Chapter 113: Rudger’s 8 (1)
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[Starting the operation]
Outside the auction house, Hans, who was waiting inside the building opposite the big boulevard, gulped down with nervousness.
It finally started.
The first attempt to rob Kunst auction house that has stopped every thief in the last 20 years.
‘Hoo. Let’s calm down.’
He has done many things to help Rudger so far, but he was proud to say that there are only a handful of cases where his heart trembled like this.
Of course, his job was easy compared to his colleagues who went directly into the auction house. He only had to activate the inventions that Seridan had made when the timing was right.
Sneaking away the curtains by the window, Hans looked down at the scenery outside. The entrance to the Kunst auction house, which entered its second day today, was still crowded.
There were rich businessmen and nobles, people who are at the top of the pyramid of society, and everyone looks up to everywhere.
‘They have a good life.’
Hans has always envied people like that.
When he wandered aimlessly, not knowing when he would be hunted because of his damn constitution, these people must have lived in splendid mansions, unaware of the cold and hunger.
That didn’t mean that I hated them or anything like that. Rather, he admired them a little.
He also wanted to make a lot of money someday to settle down and live a decent life. He wanted to enjoy freedom in his own house without anyone disturbing him, that’s what he dreamed of.
‘Then I met you.’
Rudger showed him the way. He reached out to him, who was covered in scars and dust. He said he would make him successful.
Since five years ago Hans had never forgotten that moment until now.
‘My role is simple. I just have to operate the machine according to the signal they send.’
Next to Hans, there was a unique invention made by Seridan, an object that can instantly neutralize the surveillance artifact in the underground vault of the Kunst auction house but only for 5 minutes at most. Therefore not even an error of a few seconds could be allowed.
‘And I’m not alone.’
Hans relieved some of the pressure by watching his colleague Arpa, who decided to move with him.
‘Is this okay?’
Arpa was staring at the world outside the window like himself. The world reflected on the transparent retina was so clear, but he couldn’t read what emotions were in Arpa’s eyes.
He always had a smiling face, but whenever he received the beast’s factor and his senses were amplified, Arpa gave him goosebumps.
“Are you okay?”
But Rudger brought him and they now worked together so Hans plucked up his courage and spoke to Arpa.
“What?”
Arpa looks back and asks with a bright smile.
“Why are you staring at the outside?”
“Oh, that? It’s interesting.”
“Interesting? What?”
“There are so many people here. I’ve been wandering in remote areas where there are no people with Pantos until now.”
“What?”
Was saying that when he had a beautiful appearance with no damage to his skin in order to exaggerate his actions, or is there something else?
“……Anyway, do you remember our mission?”
“Of course. If they send a signal, we’re going to act accordingly.”
“Yeah, it’s not that difficult. No, it’s actually very simple.”
“That’s enough!”
At the cheerful reply with a bright smile Hans had no choice but to scratch his cheek with his index finger.
Yes, the important thing is to carry out the operation well anyway.
Hans recalled Rudger’s last briefing the night before.
–Me, Alex and Pantos will move in this operation.
Hans agreed with the remark. Alex was good at acting and lying, he had even convinced Ivan Luke that he was a southern aristocrat.
The giant Pantos is a battle specialist. His force was indispensable when they would inevitably clash with the Blackguard inside.
And Rudger is, of course, a key force that cannot be left out.
—We directly infiltrate the basement of the auction house and steal the items in Vault #3.
In order to do that, the other members had to be successful with their tasks.
‘First we have to steal the key to the elevator entrance leading directly to the basement.’
There is only one way to go underground. Of course they could’ve dug a tunnel from the outside, but unfortunately, this method was not adopted due to lack of time. After all, the fact that they have to take a lift from the front and go underground doesn’t change.
To do that, something was necessary.
‘Find the [Key Master] who holds the key to the elevator, take the key from him and quickly subdue the guards guarding the elevator.’
Neither job was easy and if things go wrong from here on out, the operation literally goes down the drain.
The role of taking the key away from the [Key Master] was Violetta and Alex’s job and Hans had no choice but to hope that they would handle the task well.
* * *
In room 3108 on the top floor where only VIPs of the Kunst Hotel stay Alex changed into a comfortable outfit and came out there.
He had already infiltrated Kunst by falsifying his identity as Guar the previous day and now it’s time to launch the operation, so he’s ready to go down.
Just as he was about to go down like that, he found a familiar figure at the end of the hallway and had no choice but to stop.
‘Crazy, why are you here?’
Alex immediately hid in the corner of the hallway and poked his head out to see that he wasn’t mistaken.
Enya Joyce was standing in front of the elevator he had to ride, tapping on the ground with her shoes.
What the hell?
‘Did the hotel get you a nice room because you’re with the Security Agency? Damn it. What if we run into each other here?’
At this rate, he cannot access the elevator and it will take a long time to wait for Enya to go first and then take the next one.
Alex clapped his tongue inside and moved to the emergency stairs.
“If I knew this would happen, I would have asked for a room on a low level.”’
It was troublesome that he got a top room because he was fascinated by the word “good room.”
Alex went down the stairs and immediately used a portable communicator to signal Violetta.
“This is Victor Hugo. Please respond.”
Violetta was sitting still in the lobby on the first floor waiting for Alex. She muttered quietly, being aware of the gazes of those around her.
“What’s going on?”
[The ‘shoelace’ is untied. It will take some time to get down.]
“──I see.”
It was their own slang and password set in advance in case anyone else might hear them.
If the shoelaces are untied, it meant that there were obstacles that unintentionally prevented the progress of the mission.
‘Is it like this from the start?’
Violetta couldn’t help but sigh, but then she saw the person they had been targeting.
‘Key Master.’
He was a middle-aged gentleman in his mid-40s with long sideburns who had worked at the Kunst Hotel for 20 years and was in charge of the keys to the underground elevator.
He was trusted by Ivan Luke and was also the only one who had the elevator keys to the basement.
’I found him sooner than I thought.’
Originally, she should have joined Alex, approached the Key master, and naturally stole the key from him.
‘There’s a problem above, so I have no choice but to do it alone.’
Violetta rose slowly from her seat and naturally approached the Key master. She grabbed a glass of champagne on a silver tray held by a waiter passing by and quickly drank it.
“What?”
The Key master, who was giving instructions to his subordinate, saw a beauty approaching this way and sent the subordinate away immediately.
“Go now.”
“Yes, sir.”
The key master, who sent his subordinates, cleared his neck with a soft smile on his face.
“Well, lady? Do you have any business?”
“Oh, are you an employee here?”
Violetta, whose burns disappeared from her face, was showing off her beautiful appearance since she was dressed up. With an alluring smile, she gently stroked the Key master’s forearm with her black lace glove.
“Haha. I’ll tell you what. I think I drank too much, so could you show me to my room? I feel dizzy.”
“Ha ha. Of course. Lady, I’ll show you around.”
Violetta knew of the man’s insidious intentions.
‘As expected.’
Kunst’s key master personal information was known because he was investigated in advance.
He looked like a decent, well-mannered hotelier on the outside, but he was actually a very promiscuous man. Although he was playing a socially prestigious person, he did dirty things behind the scenes, such as attending meetings in the dark or having an affair.
That’s why Violetta chose beauty.
The Key Master enjoyed the current situation without knowing that the one who approached him was a black serpent with ulterior motives and even if he knew that he was confident he could handle things.
“Will you help me?”
“Of course.”
The Key master put his hand on Violetta’s slender waist. The blatant touch annoyed Violetta, but she didn’t twist her smiling face because she had experience dealing with people like him.
“Lady, what room are you staying in?”
“Hmm. Maybe it’s because I drank too much, but I can’t remember.”
“Oh, my. Is that so?”
“But you can’t stay in this noisy place. Could you guide me to a private and quiet place?”
“Of course I know one well.”
The Key master happily guided Violetta.
* * *
Rudger, who confirmed the situation through radio, judged that he did not need to step up yet. Violetta is a capable woman and since she said she would sort out the situation herself, he was going to trust and leave it to her.
‘For now, I will have to join the other members in case the key is stolen from the Key master and brought back.’
He has the ability to jump through space through coordinates via [Ater Nocturnus], but he could not use it prematurely.
First of all, in order for him to jump over the space, he has to see the coordinates of the location with his eyes or with his head, but it was difficult to estimate the exact location because he was not the one who actually saw the underground safe.
If he did something wrong, he might move into the ground and get stuck there and even if he arrived successfully, he couldn’t come out with all those things.
To do that, he had to make hundreds of round trips, which was practically impossible because it would consume a lot of mana and he would feel a vertigo every time he teleported.
It was that moment.
“Oh? Who is this?”
Someone recognized Rudger and approached him.
Rudger looked back at the caller with a calm face.
“I can’t believe we’re meeting at a place like this. What a wonderful coincidence! It’s been a while since I saw you at the banquet hall Mr. Rudger Chelici?”
“…… Ivan Luke.”
“I don’t know why you’re here, but it’s ‘Nice to meet you’.”
Ivan Luke was smiling, but his eyes were burning with endless hostility toward Rudger.
‘It seems like you don’t want me to let you go.’
Of course, Ivan Luke wouldn’t even kick out Rudger outright unless he was an idiot. Rather, it was the opposite.
“Are you enjoying the Kunst auction?”
“It was worth a look.”
“Ha ha! You’re good at making jokes, too. Well, there’s a saying that you can see as much as you know, so there’s nothing you can do.”
“You might think so. Then I’ll go now.”
“It’s fate that we met, but you are just going away like this?”
Ivan Luke blocked Rudger’s path and behind him, reliable guards stepped up. It was not the blackguards in black armor, but a security team dressed in a separate suit.
“But since you’ve come all the way here, I’ll give you a little help, considering the past. He is an important guest, so treat him very politely. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes.”
The two guards stood on both sides of Rudger, answering forcefully.
There was no lie in what he said as the two guards literally stood by Rudger’s side and didn’t harm him but it was annoying.
‘You’re trying to keep an eye on me on purpose.’
Ivan must have given these instructions with the intention of disturbing him in his own way. Since this is his workplace, it was obvious how much authority he had.
However, since he was a guest, Rudger could not refuse the sabotage under the guise of favor.
‘Can’t help it’’
Rudger eventually decided to accept the situation.
“I will.”
He nodded and allowed the two bodyguards to accompany him. At the same time, he naturally sent a signal through the portable communicator worn on the ear with its fingertips.
[Tap tap tap.]
It was a predetermined action in case of an unexpected situation and its meaning was simple.
[[I’m unable to act due to some reason. Request for backup]
* * *
“What?”
Hans, who was listening to the signal outside, opened his mouth wide.
Apparently, the leader, Rudger, was stranded, and the one he requested for support was Hans.
‘Uh… I have to go?’