Chapter 23
23
"The, the weight is the same."
"If the weight is the same, that's even more of a problem. It means the materials are different. Don't you have any older Version 5 clocks?"
At her words, Anna and Tom hesitated. Then, Tom hurriedly ran to call Sten, the master craftsman from another room.
Currently, there were a total of seven master craftsmen working in Factory 1, and these three had been working there since the previous president and his wife were still alive.
Sten said in a hushed voice.
"See, I told you. We all knew something was wrong."
All three of these master craftsmen had noticed that the parts coming out of the master room had changed after Evil Crimson took office as president.
Anna said to Scarlett.
"Sten was the first to discover it, and the senior craftsmen went to President Evil to argue about it. They said the parts were strange."
"The four original senior craftsmen were all fired. They told us not to say anything..."
Tom trailed off. The three master craftsmen looked ashamed and aggrieved.
Scarlett said.
"I'll go into the master room. I need to check the materials to know for sure. I remember the master room password."
They knew that Scarlett would be in danger if she was caught, but the three of them couldn't bring themselves to stop her.
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, so much like the late president and his wife, and they knew better than anyone that their pursuit was the Crimson's destiny, unstoppable by anyone. It was a look they hadn't seen in a long time.
Scarlett took a deep breath and asked.
"Do you know when Uncle is coming back from his business trip?"
"He said he'd be back tomorrow."
Scarlett didn't know when Evil and Arnold would both be out again. Suppressing her fear, Scarlett walked towards the master room.
Anna, the most senior of the three, quickly instructed Tom and Sten.
"Make sure the other employees don't run into Miss."
"Got it."
The two hurried off to check the locations of the other employees.
Meanwhile, Scarlett took a breath in front of the master room.
At this moment, she felt like she was standing in front of a huge wall. It was the room of that Evil Crimson who had exploited her since she was twelve. She was pale with fear.
But she had to know. Her desire to know was the greatest, followed by her sense of duty that she couldn't sell faulty parts. If not today, such a good opportunity would not come again.
She tried to overcome the fear that held her back like shackles by thinking of something else. As always, Viktor Dampfelt came to mind. The moment he told her to get lost with his usual indifferent face, the moment he called her useless, even her fear disappeared.
Since she was young, Scarlett had often thought that she was not confident in raising children.
She was confident that she could love them, but she couldn't bear to see them leave her arms and clash with the world. The world was not always beautiful, and it broke her heart just to think that children would eventually have to face the hardships of the world and become adults.
Therefore, the sight of a loved one being disappointed was more frightening than violence. She was sad that she couldn't make them happy.
Thinking of worse things made her fear subside. Scarlett traced her memories to unlock the master room's puzzle-like lock and went inside.
*
The master room was much more organized than when her parents used it. After searching the master room for a long time, she finally found the method for making Crimson Version 5.
The necessary materials and weights were written down, including the parts that Scarlett had said were different in thickness from what she remembered. 'Lüssen Falls pebbles' was the material.
Scarlett stood there and quickly memorized the contents. It was better to memorize it so that she could make it on her own after going outside. After memorizing the recipe, she looked around the master room and found piles of pebbles on one wall.
"Ah, this."
These pebbles were brought from Lüssen Falls in southern Salantie, which fell directly into the sea.
She picked up a pebble and stared at it for a long time. Why was the amount different when the weight was the same? As she concentrated on thinking, she remembered her Mother's voice.
"Remember, Scarlett. Lüssen Falls has a sacred power. You must use the pebbles that have endured that power. You must use the stones in the water. Not the stones outside the water."
Scarlett looked at the stone. But it was impossible to tell whether this was a stone taken from the water or from outside.
While she was checking, she heard a voice from outside.
"Ah, you can't, President!"
It was Anna's voice.
Scarlett shuddered and turned around, feeling a flash, and her body collapsed.
Scarlett barely raised her head and saw Evil standing there. He pushed away the employees who were grabbing him, locked the door, cursed, and then looked down at Scarlett and rolled up his sleeves.
"You're not in your right mind. You thieving cat."
"The parts... are wrong."
"Shut up!"
Anger flashed in Evil's eyes.
"Who proves whether I'm right or your parents are right!"
Scarlett was just as angry, and her eyes, which had been so obedient until now, were blazing. This was a matter of her parents' pride.
"Every part my parents made has a reason! Unless there's a reason to change it for the better, there's no reason to change it! Crimson Parts go into clocks that are meant to last a lifetime..."
"Shut up! I said shut up!"
Evil screamed in a frenzy.
After illegally taking his brother's place, he had to show that he was capable of running the Crimson family's business in order to fully own the factory. Therefore, his ability to make Version 5 parts was a very important qualification as a manager. But if it was wrong, there would be a problem with legitimacy.
And the bigger problem was that as soon as it was known that there was a problem with the parts, people would come to return the clocks. If that happened, Evil Crimson could go bankrupt.
Scarlett regained consciousness several hours later.
She raised herself up and looked around. It was so dark that she couldn't see anything. She groped along the wall, circled around, and found the stairs, and climbed them. Judging from the wooden panel above, it was a basement.
Scarlett knocked on the panel.
"Is anyone out there?"
But no sound returned.
"There's someone here... Uncle, please... I'm sorry."
Scarlett said, but still no answer came back. The darkness where nothing could be seen, the enclosed space, was enough to make even the strongest-minded person panic.
Scarlett knocked on the door again with trembling hands. When there was no response no matter how much she knocked, Scarlett's voice trembled violently.
"Please save me..."
She covered her mouth with both hands and began to cry.
Suddenly, the air felt thin. She was crouching on the stairs and crying, so she didn't notice that the wooden panel above her head was opening. Only when the person who came down the stairs grabbed her arm and lifted her up did Scarlett raise her head.
Viktor Dampfelt was standing in front of her.
"Come here."
He said that, and before Scarlett could move, he pulled her over and lightly picked her up. Then, he covered her head with his hand, pressed her against his shoulder, and opened his mouth.
"Keep your eyes closed. It's not good if it suddenly gets bright."
At Viktor's words, Scarlett could only barely catch her breath and hugged his neck without even nodding.
The place they came out of was the basement in the Factory 1 garden that managed the fountain water.
Evil, who had been dragged there by Viktor's subordinate, still couldn't calm down and said.
"That bitch came into a place with business secrets without permission! You should be grateful that I didn't kill her on the spot!"
Viktor stroked Scarlett as if soothing a small animal when Scarlett's body flinched at Evil's voice, and then sat her in the carriage.
She sat on the seat with her knees hugged and buried her face there, her shoulders trembling. Viktor took off his jacket and put it over her.
The Crimson family men had large frames and were large in stature for generations. This was because the bloodline of the blacksmiths had been passed down.
Evil, who was about to roll up his sleeves again and rush in, was flustered by Viktor's thick upper body, which he thought was slender when he was wearing a perfectly tailored jacket. But soon he had the complacent thought, clouded by anger, that he had only given orders from behind and had never done anything with his own hands.
But as Viktor turned and approached Evil Crimson, that thought changed in an instant. Evil instinctively realized that he was an enemy he had never experienced before.
Viktor slapped his face once with the back of his hand, and Evil swung his fist, but Viktor dodged it with a light movement. And he grabbed Evil's right arm as it flew in and easily broke it.
Scarlett, who was covered in the jacket and trembling, carefully raised her head at the sound of bones breaking and Evil Crimson's screams.
She saw Evil Crimson being unilaterally beaten by Viktor. He, who had seemed so huge and strong like a fortress to her when she was young, was being beaten without being able to lay a finger on Viktor, who was only using naval combat techniques without weapons.
Even though Palin, who had the strength to stop Viktor, grabbed him from behind, Evil collapsed to the floor and fainted when his fist slammed into his abdomen.
Scarlett watched Evil, who had fallen at Viktor's feet, and slowly broke free from her panic. There was a strange refreshing feeling as the chains that had bound her like a slave were released, and Scarlett smiled faintly.
At that laughter, all the men in the place looked at Scarlett.
Evan, who had been leaning against the carriage and watching the one-sided fight, glanced into the carriage and said.
"Our Miss likes this kind of thing."
