A few minutes earlier.
“Uh… so. You’re saying he’ll take ‘Reader (Reader)’? This gentleman?”
“Yup yup. Ah, where is it? I swear I saw it right here!”
Timothy blinked, looking back and forth between Jioh and Jin Gyeoul.
Right in front of the starting line, moments before the obstacle race.
Beneath the crowded stands and fluttering flags, the whole place was a frenzy—engineers doing final checks on airships, participants huddling to talk strategy.
Jioh, not caring whether Timothy was flustered or not, was busy rummaging through Old Man Manta’s toolbox.
“He shows up right before launch and—what even is this…”
Only when the waiting crowd’s nerves were about to snap did he saunter in and toss a bomb.
“Say hello. I snagged us that ‘Reader’ thing or whatever!”
Timothy let his goggles slip from his hand with a thunk.
He had a hood up, but what good would that do? This was someone they already knew from the airfield incident. No way he wouldn’t recognize him.
He knew Gyeon Jioh was a capricious…