The Usurer (1)
Thirty minutes before the incident.
Aiden was on his way out after personally presiding over a general department meeting at the Administrative Welfare Office.
While the office building did have an employee cafeteria, he knew that if he showed up there, the other regular administrators would likely choke on their food in nervousness, so he had decided to go out and grab a meal with Jamie instead.
"I heard a place that makes incredible stir-fried seafood opened up recently. Would you like to try it?"
"Seafood?"
"Well, ever since the Lontes territory was annexed, the amount of seafood circulating in the North has increased quite a bit. It’s the season for it, after all. Hehe."
In the North, where there was no sea, encountering fresh seafood was quite a rare feat. It seemed the recent annexation of the Lontes territory was having a significant impact on the local food culture as well.
"I suppose so."
Seafood after such a long time. That didn't sound too bad.
Aiden, led by Jamie, stepped into the shopping district with a slightly excited mood, when suddenly, a bizarre sound reached his ears.
"'The Red Stew Infused with the Lord's Passion' is now available at Melania's new restaurant! It’s the very same menu that our Lord loves so dearly! We're offering free dessert to all customers who visit today! Come taste the menu the Lord loves! It's 'The Red Stew Infused with the Lord's Passion'! Remember the name! 'The Red Stew Infused with the Lord's Passion'!"
...Why was the shame his to bear?
Aiden realized that the "Lord" appearing in that menu name was himself, and he instinctively lowered his head.
"Oh? Administrator, that 'Lord's Passion'-."
"Stop right there. Don't say the full name, please."
"Puhahaha."
Jamie seemed to be trying to hold back his laughter by stretching his philtrum, but he couldn't contain it, and it burst out like a sneeze.
"Bwahahaha!"
"......"
After laughing for a long while, Jamie added, "Shall we go and check it out? Who knows, maybe our chef's menu has truly been recreated."
He was subtly suggesting they change their dining plans.
"...I suppose we should."
He wanted to go, if only to tell them to please, for the love of god, change that horrific and miserable menu name.
It wasn't that he had high expectations for the taste.
'The chef's stew, it’s a taste I miss, but it’s always lacking.'
It was essentially a downgraded version of yukgaejang (spicy beef soup). Objectively, it was quite tasty and stimulating, but to the palate of a 21st-century South Korean office worker accustomed to intense flavors, it felt rather bland. He had wanted something saltier and spicier, but it seemed they thought this level was spicy enough, which made it all the more ambiguous.
At first, he had considered asking them to add more chili powder and garlic to make it richer, but—
— ...So, how much did you say the chili and garlic cost?
— Hehe. Isn't this a pretty cheap price to get them for?
— ......
Aiden, who had experienced a greater shock than when he first learned the price of domestic chili powder during his student days, had firmly resolved himself. He couldn't ask them to dump in such expensive ingredients just to satisfy his own cravings.
Back to the present.
But what on earth was this stew—no, this yukgaejang—he was facing at Melania's restaurant!
'I’m saved...'
The employee who brought the food had been trembling as if she were sick. Just by smelling it from afar, Aiden knew.
This was, without a doubt, a yukgaejang transported straight from his favorite restaurant in front of City Hall to save his soul.
He literally inhaled it without a second thought. This was the feeling—tears welling up, every sweat pore on his body opening wide! This was the very broth that had restored his body, which used to tremble down to his fingertips, the day after a heavy night of drinking!
"Haa-."
Yeah, what did the menu name matter? The important thing was that he could taste this again.
With his eyes glazed over and half the bowl emptied, Aiden finally noticed the employee who was prostrate on the floor, trembling violently.
"Why are you doing that...?"
Aiden had been ready to empty his pockets to give her a reward, but she looked exactly like a sinner repenting for a terrible crime.
"?"
"Th-that... I, I have committed a sin worthy of death, my Lord...! Our owner really knows nothing about this. This is, well... this recipe is, well...! It was all my own doing...! My own...!"
The brown-haired employee begged Aiden as if she were about to faint, then turned her head to beg her boss, banging her head against the floor like a madwoman.
Aiden, who had been floating on clouds after finally finding the taste of home, suddenly lost his appetite.
"That is not true, Administrator! This woman knows nothing. I am the one who ordered it. Any wrongdoing that occurred in my restaurant is naturally my fault and my negligence! So please punish me, I am the one who did everything wrong!"
Even Melania, the restaurant owner, fell to her knees. She shielded the brown-haired employee behind her back as if to protect her.
Click.
"...It seems an explanation is in order."
Aiden set down his spoon. No matter how much he liked the dish, he had no intention of continuing his meal in this situation.
"So, you swapped the food?"
The truth of the incident was revealed simply.
"Typical, just typical."
How could it be such a cliché development? Aiden felt like laughing rather than getting angry. How could the forms of malice be so unremarkable?
'They swapped the food knowing I was coming? How absurd.'
It was a plan that only short-sighted people would clap and cheer for. Perhaps they had hoped that he would eat this ruined food, get angry to the point of exploding, and cause a scene. Even if that weren't the case, they might have hoped for at least one word like, "This is far from what I like." If that had happened, the reputation of Melania's restaurant would have crumbled, and—
'They must have intended to draw in customers in the meantime.'
But the opponent was him, the Administrator. If something detrimental to his well-being occurred, his adjutants would never sit idly by.
"Administrator. The story of this woman being threatened with her child due to debt is pitiful, but she dared to tamper with the Administrator's food. I cannot overlook this."
Look at that. Jamie's eyes changed instantly. The absent-minded Jamie, who usually walked around laughing and acting a bit foolish, often becoming the target of the other two adjutants' teasing, was nowhere to be found.
The temperature in the restaurant seemed to drop several degrees at the sight of the adjutant, who bared his teeth and glared with white-rimmed eyes as if he were about to tear the opponent's throat out. The blizzard that had just started to rage outside only further stimulated the bleak atmosphere.
"What would you have done if there had been poison in it?"
That was Jamie's concern. Usually, it was standard procedure for Jamie or other attendants to taste the food Aiden ate outside first. But this time, because Jamie had hesitated due to the stimulating aroma, Aiden had picked up the spoon first, and a major incident could have occurred.
"I, too, failed to do my duty and put the Administrator in danger, so I will accept that punishment. But before that, I will root out everyone involved in this incident and set the order straight so that no one dares to attempt such a thing again!"
The people couldn't even breathe properly under Jamie's killing intent. Only Aiden let out a sigh.
That insane rival restaurant owner. Did he really launch this scheme without even considering such an obvious consequence? He was about to ruin his own life just to bankrupt a rival restaurant.
"Stop."
"Administrator."
"The woman who swapped the customer's food must receive her due punishment. But isn't there something to be done before that?"
Aiden decided how to wrap up this incident and opened his mouth.
Clatter-!
There was a brief commotion outside the door, and then—
"Administrator. I have captured the one who instigated the food swap."
With perfect timing, the escort knight brought in the mastermind behind the scheme. The man, whose face was plastered with greed, was pale and trembling. It seemed he was only now grasping the gravity of what he had done.
'But it's too late.'
He should have lived a decent life. He had no intention of letting this slide. If he let this go loosely, there would be no end to the people trying to pull stunts with every meal he ate, every piece of clothing he wore, and every path he walked. It was an inevitable reality in a world where human lives were valued differently. In the scales of most people's minds in this world, the life of the Northern Administrator and the life of some nameless extra living in the gutters were never equal.
"Interrogate him properly. There might be someone behind him, so be thorough."
It looked like he had acted alone, but he ordered a thorough investigation just in case. At that, the man cried out,
"P-please spare me! I, I have committed a sin worthy of death, please spare me!"
The ones who truly committed the wrongs always begged to be spared. Aiden couldn't help but think that if one committed a sin worthy of death, dying was the correct outcome.
'Now, what remains is—'
The brown-haired woman was just lying prostrate, waiting for her fate. She wasn't even trembling anymore, as if she had given up on everything. Someone might have even wondered if she had fainted in that position.
"Get up."
"......"
"Don't make me say it twice."
Only when he said that did the woman finally lift her head.
"You said you owed that man a debt earlier. How much is it?"
"Yes? Ah, th-that..."
The woman, who had stiffened at the unexpected question, answered stammeringly.
"I, I borrowed twenty silver coins, but the interest piled up and..."
"How much is the interest?"
"I-I checked yesterday, and the interest has become fifty silver coins and fifteen copper coins..."
"...Excluding the principal?"
"...Yes."
"How long has it been since you borrowed it?"
"A little over a year..."
"?"
He had expected the situation to be a mess from the moment the word "usury" came up, but was this for real? Aiden's face crumpled.
"Jamie."
"Yes, Administrator."
"Doesn't the Credit Union provide loans?"
Jamie, noticing Aiden's "pissed-off mode," straightened his posture and replied.
"The Credit Union is indeed providing low-interest loans, but since it operates on the concept of member investment, they prioritize business viability. In this woman's case, it seems she borrowed money for personal reasons, so it would have been difficult for her to knock on the Union's door."
"Even if she couldn't borrow from the Credit Union, couldn't she have received help from the Livelihood Support Department?"
"The Livelihood Support Department prioritizes those who have nothing to eat immediately..."
"......"
Hearing Jamie's words, Aiden bit his lower lip.
'People on the edge...'
Only then did he visualize the situation this woman was in. An ordinary person who wasn't in a position to receive a loan from the union with dreams of starting a business. Yet, an ordinary person who wasn't in such dire straits that she lacked a piece of bread for tomorrow, making it ambiguous for her to receive support from the Administrative Welfare Office. The reality was that ordinary people were being pushed to the brink precisely because they were ordinary.
"We are returning to the Lord's Castle."
Aiden's eyes sank low.