a feeling.”

“You’re looking for Persilla.”

The air in the room seemed to drop several degrees.

“Nam Yein!”

“Are you crazy—”

Both Eleanor and Meiling hissed at me, but then fell silent, stiff with tension.

“…So you have met her?” the mayor asked.

The weight of his stare made me want to bolt from the room. It was the kind of gaze that promised lies would not be tolerated.

“Yes. I met her.”

I forced my voice to remain steady.

“My friend—the craftsman who supplies this shop—Persilla showed an interest in his work. She asked me who had made the items.”

The mayor’s expression shifted again.

“And what did you say?”

“…I didn’t tell her. I wouldn’t reveal it to her any more than I would to you, Mr. Mayor.”

His eyes narrowed. The words You’re lying practically flashed across his face.

“My friend decided to handle it. He said if Persilla kept chasing, it would only endanger me. So he’d deal with her himself.”

“Deal with her? Do you understand who Persilla is? The ‘Craftsman Killer’?”

“Of course. That’s exactly why he told me to stay out of it—because it was dangerous.”

“You didn’t report it to the police?”

“What good would that do? Persilla is the kind of criminal even you, Mr. Mayor, had to personally step in to confront. Ordinary police wouldn’t stand a chance. And if she sensed the authorities were after her, it would only provoke her further.”

He fell silent.

“…And the outcome?”

“My friend told me Persilla, after their conversation… took her own life.”

“You—” His eyes blazed. “Do you take me for a fool?”

The surge of killing intent was suffocating. For a moment, I really did think I might bolt from the room. So this was what it meant to stand in front of the strongest man alive when he was angry.

Meiling and Eleanor both sat frozen, not even daring to breathe.

But once I’d started bluffing, stopping wasn’t an option.

Time to use the ace up my sleeve.

“Then please, take a look at this.”

I placed a small, pouch-shaped inventory on the table in front of him.

The mayor’s face was still dark with anger as he snatched up the inventory bag.

He slipped his hand inside—then froze.

“…This is—”

Hunters, by simply touching an inventory, could sense exactly what was stored within.

And what he had just touched was none other than Persilla’s personal inventory—stuffed full of the weapons once owned by the Arms Collector.

I had kept it on me at all times rather than stashing it in my room. It was safer that way, and besides, in an emergency, the weapons inside might prove useful.

“Do you still think I was lying?”

I saw his eyes tremble. The shock was real.

“What… what exactly are you…?”

“I already told you. Not me—my friend, the craftsman.”

The mayor’s expression hardened again. A slip.

“That inventory was entrusted to him by Persilla, just before she took her own life. He said she wanted the items returned to their rightful owners—her victims’ families, or other craftsmen. But since he never leaves his workshop, he asked me to keep it safe.”

“……”

“Do you have any more questions for us, Mr. Mayor?”

“…Yes. Then let me ask plainly.”

His eyes bored into mine.

“The rare gear sold here, the Weight of Phase Fixation you gave me—they all carry the same magical signature. And the story of some anonymous craftsman too timid to reveal himself? Hard to believe. Isn’t the truth simply that no such friend exists, and you are the one making these items?”

I smiled.

“However you choose to see it is your freedom. But there is one thing I want to state clearly.”

“And that is?”

“Neither I, nor my friend, harbor any ill will toward the Seoul that you lead, Mayor Cheon. If we did, we would never have handed you the Phase Fixation, no matter what the circumstances.”

He fell silent, frowning in thought.

“…Do you have anything more to ask?”

“No.”

He rose to his feet, Persilla’s inventory still in hand.

“Forgive me for taking your time. I’ll be going now.”

And just like that, he left the Platinum Wing.

The crowd that had been loitering outside followed him down the street, and at last, quiet returned to the shop.

“…What were you thinking?” Eleanor demanded, incredulous.

“You’re practically asking to be put on trial for murder! What if he takes you at your word?”

“Meiling swore not long ago that even if she ended up in prison, she wouldn’t leave our side.”

“Wh—?!”

Meiling’s face turned scarlet.

“I’m kidding. I was betting on the mayor’s good sense.”

Cheon Jiwon hadn’t believed a word about my so-called ‘friend,’ of course. Nor had he believed Persilla killed herself.

That was only natural.

But once he confirmed that the inventory in my hands really had belonged to Persilla, the foundations of his certainty cracked.

After all, what sane person could believe a first-year academy student had slain a level 84 professional Hunter?

And so the thought would nag at him: What if the craftsman really exists? What if Persilla truly did take her own life?

For him, the more frightening possibility wasn’t that I lied—but that Persilla hadn’t committed suicide.

That would mean there was another Hunter in Seoul, besides himself, with the power to suppress or even kill her.

That idea alone would be a nightmare for a man like Cheon Jiwon.

That was why I’d said it: Neither I nor my friend ill will to Seoul you lead.

Valhall, Persilla… and Forward.

Cheon Jiwon despised all those who used their power to oppress the weak. That was why he became mayor in the first place: to curb the excesses of awakened ones, Hunters, and corporations.

Learning he’d been investigating Valhall, I’d made a new plan right there on the spot.

If possible, I wanted to secure him as an ally.

Whether he’d truly buy my bluff remained to be seen.

But one thing was certain: the police wouldn’t be kicking down my dorm door any time soon. With Persilla’s inventory in his possession, the mayor would at least feel reassured that no more lives would be lost to her.

Persilla was a monster. So was Cheon Jiwon—just one who walked the opposite path.

“Anyway, Eleanor, shall we finally discuss which rare items to put in the shop next?”

Her eyes widened.

“Right—of course. That was the whole point of today, wasn’t it? I completely forgot once the mayor arrived. But…”

Her gaze slid over to Meiling.

“Why is she even here for this?”

“Good question.” I turned to look at her.

“I—I was just curious, that’s all! Wanted to know what you two would talk about!”

“I told you already, it’s business. You knew I supply the shop with rare gear, so what’s there to be curious about?”

“Oh, shut up! Just hurry up and finish so we can eat—I’m starving, I skipped breakfast!”

“…Good grief. Eleanor, let’s head to the back.”

“…Fine.”

Even as she answered, Eleanor’s eyes lingered stubbornly on Meiling.

I couldn’t imagine why.

(End of Chapter)

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