Unexpected Fortune?
63. Unexpected Fortune? After that, the man who introduced himself as my manager kept visiting me from time to time. But contrary to what I expected, it no longer seemed like his purpose was interrogation. If I had to put it bluntly, he was coming just to keep me company… The conversations were mostly about everyday things rather than digging into my past, and he simply updated me on recent issues happening outside. As a result, he led nearly all of our talks. It seemed he felt uneasy about a young child being locked up in a place like this, so he dropped by whenever he had time. From this, I could tell his personality was genuinely good—he had brushed off my provocation during our first meeting without making a big deal of it. He also showed consideration in our conversations and subtly checked my reactions. The only thing that still bothered me was the surveillance cameras that continued to watch this place with glowing red eyes from their fixed positions. But based on past experience, as long as I was careful only when lying, there didn’t seem to be any real danger. In the end, these occasional meetings with him weren’t exactly pleasant, but I came to accept them as minor, tolerable events. How should I put it… Even though I wasn’t particularly dissatisfied with my current life, humans are social creatures, aren’t they? Even though my race had completely changed, my mind was still undeniably human. In other words, even in a mundane daily routine, some level of conversation was necessary. In the past, I had satisfied that need to some extent while working as a porter, but things were different now. I only exchanged brief words with the staff who cleaned the room or brought meals, and Ulthar only appeared when he felt like it. In that boring routine, the manager who occasionally visited and spoke to me casually became a suitable form of stimulation. And among those conversations, there was one story I absolutely couldn’t just brush aside.
“!!!... Th-this… This is really my money?!”
“…Huh? Oh, yeah, of course. Since we couldn’t open an account under your name while your identity wasn’t confirmed, we put it somewhere else for now. Still, it’s all yours. That part hasn’t changed.”
He flinched as he watched me suddenly rise from my seat, both hands planted on the table. His reaction was understandable. Just moments ago I had been acting like an innocent little girl, only to flip the moment I saw the documents. But right then, I didn’t have the luxury to care about that. The numbers printed on the documents in front of me. They were incredibly long… So long that I couldn’t even calculate the exact amount at first glance. I couldn’t even begin to count how many zeros there were. Still, with trembling eyes, I carefully counted the units and realized it easily exceeded hundreds of millions. It was an amount I had never encountered even once in all my memories of living as Kim Seojun. Having that kind of money suddenly thrust in front of me made both my hands holding the documents and my eyes shake nonstop, as if an earthquake had struck. Was this what it felt like to win the lottery? To me, whose past self as a poor commoner was still vividly present, the current situation felt so unreal that it wouldn’t have been strange even if it were a dream.
On the other hand, watching me, he wore an ambiguous expression with question marks practically floating above his head. From his perspective, it must have seemed strange for a young girl who supposedly had no sense of money to react so violently. With dazed, unfocused eyes still fixed on the documents, I belatedly noticed his gaze and wiped my mouth, which had been hanging open as if drool might spill out. But the excitement and shock etched on my face didn’t fade easily. Seeing this, Yuhan pushed aside his subtle feelings and calmly began explaining.
“Do you remember the cave-type dungeon where you were rescued? You might not know this, but an enormous amount of magic stones were discovered there.”
“Magic stones…?”
“Ah, you don’t know what magic stones are. They’re highly condensed energy crystals found inside monsters. Hmm… To put it simply, they’re just extremely expensive rocks you can get inside dungeons? Anyway, all the magic stones found there are supposed to go to you. According to regulations, byproducts discovered inside a dungeon belong to the party that obtained the clearing rights. If the leader dies in an accident like this, the surviving members are supposed to divide them.”
I gave a natural reaction, as if hearing the word “magic stones” for the first time. It made sense that a twelve-year-old girl with unclear memories wouldn’t know about them, so I added a bit more acting. He, in turn, added more explanation as if he had been waiting for this. But even though I understood where the money came from, the most important part remained.
“But… I wasn’t part of that party, was I? I don’t even have clear memories of how I ended up in that dungeon in the first place…”
After all, ‘Kim Seoa’ had absolutely no connection to that party—she was a complete stranger. Of course, things would have been different if I were still Kim Seojun, but my past self had already vanished completely from this world. The regulations he explained were something I already knew well. When distributing profits earned from clearing a dungeon, if the leader died in an unexpected accident, the remaining party members would divide the shares in exact proportions. But since I wasn’t included in that regulation’s scope, I had inwardly resigned myself. It was a shame, but at the time, surviving had been the priority. Naturally, since I had personally wiped out that entire party, there were no survivors left to receive those vast magic stones. So I had assumed the Council, who discovered the scene, would have taken everything, thinking it was a windfall. In the end, I had completely given up, believing it was a stroke of luck far beyond my means from the very beginning… But to think it would turn out like this. On one hand, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. The very thing those bastards who drove me to death had so desperately wanted had ended up in my hands instead. I had already completed my revenge by leaving not a single one of them alive, but now I had even obtained the magic stones I thought I had lost forever. It was nothing short of a perfect victory.
As I muttered this to myself with a confused expression, he waved his hand dismissively.
“I don’t know the details either, but… the team leader, who’s the final decision-maker on this matter, personally decided it. The rights to the collected magic stones all belong to you, the sole survivor. It’s a bit ambiguous under the regulations, but since he made the call… Maybe he took your current situation into consideration?”
That was the speculation he offered after pondering for a moment. Thinking about my current circumstances, it did seem plausible. A girl with no relatives or place to stay. On top of that, being an Awakener with a striking appearance made it impossible to hide, so she could easily fall into the hands of those with ill intentions. In the end, she would have to be sent to a nearby orphanage… From that perspective, it was more than enough to evoke sympathy.
“……”
In this surreal situation, I wore a blank expression and gently touched my soft cheek with one hand. Just a few days ago, I had nothing but complaints about this appearance. Not only had I never used it before… but my partner was gone, and the identity I had carried for decades had collapsed. It was natural to feel negative emotions. When Ulthar had subtly whispered that this current form might be better, I had thought he was spouting nonsense. ‘If I really think about it, maybe this changed appearance is a bit better than before…?’ Unconsciously thinking this, I suddenly met his gaze and snapped back to reality with a start. I couldn’t believe I was having such crazy thoughts. Feeling as if I had crossed a line I shouldn’t have, I quickly shook my head and redirected my thoughts elsewhere. Sympathy was a sufficient reason, but it still felt a bit forced to accept his actions based on that alone. The only thing I could guess at was the near-miraculous regenerative ability of this body that I had accidentally revealed last time. But even using that as a reason didn’t quite add up. If my abilities were his goal, the normal thing would be to keep me captive and under his control. Yet everything he had done so far pointed in the exact opposite direction. He had created a new identity for me and even handed me an enormous sum of money that an ordinary person couldn’t earn in a lifetime. It was more like he was helping me become self-reliant. If he wanted, he could just keep me locked up here and calmly study my abilities without any issues. And that woman who had seemed like she would start experimenting on me right away was also quiet now. I couldn’t figure out what those two were really after.
Perhaps noticing my deep contemplation, after finishing his explanation and watching my reaction for a moment, he placed the black bag he had left beside his chair onto the table.
“You can ask the team leader directly about those concerns when you meet him later. More importantly, it’ll get cold! Eat it before it gets soggy.”
“Ohhh!... It smells good. Did you get the menu I requested?”
“Of course, since you asked. It’s the DHC half-and-half chicken, right? It just came out, so let’s eat before it gets cold. I also brought plates and plastic gloves in the bag, so take them out and use them.”
A delicious aroma suddenly filled the room. What was inside the bag was none other than piping hot, freshly made chicken. And it was the food I had specifically requested from him. Of course, the meals the staff brought every day weren’t bad, but they felt too focused on nutrition. In a word, they tasted like delicious school lunches. They had been good at first, but I was starting to get tired of them. Even if I complained to the staff, it was hard to get the answer I wanted. Just as I was starting to crave stimulating instant food, he appeared at the perfect time, and when I casually made the request, he readily accepted. The only problem—the dust that had filled the room—was now completely gone, and since I had been using the ventilation fan more frequently, the air inside was now completely fresh. After quickly finishing my preparations, I opened the box inside the black bag. Then, carefully examining the contents for a moment, I picked up a large chicken leg and took a big bite. Because my mouth had shrunk along with this body, I couldn’t tear into it as satisfyingly as I wanted, but the familiar savory and light taste from my memories naturally softened my expression. Seeming satisfied with this sight, he watched me with a gentle, fatherly smile. There were still many things bothering me, but for now, I decided to push them into a corner of my mind. After all, no amount of thinking here would reveal their true intentions, so it would be better to just ask directly when I met them later, as he suggested. Besides, there was something else I needed to focus on right now. With a languid expression from the happiness filling my mouth, I quickly turned my thoughts inward. The boss strategy, which was now almost within reach. The plan for it had been repeatedly reinforced and revised through multiple experiences, gradually approaching perfection. With the single-minded determination to clear it before escaping this underground place, my eyes quietly burned with an intensity no one else could see. And so, he sitting right in front of me, along with those watching from elsewhere, spent quite some time enjoying the sight of a cute girl devouring her meal.