How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Don’t Beat Around the Bush, Just Get to the Point

***

***

Sky Village, a high-class mixed-use residential complex where only a chosen few could reside.

As always, the young man sitting on the sofa looked down at the night view of District 13.

The people he had been brushing shoulders with just monts ago now seed no larger than ants.

One of the young man’s trivial hobbies was to replay the scene before his eyes at the end of each day. It was because the fact that he stood in a superior position ca across to him so vividly.

It was then that the lted ice clinked clearly inside the glass.

“Was it Handel Bison?”

“Yes, she is the girl who took first place at Mystic Hundred not long ago.”

Though the question had co out of nowhere, the old man standing behind the young man answered as if it were only natural.

“She wasn’t unused, but still, she wasn’t bad. Investing in this business was worthwhile. But tell .”

“Please speak, young master.”

The young man glanced toward the door and added,

“Isn’t there anything fresh, not a product like that? You know I prefer sothing untouched?”

“There happens to be one on the market.”

After checking the information the old man sent to his device, the young man snapped his fingers.

“If it’s natural, that’s not bad. Package her nicely and bring her.”

“Since she happens to know Handel, guiding her here will not be difficult.”

Just as the young man gave a light nod of approval, a scream rang out through the room.

“W-Who are you people? Why am I like this?!”

Without even thinking of fixing her long platinum hair, the girl, Handel, shot back.

“Ah, you’re awake. I had a feeling that would happen.”

When the young man responded indifferently, Handel staggered back and shouted,

“I-I’ll report this.”

“That would not be advisable.”

“Ugh.”

The mont the old man stretched out his arm, Handel collapsed to the floor and clutched her head. Her device had malfunctioned. It was obvious who was trying to breach her ntal barrier.

But soon, the headache subsided.

Just as she was about to feel relieved, thinking the old man’s device interference had failed—

“We entered into this relationship by mutual consent. I’m an adult as well. I don’t get worked up over things like this. That’s what adult relationships are like, aren’t they?”

Her lips moved. Not by her own will.

“I might change my mind later and spout nonsense, but you know how it is? Won are all fickle. I won’t hold you legally responsible.”

She tried to close her throat sohow, but words she did not an kept pouring out.

‘Tuner?’

That was as far as Handel could deduce.

“Did you record it?”

“Without missing a thing.”

She had no idea where things had gone wrong. No matter how recklessly she might have lived, her debut had just been decided, and she was not so thoughtless as to cause a scandal at a ti like this.

It was only up to the mont she received a spam mail on her device that she was certain—

‘Certain?’

Only then did Handel realize that part of her mory was missing, and a chill ran down her spine. She did not know the reason, but it was clear that this was an intentional setup.

In a hurry, she grabbed a nearby liquor bottle, but her desperate counterattack ca to nothing. The old man had intervened once again.

Falling like a puppet with its strings cut, Handel could feel her consciousness gradually fading in real ti.

Yes, it was sothing she had experienced over and over again.

Back then, the one in front of her had not been the young man. It had been an unfamiliar middle-aged man. Before that, a woman. And before that, an old man.

Clouded thoughts swirled in her head, but she had no room to dwell on them. What awaited Handel was yet another repetition.

“You……”

All that Handel left behind was a faint sigh.

The young man, who watched her collapse without emotion, quietly reached a conclusion.

“Stimulating her with repetitive electrical signals seems to cause new nerve cells to form accordingly. I’ll have to revise that gradually. We can erase her mory, right?”

“It will remain in her subconscious, but there will be no problem.”

“There must not be even the slightest chance. If we allow even sothing like this to burst out, the variables that arise afterward will grow beyond control.”

“Then what shall we do?”

“I’ll assign her this job and then dispose of her. There was a place we used before, wasn’t there? What was the na… It was quite a blunt term.”

“If you an Pier Gang, they were arrested last ti. The remnants are rely wandering now.”

“Ah, really? Then we’ll have to call that guy.”

The old man, who vaguely knew the identity of the person the young man was referring to, felt nothing but unease.

“Young master, would it not be better to avoid getting entangled with them?”

“Enough. Just contact him. After all, he’s the one who’ll take responsibility.”

Literally so.

The young man did not need to run such a complicated and troubleso business. He already possessed an unrivaled position.

And yet he chose to shelter it because the board had been set up so well. Simply by staying still, he could obtain byproducts beyond imagination.

“No matter how insignificant sothing may be, it always has its use. If they are clinging to my authority to run their business, shouldn’t they fulfill their role to the very end?”

***

As Ga-on began his investigation in earnest, he organized the situation. According to what he had heard from Raju Sable, there were three people Abigail Connor had t before she died.

Her manager.

A friend.

And a reporter.

Each had a connection to her, and none of the etings had seed unnatural. Any one of them could have been in a position to be either a helper or a perpetrator.

Abigail must have judged the sa and confided her true feelings.

The key was to uncover who that had been.

For Ga-on, the most suspicious person was Abigail Connor’s manager, Holdem Bruce. It was an entirely reasonable conclusion.

He had been by Abigail’s side all day, observing her every move without arousing suspicion, and his position made him easily susceptible to external influence.

However, contrary to such expectations, nothing in Holdem’s life had changed since Abigail went missing. His residence remained the sa, and his vehicle had not changed either.

He was still busy with his days under Orpheus.

Just in case, Ga-on tailed him for several sols, but there was nothing unusual.

He did not seem like soone who would suddenly turn into a broker or a traitor. It was not a judgnt based on physiognomy or impression. What lay at the foundation was thoroughly investigated information.

Originally, Holdem had been a ho master. In other words, he had been a fan who took photos or videos of idols and shared them with others.

It was even said that he had entered the industry to see girl groups from a closer distance, so it was certain he would not have done anything to bring down his own idol.

As if to prove that, the idol Holdem was currently in charge of was Handel Bison.

Yes, the top rookie of the quarter who had taken first place at Mystic Hundred.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary.’

At the ti Abigail went missing, he had reportedly taken a short break, unable to endure the sense of loss, so Ga-on thought he could temporarily set aside his suspicion.

If all the information had been false, then Holdem should have been an actor rather than a manager.

Watching Holdem’s back as he entered the building with other managers, Ga-on quietly turned his steps away.

***

“How was he in person?”

“Ordinary. At least I didn’t see anything incriminating.”

“I suppose he’s known in the industry for being quiet.”

“He spends the money he earns on rchandise. He was so transparent you could practically see through him.”

Ga-on responded to the other man as he took a seat.

The man who had arrived earlier was Sham Berry, a reporter from the entertainnt departnt of the major dia outlet Moral Hines.

He was also the man Abigail had requested an interview with shortly before she went missing.

In so ways, this eting could have been interpreted as sleeping with the enemy, but Ga-on had already surmised from the mont he heard the personal details from Raju Sable that Sham had nothing to do with this incident.

There were several reasons.

One was that he had virtually no point of contact with Abigail. Another was that he still did not know what she had been trying to expose.

This eting proved that his claim was not false.

If Sham had truly been connected to the mastermind in any way, Ga-on would have been kidnapped or killed before he even got the chance to see his face.

It might have been a reckless approach, but it was a small enough risk to take.

Thanks to forming a united front, they had been able to wrap up the investigation into Holdem faster than expected.

After all, how could Ga-on, who was not even a Diver, have uncovered in such a short ti that he had once been a ho master?

It was all thanks to the well-connected veteran of the entertainnt departnt beside him, offering advice.

Of course, the reason Sham was helping so extensively, both materially and immaterially, was not because his journalism was exceptional.

“Then you’re giving this article exclusively to ?”

There was only one thing Sham wanted.

The bonus and reputation that followed a scoop. From the mont he t Ga-on, his objective had been simple and clear.

From beginning to end, he acted for his own self-preservation.

The advancent of technology did not produce only positive cycles. While new businesses were created, so professions beca obsolete.

Journalists were among them.

These days, most articles were written by artificial intelligence. If the keywords were properly provided, it was not difficult to process an entire day’s schedule in seconds, leaving almost no room for reporters to intervene.

To claim superiority in efficiency was absurd.

Fortunately, artificial intelligence could not handle everything. Information was born in the real world and then flowed into virtual reality.

What about data that had not been input?

What about incidents that had not yet been recorded?

Even an AI that excelled at sorting and compiling data could not create data that did not exist. That domain could only be obtained by pounding the pavent.

Having clearly recognized that point from the mont he entered the industry, Sham focused more on building connections than on uncovering the truth. The network of relationships he constructed to win reporting competitions beca increasingly refined over ti and eventually beca his only asset.

Ga-on had roughly guessed those circumstances and willingly stepped inside that fence. Originally, fixers and reporters were professions too closely intertwined to be separated, so there was nothing strange about it.

Even if Sham had not pressed him, Ga-on had intended to hand it over.

There was no harm in knowing a trumpeter.

However—

“That is, if you can publish it.”

“Please don’t worry. You know who stands behind our company, don’t you? If the evidence is solid, we can even put it on the front page.”

Ga-on also knew that the backer of Moral Hines was a mammoth corporation capable of going head-to-head with Marstop, the gacorp that could be called the parent company of Orpheus.

Perhaps because they were in similar industries, they were famous in business circles as eternal rivals.

It was easy to see why Abigail had tried to make contact with Sham.

“By the way, while you were investigating Ms. Abigail’s manager, I also ca across an interesting piece of information.”

“What is it?”

“They say the one who took on this case is an investigator.”

Within the Public Enforcent Corps, that was the bottom of the bottom.

Although it was an official appointnt, it was little different from an errand runner.

Not a detective, but an investigator.

Only one character differed between the two words, but the implications were vastly different.

‘Investigation’ implied proactive and autonomous judgnt, whereas ‘inquiry’ was rely static, repetitive work.

Naturally, the authority that ca with it was limited as well.

“So?”

“Wouldn’t it be a little special if it were soone who had just shown up for work and didn’t know front from back yet?”

In other words, soone had been easily manipulated.

“Judging by how long your preface is, you must have found sothing decisive. Don’t beat around the bush—just get to the point.”

After glancing around, Sham suddenly lowered his voice.

“I heard there were two reports filed.”