City ​​of Witches 148

Chapter 148 – #32_The Debt-Ridden Witch (3)

#146

1.
The one-person low table was completely filled just by spreading out two king crabs.
The savory crab aroma rising from the shells, which had been cut for easy access to the meat, and the fried rice piled high in the carapace, was enough to fill the cramped rooftop room.

“Mmm, del, delicious…!”
“I only need one, so please eat slowly.”
“Mmm-mm!”

Sharon held a fork in one hand and a crab leg in the other, diligently scraping out the contents.
She seemed to be trying to maintain a somewhat refined appearance, but her speed and rhythm were truly befitting of the word “gobbling.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve had crab…”

Even with crab crumbs all over her mouth, she didn’t look the least bit unlikable.
The way Sharon was eating reminded Siwoo of when he first returned from Gehenna and ate chicken, so he didn’t bother pointing it out.
Her sparkling eyes and munching lips, above her puffed-out cheeks, looked adorable.

“What do you usually eat?”
“Me? I usually eat leftovers.”
“Ah…”

Siwoo was a little surprised.
There were many witches who considered sleep unnecessary and didn’t sleep at all.
However, as far as Siwoo knew, he had never seen a witch who ate haphazardly or skipped meals.
Even for witches who didn’t need separate nutrition, the joy of food was a great pleasure in life.
But a witch who ate leftover lunch boxes or barely anything…

Thinking about it, there was no refrigerator at her place.
How heartbreaking must her life have been?

“I do have a special meal day once a week, but I often skip that too.”

Perhaps she was in a good mood from eating, Sharon was even telling him things she hadn’t been asked about.
It seemed she was investing all of her food expenses, which were less than 200,000 won a month, into paying off her debt.

“There’s a really good dakgangjeong place near the history museum, you know? I’ll buy it for you as a thank you next time.”

Siwoo, who had explored all the nearby restaurants, had also eaten there before.
It was a famous dakgangjeong place that had even been on TV, with small portions for 3,000 won, medium for 6,000 won, and large for 10,000 won.

A special meal once a week for less than 10,000 won…
Siwoo, feeling a strong sense of stinginess, quietly put down the crab leg he was holding.
He would feed her a lot.

Then, a question suddenly popped into his head.
It was something Sharon had casually mentioned when they first met on the rooftop earlier.

“By the way, do you make money by catching homunculi?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“How? You mentioned location points or something earlier.”

Honestly, Siwoo couldn’t quite imagine it.
He knew that homunculi dropped relics.
However, Sharon had rummaged through the corpse of a homunculus that had dropped nothing and collected a core.
To Siwoo, that core had looked no different from a glass bead.

“Ah, you said you didn’t know anything, right?”
“Yes.”

Sharon put down the crab she was eating for a moment and wiped her mouth with a tissue.
Then, she calmly began to explain.

“There are two main ways to make money by hunting homunculi. One, you probably already know, is to acquire and sell the relics of the Creation Witch. That’s the shortcut to making a fortune, and I’m aiming for that too.”
“What’s the other way?”
“You hand over the homunculus cores at location points.”

Sharon took out a core she had put in her pocket and showed it to Siwoo.

“Usually, the homunculus core is proportional to the magical power the homunculus possessed in its lifetime. It’s the core that makes those monsters move.”
“Is it like a relic?”
“Similar. Anyway, the location point branch in Gwanghwamun pays 10,000 won for every 0.1g. This size is probably worth about 1.3 million won.”
“Does the core itself have any magical effects?”

To Siwoo, it just looked like an ordinary bead of unknown material.
It wasn’t particularly pretty, and it couldn’t store magic power either.

“It does, but it’s almost useless. There are many cheaper, easier-to-find, and better alternatives. Like glass, quartz, or crystal.”

Sharon said firmly.
Then why would they pay 1.3 million won for this useless little bead?

“Explaining that would take a while… Can I eat this first? I want to eat before it gets cold…”
“Ah, yes. Please eat as much as you want. Do you drink alcohol by any chance?”
“Alcohol? I love it!”

She looked like she could walk a runway with a truly cold and aloof expression, but she was so happy just at the mention of buying her alcohol.
It was hard to say whether it was pitiful or what.
She seemed to be living so bravely that it was hard to feel sorry for her.

“Okay, then please tell me if you have a favorite drink. I’ll go to the convenience store in front.”
“Let’s go together. How can I let you go alone when you’re the one buying?”
“I’m going out to smoke anyway.”
“Ah, then any brand is fine, but I’d like a stout.”
“Okay.”

He made Sharon sit back at the table, and went outside for a moment.
When he came back with the beer, Sharon had already taken out a new crab on the table.
Siwoo also sat down and pretended to eat.
If he just sat there blankly, she would feel burdened.

In the end, the large king crabs were all gone in just two hours.
Sharon, with a happy expression, smiled brightly and swayed her body from side to side.
She looked so happy that it made anyone watching feel good.
It was like the feeling of giving food to a hungry stray dog…
This thought was rude to Sharon, so he would never say it out loud.

“Thanks for the meal. It’s been 10 years since I’ve eaten something this expensive without holding back.”
“I’m glad.”
“Didn’t I eat too much by myself?”
“No, I actually like eating with people who eat a lot. It makes me feel full too, so I feel good.”

They even ate the pudding he had bought just in case, and resumed their conversation.
Strictly speaking, it was Sharon’s lecture time and Q&A session, as she was well-versed in the ways of the world.

“So, where were we?”
“The reason why the location point buys homunculus cores for money.”
“Ah, that’s right? First, I need to explain about the location point.”

Sharon took out her cell phone.
It looked like it was at least five years old.
It was a phone that was being given away for free even before Siwoo was taken to Gehenna.
She turned on the map and pointed to a building near Gwanghwamun.

“This is the location point. It’s the Seoul branch of the homunculus and public enemy subjugation outpost that Duke Tiferet created 100 years ago. It’s a kind of community where exiles gather.
As you can see from me, not all exiles are bad witches. Of course, there’s one like that too. Anyway, it’s a place where exiles gather to exchange information and goods.”
“Duke Tiferet?”

The explanation continued a little more.
It was said that after a novice witch lost her life to a public enemy, Duke Tiferet, who was consumed by anger and sorrow, created the organization in various places around the world.
The founder himself was still wandering the world, capturing homunculi and public enemies.

This was just a guess, but it seemed that the name was derived from Watch Point, which meant a surveillance base, with just one letter slightly changed.

“Ah…”

Anyway, through Sharon’s explanation, he could understand.
Homunculi were a great disaster only for ‘humans’ who had no way to deal with them, not for ‘witches.’
In fact, a one-eyed homunculus that didn’t even drop decent items was something you could just catch or leave alone.
However, Duke Tiferet, having directly experienced the pain of loss, took the initiative to create an organization to prevent a second victim from appearing.

“Did Duke Tiferet himself offer rewards as an incentive?”
“Half right. It was like that at first, but not anymore.”
“Huh?”
“Duke Tiferet’s entire fortune was depleted 10 years after she offered the bounty. People were coming from all over the world with cores, and even a rich person would be financially strained.”

Then what was the reward money that was being paid out now?

“In modern times, hotlines have been established between noble witches and political and business figures in each country. And the high-ranking humans would be very wary of the beasts of disaster that humans can’t deal with no matter what they do, right?
So, they made some kind of contract with the witches. That the location points around the world would receive financial support from the national level.”
“So my taxes were used like that…”

The exiles were happy to earn pocket money with the useless homunculus cores.
The country was happy to deal with a problem they couldn’t solve with money.
In this way, two groups that seemed to have no connection in the modern world had formed a strange symbiotic relationship.

“Then why do you work part-time at a convenience store?”
“You idiot, how could I have earned 1.4 billion won in 10 years just by working part-time at a convenience store?”
“I meant, wouldn’t it be better to just keep hunting homunculi?”

At 1.3 million won per homunculus, that was roughly 144 hours at minimum wage.

“I need to keep replenishing my magic power, and homunculi aren’t just lying around like RPG mobs when you go out hunting. I need a steady income too.”
“That’s true.”

Even that was a bitter reason.

“Anyway, I really enjoyed the meal today. Since your place and my workplace are close, come ask me if you have any questions. You said you were bored anyway.”
“Yes, I will.”

It was getting late.
Siwoo was getting ready to leave.
Sharon also roughly finished cleaning up and got up from her seat.

“You don’t have to see me off.”
“No, I’m going out to do my work too.”

Then, Sharon opened the closet and took out a thick stack of flyers.
Siwoo, with an indescribably complicated feeling, paused for a moment.

“You do that too?”
“Witches don’t need to sleep, right? I’m known for putting them up meticulously, so they give me 100 won per flyer. It’s quite lucrative.”

Sharon, wearing a snapback and sneakers, went out into the night streets again.
She was truly an amazing person.
Usually, if someone had that much debt, they would give up or compromise.
Even if she used magic to gain unfair profits, Siwoo wouldn’t dare criticize her.

But Sharon wasn’t using such shortcuts and was diligently saving money in a way that she wasn’t ashamed of.
It was as if he was seeing a young girl supporting her family, and a lump formed in his chest.

“I put up flyers like this while searching for homunculi, and if I find one, I hunt it. It’s the same thing since I have to keep looking anyway.”
“You’re very positive.”
“I hear that a lot.”

Sharon smiled as she tore off a piece of tape and stuck a flyer on the wall.
He knew it was rude, but Siwoo couldn’t help but say what he had been thinking since earlier.
In fact, it had been on his mind since he went out to smoke earlier.

“Can I help you?”
“No, it’s something I have to do.”
“No, not the flyers, but… with paying off your debt.”
“Do you have some good way to make money?”

Sharon, intrigued, perked up her ears and prepared to listen.
There were ways to make money if you looked for them, but how often would you have the chance to make that much money?

However, Siwoo had a vast amount of money that he would never use in his lifetime, which he had received from Count Jemena as a reward for his gratitude.
Since it wasn’t money he had earned through his own efforts anyway, would it be wrong to help her, who was trying to live diligently?

“No, I just have a lot of spare money. I could pay the interest for you…”

And it didn’t take long for him to realize that those words were a mistake.
Sharon’s face, which had been happy with a full stomach and a pleasant buzz, hardened.
She roughly hugged the stack of flyers and gave him a very unpleasant look.
Her lips twitched, but she didn’t say anything.

Siwoo realized his mistake at that reaction.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
“Yeah, I felt very, really bad. Don’t say that again.”
“I’m really sorry.”

From Siwoo’s perspective, it was pure goodwill and kindness, but he didn’t know how the recipient would take it.
Perhaps she felt it was a condescending pity and was angry and hurt her pride.
It was clearly Siwoo’s fault for making a hasty proposal in the wrong way, with the desire to help.

However, Sharon didn’t seem to have any intention of saying anything harsher to Siwoo, who was bowing his head and apologizing.
Instead, she patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s okay, everyone makes mistakes. I’m going now. See you next time.”

Sharon, who had coolly forgiven Siwoo for being rude under the guise of kindness, waved her hand and disappeared down the alley on the other side to put up flyers.

“Haa…”

Watching her retreating figure, he felt a little regretful.