Luke's Sweet Chapter 03-06
Overview
- Stage Cost: None
- First Clear Rewards: None
Guide
- Hover to view spoiler content.
Script
Detective Agency
Progress the story - Go to Luke's Residence 3F to progress the story.
You come over early in the morning as agreed to meet up with Luke and discuss Tony Lester's situation.
As soon as you push open the door, you see Luke standing next to the whiteboard and leaning on the wall, his attention completely focused on the documents in his hands.
Luke: Have a seat. I'm just checking something.
Luke grins at you, then returns to his research. This has been his normal state of being for a while.
A few days ago, a young man named Tony Lester entrusted an antique that needed fixing to Luke, then promptly vanished. After some investigation, you realize that Tony was the one who saved Morten Rickmon.
The abnormal symptoms the young man was exhibiting are also related to Victoria Pharmaceuticals. You surmise that he is a key individual who might be able to help the police disband Victoria and the forces behind the company.
You haven't seen much progress with Tony's case. After taking various factors into account, the police have decided to open the case as a disappearance.
You: How is everything?
You see Luke putting the magnifying glass aside as he falls deep in thought. He also puts the document he's reading down on the table. The pages are covered in tiny words.
After a few days of looking into the antique Tony left, Luke discovered that it indeed contains a hidden mechanism, but he has yet to figure out how to solve it.
Luke: There's a groove that can slide around at the bottom of the antique. I should be able to solve it by pushing the object in the groove into the right place.
Luke: But it feels like something's missing. I've tried a few methods, and it still doesn't work.
A thick pile of documents lies next to Luke's hand, and many of them are covered in multicolored tags. It seems like he had another late night.
Seeing his aggrieved expression and the dark circles around his eyes, you pass a glass of water to him.
You: If you really can't think of anything, why don't we put it down for a bit and think about something else?
You: If we come back later, we might even get some new inspiration.
Luke takes the glass and takes a few gulps before standing up and doing a long stretch.
Luke: Okay, then I'll take a break from butting my head against that mechanism.
Luke: Also, I have some news from the investigation that I want to tell you.
Luke pulls up a document and shows it to you.
Luke: This is a complete list of the hospitals Tony Lester has been to and his medical records. Look at this...
You read the first few pages, which contain hospital visit records and the list of medications used by Tony.
You: Tony had a stomach operation. He was recovering pretty well, but then... complications suddenly started to appear?
Luke: Correct. After these few pages, it's all records of him going to different multiple hospitals for check-ups and treatment.
You notice that there are a few hospitals that Luke and you have investigated recently.
You: Did you find anything new?
Luke: The police have checked every hospital Tony has been to and found one that might be related to Victoria Pharmaceuticals.
Luke: Unfortunately, it was a private hospital, and it already closed down a few months ago.
You: Slippery as eels.
Luke: The other hospitals are all pretty normal. There's nothing out of the ordinary for his treatments or the source of their medications.
Luke: Right. This part contains Tony's examination results. He has organ failure... a fever of unknown origin... and symptoms such as nerve pain.
You: But... why did Tony stop visiting a hospital again after this?
Luke sinks deep into thought when he hears your question. He stands up and walks to the whiteboard, then stands there looking at the clues and questions written all over the board during the past few days' investigations.
Luke: My guess is that... he suspected his symptoms were due to the medications he took.
Luke: He's been to so many hospitals but still couldn't get effective treatment... so he gave up. Instead, he wanted to do something else within his capacities.
Luke: Such as investigating the hospitals that he believes are problematic.
Luke's gaze seems to pierce through the scattered clues, catching a glimpse of that young man and the choices he made when faced with this despairing situation.
You softly lean against Luke. Listening to his rather despondent voice, your heart seems to ache as well.
However, this is not the time to feel defeated. You just want to help Luke change the way he is approaching this and find the inspiration to solve the antique's mechanism.
You take a deep breath and quickly change the topic.
You: Right! Tell me, what was it like when Tony visited you on that day? I've only heard you mention bits and pieces of it. I'm really curious.
Luke: Let me think about it carefully...
You've successfully directed Luke's focus elsewhere. He puts his chin in his hand as he thinks about what happened that morning.
Luke: When Tony showed up with an antique in his arms, I was the one who opened the door for him.
Luke: Mmm... also, when he was closing the door, he deliberately turned and looked around outside.
You: ...Was he trying to see if he was being followed?
Luke: That is what I think, too.
Luke walks up to his computer and softly pats it.
Luke: But we've checked the surveillance. Those suspicious individuals weren't there yet when Tony got here.
You: True... Then, was there anything odd after Tony came inside?
Hearing you ask this, Luke puts on a bitter smile and looks rather defeated.
Luke: Maybe I'm getting a bit delusional... but the more I investigate in the past few days, the more I feel as if everything I'd initially thought of as normal when he visited probably meant something...
You: Then is there anything that stands out to you?
Luke picks up a pen from the table and twirls it between his fingers out of habit. His gaze wavers as he begins to think.
He then walks up to the door, pretending to hold something as he opens and closes the door... It's as if he is recreating the scene from when Tony came in.
Following this, he acts as if he is putting something on the table before looking up at you.
Luke: Tony put the antique on the table. He didn't ask for the price, or if I could fix it, or when I could get it done... he just looked at me for a while.
Luke: I've seen plenty of bizarre clients, so I didn't think too much about it at the time.
Luke: I just asked him to fill out the required information on the form I use to register customers.
Luke: But now that I think about it... Tony wasn't sizing me up or assessing whether I was up to the task. He might have been trying to tell me something.
You: Did he say anything after that?
Luke solemnly nods with a hint of concern in his eyes.
Luke: He said something... that makes it worth thinking over now considering the current situation...
Luke: He said, "I can only entrust this to you."
Luke: His expression looked like he just made a momentous decision... Anyway, he left after saying that.
You: Right... and then, just as he was about to leave, I ran into him at the front door...
You imagine the scene on that day through Luke's descriptions and suddenly realize something odd...
You: Tony came all the way over here to give the item to you, and talked about "entrusting" it to you... as if those were his la—
Unwilling to say something so ominous out loud, you try a different way.
You: It sounded like he had to do something, and needed to entrust some important secrets to other people before he could feel reassured.
Luke: Entrust... secrets...
You: It's odd... Why did he have to give it to you? And how does he know you'll understand the mechanism and open it?
You: Did he leave behind any unique hints? Or did he do something that seems innocuous and would easily be overlooked?
You: Those are just my guesses... I'm not sure...
Luke: Hold on... Did you say hints!?
Luke: Entrust... hints...
Luke lowers his head and furrows his brows together as if he just realized something important. He starts to mumble to himself.
He suddenly looks up.
Luke: I got it! I got it!
You: Huh? What did you get?
Luke: Come with me! Let's go downstairs to solve that mechanism!
Antique Shop
Solve the mechanism - Go to Luke's Residence 1F to progress the story.
Luke doesn't sit on the chair. He bends over the table and operates the mechanism with great care.
Standing next to him, you can hear the soft clicks inside the antique as Luke's fingers move. It is the sound of the mechanism turning.
You can't help but hold your breath and feel anxious, hoping that you will be able to solve it this time.
However, Luke frowns at that moment and pauses.
You: What's wrong?
Luke: Huh? Weird...
Luke looks puzzled as he stares at the antique.
Luke: Something's stuck at the last step... Seems like we're still missing something...
You: Take your time. Keep thinking.
You: The fact that the mechanism moved means this attempt was working. Anyway, did you recall something just now?
Luke: I just went over all the actions Tony did...
Luke is halfway through his sentence when he suddenly pauses. His brows are no longer furrowed in thought.
Luke: ...That's right! His actions! Let me try again!
He rushes back to the antique and carefully turns it upside down. He whacks three times at the dip at the center of the base.
You hear a soft thud.
Luke: It seems like I was right...
Luke's brows raise with his excitement, and his fingers once again fiddle with the metal next to the groove like before.
You: Eh!?
*Click!*
You then hear the sound of metallic gears turning and the crisp sound of something clicking into place from inside the antique.
Almost simultaneously, a rusty metallic panel slowly rises from the base.
You: You solved it!
Luke: Phew... Finally, it opened.
You: That's awesome! But how did you come up with that idea? I saw that you whacked it three times, and the rest were pretty much the same actions as before.
Luke carefully pokes at the metal protrusion.
Luke: It's all thanks to your hint.
Luke: Otherwise, I might never have realized it.
You: My hint?
Luke: What you said about entrusting something important to other people.
Luke: It reminded me that... apart from saying those words, Tony also patted the top of this item three times.
Luke: I thought he was just concerned and didn't think about that specific action at the time.
Luke: But after hearing your words, I feel that anything he did on that day might have been a hint.
Luke: So I tried it on the mechanism. Who would have thought that it would work?
Using the tool in his hand, Luke pries open the base and looks inside the mechanism.
Luke: Eh?
He pokes around inside the item and soon takes out something white.
You: Huh? What's this...?
Luke: A note.
Luke puts down his tool, opens the neatly folded note, and then spreads it on the table to read it with you.
It contains a few rows of handwritten text, but you can't understand it at all.
You: It's... a bunch of symbols and numbers?
Luke shakes his head and looks at the note with his magnifying glass. His eyes light up and he excitedly turns to point them out to you.
Luke: The bottom-left corner! Look, there are some black dots here. But if you look at it through a magnifying glass, it says...
Luke: "Home holds a unique significance for each individual"... It should be a special hint, no?
You: Home... and unique significance? What would it have to do with the symbols in the note...?
Luke: Yeah...
Luke does not seem as confused as you are. He quickly develops an idea after looking at it for a few minutes.
Luke: Seems like this hint needs to be understood in conjunction with the symbols up here...
He copies the content of the note into his notebook, muttering and thinking as he transcribes it as if he's calculating.
This is his area of expertise. You quietly sit next to him and try not to disturb him.
After a while, Luke pats the table and stands up. He then walks up to you with his notebook.
Luke: Look! I solved a few keywords.
He shows the book to you as he speaks.
You see a few words circled in a mess of letters and symbols.
You: Pharma... Net... Entrust... Bookshelf
You: So this is...!!!
Luke: I got these words based on my experience with deciphering.
Luke: But I can't get anything more. We need the codebook for the rest of the cipher.
Luke: As to where that might be, I think we have the answer right there...
Luke's finger moves toward the final hint. At the same time, you both point at the deciphered word written on it...
You: Bookshelf! A bookshelf at Tony's house!
Luke smiles softly.
Luke: "Great minds think alike."
Luke: We need to go to Tony's home and look through his bookshelf. We might find something new there.
You: Then let's go!
Compared to unknown and possible clues, the ascertained result feels much more pressing.
Both of you are very keen to know what clues the young man left behind. Perhaps there might be a hint as to his current whereabouts.
Crack the password - Head to Tony's residence to progress the story.
After checking in with the police, you arrive at Tony Lester's home.
You and Luke scan the parameters and only go up the stairs after making sure no one suspicious is around.
Inside the place, there is a bookshelf standing against the wall, only slightly more than one meter tall.
You: Let's split up and look at different parts of the shelf. What should I be looking for?
Luke: Any book that has handwritten notes or something about the meaning of home would be a possibility.
Luke: Oh, and any books that are somehow related to symbols.
You: Sure. I'll start from the left.
Luke: Cool. I'll start from the other side.
You both get very engrossed in the search, only offering each other a quick smile whenever you accidentally bump into the other, then immediately turning back to the task at hand.
And yet, as you finish looking through your side of the shelf, you still haven't found anything. You can't help but feel concerned.
And that's when you hear Luke shout.
Luke: This should be it!
You: Oh! You found it!?
Luke is holding a notebook that has turned yellow with age. He opens a few pages and shows them to you.
The notebook is completely covered with handwritten numbers, letters, and obscure symbols.
Luke: This must be the code book for those lines Tony wrote.
You: Let's check what we've already deciphered against this. If it matches, then this should be the one.
Luke smiles at you.
Luke: Let's try it right now.
He puts the code book next to the table and starts to verify his previous decryption.
He soon reaches a conclusion, and you can already tell the answer by looking at how excited he is.
Luke: It matches! This is exactly what we're looking for!
Luke: I'm gonna decipher everything on this note right now.
You: Good luck! I'm rooting for you.
Luke is very much motivated by your praise. He quickly takes out his laptop from his bag and starts decrypting.
As you watch Luke dig into the decryption, the complicated and scattered clues for this case start to assemble themselves in your head as well.
Luke is obviously an expert at decryption. It doesn't take long for him to glance over at you with a confident smile.
Luke: All done! Come and look at what I got!
You: That was fast...
Luke presses the "Enter" key when you move over.
The deciphered symbols on the screen then start to shift to the corresponding positions according to some special patterns.
The rows of symbols finish lining up, and the screen flickers as the complicated symbols gradually shift into their true "self."
You: This looks like a website address! And the numbers below...
Luke: It should be a password. Let me have a try...
Luke brings up a secure web connection and enters the deciphered address and the password. Sure enough, he successfully accesses the website after a few seconds.
You: It worked! What's in there? Are there any instructions?
Luke quickly operates the website, the mouse moving rapidly as you speak. He's keen to know the truth as well.
However, as he opens one file after another, you and Luke both feel your hearts sink as you read the content.
Every document contains a meticulous account of the background, business performance, enterprise architecture, and staff details concerning Victoria and its subsidiary companies...
You: Tony Lester... was able to get this much information...
Luke: Lots of the illegal businesses Victoria operates via its subsidiaries are being very careful. They move overseas as soon as they earn a profit, then wipe themselves from public sight in this country...
Luke: No wonder the police couldn't find anything when they looked. These companies are "recidivists."
You: Just think about what they did to Rickmon...
You browse the information in the files as you discuss between yourselves. After looking over everything, you notice another file at the very bottom of the folder.
You: Hmm? Luke, what's this last file titled "Explanation"?
Luke: Huh? Let me have a look...
In the next instant, the document's content appears on the screen.
"The person who has successfully deciphered everything and is reading this must be Luke Pearce, right?"
"All of this information about Victoria was discovered by me through their intranet over time. I did my best to organize it, but it's probably still pretty messy."
"Mr. Pearce, I don't have much time left, and I don't have enough power to expose them. Therefore, I can only entrust this to you."
Luke: ...
You: ...
Seeing these few rows of heavy words, Luke clutches his hand into a fist. Then, he takes a deep breath and quickly picks up his phone.
Luke: I'm going to make a call to Officer Day right now!
Luke explains everything on the phone and sends over the content that you sorted.
After he hangs up, you two look at each other, and you both fix your mind on an even bigger problem.
You: Luke... if Tony entrusted such an important item to you...
Luke: Then where did he go? Are you wondering the same thing, too?
You can both tell each other's thoughts without needing to say anything out loud.
You: Yeah... Seeing all this information you've deciphered, I'm feeling more worried about Tony than ever.
However, this empty room holds no answers as to Tony's current whereabouts.
Luke pauses for a moment, as if realizing something. His expression seems rather serious and concerned.
Luke: Now that I'm thinking over this question again, I think I'll have a different answer.
Luke: I think Tony doesn't want anyone to find him. Otherwise... he could have left a note about where he would be in this cipher.
You: ...I think that might be true.
After saying this, you glance at Luke next to you and shake your head.
You: I feel like... I've seen this kind of behavior from someone else before.
Luke: Oh? Someone else?
You: For example, deciding things on his own, or keeping secrets to himself...
It takes a while for Luke to realize who you're talking about.
He turns away, and his gaze wanders everywhere that isn't in your direction.
Luke: Ahem... Well, if you put it that way, then Tony is definitely a dumb boy.
You: Tell me about it...
After this banter, your mood recovers somewhat.
You: Right... so where do you think Tony might be hiding?
Luke: I don't have any leads myself... and we also can't write off the possibility that he is either in danger or has already met with a mishap.
You: Makes sense. After all, Victoria still has their eyes on him. I hope we can find him faster than they do...
Luke: True. As fast as possible — I'm still pretty worried.
Luke: Then let's not wait around any longer. Let's head to his school and investigate more.
You: Okay!
