Chapter 129
Even without seeing his face, I could tell from Crudi’s sly chuckle that he was absolutely serious. I sighed and leaned over to whisper to Bali.
“What do you think?”
“He’s lying. He’s just trying to keep us from getting any real information out of him.”
“Right? But I’m a little confused… There’s a chance he’s telling the truth.”
I quietly explained to Bali about the incident I’d witnessed in the interrogation room. She let out a laugh at my unbelievable story, then rubbed her temples as if it were giving her a headache.
“I’ve never seen anyone like this before. I just can’t get a read on him.”
Normally, verifying a possessor wasn’t that complicated. If someone woke up after losing consciousness and started acting out of character, or suddenly shut themselves away, you’d ask a few questions and pretty quickly figure out if they were from Earth.
Most people who’d just transmigrated couldn’t help but give themselves away, so it was less about investigating and more about confirming what you already suspected. Not every possessor joined the Hongik Ingan, so it wasn’t even that strict a process.
The main point was to offer them one-way information so they could adapt to this strange new world.
But with Crudi Foss, things were more complicated. His job alone made things tricky, and the evidence we did have was ambiguous. Listening to him talk, he seemed like a dead ringer for someone from Earth.
But then there was the weird coincidence of the Public Security Bureau raiding his place just as I showed up, not to mention his utter lack of surprise about being thrown into a strange world. His bizarrely chill attitude raised a lot of questions.
Especially his personality and the way he talked. I mean, how could someone be exactly the same, even after a body swap?
But Bali just shrugged after hearing my doubts.
“That’s actually pretty common. In fact, most people are like that.”
“Really?”
“Well, sure, you might change a little after adapting to modern society, but your basic temperament and preferences tend to stay the same. That’s why, as long as you know enough, you can usually blend in just fine.”
Now that I thought about it, Bali’s personality in real life matched her character in the original story to an uncanny degree. Back then, I’d just thought it was amusing.
Suddenly, I wondered—could it really be coincidence?
Up until now, I’d assumed transmigration was totally random. A game of chance where you never knew whose body you’d end up in. Maybe I just hadn’t seen enough cases, but I couldn’t recall anyone swapping into a body with a totally different gender or a big age gap.
Wait, but wasn’t Camilli Mute supposed to have a pretty lousy personality?
“…Socialization, huh. I guess that makes sense.”
I remembered I wasn’t exactly the friendliest kid myself. It’s just that life had knocked the rough edges off as I grew up. If I’d grown up here as a noble lady, maybe I’d be just as prickly as Camilli.
“For now, I think that guy’ll get by just fine with the bare minimum of information, so let’s just keep an eye on him.”
“He looks like he’d get by even without any help.”
Some of the other agents snickered. At first, I’d wondered what kind of lunatic we were dealing with, but maybe that was a good thing. No one in Public Security Bureau would expect a completely different soul to impersonate the original so convincingly.
“Just bring us something useful, and we’ll let you join. Otherwise.”
Bali added in a cold tone.
“It’s join or die.”
* * *
‘Saving possessors’ had become my top priority lately, but I still had another important matter to attend to.
And that was—
“Sister, thank you so much for visiting us again.”
“Haha, it’s really nothing.”
Sister Torea, the director of the Rainbow Orphanage, greeted me with obvious delight, as if she hadn’t expected me to ever return.
I suppose it made sense, after the accident and everything that had happened last time.
Doing my best not to look suspicious, I managed a polite smile and began to ask what I needed to know.
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