episode_0239

Galaxy walked along the entrails of the ‘mediocre thing’ lying on the floor.

The place she arrived was a commercial residence about 5 minutes away from her studio apartment.

The first floor houses shops such as a butcher shop and a beauty salon, while the second and third floors are residential residences.

Even though it was still a little past lunchtime, the buildings were strangely dark and shady, as if they were ruins, and the transparent glass windows were covered in a layer of pure white frost, making it impossible to see inside the buildings from the outside.

Swish…

I ran my palm over the frosted window, but the frost didn’t disappear, which made me realize that the frost was forming inside the building.

I think it would be better not to go in now.

If you enter by mistake, a new guide might appear.

Hurry up.

Eunha, who was a step away from the commercial building, tried to put her cold hands inside her coat.

Immediately after, the [Red Woman] who had been following behind approached with a sullen face and grabbed Eunha’s hand.

A bloody hand wraps tightly around my cold hand, conveying lukewarm warmth.

“It’s warm.”

“… … Yes. Thank you.”

“No. It’s warm. Me.”

The woman who answered coolly turns her head away.

The affection is heavy.

Eunha, who had been moving her lips because she couldn’t think of anything to say, turns her head away.

Then, the shame that was washing over her made her let go of the hand she was holding, so Eunha wiped her bloody hands on her coat and walked forward, following the entrails spread out on the floor as if nothing had happened.

From behind, a clumsy female employee followed the two, making a fuss and shouting, “Oh my!” but no one paid any attention.

“It leads here.”

And the butcher shop on the first floor of the commercial-residential building… Eunha discovers a ‘thread’ leading to the stairs on the right.

She steeled herself and went inside, thinking that she had finally reached her destination.

I follow the long intestines, tied in knots here and there, that wiggle as if they were alive, up to the second floor and through the dark hallway.

The room was connected to the front door at the far corner of the hallway, and was squirming like an earthworm, wedged under the tightly closed iron door.

“Wow. That’s gross.”

“Is it okay if I keep following you, Mr. Asuruk?”

『… Mr. Asuruk?』

“Or tell me your name.”

The squatting employee blinked as he poked the writhing intestines of the employee. The bloody bandages wrapped around his body fluttered like wings.

A being slightly different from other monsters, if you must be precise, he’s like an old security guard.

As ‘that thing’ looked at the galaxy, [the red woman], walking like a ghost, sat between the two with a sullen face.

『… … .』

For some reason, Eunha didn’t pay attention to the quiet back and turned the handle of the front door that was jammed with entrails.

Rattling… rattling…

But the door was still firmly locked.

Of course, it’s weird to have someone else’s front door open, but I never thought I’d run into such a real-world problem in ‘this world’.

If I’m too late, Do Jong-ha will think it’s suspicious, but since no one’s watching, should I just break it down and go in?

Knock knock.

At that moment, [Red Woman] tapped Eunha on the shoulder and pointed to herself.

A sullen expression as if to say, “Why are you suffering over something like this?”

Then, ‘that thing’ walked towards the locked front door with a stomping motion, and knocked on the front door with its slender fingers.

I started counting numbers leisurely.

『One… Two… Three…』

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. If someone knocks on your front door.

– First, check outside through the intercom.

​

– If you see a woman in a red dress standing in front of the door,

– Please immediately put salt in your mouth and go to the bathroom.

​

– The front door will open by itself, and ‘it’ will look around all over ■■■■ ■■■ for about 10 minutes before quietly walking away.

​

– The above must be completed within 3 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

『One hundred and seventy-nine… One hundred and eighty…』

3 minutes have passed.

As [the red woman] slowly counts the numbers and turns the doorknob, the front door, which had been firmly locked until just now, begins to open smoothly without any obstruction.

I didn’t know rules could be used like that.

“Is this okay? What part of the outside is checked from the inside?”

“There’s no one inside. Omitted.”

Thud…

A wide open front door.

From the outside in… The woman who opened the door in the opposite direction of the original front door looked back at Eunha with a sullen face.

Do you want me to compliment you?

He took out a few bundles of bright yellow talismans from his carrier and stuck them onto ‘that thing’s’ bright red dress.

The ‘cross decoration’ attached to the waist of the dress sways pleasantly.

[The Red Woman] stares blankly down at the amulet attached to the hem of her dress, then turns her face as red as her dress and goes inside first.

『Wow. If you move within the ‘territory’ like now, no one will be able to stop you.』

“… … Thanks to Mr. Asuruk. Even if I walk around like this, no monsters will approach me. ”

『H, yes? What does that mean…?』

A clumsy female employee looks around with a look of confusion and embarrassment.

I don’t know if that’s his real personality or not.

Eunha, who had unbuttoned her coat with one hand, went inside while pulling her carrier with the other.

… … .

“Wow…what is all this.”

And I saw.

[Red Lady] who walks around the house for 10 minutes to follow the rules of the guide,

The bad smell coming from the bathroom,

Being locked in the bathtub.

Knock knock…

The sound of a carrier being pulled.

I came in without even taking off my shoes, because the inside was not at all clean.

‘Did you say that the victim you met in the studio today was the most recent person to have been ‘kidnapped’?’

Eunha went into the bathroom.

A living space that is just the right size for one person to live in, with a bathroom that is strangely spacious, as if the wall was torn down.

The walls and floor are covered with plastic to make ‘cleaning up’ easier.

“… … .”

This is why detective work is hard.

I feel once again that Do Jong-ha is amazing.

Eunha, who was staring blankly down at herself while soaking in the bathtub, closed the bathroom door tightly.

I think it would be much better for my mental health to hang out with weirdos.

At least if you follow the rules of [The Black Book] properly, you’ll be safe.

Eunha, who gave an appropriate response to the clumsy female employee’s words, looked around.

“What was in the bathroom?”

“The upper body I saw in the studio earlier. This must be the real body.”

[The Red Woman] looked through the kitchen cabinets and drawers, clicking her saw, and Eunha also rummaged through the house, touching the corners of her lips that had become stiff.

A [Hunter Association] employee who was wandering around absentmindedly pinches his nose at the foul smell coming from the bathroom.

『Ugh… the smell…! If there was this smell coming from my next door neighbor, I would have reported it to the police…! Didn’t my neighbor say anything?』

“I wouldn’t have done it.”

Eunha, who had been looking under the sofa at the sound of ‘that thing’, pointed to the wide open front door.

A commercial-residential building where about 4 households can live on each floor.

Beyond the wide open front door, a long, dark hallway and the front door of another house are visible.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound of a knock on the firmly closed front door hits Galaxy’s eardrums.

In every house in the commercial and residential complex,

A knock on the front door from inside.

It is a sound that informs the galaxy that they are also here.

How many people have disappeared from here?

Thump thump thump.

Thump thump thump.

A half-hearted grudge.

Without being able to say a word, I just knock on the front door.

The dazed female employee, who had been blankly staring at the sight, smiled faintly while holding a glass box containing ‘pure white beads’.

No one would have reported the stench in the bathroom.

This commercial-residential building itself would be a ‘workshop.’

“Humans… really hold a lot of resentment.”

“There are many good people.”

Galaxy thought.

A long, stretched-out intestine on the floor, showing her the way from the studio to here.

It was too long to belong to one person.

‘Is everyone here connected as one?’

A half-hearted grudge.

Did they want to somehow convey their grievances?

But it wasn’t in vain, because I eventually reached the galaxy.

I won’t make it in vain.

Thump thump… thump…… thump….

About a minute passed.

The sound stopped.

Mr. Asuruk, who was standing next to him, shakes a glass box containing a ‘pure white bead’ and says that they have all been mixed in with the Milky Way.

Eunha tried not to pay attention to the quiet scenery outside and began to look through the items in the house one by one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

– The front door will open by itself, and ‘it’ will look around all over ■■■■ ■■■ for about 10 minutes before quietly walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rustle.

At that moment, Eunha, who was looking behind the living room TV, discovered a ledger.

I don’t know if they didn’t expect anyone to come here or if they didn’t care if they got caught.

“… … I guess this is the largest organ trading facility near the capital.”

Eunha opened the ledger and turned the pages with careful eyes.

… … .

Commonly known as ‘butcher shop’.

It appears to be a business created by some villain organization for the purpose of organ trafficking.

The job is to supply the ‘parts’ requested by the customer on time.

Its intended use appears to be research or illegal organ transplantation.

There are people who believe the crazy rumor that a normal person who has not awakened a skill can awaken it by transplanting a hunter’s organ.

It seems that they usually target villains who can disappear without a problem, those inside [Crack Fields] where it is easy to destroy evidence… or debt collectors.

“Huh?”

While I was going through the ledger, I came across a familiar name.

Eunha, who had been reading the letters silently, touched her forehead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Requested Area – Kang Nari]

– Blue Dragon family bloodline, possesses rare skills.

– Borrowing money using organs as collateral from [Black Bungpa].

– Premium item. Price to be negotiated later.

– ~~~ Omitted ~~~

– Correction. Cancel the sale by paying off the loan.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I hadn’t saved Kang Na-ri from being taken away by the [Black Bungpa] before, would she have been left here?

I’m so glad that there are people who highly value Kang Na-ri from her days as a debt collector.

I should take a picture of the ledger later and show it to Kang Na-ri.

‘Anyway, the recent transaction is… a place called [Facility]. It’s a request to purchase the organs of a ‘Recovery Hunter’.’

The purpose is confidential.

Below that, there is a post speculating that the organs of those with recovery skills are being used for experiments or to make recovery potions, like in urban legends.

I don’t know for sure, but I wonder what they think of people.

The galaxy covering the ledger raised itself with difficulty.

For some reason my body feels heavy.

Could it be that my heavy heart is pulling at the hem of my clothes?

If I had known that the heart had weight, I wouldn’t have come here so blindly.

At least I should have brought Banharin.

“Hey, what are you going to do now?”

“… … That’s right. What should I do?”

Should I go find Do Jong-ha?

Or maybe I should take out the saw.

I thought positively.

Thanks to secretly searching through the whole house in ‘this world’, I managed to get my hands on the ledgers.

There are many ways to deal with this place.

And what the galaxy has to do is choose among those many methods the least painful and most beneficial for everyone.

Crunch.

[Red Woman], who had been looking around the house for 10 minutes, stands next to Eunha with a sullen face.

It was about time to leave. Eunha got up from her heavy body, put the ledger into her carrier, and prepared to leave.

『… … How about just going back to the apartment?』

And then, at that moment,

In the ear of Eunha, who was moving her heavy legs and heading out,

The voice of the clumsy female employee seeped in like fog.

… … .

… … .

“Just go back? Don’t do anything?”

“The children who are already here have blended into the Milky Way.”

[Hunter Association] that I visited with Banharin before.

A monster that alone guards the reception area of a gloomy building.

A woman whose every gesture is awkward speaks to Eunha.

“Our job is done… so let the humans take care of the rest, young lady.”

Occasionally, the female employee would stutter as if remembering something, and would flinch at even a single glance from [the Red Woman].

The bloody bandages wrapped around ‘that thing’s’ body flutter like a fairy’s wings.

“… … I’m human too.”

“Who noticed all the hard work you put in on your own? Did your pain get rewarded?”

A story that had been buried in my heart suddenly came to me.

I don’t know why you’re saying that, but I know that the being in front of me isn’t all that good.

『Even now, if you come out, who will know? It’s just dangerous.』

“That’s too pessimistic.”

“It’s realistic.”

“If you followed me, don’t interfere.”

Swish.

‘That thing’, who had come closer to Eunha without her knowing, puts a hand on her large chest.

Then I lightly push him away, and he is pushed back helplessly and collapses on the sofa.

The large, round, smiling ‘thing’ takes off its glasses and sits on Eunha’s thigh.

“… … .”

‘That thing’ that’s on top of the galaxy.

As I carefully took off my trench coat, the collar fell down my shoulders and hit the sofa.

“Even if I save the head of the association and rescue the famous detective… who would know?”

“… … .”

『Rather, there were only people watching the young lady. It was hard to clean them up one by one.』

The resentment builds up.

A lump that no one knows about.

A monster that alone guards the Dark Association reception center and continues to chase the galaxy.

It’s as if he was waiting for the moment when Eunha would hesitate. He came in with a feeling of poking her and asked her what she was thinking.

Is this gaslighting or something?

As expected, you shouldn’t approach monsters carelessly.

Why are you suddenly doing this?

A damp resentment settles upon her large chest.

『Even if you sell the potion made from the young lady’s blood to the association, you don’t get anything in return except money, right? You saved so many people, but no one recognizes it.』

“… … Isn’t it over once the money comes in?”

“Oh my, this cow girl. Is her head also cattle? ”

Its hand grips the galaxy tightly.

My body trembles with the cold loneliness and resentment I feel in every gesture.

Pass, the ‘pure white beads’ packed tightly in the glass box start to scatter like smoke and mix together somewhere.

『It would be better to leave these things to the humans, and for you to stay within the territory. Leave the expansion of the territory to the apostles.』

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. How about we settle this here first and then talk about it separately?”

“It’s because it’s hard to meet you if not now.”

An unknown sound.

Perhaps because of the clumsy tone of speech, there was no real persuasive power.

In the end, are you telling me to just stay locked up in my apartment and not worry about the ‘outside’?

I guess the reason you kept following me around today even though you said your work was done was because you wanted to say that.

Just like a sigh that relieves a body tired from fatigue,

Eunha felt a strange comfort in the voice of ‘that thing’ and lifted her heavy eyelids with difficulty.

“What do you think, Miss? Is it necessary to continue doing something that no one knows about?”

It’s quite sudden and strange, but

It seemed that underneath it all, he had a heart that was for the young lady.

As if trying to let the voice itself be heard, rather than trying to persuade.

The breath whispering in her ear forcibly tilts Eunha’s heart.

Sarak-.

The coat flowing down the shoulders flutters like wings.

“… … I,”

So, enough time has passed,

The moment Eunha was about to answer the ‘thing’ that was climbing onto her thigh as if possessed by something,

Ugh!

[The Red Woman] approached from behind ‘that thing’ and swung her claws.

… … .

… … .

“… … Hey. That thing isn’t dead, is it?”

“Don’t worry about other women.”

Chul-chul.

The woman who had pushed the obstacle aside wiped the blood that had splattered on Eunha’s cheek.

Eunha, who was wearing a coat that had been taken off one by one, had an awkward smile on her lips.

『…I am always watching you. I know.』

“… … ?”

“I told you who would know.”

[The Red Woman] before my eyes.

A monster that gave Eunha the most pain she could ever experience, just like the clumsy employee who said she had lived a painful life said.

‘That thing’, who knew Eunha’s pain better than anyone else, hugged Eunha’s cheek.

The ‘cross decoration’ attached to the waist of the blood-red dress shines like starlight.

“I’ll help you. Do whatever you want.”

“You know what I want to do.”

“Grudge. I have to get revenge.”

Refers to a tightly closed toilet.

Being soaked in the bathtub.

Indeed, we’ve known each other for so long that there’s nothing I don’t know.

Eunha grabs [Red Woman’s] hand and gets up from the sofa.

The woman who had just brushed the dust off Eunha’s coat sticks one of the talismans that Eunha had previously stuck to her dress onto the coat.

‘Who would know, did I think and act like that?’

I thought positively.

Today’s goal.

Help Do Jong-ha solve the ‘kidnapping incident’.

Things have gotten a little noisy… but I guess if we break them down one by one, things will be resolved.

And at the same time, appease the resentment of those who are ‘mediocre’.

Anyway, isn’t it enough to just solve it?

I thought it was easy.

As expected, using your head isn’t something you specialize in.

Knock knock.

The worries were short.

Eunha took out the [Black Book] from her carrier and started preparing.