18. Friend

April and the Hunters opened the door to the Center Director's office and entered. The Center Director's office, about 10 pyeong in size, had two rooms—the one you entered through the door was a reception room with the Center Director's desk and space to receive guests, and next to it was a room with large glass like an interrogation room, but it was covered with blinds so you couldn't see inside.

"Kobe, we're here."

O'Brien shouted while looking around the reception room. April and Supremer flopped down tiredly on the sofa. 4 PM, the reception room with lights off showed sunset light faintly between the blinds, and light leaked through the narrowly opened door leading to the adjacent room.

"Kobe, what are you doing?"

O'Brien looked at Kobe sitting in the lab fiddling with something diligently. Information Center Director Kobe was wearing a headset, constantly switching a machine on and off while listening intently to something. When O'Brien placed his hand on Kobe's shoulder, Kobe finally seemed to recognize someone had visited and smiled at O'Brien.

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"I filtered this based on the materials you guys brought last time."

Kobe brought over a gray binder to the table. The three opened the binder and began scanning through the materials.

"Andreano Micho. 35 years old. Colombian from the Icadro branch. After the branch was destroyed, he wandered around the Indifference Area until age 13, then entered the Kast branch as an illegal immigrant. At 20, he worked as a club DJ at Zaporizhzhia Rendezvous for about 4 years and seems to have done quite well. Then a report came in about him being an illegal immigrant so he went into hiding, and after that there's no official record. He probably used an alias."

The man in the photo had dark skin, large white eyes, and thick lips.

"And the other one is. Sergei Wizinsky. 34 years old. Russian from the Hidema branch, came as a refugee after his entire family died during the civil war. Worked for a gang called Hirabushi in Shavoel, served 3 years for aggravated organized violence."

The photo showed a tall, skinny man with a short beard and hair sticking out wildly.

"Looking at both of them, seems like an environment where it's hard to find proper jobs. Well, in this day and age, even ordinary people have no place to work, so their lives are probably all the same."

Kobe pinched between his eyebrows with two fingers as if tired. Then he took a sip of the whiskey in his hand.

"Where are these people now?"

At Supremer's question, Kobe let out a big sigh and looked at the ceiling.