Ch.267[Episode 267] We Have Rights Too.

When Sir Dominic was making some kind of deal with the Kanku Warrior, the center of the protest was filled with the most extreme gacha addicts among those opposing the update.

At the very front of them stood a young man with black skin and black hair, who would shout at the top of his lungs, sing songs, perform bizarre dances, or deliver speeches about the greatness of gacha to the crowd.

As you might have guessed, this young man was Magan, the son of the Kanku Warrior.

“Without gacha in this world♩ What fun would there be♬”

“Everyone! Isn’t gacha the very foundation of Gachaland? Without gacha, Gachaland is just… land!”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

The protesters cheered wildly at Magan’s speech.

Currently, Magan was undeniably the center of this protest, advocating for the necessity of gacha and demanding the withdrawal of the update more passionately than anyone else.

Of course, since the Black Company wasn’t involved in the update issue, their cries were in vain, but in truth, this futile protest was all planned.

“Thank you all for gathering here. We will definitely bring back gacha!”

Magan waved to the enthusiastic crowd as he stepped down from the hastily constructed, shabby platform.

Then he slipped behind the platform, pretending to go to the bathroom while actually hiding in an alley.

After going deep into the alley, Magan looked around nervously, then sighed in relief when he confirmed no one was there.

With the tension released, he leaned against the cold alley wall and slowly slid down to the ground.

“How did it come to this?”

Unlike his confident appearance when speaking to the crowd, Magan now looked anxious and agitated as he rubbed his face.

Magan had simply wanted to become a pioneer.

And he had successfully taken his first step toward becoming one.

He had drawn a rare card with good performance and appearance.

Of course, it wasn’t as valuable as the cards of Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, which were skyrocketing in value these days, but it was still a top-tier card.

Up to this point, everything was fine.

Up to this point.

“Those damn skins.”

Magan heaved a deep sigh.

The problem was that the card he drew happened to be a beautiful woman.

Magan was possessed by the desire to gift this beauty with suitable clothes, and that clumsy desire quickly turned into stubbornness, and that stubbornness led to his downfall.

Magan was currently in debt for hundreds of millions of Gacha Stones.

All of it had accumulated from illegal loans he had taken to draw skins.

Like clothes getting wet in a drizzle, borrowing 2,000 or 3,000 Gacha Stones at a time eventually added up to hundreds of millions.

Magan couldn’t possibly tell his father about this.

While he was stuck in this predicament, slowly sinking into the swamp of debt with no way out, someone approached him.

The person introduced himself as an executive from Mass Production, the loan company that had been lending money to Magan.

The Mass Production executive said he would forgive half of the debt.

In exchange, Magan would have to do one simple task. Desperate as he was, Magan took the bait without even knowing what the task would be…

“If I had known it would be like this, I would have refused.”

Magan sighed, regretting his decision that day.

What Mass Production wanted was agitation.

Somehow, the executive from Mass Production claimed to have learned about the contents of the next update in advance.

And mentioning the gacha aspect specifically, he said Magan just needed to agitate people, claiming that gacha regulations should be abolished.

Magan vividly recalled that day.

‘All you have to do is agitate.’

‘But… what if people don’t gather?’

‘That won’t happen. We’ll plant instigators. The citizens of Gachaland are simple-minded and easily agitated.’

‘Still…’

‘Even if you fail to gather people, it doesn’t matter. Just draw attention. Just attention. That’s simple enough, isn’t it?’

After saying that, the executive patted Magan’s shoulder and disappeared.

Magan fell into contemplation.

Should he tell his father and ask for help?

Or should he carry out the executive’s proposal and have half his debt forgiven?

Magan made a foolish choice here.

“I should have just told my father. Getting scolded would have been better.”

Magan curled up dejectedly.

He was in debt for hundreds of millions of Gacha Stones, an amount that even his father would struggle to pay.

Magan was more afraid of his father’s anger after finding out than of him discovering the truth.

Because of that foolish thinking, Magan ended up agitating people in front of crowds like he was doing now.

“Maybe I should tell my father even now… No. It’s already spilled milk…”

Magan pulled at his hair.

He was so cornered that he couldn’t think straight.

His mind was so chaotic that he didn’t even notice someone appearing at the bend in the alley.

The person who appeared in the alley was a woman wearing a suit with a fedora and a coat draped over her shoulders.

The number 150 gleamed in silver on her fedora.

The sound of high heels echoed through the narrow alley, but Magan still didn’t notice the woman who had suddenly appeared.

Magan only realized her presence when she was standing right in front of him, looking down at him.

Startled by the sudden appearance, Magan pressed himself against the wall in shock.

“W-who are you?”

“Magan. Why are you hiding here?”

The woman, pressing down her fedora, addressed Magan in a gentle tone.

Of course, hidden beneath that gentleness was a sinister and vicious true intention.

“E-executive?”

“Your assigned task isn’t finished yet.”

The fedora-wearing female executive pulled out three contracts from her breast pocket.

One was a document stating he owed 350 million Gacha Stones, another stated that if he couldn’t repay the money, he would have to live as a test subject for new drugs, and the last one was about agitating people in exchange for having half his debt forgiven.

Magan trembled as he looked at those contracts.

“I-I’ve already agitated people.”

Magan squeezed out what little courage he had left and spoke to the executive.

“You said I just needed to agitate, what else do you want me to do?”

At Magan’s words, the executive silently looked down at him.

The eyes barely visible under the fedora were filled with contempt and disdain.

“According to the contract, you still need to agitate and hold people for another 4 hours and 30 minutes.”

The executive thrust the contract right in front of Magan’s face.

Then, pointing to a clause with her finger, she said:

“Right here. It says right here. Even if you want to run away, you’re bound by the contract, so you need to finish it properly.”

Magan silently glared at the executive.

But that desperate glare was nothing but amusing and cute to the executive.

“Ha. You dare look at me with those eyes?”

The executive let out a snicker at Magan’s attitude.

The snicker soon turned into laughter, and the laughter quickly became maniacal.

And then, the maniacal laughter turned serious.

“Are you insane?”

The executive slapped Magan’s cheek.

Magan held his reddening cheek, looking at the executive with disbelief.

More than the pain, his pride was hurt first.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Oh? Still flapping your lips?”

The executive slapped Magan’s cheek again.

Another hit. Another hit. Another hit.

“S-stop!”

With each slap, Magan felt his skull ringing.

Fearing he might die at this rate, Magan desperately covered his cheeks.

But the executive pushed Magan’s hands away and slapped him again.

How much time had passed?

The executive, breathing heavily, pressed down her fedora again.

Magan’s face was completely swollen and blue, unrecognizable from its original form.

“E-enough… I’m sorry…”

“You should have been this obedient from the start.”

The executive took out a bottle containing a red liquid from her pocket.

It was a potion.

After pouring the potion on Magan’s face to reduce the swelling, the executive grabbed him by the collar.

“Do you understand now? You have no choice. You’ve already contracted with me to have half your debt forgiven, and contracts must be fulfilled.”

The executive brought her face so close to Magan’s that they were almost touching, and grinned.

“Your rights belong to us, that’s what I’m saying.”

Magan’s face turned pale at those words.

“Let go of him.”

Just then.

The executive turned her head at the sudden voice from beyond the alley.

She was sure she had confirmed no one was in this alley!

The executive saw a silhouette slowly walking down the alley.

The backlight only showed an outline, but it appeared to be a man with a large frame.

“Ha.”

The executive roughly pushed Magan away, as if brushing off his collar.

“I don’t know who you are, but why don’t you just go on your way? Don’t get all righteous—”

“Mountain Bridge Marsh.”

At Sir Dominic’s brief words, the executive’s body froze.

As if she had heard something she shouldn’t have.

“So you’re from Mountain Bridge Marsh.”

“…How did you know?”

“Who knows.”

A tumbleweed rolled into the alley from somewhere.

It was probably the effect of Sir Dominic’s special skill, [Cinematic].

Sir Dominic took another step forward into the shadow.

Only then could the executive see the identity of the person who had entered the alley.

“…Sir Dominic.”

“People from Mountain Bridge Marsh have a certain… feeling about them. A kind of filthy aura, you might say.”

“Ha. That’s offensive to anyone who hears it.”

The executive bristled at Sir Dominic’s provocative comment.

“Anyway, since you’re still here after I told you to move along, you must have business…”

The executive glanced at Magan.

“With me? Or with this debtor?”

Sir Dominic took another step forward.

Now only about twenty paces separated Sir Dominic and the executive.

It was a distance Sir Dominic could easily close if he charged.

The executive tensed her legs, preparing for Sir Dominic’s sudden rush.

But rather than charging, Sir Dominic seemed to prefer resolving things through dialogue first, pointing at Magan.

“I have business with that man.”

At those words, Magan’s expression brightened.

He believed Sir Dominic had come to rescue him.

But with Sir Dominic’s next words, Magan’s face fell in disbelief.

“I’ve been hired to beat him to a pulp.”

For Magan, those were the worst possible words.