Chapter 11. You're Mine From Now On
Chapter 11. You're Mine From Now On
##
"Sect Leader-nim. We have arrived."
The voice of a cultist reached us just as we finished getting dressed.
When we stepped outside, the cultists near the carriage tried to act like nothing happened, but their faces were already flushed red.
Since Jwa-hobeop had let out such moans, it couldn't have been perfectly soundproofed...
"Ahem... Sect Leader-nim. Then, I shall check where the individuals you mentioned live."
"Let's head in first."
The carriage couldn't go any further into the village, so two cultists decided to guard it, and the remaining four, including Jwa-hobeop, followed me.
Thump, thump
The road wasn't properly paved, so it was rough.
It's better than the beggar village, but it's still not a great environment.
It looks much wider than I thought to be called a village.
That's why it's not easy for officials to do anything about this place.
They can just hide.
Everyone passing by glances at us in our flashy attire.
There are a few who stare openly.
But perhaps they think we are high-ranking, so they don't actually pick a fight.
【 Can you tell me exactly where they live? Like a navigation system.
> Impossible. Precise location coordinates themselves cannot be checked.
"So I can only tell roughly which area they're in? This isn't completely omnipotent, huh?"
"Hmm... well, there's always a way for times like this."
I bent down to talk to a girl sitting on the street, staring at us with empty eyes.
"Hey there, do you happen to know where a person named Geumhwabin and a person named Eunmirang live? I heard they are a blacksmith and a seamstress."
The girl stares at me blankly.
But she doesn't open her mouth.
Grrr...
Her stomach answers instead.
Looking closely, her condition isn't very good.
Has she been starving a lot?
"Jwa-hobeop. Do you happen to have anything to eat?"
I straighten my back and look at her. She puts her hand into her bosom and pulls out a pouch.
"I prepared some beef jerky just in case, but..."
I know what she means by trailing off.
That kind of dry beef jerky is too hard for a weak-looking girl to eat.
"Alright. I'll have to buy her something to eat at a nearby inn. Get on my back."
At my words, the girl makes a puzzled expression.
I can get the information I want if I go to an inn anyway.
I don't necessarily need her.
But somehow, after seeing such a pitiful sight, I can't just walk past her.
A cultist next to me spoke up.
"Then, Sect Leader-nim. You don't necessarily have to take the child..."
I say to her with a smile.
"Our doctrine lies in preparing for that day and saving even a single person. If so, wouldn't ignoring the person right in front of me at this very moment be against our doctrine?"
To think I could deliver a line like this without Tirseuna's help.
I really am something.
While I was drunk on my own unearned narcissism, the cultist blushes and bows her head.
I stroke her hair and turn my back to the girl sitting there.
"Come on, get on my back. I'll buy you something delicious."
"Then, rather, I will..."
Jwa-hobeop and the cultists stepped forward, but I raised my hand to stop them.
"No. This is something I must do, so do not step in."
Soon, the girl climbed onto my back.
So this is when you use the phrase "light as a feather."
Touching her, her body is too thin.
"Let's make a deal. I'll pay a fair price, so will you tell me what you know later?"
A small voice answers from behind my back.
"...Yes..."
I went to the inn I saw on the way here.
Well, anyway, this is all just to make a living.
"Welcome. What can I get for you?"
The waiter greets us happily.
Since someone wearing such luxurious clothes as me came to such a dreary neighborhood, he might think he hit the jackpot today.
"Bring us something simple to fill our stomachs for the number of people, and... something like porridge for this girl to eat."
She'd get sick if she ate something greasy in this state, right?
"...Dumplings... too..."
Cheong-a, who had been quiet, mutters.
Does she want dumplings too?
"Alright. I'll add one order of dumplings."
"Yes, but customer. Prepayment is mandatory here..."
I suppose that makes sense.
"Alright, how much is it?"
"Let's see... five adults and one child. One porridge, and since you said the others are for a simple meal... that will be 25 jeon."
They aren't ripping me off more than I thought?
That's a decent price.
I gave him 30 jeon, and the waiter thanked me, bowed, and ran toward the kitchen.
It probably isn't easy to get tips in a place like this.
I looked at the girl again.
"What's your name?"
"......"
"Ah~ the deal hasn't been struck yet, has it? Alright. Let's talk after you eat."
The girl is still looking at me with dazed eyes.
【 Tell me about this girl.
> Name - Geum Cheong-a.
> Lives with her older sister.
> Characteristics - Knows the neighborhood well.
Nothing special.
Anyway, since she knows the neighborhood well, she'll tell me once she's full.
"Here you go. If you need anything else, please call me~"
I placed the hot porridge in front of the girl.
"Here, eat."
The girl, who had been watching me for a moment, took a spoonful of porridge, and finding it okay, started eating ravenously.
Ptooey...
Spitting it out right away... well, of course... it must be hot.
Looking at the girl, I wondered if my daughter would be like this if I had one.
Looking closely, she has a cute face.
After finishing the porridge, the girl wraps the dumplings I ordered earlier in a cloth and puts them in her bosom.
I guess she plans to eat them at home.
Only after the meal was finished did she look at me and bow.
"Thank you."
You have good manners.
"Alright, then do you remember our deal now?"
"...Yes... Hwa-bin eonni should be home right now, and I'm not sure about Mi-rang eonni."
Calling her 'eonni', I guess they know each other.
"Good. Can you guide me?"
Nod.
"Oppa seems like a good person, so..."
Is she the type to think anyone who buys her a meal is a good person?
To think she has such dangerous thoughts.
"You have to be most careful of people like me. Didn't your parents teach you that?"
"I don't have a mom or dad..."
...I should have realized it when I saw the phrase 'lives with her older sister'...
"Sorry..."
"It's okay."
"...I'm really sorry..."
##
We entered the secluded shantytown following her guidance.
The further we went inside, the more it felt like... should I call it the reality of Gwirakchon?
The scenery that made you feel those things continued.
It's a place far more dilapidated than the village entrance, no comparison.
"Here it is."
She pointed to a shack.
"Did you say your name was Cheong-a? Thank you. Here, take this."
I tried to press some money into her hand.
"You already bought me dumplings earlier, so it's okay. But um..."
"?? Yes, go ahead."
She glanced at the cultists behind me for a moment, then ran up to me and whispered in my ear.
"I didn't tell you my name..."
...Ah...
"I actually know everything."
"Then why didn't you know where my sister's house was..."
A series of reality checks...
This girl is quite sharp.
"Haha... sometimes things like that happen..."
As I glossed over it, Cheong-a didn't ask any more and went inside the house.
"I'm home."
??
Was it... your house?
What is this feeling like I've been played...
Following her inside, I saw a woman who looked exactly like her older sister lying on a bed.
"Eonni, this."
She takes out the dumplings she kept earlier.
She kept them to give to her sister.
"This person is looking for you, Eonni."
As expected.
Geumhwabin, the blacksmith... is this woman.
"Cough... cough... Where did you come from?"
She looks frail for a blacksmith.
Plus, she clearly looks unwell.
I thought it was a bit strange for a woman to be a blacksmith, but she has absolutely no muscular, macho vibe.
Well, Tirseuna said she could make what I want, so that much is certain.
"Are you Geumhwabin?"
"...Yes... but I don't have any money right now."
Seeing her bring up money right away, it seems she had financial problems.
"I'm not that type of person. Hmm, wait a moment."
【 Tell me Geumhwabin's current condition.
> Geumhwabin. 29 years old.
> Early stages of fever.
> Stress and fatigue accumulated.
As expected, she's sick.
【 You can cure her, right?
> Easily cured if seen by a doctor.
> Needs stability and rest.
"Is anyone in there~?"
At the sound from outside, Hwa-bin and Cheong-a flinch.
"No~ if you borrowed it, you have to pay it back~ what are you doing~~"
"If you don't have money, you have to pay with your body, what else can you do?"
Wow, a classic 80s-style line.
I never imagined I'd hear this in this world.
A cliché entrance by cliché extras.
"How much is it?"
Only then do they look at us.
"Who are you?"
"I asked how much the borrowed money is? I'll pay it."
They flinch.
My attire. The atmosphere.
The peerless beauty Jwa-hobeop next to me.
And the cultists behind us.
They size us up for a moment, then act a bit more polite.
"Yes, sir. Including interest, it's 36 nyang and 42 jeon."
"I only borrowed 2 nyang."
The shout from Geumhwabin, who was sitting leaning against the bed.
Well, that's how loan sharks are.
"Jwa-hobeop."
At my call, she takes money from her bosom and hands it to them.
"Here it is. Give me the debt contract."
The thugs seemed a bit surprised, but after checking the money, they immediately handed over the debt contract.
"Thank you. Customer. Please use us again next time."
Even the parting line... phew...
"Why for me..."
A surprised Geumhwabin asks me.
"Because you're mine from now on."
?#? Service Image #?#?
