Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Hollow
‘A relaxed posture… baggy clothes… the way he walks slowly…

There is no doubt about it… this person does not work here.

But does that mean?… a guest?

Who could ever be so important to visit this place as a guest?’

Mary, 26 years old, was a girl blessed with good luck.

She had been chosen as one of the few employees to be transferred to the MAVI.

But she wasn’t only lucky, she was also quick-witted…

And she could tell without any doubt, that the person in front of her wasn’t someone who worked there.

So, when it was the boy’s turn to get to the cashier, instead of questioning anything about him, she immediately asked in English:

“How can I help you?”

Hans wasn’t surprised to hear her talk in English, after all, he was at the core of the association, where thousands of people of different origins met to create what became known as the MAVI.

‘Since I’m already here… I might as well just…’

“Hi, may I take an espresso coffee, very short”

“Of course, anything else?”

“I would like to know where I can find the library”

“The… library?”

Even if she was ready to answer any questions, that one was unusual.

“I… I will explain it to you when I bring you the coffee, please wait a minute, I’m sure it’s not comfortable for you either if we’re holding up the line.”

Hans didn’t even have to glance behind his back to know the woman was right, he was holding up the line, and having everyone listen to their conversation did bother him a little bit.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you”

Hans let out a faint smile as he turned around and walked away.

Soon, another person took his place, but the woman’s eyes remained fixed on his back.

“Excusez-moi?”

“Oh… oui, que puis…”

Hans sat on the comfy red couch beside one of the tables as he stared outside the glass window…

All the people passing by the streets… reminded Hans of when he was a kid…

He was in America for the first time in his life, the day after his arrival there, his mother and father were exhausted, and they decided to take him to a cafe to have breakfast…

He ordered a cup of milk with a chocolate pastry, and he watched out the window, just as he was doing right that moment…

He observed the passing people and watched their clothes, their attire, the way they walked, and the emotions on their faces… he watched every single one of them, observing as he tried to figure out what was on their minds…

It was fascinating, to think that every one of those passing people who seemed to be just a bystander, had a life of their own… every one of them had their worries, and every one of them had something they looked forward to… Hans was left breathless every time he thought about it.

And just as he did when he was a kid, he stared at the passing people as he tried to guess what was on their minds…

The first person to pique his interest was a middle-aged woman, she looked pretty tall, almost the same height as Hans, and her medium-sized heels raised her even higher.

The sound of her heels knocking on the concrete was firm and rhythmic, Hans could hear it even through the walls.

She held a black shiny leather bag in her left hand and she swung her other arm slightly to aid her walking.

Her eyes were focused and absent at the same time, she quickly walked by, and in just a few seconds, everything Hans could see of hers was her dark-furred cape.

She looked like someone important, even just by standing on that island one could say he had scored big in life, but even then, when Hans recalled her eyes and her slightly wrinkled skin, he couldn’t sense any happiness or satisfaction in them.

She was worried because of something, and her mind seemed to be focused on that entirely.

But maybe outside of work, her life was calm… maybe she had a child, maybe even a little girl… she could be a single mother, or maybe her husband was currently abroad for work… maybe she wasn’t even married, she had to take care of her old parents and had no time to think about marriage and kids…

All these hypotheses fit, it was thrilling to think every single person could have so many stories attached to them.

Hans’ following target was a man, he looked to be no older than thirty.

His confident look made him look like a really authoritative person, but his suit suggested that he was not very high-ranked on the corporate ladder.

Maybe a small team leader, or maybe even a normal employee, but he had a clear mind, and it reflected on his face.

He had something he was working to achieve, and that cleared his view of any unnecessary thoughts.

As for his personal life, being so busy with work, maybe he had yet to meet someone he loved, or maybe he had already found a family he wished to provide for, and thinking of them he gained the confidence to continue what he was doing.

Maybe he was simply a guy trying to live up to his parent’s expectations, or maybe he had never met anyone whom he could call his family, and he wanted to work hard to create a better future for his kids.

Well, maybe Hans was being a little bit too imaginative, but he liked to fantasize about this kind of thing.

Before he could find a third subject he could unleash his fantasy on, someone called him out.

“Here it is”

The voice of a woman said as the sound of the little porcelain cup touching the table reached Hans’s ears.

He turned his head calmly and looked at the woman.

He was about to start fantasizing about her story but he stopped himself.

‘Forget about it’

He thought.

‘I’m not here for any of this, dreaming is nice, but the only thing it can do is bring back the memory of when I was little, the person who succeeds is the one who can take the dreams that lay under his pillow and transform them into reality, and wasting time is never the solution to that.’

Hans let his imagination rest as he covered the area around him with a sound barrier.

The woman immediately recognized something was wrong… she looked around, her face filled with stupor.

She could see the lips of the people all around the cafe moving, she could imagine the sound of the girl in the corner of the room sighing, and she could almost hear the voice of the young man boasting a few meters from her…

But…

It was all ‘almost’

She couldn’t do it…. She couldn’t hear the words coming out of the people’s mouths nor the loud sigh let out by the girl in the corner of the room, and she couldn’t figure out the words of self-praise coming from the young man a few meters from her…

She could not hear anything.

Anything apart from…

“Thank you”

Hans said.

The woman’s head quickly turned towards the young man, and she saw him slowly sipping on the coffee she had just brought to his table.

His ember eyes stared right back at her as he invited her to take a seat with him.

Even if quite confused by everything happening around her, the girl couldn’t help but accept the invitation and sit opposite Hans at the little table.

She was quick-witted, and maybe because of that, instead of asking what was happening, or what the boy had done, she immediately began talking about what Hans wanted to know.

“This isn’t exactly what you would call common knowledge, but everyone who’s been around for a while knows that the library is somewhere inside the central tower, more specifically, it should be underneath the island…”

“Underneath?”

Hans asked, indirectly telling the woman she had to clarify.

“Well… underneath our feet, inside the island, there are many people who think the island’s hollow”

“You’re saying… the entirety of the ground… is made up by the library?”

“Yes that’s what most think, but we aren’t sure, as for a way to enter the library… I heard only honorary leaders and leaders of the association can enter, I don’t know if there’s any way to enter without being one, but if anyone knows… that’d probably be the guardian.

There is something that is known publicly… someone guards the library 24/7, and that person is none other than one of the honorary leaders.

But the fact is…

There are lots of honorary leaders on this island, so in case of attack, it would be their responsibility to defend the library…

why would anyone need to guard it personally?”

Hans didn’t have to hear anything more…

The only reason why someone would have to guard it personally was…

To check who could enter and who couldn’t.

In other words, he had to find this ‘guardian’ to gain access to the library.