episode_0190

-Ting!

“Next 4!”

-Ting!

“Next 9!”

“I’m going, see you next time.”

“I’ll go too.”

As the bell rings, the boys disappear one by one. Choi Woo-jin and Seung-heon, who were ahead of us in line, also leave the waiting room first.

Before we knew it, only Muyoung and I were left in the once bustling waiting room.

“Hee, eek… Captain… What should I do… ”

Muyeong’s face became pale and bloodless.

“… I have to accept it.”

-Ting!

“Ugh… ”

Moo-young leaves the waiting room with a drooping gait like a dog being dragged to the slaughterhouse and disappears.

And he… unexpectedly met his match at a fairly high price.

“Wow, it’s even better when you look at it up close. Come here. This older sister will ‘correct’ you properly today.”

“Whew… Captain, Captain! Where are you! Please save me… !”

“Phew. How cutely whining… ”

A muscular female student with short hair almost carries Muyeong as she comes down from the stage.

Judging from what he says, he seems like a senior. But after hearing the rumors about Muyeong, he seems rather intrigued.

To be honest, he doesn’t look like he’s messy or reckless. There’s even a gentleness to the voice he spits out from behind his majestic lion mask.

Maybe he will treat Muyeong better than I thought…

-Ting!

Soon, the bell announcing the last auction of the day will ring through the waiting room. The target will be none other than me.

“… Phew.”

I exhaled, steeled my resolve, and stood up from my seat. Even Muyeong had to endure it. I couldn’t avoid it.

However, I do hope to meet someone with a good personality. If I were to meet a senior who makes strange demands, I think it would be really tiring.

And the door leading to the stage had just opened.

“You have to come out quickly. Can’t you see that the customers are waiting?”

“… ?”

What I saw before my eyes was a schoolgirl wearing the usual top hat, rabbit mask, and velvet cape, with an eerie laugh.

“Mhhh.”

***

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing? I came here to pick you up myself. Okay. ”

Kwon Yuri naturally asked for an escort, extending her arm, but I unconsciously took a step back. Then, she pouted and grumbled as if she was upset.

“I can at least provide an escort.”

“You didn’t do this to other kids.”

“You are the highlight of the day. Of course you should put in this much effort. And… ”

After a brief pause, Kwon Yuri opened her mouth again.

“I think this will give me more strength.”

“Who are you talking about? The auction participants?”

“… Well, that’s not wrong. Hehe.”

Kwon Yuri, who had been giggling, stretched out her arm again and made a strong demand.

“So hold me. Hold meee”

“… ”

“It was just for a little while. Can’t we even do something like this between us? I’m so upset. Do you know how hard it was for me to keep my promise? I even dragged all the kids who said they wouldn’t go to Min-ha’s salon after begging and begging… When I think about that time, tears really fall… ”

“Sigh… ”

Yeah. Why waste time on something like this now? What’s the big deal with crossing your arms?

In the end, I let out a deep sigh and put my arm out. Then, Kwon Yuri laughed as if nothing had happened and clung to me tightly. Tingling, tingling. An unfamiliar unpleasantness soon ran up my arm and through my entire body.

“Hey chick, what’s wrong? Are you nervous or something?”

Kwon Yuri, who was walking next to me and observing my complexion, asked.

“Or is it because of your friend? You don’t have to worry about Muyoung. Even though you look at him like that, Eun-sunbae is a kind person with a wide network of connections. If she wanted to help your friend, she would have helped him. She’s not the type of person to do anything.”

I was worried about Muyeong all along. Hearing that, I feel a little relieved.

“Senior.”

“Huh?”

“You deceived me.”

“Me? When?”

I opened my mouth as I walked along the dark passage leading to the stage.

“You didn’t say I was going to be up for auction.”

“Hehehe, I guess I forgot because I was so busy.”

Then Kwon Yuri naturally shakes her head.

“I didn’t lie. I told you it’s going to be really fun. The friends who left earlier should be all laughing by now.”

“Hehehe… ”

“Oh, right! And it’s no fun if you know in advance. Aren’t you excited? How much will it be sold for?”

“Nothing special. And I don’t think I’m that popular. You know my reputation, don’t you? ”

“Tsk tsk. Our little chick. You don’t know a woman’s heart, do you?”

“A woman’s… heart?”

“Shinpo-do. You know? People tend to curse more when they can’t have something. That way, they can shake off their regret. ”

Kwon Yuri raised her finger with a strange smile on her lips.

“But it wasn’t something I couldn’t have? The opportunity was right there within my reach? Would I just sit there and curse then? Probably not?”

“… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh my! Anyway, there’s something like that! You just have to trust this older sister and follow her. Got it?”

Kwon Yuri, who was pounding her chest, led me to the corner.

I could feel the stage lights and the hot atmosphere of the venue gradually getting closer.

“Thank you for that.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Senior Min-ha, thank you for taking care of me.”

“Something like that. It was a promise. Of course I have to keep it.”

Kwon Yuri waved her hands as if it was nothing.

“The salon was packed with people for two days. Was it all your connections?”

“Hmm, probably not. Even I don’t have that many friends.”

Kwon Yuri pretended to put her hand on her mouth.

“It would have helped though. When we first started, it was just me and my friends. But people tend to flock to other people, right? They kept coming, and later on, even the children of high-ranking families and executives from decent companies showed up.”

“… Are you okay? With Senior Min-ha… ”

“No. I got in trouble because Min-ha kept staring at me.”

“… ”

“Why are you asking what my intentions are when I came all this way to help you? It really sucks! I say hello every day but you don’t even respond… Hehe… ”

Kwon Yuri grumbled in a voice that seemed to be filled with resentment, her cheeks puffed out.

As I watched her like that, I asked the question that had been on my mind all along.

“But… is it okay to do that?”

“What?”

“Aren’t you known as a member of senior Yeon and Baek Seo-yeon’s faction? But why are you in senior Min-ha’s salon like that… ”

“What’s a faction? Yuri doesn’t know anything because her head is like a flower garden, huh.”

The part where she refers to herself in the third person really pisses me off. What makes me even angrier is that I also felt for a moment that that image really suited her.

But my head is like a flower garden. I think I’ve heard that kind of story here and there, half-jokingly.

Of course, it doesn’t seem like that’s necessarily the case now.

“… I’m joking. It would be nice if we could all just be friends. We’re all students and wizards… I don’t know why we hate each other so much… I’m trying too… ”

Kwon Yuri muttered in a calm voice and quickly turned her head towards me.

“What do you think, chick?”

“Huh?”

“Fighting each other, it’s so boring now. Actually, I’m starting to have a hard time by myself… What do you think…? Chick, will you help me out…? Yes?”

Kwon Yuri, with her arms crossed, looks up at me with tearful eyes.

“… Hey, senior.”

After being lost in it for a while, I opened my mouth.

“You’re pretending to be vague, it’s obvious.”

“Huh?”

Kwon Yuri stops as if she had not expected it. Then, her expression changes and she lets out her signature snicker.

“Oh my, how did you know?”

“How could you not know? Your lips are twitching like that.”

“Hehehe, our little chick. He’s quicker than I thought?”

He is truly an unmanageable person.

Even so, I don’t think it was all a lie.

Before we knew it, we had reached the back of the stage.

Kwon Yuri let out a deep sigh filled with regret.

“I felt good about dating… But should I just run away together… ”

“… ”

“There’s no need to look at me like that… ”

Kwon Yuri, who had been searching through her belongings, took out a long blindfold. It was the same one that the other male students had used earlier. Then she turned around behind me and started tying it.

“I will do it.”

“Oh, okay. I can do it faster.”

The already dark vision was now completely pitch black. Kwon Yuri came out again, linked arms tightly, and forcefully pulled back the curtain. Then she appeared on stage again.

“You’ve waited a long time! The last item of the day… is here!!”

“Hey, look at that!”

“Oh my, that mask…!”

“Is that him? The Black Lotus… !”

The introduction resonates through the amplifier, and the bustling atmosphere of the banquet hall is felt very well.

I sat down on the chair installed in the center of the stage, feeling my senses. Soon, my arms and legs were tied tightly with rope.

I can just untie this shabby tie right away… but that’s not what we had in mind for our contract.

‘Do you remember? Our promise.’

Kwon Yuri whispered as she groped her body while tying up her limbs.

‘Until the Shadow Banquet is over, you must faithfully follow the rules here. If you don’t like someone, you can’t suddenly hit them or anything, right? Okay?’

“… ”

Kwon Yuri leaves me without even hearing my answer. She intended to faithfully fulfill the contract without me having to remind her. She has already received the price for it.

“Let’s get started! Write down your bid amount and hold up the sign! Oh, I got fifty credits! One hundred credits! One thousand credits…!!”

I ended up imagining the sight of noble ladies enthusiastically holding up placards with amounts written on them. I was in no position to pity Muyeong.

“Two thousand credits! Two thousand five hundred credits! Oh, what is this! The all-time high has been broken…!”

Well, it’s only a two-hour ordeal. It’s so short that those who spend their precious credits on it feel foolish.

“Three, three thousand credits…! I think I should check the account first? Oh, the moment I say it, four thousand credits… Oh, five thousand??”

That level of discomfort is something I can easily endure if I’m wearing a mask. As long as it’s not a request to show my face, it’s just moderate skinship. Classmates, seniors. Whoever it is, it’s probably just a student-level prank at best.

“Five thousand one hundred, oh, five thousand five hundred! Six thousand!! Ten thousand, ten thousand five thousand credits! Don’t you have more…! I’ll count them…!”

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever had a chance to use the beauty-hunting knowledge I learned from the boss without telling my older sisters. I’ve been avoiding it for a long time, but since it’s come to this, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to gain some practical experience…

“5, 4, 3… 2… 1… Auction! Auction! Wow… What is this… !”

While I was gathering my thoughts, Kwon Yuri’s voice, which seemed to take my breath away, woke me up.

But it’s only 50,000 credits. Even if there are many children from prestigious families, it’s an amount that easily exceeds the student level by several times.

To waste that much money on just two hours of entertainment.

Even if you did it impulsively, it is impossible to get it back once it has already been sold. I don’t know who the other person is, but it is clear that they are a really stupid person.

-Crunch, crunch…

The eyes are blind. The sense of smell also does not function properly because the closed room is filled with the smell of cigarettes, alcohol, and perfume.

The only sense that works now is hearing. I can hear it. The sound of heels coming up on stage and approaching me. It’s elegant and neat, but it doesn’t seem like the freshman’s.

Is it the second year? Or is it the third year that came back?

-Stop.

Soon the sound stops right in front of me.

“Hoo… ”

What I hear is a deep sigh, as if releasing tension.

And what came through his paralyzed sense of smell was… the thick, nostalgic scent of forget-me-nots.

‘uh…?’

As soon as I recognized him, I stopped moving. My heart was pounding hard as if warning me of something. Swish, swish. Then someone who approached me began to remove the blindfold that was covering my eyes.

My body was frozen, so I couldn’t stop myself at all. It was as if my hair had been bleached white, and I couldn’t think of anything.

I prayed without knowing it. No, I must have been mistaken. Maybe I just felt it wrong.

The light pouring down immediately stimulates my pupils. What stands in front of me is someone’s shadow.

And at that moment.

Even my fervent prayers were in vain, and I could only feel an intense pain that felt like my heart was being crushed.

Hair as dark as the night sky. Eyes that shine brighter than all the gold in the world.

Because the butterfly mask around her eyes was not enough to hide her beauty.

“Oh, hello… ”

A schoolgirl with a blush on her face looks at me and greets me shyly.