Hypocrite (2)
I tried to think back, to figure out whether I’d made some mistake somewhere, but nothing came to me. Maybe I was a little tipsy, because even my thoughts seemed to be moving half a beat too slowly.
Was that rude?
It was only natural to wonder whether a suggestion to have a drink together really warranted that kind of reaction.
I could now understand why Song Jungwook of Small Rock had looked at her and called her inflexible.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what was wrong with what I said.”
“H-how can you call that something to say? Miss Hayan is right here, too….”
“Is there a problem with Hayan being here?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
What the hell is this girl talking about?
It was only then that I realized what kind of misunderstanding she had stumbled into.
Oh…
Judging from her face, red as a ripe persimmon, I could guess what she was thinking. The problem wasn’t my words at all, but the situation surrounding me and her. At this late hour, in front of a luxury inn, I’d invited her to spend time together. There was no doubt she’d misunderstood it.
In other words, she had taken me for the kind of man who sexually harasses a junior at work.
She was projecting a misunderstanding so absurd even Jung Hayan would never make it.
As I kept insisting that I had no idea what she was talking about, Cho Hyejin only seemed to grow more flustered, her face flushing deeper. But at Jung Hayan’s comment, she seemed to realize, if only for a moment, that there had been some misunderstanding.
“W-what are you talking a-about?”
“I-I don’t really….”
“Ah….”
“…….”
Embarrassed, she glanced around for no reason, as if trying to see what she’d done wrong. She had finally realized it herself.
“I mean, that is….”
“Is there some sort of problem…?”
“N-no, it’s nothing. I must have misunderstood for a moment.”
“What did you misunderstand?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Did you perhaps think something strange…?”
“It’s nothing.”
“I think I understand very well what you’ve thought of me all this time, Hyejin.”
“T-that’s….”
“I’m a little disappointed.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Well, isn’t this just perfect?
The situation itself was wonderfully convenient. The fact that I could tease her so gently made me feel unreasonably pleased.
Come to think of it, Cho Hyejin was exactly the sort of person who would refuse an invitation to drink. If anything, she would likely prioritize taking me safely back to the lord’s castle. But right now, I was fairly certain she wouldn’t reject my suggestion.
“Well, I’m joking. I did phrase it in a way that could be misunderstood. My romantic life isn’t exactly spotless, either, so it would be natural for you to treat me like that.”
“I-it’s n-not… like that.”
“You don’t need to worry about it. I’m used to it….”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Are you actually sorry, then?”
“Yes.”
“Then… how about we kill a little time like I suggested earlier before going in?”
She looked like she was thinking it over carefully.
I figured she’d nod before long, and just as expected, Cho Hyejin’s voice soon came.
“If it’s only for a little while….”
“Good. Then let’s go in.”
“Vice Guild Master. Th-that side is….”
“Hm? Does this inn not have a pub?”
“Ah. No, it probably does.”
I’d only been teasing her a moment ago, but it seemed I really wasn’t a person she trusted much.
Of course, polygamy and polyandry might be treated as normal in this world, but even so, my relationships with women were chaotic enough to qualify as a mess.
She must have thought I was planning to seduce her somehow.
Well, I can’t exactly say she’s wrong.
Still, she didn’t seem to have any particular affection for me to begin with. When I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw the innkeeper approaching us.
“A reservation….”
“Ah. We’re not here to stay the night. We’d just like to spend a little time in the lounge bar or pub.”
When I glanced sideways at Jung Hayan, she hurriedly fumbled through her pocket, pulled out a handful of gold coins, and shoved them into the innkeeper’s hands.
Why are you giving that much?
One coin would have been enough to make the man visibly delighted, but she practically dumped the coins into his palms, and it looked like at least five of them had ended up with the innkeeper. He wore the expression of a man who couldn’t believe his luck.
“Somewhere quiet, if possible.”
“Yes. I’ll guide you there right away.”
Money really was convenient.
We went a little farther upstairs, where I found a decent seat overlooking the city.
“Let’s take that one.”
“Yes.”
“What would you like to order?”
“Bring whatever’s good. Price doesn’t matter.”
“Of course. Please enjoy your time.”
“Yes.”
We sat down, and Cho Hyejin looked at me with a slightly awkward expression. She seemed unfamiliar with this sort of setting.
It looked like she’d never been to a place like this before. The inn was a bit upscale, yes, but not so much that someone who had once been a Small Rock executive couldn’t afford it.
Either Song Jungwook was far stingier than I’d expected, or Cho Hyejin had been living unusually frugally all this time. Personally, I was leaning toward the latter. It was hard to imagine her earning a low wage and simply accepting it.
“Is this your first time in a place like this?”
“Ah? Yes….”
“I heard you’d been in Castle Rock for quite a while, so that’s surprising. Since you were an executive in Small Rock, I thought you’d been to plenty of good places. I suppose you’ve been living very frugally while you were there.”
“Frugal… I suppose you could say that. I don’t remember ever spending gold coins on unnecessary things.”
“Hahaha. This isn’t unnecessary.”
“Hm?”
“Gold coins aren’t meant to sit in a pile. They’re only useful when they’re spent. It’s only when people with gold coins spread them through society that society really starts to function. I’m sure you understand what I mean.”
“Ah….”
“The innkeeper who just got a tip from us will spend it, and the gold we spend here today will be spent somewhere else in turn. It might end up in some restaurant or shop run by an ordinary free citizen or a poor imperial subject down below, and then someone else will spend money there. You probably already know this, but when the people at the top of the pyramid move gold around rationally, the economy becomes far more active.”
“I understand what you mean, but….”
“Hm?”
“Maybe it’s just my misunderstanding, but it sounds as though you’re looking down on those people….”
“I’m not looking down on them. I’m simply saying that awareness is necessary.”
“You mean that Vice Guild Master should be aware that you’re above them?”
“Yes. Personally, I think that sort of awareness makes it easier to face people. You have to keep in mind where you stand, and what kind of ripple effect your actions will create.”
“I’m having a hard time understanding what you’re trying to say, Vice Guild Master.”
“I think I may have said something unnecessary because I’ve had a bit to drink. I didn’t bring you here to talk about this, either. Though I suppose you could call it an extension of the subject. Ahem. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I finished my contract with Small Rock’s Master today.”
“I see… That’s a relief.”
As I’d expected, she didn’t look very pleased. She must have thought I’d already heard about her situation.
Of course, I had no intention of hiding it. If anything, I wanted to talk about it in even more detail.
“Did you hear about it?”
“You mean the whistleblowing?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I heard. About why you had to leave Small Rock, and why you came to me and Lindel from Castle Rock. I didn’t even have to ask; the other side told me first. You seemed to be getting a little blamed for it. And understandably so. It must have looked like you betrayed the comrades who’d been with you since the tutorial.”
“…….”
“It seems everyone who needed to know already knows. I don’t know why you thought you could hide it in the first place, but it was bound to come out eventually.”
“So you are criticizing me after all?”
“What did Hyunsung say to you? When he brought you here, I mean.”
“He told me it was fine.”
I could see her expression soften a little.
Ahhh.
It had taken me a while to notice, but for this woman, Kim Hyunsung didn’t seem to be just a superior.
He’s hooked her.
I didn’t know whether he meant to or not, but Kim Hyunsung had definitely planted a flag in this woman’s heart.
“He even said I’d done well. He told me that holding on to your convictions is important… that’s what he said.”
“That sounds right. Very like Hyunsung. I think the same. I’m not criticizing you, either. Didn’t you report them because of illegal monster trade and tax evasion?”
“There was also an issue involving trafficking in slaves of other races.”
“Ah, I hadn’t heard that part. Well, never mind. Let me be blunt. I’m not criticizing you, but I do think you’re foolish.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re foolish.”
“What do you mean by—”
“This society is not very friendly to whistleblowers. No matter how faithfully you may have followed your convictions, the result is obvious: you are a truly foolish person. Why on earth did you do something like that?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Didn’t you just say you weren’t criticizing me?”
She looked baffled, and rightly so.
“I told you earlier. You have to constantly be aware of where you stand. Did you ever think once about the outcome your whistleblowing would create?”
“Why should I have to worry about that? They committed crimes!”
“I didn’t tell you to think about them. I told you to think about the many people who would be harmed because of you. Small Rock, for one. After that incident, they were forced to go through restructuring. They were found not guilty, yes, but the tax issue was real.”
“…….”
“I hear the number of guild employees dropped quite a lot. Many people lost their jobs overnight. From what I’ve heard, some of them took their own lives, and others were driven to the edge by going on hunts too aggressively, so most of them ended up in very bad shape.”
“That’s….”
“The female employees were cast out onto the streets, while the family heads became unemployed and went hunting just to feed their children. Even the young people who’d only just landed jobs had their heads cut off, so now they’re living in the slums and begging for a living.”
“Th-that’s… really true?”
“No. I just made it up on the spot.”
“V-vice Guild Master? Are you joking with me right now…?”
“But it’s not exactly an impossible story, is it? It may not have happened exactly as I said, but some of them may very well have been driven into situations like that. I just haven’t looked for them, that’s all. If you put your mind to it, you’d probably find them easily. The precious former comrades you really wanted to expose are still eating well and living comfortably, while innocent people end up paying the price.”
“Ah….”
“I called you foolish for exactly that reason. Leaving everything to conscience doesn’t solve anything, Cho Hyejin. If you were determined to finish this, you should’ve tightened the noose a little more firmly. In the end, all you did was commit an act that invited criticism.”
“…….”
“You didn’t contribute anything. Not to Castle Rock’s development, not to the realization of your convictions, nothing. You didn’t even find the evidence properly; you simply dumped a mess on everyone without thinking. Aside from easing your own sense of guilt, you didn’t accomplish a single thing. Even if your plan had succeeded, I would still have called you foolish.”
“…….”
“Do you know how many employees Small Rock’s guild has? I’m including the people who weren’t involved and the ones who were forced to cooperate with the guild master just to survive. You are not someone who can take responsibility for all of their lives. At this point, you should almost be relieved that you failed. At least hundreds of unemployed people weren’t thrown into the streets.”
“…….”
“Have you ever stopped to think about the issue I just mentioned, even once?”