Chapter: 118. Pickpocketing.
From the beginning, I couldn’t tell if the boy had such thoughts or if my threats had worked.
Fortunately, there was nothing I had worried about.
Instead, there was another problem.
“Living in a place like this is something else.”
“If you don’t like it, go back.”
As time passed, maybe he calmed down, he was back to being prickly again.
I wasn’t planning on scaring him more than necessary, so I just let it be.
If I tightened too much, he might run off to some organization without thinking.
In extreme situations, it’s hard to produce rational responses, so it’s important to let up a bit.
A simple mindset of a seasoned escapee learned through long experience.
And more importantly, it was about the condition of his home.
As I sensed an awful smell piercing even my nose, which was used to stench, I looked around.
The sewage was so viscous that it barely moved.
Due to the ongoing vibrations overhead, dust fell bit by bit from the ceiling.
In the dim field of vision, something huge scurried about.
At first glance, it resembled a rat, but a rat wouldn’t have a shiny shell, right?
I should’ve expected this once we entered the alley.
Who would’ve thought I’d have to open a sewage cover there?
Still, asking for another lodging place after threatening him earlier seemed a bit out of place, so I didn’t dare to mention it.
“Surely it wouldn’t be like this at home…”
“Better than here.”
Well, that’s some good news.
I can’t even imagine how it could get worse than this.
Though I have the experience, this is quite a unique case.
“I feel like throwing up.”
“Sihyeon, hang in there. Here, take this.”
I hear my students’ voices, but for some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t look back, so I kept my head fixed.
“Sihyeon, good gracious.”
“Urgh.”
I could hear something watery gushing out, but I had no idea what it was.
“If only those sisters were there without the hyung, I would’ve totally taken everything.
…It must’ve been tough.
Though Baek Sihyeon looks like that, she probably has her guard up. I have to believe that for my mental health.
“Yaaah! There’s something weird at my feet!”
“Cockroach! Cockroach!”
I hear the sound of a hammer striking down.
Since I don’t hear anything getting crushed, it looks like they couldn’t catch it.
“It’s amusing… Follow me.”
Now even that little brat seems to be free from fear and is looking down on us.
I feel like crying.
“Stop showing off over there and come along; if you get lost, you’ll have to dance with those unknown ones, whether they’re cockroaches or rats.”
“Y-Yes! I’m coming!”
“Abin, wait a moment, don’t leave that guy…”
“Is this really the time?”
Today, my students seem to be especially foolish; is it because this place is so cursed?
The little one seemed to have given up on running away, trembling in the corner, and the commotion among my students ended as Baek Sihyeon got pulled along by Han Abin.
“Let’s go.”
“Right.”
After a brief conversation, the little brat slowly started to move his legs.
It looked slow for some reason, but in reality, he was moving quickly.
He didn’t raise his feet high; they glided along the ground, minimizing his upper body’s swaying.
If you don’t look closely, one might get confused and think he wasn’t moving.
He’s got quite a bit of skill. It seems somewhat similar to martial arts footwork; did he self-learn it? Or does he have a mentor?
Doing that would consume less energy, and it’d be handy when pickpocketing.
With his bloodline like that, he has some techniques, so there’s a reason this kid has survived in the inferno with no backing.
While analyzing the little brat’s every move, I followed him slowly.
Given that there were no traces of a weapon in his hands, he didn’t seem to be a martial artist. Maybe he learned some tricks.
No suspicious signs appeared, and maybe it’s because I’ve seen my foolish students’ antics, but his heartbeat and breathing seemed stable…
For the time being, it seems I can relax. However, if all of this is just an act, then it must be a trap set by a skilled operative.
Just as the chain of my thoughts continued…
I heard a sound of the little one briefly abandoning his footwork to jump.
“Careful, there’s a trap over there.”
A trap?
At that word, I looked ahead to see a wire absorbing light in the darkness.
A thin wire painted with matte black paint.
A trap hidden in the dark.
If I had concentrated, I would have noticed it sooner, but I was distracted by the child and only now realized the trap.
Kneeling in front of the wire, I stared intently at it.
I didn’t want to trigger it by touching.
With my finger about a few centimeters above it, I slowly followed its source.
It was connected to both walls; one side was firmly fixed, while the other was hooked to something like a grenade.
“What’s this connected to?”
“A grenade.”
Are they crazy? To connect something so flimsy to a grenade?
Just kidding; this area’s pipe is about to open soon.”
A pipe?
Looking up at those words, I saw the pipe oddly twisted, heading towards the sidewalk.
Normally, it should be flowing toward the sewage running down the center.
Is that really going to open?
“Seems like quite the nasty piece of work; did they not think they’d catch some innocent person?”
“A typical underground sewer dweller is obvious enough.
Even if they die, that sewage will hide the corpse, making disposal easy. Though I’ve never tested it before.”
That makes sense.
I, being aware of it now, don’t care anymore, but those two idiots might get caught if I tell them. Should I scare them a bit?
“Did you hear that?”
“Is that the trap?”
“Looks like nothing!”
The two fools moved closer to the electric wire, attempting to reach out.
“Careful, don’t touch that. It’s dangerous, so be especially careful.”
“But isn’t this just gonna end up dirtying our bodies if triggered?”
Abin asked back, seeming not to fully grasp my meaning.
“If you touch that, your body will dissolve, you’ll go blind, and sensory contamination will occur; something like that.”
As soon as I finished my phrase, the two students quickly stepped back, distancing themselves from the wire.
“Up there is just a bit of dirty water, but what’s here has decades of filth accumulated.”
Blood, flesh, drugs, explosive chemicals, oil.
That’s the kind of black mud that’s made.
It must have considerable toxicity.
“So don’t get caught, and if you do, don’t flail around; just lay flat on the ground and scream.”
Then it’ll probably end up hurting a little.
If they thrash around claiming it hurts and fall into the sewage… who knows what’ll happen…
“Got it?”
After that threat, I could hear their vigorous nods.
With the fear instilled, I believed they wouldn’t get caught in a trap.
“Are all the traps here the same structure?”
Then I only need to remember this one.
“Watch the ceiling rather than the floor; the twisted pipe would be easier to find that way. The best is memorizing the locations.”
Upon hearing my words, the little one exclaimed, as if it was an unexpected blind spot.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to secure an actual grenade after all. If it’s stuck to the wall, it’ll drop into the sewage by itself.”
As someone accustomed to these traps, I threw in a piece of advice.
“Then shall we continue?”
While jumping over the trap, I gave him a little push.
The brat looked a tad flustered but moved his feet again.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“Sihyeon, look ahead!”
The two students showed off their inability to leap over a line.
What on earth are they doing?
I was wary, but they managed to jump past the line safely.
Seeing them tremble a bit, I had a brief moment of regret, wondering if I scared them too much, but it was better than getting trapped.
Thus, we followed the little brat again.
There were more traps ahead, but the lethal ones were just that sewage trap.
The rest were things like cans hanging from the ceiling or nails smeared with slime, or mats coated on both sides with oil, which could be considered cute traps.
“That’s not cute!”
“Oh, did you hear that?”
“Look at that rusted black thing…
That’s quite a typical trap. With limited resources, it was well made. Mats that trip people are just on a cute level.
Of course, if they fell and ended up in the sewage, it wouldn’t be cute at all.
As we continued to figure out the positions of the traps and turned a corner with the little one.
“Now it finally looks like someone lives here.”
A wall draped with old gray cloth came into view.
An alley blocked wide by a cloth as if it were a door.
“Come on in.”
The little one said that and pulled away the cloth to step inside.
There was no reason to decline, so I followed him in immediately.
“Welcome, hyung!”
“Who’s that?”
Two guys and one girl.
A four-person family?
Seeing that they’re all children, this pickpocket looks like the head of the household.
The two boys are ordinary humans.
And the girl…
“Thought you were a half-breed. A cat-like monster.”
“My blood is quite diluted.”
“I knew the half-breed just by looking at her.”
No matter how diluted the blood is, being half-monster is still odd; its fundamental structure is different.
Those two boys seem completely unrelated; are those two really siblings?
“Is she your younger sister? Or older?”
“We’re twins. I’m the older brother.”
With monsters, it’s tough to predict their age.
I turned my gaze back to look at the girl glaring at us from the corner.
Slightly furry hands and feet.
Glowing pupils in the dark.
Sharp fangs, beastly ears merging with the hair.
It’s not like her ears are directly attached like in some videos; her hair is just grouped together, but they still look like ears.
With that much, she could probably disguise herself as a human, but…
There was one problem.
“Couldn’t you have taken a bit more?”
“That’s a bit harsh for a joke.”
The younger sister’s face leaned closer to a beast than a human.
With that kind of appearance, it must be tough for her to stroll around.
Were they abandoned by their parents, or were their parents killed? They might even be a monster we’ve killed.
No matter how I am, I can’t bring myself to ask about such things, so I quietly kept my mouth shut.
“Ah? Is that a monster…?”
“A monster?! Where?!”
The foolish duo who came in late were completely oblivious to the atmosphere and loudly blurted out.
“Didn’t I say before? There are monsters intermingling with society. So don’t engage and stay quiet.”
I warned the two fools before they could get in trouble.
“Where do we sleep anyway?”
“I’ll show you around. Just a moment.”
The little one left us and slowly reached into his pocket.
A piece of bread with a changed color, a few bits of meat.
Some unknown fried bugs.
Even in this shabby food market, the food quality definitely looks low.
The little one told the kids to eat first and returned to us.
“Let’s go.”
I clicked my tongue and threw him two more black sticks.
“Feed them something decent. What are they eating?”
“I’d like to, but my earnings aren’t that great. Let’s move on.”
The pickpocket kid, with no deference, tidied up the sticks and guided us to the corner of the alley.
Though it looked like a far larger room originally,
The middle was covered with a cloth.
I could see four beds on this side.
As I swept the cloth aside and crossed to the opposite side of the room, there were four more identical beds.
With no mattresses, it was just thick cloth laid down on a stone floor, with only a single cloth covering it.
The pillows were simply rolled-up cloth on bricks, making them a pitiful sight.
The only difference from the opposite side was probably that dust had accumulated on the blankets, indicating they hadn’t been used for some time.
“Do you need anything else?”
The little one suddenly bowed and said politely.
Did he mean to pretend this is a lodging since he accepted money?
“That’s enough. Go take care of the kids.”
At my words, the pickpocket kid left with a wry smile.
I threw my body onto the bed.
Even though there were several layers of cloth, it’s still just thin cloth.
The hardness of the stone floor was still there, and the pillow was just as cold.
As I sank further into my consciousness, I could hear my students shouting something.
It’s likely just complaints about the bedding. They might find it a bit harsh, but…
It’s a familiar sensation for me.
And I drifted off to sleep.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.