Chapter 6: Breath!!! Evade it!!!(1)

Getting hit was familiar. But it was hard to get used to the pain.

Even with the stat bonuses, which helped me escape my extremely weak body, I was still ultimately a physically fragile mage.

“Hngh, stop, stop hitting me. I was wrong…”

“Hey, it’s almost time to arrive at the port. Wrap it up around here.”

Only after the leader opened the door and came in did the merciless beating stop.

‘It hurts…’

I didn’t have any wounds or bruises, but the areas I was hit throbbed intensely. The man’s boast about being good at beating people without

leaving marks turned out to be true in a very unpleasant way. I guess my market value won’t drop either.

The effects of the paralysis poison were still going strong, so I couldn’t even touch the painful areas.

‘For a paralysis poison, it could at least alleviate the pain…’

Thanks to the Alraune’s poison, which precisely paralyzed only the nerves transmitting signals to the muscles, the pain wasn’t reduced at all.

Rather, since I couldn’t change my lying position, the pain in the areas touching the floor felt even more severe.

‘I really feel like I’m going to die…’

My physical condition, which had improved slightly due to the stat bonuses, was gradually deteriorating, perhaps due to the beating just now.

My stomach felt even more queasy than before, and my head was pounding. I seemed to be running a high fever.

Feeling my body gradually getting hotter, I slowly closed my eyes.

A small black market located on the coast of China.

People wearing masks and attending the masquerade were enjoying the lavish food and music. And in one corner of the masquerade, an

auction was taking place.

–I don’t want to be sold off like this…

–If you don’t stay still, your sister’s head will fly. Behave yourself when you’re on stage.

Even though the terrible act of trading humans was happening right before their eyes, the audience didn’t react. Rather, they enjoyed the

sight of the goods resisting just enough, washing it down with expensive liquor.

“40,000 dollars, 40,000 dollars, 40,000 dollars! Sold! The owner of the nineteenth item is gentleman number 194!”

–Clap, clap, clap…

Applause that didn’t detract from the elegance echoed through the venue. There was only one target referred to by the name ‘nineteenth

item.’ It was the cougar beastkin girl standing alone on the stage.

“[Follow me this way.]”

As ordered by the man waiting behind the stage, she quietly followed him, and a man holding a sign that read ‘194’ appeared before her eyes.

He stood still and scanned her up and down before opening his mouth.

“[From now on, I am your master.]”

Clink. The sound of metal clashing against metal was heard from below her chin. She fiddled with something around her neck.

‘…A collar.’

A collar, not the kind of choker for humans, but a collar made purely for the purpose of putting it on a dog.

She couldn’t properly understand the Chinese that he said to her, but she could roughly understand what the gift meant.

“[How is it, does it look good on you?]”

The gentleman who was supposed to be her master handed her a small hand mirror. The surface of the expensive-looking hand mirror

reflected an image. The image was of a small, cute beastkin girl. The collar around her slender neck was incongruous.

Frankly speaking, it didn’t suit her at all. She had no interest in fashion and had even been teased for having no fashion sense… but this was a

bit much. In the first place, what looks good about putting a high-end dog collar on a person?

The girl, who was about to retort bluntly as usual, paused as she remembered the recent nightmare-like memory. It was the memory of her

younger sister, whom she had been forcibly separated from not long ago.

The sisters, who were returning home late at night after a short outing, met men in black clothes and were brought here. She guessed that

they had become the target of those who only chose beastkins as criminal targets because of the ears sticking out from outside their hoodies.

–One of them is a dud, though?

–That doesn’t mean we can let her go. There must be somewhere we can use her.

Unlike her, who had transformed into a beastkin as a user, her younger sister was an ordinary human. To be precise, she was also a user of

‘Fantasia Online,’ but the race of the character she used was ‘human,’ which wasn’t much different from real people.

‘They said she has no market value.’

No price was put on her younger sister. She wasn’t recognized as having any value as a commodity. So, whenever the beastkin girl who had to

become a ‘commodity’ didn’t listen, her younger sister was beaten instead. Damaging an item that wasn’t even worth pricing wouldn’t cause

any loss.

‘But, if I get sold off… what will happen to my sister?’

The image of human trafficking gang members wandering around with large sacks popped into her head. She had imagined what was inside

those large sacks.

Sacks that were just the right size to fit one person. And a huge criminal organization that combined human trafficking and drug dealing.

‘…Could it be…’

They called something unknown contained in a large sack tied with a heavy stone and thrown into the deep sea ‘trash.’ And the gang

members who often harassed the sisters would also call her younger sister ‘trash’ in broken Chinese.

Realizing something, the beastkin girl grabbed the hem of the number 194 gentleman’s clothes with a face that had turned white in an

instant. He was the only person she could ask for help from now.

Just as she was about to use the clumsy Chinese she had learned here to inform him of her situation, the frivolous shout of the emcee on the

stage was heard.

.

–Ladies and gentlemen! The main item you’ve all been waiting for! It is…

Drum roll…

Along with the cliché yet anticipation-inducing sound effect, something pure white appeared on the stage.

‘…A person?’

White hair that was even more contrasting due to the black stage background, and an unusual horn on top of that white hair.

Only after listening to the emcee’s explanation could she realize what her identity was.

“The first Dragoonian to be exhibited in our industry, a dragon race woman commonly known as a half-human half-dragon!”

A dragon race, white hair, and a striking beautiful appearance. As far as she knew, there was only one user who matched these three

characteristics.

The elemental mage who boasted 3rd place in the integrated server pvp ranking, [GottaGrabTheHornsAndMakeBabies].

The nickname was a bit much, but she remembered him properly because he was a good person with good skills and manners.

The beastkin girl stared at him for a moment. He must have found her too, because he was looking this way. The vitality returned to his eyes,

which had been dead and seemed to have given up on everything.

“Yejin-ah? Is that Yejin?”

The clear Korean of a native Korean speaker that I heard after a long time from the garbled pronunciation of the Chinese people. Without

realizing it, I looked toward the side where I heard the voice, filled with a sense of relief, and I saw a familiar face.

“Don’t you remember me? We were really close!”

In the past, the character of an older brother whom she had been close to when playing the game was looking this way and was weeping. That

older brother, he was so obsessed with female dragon race characters that he ended up like that. The reason why contact was cut off must

have been because he changed like that.

His pitiful appearance as he looked this way was somewhat sad, but there was nothing she could do for him right now. More than anything,

her sister’s life was on the line right now. It was unfortunate, but now was the time to ignore him. If she was lucky, she would be able to meet

him again someday.

“Help me…”

Following a cold judgment, she grabbed the gentleman’s collar once again, promising the next time. The gentleman’s gaze was fixed on her

face. Clutching her trembling heart, she opened her mouth to ask her master, who at least looked like a gentleman, to save her sister.

At that moment,

A pure white flash covered her eyes.