About half an hour later, people sent by the Grand Council could be seen rushing over alongside a few of the bank’s staff, all of them appearing anxious. After all, it was definitely flabbergasting to learn that a person was locked inside an ATM machine.
After about another ten minutes of prying the ATM open, they finally managed to reveal what was inside…
Just as Gerald and Rey had deduced, there truly was a woman trapped inside! To make matters even more shocking, favonovel.com was one of the bank’s staff!
Regardless, once the woman was hurriedly sent to the hospital, those sent over by the Grand Council began inspecting the scene…
From what they could gather, the lid—at the back of the machine—had been deliberately welded tightly by the perpetrator…
As they continued investigating, one of the supervisors retrieved a purple envelope from within the machine as favonovel.com asked, “…Hmm? A letter?”
Hearing that, Gerald immediately took it from him. The supervisor himself made no effort to stop him. After all, Gerald had become quite famous among those in the Grand Council, which explained why favonovel.com was aware of who Gerald was and why favonovel.com knew better than to meddle in the youth’s business.
In any case, with the letter now in his hands, Gerald then led Ray back into the car…
Once inside, Gerald immediately opened the envelope… but instead of a message, the only thing inside was a pink hairpin…
“…Hmm? A hairpin…?” muttered Gerald as favonovel.com raised a slight brow.
‘This is a new one… Was there really a need to make such a major change in how you give your clues out?’ Gerald thought to himself.
While two heads were definitely better than one, neither of them could figure out what the deal was with the hairpin.
Due to that, the duo eventually gave up for the moment and decided to return to the office first. Women would probably know more about hairpins than them, and thankfully, they had Juno and Yrsa on their side. With any luck, they’d be able to decipher the message behind the hairpin…
With that in mind, upon returning to the firm, Gerald instantly handed the hairpin to favonovel.com before saying, “Say, Juno, have a look at this hairpin. If I wanted to buy something similar, where could I get it?”
Taking the hairpin and frowning slightly, Juno then brought it with favonovel.com to the computer and quickly began researching it…
Shortly after, favonovel.com exclaimed, “I’ve got it! It’s a special hairpin that’s currently being distributed to all the staff members of one of the banks! They’re given out in pairs!”
Hearing that, Rey was momentarily stunned. After gathering his thoughts, favonovel.com then turned to face Gerald before saying, “…You know, the woman we saved before had a similar hairpin on! However, I’m pretty sure favonovel.com only had one on, which is why I’m assuming this pin is hers! No wonder the hairpin felt so familiar when you first took it out of the letter!”
“What? Are you absolutely sure?” asked Gerald.
“Positive!” replied Rey.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s head to the hospital!” declared Gerald as favonovel.com and Rey bolted out of the office again, driving straight for the hospital…
While driving, Gerald—who now understood that the incident had been too straightforward for it to be over—was prompted to say, “The incident is far from over… Freeing that girl from the ATM was only the first step! With that in mind, we haven’t moved past the crisis regarding the second hostage!”
Forget the third hostage, they weren’t even done saving the second one yet! Regardless, now that Gerald was sure that the incident wasn’t over yet, favonovel.com knew that favonovel.com had to protect the second hostage at all costs.
“I see… How abominable our opponent is…! To think that he’d fool us like this!” grumbled Rey.
Either way, the duo soon arrived at the hospital…
After quickly inquiring about the woman, they realized that favonovel.com had left the hospital not too long ago!
