Chapter 69
“What?”
“No, it’s just… I might have meddled in something that wasn’t really my business.”
Because of that, he ended up learning something unnecessary and felt as though he’d been dragged into something troublesome.
‘Though that’s not really their fault.’
The problem was that he didn’t even have anyone to blame, which made it all the more irritating.
“Want something to drink? I can make some tea.”
“No, tea’s fine. I just have something to ask you.”
“Sure. What is it?”
The reason Ceres had come to see Cheion today was because there was something she was curious about.
She could’ve come earlier, but that damn Kainel insisted she stick to work hours, so she only managed to visit around evening.
Even when she left for the day, the man’s face had been cold the whole time, as if something had rubbed him the wrong way—so much that she’d been speechless.
“It’s about the alarm you made.”
“The Black Forest alarm?”
“Yeah. I was wondering—what’s the detection range on that thing?”
“The range? Why?”
Cheion looked puzzled.
When the Black Forest appeared, it would engulf an entire city or, at the very least, a whole village, so there had never really been a need to measure distance.
If the alarm went off in someone’s home, it meant the entire community was already swallowed by the black trees.
“Is it, like… ten meters?”
“Hmm, probably not even close.”
Ten meters? More like less than one.
“I figured…”
The alley where the corpse was found was easily more than ten meters away from the nearest shop.
The Black Forest that appeared there must have been incredibly small—so small that the alarm wouldn’t have triggered at all.
“And not every store in the capital has those alarms yet, right?”
“What do you mean? Is there something wrong with them?”
“They found a body in the middle of the capital—killed by a monster. No one noticed its presence. I was wondering if maybe it had something to do with the alarms.”
“Oh! Yeah, I heard about that. I’ve actually been thinking about it myself.”
“…What?”
Luca, the secretary who had been quietly listening nearby, looked dumbfounded.
She’d spent the entire day filing reports about that incident, but he’d barely listened—hadn’t even given her a proper response.
He usually just gave her that look of ‘So what? What do you expect me to do?’—and now he was concerned?
Cheion ignored Luca’s sharp gaze and focused only on Ceres.
“Do you think you could expand the detection range of the alarm?”
“I could, yeah.”
He answered easily, though the curiosity on his face remained.
The range had been intentionally kept small so the alarms could be mass-produced quickly—it wasn’t that expanding them was impossible.
But… why bother?
“Just in case. It’s possible the Black Forest could manifest on a very small scale.”
“Small? How small?”
“Very small. Like, just enough to trap a single person.”
“One person? Is that even possible?”
“I started wondering after seeing the body that was found.”
“Ah…”
Cheion finally understood what Ceres was getting at.
“If it’s a Black Forest just big enough to trap one person… yeah, that would explain a corpse like that.”
He nodded immediately—so readily that it actually startled Ceres a little.
He just accepted that?
‘This ridiculous theory?’
She had spent the whole way here trying to figure out how to make it sound believable—and yet Cheion’s reaction was completely unexpected.
“That’s impossible. There’s never been any report of a Black Forest like that,” said Luca, shaking her head sharply as she cut in again.
‘Exactly. That’s the normal reaction.’
A Black Forest small enough to trap just one person? If she hadn’t seen the signs herself, Ceres would’ve laughed it off too.
“Just because it’s never happened doesn’t mean it never will.”
“Well, that’s true, but still—that’s just absurd—”
“Don’t worry, Ceres! I’ll make a new alarm right away!”
“…Ha.”
As Cheion grinned brightly, saying he’d start fixing the alarms immediately, Luca’s face twisted in disbelief.
She’d worked with him for a long time, but she’d never seen him this quick to act on anything before.
She even felt a twinge of betrayal.
This was the man who said no eleven times out of ten!
“…I’d like to renew my offer for you to take the secretary position,” Luca said earnestly to Ceres, more serious than ever.
If Ceres joined them, Luca was absolutely certain her workload would finally become bearable.
“……”
Meanwhile, Alex, who had been quietly watching the exchange from the side, murmured to himself,
‘A small Black Forest, huh…’
His gentle smile deepened, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly as they settled on Ceres.
