The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 458: Endless Postponement

Well, it shouldn’t have been all that surprising, honestly. The secret organization did have quite a few spies within the Association. Not in high enough positions to be able to find out about this level of confidential information quickly, but still.

It had been bound to happen eventually. Especially since it was already the second half of November... Well, the end of October when Blanc had sent Lane the email. With only about two months left until the summit, the Association had to start involving more than just the Allen Guild in the preparations. They needed multiple venues, as well as hotel bookings, preferably in one of the best hotels in the Capital... In order to get everything ready in time, they couldn’t postpone any of the preparations any longer.

And with more people involved, the information naturally reached the organization’s spies, who reported it to Blanc. To Lane as well, most likely, but since there were so many emails in his inbox, Lane must have missed it when scrolling. Not that it mattered who he heard about it from. He had already known about it for a while, anyway.

The point was that right now, Blanc was aware of it too.

Lane let out another sigh, before scrolling down to continue reading. Just as he had expected, Blanc instantly latched onto this opportunity, pushing forward a few proposals as to how they could use the summit for their advantage...

This was something that certainly required urgent attention. However, Lane didn’t answer just yet. He just opened the notepad app, and quickly noted down a few points he wanted to raise with Blanc, before moving on.

There were still a good few emails from Blanc that he had yet to read, so there was no point in responding. He would just contact him after going through all the important emails, not only those from Blanc, but also from Vulcan, the spies, and some of the other high-ranking members of the Association...

He needed to have a full view of the situation, so that he could solve it in one call (even if only temporarily), rather than having a lengthy back-and-forth. He didn’t have time for that.

The rest of Blanc’s emails were fairly similar - the monthly report sent on the first of November, two weekly reports, and several more proposals regarding the steps they could take during the summit to further their mission, sent with increasing frequency. Judging by the tone, Blanc was getting impatient with Lane’s lack of response...

Well, it was reasonable that he would. Regardless of how Lane felt about it, it was an important issue that had to be discussed as soon as possible, in case they needed to make any preparations. Not getting any answer from his Boss on something so urgent for over two weeks, it was understandable that he was getting annoyed.

He didn’t know Lane’s true identity, after all. Thus, he also had no idea that Lane had been in a dungeon, and couldn’t possibly respond to any emails, even if he had wanted to. Lane never informed any of his underlings about things like that, especially not Blanc, since it could potentially be used as a clue to figure out who he truly was...

And it was way too early for that. Until the secret organization overtook the government, or at least was far along the way of getting there, no one could know, since Lane probably wouldn’t be able to keep his current life once the truth was out. Also, Damien needed to know before anyone else, or else it wouldn’t be fair to him.

Either way, Blanc likely thought that ’the Boss’ was either ignoring him, or procrastinating on his job... Both of which were unacceptable for the supposed leader of such a large-scale organization.

Even Lane was aware of it. So, although he truly didn’t feel like it, he quickly scanned through all of the other important emails, before jumping from the balcony to get to his own apartment, where he switched to his ’the Boss of the secret organization’ number and dialed Blanc.

"Yes, Boss?" After only two signals, Blanc picked up the phone. It was mid-afternoon, so he must have been in his office, working.

"Hey, I’ve read your proposals," Lane got straight to the point. He didn’t know when Damien would be back, and although he got back to his own apartment for the call, just in case, he’d much rather finish it before Damien’s return. Work was important, but his time with his boyfriend was even more valuable.

"Ah, that’s great. Then..."

"I think they’re all good..." Lane interrupted, not even letting Blanc finish. "But... We’re not going to do any of them."

Silence.

For a good moment, Blanc was so quiet, that Lane even had to glance at his screen to check whether they were still connected. Not that Blanc would dare to deliberately hung up on him, but still.

"May I ask why?" Eventually, Blanc managed to ask. He sounded as calm and collected as always, but Lane had a feeling that inwardly, the man was fuming.

It was understandable. With the way Lane had shot him down, after he had put so much work into preparing the proposals, it was only natural that his patience was wearing thin. Even Lane thought that perhaps he should have done it differently, so he said,

"Let me rephrase. I like some of your plans, but the summit is not the right time to execute them. I know that you want to use this opportunity to get the media attention and make a statement, but... Do you know who is in charge of the security for the whole event?"

"...Who?"

"The Allen Guild."

Blanc went silent again. The spies hadn’t caught wind of that just yet, so he didn’t know. But if the Boss was saying it, then the news was most likely true.

"We can still use your proposals, just not now. Perhaps sometime after the summit, when the Association will be less vigilant. We’ll discuss the details later."

"Boss, you... want to postpone taking action again?" Blanc asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice that he wasn’t even trying to hide.

Lane only answered him with a curt, "Yeah. Or else?" To which, Blanc had no choice but to shut up.

If the Allen Guild were in charge of the security, then it was going to be air-tight, since their reputation was on the line. That’s not to say that the secret organization stood no chance against them, but...

In order to defeat the Allen Guild, they would have to gather their forces, pulling most of their members working in various regions and different Forbidden Zones, at the very least including the Guilds secretly belonging to their organization. Once they had done it, though, they would have no choice but to go all out...

And even Blanc was aware that they weren’t ready for that. If they were to rush into it now, their chances of successfully taking over were too slim for comfort.

Thus, for the nth time in recent months, he had to accept the postponement, whether he liked it or not...