Chapter 152 – #32_The Debt-Ridden Witch (7)
#150
1.
Sharon, who had been drinking with Siwoo until late at night, went to bed for the first time in a long while that day.
She had caught four homunculi in the past few days, which was enough to cover her quarterly tribute.
She had eaten her fill of the legendary chicken and beer, and for the first time in her lonely life away from home, she had made a friend.
Perhaps that was why she felt so comfortable lying on her bed, finally able to get some proper sleep after months.
Sharon was originally a witch with a fairly regular sleep pattern.
However, after incurring a huge debt, she had to work part-time jobs, hunt, and do all sorts of odd jobs to make money, so she couldn’t afford to lie down and relax.
Therefore, Sharon’s sleep time was replaced with magic research time.
It wasn’t enough to just pay off her debt.
She never forgot that a witch’s duty was to research magic.
Moreover, Sharon’s current rank was 17th, three ranks below her predecessor, Evergreen.
It was a rare case of ‘incomplete succession’ that occurred during the process of inheriting the mark.
The magical knowledge left in the mark wasn’t completely lost, so she would regain it someday, but she couldn’t neglect her research just by believing in that. She couldn’t face her predecessor who had entrusted her with the mark.
Still, it was a rare deep sleep.
What woke Sharon from her sweet drowsiness was…
-Knock knock knock!
“We’re from the Seodaemun District Office! Is anyone inside?”
It was the voice of a cold-hearted man who enforced the established rules and regulations without mercy.
2.
Sharon stood there with a blank face, holding her suitcase.
Originally, she didn’t have a proper closet, so she had been using the suitcase as a substitute, leaning it against the wall.
She thought she didn’t have much luggage, but the suitcase, which seemed like it could fit Sharon if she curled up, was packed to the brim with her daily necessities.
“Uh…”
Reality slowly dawned on her.
The rooftop room was Sharon’s sweet home, which she had managed to secure after five years of living in the mortal realm.
For the first year after being banished to the mortal realm, she had wandered the streets, spending her time in 24-hour cafes or fast-food restaurants, without a home.
Sometimes, she would find a secluded underpass and sleep inside her suitcase.
From the first to the fifth year, she had lived in a semi-basement studio apartment.
It was 380,000 won a month, including maintenance fees, without a deposit.
It was a wretched and gloomy place, with a musty smell unique to basements that made it feel like mold would grow in your lungs just by breathing, and the bathroom was shared.
She had diligently saved money there and found the rooftop room she had been living in until now.
It was acceptable in terms of price, with a monthly rent of 500,000 won including maintenance fees and a deposit of about 2 million won.
The landlord had even offered to reduce the rent by 30,000 won if she didn’t register her address, which was also a plus.
Sharon didn’t have the luxury to purchase a fake identity like other witches, and the cell phone and bank account she had were all in other people’s names, burner phones and burner accounts.
Conversely, it meant that if the district office came to inspect illegal buildings and the landlord accepted the correction and asked the tenant to move out, there were no laws to protect Sharon.
From the local government’s perspective, Sharon was an illegal resident.
Words of comfort like, “You can get help if you go to the building department at the district office with the documents,” or “You should have checked the building register,” were of no help at all.
Some might laugh at it for being a shabby and poor house, but it was a really good place to rest, with hot water and a shower inside.
But it was an illegal building.
“What does it matter if it’s illegal when someone is living here…”
Sharon roughly kicked a can that was lying on the floor.
The can flew with a sharp sound, clattering loudly.
She bit her lip and slumped down on the spot.
The white envelope in Sharon’s hand was crumpled.
It was the 2 million won deposit that the landlord had given her this morning, apologizing.
She was about to throw it away in a fit of anger, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Only the shallow rationalization that money was not at fault flashed through her mind.
Nothing was working out.
There was nothing she wanted to do that she could.
“…I want to cry…”
Tears welled up in her eyes.
What made poverty so cruel was that it didn’t even give you time to savor your sadness before throwing reality in your face.
For Sharon, an illegal resident, finding a decent studio apartment was like picking a star from the sky.
But she didn’t want to keep living like a homeless person, dragging her suitcase around.
She might have done it before, but now that she had experienced having a home, Sharon never wanted to go back to that life.
Sharon took out her cell phone and installed an app.
It was an application for booking accommodations.
Sharon’s mouth grew wider as she scrolled through the list with a lack of interest.
“Wow… crazy… this is crazy…”
The area around Sinchon was full of accommodations, with motels lined up next to churches and cathedrals.
It was a hot spot where young men and women gathered, so this was only natural.
She thought a motel would be perfect for temporary accommodation until she found a new place to live, so she installed the app.
“120,000 won for one night? And check-in at 6 PM and check-out at 11 AM the next day?”
Sharon was shocked by the outrageous prices of the accommodations, which charged almost a third of her monthly rent for less than 24 hours.
At first, she thought, ‘It’s more expensive than I thought, but it’s doable,’ when she saw prices like 30,000 or 40,000 won.
But then there was also something called a ‘day use’.
It seemed to be a system where you could rent a motel room for 3 to 6 hours to take a nap.
It was shocking to Sharon that so many people spent that kind of money without hesitation just to take a short break or a nap.
“How am I supposed to do this…”
Sharon quickly deleted the app.
There were various options like guesthouses and hotels, but just seeing the motel prices made her lose all interest in looking further.
“First… I need to exchange this before I go to work.”
Sharon took out the homunculus crystals that were jingling in her pocket.
She thought she would need some emergency funds, no matter what.
“I also want to access the homunculus database…”
She still had four hours before her convenience store part-time job, and she thought it would be okay to go there for a bit.
Sharon picked up her suitcase and trudged towards the bus stop.
3.
There was an unwritten rule among witches, both in Gehenna and the mortal realm.
Witches should not reveal their existence to the outside world.
Witches should live in secrecy.
Witches should not interfere in history through magic.
Witches should not cause social chaos with magic.
That was it.
Why did such an unwritten rule exist?
There was a superstition that ‘mystery’ lost its meaning as its concealment diminished, and there was also talk of an agreement with the Tree of Sephiroth, which had ties to the political circles of various countries.
However, in Sharon’s opinion, the biggest reason why witches did not wield their power indiscriminately and restrained themselves was the existence of Duke Keter.
There were many witches in history who had committed atrocities, believing in their own power or to achieve what they wanted.
To give just a few notable examples…
The ‘Plague Witch,’ who spread epidemics and collected deaths in the 14th century, was purged by Keter after a three-day and three-night battle.
In the 17th century, the 12 witches of the ‘Silver Dawn Society,’ who completely denied the existence of Gehenna and rose up to create a world ruled by witches, were all slaughtered by the Duke who chased them down two days after they had rushed into the mortal realm and built their own kingdom.
In the 18th century, the ‘Dragon Witch,’ who actively participated in the American Revolutionary War, quietly returned to the desert after being scolded by Duke Keter.
In the 19th century, the public enemies belonging to ‘Qliphoth,’ who launched a large-scale invasion of Gehenna, were also suppressed by Duke Keter, who broke her seclusion.
As such, Duke Keter was extremely displeased with witches using magic and interfering too much in the mortal realm, and she maintained a balance.
Moreover, the witches she had defeated were witches who were always on the list when discussing the strongest of their time, so who would dare to go against her will?
She thought it was like a dragon in a fantasy myth.
She didn’t interfere or care about most things, but the moment someone crossed the line, she would burn the enemy with her hot breath.
Even the organizations in the underworld and the public enemies who directly ran cartels were always wary of Duke Keter’s displeasure…
Anyway, such an unwritten rule also applied to Witch Points, a small Gehenna for exiles, so the Gwanghwamun branch was disguised as a private insurance company in a building in the middle of the city.
Only the top five floors of this building were operated as a Witch Point.
As soon as Sharon entered the grand lobby of the headquarters, a security guard in a neat suit came to greet her.
“Hello, Witch Evergreen.”
“I’m here to exchange some money.”
“Yes, I’ll show you the way.”
The security guard, who greeted Sharon as a witch as if it were natural, was a civilian hired by the Witch Point.
They couldn’t keep witches, who were busy with their own magic research, to do odd jobs, so they borrowed people from the intelligence agencies of countries that had agreed in advance to handle various tasks.
She thought she had heard that this security guard was also an employee of an intelligence agency, but she wasn’t sure.
The interior of the Witch Point, which was visible as soon as she got off the elevator that went directly to the top floor of the building, was surprisingly similar to a normal office.
There were employees on the phone, and there were employees carrying stacks of documents and using a shredder.
The only slightly abnormal thing was that some of the women were too beautiful.
Well, it wasn’t that strange.
After all, the purpose of the Witch Point was not magic research.
Sharon went straight to the exchange office without delay.
“Please exchange all of this. In cash.”
She placed the five crystals she had in her pocket on a plate on the counter, and an employee dressed like a bank teller took them inside.
The exchange itself didn’t take long.
After determining whether the crystals were counterfeit, they weighed them on an electronic scale and handed over the prepared cash.
The total amount of money she had earned from hunting after a week of hard work was 5.12 million won.
Sharon, who had been feeling gloomy, was able to breathe a little easier with the much larger income than usual.
She went to the administrative support office on the lower floor and paid the 6.5 million won for this quarter’s dues.
After that, she looked through the homunculus compendium in the public archive, but there was still not a single line about a ‘perfectly identical homunculus’.
Sharon wondered if she should report this to the higher-ups, but she shook her head.
“Sigh… I’ll do it later. I need to go to my part-time job now.”
Today was one of those days when she didn’t feel like living enthusiastically.
Just as she was about to turn off the computer in the public archive and go outside, Sharon encountered someone who would make her already dirty mood even dirtier.
“Ah… shit…”
The curse that popped out of her mouth like a spinal reflex.
Honestly, this was innocent.
Why do you automatically curse when you see a cockroach?
It was something like that.
It was always ‘Della Redcliffe’, the red witch in front of her, who had been constantly bothering and picking fights with Sharon.
“Oh my, how vulgar. Did you put a rag in your mouth?”
Della spoke with her chin elegantly raised.
She was a woman reminiscent of a red tulip, befitting her name, ‘The Witch of Ash’.
Her short, curly red-gold hair, her sharp eyes that looked like a fighting cock, and the mocking gaze in her eyes that looked down on Sharon.
Everything was as red as a blazing flame.
“Sorry, I was just surprised. It wasn’t directed at you.”
She wasn’t sorry at all, but she apologized because she didn’t want to get into a conflict with her.
Because if she talked to this woman for too long…
“Judging by your appearance, it seems you’re still living like a scummy sewer rat. How many flyers did you put up yesterday? No, let me guess.”
…she would openly pick a fight like this.
Sharon bit her lip and glared at Della.
“Ten, twenty…? Or… oh my! Could it be… a hundred?”
Ever since the dispute over the hunting grounds, Della had been busy finding Sharon and mocking her whenever she saw her.
Moreover, unlike her elegant and refined appearance, she was really good at getting under people’s skin.
If Della’s magic was even half as good as her sarcasm, even Duke Keter would not be a match for her.
“Looking at your expression, I think it’s a hundred. Wow~ Congratulations! You’ll be able to pay off an extra 10,000 won in one night?”
“I’m going, move.”
Sharon tried to push past Della, who was clapping and teasing her, and get out of there.
Sharon knew that she couldn’t beat Della right now.
Would she have endured this kind of nonsense for ten years if she could?
Sharon had already challenged Della to a duel and been thoroughly defeated.
In the first place, there was a power difference between the 17th rank and the 20th rank that was like an elephant and a stray dog, so the only option was to run away like a dog with a thousand tails.
However, Della didn’t move at all.
Instead, she strode towards Sharon and brought her face close.
Della, who was already half a head taller than Sharon, was wearing heels, so she was almost a full head taller, looking down on her.
Sharon also stared back at Della without giving an inch, but it was Sharon’s eyes that were shaking slightly.
She was losing the battle of wills from the start.
“Don’t be like that, I told you I’d help you make money easily and comfortably, didn’t I?”
Della’s hand, which had crept up like a snake, caressed Sharon’s chin as if with a feather.
Sharon felt a chill run down her spine at the gesture, which was clearly intended to be flirtatious, and she slapped her hand away and hurriedly ran to the elevator.
“Crazy bitch, crazy bitch!”
Sharon cursed as she ran away in a hurry.
Della’s lips curled into a smirk as she watched her.
