Bright Apartment.
Inside a well-lit room.
Calvados set down his luggage and looked around the clean, tidy room. Only then did it hit him: This is what a place fit for human habitation looks like. What the hell was that previous room?
Only because I've stayed in plenty of awful places while carrying out missions could I tolerate that damned environment. Anyone else would've left long ago, Calvados muttered inwardly.
Come to think of it, what happened last night was a blessing in disguise. Otherwise, I'd probably still be crammed into that room, locked in a battle of wits with all sorts of "supernatural phenomena."
He shook his head, lay down on the bed, and stretched, ready to catch up on some much-needed sleep.
But just then, there came a knock at the door. A visitor had arrived.
Calvados: "..."
He very much wanted to pretend he had not heard it, and perhaps order a "do not disturb" sign to hang permanently on his door, warding off every unnecessary social interaction.
But on second thought, he had only just moved in. There were bound to be procedures involving utilities and such. As an outlaw who needed to conceal his true profession, he did not want to stand out by acting too strangely.
So after a brief struggle, the Organization Cadre who only wanted a peaceful life had no choice but to climb out of bed and open the door like an ordinary citizen who had just moved in.
Looking down, he saw that the person knocking was indeed the elderly landlady.
Yet unlike what he had expected, she was not handing him a stack of contracts and a list of rules.
The landlady merely smiled. "Have you put your luggage away? Come sit in my living room. Your friends have