Ch.37Chapter 37. The Willful Lady and the Cynical Black-Haired Girl

Working for a member of the Protek family directly meant your pay would be inflated several times over.

And being a staff member at a beauty pageant in one location was as sweet a gig as they come.

Since this was a section where you just had to move the directional keys and complete missions without much effort, if Lin had followed the main episode, she should have been rejoicing with Lucy.

However, the purpose of this part-time job was to freely explore the closed island in search of the demon sword, and due to Lin’s terrible luck and Lucy’s obsessive behavior, they had already lost one day out of three.

And there was one more thing: Lin needed to use Lucy to confirm the existence of the Demon Knight party.

According to the episode setting, they were definitely in the Zramun Archipelago.

And since the job classes appearing were fixed values, there was no need to worry about dealing with variables.

However, the demon was disguised as one of the people on the island, hiding among them.

The Demon Knight, awakening from a long rest and still weak, attacks people each day to absorb energy and recover strength.

If left alone, during the three-day festival period, it would fully recover its power and reveal its identity, forcing a battle.

It was essentially a boss fight.

Conversely, if you identified who it was beforehand and cleverly—or sometimes blatantly—interfered with its attacks on people while pretending not to know, it would appear in an incomplete state.

There was a reason the job classes were fixed.

It was simply a balance measure taken because the difficulty was already high enough.

“I’ve moved everything.”

“Next, take these steel frames and install the structure. They’ll become the floor and platform for the beauty pageant stage.”

Lucy kept glancing at where Lin was, but Lin didn’t even look her way.

They had held hands coming here, but once they were separated by their respective tasks, Lin focused solely on her work.

Lucy was terrified by Lin’s unusual silence.

She felt suffocated and her heart sank, but she was too afraid of doing something foolish to approach Lin, and could only burn with anxiety.

“Mr. Chunsik? Please move these boxes to the backstage. They’re accessories for the beauty pageant, so please carry them carefully even if it takes longer.”

“Miss, those are your personal items…”

“Shh, shh!”

What irritated Lucy even more was Ivys Protek’s behavior.

As soon as she realized Lucy was quite strong, she sent her to the stage setup area to separate them, and then stuck by Lin’s side the whole time, ordering her to move this and that.

Apart from briefly holding hands, Lucy hadn’t received any energy from Lin, so she forcibly focused all her attention on setting up the stage to suppress her anxiety symptoms.

The weather was sweltering, and both Lucy and Lin were sweating enough to soak their clothes.

The surrounding men licked their lips at Lucy’s aggressive figure revealed by her sweat-soaked clothes, but Lucy herself was licking her lips at Lin’s sweat.

If only she could lick it just once, she’d have enough energy for the entire day.

“Alright! Lunch time! Line up in order to get your lunch boxes. But since I’m the employer, I go first!”

Using her power as the financier, Ivys grabbed two lunch boxes and immediately approached Lin.

“Hungry? Let’s eat together.”

No, Lin, don’t do that. I’m right here.

But Lin ignored Lucy’s desperate gaze.

She couldn’t refuse when a local dignitary asked her to join.

“…Sure.”

“Great! But how do you eat with that mask on? Do you just lift it up a bit?”

Ivys chattered away without pause.

She seemed less like a noble lady and more like a village woman who had just reached marriageable age.

And then there was Lin, who remained silent and only responded when necessary.

The two of them looked like a well-matched couple.

“Miss, are you alone? Would you like to join us in the shade over there to eat together?”

A sturdy young man handed Lucy a lunch box.

“No thanks.”

“Ah… at least take the lunch box. You need to eat.”

“…”

“Here, take it.”

The man forcibly placed the lunch box in Lucy’s hands as she stared at the ground, then sniffed and returned to his companions in the shade.

“What did she say?”

“She’s not interested.”

“Playing hard to get.”

“She needs to have something worth the chase. What’s the point if she’s easy? But she did take the lunch box I gave her.”

“Ooh! Maybe she’s still cautious but testing the waters?”

While they were spinning their hopeful narratives, Lucy dumped the lunch box in a nearby trash can.

Then she grabbed a handful of sand from the ground and rubbed it against her wrist where the man had touched her.

“Damn bastard…”

What if Lin had seen?

What if Lin had seen another man approach her?

“Dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty.”

Lucy continued scrubbing with dirt until her skin was raw and bleeding.

“Excuse me, if you’re thirsty, maybe you’d like… Whoa! Blood! You’re bleeding!”

It was the same man from before.

Coming with a drink to make another move, he was startled by her bloodied wrist and made a fuss.

“Are you okay?! Someone get a first aid kit…”

“Get lost!”

Finally, she couldn’t hold back and lashed out.

She had no choice.

The man’s hand had touched her shoulder again.

“What kind of crazy bitch is this?!”

The man backed away in disgust at her abnormal reaction.

Regardless, Lucy scooped up more dirt and roughly scrubbed her shoulder.

Look at me, Lin.

I’m trying.

I’m trying to change.

I’ll never act like a slut again.

She deliberately turned away and vigorously washed her wrist and shoulder, but Lin’s gaze never turned toward Lucy.

Lucy felt it too, but she couldn’t stop until the work supervisor and the Protek family maid came to assign her more tasks, leaving her with nothing but distorted expectations.

—

The sweltering heat showed no signs of letting up.

Thanks to Ivys’s subtle consideration, Lin was only carrying pageant supplies instead of setting up the stage, but her back was still soaked with sweat.

No matter how easy it was supposed to be, work that people paid others to do was never effortless.

Still, compared to Lucy carrying sun-heated steel frames under the blazing sun, at least Lin was under a tent.

“Phew.”

He was, after all, a man who made his living as a porter.

After carrying two or three wooden boxes at a time for several trips, he finally reached the last box.

As he spread his legs, bent his waist to grab the box, and half-rose, someone pushed him from behind.

CRASH!

“Ugh!”

He fell forward ungracefully with a loud noise.

“Li… Chunsik!”

Lin held up a hand to stop Lucy from running over and looked up.

Another flash of stars appeared before his eyes.

“Oops, sorry! I didn’t watch where I was going. Are you okay?”

Before he could gather his wits, he was grabbed by the collar and lifted up.

When he could finally see clearly, a muscular man with dark navy hair and a sleazy look was holding him.

“I heard the Protek lady personally picked you, so I thought you might be something special, but you’re nothing much, are you?”

“Sir, would you mind letting me go? I need to get back to work.”

“Huh?”

The sleazy man grimaced and whispered to Lin.

“You look like a commoner from outside. Don’t get any funny ideas and just do your job and leave quietly.”

“Yes, I plan to work hard since the pay is good.”

“Ha, look at this guy?”

The man, more irritated by Lin’s calm response to his insult, raised his fist.

“Something about you bothers me. As a member of the security team, let me teach you a lesson in advance.”

“Gendry!”

Fortunately, Ivys appeared before the punch could land.

“What are you doing?”

“Lady Ivys! You look even more beautiful today. I hear you’ll be participating in the beauty pageant this evening? If it’s you, you’ll surely win first place. If you become the festival’s most beautiful lady, please consider me as your partner…”

“Gendry, I asked what you’re doing.”

“…Ah!”

Gendry finally put Lin down.

Then, with exaggerated movements, he dusted off Lin’s clothes.

“This fellow tripped over my foot and fell. Haha! Such a frail guy lacking caution. I was just helping him up.”

“Gendry, why did you kick someone who’s working?”

“My lady, I didn’t kick him…”

“Are you making excuses to me right now?”

“Lady Ivys.”

“Do I look like a fool to you?”

Despite her small stature, the pressure Ivys exuded was enough that even the muscular Gendry had to endure it.

Nevertheless, when Gendry cleared his throat uncomfortably, Ivys sighed and bowed to Lin.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Chunsik. Let me apologize on his behalf.”

“My lady! There’s no need for you to apologize!”

“Be quiet, Gendry. I’m bowing and apologizing because of you. Do you understand?”

Gendry tried to stop her in alarm, but the noblewoman firmly rejected his intervention.

Instead, she reprimanded him with a sharp voice.

“Out of consideration for your position as the security chief’s son, let’s go outside and talk, just the two of us.”

“Sigh, alright. Just the two of us, let’s talk.”

Lin couldn’t understand why he emphasized “just the two of us” while looking at him.

As Ivys forcibly grabbed his arm and dragged him away, Gendry followed with a smug look.

Lin signaled to Lucy once more that he was fine, then tried to pick up the box again.

However, there was already someone sitting on the box.

“Don’t you have any pride?”

Black wavy hair.

A young girl wearing a black dress.

Skin so white it could almost be said to reflect sunlight.

She had a vicious look in her eyes, unusual for a child.

“You suffered such humiliation from that guy, and you’re just going to take it?”

“Who are you?”

“Who I am isn’t important!”

The girl stood up in frustration and jabbed Lin’s chest with her index finger.

“Aren’t you angry? Don’t you feel bad? Don’t you feel wronged having to be treated like this?”

She seemed unaware that her own actions were enough to provoke similar feelings.

Lin stared blankly at the girl.

He didn’t know what to do.

“Ugh…”

Surprisingly, the girl blushed and averted her gaze first.

“You’re a coward.”

What exactly?

“I came to see what kind of person you were, but you’re completely boring.”

The girl criticized him, exuding a cold aura.

“I’m leaving. I don’t talk to people who can’t be honest, like dolls.”

“Not a doll, but an adult.”

When Lin retorted, the girl paused and looked at him again.

Eventually, the girl snorted.

“Hmph, an adult. Who exactly told you to become an adult?”

Determined to somehow pierce his heart, she left with harsh words.

“When no one appreciates it anyway.”

And with that,

The darkness lifted.

He hadn’t noticed at all.

He didn’t even know when darkness had enveloped his surroundings.

As the girl disappeared, the hot sunlight was felt again.

Lucy, who had spotted him, ran over urgently.

“Lin! What happened? For a brief moment, your presence completely vanished.”

It felt like being bewitched by a will-o’-the-wisp.

But Lin smiled faintly.

“Lucy, I think I’ve found the demon sword.”

Finally, this terrible luck-based game seemed to be working in his favor.