The Cat's Disappearance
Accepted! With such an admirable attitude, how could I possibly turn you down? I'm sorry to Alfred, but I'll work with Seong-il instead!
"Thank you so muuuuuch!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Ohohohohohohohot!!!"
The two of them were howling like lunatics inside the office. After a long bout of excitement, Seong-il finally caught his breath and spoke.
"Then, how should I go about my duties starting now?"
"Hmm... From tomorrow onward, please come to the office every day at nine in the morning!"
"Ooooh...!"
"But... are you really okay with that weekly wage?"
Charlotte stared at him with a strange expression. Seong-il answered her with firm determination.
"Yes! If it means securing my dream job, that's the least I can do!"
"Ooooh.... But can you actually live on that...?"
"Well... I'll figure something out..."
"...."
Charlotte let out a sigh at Seong-il's completely reckless response. Then she made him an offer.
"Hmm. It does bother me that you're accepting such a small salary... How about this instead? This three-story building serves as both my office and my home. Why don't you stay here as a boarder for free?"
"Ooh?!"
"The third floor is my personal residence, so that's off-limits, but the second floor is empty. You can live and eat there! And I'll treat you to lunch every single day!"
"Ooooooh! I'm extremely satisfied!"
"Ohohohot!! Then the contract is sealed! Congratulations! My future Lupin!"
"Thank you! Great Detective!"
After saying that, Seong-il parted ways with her and headed home. The process had been utterly ridiculous, but he was still satisfied with having landed a job at Charlotte's detective agency. He thought to himself,
‘Phew… Good thing I looked into Charlotte’s financial situation beforehand.’
In truth, the ridiculously high salary Charlotte had offered her detective assistant was a mistake on her part. She was a sheltered, naive young lady from a wealthy family who knew nothing of the real world. A few months ago, she had become utterly obsessed with a novel that was all the rage in Windom called The Scarlet Study of the Great Detective Moriarty. Deeply moved by the story, she had turned into a rabid Moriarty fan.
Influenced by the novel, Charlotte had wanted to establish her own detective agency. To achieve her grand dream, she threw a massive tantrum at her father, demanding he set one up for her. Her father, Sir Edwin Moriarty, had tried to talk her out of it, but she pestered him relentlessly with every childish trick in the book. Eventually, the exhausted man gave in and opened the detective agency for her. However, he made it crystal clear that after the initial investment, she would have to earn her own income from then on. There would be no further financial support.
Charlotte had pounded her chest and assured him there was nothing to worry about… but the world didn’t bend to her whims. No one was willing to entrust any important work to a girl who knew nothing of the world, aside from menial chores. As a result, she had spent the past three months sitting blankly in her office, wasting away her days.
Any normal person facing that reality would have given up on their detective dreams or lowered their standards. But Charlotte comforted herself with a completely ridiculous thought:
‘Ah! Is this because I don’t have my own Lupin yet?’
That was why she had recklessly poured what little money her father had given her into trying to recruit outstanding talent. Seong-il, having learned about her financial situation through his game knowledge, had deliberately exploited that weakness to score high points with her.
‘Phew… Good thing I knew about that contradictory situation where she’s both rich and broke…’
Muttering to himself, Seong-il returned home. Once he arrived, he celebrated having extinguished the fire that had been burning under his feet and thought,
‘That was way too close. If Alfred had become Charlotte’s partner like in the original story, the game would’ve been over the moment I started.’
‘It’s a relief I managed to get hired by slashing the salary in my desperation, but now I need to figure out where to get the money for the magic engraving…’
Having lived luxuriously as an alchemist in How to Become an Alchemist only to end up a beggar here, Seong-il felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. He lay down on his bed and began to ponder.
‘For now… I’ll tackle some trivial early quests with Charlotte, get used to this world, and build a close relationship with her. Then I’ll seduce her and make her my dual cultivation partner…’
In normal circumstances, finding a dual cultivation partner would require serious consideration. Fortunately, this was an adult game, so securing one probably wouldn’t be too difficult. Especially since Charlotte’s very first quest, The Disappearance of Mr. Gigglesworth, was a simple search mission… but it had included a service scene involving the detective assistant Edward.
‘Ugh! If worse comes to worst, I’ll just clench my teeth, hop to another world, and fuck my way through it! One round with Elisha, one with Eunwol. That should last me a whole week.’
‘Still… how the hell am I supposed to get that magic engraving…’
The Magic Engraving system was the main reason Seong-il had come to this world. This game allowed players to completely avoid combat and still clear it, but for users who enjoyed fighting, it featured a unique skill system: the Magic Engraving system.
It was a magical tattoo that could be received from ‘Magic Engineer Yuna’ in Windom. Traditional magic engravings could only be performed by archmages, but Yuna had combined the previously nonexistent academic field of engineering with magic to create an entirely new type of magic engraving tattoo. The new engravings she established used precision machinery, so even mid-level mages could utilize them. This brought about a massive revolution in the versatility of magic engravings.
Incidentally, the engravings functioned like a magic memorization system. While the wearer slept, the tattoo would naturally absorb mana. The absorbed mana allowed the user to instantly cast spells up to three times within twenty-four hours without any incantation. Aside from the drawback that only a single tattoo could be engraved on the body, it was an incredibly overpowered, nearly penalty-free technique. It quickly became all the rage in Windom, and nearly everyone got one.
Moreover, although they were called tattoos, they were actually closer to magical henna, making them semi-permanent. At the same time, they could be removed at any time, so there was little resistance to getting them. It was an outstanding magic system.
"Haa… Magic engraving… Magic engraving…"
Seong-il thumped his head against the wall as he agonized. Eventually he let out a deep sigh and thought,
‘Well… If I cling to her during the first quest and build some rapport, something should work out…’
Having finished his deliberations, Seong-il packed his belongings and went to sleep.
The next morning.
"Hello! Miss Charlotte!!"
"You’ve arrived! Mister Seong-il!!"
The two of them exchanged their bizarre, loud morning greeting. Fortunately, no one was around, so they greeted each other without a shred of shame.
"Miss Charlotte. Do we have any requests yet?"
"Hmm! As a matter of fact! After three months of… oops…! I mean, after quite a while, we’ve finally received a missing persons case! It’s a search request?!"
"Oh…! What kind of request is it?"
"Yes! It was submitted by Lady Yuna, who researches this strange new field called magic engineering!"
‘Huh? It’s resolving itself this quickly?!’
Seong-il cheered internally as the name of the person who had kept him up worrying all last night popped up. Charlotte continued speaking as she watched him.
"Her family member, Mister Gigglesworth, has gone missing!"
"How terrible!!!!!!"
"Therefore! I believe it is only right for us, the champions of justice, to find him! What do you think, Mister Seong-il?"
"Of course we must!!!!!!!!!"
"Exactly! As expected of my Lupin! Our hearts are perfectly in sync! Ohohohohoho!!"
Seong-il matched her energy and laughed enthusiastically along with her. After laughing for a while, he thought to himself,
‘Fuck… This is so goddamn stupid…’
Even though he was playing along to stay in Charlotte’s good graces, Seong-il couldn’t help but feel how pathetic his current situation truly was.
"Right! Let’s hurry and go meet our client, Lady Yuna!"
"Yes!! Miss Charlotte!"
And so Charlotte and Seong-il headed to Yuna’s workshop.
"Hello!"
Charlotte roared energetically in front of the workshop. Yuna came out to greet them.
"Welcome! Are you perhaps the detective, Miss Charlotte?"
"Yes! That’s correct! You must be our client, Lady Yuna?"
"Yes, yes…"
‘Oho… So that’s the genius magic engineer Yuna?’
The genius magic engineer who had applied engineering principles to existing magical theories and created mass-producible magic engravings. The genius who had popularized magic engravings that had previously been exclusive to high-ranking mages. Facing her, Seong-il felt his heart swell with excitement.
‘This is the woman who starts a connection with the protagonist through the Mr. Gigglesworth quest and grants him the engraving system…!!’
Seong-il swallowed unconsciously as he observed Yuna. A wild beauty with brown hair and a tank top that emphasized her explosively large breasts caught his eye.
"And who is the gentleman behind you…?"
Yuna pointed at Seong-il as she asked. Charlotte answered her.
"Ohohot! This is my assistant, Mister Seong-il! He handles all physical… (?) matters."
"…Physical?"
Yuna frowned slightly at the bizarre introduction. She soon shook her head and got to the point with Charlotte.
"My family member! Mister Gigglesworth has gone missing! Detective!"
"How awful! What a terrible thing! Could you explain the circumstances of the case?"
"Yes… Usually, Mister Gigglesworth goes out in the morning, wanders around near the house, and returns in the evening to come to my bed…"
"Ooh… Is he your lover?"
"…? No. Well… he is a beloved child, though…"
"Ah! So he’s like a son to you!"
Charlotte’s face was flushed red with excitement over her first request as she asked questions with ragged breaths. Yuna looked flustered as she continued.
"Huh? Y-yes… that’s right. Anyway! Mister Gigglesworth didn’t return to my bed last night, and I’m so worried. Could you please find him?"
"Of course! Lady Yuna! Just leave it to this great detective! Could you describe the missing person’s appearance?"
"Yes… He has lush brown fur, blue eyes, and a sleek build."
"Oho…? He must be quite well-developed, then? Given how lush his fur is."
"…Yes."
‘What the hell are these two talking about…? No way…’
Listening to their conversation, Seong-il let out a sigh. He felt the need to intervene and spoke to Yuna.
"Um… sorry to interrupt, but is Mister Gigglesworth a person?"
"…?"
Both Charlotte and Yuna turned to look at him with puzzled expressions. Then they shouted at the same time.
"Of course he’s a person!"
"No. He’s a cat."
After speaking, Charlotte and Yuna stared at each other in shock.
"…Huh?!"
"Huh…?!"
Seong-il looked at them with an expression of utter pity.
‘Idiots…’
While Seong-il was briefly thinking uncharitable thoughts, the flustered Charlotte asked her,
"….This wasn’t a missing person case?"
"I never said he was a person, did I…?"
"…"
Charlotte stood there blankly, completely flustered. Seong-il quickly approached her and whispered,
"…Didn’t you ask for clarification when you accepted the request?"
"Well. He was called Mister Gigglesworth, so I naturally assumed he was a person."
"…."
"Ugh…"
"…Still, let’s proceed!"
"Ehh…? Isn’t this too trivial a job for a legendary duo like us to accept?"
‘Are you insane! This is the only chance to build a connection with a genius magic engineer! There’s no way I’m letting that happen!’
Seong-il desperately tried to persuade her.
"That won’t do! No matter the reason, if we accept a request and then abandon it on-site, won’t our reputation be completely ruined? A true great detective should value every single word she speaks, don’t you think…?"
"You’re absolutely right!!!!"
Charlotte suddenly let out an enormous shout. Seong-il looked startled.
‘Crazy woman, why are you screaming all of a sudden…!’
Ignoring his bewildered expression, Charlotte grabbed both of his hands and shook them violently.
"As expected! You truly are my Lupin! How could you say something so noble…!"
"…."
Yuna, who had been watching Charlotte’s outburst, let out a sigh and asked her,
"So… will you take the case? Or should I drink something…"
"Of course we will! Charlotte Moriarty always takes full responsibility for her words!"
‘Hey… you literally just said you didn’t want to do it…’
In the end, Seong-il failed to keep a straight face and covered it with one hand. Seeing his reaction, Yuna looked incredibly apologetic as she answered them.
"Thank you! I don’t have any family… so Mister Gigglesworth is like a brother to me. Without that child, I…"
Now there were even tears glistening in Yuna’s eyes. Seeing her like that softened Seong-il’s heart, and he comforted her.
"Don’t worry. We will definitely find Mister Gigglesworth for you!"
"Thank you…"