Rope looked at Junji without budging and very blandly pulled out a card. That card had Rope's picture and basic information on it.
It was a proof of identity that every researcher possessed, just like since the emergence of the Pokédex true League full-fledged trainers were able to have a free Pokémon Pokédex that could prove their identity.
As for other non-League trainers... those who have money can buy their own, while those who don't have money can only apply for a free ID card. The League attaches great importance to the cultivation of new trainers, but the League can't afford to give every new trainer a free Pokédex, which has many functions and is quite expensive to build.
And... if everyone is equal, where's the upward mobility?
Rope's copy of this ID is technically expired, though.
That's because he's been a Pokémon Professor since he started traveling, and this certificate is still a researcher. Renewing your ID is something you need to do at the Researcher's Association, or at one of the big research institutes, or at one of the big, regular trainer schools. Unfortunately, since Rope started traveling, he has been doing one thing after another, so he doesn't have the time or energy to change his identity card.
Thinking about this, Rope also made up her mind that this time, when she arrived in Cerulean City, she would definitely go to the local researcher association to renew her identity card.
Junji's face was rather hard to read, but there was nothing wrong with what Rope said, and having them people go head-to-head with a Pokémon Researcher, don't kid yourself. A researcher wasn't afraid of not being able to find a second job, but if he offended a Pokémon Researcher, it was fine if the other person didn't have much energy, but if they did, it wasn't a matter of losing their job, it was a matter of losing their future.
The researcher is not like a trainer, a little bit of fame is basically known. If a researcher doesn't have significant results, he or she will always be known in a small circle.
Only researchers like Professor Oak, those who had significant results and had been famous for many years, even written into textbooks, had the possibility of coming out of the circle to be recognized by everyone.
But Rope is getting close. His research is something that could fill out the history of Pokémon in the distant past. So textbooks are expected to see Rope's research soon.
But Junji and these other workers didn't know if the researcher in front of them was some kind of big shot, but no one was willing to gamble on this stuff.
Kids cry every day, and betting on dogs loses every day.
So they could only coldly say that he was at liberty to do as he pleased after ascertaining the authenticity of Rope's researcher's identity. Then they stepped aside and decided to report back to the top in an hour and a half.
Of course, Junji also implicitly gave Rope some reminders.
"Don't you go wandering off! We were clearing out a whole bunch of skeletons of various Pokémon on the river. Most of them were in a horrible state of death. And the sludge has a sewer-like feel to it, and it's very sticky, so be careful you don't get dragged down. Otherwise a little person like us can't afford to do that! The headquarters isn't too far from here. It's about two hours away. Don't disturb our rest in between you! We can only rest for an hour!"
Junji purposely emphasized on the word "little people", and Rope naturally knew what he meant.
"No problem, I'll be safe and won't bother you guys again within this hour, just pretend I'm not here."
Rope responded with a smile and a glint in his eye.
Junji, of course, didn't give him a good look, and with a grunt, he walked over to the gathered workers and sat down.
Rope looked at Junji with interest, thinking that this man was really quite talented for being just a laborer. Granted, small people have small wits, but this guy didn't give off the impression of being small.
What was this guy... again?
But he didn't think much about it, whatever Junji was, he was sure of protecting himself and his partner, as well as guarding his loot. So what Junji was had little effect on him.
So Rope naturally began his research.
On the other hand, Junji, who had returned to the group of workers, looked at the crowd of people who were looking at him with bated breath and smiled, "It went according to the original plan, and he agreed."
These workers were also relieved to hear that. No one wanted to lose their jobs, and no one wanted to offend what they thought was an official researcher, especially one from the Oak Research Center, which was quite influential in the Kanto region.
So they would rather work overtime for an extra hour afterward than offend someone or lose their jobs.
But people are bound to think differently.
So a worker who was on the thin side asked rather timidly, "Brother Junji, we won't be punished by the company if we do this, right?"
Junji sniffed, a smile appeared on his face, and he was just about to speak out in relief when this skinny young man was slapped on the back of his head by another tall and strong young worker.
"Do you have any fucking brains? If you don't tell me, I won't tell you, and no one tells you, who knows that you asked this guy to study it for an hour? Besides, the company asked us to come here to do this kind of dirty, tiring, and dangerous work. Do you feel comfortable in your heart? We are their employees! But we are not slaves! I don't like doing this job, but they said I'd be fired if I don't want to do it! I came here because I had no choice. Let this researcher check it out. At least we have to find out what happened here, whether it will harm our health, and if it does, will it affect our wives and children at home. You are thinking about the company all the time now, what's wrong? Do you really treat the company as your home?"
There is a say one, the words are not rough, but it can also be seen, this water source company's corporate culture of the whole is really not in place, the company's bottom employees do not have any sense of belonging.
There wasn't even a minimum of respect...
Junji waved his hand, interrupting the tall and strong man's words, and then looked at the skinny worker and said, "Hideki, I understand your concern, don't worry, in case something happens, I will take the first responsibility."
The skinny worker then breathed a sigh of relief and explained as if he was relieved, "Brother Junji, I really don't mean that, I just... ugh..."
At the end of his words, he sighed softly as if he had something difficult to say, and then stopped making a sound.
Junji looked at the others, and unsurprisingly noticed that quite a few others were showing the same look of relief as Hideki. He didn't say anything either, just smiled silently. Then found an empty space and sat down as well.
The atmosphere among the workers became strange.
The taller worker from just now knew that the atmosphere was not right, but he didn't know what to say, holding his face red, and finally could only helplessly bow his head and join the silent atmosphere.
On the other hand, Rope really realized that there was something wrong with the sludge.
He lowered his head and stared at the sludge.
"It's Muk... to be precise, it's Muk's corpse..."
He raised his head and glanced at the river, quite a distance of which was completely filled with Muk's corpse.
"What, exactly, happened?"