This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 430

The business card was made of a luxurious material that clearly indicated a lot of thought and effort went into its creation. However, the information it conveyed was disappointingly sparse, to the point of seeming almost meager.

What could this disparity imply?

At the moment, I couldn’t figure it out.

There simply wasn’t enough information at hand to reach any conclusions.

So it was time to start investigating.

“This card…?”

“Yes?”

“This business card, you said you received it at a party, right?”

“Uh…? Right?”

“Do you remember exactly what kind of party it was?”

“Um… I think it was some kind of charity party…?”

Maybe it was because he was drunk that day that he couldn’t clearly remember anything. He was squinting hard, trying to recall, but it seemed that wasn’t working for him.

So I decided to change the question a bit.

“Was it a party anyone could attend?”

“No… I don’t think so. They made us show an invitation issued by the host to enter…”

So it sounded like it wasn’t an excessively formal occasion but still required some criteria for attendance…

With that being established, it was straightforward from here on out.

After all, there were already two keywords at play.

The initial mention of the ‘charity party’ and the recently referenced invitation that acted as an entrance ticket.

With those two keywords as a foundation, if I just focused on recent events, I would surely find the answer soon.

So I decided to hand this task over to the secretary.

I called her back into the room from outside for that very reason.

After delegating the work, I shifted my focus back to the person sitting across from me.

“Was there anything else strange about that?”

“Um…”

“Do you remember the face of the person who gave you the card?”

Since he couldn’t even recall what kind of party it was, my expectations were understandably low, but what if he had some detailed impression or attire remembered?

That could be a huge clue.

I asked for that very reason, but…

“Well… that woman was wearing a mask…”

“A mask?”

A mask, huh.

Could it be that the party he attended had a masquerade theme?

When I asked about it, he shook his head.

“So, only the woman who handed you the card was wearing a mask?”

“Uh… I think so…”

If it were a situation where everyone wore masks, it wouldn’t be strange, but if indeed everyone else was showing their bare faces while she was the only one wearing a mask?

She would have obviously stood out.

And the number of people who might remember that woman would be substantial. If we pursued her, that’d be a solid starting point.

“But… why didn’t I think that was strange…?”

The other person’s reaction turned out to be a bit odd as he became a sudden first eyewitness.

Up until that point, he hadn’t realized it was strange at all, but suddenly, after being pointed out by someone else, he seemed to comprehend that something was off.

“What’s up, why do you ask that?”

“No, when I listen to you, it sounds kinda weird. It was definitely a woman’s voice, right? And her figure was definitely that of a woman… But now that I think about it, it feels like she was a man?”

“What are you talking about?”

I wondered if he was fully aware of what he was saying.

He was so scattered in his speech, it was hard to follow.

“So… what are you trying to say…?”

Once I pointed that out, he seemed taken aback by the ridiculousness of his own statement.

Maybe he had just talked too much, because compared to earlier, a bit of a dry chuckle escaped from between his lips.

However, his eyes were clouded with confusion.

‘Hold on, what if…’

What if the reason he couldn’t remember the day’s events clearly wasn’t just because he was drunk, but for another reason?

At that moment, that thought might have crossed my mind.

Looking back, it was kind of strange.

After all, while he was indeed passionate about drinking, fun, and men, he wasn’t the type to indulge to the point of blackout.

Moreover, at a party where many people were watching, it wouldn’t make sense.

“If to get that drunk, you’d need a substantial amount of alcohol…”

It had to be something extreme to get him that way.

At least people would have to be talking about something they called ‘hard liquor’ to manage that.

“A charity party with hard liquor…”

Honestly, isn’t that a bit of a mismatch?

Sure, the world is vast and preferences vary, so there might be places that serve up hard liquor as drinks.

Sure, that exists, but it’s definitely not the norm.

That meant there could be other external factors at play impacting his state of mind…

‘Could it be… a talent related to the mind?’

There was a possibility of that.

Of course, the association had stated that no talent related to the mind had ever been observed since talents first surfaced in people… But still, it wasn’t easy to take their word for it as gospel anymore, unlike in my naive days.

Honestly, even considering Bora’s talent alone made one question how such a talent could really exist.

In a world where talents even create something from nothing, it wouldn’t be surprising if a talent related to the mind existed.

Nonetheless, the association seemed to announce this to prevent people from getting confused if they released the actual facts.

Specifically, it was probably to avoid creating a divide between those who awakened their talents and those who did not.

Or perhaps, it could have been to monopolize the power in question.

In any case, what was clear was that if such a talent was involved in this incident, it could be more serious than I thought.

After all, those who had that kind of talent wouldn’t be ordinary people running around as errand boys.

The issue was… what were they aiming for?

What could they possibly want that they would go so far as to create this situation?

At the moment that thought crossed my mind…

“Ugh… Anyway! I also feel like something’s… weird, so before coming to you, I did some digging myself.”

He seemed to have been pretty confused, but maybe he managed to get out of that thought cycle.

Sprinter’s voice continued.

“But you know what’s funny?”

The moment I shifted my gaze back, what flowed into my ears was—

“This is just a feeling of mine, but… it seems like I’m not the only one who received an offer like this.”

That sounded quite ominous.

If others weren’t getting similar offers…

Could it be that other heroes had received similar proposals?

“…Are you sure?”

I needed to clarify that part.

So I asked—but almost immediately, I got a vague answer back.

“I told you, it’s just a feeling.”

The problem was, just because he said that didn’t mean I could dismiss it as mere paranoia.

It made sense that he brought this up only because he sensed something.

“Honestly… doesn’t it feel a bit fishy?”

“Definitely… it does.”

“Are they thinking of siphoning off personnel while the association is in turmoil?”

“Well, that might be possible.”

“Hmm… If that’s the case, how many do you think would switch sides?”

“Well… honestly, this is the first time the association has been this shaken up, right?”

“Yeah, that seems to be the case.”

Even though they appear to be superhuman heroes to ordinary people, in the end, they are just like everyone else.

Since they are all just people, if where they belong is shaken like this, they have no choice but to wobble too.

The problem is… maintaining the status quo is already tough.

If on top of that, a few heroes who could be considered high-value resources start leaving in droves…?

How much could the association withstand that kind of situation?

Honestly, it was hard to be certain.

It was that tough a situation.

Thus…

“…This won’t do.”

“Um…?”

“Clearly, someone is up to something…”

“Are you thinking of going after them directly?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan.”

It seemed it was time to return to my old self for a while.