TB

CHAPTER 81

Tak. Tak.

Every time a regular noise reverberated in the office of the Domestic Intelligence Division, the junior officers sat at desks lined up in two rows, doing their own work, holding their breath and examining the complexion of their superior.

The Captain had been tapping the same papers with his fountain pen for an entire hour. He hadn’t even opened the cap.

Drip, drip.

It wasn’t until raindrops hit the glass window behind them that the suffocating noise stopped.

Leon took his eyes off his desk and looked back. The sunlight of early summer, which had set its rays through the blinds, was gone. It was all gray outside.

It was as murky a color as Western Command these days.

The massive audit began even before the official inauguration of the new commander. It became a routine for officers to be called to the Internal Affairs Division for various reasons. It was clear that Campbell, who quietly disappeared as soon as he arrived at work and never returned for an hour, was going through that rite of passage.

Tak. Tak.

The office was again engulfed in the suffocating noise.

Things got out of hand.

The reason Campbell was called wouldn’t be a big deal. The dust from the Domestic Intelligence Division was thrown away, not swept under the carpet. Even if they brushed it off, there would be no falling dust.

So, the reason the work was out of hand was not because of that.

Blue.

Last night, after meeting Commander Davenport, Leon’s mind was all blue.

Even when Campbell, who had left quietly, returned quietly, he was immersed in the same thought.

“Captain.”

As he was about to be called, Campbell approached first and asked for a private meeting. Before that, the radio on top of the filing cabinet had been turned up loud, so it wasn’t unusual, so Leon put his business aside and listened to him.

“Woman?”

Leon, who moved to the window, wrinkled his brow at the unexpected report. It was not the Domestic Intelligence Division that the Internal Affairs Division was looking for dust, but him personally.

“They are investigating rumors that one of the rebels, who was a woman, was detained in a torture chamber but was not reported to the military. They were completely unaware of their identity.”

“That is fortunate.”

The Internal Affairs Division wouldn’t know that the woman trapped in Leon’s torture chamber was actually a spy who had infiltrated him.

“I, of course, denied the allegation as baseless.”

“Good job.”

Campbell raised his lips as if it was nothing before he lowered them. Thanks to the Captain’s eccentricity, it was quite easy to deny. Captain Winston had never interrogated women and had no known history with women.

Denying that was easy, but letting go of the suspicion wasn’t easy. Campbell remembered the overbearing face of the inspector sitting at the end of a long table.

“The problem is that the inspector in charge of this case…”

No one could hear their conversation because of the already loud trumpet sound, but Campbell whispered to his ear.