The Hidden Shop and a Village in Ruins
Dong-hee’s eyes stung from exhaustion, and she nearly answered with a simple “yes.” But then she remembered how the activation fee alone had cost her sixty points, so she asked carefully instead. She also glanced over to make sure the butler, who had been dozing across from her, hadn’t woken up.
He must have been truly worn out. The butler had now leaned his head against the carriage wall and was properly asleep.
“Does viewing an organized list also deduct points?”
That's rather sharp of you. Viewing the organized list will only cost an additional 5 points.
It's cheap enough that even the monsters in the back alleys could afford it, but for a user as desperately poor as yourself, it would still be quite the burden. Therefore, the first use will be provided free of charge.
Dong-hee couldn’t decide whether to thank the system or curse it. The status window flickered with a brief rainbow shimmer, then unfolded with a soft rustling sound, revealing lines of text.
Items available for purchase with 60 points.
1. Attention Whistle / Can draw the focus of at least 200 people at once.
2. Power-up Gloves / Grants ten times the user’s normal strength (based on the user’s usual power level).
3. Warmth Cloak / Helps maintain body temperature in extreme cold. (For one person. Effect is halved when used by two.)
There were only three items, yet each one looked tempting.
After careful thought, Dong-hee chose number two. It seemed the most suitable for protecting herself in her current situation. She had no idea just how much raw power it would give her, but ten times her normal strength sounded incredibly useful.
The moment she thought number two in her mind, something dropped onto her lap with a soft thud.
She had expected something like sturdy leather gloves for a strength-boosting item, but what appeared was a pair of delicate lace gloves.
Her first thought was, Did I just get scammed?
But the instant she slipped them on, Dong-hee instinctively felt the immense power now coursing through her grip.
The fluttering lace design wasn’t exactly to her taste, but the effect was undeniably impressive. A powerful strength she hadn’t felt before surged through her hands.
“The hidden shop is actually pretty decent.”
For something that only cost sixty points, it was remarkably useful.
Dong-hee considered taking the gloves off and storing them in her inventory, but decided to keep them on—just in case.
Power-up Gloves have been purchased. 60 points have been deducted. Your remaining points are now 0. Just kidding.
“Hey!”
Irritated by that last jab, she shouted. The blue window vanished instantly, and she found the butler staring at her with wide, startled eyes.
“Hic! I-I’m sorry! I stayed up too late last night!”
The butler, jolted awake, hurriedly gathered the papers that had fallen to the floor and apologized in a rush.
Because he had been dozing with his head against the carriage wall, his graying hair was now a complete mess, sticking up like a bird’s nest.
When the elderly man began groveling and apologizing to her, Dong-hee didn’t know what to do. She waved her hands frantically.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“I-is that so?”
The butler asked again, but he didn’t look convinced.
“Yeah. I dozed off for a second and had a nightmare, that’s all.”
“Ah… Do you still have nightmares often, my lady?”
It had been a casual excuse, but the butler’s face hardened with concern. While Dong-hee fumbled for a reply, the carriage gradually slowed and came to a stop.
They had arrived at Morta Village.
Ruins.
That was the first word that came to Dong-hee’s mind when she saw Morta Village.
“My lady, this village desperately needs food rations. We’ve had two years of drought in a row. The crops have completely failed, and sick people are appearing everywhere.
If things continue like this, everyone in Morta Village will starve to death. Please, just this once, show them some mercy…”
The butler, who had been wearing an uncomfortable expression the entire time, finally spoke as if he had made up his mind. The way he squeezed his eyes shut and fired off the words like a machine gun made it clear he had been holding them in for a long time.
“Do it.”
Her immediate answer left the butler staring blankly before he slowly repeated, “...Pardon?”
“Have them bring some food here.”
Dong-hee answered while gazing out the window, unable to bring herself to step down from the carriage just yet.
The fact that the butler had launched into such a detailed explanation before she could even speak suggested he had requested food aid many times before. It seemed the previous lord had refused every single time. People were in this state, and he just ignored them? As their lord?
Dong-hee thought of the warm soup and soft bread she had eaten that morning.
People who might not even remember how many days they had gone without food were right in front of her, yet she had been enjoying luxurious meals. An indescribable wave of guilt crashed over her.
Moreover, these people were under the lord’s direct responsibility.
Current Favorability of Territory Residents: -199,450
Current Favorability of Territory Residents: -199,550
Current Favorability of Territory Residents: -199,770
⋯
Current Favorability of Territory Residents: -200,950
The favorability, which had been dropping rapidly, quickly plunged past negative two hundred thousand.
Damn it.
When Dong-hee shot up from her seat, the dazed butler scrambled to his feet as well.
“Are you getting off, my lady?”
“Yes.”
“It could be dangerous.”
The butler glanced nervously at the bleak scene outside the carriage, his voice thick with unease.
Above all, the villagers’ hostility toward the lord was no small matter. Although the current lord wasn’t exactly likable, she was still the last hope of the Grace Territory.
Dong-hee wanted to step down and examine the village more closely.
“That’s why I brought the knights with me. Send someone to fetch food for immediate distribution.”
“How much…?”
The butler still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He half-expected her to change her mind any second and throw a tantrum about leaving this filthy village immediately.
“Enough for these people to eat their fill right now.”
“We don’t have nearly that much.”
Butler Scrooge’s voice was completely drained of energy as he answered.
Dong-hee let out a deep sigh, then asked in a voice so low no one else could hear.
“Then how much food is stored in the castle’s warehouse?”
Her heart pounded anxiously the entire time she asked. It felt exactly like receiving an electricity bill when you had no money to pay it. Stress prickled up her spine without her even realizing.
Scrooge frowned deeply for a long moment as if deep in thought, then finally answered with an extremely serious expression.
“If we empty the warehouse of every last grain, it should be enough to feed the people of this village for three days.”
“That means the people inside the castle will have nothing left to eat.”
“Yes.”
It was an impossible dilemma. But with starving people right before her eyes, she couldn’t just do nothing.
“For now, bring out enough to fill their stomachs today. I’ll figure out the rest afterward.”
“Yes! Understood!”
The butler’s face lit up with joy at her words. He practically leaped out of the carriage and scurried over to the knight who had accompanied them.
The moment the carriage door opened, the air inside turned icy cold.
Dong-hee pulled the cloak Thelma had draped over her shoulders before departure tighter around herself and scanned the scene outside with a heavy heart.
Even the brief chill that had slipped into the carriage made her shiver. Yet the children in the ruined village were wearing nothing but thin rags. Many of them were barefoot.
If she had seen the flower-swallow children of North Korea, they would have looked exactly like this.
“This is seriously the worst.”
Dong-hee felt so overwhelmed she didn’t even know where to begin.
First, she had to get out of the carriage.
When she opened the door, one of the nearby knights quickly ran over and placed a step beneath the carriage to make it easier for her to descend.
Dong-hee carefully stepped down, making sure she didn’t trip. She shuddered at the mere thought of how awful it would have been if she had worn a dress dripping with lace frills.
The air outside the carriage was dry and freezing.
Unlike other days when people would only glance furtively from a distance before vanishing, the moment the lord stepped out of the carriage, the villagers who had been hiding inside their homes began to emerge one by one.
“Ah…”
The weather was as cold as early November back in Korea.
Not a single person who crept outside was wearing a proper coat.
“Is that all the clothes these people have? It’s freezing out here. They’re going to catch colds like this.”
Dong-hee asked the butler, who had sent the message to the castle and returned to her side.
“They probably traded whatever decent clothes they had left for food. What they’re wearing now is likely their very last set.”
The butler answered politely, but his tone somehow sounded reproachful.
“Did you explain the situation to me before?”
Dong-hee asked, just to be sure.
The butler looked at her as if she were speaking nonsense and replied, “Yes. I told you last month, and again last week.”
“Tsk!”
There was nothing she could say except click her tongue.
The people watching from the shadows like frightened, starving rats were filled with wariness, fear, and deep resentment.
She decided she should at least distribute the food she currently had.
Since many eyes were on her, Dong-hee pretended to retrieve something from inside the carriage while pulling out every single loaf of bread she had stored in her inventory.
The bread that had been neatly packed into every slot came tumbling down onto the carriage seat at her gesture.
“This isn’t nearly enough. I need to expand my inventory soon.”
Dong-hee muttered as she looked at the pitifully small pile of bread.
“Butler.”
When she called him, the butler—who had been speaking with the knight captain outside—quickly turned his head.
He still looked tired, but somehow he seemed more energetic than before.
“Distribute these to the people for now.”
The butler’s eyes widened when he received the mountain of bread she had taken out of the carriage.
They definitely hadn’t been there when they had ridden together earlier.