Chapter 127
The society to which Guides belonged was very closed off. There were less than three hundred Guides affiliated with the Center, so generally, everyone knew each other by face.
As a result, it was only natural that this was the perfect environment for ostracizing someone, spreading unfavorable rumors, or swaying public opinion.
Being an outsider in such a Guide community, perhaps it would have been better for me to just keep quiet.
But what’s done was done.
If it were a Guide and non-ability staff relationship, I definitely couldn’t have done it. I could have been fired under Shana’s influence.
However, Shana no longer posed a threat to my livelihood.
At most, I’d face some ostracism among the Guides.
No big deal. I didn’t have any real friends among the non-ability staff except for Irene anyway.
“What a total nutcase.”
Shana, red-faced and fuming, ranted.
“Brags about causing trouble even before officially registering as a Guide. Doesn’t she feel ashamed for looking down on other Guides? If we don’t break her spirit now, she’ll become uncontrollable later.”
Shana reported me, claiming I had stolen her property and even threatened her.
Thus, Shana’s clique and I were dragged to the Guide Dispute Resolution Committee.
Shana’s followers eagerly chimed in.
“Right. When we asked her to pick up a dropped pen, she just opened the window and threw it out!”
“And she even pointed outside and said, ‘Go fetch it.’ Like we’re dogs or something!”
Listening to Shana’s gang squawk, I wondered if their throats didn’t hurt.
Shana looks sleek and elegant like a cheetah but acts more like a Maltese.
Not that she’s as cute. Malteses bark incessantly without getting hoarse when they’re sulky.
Her ranting and raving were just like a brave yet noisy Maltese.
In situations where you have to endure unwanted noise, the ability to astrally project would be handy.
Of course, I don’t have the superpower to separate my soul from my body, so I just zoned out.
A mountain is a mountain, water is water.
A skill I had mastered while enduring lectures from old-fashioned bosses and seniors as a civil servant, so it wasn’t too hard.
“Is everything they said true, Miss Valentine?”
“…”
“…Miss Rose?”
“Huh? Ah. I’m listening.”
I snapped back to reality after zoning out for a while.
I saw the displeased faces of Shana’s clique and the visibly tired members of the Dispute Resolution Committee.
I took a deep breath.
And then…
“Hiic…”
I wrapped my hands around my face, pretending to cry.
My sudden act of crying startled the committee members.
“Miss Rose, why are you suddenly behaving like this!”
There’s always a reason for everything.
It was only after I managed to squeeze out a single tear by forcing my eyes that I removed the hands covering my face.
Then, with the most pitiful expression I could muster, I spoke.
“Please look, esteemed committee members… There are five of them, and I am alone. They have reigned like queen bees in the Guide community for a long time, while I have just transitioned from being a civil servant to a new Guide. You must understand, having been civil servants yourselves once, how daunting the Guide community’s clique can be… It shouldn’t be hard to imagine how cautious I had to be entering this community…”
“…Well, that’s true.”
Most of the committee members had started as civil servants and climbed their way up to their current positions.
That meant they had their fair share of getting used to the Guide community’s ways.
My feigned vulnerability seemed to resonate with the committee members, as they nodded in agreement.
“Moreover, look! Even Miss Shana alone stands a whole head taller than me… Physically speaking, between Miss Shana and me, who do you think would win in a fight?”
“That’s…”
“Please, look at Miss Shana’s sharp eyes, too. That fierce look that says she won’t take any harm lying down… Now, look at my eyes. I’m naturally timid and prefer to avoid conflicts rather than confront them…”
Shana is like a sleek, proud, and elegant cheetah.
Whereas, at best, I resemble a harmless little herbivore.
Being perceived as an easy target would only lead to more bad than good. People would more likely think they could take advantage of me.
However, pretending to be weak had its uses, especially when it’s the right time to do so.
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