What If?

Chapter 30 - My Word, My Guard

"Beautiful..." Launa murmured softly.

That was the very first word that crossed her mind. For the first time in her life, Launa was setting foot in a harbor area this corporate and luxurious. As far as the eye could see, the pier was lined with rows of grand, massive yachts, glistening under the sunlight.

"Launa, hurry up," Glenn called out without turning back, his long strides moving through an exclusive VIP private lounge at the end of the pier. Launa startled, quickly picking up her pace to keep up behind him.

The moment the lounge door slid open, Launa was once again left in awe. The private room featured transparent glass walls that looked out directly onto the open sea. Low jazz music played softly, creating an incredibly calm and intimate atmosphere. Atop a round table in the center of the room, several high-end, gourmet dishes were neatly served, still sending up wisps of warm steam.

Glenn walked over to the table, spontaneously pulled out one of the chairs, and looked at Launa. "Sit," he commanded briefly.

Launa blinked awkwardly, stunned by her boss's sudden gentlemanly gesture. "Ah, y-yes, sir. Thank you," Launa whispered softly as she took her seat.

Glenn took his seat across from her. "Go ahead and eat. I ordered the food ten minutes before we arrived," Glenn said casually, unfolding the cloth napkin on his lap.

Launa shifted her gaze to the plate in front of her. A large cut of steak was served there, but it was incredibly thick and its color differed from any regular steak. The problem was, Launa had never eaten at a place this fancy. Her hands held the fork and knife in a rigid grip, utterly confused about how to cut the expensive meat without making an embarrassing, clattering noise.

Observing his assistant suddenly freeze up with such awkward movements, Glenn let out a short breath. He slid his chair closer, pulling Launa’s plate over to his own side.

"Give me your plate. You're supposed to hold the knife like this, Launa," Glenn said in a low voice that sounded incredibly gentle, a stark contrast to his snappy tone back at the office.

Glenn began cutting the meat with highly skilled, neat movements. "This is Wagyu A5 Striploin, marbling score 12. Outside of Japan, this is the only place that gets a fresh supply directly from Miyazaki prefecture. The texture is just like butter, so you don't need any extra strength to cut it. Just press down slightly in the center, then slice it slowly following the grain of the meat so the juices don't bleed out onto the plate," Glenn explained at length without any pretense, sounding as deeply knowledgeable and fluent as a high-end culinary expert who had tasted the finest foods in the world.

"I used to eat here all the time with my mom," Glenn continued, his voice dropping slightly lower. "Mom always liked it medium-rare."

All this time, Launa had never seen or heard a*********s about Glenn’s mother. Though she didn't know Glenn all that well yet, it seemed like he was the type of man who was incredibly private and protective over his personal life.

Glenn merely offered a faint nod, his gaze softening as he stared out at the vast expanse of the sea beyond the glass. Their close proximity allowed Launa to catch the scent of Glenn’s calming, masculine cologne. Launa’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, pounding twice as fast.

"I’m sorry, sir... I’ve never eaten expensive food like this before," Launa murmured honestly, feeling increasingly self-conscious after her boss’s high-class explanation.

"Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong," Glenn replied without breaking his focus from the steak.

Launa stared in awe at Glenn's serious side profile. This man truly left her bewildered. On one hand, he could be incredibly annoying and cold, but on the other hand, he treated her with such kindness. In fact, Glenn had never once looked down on her background in the slightest.

"Here. Eat. I’ve cut it all up for you," Glenn said, sliding Launa’s plate back to her, the meat now perfectly sliced into bite-sized pieces.

"T-thank you so much, sir. I-I’m sorry for being a bother..."

"You really have a habit of apologizing all the time," Glenn cut her off quickly, popping a piece of steak into his own mouth. "I told you, you didn't do anything wrong. When it’s just the two of us outside the office, just relax."

Knock! Knock!

The door to the private room opened. A middle-aged man dressed in a sharp, formal suit stepped inside, his expression visibly cautious.

"Mr. Glenn Ellsworth?" the man asked, double-checking.

"Yes, that's me. Please, have a seat, sir," Glenn welcomed him, instantly shifting his aura into something more professional yet remaining composed.

The suited man took the remaining empty seat. Glenn then glanced at his assistant. "Meet Launa. My personal assistant."

Launa startled slightly, but she quickly pulled herself together and politely extended her hand. "Launa."

The man warmly accepted Launa’s handshake. "Chriss."

The atmosphere in the room shifted to dead serious in an instant. Launa held her breath, focusing her attention entirely on Chriss as he began to open a thin, brown manila folder he had brought along.

"Let's get straight to the point, Mr. Glenn. Based on the official manifest data and the draft of the Coast Guard's operational report that I have in my possession..."

Chriss paused mid-sentence, showing a sheet of paper filled with tables of figures and coordinates. "The vessel, The Oceanic Stars, which belongs to Ms. Miranda, departed from the main pier on April 12th at 9:00 AM. The weather at the time was reported as partly cloudy."

Chriss tapped his finger against the paper. "The first distress signal hit our radar at 10:42 AM. Less than two hours after setting sail. Based on the initial analysis of the debris location, the explosion occurred at coordinates five miles off the coastline. The problem is, the number of casualties we evacuated on-site doesn't match the harbor manifest at all."

Launa listened intently, her brain registering every single detail of the time and hours Chriss mentioned. Curiosity was now beginning to mix with a creeping tension.

Glenn narrowed his eyes, leaning his back against his chair while folding his arms across his chest. "How big is the discrepancy?" Glenn asked, his voice growing noticeably colder.

Chriss let out a heavy sigh, flipping to a page stamped in red ink. "The mathematical logic is simple, Mr. Glenn. The harbor manifest records ten people on board. But our team only evacuated a total of nine bodies eight deceased, and one survivor," Chriss revealed bluntly.

Glenn immediately leaned his body forward. "Who is the sole survivor?"

"His name is Joshua Vance, one of the private cabin stewards working for your mother," Chriss answered.

"He was found drifting on a piece of the ship's door with severe burns on his arm. The problem is, as soon as he was transferred to Port Horizon Medical Center, Joshua mysteriously vanished from his ward two days later. My team has tried searching for him, but as of this very second, his exact whereabouts have yet to be found."

Launa held her breath, feeling the tension creeping through the room. "That’s bizarre. If he really was just a victim, why would he run?" Launa asked, bewildered.

"That’s the real puzzle, Ms. Launa," Chriss replied seriously. "He could be terrified because he knows something, or he might have been intentionally kidnapped by the mastermind behind all this to keep him silent."

Glenn tapped his fingers against the table, his jaw tightening. "Then what about the last person? You said the manifest listed ten people, but the total you found at sea, including Joshua, was only nine?"

"There is one name whose physical body we never recovered from the sea," Chriss answered.

"Who?" Glenn and Launa asked in unison.

"Frank Robert. It's highly possible he's the culprit who sabotaged it."

Launa furrowed her brow, joining in on the analysis. "But Mr. Chriss... just because his body wasn't found, does that automatically make Frank Robert the culprit?"

Glenn glanced at Launa briefly, then shifted his gaze back to Chriss. "My assistant is right. We can't jump to conclusions before we get physical evidence."

Chriss nodded in agreement, his expression growing even more serious. "Exactly, Mr. Glenn. That’s why Frank's status is still a gray area. However, the reason I'm so certain that Frank's data is fake isn't just because his home address is fictitious."

Chriss leaned forward, pulling out the harbor manifest draft for Frank and pointing to a small line of printed code at the bottom corner of the document.

"Take a look at this microscopic code right under the hologram logo," Chriss whispered mysteriously. "This manifest draft is an official harbor document that records all cargo and legal crew members on board The Oceanic Stars before setting sail. Our harbor uses a government-sanctioned printing system for official documents with a specific encryption code. But on Frank’s draft, where he's listed as a deckhand, the pattern is slightly flawed. The line is too thick by a fraction of a millimeter. To a layman, this looks perfectly ordinary, but to those of us used to checking document authenticity, this is a dead giveaway."

Glenn narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the tiny code closely. "A giveaway for what?"

"This is the work of The Architect," Chriss hissed, causing the room’s atmosphere to suddenly grow even colder. "He’s an incredibly slick black-market document forger. He deliberately slipped Frank Robert’s name onto the ship's crew manifest using this fake document, allowing Frank to infiltrate Ms. Miranda’s vessel completely legally."

Chriss stared intently at Glenn. "If you want to know whether Frank really is the culprit, who the real person behind that name is, or who ordered the fake identity... you have to find the document maker first. Find out who paid The Architect the week before the ship exploded."

Thump. Launa’s chest instantly tightened, a wave of anxiety washing over her. This case was a deep, sprawling conspiracy, stretching all the way into a network of black-market forgers.

Glenn leaned back in his chair, a chilling, cold smile carving its way onto the corner of his lips. "Interesting. So we have two paths now."

Glenn tapped the table with a constant rhythm, mapping out a new tactic in his mind.

Glenn turned to look at Launa, whose face was completely tense. "What do you say, Launa? Are you ready? We’re about to step into a much darker place."

"Hmm. I’m ready."

Chriss glanced at the watch on his wrist, then gathered the thin documents back into his manila folder. "That’s as far as my information goes for now, Mr. Glenn. I'll keep you posted if anything else comes up."

Glenn nodded understandingly, then stood up, with Launa following suit right beside him. "Thank you so much, Chriss. Your information is invaluable to me."

After a formal handshake, Chriss walked quickly out of the private room, leaving behind a silence that suddenly felt incredibly heavy.

Glenn let out a heavy sigh, then slumped his body back against the chair. His gaze was vacant, staring out at the rippling waves beyond the glass wall. Launa slowly took her seat again. She squeezed her fingers together in her lap, moving with extreme caution so as not to break her boss's train of thought.

Now, Launa understood. She finally knew the complete answer to the strings of wise, resigned words Glenn had spoken inside the car earlier. Glenn had deliberately chosen her, a stranger who shared no emotional ties with anyone in his circle to stand by his side as he pierced through this dangerous conspiracy.

Launa stared at Glenn's side profile. The silence stretched on for a few moments before Launa finally gathered the courage to speak, her tone incredibly soft.

"Mr. Glenn..." Launa called out cautiously.

Glenn stirred slightly, glancing at Launa with a pair of eyes that looked incredibly weary.

"I... I am truly sorry for the loss of your mother, sir," Launa said sincerely, her eyes radiating a deep sense of empathy.

Glenn caught himself off guard for a split second. He quickly averted his gaze back toward the sea, trying to hide the flash of vulnerability that had briefly crossed his eyes. "Don't worry about it. It happened two months ago," Glenn replied flatly, as if his heart had already gone numb. However, the way his fist tightened on the table could not lie to Launa.

Launa took a deep breath, then leaned forward slightly in her seat. "I may have only been your assistant for a single day. I don't have any power or influence to help you fight against those powerful people out there," Launa said, her voice flowing calmly yet trembling with a newfound resolve.

"But, I promise... I will stand by your side until this case is completely resolved. I will never betray you, and I won't let you walk alone in that dark place."

Glenn froze instantly. He turned his head slowly, staring intently into Launa’s eyes. In the cutthroat world he had grown up in where everyone operated solely for money, power, and betrayal Launa’s sincere words just now sounded like an incredibly foreign oasis to his ears. A strange warmth suddenly spread across his chest, chipping away piece by piece at the fortress he had built so stubbornly over the years.

Glenn didn't reply with words. He merely stared at Launa in a long silence before finally offering a faint nod, the lines on his face shifting into a warm softness.

As she returned his gaze, Launa thought to herself. It turned out... behind all his arrogant, cold, and annoying behavior all this time... Glenn was just a vulnerable boy. A son who only wanted to demand justice for the mother he loved so dearly. And at that very second, Launa vowed in her heart to protect her faith in Glenn, no matter the stakes.

Knock! Knock!

A knock on the door broke the silence. A waiter stepped inside, handing over a thick cloth tote bag that looked completely packed and heavy.

"Your additional order, Mr. Glenn," the waiter said politely before bowing out of the room.

Glenn immediately slid the tote bag over to Launa. "Take it home."

Launa blinked in confusion. "Eh? But I already finished my steak, sir?"

"It’s not for you," Glenn snapped awkwardly, quickly averting his gaze. "It's soft food for your younger sister, Laura. And there's some herbal soup... for Grandma Emma."

Launa froze. Her heart skipped a beat. How could someone as aloof as Glenn possibly remember the exact names of her sister and grandmother?

"M-Mr. Glenn... this must have been incredibly expensive. I can't accept this," Launa refused, feeling incredibly guilty as she tried to push the bag back toward him.

Glenn clicked his tongue in annoyance, staring at Launa with a deeply furrowed brow. "When someone gives you something, can't you just take it home? Is it really that hard? All you ever do is refuse. If you reject it one more time, I will literally throw you off the pier to be used as seal bait!" Glenn threatened, spouting nonsense just to cover up his bruised pride.

Launa immediately pressed her lips tight. Fearing that her boss might actually be impulsive enough to do it, she finally hugged the tote bag tightly to her chest, holding back an amused smile. "In that case... thank you so much, Mr. Glenn."

Glenn, catching a glimpse of that sweet smile, abruptly stood up and grabbed his car keys in a rush. "Yeah. Hurry up, we're heading back to the office," Glenn snapped, quickly striding ahead of Launa to hide his heart, which had suddenly gone into complete overdrive.

*****