Chapter 51: Ella’s Circumstances and a New Business

But deep in his heart, fear still remained. The suspicion that Ella’s actions might have simply been those of a member of the Orphan Gang lingered at the bottom of his chest.

That was why Ras unconsciously ended up pressing her with somewhat unreasonable questions.

“Um. It’s because the other kids would notice.”

Fortunately, Ella did not seem offended. Instead, after pursing her lips for a moment, she answered like that. When he asked a little further, she explained that around here, they were almost always within the sight of the other Orphan Gang members, so she could get caught and questioned.

Ah.

Now that he thought about it, that was true. He had only worried about having his money stolen and forgot that there were always children lingering around this area.

“We don’t really have any reason to use things like phones anyway.”

If someone suddenly started doing things they normally did not do, it would attract attention and suspicion. The orphans on the streets looked poor and miserable but somehow free, yet it seemed that people living in groups could never truly be free.

Now that he finally understood, some of the lingering disappointment faded, but another worry suddenly came to mind.

“But is it okay for you to come here?”

She might have slipped away unnoticed, just like when they went to the restaurant together before, but the entire Orphan Gang was currently on the run from their original hideout, so the atmosphere among them was probably tense.

However, in contrast to Ras’s worried expression, Ella smiled brightly as she answered.

“It’s okay. I already left.”

“Ah...”

Ras felt relieved, but another concern immediately surfaced. The Orphan Gang leader, Murstin, seemed extremely possessive of his influence, so Ras worried he might try to track Ella down.

More than the possibility of himself getting dragged into trouble if she were pursued, he was worried about Ella’s safety itself. And only afterward did he realize that fact, leaving him shocked by how deeply he had fallen for this girl.

“Will you really be okay?”

In truth, Ras wanted to say that he would help her. But he hesitated, feeling like it would expose his feelings too much, and ended up asking this instead.

He was worried. He worried about how Murstin might react, and he worried about how she would survive alone in such a rough world. First of all, he wondered whether she even had a place to sleep.

“I had to leave the Murstin Family eventually anyway.”

Ella nodded as she answered. Ras wondered what the Murstin Family was. Then he realized it was named after the Orphan Gang’s leader, and another question came to mind.

“What do you mean? By saying you had to leave?”

“...”

But instead of answering, she awkwardly avoided his gaze. Ras wondered whether it was because someone had found out about them eating together before, or whether there had been some issue with the money and she had been kicked out.

“Anyway. I’m fine. And there are plenty of places that’ll hire me, so you don’t have to worry.”

She said there were many people around the shopping district asking her to work for them. For a moment, Ras wondered if she was exaggerating, but after seeing the confident smile on her face, he understood.

With looks like hers, there probably really were plenty of shops wanting to hire her. Being an orphan was certainly a weakness, but unless it was some truly prestigious company, her beauty seemed capable of covering up almost any flaw.

Ras felt somewhat reassured, yet imagining her working somewhere while selling that beauty made him uncomfortable.

Should I offer to help her?

He was not talking about simply giving her money. But as he thought that far, Ras suddenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠realized exactly what his feelings were.

I’ve really fallen for her completely.

If this had been his previous life, he might have even thought about marriage. Of course, back then he had been thirty years old, and everything about his situation had been different, so he could not know whether he would have felt exactly the same way.

In a way, it was only natural that Ras fell for Ella. She was prettier than the idols he used to see on TV, and beyond that, she was exactly the kind of girl that made him think, So this is my ideal type. After building this much connection with her, not falling for her would have been stranger.

Still, even if he liked her, they were only a teenage boy and girl right now. Marriage was far too early, and for now, Ras simply wanted her to become his girlfriend.

But even if he wanted to help her, and even if they became boyfriend and girlfriend someday, simply giving her money felt wrong somehow. That felt more like the kind of thing older men did with young girlfriends.

However, giving her work and paying her for it was a completely different matter.

It might have been prejudice, but considering the environment she grew up in, there was a high chance she did not possess any special skills.

Still, she was young enough that she could learn anything.

For a moment, Ras wondered whether he should make her his secretary. Honestly, he did not really know what secretaries actually did. It was just that he had an image from movies, and the thought of having her by his side like that appealed to him.

“But could you help me with something?”

While Ras was hesitating with countless thoughts in his head, Ella was the one who asked for help first. Ras’s face instantly brightened.

But then he remembered that she had already said she could survive on her own. So she probably was not talking about financial help.

What could it be?

The first thing that came to Ras’s mind was a housing problem.

Rent in the city was expensive enough that child laborers often managed to feed and clothe themselves but still could not secure housing. So he wondered if she was going to ask to sleep at the office or borrow money for rent.

“What kind of help do you need?”

Ras was willing to help with that much. No, rather, he saw it as a chance to gain her favor. Simply handing over money felt awkward, but lending it or helping in another way was different.

However, Ella’s request was not that kind of thing.

“...”

She could not answer immediately and fidgeted awkwardly. When Ras looked at her with confusion, she blushed slightly before speaking with an expression that seemed resigned.

“Um... Oppa.”

“Yes?”

“Um... would you become my lover?”

“...”

For a moment, Ras wondered if she had somehow read his mind. No, maybe he had unconsciously used telepathy or something and forced Ella to say exactly what he wanted to hear. Such absurd delusions flashed through his head.

Ras almost answered yes immediately, but barely managed to hold onto his reason. Then he retraced the conversation leading up to this moment.

She definitely asked me for help, right?

Remembering that, Ras forced a gentle smile onto his face and asked, “What’s going on? Of course, if you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really mean becoming your boyfriend, then I’ll seriously think about it.”

At the same time, he subtly revealed his true feelings. Thinking about it now, he had probably shown her kindness continuously until now, but maybe she had simply not noticed.

“Mhm.”

So there really was something going on after all. Ella hesitated with a somewhat darkened expression before slowly beginning to explain her situation.

“Well...”

In truth, for certain reasons, she had been supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leave the Murstin Family and move to another organization. Here, Ella did not explain either the reason or what organization it was.

But she did not want to go there. Unfortunately, neither Murstin nor the other children had the will to protect her. Nor did they have the ability.

Ella needed to find another way herself. The advice she had once heard from older girls who used to belong to the Murstin Family was this:

“If you want to escape those bastards, the only way is to become some rich man’s mistress.”

More precisely, it meant placing herself under the protection of someone with social status. But realistically, for an orphan like her, the only method available was using her beauty, so it was not exactly wrong advice.

Ella truly hated the idea of joining that organization, so she seriously considered that option.

However, the rich men she learned about through those older girls and other acquaintances were mostly old men. Ella grew up as a street orphan, so she already knew the world was not beautiful, but even so, she did not want to waste her life as some old man’s mistress.

“But Ras Oppa is rich and young.”

The reason she approached Ras had originally been that simple. At first, anyway.

But after observing him from nearby for a long time, and finally talking with him for a short while, she started to think that Ras genuinely seemed like a good person.

“If it’s Ras Oppa... I think it’d be okay...”

This time, Ras’s face turned bright red.

There were all sorts of complicated details in the story, but when everything was stripped away, it meant that the girl he liked liked him too. It felt slightly different from what he imagined, but regardless, Ras suppressed his excitement as much as possible and said, “O-Okay. I’ll help you. I’ll be your boyfriend. But let me make one thing clear. I’m not doing this just to help you. I’m ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doing it because I like you too.”

“Mhm...”

Ella lowered her head sharply as she answered, and the cat ears atop her head fluttered wildly. Even though she covered her face, she could not hide how shaken she was.

Afterward, Ras hired her as a secretary and even got her a room in the apartment building where he lived. Originally, he had not wanted to interfere to the extent of arranging her housing.

But when he asked where she had been living, she vaguely brushed it off. After he pressed further, she finally confessed that she simply entered any empty building she could find and slept there. Horrified, Ras immediately rented her a room. Of course, the fact that it was in the same apartment building as his own room did involve some ulterior motives.

Once he got a girlfriend like this, the time Ras spent going to the gym and learning magic suddenly became twice as difficult. Even doing nothing and simply staying together with her was so enjoyable that he almost resented himself for starting all this hard work in the first place.

Of course, that was only how he felt emotionally. His rational mind still pushed him to continue.

And rather than spending all his remaining time entirely on Ella, he instead began thinking about other business opportunities. Part of it was because he had suffered so much after renting such a cheap office just to preserve business capital, making him determined to accomplish something out of sheer stubbornness. But another reason was the new computer.

He had kept postponing things, telling himself he needed to recruit talented people first. Yet in the end, he watched someone else create it before he managed to make any progress himself.

Because of that, he started feeling that whenever an idea came to mind, he needed to act on it immediately.

For now, Ras decided to enter the arcade business.

As he observed this world through his limited perspective and dealt with the Orphan Gangs, he realized that unlike Earth, arcade games would probably remain popular here for a long time.

The middle class was fairly large, so the PC gaming market had developed to some degree. But compared to Earth during the early spread of computers, the number of impoverished people here was simply too high. Furthermore, because PCs incorporated magical devices, their prices were extremely expensive, meaning it would likely take a very long time before computers spread down to the lower classes.

However, directly entering arcade game development was far riskier than running a PC game company because it also involved manufacturing. In that sense, Ras’s current approach might actually have been the wiser choice.

Instead, he came up with a method of riding the arcade market’s momentum from a different angle.

That method was the arcade hall business itself.

From Ras’s perspective, running machines that drained coins from countless gamers might actually be more profitable than selling the arcade boards themselves.

Just looking at Pac-Man, Tetris, and Beat Heater, enormous crowds constantly gathered around them. The operators who installed the machines even complained that they had to empty the coin boxes too frequently.

If too many people were crowding around the machines, that meant the number of machines was too small compared to the popularity of the games. And that also meant arcade halls, which gathered many game machines together in one place, had more than enough business potential.

Arcade halls also had their own advantages beyond simply operating many machines in one place. For one thing, compared to machines left out on the streets exposed to dust and rain, maintaining the machines became much easier.

And people could also play more freely without worrying as much about the eyes of others.