Things Money Can’t Buy (4)
“You don’t need to feel guilty about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I just get the feeling I can sort of tell what you’re thinking. Like, if I’d handled things properly… is that what you’re telling yourself?”
“That’s not… exactly it.”
It is, though.
I could already tell what she was thinking. She was wondering if this outcome had happened because she’d let things drag on instead of finishing them off cleanly. After all, all she’d done was ask her superiors to investigate the matter.
Of course, even if she had handled the Small Boulder affair perfectly, nothing would have changed.
I could say with certainty that it wouldn’t have affected this place by even one percent.
“Even if you had handled it properly, nothing would’ve changed much.”
“…….”
“Mr. Song is only one part of this place, not the whole thing, and as you can see, this establishment is operating without the slightest influence from the outside. Like I said before, even the lord of Castle Rock probably wouldn’t have expected a place like this to exist.”
“How could he not know what’s happening in his own territory?”
“Do you think the mayor of Seoul knows everything that happens in Seoul? There are probably people within Castle Rock’s lordly castle who are connected to this place, too. Some people know and deliberately stay quiet. And can you even be sure we’re in Castle Rock right now? We might be in a border zone close to the Republic. A place that’s being run in the strictest secrecy.”
“Why…?”
“It’s all tangled up in various interests, but that’s not something you need to worry about. What you do need to understand is simple. This is a part of society, however rotten it may be. And the people here are members of that society, too.”
“A part of society?”
“There’s no such thing as a world where crime never happens.”
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”
“You will, eventually.”
Even as we exchanged those quiet words while walking at a leisurely pace, her expression remained deeply furrowed.
Her tone had turned colder, too, as if she were barely holding back her anger.
Of course, she wasn’t angry at me. She was angry at the environment, and at herself for being powerless to do anything about it.
She was finally beginning to grasp reality. It must have felt as though she’d been dropped into a world that was the exact opposite of everything she’d known until now.
Since things had come to this, I figured I might as well be a little kinder about it, so I casually leaned closer to her and spoke.
“Doesn’t it really feel like there’s nothing money can’t buy?”
“You’re thinking that if you have money, you can get anything. That’s the kind of thing people like this would assume, wouldn’t they? It’s obvious enough.”
“That’s right. If you have money, you can buy anything. Slaves, drugs, women—hell, even experiences.”
“Experiences?”
“Yeah. Experiences. Come to think of it… have you ever killed anyone, Yuka?”
I’d assumed she had.
If she’d been rotting away in a place like this for long enough, there was no way she had no experience at all. Her first time had probably been in the Tutorial Dungeon. In a place where food was limited, there were plenty of times when you had to pick up a spear just to survive.
Our party, too, had all gained that kind of experience except for Park Deokgu. Jung Hayan had, and Kim Hyunsung had as well.
I’d sent several people to hell in the Tutorial Dungeon myself. People whose names I no longer even remembered.
When I stared straight at Cho Hyejin, she quietly met my gaze and answered.
“I have….”
“Doesn’t sound like it was a very pleasant memory.”
“It would be strange to call it a good memory.”
“You’re right. It wasn’t a good memory. But there are people who end up thinking of it that way anyway. Free citizens like us all gain some degree of experience sooner or later, but ordinary nobles have a hard time getting that sort of experience, don’t they? Especially since murder among imperial citizens is still illegal. Nobles can punish commoners, but they can’t kill them without cause. So where do you think the occasional lunatics born into this world go to satisfy their desires? I can confidently say that things like that happen here, too.”
“There’s no way….”
Watching Cho Hyejin look doubtful nearly made me laugh.
Even after seeing what had just happened, she still seemed to be pinning her hopes on human conscience.
I chuckled and raised a hand, and almost immediately, a guide heading our way came into view. Of course, Cho Hyejin turned to look at me as if asking what on earth I was doing.
You’ll see.
There was no need to explain it in words.
There was a navigator standing by at all times, ready to answer whatever we asked.
“How may I help you?”
“I’d like to ask for directions.”
“Please, feel free to ask.”
“I’d like to test this sword… is there a suitable place for that?”
“Of course, sir. Would you like us to prepare a monster for you? Or….”
“I have other business to take care of first, so just tell me the way and I’ll find it myself. Ah, actually, if there’s a place where I can see a large monster, please guide me there.”
“Would you like me to escort you personally?”
“No. Just the explanation is fine.”
“If you continue straight down this path and keep heading to the right, you’ll find Exit 3. If you go that way, you’ll see the coliseum. Admission will be charged separately….”
“Yes, I understand. You may go about your business now.”
“Thank you, sir.”
After the guide vanished, Cho Hyejin’s face, full of disbelief, came into view.
“See?”
“…….”
“I told you there’s nothing you can’t buy here. Even experience can be purchased with money. Illegal experiences, too.”
“…….”
“Have you ever had something you wanted to do, or something you wanted someone else to do for you—something you’ve only ever pictured in your head? I’ll pay for it, so why don’t you go take a look?”
“You….”
“I’m kidding.”
Whatever she wanted, this place would probably make it real.
Ignoring her, I kept walking, and before long, just as the guide had said, the coliseum came into view.
It was larger than I’d expected.
It felt almost as though an old Colosseum had been hauled underground and rebuilt there.
People were waiting to enter, and others were chatting with one another.
After offering the gold we’d prepared, one of the attendants nodded and began to lead us inside.
“VIP.”
“There will be an additional fee.”
“That’s fine.”
“Understood.”
“Has the match started yet?”
“We’re on a short break. The next match is scheduled to begin in five minutes.”
“Very well.”
As soon as the guide moved on, Cho Hyejin began speaking again.
She seemed curious about what kind of spectacle was about to unfold before such a large audience.
“Sir Haruka. What kind of match is this…?”
“Well… didn’t I say this was my first time here too? If it’s a match involving a large monster, I think it’s obvious enough what sort of match it is.”
“You mean they’re showing people how to hunt here?”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that tame… Do all the people gathered here really look like they came just to watch adventurers beat up monsters?”
“Then….”
“You’ll see.”
The moment I finished speaking, a roar rolled through the arena.
Probably because they cared about appearances, nobody was yelling at the top of their lungs, but there was a wide range of reactions—from people clapping quietly to people shouting encouragement.
Among them, one figure stood out: the woman I’d seen earlier.
She seemed to be looking our way, but she quickly turned her eyes aside.
Probably not.
As the loud cheering washed over us, I lowered my gaze and saw a massive monster emerge from the center of the arena.
Big.
It was hard to even describe its shape.
Its head was vaguely lizard-like, but it had six legs.
Slobber dripped from the corners of its mouth, and its constant screeching was enough to split your ears. The spectators, who had been quiet until then, erupted into cheers at the sight.
And naturally, people began appearing on the opposite side as well. They were probably the humans meant to fight that thing.
There were about thirty of them.
Ordinary people, forced to face a monster without even basic equipment.
There were even a few short-statured ones mixed in, which meant there were likely non-human races in the group too, people with no real market value.
Apparently the lineup had been chosen to suit the tastes of the various spectators, because there were even some beautiful elves among them.
It was only natural that I swept them all with my status window once.
And, naturally, their abilities were pathetic. A few of them looked like they had at least been in a fight before, but that was nowhere near enough to face a monster like this.
A creature like that was the sort of thing a well-trained group of free citizens might be able to bring down if they worked together.
There was no way people who didn’t even have proper weapons could stand against it.
After the chains restraining the monster snapped, it charged the thirty humans in an instant.
Human morale had already collapsed before the match even began, and they scattered in every direction, tearing across the arena as they fled.
Voices rang out from all around.
“Hold out!”
“Just hold on a little longer!”
So there are even bets on this.
The monster, crushing humans like fish thrown into a river, was so absurd it almost made me snort.
Blood kept flying everywhere, but there wasn’t a single person in this place worried about the victims.
“Kieeeeek!”
“P-please, help me!”
“Help me! Aaaaaagh!”
Some pounded on the door they’d come through; others shoved their companions aside and ran.
It was a brutal little drama, all right, but no one here would have any interest in the documentary of those lives.
Most of the spectators were probably watching that scene as entertainment, not tragedy.
Personally, the fact that it looked like a documentary to me made me feel as though I still hadn’t gone completely rotten.
More than half the humans were already dead, and for some reason that left me feeling grimy.
Tsk.
If I was feeling this way, then Cho Hyejin probably felt it even more. Even in the slave market scene from earlier, she’d been frowning. When I turned my head slightly, the sight that met me was almost painful.
Too much, maybe.
Inside her mask, Cho Hyejin’s eyes were filled with fury.
Her lips were bitten so hard that blood was flowing from them, and even her clenched fist was bleeding.
This is bad.
“No impulsive actions….”
“I know.”
“You must not do it.”
“I… know.”
She said she knew, but the look on her face didn’t suggest she understood the meaning of “do not move.” She looked as though she might bolt straight into the arena at any moment, which was only natural to worry about.
When I squeezed her hand tightly, I could feel her trembling directly through it.
Even then, the screams kept coming. There were only five humans left in the arena now.
“P-please, help us.”
“Please, save us!”
“Please! Somebody… somebody help us!”
“I don’t want to die… huuu….”
“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die like this… please… please….”
The victims’ cries, screamed until their throats gave out, were swallowed by the howls of the ecstatic crowd.
And yet they seemed to be reaching Cho Hyejin’s ears loud and clear.
God… damn it….
Just imagining her bolting out of here made me want to tear my hair out.
If she did, the situation could easily turn into something even I’d have a hard time cleaning up.
When I saw her slowly begin to rise, I grabbed her hand again, tightly, but to that rigid doctrinal hardhead from Castle Rock, the world around me probably no longer existed.
Was the stimulation too intense?
“Don’t do anything insane.”
“I understand.”
“If you rush in, I’ll die too.”
“…….”
“You want to save them?”
It was a little early, but this was the right move.
“Think it through carefully. How do you think we can save them?”
The answer had already been decided.
What mattered was whether she would say it out loud or not.
I kept watching her, and…
After a slight delay, she finally spoke the conclusion she had reached.
“I….”
“…….”
“Will buy them.”
“That’s right.”