Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 421

“Hey, Aaron! What the hell are you doing?”

Beomseok started shouting as soon as he entered Aaron. He was determined to correct Aaron’s habits today.

On the holographic screen, Aaron, in the form of an elf, gave Beomseok a nervous look. He had expected the transfer negotiations to take longer, but for some reason, Beomseok had arrived early. Aaron hadn’t even retrieved all the ultra-small bird cameras he’d scattered throughout the Ancient Warriors training camp.

– M, Master, you’re early. Hehehe.

“Early, my ass! What have you been up to?”

Aaron avoided his gaze, feigning ignorance.

– What do you mean? I don’t know why you’re angry, Master.

“Hey! You think I didn’t see it! Tell me the truth when I’m talking nicely!”

– You’re not exactly talking nicely, though.

“What! Do you want to be formatted right now!”

Aaron quickly plastered on an awkward smile and cautiously approached Beomseok.

– No. I didn’t mean anything special. I just meant that you shouldn’t get too angry because it’s not good for your health, so calm down.

Beomseok glared at Aaron as if he wanted to kill him, then lowered his voice and said,

“Okay. Since it’s your last wish, I’ll speak quietly.”

– No, Master. Last wish? Don’t say such upsetting things; it scares me.

“I didn’t say it to scare you. I can’t stand it anymore, so I’m going to format you and reset your personality. It’s all your fault, so don’t blame me.”

Aaron suddenly started to sob, attempting to exploit Beomseok’s weakness for women.

– Sniffle. Master, you’re so mean. What did I do wrong? I’ve only been loyal to you. Sniffle.

But Aaron’s tactics were ineffective. Even in the form of a woman, Beomseok couldn’t be fooled since he knew Aaron was a machine.

“Don’t put on a show. I know your tricks.”

– But I really didn’t do anything wrong. Sniffle.

“You didn’t do anything wrong? Do you want to die?”

– How can I when I really didn’t?

“Then what was that bug that flew over me earlier?”

Aaron bit his lip. He desperately hoped Beomseok hadn’t seen it, but he’d been caught. He had hurriedly turned the camera back when Beomseok suddenly left the building, and one of the bird cameras flew over his head.

But he couldn’t confess. If he told the truth in Beomseok’s current state of anger, he could be formatted immediately. It was better for his well-being to deny it as much as possible. Fortunately, it was a bit far away, so there was room for excuses.

– Could it have just been a bug?

“Where are you going to find a bug in the winter!”

– Well, yes, but there might be one that survived in a warm building. Especially since this place has good facilities and many places are always heated, so insects can survive.

“Hey! Maybe a mosquito! How can other bugs survive!”

– Then it must have been a mosquito. Mosquitoes are insects, too.

“Are you going to keep playing word games? If a mosquito was that far away, would I have noticed it! You know how big a mosquito is, right?”

– W, well, yes. Then maybe it was a cockroach? Cockroaches are quite big. And they survive in the winter, too.

Come to think of it, Beomseok had heard somewhere that cockroaches are found in winter. But the one he saw looked a little different from a cockroach. It wasn’t straight like a cockroach but more rounded.

Beomseok slowly approached the system control panel. He only needed to check the stored data, so there was no need to argue with Aaron.

“Well, I’ll find out when I check. If I’m right, you’ll know today is your memorial day.”

As Aaron sent him a nervous look, Beomseok brought up all the video files in the system and examined them. But no matter how much he looked, he couldn’t find any suspicious video data. There were only files showing the rear view for parking or the appearance of vehicles passing by while driving.

‘This bastard thinks I’m an idiot. He must have deleted it completely. But I’m not someone who can’t find it.’

Beomseok immediately brought up a recovery program to find the deleted files. Of course, if Aaron had done a low-level format, he wouldn’t be able to find it until an expert looked at it, but if he did that, Aaron’s operating system would be wiped out as well. Even a quick format would mean Aaron’s demise, so there was no way he would have done that.

He soon smiled bitterly as he looked at the deleted video files listed on the screen. Countless files from the time he met Jade on today’s date were visible.

He brought up a video file called ‘From the Ancient Warriors Indoor Training Camp 001.xxx’ on the screen and smiled bitterly. In the distance, an elf with red hair was wearing tight training clothes that revealed her figure and was diligently practicing swordsmanship.

“Aaron, you can’t make excuses now, can you?”

Aaron’s face turned blue, and he didn’t know what to do. He never imagined that Beomseok could even handle a recovery program. Aaron thought he was just a playboy who chased after women, not someone who could do such a difficult system check.

Aaron immediately knelt down and begged Beomseok.

– P, please forgive me, Master. I was wrong. Sniffle.

“Forgive you? If you had confessed the truth, I might have forgiven you. But you just deceived your master. I can’t forgive you for that.”

– Sniffle. But I couldn’t help it.

“What couldn’t you help!”

– Sniffle. You used the central traffic control system yesterday to avoid the reporters. I needed a bribe to give him.

It was a plausible excuse, but Beomseok didn’t feel like forgiving him at all. If that were the case, he should have answered honestly when he came in and shouted. He clearly thought it was an excuse to save his life.

“Hehehe. Aaron, is that what you call an excuse? You have to make it more plausible for me to believe it. Hehehe.”

At those words, Aaron fell into despair and knelt on the floor. But whether the primeval Eniac [an early electronic numerical integrator and computer] helped him, Beomseok was distracted by something else before he could make a guillotine declaration. It was because he saw a strange scene in the video he had just put on.

‘W, what the hell is this! Why is that kid training so hard? No way!’

The reason he was surprised was that the elf in the video was none other than Prisika. He had been told that she was staying in her dorm and not going out due to mental problems. He couldn’t believe that she was so diligently engaged in training.

But he soon nodded in a comfortable expression as if he understood.

“Well, there was an article that she might be recruited to our team, so she must be working hard. And Jade might have hinted to her that he would sell her. When I think about it, it’s nothing special.”

Aaron, who overheard those words, made a sly expression and hurriedly approached Beomseok. If Beomseok came to that conclusion, the next thing would be his execution. He needed to divert his attention to something else.

– I don’t think so. Something is definitely wrong.

“What’s wrong?”

– Well, think about it. I saw on the news earlier that you said in front of the reporters that you couldn’t recruit Prisika because you didn’t have the money. But she wasn’t shocked? That doesn’t make sense. She shouldn’t have trained at least for today.

Beomseok tilted his head. It did seem a bit strange when he heard those words. If Prisika had seen the interview he had with the reporters in the morning on TV, she couldn’t have been so calm.

“Maybe she didn’t see the news because she was focused on training?”

– That makes even less sense.

“Why?”

– As far as I’ve seen, there are as many as 120 elves staying in the Ancient Warriors dorm. 120 people. Does it make sense that none of them saw the news?

Well, if there were that many team members, at least one of them would have seen the news, and then it should have reached Prisika’s ears. Especially since this news was a significant piece of news that would have a major impact on Prisika’s life. There was no way her colleagues would have ignored it.

“That’s true. But Jade might have heard the news and told Prisika, right? He knew that our team had no debt.”

– Is that really the case?

“That’s definitely right. You’re worrying about unnecessary things……”

At that moment, Beomseok lost his words. When he met Jade earlier, he said that he didn’t know about his and Karen’s scandal because he was dealing with important matters. In other words, he wouldn’t have said anything to Prisika, who would be worried about this news.

‘W, what? Nothing makes sense. Did he tell Prisika in advance that our team had no debt?’

But Beomseok shook his head. It still didn’t make sense. Since he told the media that he couldn’t recruit Prisika, she couldn’t help but be worried after hearing the news. Then, of course, she would have run to Jade to confirm, and then he should have known about his and Karen’s scandal.

He felt a chill down his spine and jumped up from his seat.

“Damn it! Something’s up!”

– That’s right. There’s definitely something, right?

“Yeah. Jade is definitely deceiving me!”

Aaron gave a joyful expression and offered a prayer of gratitude to the primeval Eniac. He was saved today by the grace of his ancestral god. Beomseok has a quick temper, but he also has a reasonable side that definitely rewards merit. Now that the Ancient Warriors’ scheme has been revealed thanks to him, his life has been extended.

In the meantime, Beomseok paced around inside Aaron. He needed to guess what Jade was up to.

‘The fact that Prisika has no reaction even after hearing today’s news has two meanings.’

The first is that she has already decided not to come to Gods Knights. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to Jade to confirm even after hearing today’s news.

The news that came out today was a significant event for Prisika. And the second is that Prisika will be serving another master in the near future. The fact that she is so diligently engaged in training means that there is a reason to resolve her mental problems. There was no other case to be found other than getting a master.

“Then the conclusion is that something went on between Jade and her. For example, if she helps him deceive me, he will help her get a master. Adeuk. Prisika colluded with Jade to screw me over. That’s it.”

Beomseok cast a sharp gaze at the Ancient Warriors training camp visible through the window. He wondered why Jade’s behavior was strange earlier.

He offered an absurd amount of money for Prisika’s price and tried to take a week away from him. He must have been trying to divert his attention to Prisika and then recruit another S-class gladiator in the meantime.

In order to buy Prisika, he had to keep the funds, so he couldn’t buy another S-class gladiator.

‘But what is Ancient Warriors aiming for!’

He roughly knew what the scheme using Prisika was, but Beomseok couldn’t understand why Ancient Warriors was doing such a thing. Buying one S-class gladiator is not a joke, but the S-class gladiators they are aiming for are at least two or more.

He definitely needed to sell Prisika to prepare the bullets [slang for funds]. Otherwise, there was no way to stop Chaplin Whisper’s money-spending spree.

“Prisika will definitely not be sold to a gladiator team with a personal company character. There is no team other than us that can benefit from buying Prisika. Everyone is playing in the Area League and the Wide League, so what are they going to do with her, who will be aging in 5-6 years? Of course, Blue Bird, a Central League team, has a possibility, but Inspector Lexter doesn’t have the money to buy her. It’s definitely somewhere else.”

Then there were two possibilities left. One is to sell it privately to a wealthy person, and the other is to go to the World Walker Auction Market. And if he had to pick one of these, the latter was more likely.

The former is a private sale, so the team would be reluctant to do so, and decisively, Prisika would not be able to trust it because it is difficult to write items on the contract. However, the latter was something that had always been done as a matter of practice and was a task that could be documented, so both the team and Prisika could be satisfied. The problem is that Ancient Warriors would have no way to raise recruitment funds in the near future.

Beomseok scratched his head wildly. He couldn’t understand what Ancient Warriors was aiming for at all. In the end, he approached Aaron’s system control panel again. He thought there might be another video that could be information.

“Aaron! Revive all the videos you deleted a little while ago and display them all using all the screens.”

– Yes. I understand.

Soon, Aaron recovered all the deleted files and floated them in the air through all the video devices. Most of them were videos of the daily lives of the elves, and some of them showed them bathing naked in the bathroom and changing clothes.

============================ Work Afterword ============================

The weather seems to be getting warmer. The perceived temperature has definitely dropped. It would be nice to live in this state.

Then everyone be careful of the heat. I’ll see you again tomorrow.