Chapter 888. Vacation (6)
I never really thought that Lee Ji-Hye was interested in the denizens. I already knew that she simply wanted to fulfill her desires. There was a chance that she was kind of interested in them, but she was currently different from the meticulous and workaholic Lee Ji-Hye.
It was probably because she was too immersed in her role as Lee Ji-Hoo or because she felt pressured about having a decent vacation.
I was not sure whether it was because she felt like this was the only time she could take a break, but she seemed to have completely forgotten the lines she was supposed to say to seduce me.
“You’re nothing, noona,” Lee Ji-Hoo said.
“...”
‘Damn, look at her acting skills.’
“You’re nothing... Lee Ki-Yeon...” Lee Ji-Hoo repeated.
“...”
He kept mumbling that to himself, and his eyes shone in a glint that contained hatred, rage, and affection.
'Why did she not decide to become an actress? She should have debuted in the entertainment business.’
If she had seriously considered becoming one back on Earth, she could have become an actor more famous than Ahn Ki-Mo. The way she became one with her character gave me goosebumps, and I became curious as to what made her like this.
‘She’s really good at storytelling.’
Lee Ji-Hye remained consistent in her words yesterday, and Lee Ji-Hoo started treating me a bit rougher as if he was forcefully telling me that he wasn’t interested in me...
According to the story that she had written, the little bit of sympathy he had for Lee Ki-Yeon would disappear, and a brief period of transition would follow as Lee Ji-Hoo struggled to deny his true feelings.
The changes happened within three days, but it felt like it happened in the blink of an eye. There were details unknown to me, but Writer Lee said that there wasn’t a problem with the story.
Lee Ji-Ho seemed dissatisfied with Lee Ki-Yeon with his own color alone, as his behavior was even starting to taint her.
“What’s the point of telling him, damn it? I need to at least get my act together,” I complained.
“...”
“Excuse me, young master,” I said.
“Shut up,” Lee Ji-Hoo said.
“Well, you see—”
“I told you to shut up,” Lee Ji-Hoo interrupted me.
There was a dull thud as Le Ji-Hoo pushed me into a wall.
“What? Did you miss me?” Lee Ji-Hoo questioned.
‘Someone stop her, damn it. We’re here to work.’
“Young Master, what I’m trying to say is—”
“Well, it can’t be helped,” Lee Ji-Hoo said.
He revealed an evil smile and reached out to me with his dirty hand.
“S-Stop!” I shouted.
I resisted timidly, but he didn’t stop. His face no longer had that tinge of affection toward me, and his face was now filled with hatred and greed.
In the end, I stopped resisting and got ready to cry.
The unrelenting Lee Ji-Hoo looked at Lee Ki-Yeon quietly and took a step back. Lee Ji-Hye's facial expression as Lee Ji-Hoo was so profound that it was an expression that one could only see from actors with at least ten years of experience.
Lee Ji-Hoo breathed in ragged pants as if he was regretting his behavior.
He clenched his trembling hands and turned around.
It was such a perfect sight.
“Get out,” Lee Ji-Hoo ordered.
“What?”
“Get out, noona. Get away from me. I don’t want to see you right now,” Lee Ji-Hoo said.
‘You’ve gone too far, damn it.’
“...”
Like Lee Ji-Hoo's heart, I heard items shattering into pieces behind the tightly shut door.
Clearly, she was still keeping up the act through method acting, even though I wasn’t there in the room with her.
I was genuinely starting to get scared of her because she was getting really immersed in her character. We had great synergy, so I was also getting immersed without realizing it. I had to be careful about that.
I needed to pull myself together and pay attention. One of us had to be rational.
‘We also have an issue with the black market.’
If it weren't for Jillane the Gale or whatever that Ji-Hye noona had hired, we wouldn’t have known that there was a black market in Colorado.
The Federation had never really said anything about it, so it had to be a tiny black market, or it could be a community that the denizens had built themselves. I had no idea what was being sold there.
However, the denizens' conditions...
‘It doesn’t seem that bad, so that’s a relief.’
I climbed down the stairs and felt people looking at me. Rumors about Lee Ji-Hoo, who was equipped with many different items, had to have already spread because no one tried to pick a fight, unlike yesterday.
Our young master did send Jillane flying with one attack as well.
The adventurers were no different from yesterday.
They were still lively, and it looked like there weren't any issues at all. Colorado had always been like this. It was like this yesterday and the day before yesterday. It appeared like the Federation had never gone through those hardships.
All I could see was a city filled with dreams and hope.
I couldn't help but doubt the report that the Black Swan Guild had submitted about the Federation.
‘I’m starting to think that the money we spent for the counseling centers was wasted.’
I could hear loud noises everywhere. Some were drinking rum in the middle of the day, some were working hard to join parties, and others were looking to see if there were decent quests to take.
“Do you have any decent quests left?”
“Hold on.”
“We’re recruiting a priest who wants to party up with us. We welcome everyone who has a job that can provide the same value as a priest. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you do have that kind of job.”
‘Maybe the denizens of the Federation just have a stronger mind than the denizens of the other countries?’
The Federation's situation was not that great.
The Democratic Country had struggled a lot as well, but it was slowly becoming a better place.
“I’m still having a hard time understanding it...” I mumbled. Perhaps the people here just had a different mindset than the rest of the people living on this continent. Colorado had a ton of foreigners, and the city itself was giving off a strong teamwork-like atmosphere.
It would be safe to say that the city was populated by people who wanted to move forward from a difficult past.
I looked around and sat at an empty table.
‘Ah, I wonder if he’s going to eat.’
I went upstairs again.
“Young master, what would you like to...” I trailed off. I didn’t hear an answer, so I went back downstairs and sat down. I looked around, but nothing really caught my attention.
‘Maybe I should head outside.’
I decided to buy some bread at a local bakery. I'd go somewhere and just make an excuse about how I had decided to buy something that the young master would like. I wanted to look around the neighborhood, as I never really had the chance to do so.
I started walking down the streets, and the sight outside wasn’t all that different from the sight inside the adventurer guild. The only difference was that it was filled with adventurers getting ready for their expedition. People in small and large parties were preparing to leave the city.
They were stuffing their bags with necessary items, and some were shouting to catch the last train. They were either going on a hunt or going on a task to acquire raw materials.
And that was when I saw an interesting sight...
'Who are those people?'
I activated Mind’s Eye to see if there was anyone useful among the crowd when a title caught my attention.
[Title - Potion Addict]
If it were just one or two people with the same title, I would have overlooked it, but that wasn’t the case. Among the parties here, either half of them or even the entire party had the "Potion Addict" title. To make things worse, workers and ordinary merchants had this title as well, and my jaw dropped at the absurd sight.
I immediately started figuring out what was going on, and my eyes widened upon realizing the reason why this place was so lively.
Who was in charge of Colorado?
Wouldn’t it be strange if the manager of this city wasn’t involved in this?
- Ji-Hye noona. Noona?
- ...
- Noona?
“I knew she wasn’t going to answer,” I mumbled.
‘I knew it was too good to be true.’
Now that I thought about it, it was really strange that the city was too normal.
Even the denizens of the Democratic Country, who were blessed by the God of Sacrifice and Revival and had religion as the foundation of their mental health, couldn't easily forget the past hardships, so how could these people live an ordinary life when they could be considered to be living in a remote place?
It seemed that the power of going undercover was finally showing its fangs.
“Huh? I think we’re completely out... Ah... damn it... What should I do?”
“What do you mean? You need to get more. We have some time before we need to leave, so hurry and get more.”
“Can’t you lend me some?”
“I only have enough for myself, Malon. Weren’t you told ahead of time that this expedition was going to take more than a week? If you don’t want to hear the clan master nagging at you, hurry up and get some more... I’ll cover for you.”
“Got it. Haa, this is annoying.”
“...”
“Damn it,” Malon swore and walked away from his party members.
I saw people getting on a carriage with mysterious potions in hand, so my assumption was definitely correct.
I merged with the crowd and felt confident because no one recognized me.
Malon headed into a dark alley, but there obviously wasn’t a black market in the dark alley. I was simply following him because I knew they had their own way of distributing those potions.
If the people in power in Colorado were really involved in this, then the process had to be really complicated.
I had a few catalysts with me, so dealing with anything epic-rank would be easy for me.
My Strength was lacking, but my Alchemy Summoning job was a Unique Epic job. Actually, I was physically capable of taking on Average-rank or even Rare-rank warriors. After all, I had received some lessons from Kim Hyun-Sung.
Malon was heading to a place that wasn't really that difficult to find. It made sense, as the potion seemed to be quite easy to access. It seemed that heinous crimes truly often took place in back alleys.
‘Caught you.’
“One week... no, get me one month's worth,” Malon requested.
“Got it. Ah, I’m sorry, but the price has increased a bit,” the staffer said.
“Didn’t you increase the price last month?” Malon asked.
“Haha, I’m sorry. It’s high in demand, and since we’re struggling with the supply...”
“I understand you want to make a profit, but it should still be priced reasonably. Everyone is doing this to make a living. Who would keep buying if they no longer have the money to buy?" Malon complained.
“We are fully aware of our customers’ position,” the staffer said.
“Anyway, thanks for this,” he said.
“Thank you for visiting us. Also... please be a bit more careful next time,” the staffer warned.
“What?”
“Looks like someone has been following you,” the staffer said.
And that was when I felt something cold on the back of my neck...
“Who are you?” the voice asked.
“Uh... I-I-I... Well... you see... I ended up... I... didn’t see anything,” I stuttered.
I felt something covering my mouth, and I caught a whiff of a strong medicine.
They were definitely trying to make me lose consciousness, but weak medicine was ineffective on the fleshly body of the God of Sacrifice and Revival.
Of course, a sharp weapon was effective on me, which was why I was scared. My legs instantly became weak, and I thought it was better to pretend to fall down, so when I fell to the side, I felt a rough set of hands catching me.
- Noona... noona?
- ...
'Looks like I've been kidnapped... what can I do here?'
“What the hell? She’s a slave.”
The guys that spoke were obviously scums of society.