The chef imagined all kinds of situations in just a few seconds, and suddenly felt anxious. His hands twitched, and he began scratching at his tall chef's hat compulsively.
One moment, he'd been calm and composed, but the next, he was exuding a faintly unhinged energy.
But Pariston knew the chef's quirks and didn't find it strange.
"Odom, thanks for today."
Pariston restrained his smile slightly and thanked the now-agitated chef.
The chef named Odom stopped scratching his hat and shook his head, then said, "Don't mention it. I'm leaving now."
"Alright."
Pariston smiled and nodded.
Without another word, Odom strode toward the door.
But just as he reached door, he suddenly stopped.
"Pariston."
Odom looked back at Pariston, who is standing in the living room, frowned and asked, "Although I know you have the ability to deal with various situations, the person who wants your life is not simple, right?"
"Judging by the outcome, no, they're not."
Faced with Odom's unexpected concern before he left, Pariston smiled again.
Odom asked, "Are you confident you can deal with them?"
"Well… the puzzle will always be missing one piece."
Pariston's answer was cryptic.
Odom's eyelids drooped, and he was too lazy to ask any more questions. He opened the door and left.
Click.
As the door closed, Pariston was the only one left in the room.
He hadn't shared much with Odom, partly for Odom's own good.
And also because-
Playtime was playtime.
In any case, it cannot affect Beyond's plan to explore the Dark Continent.
'I wonder… what will that final puzzle piece look like?'
Pariston looked at the TV on the wall of the living room and could see his own reflection staring back from the black screen.
…
[Rational Cunningness]
This was one of Pariston's Nen Abilities.
Based on absolute 'rationality' as the premise, absolute 'non-intervention' as the condition, and absolute 'information gathering' as the process.
In exchange, he obtains the ability effect of absolute 'staying out of trouble' within a reasonable range.
Ultimately, as a bystander, he allows things to develop along the 'plotline' he wants to see, thus effortlessly achieving the absolute 'insignificance' goal.
This ability has a time limit.
How long it lasts depends entirely on Pariston's judgment and reasoning about the 'event' itself, in other words, the information he gathers.
But he has another Nen Ability called [Incomplete Jigsaw Puzzle].
This ability's activation conditions are consistent with those of [Rational Cunningness], and the entire ability framework is also constructed based on 'collecting information'.
Pariston relies on this ability to form some precognitive fragments in his mind.
The clarity of these fragments depends on the quantity and accuracy of the information he collects.
In theory, as long as Pariston gathers enough correct data, he could achieve something close to true precognition.
These clear or blurred images that have been formed in his mind in advance are equivalent to puzzle pieces, waiting for Pariston to piece together.
As long as they are arranged in the right order, it will become a definite reality.
Pariston loves this ability.
But he believes nothing in this world is perfect.
So in his jigsaw puzzle, one piece is always missing.
He couldn't decide if this piece of the puzzle was critical or irrelevant.
If it's critical, the ability might mislead him, warping his decisions.
If it's irrelevant, then having it or not is not something worth caring about.
But given his value of imperfection, Pariston doesn't mind this shortcoming.
After all, 'perfection' feels fake for him.
And fake things aren't worth breaking, nor do they bring him joy.
Because what Pariston loves most-
is to destroy the puzzle that he had worked so hard to put together.
It's like building a beautiful sand castle on the beach with great effort, and then raising your foot with a smile and crushing the sand castle to pieces.
That's where the real pleasure lies.
…
Using this ability, Pariston's mind constructed a puzzle piece that would lead to the tonight's attack.
So, in order to take advantage of the situation and gather more information (the next piece of the puzzle), he thoughtfully chose a location that was perfect for an ambush.
While the outcome of an attack was uncertain, he wasn't reckless enough to actually risk his life.
That's why he'd borrowed Odom's Nen Ability.
Originally, he was planning to use the flesh clone to stage a good show of 'conclusive evidence'.
But he didn't expect that the weapon that attacked him was a mysterious floating sword.
"Hmm?"
While in deep thought, Pariston suddenly became alert, and Aura instantly spread throughout his body.
"Noticed me already...?"
Pariston suddenly looked towards the balcony, and the smile that was usually on his face disappeared had without a trace.
He saw the same Black Sword that had attacked him not long ago, was now hovering upright in the air outside the balcony.
'Being able to track me to this place in such a short time, it is possible that the other party has tracking or positioning abilities...'
However, what Pariston did not expect was that the other party could see through the clone's deception in such a short time.
It must be known that the flesh clone created by Odom's ability, while it cannot pass forensic scrutiny, was flawless in appearance.
At the very least-
The moment Pariston withdraws his consciousness and returns to his real body, the flesh clone would become a real corpse.
It would bleed, develop lividity, decay...
Yet it hadn't fooled the enemy.
Realizing this, Pariston suddenly thought of an extremely tricky fact.
This time, his jigsaw puzzle...
Was missing its most crucial piece.
…
Ding-
The elevator doors slid open.
Odom stepped out, but his right foot froze mid-air.
"Nen…?"
The moment he stepped out of the elevator, he sensed a fleeting fluctuation of Nen, and his expression changed slightly.
Without any hesitation, he mobilized his Aura and ran towards the stairs as fast as he could.
Moments later-
Odom stood outside the high-end suite registered under a fake name.
He was not good at using En, so he didn't burst in recklessly.
"If you're not dead, say something."
He shouted at the door.
But the only response he got was dead silence.