NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
Episode 93. You have to lose what you have to lose (2)
Black market. It’s a word I heard a long time ago, but I remember it clearly.
I blew up the Magical-illegal wallet, the Magical-fake passport that was being traded in this black market, and I got caught by this officer… .
That was the trigger that led me to get a license. It was because of the thought process that even if I caused another accident later, it would be better to have a license and cause an accident than to cause an accident without a license.
Anyway, what I felt at that time was that getting involved in something like this twice was enough.
The direct translation is Black Market. It has a very ominous feel to it. Why would a model young man who has never spoken to a police officer in his 29 years of life get involved in something like this?
For this reason, I was not happy with the situation, and I was not even sure if I should be hearing this story. So I asked while I was at it.
“Excuse me, officer.”
“yes.”
“Can I listen to what you’re going to say now?”
I don’t know anything about police work, but I do know one thing: It’s not something the police should do lightly when it comes to disclosing investigative information to outside parties.
Isn’t that what you’re trying to do now? The officer paused for a moment to answer my question.
“During the investigation process, the police have a duty to notify the parties involved in the case of the progress of the investigation within 7 days.”
“Ugh… .”
“The parties involved in the case here include the accuser, the complainant, and the victim.”
There’s a guy who reported that there are strange guys looking for bags of money, and since he has a duty to notify me within 7 days, he’s notifying me now as well. When I hear it like this, it seems to make sense… .
“Of course, there are exceptions. One of them is when the complainant does not want to be notified.”
“Ugh… .”
“If you don’t want to, I’ll stop here.”
It seemed like he was saying that if he didn’t want to hear it, he would just not say anything and would take care of it. After saying that, he looked at me with dark circles under his eyes, so I averted my gaze and looked up at the ceiling.
To be honest, I really don’t want to get involved.
I’m just a nerd. I don’t know if anything will change if I listen to the story from someone who doesn’t know anything about rhetoric, and I’m worried that I might get in big trouble for hearing this kind of stuff…
“… I have a favor to ask, officer.”
But this is my workplace. I am the manager, I am in charge.
The store manager hired me to be in charge of the store for 12 hours at night, and I am responsible for what happens in the store while I am on duty.
It means that it’s my job to hear what the hell this damn bag of money is, what happened to it, and then hand it over. If I convey this properly, the store manager will feel at ease… .
I think I can be a little more confident. As soon as I said that, the officer opened his mouth.
“The current situation is this. Four completely different people came to the store at different times, and said they were looking for a lost bag of money. Do you agree?”
“yes.”
“Then, do you think it is possible that these four lost bags of money are different bags of money?”
No way. Losing a bag of money isn’t a common occurrence. I can’t believe it happened four times in one day at one location.
“I think the same, so I’ll rule that out. If the bag of money these four are looking for is the same bag of money, what kind of relationship do you think these four have with each other? A cooperative relationship?”
“… No. I don’t think that’s true.”
If there were four of them working together, the moment they heard that the first person who came in was missing, they would have immediately contacted the other three. ‘There’s no bag of money in that convenience store.’
Then the other three wouldn’t have come one after another and made a fuss. It’s either because they weren’t on good terms with each other, or they didn’t even know about each other’s existence.
“Even if they’re not cooperating, all four of them are saying the same thing. They lost a bag of money at this convenience store. I’ve only heard it once.”
“You’re right, I said the same thing. The tone was a little different though….”
“Don’t worry about that. Anyway, how do you think those four could have said the same thing?”
Unless there are nerve endings in this world, the only thing that comes to mind is someone who told you to do so and you did it.
But, you know, there’s one thing I don’t understand about this part.
I understand that you ordered each of us to find the lost bag of money, but why on earth would you do something so inefficient?
After hearing the rest of the story, I realized that it was an area of investigation.
“It’s to confuse the investigation. This is just a guess, but I don’t think the three I didn’t see directly would have anything to do with transporting the bag of money.”
A salamander working in a business, a harpy in a fine suit, and a hunched amphibian grandmother. I also accepted these three as normal civilian guests. Until they opened their mouths.
“There will be people who have proper jobs and acquaintances who can tell you where and what they were doing at this time. The black market uses these people as carriers. Even if their identities are revealed, their identities themselves are of no use.”
“Where and how do you recruit?”
“On the Internet, they give you a tip. The transaction must have been made through an illegal gambling site… sigh… .”
He stops talking and sighs deeply, showing that he has struggled quite a bit to gain this experience.
Thanks to that, I had some free time, so I took the time to briefly organize the situation in my head.
I hired at least four civilians with clear alibis from an internet black market site and had them retrieve a bag of money. The location of the bag of money was, of all places, the convenience store where I work.
And these four seem to have come without hearing the exact information about the shape of the money bag or the amount of money inside. If they had known, they would have added it to the description when they reported the lost item.
As for why the guy who gave the order didn’t say anything… two things come to mind.
It looked like a bag of money, so much so that even an ordinary person would take it out and say, “Oh, is that the bag of money?” Or maybe they didn’t feel the need to explain it at all…
As the officer said, it could be to create confusion in the investigation process. But, you see, all of these are missing one premise.
“Officer. I’m sorry to interrupt you while you’re thinking about something…”
“No. Please speak.”
“The middle-aged elf I was swearing at earlier said, ‘No, I’m sure he’s here—’. The officer also mentioned it.”
“Yes, I did.”
“But it really doesn’t exist?”
Those guys have to be here to find the bag of money.
But I don’t have it. I put all my health insurance on my one-room deposit and it’s gone. How on earth are you going to find something that doesn’t even exist?
“Our store operates in two shifts. The store manager and I. We work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, so there is absolutely no information gap.”
“That violates the Labor Standards Act…”
“You too, sir, are living a life that is far from complying with the Labor Standards Act. It’s something we agreed on, and that’s not what I was trying to talk about, anyway.”
The point is, I can’t help but know what happens and disappears in this store because the store manager tells me everything.
But the guys who come looking for me are screaming that I lost a bag of money here without knowing anything about it and that I should give it back. Why on earth are they doing this?
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“…hmm….”
The officer must have noticed something right away, so he clenched his fists and started pounding his head. It must have been the second best option when he didn’t have a light stick.
After a while, he mumbled something as if he was somewhat lacking in confidence.
“… I just found out about the work structure of this convenience store. Thanks to that, I also know why you are so sure that there are no bags of money in this store.”
“That’s right, I just said it first… .”
“Besides this, I think there is more information that only you, the president, can tell. Do you have any guesses?”
If there was, I would have said something a long time ago. I’m so frustrated.
I just talked about the information gap and all that, but it’s not really that big of a deal. If you look at the deals that come to mind right now, the money bag issue happened today.
Because no one came to get the money bag yesterday. Other than that, I only received one handover from the store manager, so let’s look at the transactions I received…
[ I can see it. But isn’t that where you throw away trash? ]
[ Yeah. I checked around 3pm, and it appeared at some point. ]
… … .
Is this it?
“president?”
“… Officer. This is a bit of a different story.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Let’s say you’ve just made a meeting to meet at a convenience store later. Where do you think you’d stand in this situation?”
He tilted his head slightly, perhaps because he thought the question was out of the blue, but soon straightened his posture and answered.
“If it were me… I think I’d stand on the street right in front of the convenience store. Go in without buying anything and just loiter around… It’s a bit…”
As he spoke, his voice became lower and slower. Later, he stopped talking altogether and looked at me, so I responded.
“You’re just like me. I can’t do that either. I have to be careful.”
“… Yes. And, it’s not like there’s no convenience store in front of it either.”
What is the area of the convenience store? I set it as within a 5m radius of the main entrance.
Why? Because if you don’t clean the streets in this radius, people will think, “This convenience store doesn’t clean properly.”
This is exactly the situation right now. A situation where a misunderstanding has arisen because the scope of the convenience store that the person giving the order thinks of and the scope of the convenience store that the person receiving the order thinks of are different.
Of course, since it was a matter involving a bag of money, the one who gave the order wouldn’t have said something like that without thinking. He must have had at least some confidence.
You may think, ‘No matter how you look at it, this is definitely a convenience store,’ but it’s definitely not inside the store. By this standard, there’s no need to go within a 5m radius.
1m from the main gate, under the electric pole. Trash bag.
After a brief exchange of glances with the elf officer, they came out without saying a word and bent down in front of the trash bag. The officer lifted the tied part and looked at it, then turned it around.
“The contents are just ordinary trash. They’re not trash bags from other areas either. But…”
“I think there’s a spell. Some kind of camouflage spell.”
“Yes. I’ll have to ask the Investigation Department to find out exactly how the magic works―”
“Officer. Please give me that for a moment.”
How does magic work? It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care.
The officer graciously handed me a garbage bag, and as I took it, I had only one thought in mind. Whoever threw this garbage bag here and left, they’re going to live their entire lives eating it up without achieving anything.
Then, a cloud of dust rose from the bag. I shook it with my hand, and the trash bag disappeared without a trace, leaving only a square black bag.
It looked exactly like something out of a spy movie. I tried to hand it back to the officer, but he wouldn’t accept it and just stared at my face.
Why is it like this again this time? I thought about it, and something came to mind, so I immediately searched my pockets.
“Officer, I’m not driving without a license. I have a license.”