Genius Wizard Episode 616
Ex Machina (3)
Finding a secret space in Langmuir’s study wasn’t enough, so Lennok took out his cell phone and started observing it.
Langmuir, who got up from his armchair, tried to take Lennok’s phone, but struggled as if blocked by an invisible curtain.
“Profit ripe… … !! what’s this?!”
Meanwhile, Lennok grabbed the old portablemunicator and pressed the power button.
Hold on.
As soon as you see the screen not turning on, turn the phone over to check the battery.
Seeing the empty batterypartment, Lennok rubbed his chin in interest.
“An analog type of mobile phone that is difficult to hack. There is no battery, and there is no sign that the screen has been touched. With the modification, it would be impossible not to touch the disy.”
“… … .”
He tries to say something but keeps his mouth shut as if he thinks that the mention itself could be a clue to Lennok.
Lennok ignored Langmuir’s reaction and gently stroked the phone’s surface.
“We are using the portablemunicator of Taylor’s workshop by recing only the screw parts separately. Not to mention, the battery, screen, and antenna don’t work at all… … .”
Lennok took out a small screwdriver from his pocket and carefully matched it to the screw part and began turning it slowly.
“It’s just borrowing the form of a cell phone. It’s easier to think of it as a storage device with something hidden inside.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Lyman.”
Langmuir said, ncing at Lennox, as if he was anxious inside.
“It’s simply a cell phone that I used for work a long time ago. I forgot a long time ago that such a space even existed… … !!”
“Ah, I found it.”
As Lennok said, he turned the screwdriver quickly with a skillful hand.
“Depending on the speed of turning the screw, the sound of the bumps rubbing subtly changes.”
“… … .”
“Fast and slow… … It depends on the degree of rotation, but if you turn it all the way while keeping the sound variation constant… … .”
click!!
Lennok said, disassembling the back of the phone in an instant and taking out the contents inside.
“It’s an object that can only be opened by turning the four screws inside the battery storage case at the same time at a set speed… … . It’s a simple but difficult trick toe up with.”
In the process of researching Kaise’s pocket watch, I was able to focus on the screw because I memorized all the objects and parts produced in the Taylor workshop.
If he had to look for clues from the beginning, Lennok would have had to wander quite a bit.
However, Langmuir’s expression as he looked at Lennok was strangely distorted, as if he were seeing a ghost.
“Could you please exin a little about this item?”
Lennok smiled and shook the object he had pulled from the hidden space inside the phone.
A small bullet drenched in dried blood.
“I think it has quite a bit to do with the evidence I got rid ofst time.”
“… … .”
Langmuir made no further attempt to answer.
Desperately trying to avert his gaze and ignore Lennok’s question.
Lennok looked at Langmuir for a while, then nodded as if he couldn’t help it.
“Has once been enough? Let’s do a little more.”
Soon after, I went into the secret storage behind the study and took out something again.
said Lennok, who set the dusty old candlestick down on the table.
“This candlestick. At first nce, it looks ordinary, but the part where the candle wax is ced is subtly out of bnce.”
“… … stop.”
“It’s because the length was shortened by grinding the ends very subtly. Don’t you think there must be a reason why the originally sharp tip was deliberately ground to make it blunt?”
“stop!!”
Seeing Langmuir screaming impatiently, Lennok quietly put down the candlestick.
“The stuff in that warehouse. Are they all evidence of a murdermitted by someone?”
Lennok asked with a smile.
“Deliberately entrust the clean-up of evidencemitted by the self-restraint of those in power to hold them ountable. Does the machine head control the members who belong to it in this way?”
“… … .”
What is the reason for keeping evidence rted to someone’s crime behind a secret library?
In the first ce, it must be because the owner of this evidence is not Langmuir himself, but a higher-ranking being.
Lennock searched the study of Commissioner Langmuir, who was trying to hold himself ountable, and found the secret of the clique he belonged to at once.
“I thought we might have something to blush about, but I think this will be enough.”
Perhaps Langmuir, as a member of the Machine Head, was in charge of concealing evidence of crimesmitted by those in power above him.
Nevertheless, the moment that this fact was discovered by others, Langmuir’s position within the faction would also rapidly decline.
“We will reopen themunication line.”
Lennock found Langmuir’s personal cell phone on a table in the study and threw it at him.
“If you ever ask for reinforcements or help outside, cancel them all. What happened today is going to end here.”
“… … .”
Did he even sense something in that calm voice?
Langmuir held up his cellphone with trembling hands, confirmed that themunicationwork had been restored to normal, and swallowed.
He called a number on his contact list, connected his cell phone, and proceeded to sort things out as Lennock had told him.
“grow. It seems that there was a signal error while checking and experimenting with the interior functions of the mansion.”
[…] … .]
“Okay, bring back all the moving agents and wait for instructions.”
Langmuir hung up the phone, made several simr calls, and then looked back at Lennox with a nervous expression.
“I have contacted both the District Police Force and the Special Forces Mechanized Corps, who requested reinforcements. Now there will be note guestsing to this mansion.”
“You contacted me a lot in that short amount of time.”
Lennok smiled faintly.
“It seems that you thought your life was worth that much.”
“The agents sent to you are members of the Side Squad, which are among the elite bodyguards assigned to the Ex Machinas.”
Langmuir answered as he struggled to get up and sit down again in his armchair.
“Can you not think that you will kill me when you say that you will deal with those people in reverse ande to me?”
“But now you’re willing to cooperate.”
“If he had intended to kill me, he would have taken my life immediately after entering the study.”
Langmuir looked up at Lennok in a weak voice and shook his head.
“I understand that you are not simply a skilled artisan. Now that my unclean parts have been discovered, I know that you stand above me.”
Did he admit that the moment Lennok broke into the mansion and discovered his weakness, the situation waspletely turned upside down?
It was a servile attitude that waspletely different from the solemn attitude of holding Lennok ountable for failing in the selection ceremony and yelling at him just before.
As a long-serving member of the Supreme Council, the change of attitude is very fast.
“I will never hold you ountable for your actions or decisions ever again. Not only that, but I will do my best so that you can continue your artisan work in the workshop district.”
“… … .”
“If you have any lingering attachments to the position of Meister, when the selection ceremony is held again, your name will be the first to be rmended to the mechanical head. I swear by the name of the Ex Machina Commissioner.”
Langmuir, who in an instant mentioned the mistakes he hadmitted and the preferential treatment and rewards that would be given to Lennok in the future, looked at Lennok and asked.
“If there is anything you want, tell me now. What can I do?”
“It is not difficult.”
Saying so, Lennox manipted magic and raised a picture in front of Langmuir’s eyes.
Dig!!
Thest page of Kaise’s research journal. Blueprints for a huge room that can only be confirmed through serum.
Lennok asked Langmuir to select a fragment of the blueprint and lift it up as a hologram of magical power so that the entire blueprint could not be guessed.
“I want to ask you where this blueprint is likely to be located in Machine City Machina.”
* * *
It’s been a few days since I opened the workshop that I had closed after being eliminated from the selection ceremony and started receiving customers.
The number of customers looking for Lennok’s studio had increased dramaticallypared to before.
Although the evaluation was withheld and the results were not achieved, rumors began to spread that the judges all praised Lennok’s remodeling skills highly.
Because the number of customers started to increase so much, it was to the extent that now we had to set the number of customers to receive per day and assign them in order on a firste, first-served basis.
“It’s amon urrence for popr workshops.”
Mouser, now naturally settling in Lennok’s studio, nodded as he poked his teeth with a toothpick.
“This is an old workshop district where obsolete artisans like me are gathered, so this rarely happens, but if you go only to a mid-level workshop district where meisters or young kids gather, disasters are not umon.”
The workshop district where Lenok trades is a street where artisans gather, but such a district is not the only one in Machine City.
ssification of workshop districts ording to the level of artisans and location in the city center, and ssification ording to their importance.
Among them, the workshop district where Lenok was now located was a district where outdated artisans gathered, as Mouser had said, close to the outskirts of Makina.
“Looks like the Mouser craftsman has experience too.”
“Because I used to do business like that when I was young.”
After replying, Mouser looked at Lennok and asked, as if he had remembered it btedly.
“By the way, wasn’t there something else to do other than your father-inw’s work?”
“Oh, because I have someone who will take care of what I was originally going to do.”
Lennok replied calmly.
“Thanks to you, I think it will be okay to continue working as an artisan for a while.”
“You mean you’ve already made friends like that? Contrary to your appearance, you are quite sociable.”
“… … .”
Rather than being a friend, he just ordered the Ex Machinamittee member to do what he had to do instead, but Lennok didn’t even talk about that.
Even in Ex Machina, the mechanical head faction is a group of intellectuals with a rtivelyrge number of schrs.
Rtively, it is the faction that is most likely to investigate the blueprints and achieve significant results even in the Makina leadership.
Leaking the blueprints to the outside is itself apanied by risks, but if that is not taken into ount, Lennok will eventually have to do his own work from start to finish.
There was no need to abandon the reputation built up in the name of Lyman now that the possibility of approaching Makina Shimcheo through artisan work had increased significantly.
Concentrating on artisan work during the day and collecting information from Langmuir and othermittee members at night.
It was basically the course of action that Lennok had established in Machine City after the Meister selection ceremony was over.
Mouser was lying on his back near the workbench, his face flushed from drunkenness, scratching his stomach.
“I’m going to sleep a little longer and wake up to work, so don’t wake me up. I will make the parts you talked about by midnight today.”
“All right.”
Within a few days of visiting the workshop with Lennok, he suddenly became friendly and came in and out of the studio as if it were his own home.
Lennok didn’t mean to say anything too loud as Mouser helped him modify and maintain his equipment.
However, customers who came to Lennok to drop off their equipment often asked if Mouser was strange.
“Is that father-inw okay?”
“You seem tired from working untilte at night.”
“For something like that, I think I smell a lot of alcohol… … .”
“… … .”
Sharp customers sometimes approached fragments of the truth, but the fact that artisans liked alcohol was somon in Makina that no one grabbed the book.
After that, Lennock continued to run the business smoothly, repairing customers’ equipment and fitting their personal lives into semi-intuition.
Although there were asions when he touched on the secret or personal affairs of a rather sensitive upational group, the customers who came to him seemed toe looking for Lenok’s consulting.
Every time a guest leaves after maintenance and remodeling, the app that writes a review of the workshop was filled with various favorablements about Lenok’s maintenance method.
[9.5/10: The maintenance is fast and the craftsman is smart.]
[9/10: The price is not too expensive and the service is meticulous.]
[10/10: The iron that the boss kindly touched is so delicious.]
[Master these days It seems that the eating habits of the organisms have be a little strange.]
Without waiting for an answer, Darby neatly pressed the report button for suspicious reviews.
“I broke the checkout counter while fighting with a friend I worked with, but strangely, he didn’t try to fix it.”
“Have you ever lost a small amount of your investment before starting a business? The secret money is hidden inside.”
Rumors and reviews have be more and more popr day by day, to the point where customers don’t have to tell Lennok first to tell their story.
“The motorcycle I bought recently keeps turning off in the middle. I brought it myself, can you take a look at it?”
“You cleverly mixed the old and new parts inside the engine. Next time you visit the seller, you should bring the warden with you.”
Of course, as the number of visitors increased, it was rare to touch only powerful artifacts.
Picking up equipment parts, revealing hidden spaces, clearing up suspicions of fraudulent buyers, and fixing broken radios or cell phones.
However, instead ofining or rejecting customers like this, Lenok faithfully handled requests from customers as soon as they arrived.
‘It is unavoidable that attention is focused right after the selection ceremony is over. There is no reason to cause trouble with customers needlessly.’
It’s not bad as it is if you think that you are refining the skills needed for remodeling and maintenance that werecking in actualbat.
Information on the blueprints recorded in Kaise’s research journal is being collected through the mechanical head faction, including Commissioner Langmuir.
I didn’t think that I would be able to rify all the suspicions as soon as I visited Makina.
‘The division of machine city and the method of moving the earth ispletely different from Balkan. As the entire city is constantly changing and moving like a living creature, this side also needs information.’
The case is different from Balkan, where the good and the bad are divided, and ouws rampage.
As far as recognizing that the overwhelming armed group called the Executioner can tour the entire district of the Machine City,
it is necessary to gather information as much as possible and contact people in various upations without being caught by them.
Right now, I have no choice but to build a foundation to approach the heart of the machine city while handling the artisan work.
The moment when Lennok thought so and repaired the engine of the customer who had been scammed and sent it back.
p!!
On the other side of the spacious workshop area, the sound of heavy footsteps resounded.
Dozens of soldiers in dark red military uniforms lined up and quickly ran through the streets, approaching us.
Other customers who were waiting for their turn inadvertently backed off at that sudden momentum.
The ranks of soldiers quickly approaching Lennok’s workshop opened, and an old woman with gray hair walked out of them with her hands behind her back.
The old woman, who had impressive eyes, looked openly at the facilities inside the studio and immediately frowned.
“It’s terribly outdated. The storage conditions are terrible.”
“… … .”
“The drain is clogged, so the water doesn’te out well, and it’s worse than having no vents for the furnace. The studio’s sound instion materials were eaten by mice, so everything was taken care of.”
The old woman started to point out the structures and facilities surrounding the workshop as she walked around the workshop.
Dozens of soldiers followed the old woman’s steps and escorted her while silently moving without saying a word.
It was clear to anyone passing by that the old woman was a very important guest of honor.
Instead of immediately answering the old woman’s words, Lennok took a closer look at the uniforms of the soldiers escorting the old woman.
‘You look different from the shadow agents who came to the studio the other day. They are the soldiers of the sun.’
It’s hard to see because all of them half-hidden their faces with thick helmets, but they don’t have the stealthiness or cold bloodiness of the agents who raided Lennok’s studio.
It would be correct to regard it as an armed group with a different affiliation than the Side Squad agents sent by Commissioner Langmuir.
After thinking that far, Lennok slowly opened the studio door and poked his head out.
“… … who are you?”
At Lennok’s words, the old woman turned her head away as if she had been waiting.
“Are you the arrogant kid who made the elders nervous at the selection ceremony?”
“… … .”
The old woman, who had given Lennok a bruise, strode into the studio and openly frowned at the machinery and parts strewn around her.
“Apart from not being organized, the internal structure of the studio is also a mess. If you ce the workbench in the middle in this way, the heat will inevitably cool down on the way to the furnace. Why did you put the spare workbench in this ce again?”
The old woman muttered endlessly and pointed out the interior of the studio. She opened her eyes slightly when she saw Mouser lying on the back of the prep workbench.
“… … .”
The old woman, who looked at Mouser lyingfortably snoring pleasantly with a pathetic expression, grabbed a bottle of alcohol spread out on the workbench.
He flips the half-remaining liquor upside down and pours it straight into Mouser’s nostrils instead of his mouth.
Mouser, who had been sleeping with a somewhat happy expression, stood up in a fright from the alcohol hitting the airways.
“Kek kek!! Damn, who pours precious alcohol through their nostrils and not through their mouths!!!”
“It’s me, Mouser.”
Seeing Mouser jump to his feet with an angry look on his face, Nova poked Mouser in the stomach with an upside down bottle.
Only then did Mouser check the old woman’s face, and his eyes widened.
“I am Narcissa… … ?”
“Old man. Why are you eating in this kid’s workshop without permission?”
At the words of an old woman called Narcissa, Mouser wiped his alcohol-stained face and pped his cheek.
Mouser’s expression, which wiped his face, had returned to that of a hard craftsman before he knew it.
“That is what I have to say. You, who rarely appeared in the central district of Makina, what are you up to here?”
“Because this kid’s workshop has be famous, the capacity of the lower-level workshop has been overrun for several days.”
Narcissa nodded her head with an expressionless face.
“There is still more than a month left until the Makina earth relocation cycle. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if the barriers in the workshop area copsed without being able to withstand the load.”
“… … Are you saying the problem is caused by too many guests?”
At Lennok’s careless remark, Narcissa turned her head and looked at Lennok.
“Even though you are a craftsman doing business in a low-level workshop district, you didn’t know that? There is a problem with this.”
“… … “
The number of people that can be amodated at one time in each district and area is strictly controlled. As the barriers separating the zones are stretched flexibly, if the capacity limit is vited, the barriers may be destroyed and the division of the earth may disappear.”
Does that mean that the reason for controlling the number of prisoners is to prevent the barrier itself from copsing?
However, what Narcissa said seemed to be more concerned about the damage to the barrier itself than about the loss of life or property.
Does the huge mechanical barrier used to separate each district in Machina have a more important meaning than I thought?
As Lennok thought about him, Narcissa pointed at Lennok and said again.
“After investigating the circumstances, the number of customers increased significantly as his name became known immediately after he was eliminated from the selection ceremony.
“That is true.”
“If this continues, the number of customers will not decrease for a while, and people will continue to flock to this Earth space, and the load will start to copse little by little.”
Narcissa said while staring at the old workshop with her arms crossed.
“So, the upper management decided to move this guy’s workshop to a higher-level workshop.”