Chapter 69
Chapter 69
The next thing Han Soo-Young knew, she was walking endlessly along the walkway.
“…… .”
When she came to her senses on the way, she stopped and looked around.
Most of the students and staff either ignored her or only glanced at her from time to time.
For some reason, her body shuddered and trembled.
Han Soo-Young covered her body with her cardigan and immediately took out her cell phone.
She was about to call Yoo Ji-Hyuk, but hesitated for a moment and then quickly changed the subject.
There was only one person she could call at a time like this.
As she waited for a while, Choi Hyun-Woo looked around with a stiff expression and quickly approached her as if he had spotted her.
“Soo-Young, what’s wrong. What’s going on?”
“It’s…… .”
When Han Soo-Young, who was sitting helplessly on the bench, explained the whole story, Choi Hyun-Woo began to listen to her with a mysterious look.
He then cautiously sat down next to her and opened his mouth quietly as if he were comforting her.
“Ji-Hyuk must have something going on.”
At Choi Hyun-Woo’s words, Han Soo-Young remained silent.
In fact, she didn’t even know why she was doing this.
“Let’s say Ji-hyuk really takes a leave of absence and leaves here. Then he would have at least told us. He’s that kind of guy. And didn’t you say it was a temporary leave of absence?”
“It is, but…… .”
“He already told us. He was thinking about getting sick leave for personal reasons for about a week. For whatever reason, I guess that was replaced by the name leave of absence. And he didn’t say anything in case we misunderstood.”
“But…… Still, he could have told us something, right? All of a sudden, a leave of absence…… .”
Immediately after uttering those words, Han Soo-Young was surprised at herself.
It was because she knew better than anyone that the words she uttered were full of contradictions and that she was just acting like a child.
Obviously, Choi Hyun-Woo must have noticed that, but he didn’t dare to point it out.
“Let’s just pretend we don’t know and wait. He must have his own circumstances.”
Han Soo-Young nodded quietly.
Then she murmured in a powerless voice as if she had calmed down.
“… Yeah, why did I tremble like this? As you said, he’s only going to go somewhere for a week or so, and it must have been a nominal leave of absence. And he even gave us the heads up in advance…… .”
“Well.”
Choi Hyun-Woo knew the reason, but he didn’t tell her.
It was because it wasn’t his place to say.
“Maybe it’s because he’s such a trustworthy friend.”
At that, Han Soo-Young nodded slowly.
It was definitely what he said.
When she calmed down a little, the thought of her disgraceful situation came to her mind and she felt her face burning.
It’s said about a week, so it will probably be ten days at the most.
It will be a little difficult to organize the notes in the meantime.
Should I ask him to buy me a meal in return when he comes back?
Oh, if I think about that way, there are the earrings too, so maybe I should buy him instead…… .
In an effort to hide her shame, she kept thinking trivial thoughts.
She mumbled as if reassuring herself that she trembled because she was just surprised at the word leave of absence.
“…… .”
Following Choi Hyun-woo’s advice, she concluded that she should just pretend not to know, and stopped trying to call Yoo Ji-Hyuk.
It would be embarrassing to look at each other if we talked without reason.
It’s only a week, I should just study and work hard in the meantime.
Han Soo-Young thought so with a more relaxed mind.
And even after ten days passed, Yoo Ji-Hyuk did not return.
* * *
“So you’re saying you can’t save the contacts or anything?”
“I’m sorry, Customer. The inside of the device was almost shattered…… And we’ve never seen a model like this before.”
The cell phone store clerk fiddled with my cell phone and gave me a troubled expression.
“Is it handmade or made separately by a guild? In some cases, it may not be compatible…… .”
It was only at his words that I could recall the fact that my cell phone was originally an object that did not exist in this world.
As I nodded roughly, he tilted her head as if it was difficult.
“I think it would be better to just buy a new one. Moving numbers and important things by hand…… .”
In the end, according to his words, I had no choice but to purchase a new cell phone.
And the first thing I did with my cell phone in both hands was to text Lee Myung-Joon.
[This is Yoo Ji-Hyuk. Please contact me on this phone when you have time. I have an important request. I’ll be waiting.]
And after waiting for a while, I texted Jin Ye-Seul this time.
[If you have any special information, please call this number.]
After sending the text, I put my phone in and picked up the bag I had put down next to me.
It was filled with items such as towels, soap, wet wipes, and a change of clothes.
As I passed five streets and headed toward the outskirts, the streets quickly became quiet.
Ignoring the faded signboards, worn-out buildings, and the streets that seemed to have fallen out of the passing of time, I pedaled hard on the cheap bicycle I had just bought today.
It was when I started to worry about whether I had taken the wrong direction while pedaling for about 30 minutes.
A foul smell poked my nose.
I thought I had come the right way, so I stepped on the pedal a bit more and arrived at a creek where sewage and wastewater mixed and smelled bad.
And on the bridge that crossed the creek, an old man was looking down at the creek with his hands folded behind his back.
It was exactly the person I was looking for.
As I deliberately slowly pedaled across the bridge, the old man turned and looked at me.
“Hey, hey. Hey kid!”
“You mean me?”
“Then, who else is here beside you and me?”
As I got off the bicycle, the old man looked at me and pointed down as if asking me to look down at the creek.
He pointed to a pair of white shoes that had fallen in the middle of the creek, where I didn’t want to get into, and could see strange bubbles and even black settled mud.
“My shoes have fallen in there. Can you pick it up for me?”
Originally, I would have just left as if I were running away.
However, I nodded as if understanding, took off my shoes and socks, and rolled up my pants on the spot.
“Sure.”
I immediately went down to the edge of the creek and went into the creek to pick up my shoes.
There was a terrible feeling between my toes and a smell that made me feel like I was about to throw up.
Resisting the urge to vomit, I picked up the shoes and brought them to the old man.
“How can I put them on right away, wipe them and…… Eh.”
At his grumbling, I started wiping his shoes with the bottled water and wipes I had prepared beforehand.
Fortunately, when the cleaned shoes were brought in front of the old man, he gently lifted his feet.
“I can’t bend forward because my back hurts. Can you put them on for me?”
Again, without saying a word, I put the shoes on his feet.
The conditions were satisfied.
As I was thinking this, the old man who was looking at me suddenly smiled.
“Oh, you’re a very polite young man, which is rare these days.”
With a different expression on his face, he nodded.
“I have something I want to give you. So five days later, see that big tree over there? Come there and wait. got it?”
With those words, the old man turned and walked away without hearing an answer.
I silently wiped the dirt off my legs and feet.
I could see why Jin Ye-Seul and Ahn Do-Hoon could not proceed with this quest.
Because those two, who are typical personality breakers, couldn’t just put up with something like this.
“Whoo…… .”
This quest, taken from the episode of Zhang Liang and Huang Shigong, which is known to people, was almost identical to the original story.
You have to pick up the shoes, and he gives you a book as a reward for the quest.
And it’s a quest that consumes a long period of time, three five-day appointments, or half a month in total.
In the original episode, the old man always arrives first, and in the third opportunity, you stay up all night and then receive the old man’s recognition.
That’s why, in the original story, it was only possible to arrive before the old man and receive the reward if it was the third attempt systematically.
Of course, I had no intention of spending half a month on this.
I was going to come and stay up all night after four days from today.
Even if I do that, it won’t affect the reward at all.
‘Then next…… .’
After washing my body roughly, I wore slippers that I brought, and immediately got on the bicycle.
Ignoring the smell that was still coming up, I pedaled hard on the bicycle.
There was still a lot of work left to do.
* * *
“T, to think I got beaten by just one person…… .”
As I indifferently looked at the man who collapsed and spat out typical lines, a notification window that I had not seen in a long time came to mind.
[Quest completed!]
[Quest]
― Behind the street
[Explanation]
― A splendid downtown has a hidden side as much as its outward splendor. There have been reports that a group of criminals who commit fraud, theft, and intimidation against tourists is appearing these days. But strangely, when we tried to find them, they hid as if they were ghosts, avoiding the investigation. Some say they have a close relationship with the people on this street, but well. The truth will be known only to you.
[Success Conditions]
― Defeat the leader of the gang of criminals. (1/1) [Done]
[Success Reward]
― A small amount of cash.
― Randomly decreases the favorability with one of the merchants of five streets. (Penalty)
Soon after, a notification popped up saying that the favorability of the paper street merchants had fallen.
Behind the knocked-down man was a half-open safe, which contained a fairly large amount of cash, not a small amount.
Originally, it was a quest that was carried out when money was scarce.
And it wasn’t just money that made me search the five streets for nearly three days looking for these guys.
“Where…… .”
I took off the bracelet hanging from his arm, who was still unconscious.
When I held the bracelet woven with black and red strings in one hand and appraised it, information immediately came to mind.
Orc Chieftain’s Bracelet (Rare)
― A bracelet made by weaving the hair of the orc leader of the red mane orc tribe, and the mane of the war boar he rode. It seems that you can feel their power somehow…… Something…… Don’t you feel your luck is bad these days?
― When worn, it temporarily increases your Stamina rank by one level when entering combat.
― When worn, it temporarily increases your Strength rank by one level when entering combat.
― When worn, you can use the skill ‘Fortitude’ once a day.
― When worn, the Luck rank decreases by one level. (Penalty)
I put on the bracelet without hesitation.
Temporarily increasing Stamina and Strength was a great effect, but above all, ‘Fortitude’ was the skill I wanted the most.
Fortitude has a simple yet powerful effect.
That is, ‘for a certain period of time, you will never become incapacitated, and you will not feel any pain.’
It was also something I wanted to get because I desperately felt how much physical pain corroded my mental strength in the last battle.
“Whoo.”
Grabbing all the cash in the safe, I walked past the fallen man and toward the wall.
Originally, this man was an opponent that I could only meet after defeating all of the lower gang members and executives below him.
However, there was no need for me because I had Henir’s Shadow, which could move without regard to distance or terrain.
I used the shadow to stealthily sneak into his private room, and knocked him down as he was sleeping without knowing the world.
During the fight, he made a fuss that I was cowardly about attacking a sleeping opponent, but I didn’t care at all.
“I’ll put all the money and the bracelet to good use, so don’t worry too much, Uncle.”
I smiled and told him, who was still unconscious, and made a portal by using the shadow against the wall as I had done when I came in and escaped.
After exiting the street, I wandered around for a while before entering a nearby cafe.
I was worried that his men might have noticed, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to have happened.
After ordering a cup of coffee, I took a seat and took out my new cell phone.
“Well…… .”
Lee Myung-Joon and Jin Ye-Seul.
I hadn’t heard from either of them in three days.
Before I came, I told Jin Ye-Seul that she should never contact me unless it was absolutely necessary, but it was honestly unexpected that Lee Myung-Jun did not contact me until now.
‘This is a bit of a problem…… .’
If I was really in a hurry, I could sneak in without their permission, but it was better not to do anything that could be picked on later for nothing.
Even more so if the opponent was Lee Myung-Joon and one of the giant guilds, the Thunder Lord’s Hammer.
No matter how many times I called for three days, I only heard a ringing tone and never answered the phone.
I even left a voice message, but there was no reply.
At this rate, I might have to sneak in.
It was when I was about to sip my coffee thinking like that.
“Huh?”
A familiar person was passing by outside the window.
And as soon as I saw that person, I got up.
That person was none other than Horie Yuzuki.