Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Guilty Pleasure
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“Dawn, can we talk for a moment?”
“No.”
“I’ll buy you something delicious.”
“Buy it for someone else. I already took my vitamin pills earlier.”
Lee Sae-byeok was currently ignoring Lee Yoo-hyun’s invitation to talk for the 13th time.
This guy named Lee Yoo-hyun should just stick to his own business—why was he striking up conversations without any real purpose?
“Why do you keep trying to talk to me?”
“You look so exhausted, Dawn. I thought I could listen to your story and cheer you up with some conversation.”
“Everyone gets tired sometimes. Geez, do you have to talk to someone every time you’re worn out? I’m not a kid.”
Ugh, this periodically visiting Awakened guy’s psychological counseling service.
Let the mentally weak Lee Kyung-seop deal with that kind of thing.
Lee Sae-byeok didn’t want to waste Lee Yoo-hyun’s time, who cared about all the Abyss kids, so she ran off.
Just as Lee Yoo-hyun had assessed, Lee Sae-byeok was truly exhausted right now.
She had been suppressing her anger and sadness—emotions she hadn’t properly faced, only avoided—with new amusements, situations, and stimuli.
There was one outlet where the emotionally immature Lee Sae-byeok unconsciously vented her intense anger.
“Dawn! That regular person called us the Hunter Circus Troupe!!!”
“Lead the way.”
After Abyss’s Yeo Woo-hee fought with a Hunter from civilian background, she came running to Lee Sae-byeok.
Yeo Woo-hee led Lee Sae-byeok to where the civilian-background Hunter was, and a fight broke out in no time.
That Hunter couldn’t recklessly use his abilities or mana against the unawakened Lee Sae-byeok.
The stringent Hunter Laws protected civilians, so using abilities against an unawakened person could result in a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for weapon use.
“You called us the Hunter Circus Troupe??”
That was how Lee Sae-byeok’s unconscious guilty pleasure was triggered.
The moment violence and anger were justified, Lee Sae-byeok’s eyes, fist raised, shifted back to fury mixed with a small thrill.
Blood from her opponent stained Lee Sae-byeok’s fist. The opponent just sobbed and gritted his teeth.
Someone intervened midway, ending the fight.
Only later did Lee Sae-byeok hear the full story from Lee Kyung-seop.
“Dawn, about that civilian Hunter incident last time… Apparently, Woo-hee started picking the fight first. She mocked him because his family got caught in a gate and he lost a leg. He asked me to relay that he’s sorry for lumping us all together and insulting us as the Hunter Circus Troupe.”
“…….”
A chill ran down Lee Sae-byeok’s spine.
Only then did she realize that when she’d raised her fist back then, she hadn’t wanted to make a proper judgment of the situation.
* * *
It was decided.
Dun lounged leisurely on a tree branch, pondering diligently until he came up with a good idea and crossed his arms in satisfaction.
A surefire way to thoroughly crush the long-time slave caravan leader, Altoid.
Seeing people casually sacrifice others’ lives for their own desires and then rationalize it reminded him of Kim Woo-sung, irritating him to no end.
It wasn’t about venting the slaves’ grievances—it was simply personal, righteous stress relief.
The slave caravan was one-sided violence and evil with no room for judgment, which felt refreshingly straightforward.
‘I knew it from the moment his actions started resembling Kim Woo-sung’s.’
Dun smiled as he thought of sending Altoid to hell.
The rumor that Count Altoid had gone completely bankrupt spread quickly, becoming the talk of the townsfolk.
“Didn’t Count Altoid’s entire business collapse?”
“And we contributed to it—amazing, right?”
“So what happens to us?”
“The adventurer village rep will take over. We even got the emperor’s approval.”
“I always felt uneasy knowing the count was running a slave caravan. Good riddance that it tanked.”
Minu sat in the corner of the tavern, quietly sipping his beer.
Today, too, he’d gotten plenty of free drinks, and empty bottles piled up around him.
“But it feels a bit off. The count I glimpsed briefly seemed tall and young. A few years ago during the famine, when he shared some grain, he didn’t seem malicious. The grain wasn’t even moldy.”
“That really the count? Where’d you hear he was young? I’ve heard he’s a handsome middle-aged guy, but young? First time hearing that.”
“He was wearing a mask then, but the strong tobacco smell and his clothes screamed count. His eyes were yellow too—people say the count has yellow eyes.”
“What’d he say when he suddenly brought the grain?”
“Something about giving us fuel, so match the fruit production or whatever—I don’t know. I was starving, so I just took the grain and said thanks.”
“Oh yeah, after that guy left, Gesen’s image improved, and we got totally played!”
Dun chewed on dry bread, ears tuned to the townsfolk’s chatter.
“Anyway, hearing that the guy we thought was decent was sleazy behind the scenes kinda sours him.”
“The rumor about him framing his wife and throwing her in prison made me uneasy from the start.”
“That true? Take it with a grain of salt. There’s hardly any real info, so lots of fake rumors floating around.”
“With the countess gone now, maybe it’s true? I heard she’s still in the imperial prison.”
“Someone said she’s dead.”
All sorts of speculations flew around.
No one knew any solid facts. Expecting accurate info from a tavern was laughable anyway.
“Oh, right. Recently, I saw something weird at the count’s mansion.”
“What?”
“People who looked like they worked there were all packing up and leaving the mansion.”
“Hm?”
“The count’s broke now, so he probably downsized. Not totally inhuman, though—they say he even gave severance pay?”
“Handling the bankruptcy super efficiently. Kinda embarrassing for a noble.”
Scaling back expenses.
With income plummeting, it was only natural and sensible.
Dun narrowed his eyes for a moment.
‘Too rational….’
He’d expected more vanity or bravado.
People like Kim Woo-sung, full of bluster, usually couldn’t handle their downfall.
He’d thought he’d borrow money and chase after his former glory.
Come to think of it, Gesen must have known some slaves were siphoned off, but he wasn’t trying to reclaim them.
No burning revenge, no irrational acts from shock.
Staring at the bubbles in his glass, Dun recalled his own past mistakes driven by surges of emotion.
Self-defense and punishing evil as excuses for venting.
The remaining anger was precisely aimed at Kim Woo-sung, and his outlet was the similarly detestable Count Altoid.
Dun thought back to his plans to properly shatter the current Count Altoid’s mind.
Various schemes to ensure he wouldn’t die easily.
“…….”
Dun, who had been nibbling at his bread, stood up and headed to the Altoid mansion.
* * *
He’d thought a few would remain, but no servants were left.
There had been opposition to firing them all, but in the end, he was the count.
After being properly betrayed by Gesen once, he didn’t want to trust anyone.
Colin, who since childhood had been left alone in his room handling his father’s paperwork, was hypersensitive to the gazes of those beneath him.
Looking back, he hated the looks that seemed to say “poor Colin.”
He could’ve lived happily in a loving family by just obeying his parents.
There were no unconditional absolutes.
A happy family in exchange for holing up in his room and working.
He’d thought it quite reasonable, but everyone pitying him made him deeply uncomfortable.
‘Were they pitying me because they knew ways to be even happier?’
He wasn’t sure.
Now that everyone was gone, he didn’t have to care about anyone.
Colin climbed onto the roof, lit a cigarette, and gazed at the sky after a long time.
Stars beautifully adorned the heavens.
“I wondered why smoke was coming from the roof—it was cigarette smoke.”
“……Minu?”
Colin tilted his head at the figure who’d suddenly appeared on the roof.
The guy had shown up without a sound.
“Firing all the servants, planning to hand over the title to the townsfolk with some cash—suicide plan or what?”
Colin let out a hollow laugh at Minu, who plopped down beside him and recited his plans.
“Firing all the servants, fine. But how’d you know I’m planning to sell the title?”
“Rifled through the papers on your desk.”
She brazenly admitted to rummaging through someone else’s desk.
Colin was sensitive about documents, so normally he’d yell at Minu and hurl a pen or something, but oddly, he wasn’t angry.
Maybe because he was preparing for death. It was just absurd.
Colin stared piercingly at Minu, who had come to see him in his slightly melancholic state.
He had a rough vibe but was sly with a sharp mind.
“You got some money, huh?”
“Me?”
“Nah, asking for ten unitts last time? Definitely a beggar.”
“You’re calling me a beggar right to my face?”
“Pfft.”
Colin turned his head and chuckled. They say you laugh more when death nears—seemed true.
The rude retorts felt oddly welcoming.
“No, I was gonna ask if you had money, wouldn’t you buy the title? The townsfolk are trading fruits with the adventurer village, so if someone from there takes it, it’d be neat.”
“Taking care of the townsfolk?”
“More like I just like clean resolutions. If I die, things floating around unresolved feels messy, and I hate that.”
What a workaholic.
And yeah, he really seemed to be preparing to die.
Makes sense. Losing everything he’d managed his whole life would make anyone want to die.
“Oh, really? Then I’ll buy the title. Truth is, I’ve got tons of money.”
As proof, Dun pulled out the gold coins he’d grabbed before heading to the tavern earlier and showed them to Colin.
Colin stared at the gold, his face blank with shock.
“Where’d the guy who freaked out over ten unitts go?”
“That was just bait. You wouldn’t trust info from some random guy who shows up out of nowhere without pretext.”
Colin’s eyes widened at that. He inhaled the cigarette wrong and coughed a few times.
“Cough, cough! Scary bastard.”
He’d been completely fooled. Charging in blindly claiming Gesen betrayed him wouldn’t have worked.
‘Hold on….’
Minu, the ambiguous sub-leader of the adventurer village. The Mazia fruit trade. Suddenly appearing with Gesen’s betrayal info.
Colin, piecing it together, clapped and reached a conclusion about the whole affair.
“Was all this to bankrupt me and snatch the title?”
Slightly off, but similar enough, so Dun nodded.
Colin stared blankly at Minu for a moment, then grabbed his collar. Murderous intent filled the enraged Colin’s eyes.
“You bastard!!!!”
Minu, collar grabbed, gazed back at Colin with sunken eyes.