Chapter 36.

Yoo Yeonha opened her eyes . A patternless white ceiling filled her sight, and the sound of something being cut tickled her ears . She turned towards the direction of the sound .

Kim Suho was cutting an apple with a fruit knife .

“…What are you doing here?”

Yoo Yeonha asked dumbfoundedly . Kim Suho glanced at Yoo Yeonha before smiling bashfully .

“You’re awake? It doesn’t hurt anywhere, right?”

“…I’m fine . ”

“The doctor said there’s nothing wrong with your body . ”

Yoo Yeonha raised her upper body . She felt slightly stiff and sore, but it wasn’t to the point she couldn’t move .

“What I want to know is why you’re here . ”

“We’re taking turns nursing you . Me, Nayun, Shin Jonghak, and Kim Horak . ”

“Why?”

Yoo Yeonha asked genuinely curious .

“Well, it’s kind of our fault…”

“…Huh?”

Yoo Yeonha fell in thought because of Kim Suho’s incomprehensible words . How was it their fault?

But even after contemplating about what happened, she couldn’t come up with an answer .

‘Did they do something I didn’t know?’ Yoo Yeonha glared at Kim Suho, demanding an explanation .

“As members of the same team, we should have been more careful . We were too absorbed in caring for Nayun that we were too negligent…”

Yoo Yeonha became lost for words . Her brain seemed to freeze at the sheer stupidity of Kim Suho’s statement .

It wasn’t like they could have known she would get attacked . Not to mention, the investigation team had only met twice, and there was even a huge argument in the second meeting .

“…Sorry . ”

“Pfft . ”

Yoo Yeonha chuckled at Kim Suho’s bashful apology . If anything, she realized just how stupidly kind this man was .

“You don’t need to be sorry . I got what I deserved . ”

Kim Suho scratched his neck and gave Yoo Yeonha a plate of sliced apples, which were shaped like rabbits . Yoo Yeonha smiled subconsciously . Being a girl, Yoo Yeonha liked cute things .

“They look nice . ”

“Thanks . ”

Kim Suho laughed innocently . His handsome face seemed to shine . Yoo Yeonha stared at his face in a daze before suddenly remembering something and asking .

“…Oh right, um, did that person come?”

“That person?”

Kim Hajin .

Yoo Yeonha couldn’t say his name out loud . She had a conscience . She didn’t expect him to visit her after what she had done .

“No, nevermind . ”

She looked outside the window . There wasn’t a single cluster of clouds on the East Sea’s clear and blue sky . The world seemed particularly bright under the beaming sunlight .

Seeing this dazzling scenery, Yoo Yeonha fell in thought .

She learned many things today .

Of course, her 17-year-old personality wouldn’t entirely change with just this one incident . Tomorrow’s Yoo Yeonha might not be too different than today’s .

But there were certainly many things she felt from the bottom of her heart . She wasn’t sure whether it was self-reflection, introspection, or plain gratefulness .

Before she wrote everything down on her diary and pondered over it, she first picked up her smartwatch .

There was still something she needed to do .

**

I received a message .

[Thank you . I’ll repay today’s debts for sure . ]

The sender was Yoo Yeonha . Seeing her name, the corners of my mouth curled up to a smile .

I wanted to say something cool, but the person sitting in front of me asked for another affirmation .

“Um… So I can just take this money? Really?”

I stared back at the man . Park Soohyuk has been like this for a while . I lost count how many times he asked if this was real .

Haa . I couldn’t help but sigh .

It was my money I was investing, so why was he so hesitant? Just buy an HUV (hunter utility vehicle) and a proper magic pouch already!

“Yes, yes, yes . Please take it! Please!”

I stood up and bowed down at a 90-degree angle .

“Please take it!”

“Ah, um, I—”

“What, do I need to kowtow? I’ll do it!”

“No, no! I’ll take it! Thank you so much for investing in SH Agency!”

He finally put the signed documents in his suitcase .

How did such an easygoing person end up becoming the agent world’s greatest giant? I was the owner who created this setting, but I just couldn’t understand it .

After staring at him for a moment, I asked casually .

“By the way, how old are you?”

“I’m 29 . ”

“Ah, you’re more than a decade older than me . You don’t have to talk so formally . ”

Talking casually would be better for our relationship .

“How can I do such a thing to an investor…”

“Don’t think of me as an investor, think of me as a business partner . You know, like we’re building SH Agency together . ”

“But still…”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine with it . ”

“But…”

A back and forth argument went around on the topic of talking formally or casually . Eventually, I defeated Park Soohyuk and he submitted .

“Okay… I won’t talk so formally then . ”

“Good . ”

I got up .

“Then let’s go hunt . We’ll stop at just two for today . ”

Park Soohyuk laughed bashfully .

We left the coffee shop . Right when we were about to head to the Field, I saw a convenience store .

“Um, Soohyuk hyung?”

I was the one who suggested talking casually, but I felt shy now that I needed to do it .

“Hm? What’s up?”

“We should buy a lottery ticket . ”

I pointed at the poster that said [lottery ticket on sale] . In truth, this was the first method I thought up to make money since I had an absurd level of luck . But because of my status as a ‘minor without a guardian’, I haven’t been able to do it until now .

“Come on, lottery tickets are a waste of money . You might be too young to understand these things, but the lottery is a scam . ”

“It’s not a scam . I have good luck, so I’ll probably win something . I’ll invest what I get on SH Agency, so give it a try . ”

“No, I’m telling you it’s a scam…”

“Just follow me . ”

I dragged Park Soohyuk to the convenience store . I grabbed ten instant lottery tickets on the counter, and with Park Soohyuk’s clearly aged face, the clerk didn’t even ask for his identification . After buying the ten tickets, I brought them over to a nearby table .

“I need something to scratch them with . ”

“Oh, here’s a coin . ”

Even though he just said lottery tickets were a scam, he gave me a coin with anticipating eyes .

“I’ll start then . ”

Shashak . I started scratching on the silver foils on the ticket . The first one was a fail . I immediately moved on to the second . Another fail . I scratched the third ticket . Another fail .

“Haam . ”

Park Soohyuk had already lost interest and yawned . Unperturbed, I continued scratching . Fourth, fifth, sixth…

While Park Soohyuk walked around the cup ramen aisle, I scratched the tenth lottery ticket .

“Oh, finally . ”

“You won? How much?”

Park Soohyuk asked casually after picking up a cup ramen .

“20 million won . ”

“Oh, nice . ”

Park Soohyuk then started walking towards the counter before suddenly stopping and tilting his head . ‘Did I hear that wrong…?’ murmuring so, he turned towards me .

“…Can you repeat that?”

“20 million won . Looks like getting the first place jackpot is asking for too much . ”

First place was 100 million won .

I showed Park Soohyuk the lottery ticket . His jaws instantly dropped .

“W-What, is, is this real?”

“It’s real, so take it . ”

I handed him the ticket .

“W-Why are you giving this to me?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I’m still a minor, so I can’t claim the money . You can take it . It’s an additional investment, so send me a modified contract . ”

Park Soohyuk stared at me in a daze . His gaping mouth didn’t think to close . The cup ramen he was holding could probably fit in his mouth . It sure was big .

“Take it . ”

“Oh, yeah . ”

Park Soohyuk quickly put the lottery ticket in his pocket . Next, he quickly looked around himself and began to sweat as though he had just committed a crime .

“You can put down your guard . No one is going to steal it . “

“No, you don’t understand how scary the world can be…”

**

Moonlight shone through a broken window, but it only lit up dusty ruins and absolute silence . Vines and moss were the only living things in this desolate place abandoned by humans .

A factory in Suwon abandoned after Outcall, this was Chameleon Troupe’s temporary hiding place .

—Boss .

A voice rang out in the empty space . The call awoke an existence sleeping in the darkness .

—You’re awake?

The existence slowly opened its eyes . The revealed pupils glistened like jewels yet carried a threatening aura .

—Those bastards started moving . The Packhorse Master . They just listed themselves on the stock market .

The ownerless voice notified the existence of this information .

The existence replied briefly . Not even a hint of emotion could be felt in the dull voice .

“Understood . ”

—What should we do next?

The existence put off answering the question and slowly raised its body . Meanwhile, a full moon revealed itself from behind the clouds . A brighter moonlight infiltrated the window and lit up the existence’s body . The enshrouding darkness instantly melted down .

—That aside, Boss is beautiful as always .

Long black hair seemingly weaved out of shadows, full pink lips, and a smooth white skin adorning a graceful figure… A woman, who seemed to be the manifestation of modern beauty, spoke without the slightest change in her expression .

“Do you have a death wish?”

A dark blue magic power crackled from her hands .

—I’m kidding, but it’s not like I can say Boss is ugly . Forgive me .

The threatening magic power akin to an erupting lava calmed down .

—Anyways, what are we going to do? The Packhorse Master is making its move .

“We will only steal . We won’t care about anything else . ”

It was an apathetic answer, but her command was clear .

—Oh, by the way, there’s someone buying Packhorse Master’s stocks en masse .

“Stocks?”

—Yep . At first, I thought it was just a small investor, investing 3 million won first and 10 million won second . But suddenly, he threw in 250 million won on top of that . A small investor randomly investing wouldn’t do something like that .

“Coincidence?”

—Mm… 95%, I’d say . But Boss, the other 5% is what I’m concerned with . There’s no reason to buy this stock . Packhorse Master doesn’t even have a guild page yet .

The guild stock market was riskier than the normal stock market . Thus, without a proper source of information, few small investors invested in new guilds . And there was no way that there was a source of information on Packhorse Master .

“Don’t mind it . We only have one job . ”

—Mmm… If you say so . I’ll tell the troupe members that .

“Un . ”

With that, the voice disappeared . Then, it quickly came back .

—Oh right, a few interesting pages appeared on Violet Banquet .

The woman tilted her head .

—Artifact Search Corp, Jonggak’s Dog Meat Soup, and Truth Agency .

“Are they of any use?”

—The first two are slowly building their reputation, but I don’t know about Truth Agency . I just included it because of how confident it introduced itself . Since it’s boasting in Violet Banquet, I’m sure it has some skill .

“Take it out . ”

—Come on~ You know how things are . It wasn’t just once or twice that seemingly ordinary pages were the jackpot . I’ll give you the page number later, so take a look . It says it’ll answer any question . Who knows? Maybe it can help us find that son of a bitch .

However, the woman remained uninterested .

“That doesn’t happen often . ”

—Still . Alright, I’m going . See you later, Boss~

That seemed to be the end of the conversation .

But the voice came back once again .

—Oh, one more thing, Boss .

“…”

Veins popped up on the woman’s white forehead .

“What now?”

—Cube’s exams start next week . You’ll go watch, right?

Huu .

The woman sighed before replying .

“Yeah, I will . ”

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