episode_0051

I was caught for not being able to say anything to Sylvia.

“Ah, I’ve finally been to the North.”

But to put those feelings to shame, I was now in the backseat of the car driven by Ilseong.

The Lidocaine Association’s headquarters was in the northern part of Maguspol, so of course the northern part was where Eslok’s slush fund was located.

Therefore, we were the first to board the horse power levitation train and travel from the east to the north.

“Ah, this guy! Won’t you give it to me quickly?!”

I was already so busy, but something unexpected happened.

As he was putting down money to board the floating train, the Mimic wallet resisted with all its might. A reaction like that of a guy who absolutely hates his owner’s spending.

But when I thrust my vicious right hand at him, he reluctantly handed over the card.

“Wow, there are so many people.”

It was unknown for what purpose each person in this large crowd was heading north.

However, compared to Cabrini Green, which had an overwhelming number of orcs and goblins, the composition was diverse.

“Chris, is this your first time in the North?”

“Uh… right?”

For some reason, it seemed like I was asking back Youngmin’s question.

The train arrived in the north before we knew it, and our first evening there was very dark.

“The location right now…”

As I trailed off, Eslok, who looked like a mole, displayed my current location on my terminal.

Shirak, a district located on the border between the north and east.

The sight of Chirac welcoming us could not be said to be very good.

Smoke filled with heavy metals emitted from various industrial complexes mixed with dark clouds, darkening the sky.

“But is it fortunate for us?”

“Maybe.”

Because it was night, there was no need to take out the parasol.

But if it’s like this in the morning, there won’t be any sound of my and Eslok’s bodies roasting.

“Let’s move quickly.”

Ilsung seemed to be full of motivation.

That’s because when Eslok’s slush fund was found, half of it went to Youngmin and Ilseong.

It was definitely such a condition.

In fact, it seemed like Youngmin would come without such conditions, but he had no choice if he wanted to move to Ilseong.

From what I heard, Ilseong has not given up on finding a teacher and has spent a lot of money to find one.

There was a high probability that this would happen in the future, and as soon as he heard about the size of Esloc’s slush fund, he showed his intention to actively participate in this project.

“First, a disguise, then secure a means of transportation.”

When I looked at Eslok after hearing Ilseong’s words, Eslok nodded as if there was no problem.

Eslok thought it was a safe method.

We entered the store located in the alley and came out, wrapping ourselves in trench coats and moving through the gloomy alley.

Our current situation is that Ilseong and Eslok rented a bulletproof vehicle for us to use, and Ilseong ended up driving it.

“Coordinates… are here.”

Eslok, who was sitting in the assistant seat, guided Ilsung on the route to the place where the slush funds were hidden.

***

At the same time, he started talking about Chirac here.

“The place where I hid my slush funds is like Chirac’s Harlem.”

Fortunately, in the world within Dream City, Harlem had the same meaning as I knew it.

“Where is it?”

“This is Hangman Park.”

Considering what Hangman meant, it was a pretty bloody name.

I know about Chirac, but my memories of Hangman Park are a bit vague.

It’s not like I know every single place in Magusfall. I just played countless times before even seeing the end of the game.

“It is the area with the highest crime rate in Sirac.”

“….”

I wanted to scream and ask why they hid their slush funds in such a place.

“Nowhere else in Chirac care about Hangman Park”

However, Eslok spoke quickly as if explaining the reason, so I missed the moment to shout.

“Pfft….”

“Chris?”

When I made a strange sound, Youngmin responded right away.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Anyway, Eslok’s explanation continued.

“Unless an accident occurs elsewhere in Chirac, there is no need to get involved in Hangman Park.”

“It feels like a suitable yet dangerous place to hide slush funds.”

Ilseong pointed out a part that gave a subtle sense of discomfort.

“So, why did you hide the slush fund in such a lawless area?”

“Because even outlaws do not mess with the Lidocaine Association.”

“….”

Not anymore, right? No, since most outlaws don’t have great information, it’s okay.

I thought there were bound to be some who weren’t like that.

“And even among outlaws, there is a general trend. Vampires and werewolves reject other races.”

“It’s not a rare thing, right?”

“That’s right. And werewolves don’t get along well with orcs. Orcs consider werewolves as unclean as other beasts. And both werewolves and orcs look down on beastmen.”

“….”

As Eslok answered me, he began to tell me about the relationships between the races living in Hangman Park.

“Vampires, werewolves, orcs, and beastmen all treat ogres harshly. Vampires only respect their own kind… Humans think everyone cares about them.”

“That’s a great neighborhood.”

Of course it was irony.

Isn’t this the level where there are no friendly races? Still, it seemed like the bottom of the Hangman Park food chain were ogres.

Squeak. Ilseong stopped the car and looked around.

“What, have we arrived already?”

“If Mr. Mole entered the coordinates correctly.”

The car’s engine turned off, and as soon as Ilseong got out, Eslok also got out of the car in the form of a mole.

Despite his plump body, he landed on the ground with agility that was different from his appearance.

“…Is this the right place?”

As I happened to be the last one to get off, I asked, and Eslok nodded.

It was not a suitable place for us wearing trench coats.

It was full of people glaring and giving menacing looks everywhere. Some people didn’t even care and were carrying heavy loads here and there.

***

“Follow me.”

‘You don’t even stutter anymore?’

Eslok led us from the front.

We got out of the car and soon arrived in front of a warehouse-like building.

Eslok knocked on the warehouse door several times.

“Who is it?!”

“Hunter.”

The door began to open from the inside.

The person who appeared was a man dressed shabbily. He looked at Eslok and asked who he was.

“It’s me.”

As soon as I blinked, Eslok returned to his original form.

“…Chief of the tribe’?”

It was like a reaction to witnessing something impossible, but the person quickly let us in.

Then, I constantly checked to see if there was another tracer.

“There are several underground passages like this throughout Hangman Park.”

Eslok said as he took the lead.

“So… you’re not saying your slush fund stash is underground?”

“You can get there through the underground passage, but it is not underground.”

‘Whoa….’

It was a nice sound to hear.

We continued moving along Eslok after that.

Before we knew it, the human who had opened the door for Eslok and us was no longer visible.

“This is the passage.”

“What is this passage?”

I asked back as I followed Eslok.

“Going up from this passage is the branch building of the sixth tribe where I hid my slush funds.”

“…Isn’t this the first time you’ve said that?”

“….”

As Ilseong said, it was the first time I heard that the place where the slush fund was hidden was the branch of the tribe.

Eslok spoke to us who reacted sensitively.

“I don’t care about slush funds. You can have it all.”

“What do you mean?”

This mole. Could it be that you tricked us?

“Chris. To me, the person who protects the slush fund is more important than the slush fund.”

“Who is that?”

“He is one of the direct subordinates I mentioned earlier.”

“…Are you just a subordinate?”

Eslok clearly gave instructions to hide his slush funds from his direct subordinates and androids.

But Il-seong asked if he was just a subordinate. My questions were the same as Ilseong’s.

“He is also the person I love.”

“….”

“Are you sure you were safe in the first place?”

Eslok couldn’t answer my question.

Since he wasn’t confident about that in the first place, he probably came this far by deceiving me and the other two.

First, I apologized to Youngmin and Ilseong.

Even though Eslok deceived me, I ended up dragging the two of them into this as well.

“I’m fine. Because the share that Youngmin and I receive has increased.”

Just looking at those words, it’s clear that he’s an evil director who is crazy about money.

Youngmin also did not show much dissatisfaction with Ilseong’s reaction.

“….”

“Please guide me quickly.”

Eslok kept looking at us, and I told him to hurry up and lead the way.

You saved my life, and now you’re deceiving me?

I was planning on sucking out this mole guy someday… no, I was going to suck both Eslok and Eslok’s woman to their very marrow.

***

When we reached the end of the passage, we arrived at a vast space filled with black marble and ornate golden decorations.

In the center of the space, which extends to the third floor, a sign in the shape of a ferocious dog was showing a strong presence with a yellow light.

The number 6 was written right above the fierce dog. It seemed to be the branch of the sixth tribe.

Meanwhile, there was one more element that caught our attention.

The thing is, beings with red skin were spread mercilessly on the floor of space.

“…Isn’t this Android?”

I said as I approached one of the first scattered beings.

“It looks like someone hit me.”

As Ilseong said that, he took off his trench coat. Since it became clear that there was an enemy, I chose clothes that allowed for a little more movement.

“….”

Youngmin also followed his older brother, his warden, in the same way.

“Hey, what should I do now?”

While the two were doing that, I asked Eslok.

However, Eslok looked anxious when he saw the androids scattered everywhere.

“Can you hear me?”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

Eslok, not in his real form as a giant mole, bowed his head to me and answered.

“The belief that the slush fund will be safe is decreasing.”

My words.

In response to Ilsung’s words, Eslok explained that there were several places where the slush fund was left.

“Then, let me guide you to one of them.”

Eslok guided us to the slush fund cache closest to our current location.

It seemed like he just wanted to make sure his lover was safe.

When I clicked on one of the walls in one of the rooms that can be entered from the space on the first floor, a new space appeared.

“….”

All kinds of jewels and gold bars with various marks on them as if to prove that they were genuine were revealed.

There weren’t many of them, but… places like this are located all over this building.

While Ilsung and I were preoccupied with checking Eslok’s slush fund.

Youngmin, who was behind us with Eslok, suddenly left his seat and moved.

It took only a few seconds to remove the sword from its scabbard.

Something that was clearly flying towards me and Ilseong was cut in half by Youngmin’s slash. The light green sharp blade cut through the object and, as if that wasn’t enough, it was swung as if it was cutting through the surrounding air as well.

Seeing that it had no nose, it was clearly the sword that Youngmin used in the ruins of Miller Town.

“Chris! Ilsung hyung!”

Youngmin shouted to us in a calm voice as if it was not the time to be preoccupied with slush funds.

“….”

I hurriedly returned to where Youngmin was.

What was cut by Youngmin’s slash… was the body of an already dead vampire.

As soon as I could confirm the fact, vampires that I had not seen before appeared at the entrance of the room.

“Eslok! Welcome! I almost got tired of waiting.”

One of the guys wearing red round sunglasses shouted at us in a sly manner.

“Hey, do you know this guy?”

“He is the leader of the seventh tribe.”

That means that guy…

“You must speak clearly! This is the sixth time.”

As soon as he said that, the vampires blocking the entrance began to approach.

“Chris, Youngmin’s back.”

That moment. Ilsung, who was behind us, stepped forward and shouted.

Before he knew it, Hromund’s sword was in his hand. He was just holding the sword, but dark red electricity was already crackling around him.

Immediately after, Ilseong pointed his sword towards the entrance, and several streams of electricity were released in an instant.

It wasn’t blinding, but it was too threatening to see the scene.

“…Oh?”

The vampires that were crowding around the entrance disappeared in an instant. They may not have died, but we left the room and went back to the space from before.

“Isn’t this… too much?”

“It seems that not only the sixth tribe came.”

Ah, you can tell that just by looking at it!

There are guys looking down on us not only from the first floor, but also from the second and third floors.

It was fortunate that the place we were now was a lawless area.

They must think they have lured us into a trap.

But what to do with this? Even though we were caught in a trap, it was our turn to hunt them, not them.