Secret

"You know something?" The cop said.

"Yes." My answer.

[Riiinng! Riiiinng!]

Ms. Alice's phone suddenly rang.

"Excuse me, there's a phone call." She said, then went outside the room.

While Ms. Alice was on the phone, I told the cop everything. The time, situation, the guy looks. And I gave them the money of the guy that tipped me.

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

The cop sighed. "This is going to be hard to investigate. Why's all the crimes being unsolvable lately? Ok, guys, let's go."

The cops left.

After the cops left with the victim's body, Ms. Alice entered the room.

"Shin, Boss called you." She said.

"Why?"

"There's something the boss will tell you."

"O-ok."

Both of us rode the elevator to go up to the 100th floor. But when we reached it before getting out,

"You go ahead there. I will go back down to the front desk." She said.

"Why?"

"I still need to handle the situation there. Now go."

"Ok."

And so I went ahead to the boss room alone.

I entered the room. The boss was on his seat while looking at the tablet.

"Boss." I said after entering.

"Oh, you're already here."

"What, you call me here for boss?"

"I heard you know something about the incident back there."

"Yes."

"Can you tell me?"

I told everything to the boss.

"I see. Is that all?" He said.

"Yes."

"Hhmm… the cops are going to be useless if that's the case."

"Huh? Why so?"

"It seems the guy has an ability."

?!

"Huh?! But ho-- wait… so that's why the victim, a staff member here who has an ability as well, got killed. But what's the connection of that, the cops can't handle it."

"They have 3 problems. Firstly, the murderer has ability, some normal person can't handle that. Second, they can't detect his location, even as our CCTV's can't detect him.

"CCTV's?"

"Yes, We have them from every floor."

"E-every floor? But I can't see them."

"Because it's well hidden."

I gulped hard after hearing that.

"T-t-then what's the third one?"

"Third, the authorities won't allow it."

"Huh? They won't allow it? Why?"

Boss put his hands on the desk and did a clasp gesture then ask, "Have you heard Imperium?" while his eyes were serious.

"Imperium?"

He sighed. "To be expected, you don't know, since you're just a normal citizen before this day."

The seriousness in his eyes went back to normal after sighing.

"Um… what's Imperium?"

"It's an organization that authorities are backing up. To be specific, it's like a police force that uses abilities."

"A police force that uses ability? Why have I never heard this before?"

"Because they keep it a secret."

"Secret? Why?"

"Have you wondered why most of the crimes were unsolvable?"

"Because the suspect is good at hiding?"

"No. It's because the Imperium is manipulating the investigation."

"Huh? Why do they do that? Did they not want to find the suspect?"

"It's not that they don't want to find it. It's just that the suspect was an ability user as well. They neither recruit the suspect to their organization nor kill them instead. But to recruit them sounds far-fetched. And when the job was done, they only marked it as solved in the investigation without information. So that's why the case was called unsolvable because there's no info."

His eyes became serious again when he said that, so it made me gulp hardly.

"But why do they do that?" I asked.

"The authorities want them to be hidden. They do not want us to know about abilities."

"…"

I just became quiet when I learned this truth that has been hidden to this society.

"Is it only this country?" I asked.

"About what? Only having ability or the truth being hidden?"

"Both, boss."

"Not only this country. It's the whole world not knowing it."

"About the Imperium. Is it worldwide?"

"No, it's only this country. I don't know about how other countries keep hiding it."

"..."

To think that there's some serious secret being kept to us not knowing.

"So that's why beware of the Imperium."

"I will keep that in mind, but how can I recognize them?"

"They always wear a white suit when they work."

"?!"

I was shocked when I heard that, I remember the 2 guys in a white suit back then.

"Hhmm? What's wrong?" Boss asked me.

"A… well… I met someone in a white suit--"

Without noticing, the boss was in front of me and suddenly grabbed my neck, then slammed me in the door.

"B-boss?..."

"Where?"

"huH?"

"Where are they?"

He tightens his grip on my neck, causing it to hardly speak and breathe.

"C-can't-breathe…"

He immediately let go of my neck and I fell on my knees afterwards.

"Now speak." He said.

"I-it's just--" I'm trying to breathe normally, so I can say it. "It's just one time."

"One time?"

"Yes, it's just one time. I met them before I had an ability."

"I see."

He lends me a hand to stand up but...

"..."

I was hesitating to take his hand.

"What's wrong? There's nothing to be scared of" He said.

And so I take it. After standing up, he pulled a chair and put it in the middle of the room that was not far from his desk.

"Seat here."

So I sat on the chair he arranged.

After I sat, he went to his desk and sat on his chair, then said, "Can you tell me the full details?"

I mustered up my courage and asked, "Am I safe?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"W-well, just a while ago you were strangling me…"

"Ah, that's… sorry about that. It's just my reaction."

"W-why?"

"I just thought that you have something to do with Imperium. So can you tell me?"

"Then am I clear?"

"It depends on what you say."

"Then here, I will say. 2 weeks ago before having an ability, I met some 2 dudes wearing a white suit. They only ask me for directions."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"...then what location they asked?"

"They just asked where it was…"

"Hhmm, what's wrong?"

Now that I think of it…

"The location they asked was where the explosion happened…" I said.

"I see… you're from creto high, right?"

!?

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Kylo told me."

"Is that so… so am I clear?"

"Pretty much."

"Phew."

"Can you tell me what they looked like?"

"Ah, sorry. I can't seem to remember their faces."

"Is that so?... that's sad. Well this is going to be a pain in the ass now that the cops know."

"But why even report it to them?"

"We need to rely on society to hide ourselves. Just simply reporting it can make us mask ourselves to make them think that we know nothing, especially about abilities. You understand?"

"Yes."

"Then you can now head back down there."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Then excuse me, boss."

I stood up and went to the door. When I open it.

"Wait just a second, shin."

Boss called me.

"What is it, boss?"

"Can you restrain yourself about your fetish?"

"Fetish?"

"I saw you running in the hallway while naked."

"A, a, a, aaaaa! B-boss, it's a misunderstanding! I have a reason for that!."

"What's the reason?"

"It's because--"

Shit I can't tell him.

"Haha, I know, I know it's hard to prevent that. But manage it."

"That's not it!"

I left the room with embarrassment on my face. I went back down to continue working. Furthermore, I saw the other staff members gossiping about the incident and some of them were crying.

To think that something happened on my first day of work.

______________________

{BACK AT THE BOSS ROOM}

Alice went inside the room.

"Oh, Alice. How's the situation?" The boss spoke.

"Many guests were leaving."

"Hhmm, this is really troublesome. This is going to affect the review."

Alice went to her desk and sat on the chair.

"So what are we going to do, boss?" She asked.

"We do nothing. It already happened. And the worst thing, the cops were involved."

"So the suspect is an ability user?"

"That's the case."

"Then I need some countermeasures on Imperium."

"But first Alice."

"Yes?"

"What's Shin ability?"

"According to the report, it was strength and regeneration."

"Hhmm… it's different from what report we got from creto high."

"..."

"Alice."

"Yes boss?"

"Investigate him."

"I understood."