Chapter 97
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Interrogation (2)
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"...Yanagiya Riki... from the Eastern Alliance."
"...Yanagiya Riki?"
A name I'd never heard before. Well, it made sense—he was from the Eastern Alliance, so of course I wouldn't know him.
"Yeah... She's the master of the Kototsuke Clan, one of the Eastern Alliance's major clans."
"A major clan, huh..."
I'd half-expected something like this. You wouldn't stir up this much trouble without being a big clan.
"Tell me more about this Yanagiya Riki."
"...I've only met her a few times myself. She's a dangerous woman from the start. I heard she was the daughter of a famous yakuza family back on Earth."
"Yakuza?"
"...I don't know for sure. It's just the rumor."
"...So, she was some pampered daughter raised in a yakuza family?"
"...You idiot. Say that to her face, and your head's coming off. That's what she hates most. She's no delicate flower in a greenhouse. Her own combat prowess puts her in the top ranks of players."
"......"
Sounded like I'd gotten tangled up with a real headache of a person.
I had no idea how the Neutral Nation would handle this, but for us, avoiding friction with her side as much as possible seemed wise.
No need to throw down with a woman like that.
The problem was, like it or not, Eternity had already poked at a business tied to this Yanagiya Riki.
"Alright, got it. So what exactly does she do? Were you taking orders from her to run things here?"
"Fuck... Orders? It was just a business relationship. Though... we were on the receiving end for drug supplies, and with the size difference between our clans, it felt like we were the ones bowing."
"....."
"...I wasn't directly handling drug distribution at first."
"What do you mean?"
"It was the previous clan master who did it. I just took it over..."
"So, some internal strife?"
"Kuh... That would've been better. Nah, it was just some slave bitch who took out the previous master and the whole group."
A slave out of nowhere?
"What... What do you mean?"
"Damn it, exactly what I said. My base is already cleaned out, so I'm spilling it, but some slave girl escaped from the black market in this city and killed everyone! That's why the black market shut down!"
"What... So one slave took out the entire black market crew?"
"Yeah, fuck! Everyone except me and the clan members who weren't there! We've been busy cleaning up the mess ever since!"
The man spat out his words, seething with resentment.
"Damn it! I was planning to pull out of this lately anyway! I was dumping the remaining stock fast, and that's how it reached even you!"
Now it makes sense.
That explained why the dealer at the gambling den had been so quick to bring up drugs with me. He was desperate to offload the leftovers.
I asked the most important question.
"Is the drug production facility here?"
"No... it's not."
Ha... Figures.
I had a decent stock from what I'd bought off these guys, so it wasn't a huge deal, but it was still disappointing.
Still workable with this.
It might not be enough to pin him fully as a drug kingpin, but it wasn't impossible.
"Just personal curiosity, but what's your connection to the Sword Sovereign?"
"...Why do you ask?"
"Exactly what I said—personal curiosity. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."
I'd said it offhand, but to him, it sounded like a threat, judging by how he started talking.
"...We just knew each other. We sparred at a martial arts tournament and became friends of sorts. Or... maybe not quite friends."
"Ah..."
The mention of the tournament reminded me of Wi Ho-yeon's title and his.
Wi Ho-yeon was the tournament winner, and this guy was a participant.
"Yeah, I get the picture. Anyway, that's all from me."
"...You won't touch my sister, right? I answered everything you asked. If you..."
"I'm not that much of a scum. As long as what you told me is true, no need to worry."
"...Got it."
I'd learned everything I needed. No reason to stick around.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A storm passed through Silan.
The reason was simple:
It was revealed that drugs—strictly banned by the Neutral Nation—had been circulating in Silan.
And the distributor had been captured.
The news spread throughout the Neutral Nation, causing a huge uproar.
In the end, the current master of the Red Ant Clan, who had been distributing the drugs, along with the clan executives, were sentenced to execution.
Furthermore, the fact that our clan solved the case became widely known.
We had debated whether to reveal that we solved it.
But since this incident created a direct connection with the royal palace, we decided it was time to gradually reveal our achievements.
While I was reading a newspaper in the Clan House about our clan, Kang I-seo spoke to me.
“Hey, I heard the news. You pulled off something big this time? Not bad, huh?”
“…Who did you hear it from?”
“From old man Ho-won. But even if I didn’t, Seo Yu-ju has been bragging about it everywhere.”
“Haah…”
This time I couldn’t deny it.
I really had played a major role.
But it was embarrassing because Seo Yu-ju kept bragging about it like a proud mother talking about her child.
‘Damn… should I expose her too?’
Of course she didn’t mean anything bad by it.
But honestly I felt like spreading something embarrassing about her in return.
‘Seriously… if only I could spread rumors about the clothes she wore…’
“Heh… embarrassed? Didn’t think you’d get shy about something like this.”
“Ha… whatever. It’s not that. More importantly… nothing happened while we were gone, right?”
“Yeah, nothing happened. Oh… actually.”
“…Something did happen?”
“Well… nothing serious. Some strange person was loitering in front of the clan house once and then disappeared.”
“A strange person?”
“Yeah. They were wearing a hood, so I couldn’t tell who they were. Maybe someone who came because of a request or something.”
“……”
“Hey, but I heard you’re going to the royal palace this time? Wow, look at you moving up in the world.”
“Ah, that…”
“I heard that among players like us, almost no one has ever gone to the royal palace. At most the masters and executives of large clans.”
“Well, that’s the reason we took the request in the first place. The palace will probably give us a good reward. Seo Yu-ju accepted it to build a connection with the palace.”
“Ahh…”
“And… you seem to misunderstand something. You’re going to the palace too. Actually, everyone is.”
“Huh? I have to go too?”
“Of course. The request was accepted by the clan, not an individual. So as a clan member you go as well.”
“Oh really? But what am I supposed to do there? I wasn’t even part of the investigation.”
“It’s just a formality. You can just go eat or something. I heard the palace food is amazing.”
“Hey… do I look like a pig to you? Going there just to eat…”
I laughed and teased her.
“What, then are you going there to curse? Shouting ‘fuck, fuck’ like you always do?”
“You little—are you getting cocky these days?”
“It would be hilarious. If you curse in front of the king, I’ll acknowledge you.”
“…You want someone to get executed?”
“You’d be lucky if it only ended with execution. Anyway, a carriage from the palace will come to pick us up in a week.”
“Damn… I’m nervous. Meeting a king… I never even saw the president back on Earth.”
“You don’t have to worry too much. They’re just calling us to give a reward.”
Honestly, even I was nervous.
After all, we weren’t meeting some noble.
We were meeting the king.
While talking with Kang I-seo, Seo Yu-ju came downstairs.
“Ah… Yun-seong. You’re here?”
“Yes. I was feeling a bit stuffy.”
“What were you talking about with I-seo?”
“Just about the mission and the royal palace.”
“Well, that and… I was teasing him because you keep bragging about him everywhere.”
“Huh?”
“You keep talking about Lee Yun-seong so much my ears are getting sore.”
Seo Yu-ju glanced at me nervously.
“N-no… I was just telling the truth!”
“Why are you reacting so strongly?”
“I—I’m not!”
“Look at you stuttering. That’s definitely an overreaction.”
Recently Kang I-seo seemed to enjoy teasing Seo Yu-ju just like I did.
And honestly, Seo Yu-ju was very fun to tease.
‘With reactions like that, how can we not tease her?’
I couldn’t be certain, but it felt like she might have been the kind of person her friends teased often back on Earth.
‘Earth…’
It had almost been one year since I came to this world.
Recently I had started feeling something strange.
I felt less like my Earth self and more like someone belonging to the world of Eras.
‘That’s probably a good thing…’
It’s better to adapt to the world you must live in than to cling to a place you can never return to.
Of course I still thought about Earth sometimes.
But honestly most of my memories there were bad.
The only regret was that my older sister was left behind.
But that wasn’t something I could solve right now.
‘…Maybe someday I’ll look for a way related to Earth. For now I just need to survive.’
“Hey, what are you thinking about so seriously?”
“…Nothing. Just thinking about Earth for a moment.”
“Ah…”
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up.
Even though it felt like a long time had passed, in reality it had only been about a year.
Seo Yu-ju and Kang I-seo might still have attachments to Earth.
Seo Yu-ju stayed silent for a moment before carefully asking me:
“…Yun-seong… do you still have attachments to Earth?”
“Not really. I mean… it’s not that I have none, but honestly it doesn’t matter much anymore. Well… maybe one thing.”
“……”
“My older sister is still on Earth. But there’s nothing I can do about it right now.”
“Huh? Y-you have an older sister?”
‘…She didn’t know?’
Since she knew me in the first timeline, I thought she might know.
But apparently this was the first time she heard about it.
“Ah… yes.”
“I… see…”
She looked slightly shocked that there was something about me she didn’t know.
I hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of me.
“…Ms. Yu-ju, do you have any attachments to Earth?”