Gourmet

Frondier left the laboratory and headed towards the main office.

Since Paul wouldn't tell him the location of the chairman's office, he kept him bound with Obsidian, floating beside him.

Naturally, Hitchcock Company was already in chaos by then.

"D-Director!"

"What are you doing, you bastard!"

The renowned Frondier was walking somewhere with Hitchcock's First Laboratory Director bound. The employees were shocked at the sight, shouting and protesting towards Frondier.

Of course, ordinary employees couldn't stop Frondier. They couldn't even slow him down.

"Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!"

Paul's entire mouth was covered with Obsidian, so he couldn't speak. Still, he was desperately shouting at the employees.

But it wasn't a cry for help.

'Please, don't do anything unnecessary and go back!'

After hearing about the cannibalistic desires, Frondier's appearance as he left the laboratory was excessively eerie.

Frondier, who was talking while keeping him tied up, was scary enough, but the current Frondier was on a whole other level.

If they accidentally provoked him, the company called Hitchcock might really be finished within the day.

"This bastard."

One of the employees, seemingly enraged by Frondier's complete disregard, ran towards him.

"Do you really want to die, you son of a..."

And as he was about to throw a punch, he gulped at Frondier's gaze and stopped momentarily.

Even without Paul saying anything, he felt in his body what would happen if he attacked Frondier now.

At that moment, Frondier shifted his gaze to the floating Paul.

He didn't say anything specifically, but conveyed his message with his eyes.

'Play it smart.'

"....?"

Of course, Paul wasn't a mind reader, so he didn't know the specific meaning behind the gaze.

Squeeze.

Paul immediately understood when Frondier ever so slightly tightened his body with Obsidian.

"Kugh! Kugh!!"

Paul screamed very dramatically. In reality, the slight tightening didn't hurt, and the places he had already been hit hurt more, but Paul acted as if he was in great pain.

"Y-You cowardly bastard...!"

The employees, completely fooled, stayed around Frondier but didn't approach further. Frondier then released the pressure, and Paul let out a sigh of relief disguised as a gasp.

'I can't tell if this guy is violent or polite.'

Paul thought. The hostage act just now, Frondier could have done it much more simply. He could have just tightened it for real. Then Paul would have let out a truly genuine scream.

But Frondier purposely made Paul act. In reality, Paul's body was already significantly injured. Tightening his body in this state could be dangerous.

However, judging by the look in Frondier's eyes as he walked, Paul couldn't tell if it was out of 'mercy'.

It was as if he was saying, 'There's no need to cause injury if it has the same effect.'

"You, a pro will be here soon! You won't be able to hold your head up high for long!"

One of the employees shouted confidently, as if they had already reported the incident.

Usually, for small disputes and crimes between people, they would call the police, but since the opponent was Frondier, it seemed they called a pro.

"...A pro, huh."

Frondier finally opened his mouth for the first time.

He seemed to be thinking about something for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"That works out well."

"W-What?"

"Tell them to come as soon as possible. I'm going to the chairman's office."

Frondier said so and climbed the emergency stairs. The employees, dumbfounded, just blankly watched him go.

Even if he didn't know where the chairman's office was, it would be on the top floor, so it wouldn't be difficult to find.

No employees followed him up the emergency stairs. They probably used the elevator to go up first. The reason Frondier didn't use the elevator was surely because he would obviously get stuck inside.

Of course, he could just break it, but he was trying not to.

Once everyone was gone, the Obsidian covering Paul's mouth disappeared. Of course, his body was still bound.

"Y-You bastard. What are you going to do by making things so big?"

"I didn't make things big."

Frondier was trying to let it go quietly. At least, that was his intention when he came here. If there were no problems with these people, even if they were devils, he wanted to have a calm conversation and gather information on how to distinguish devils from humans. If they were innocent.

But a laboratory director who tried to kill Frondier himself, and a company where someone was practicing cannibalism? And that company being Hitchcock? It was a problem he couldn't just overlook.

Paul chattered incessantly at Frondier as he walked up the stairs.

"Do you know how big this company is? The pro will arrive before you even find it."

"Yeah. I get that the chairman is a cannibal."

He had known that since Paul refused to tell him the location of the chairman's office.

Frondier added one more thing.

"Even if I don't know, the employees will tell me."

"What?"

"I told the employees I was going to the 'chairman's office'. The employees will gather to stop me. So the place with the most employees gathered will be the chairman's office."

Paul was speechless. Indeed, only Paul knew that Frondier didn't know the location of the chairman's office in the current situation.

At that time, Paul's mouth was covered, so he couldn't reveal that fact. He couldn't even think of saying it in the first place.

"....! So that's why you staged a hostage situation!"

Paul exclaimed as he realized.

Once it was clear that Paul was Frondier's hostage, the employees would have been convinced as they saw Frondier leisurely walking upstairs.

They would have thought that Paul had confessed the location of the chairman's office.

"Yes. So they will gather at the chairman's office without hesitation. They are the ones telling me."

Frondier said so and opened the emergency door, having already reached the top floor.

It was indeed a large company, a maze-like place where he couldn't tell where he was.

But the voices and bustle of people could be heard from afar, and he could feel mana. It was a location that could be identified even without Frondier's sixth sense.

"Hmm."