The sun had set but there was one hour left until Rose's performance began.
Outside, the crowd was so dense that even the agents could not control it.
Fortunately, Tirna's guards stepped in to provide support, so it didn't escalate into a major problem.
'I was worried that discord between the guards and citizens might reignite.'
Despite such concerns, the atmosphere at the scene itself wasn't bad.
Of course, the emotional rift between each side hadn't been filled. If anything, it was closer to a temporary ceasefire. But if there was this first time, there would be room for improvement afterward - that couldn't be denied.
'Rose's performance would be what resolves that.'
For Rose's performance to conclude successfully, Osian also had to move around diligently. Like right now, for instance.
"R-Rose!"
"What are you doing making a scene on your own?"
-Thwack!
Osian appeared behind the guy and lightly kicked his hamstring to subdue him.
"Aaah! D-don't interfere!"
Even though he had held back considerably, it was still a knight's strength. The guy who should have collapsed the moment he was hit screamed while counterattacking Osian.
When he swung his hand, a knife hidden under his sleeve popped out.
-Clack.
Osian caught the knife with his bare hand, then applied force and snapped it in two.
-Clang!
The sasaeng fan's face turned pale seeing the knife break like a biscuit.
TLN: sasaeng fan =an obsessive fan who invades the privacy of Korean idols, drama actors, or other public figures in the entertainment industry.
-Thwack!
Osian's fist cleanly smashed the guy's face. He had tried to go easy, but this guy was estimated to be at least a mana user. If he went easy, there was no telling what he might do, so he had no choice but to subdue him with the resolve to inflict serious injury.
"Hey. Take this guy away."
Osian gestured with his chin to the staff who arrived late, then immediately moved. He had already subdued five sasaeng fans, but people targeting Rose still overflowed.
'Since the singer's popularity is high, the sasaeng fans are all equally abnormal.'
Mana users were cute in comparison. In severe cases, even dark mages infiltrated. Naturally, the dark mages were easily subdued by Osian's hand, but for Osian, it couldn't help but be quite bewildering.
Dark mages, though their methods were problematic, shared the same purpose as mages who pursued knowledge and truth.
That such dark mages would have their eyes roll back over a woman and act like sasaeng fans was completely incomprehensible.
'I suppose it means Rose is a charming person who grabs and shakes people's minds to that extent.'
Another intruder was caught by Osian's senses. Unlike other intruders, this one was stuck to the ceiling, moving stealthily like a cockroach. Looking closely, his skin was blending with the space as if deploying a camouflage field.
'A mutant with optical camouflage-type superpowers. How diverse.'
Well, there had been mana users, dark mages, even cyborgs and enhanced humans. A mutant doing this could only seem cute now.
Osian crouched from his position then leaped high.
"Huk!"
The chameleon-like mutant who had been hiding in secret was seen being startled. But before the guy could react, Osian's kick struck his back hard.
-Crack!
The mutant couldn't even scream and fainted with his eyes rolling back. Osian peeled the guy off the ceiling and handed him over to nearby staff.
Security guard Joy, who had been watching this, was quite impressed.
'I heard he was a fixer, but what exactly does one do to become that skilled?'
Osian was an outstanding fixer. That was an undeniable fact.
In Joy's view, Osian was from a combat-related profession. You could easily tell just by watching him fight the dark mage.
Typically, combat professions are specialized only in fighting. When faced with situations like now where they need to prevent things before fights break out, they can't show proper ability.
But Osian was different. He moved as if this wasn't his first time handling such work.
If there was even a slightly suspicious person, he would approach and subdue them in the blink of an eye. Normally one would hesitate even with suspicion, but Osian had none of that.
And when Osian subdued someone, 100 out of 100 times, they were illegal intruders.
'Does this make sense?'
The same went for people who had secretly snuck into the concert hall using special abilities.
'Magic is installed inside the concert hall to prevent unauthorized people from entering. It's set up to send signals when strangers come in.'
This kind of magic works effectively on most people. But there are always people who bypass or fool such systems like superhumans who handle mana and possess their own unique powers. From Joy and other security guards' standpoint, they were the most troublesome and dangerous people.
Finding them wasn't easy even for Joy, who was a mage. Even with periodic detection magic, there were too many ways to neutralize it.
Naturally, the side trying to break through unilaterally had to be much more advantageous than the side trying to block.
Just look at the mutant Osian subdued. Joy hadn't noticed at all that he was stuck to the ceiling approaching stealthily.
'I was a bit worried when I heard Rose hired him directly.'
Joy and other direct security guards had entered through thorough verification by Rose's agency. Naturally, their evaluation of Osian, who Rose had directly appointed, had to be poor.
Though they didn't openly look down on him, the reason they didn't deliberately treat him kindly was exactly this.
'Someone who made a name in one industry doesn't do so without reason. Rather, we're likely to hold him back.'
Joy decided to reflect on having inwardly looked down on Osian.
'Right. It worked out well in the end. Now that colleagues are absent due to injuries, having a reliable colleague is a happy thing.'
This was especially true now when the atmosphere was more enthusiastic about her comeback, as Rose's break had been long.
Joy happened to make eye contact with Osian, who was looking this way. She slightly lowered her sunglasses and made a gesture with her finger indicating he did well.
Osian, wearing a mask, lightly nodded with an eye smile. Even with half his face covered by the mask, his handsomeness pierced through to the outside.
It wasn't for nothing that Eva, Rose's manager, had separately made a business proposal to Osian. It was incomprehensible why such a man would do something like being a problem solver.
'This isn't the time to think about others. I need to work hard too.'
Even if Osian did well, there were still many people targeting Rose. So far it hadn't escalated into a major problem, but the real deal would start after the rehearsal when the main stage began. From then, they wouldn't be able to move as comfortably as now.
They would move more actively in places beyond people's sight the moment the fervor toward Rose reached its peak.
Like Joy, Osian knew this and was moving busily. Dangerous elements had to be reduced as much as possible.
'Successfully ending the performance is a natural course. But it can't just stop there. Through this process, I must win Rose's favor.'
Rose was an essential figure for future matters. The influence a priest possesses is never small. And above all, for the sake of this city, Rose had to continue existing.
'The city is still chaotic. Conflicts between classes have been maximized and suppressed dissatisfaction has rapidly surfaced. Right now it's just being forcibly suppressed.'
And there were those who further incited such rifts. There were external forces, but in Osian's view, external forces were only a part. The real problem was internal. There were many who fanned the flames of conflict.
This wasn't a process that would end simply by sitting at a negotiating table and reaching an agreement. Groups would become polarized and clash madly with each other. In that process, hatred toward each other would deepen further.
To resolve that, mutual understanding and harmony were needed. The person who made that possible was Rose.
'Just looking at how the protests that had continued like monsoon rain finally stopped, Rose's influence encompasses the entire city.'
They say the power of culture transcends borders and races. You could tell just by looking at the people currently waiting outside to see the performance. There were quite a few people who had come from overseas.
'Naturally people, and all premium seats for wealthy people are sold out. Even elves, dwarves, and beastmen are coming to see. Among the sasaeng fans, there were even cyborgs who had castrated their humanity.'
Even cyborgs who had replaced their bodies with machines felt desire for Rose. That's why this performance was important. In the furnace that mixed and shook everyone's emotions together, what would be forged depended entirely on Rose.
'For that purpose...eliminate all guys who might interfere with the performance.'
He planned to go easy on guys who hadn't crossed the line.
But Osian could feel it. Though they hadn't revealed themselves yet, the real ones were elsewhere.
Then Osian's gaze caught staff members moving busily.
'What's this?'
Normally he would have thought trouble arose due to performance preparations, but now it was different. Osian noticed they were anxious. Intuiting that something was up, Osian approached the staff.
"Hey there, what's going on?"
"Huh? Oh, well that's..."
A high-ranking staff member hesitated to answer, glancing around as if not wanting to make a big deal out of it. Osian knew better than anyone what to do in this situation.
"Answer properly. Unless you want to lose an arm."
When he drew his sword from his waist and emanated killing intent, the staff member's face turned white. He confessed to Osian what had happened a little while ago.
"Another staff member went missing?"
"Y-yes. But it's not strange. Since field work is so tough, people often secretly run away in the middle."
Osian frowned. Anyone could see it was a poor excuse just by looking at his expression.
"He's someone who has attended work more than 5 times and never missed once! Does it make sense that he suddenly ran away!"
A colleague who had been close got worked up and stepped forward. At those words, the staff member who had been making excuses broke out in cold sweat and watched Osian's reaction.
"Th-that is..."
"Shut up. Tell me properly where he disappeared."
"There. What's going on?"
Joy, who had detected the commotion, also approached. Osian briefly explained what had happened. Joy's expression hardened coldly.
"This, no matter how I think about it, something's up. Especially disappearing while going to organize the underground storage room..."
"I suppose security magic doesn't apply to that area?"
"The concert hall is so large it's difficult to cover everything. The underground storage room is an area we don't pay particular attention to."
"Hmm. Just in case, I'll go down."
"Will you be okay?"
"I have a bad feeling. If we leave this alone, it'll escalate into a bigger problem."
Despite having no basis, Osian spoke with certainty. Joy doesn't believe in intuition. But the sharp sense Osian had shown had never been wrong so far, so she found herself unconsciously swayed.
"...Don't stay away from your post too long. You're one of Rose's direct guards. The more you're away, the more the other members will suffer."
"I'll return without being late."
Osian immediately accompanied a staff member and was guided to the location of the storage room.
"There's no sign of people."
"It's a place people don't frequent normally."
The underground corridor with little light was quite dark. It was completely opposite to the brilliant stage preparing for rehearsal.
"Was it originally this dark?"
"N-no. No matter how few people there are, the lights should be on."
Osian stared quietly at the corridor. An unpleasant sensation tickled his skin. It felt like invisible ants were crawling around.
"Thanks for guiding me. Go back up now."
"Um, there..."
"Hurry."
"Hieek!"
Whether he felt something in Osian's voice, the staff member hastily left the spot. Left alone, Osian gazed at the corridor dyed black and said.
"Now that there are no watching eyes, won't you come out soon?"
Something wriggled and moved in the darkness. The first thing visible was a red balloon reminiscent of bright red blood. Behind it, green, orange, blue, and yellow balloons appeared one by one, increasing to 10.
Soon the balloons split left and right with a rip and a clown revealed himself from inside.
A mouth that seemed torn and teeth reminiscent of shark teeth along with bizarre clown makeup and eerie eyes. It was a visual that would naturally make one scream when encountered in a corridor full of darkness. The clown wanted exactly that, which is why he had created all this atmosphere.
But
"...Kup."
Osian had to barely hold back laughter that was about to burst out despite himself.