The Golden Girl dreamed of the past.
A long time ago.
In the underground of the landfill, in Sewage Village, there lived a little one who received the love of many people.
Unlike other children in Sewage Village, who lost their parents and their dignity as soon as they were born, this little one was born with purity.
Blood, tears.
And even the rough vagabonds without a fill of their stomachs.
Whenever the little one passed by, they would offer precious food into their delicate hands, like a handful of fiddlehead ferns.
When the little one ran around, everyone laughed.
When the little one fell, everyone worried.
The existence of such a little one was a symbol that faith and hope were still alive in Sewage Village.
For that reason.
It wasn’t strange for the rough-looking yet soft-hearted Golden Girl to walk around with the little one.
Every time the little one laughed with their soot-covered face, the darkness, like a shadow in the girl’s heart, felt like it was disappearing.
But.
The end came suddenly.
‘■■!’
The girl in the dream spits out a nickname of the little one that had long been erased from her mind.
The whole world turns into a faded gray.
Landfill.
A fired harpoon.
The pierced little one.
A drone, making mechanical sounds, carried the little one away somewhere in the sky.
Only the falling red droplets of blood retained color in the gray-stained landfill.
Ignoring the breath that was filling her throat, the girl ran after the drone.
No matter how much she reached out, she couldn’t touch the drone.
And.
Just before the red droplets disappeared from sight.
The girl woke up from a long nightmare.
“…Ha.”
Swallowing her curses, the girl wiped her face with a dry washcloth.
Maybe it was because she heard a hamburger ad from the city.
She couldn’t sleep due to the nightmare.
That was when the dream left by the little one came to mind.
Was it really a place of such value?
She wanted to see the city that the little one had longed for with her own eyes.
The girl quietly rose from the makeshift bed covered with layers of cardboard.
It was an early morning compared to usual.
26. Such certain things happened
If I at least had a status window.
【Find Gyeomjok】 【3Km to the West】
It might have shown a guide for a sub quest route like this.
But unfortunately, I didn’t have anything like that.
In short, I had to look for Gyeomjok by walking on my own.
Thus, the first place I went was the clinic where Four Eyes stayed.
Fortunately, the children Four Eyes took care of were either out playing somewhere or gone to get food.
Only Four Eyes’ figure was seen inside the shabby clinic.
I calmly explained my circumstances and situation to Four Eyes.
“…Gyeomjok went where?”
Four Eyes asked me back naturally after hearing my explanation.
…He must not be hearing well these days.
No matter how healthy an orc is, there’s no remedy for old age. Even though he looks like this, he was the one who took care of me after Gyeomjok, so I felt a bit worried.
I looked at Four Eyes with pity.
Whether he understood the emotions in my gaze, Four Eyes took off his glasses and wiped them with a dirty cloth.
At first glance, he looked relaxed.
But indeed, his fingertips were trembling slightly.
He was probably trying to maintain his composure.
I answered his question again and mentioned Gyeomjok’s whereabouts.
“To the city.”
– Snap.
“Ah.”
A short gasp escaped Four Eyes’ mouth, unable to accept the cruel truth.
I subtly raised my head.
I checked the condition of the glasses he was cleaning.
There was a crack in the lens that had been fine just a moment ago.
Oh dear.
Glasses made of glass can’t be fixed here.
Four Eyes’ hands began to tremble for a different reason than before as he threw the glasses onto one side of the desk.
Placing his hand over his eyelids, Four Eyes let out a long sigh.
“Ha… there’s never a day without accidents, huh?”
“Yeah, right.”
I nodded in agreement.
When else would I curse Gyeomjok if not now?
I went further to vent about what happened yesterday to Four Eyes.
“Do you know what happened yesterday? I shot a gun at the clear sky, and a drone—”
After hearing my brief story, Four Eyes replied with a new tale, as if he couldn’t be outdone.
“By the way, it was worse before. Let me tell you what happened—”
They say one curses even a king in unseen places.
It seems Four Eyes has a lot built up too.
Given the chance, he spilled out stories whether they were real or not.
Gyeomjok must have been Gyeomjok even back then.
To be honest, I could talk about Gyeomjok all day long, but right now, I had no idea how far Gyeomjok had gone.
“Anyway, Gyeomjok went to the city. Do you happen to have any idea where they might be headed?”
It was time to wrap things up.
“Hmm, to discuss that, I need to bring up something from back then—”
No, just tell me the way, please!
It felt like Four Eyes was possessed by some pitcher in LA.
He showed no sign of stopping.
I was about to cut him off, but once again I kept my mouth shut.
Once he took off his glasses, a face that was even harsher than double the usual was staring at me.
No matter how hard it is to read an orc’s expression.
I had seen him for years. Just by looking at Four Eyes’ eyes, I could notice what emotions were contained within.
Four Eyes was ‘worried’ about me.
That if I followed Gyeomjok and got hurt, it would be a big deal.
He was probably turning the conversation away on purpose.
…What a good person.
Even though I would take care of my own life best.
No matter how much I tried to ask him to tell me, it seemed hard for Four Eyes to open up.
Hmm.
What should I do to give him the belief that it’s okay for me to go into the sewer to find Gyeomjok?
“…….”
I decided.
After briefly finishing my thoughts, I slowly raised my index finger and said.
“Do you see this?”
“What’s this about, so at that time Gyeomjok—huh?”
Four Eyes suddenly stops speaking.
His gaze shifted toward the tip of my finger.
Very slowly.
But brightly.
A sphere of light was forming at the tip of my finger.
“What, what is that?”
Normally, light doesn’t emanate from the tip of someone’s finger.
Four Eyes’ voice became urgent.
“Did you get cyberware on the tip of your finger from following Teddy?”
What the heck did he get?
Shaking my head, I lightly denied Four Eyes’ words.
“This is magic.”
A skill that Muggles can’t use.
Indeed.
It was the ‘outstanding magical talent’ guaranteed by the game.
I had watched videos all day long.
It felt as natural as moving my own hands to use magic.
As time went by.
The light at the tip of my finger gradually became brighter.
“…Magic, I’ve heard of it before…”
Four Eyes struggled to continue his sentence.
He looked at my finger from every angle.
It seemed he still suspected it was a cyberware’s glow.
“…To have light floating in the air.”
Watching the sight that defied the laws of physics, Four Eyes mumbled.
“In any case, you don’t need to worry that much. If you know where Gyeomjok went, please tell me.”
There are several sewer paths leading to the city.
Having spent more time with Gyeomjok than I had, Four Eyes might know things I didn’t.
“…Certainly, you’re not an ordinary child.”
“I’m always outstanding.”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have found it strange if you hadn’t shown up tomorrow.”
“…….”
It is true that my stamina was somewhat trashy.
That was the reason I gained magical talent.
Four Eyes slowly nodded.
“…Alright, Gyeomjok probably went to line 31 of the sewers. The opposite side of where the Fixer lives; it’s relatively the safest place.”
“Hmm, thank you.”
I lowered my head to express my gratitude lightly.
Now, I had heard about Gyeomjok’s whereabouts.
I just had to chase after him.
“……”
With the light shining from the tip of my finger, Four Eyes started to squint and raised his palm to shield his view.
“…But that light, you should turn it off soon.”
“This?”
I looked at the tip of my finger.
As it absorbed surrounding mana.
The sphere of light continued to grow larger.
It had been about the size of a finger joint before.
Now, it was as big as a child’s fist.
Hmm.
Calmly assessing my situation.
Actually, I had learned how to gather mana and create light.
But I hadn’t learned how to extinguish it yet.
…….
If I gathered mana, maybe I could release it in the opposite sense.
With that thought, I flicked the mass of mana I had gathered at the tip of my finger.
Then.
In an instant, the light constricted.
The bright light suddenly went dark, leaving a white dot at the tip of my finger.
“Ah.”
I felt an ominous energy in an instant.
I made a quick decision.
I directed the magic into an empty room of the clinic and quickly closed the door behind it.
Four Eyes, who looked at me strangely for my actions, asked.
“…What are you doing?”
“That’s—”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Probably.
If a balloon larger than a human body burst, it would make a sound like this.
– Boooooom!!
“……”
Now there would be rumors that a bomb terror attack occurred in Sewage Village for a while.
I thought briefly.
Then I opened the door slightly to check the empty room.
Fortunately, it wasn’t demolished.
It had simply turned into a total mess.
This time, I turned to check Four Eyes’ expression behind me.
The worried expression from just moments ago had completely vanished, and his face was filled with a red hue.
A thick vein bulged on his forehead.
Alright, let’s escape.
Seeing that expression, I quietly started to back away.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to go look for Gyeomjok.”
“You need to clean up the mess you made before you go.”
“Then I’ll be in a hurry!”
I burst out of Four Eyes’ clinic.
I felt like I heard a giant gorilla roaring behind me, but it was an unavoidable sacrifice for the greater good.
It was definitely not intentional.
I resolved to apologize next time.
…More importantly, this.
I might be able to use it.
*
After that.
I ran into a thug (Teddy) on the street, an amoeba (slime) while passing through the sewer, and a random vagabond (normal person) who made eye contact with me.
I defeated them all with light magic (destruction attribute).
Ah, for me, magic is explosions.
Wait for me, Gyeomjok!
I’m coming!
I hurried my steps.
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