How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 119

Seoul’s outskirts, evening.

In the underground storage room of the large house that served as Camellia’s base, Gen seized Lee Eunho by the collar and shoved him into the wall.

Lee Eunho was not someone who could be pushed around easily by strength alone, but Gen’s grip, now that he had turned into Ooyama, was something no ordinary power could resist.

“I am sure I warned you. Why did you kill him?”

“Why should you care who I kill?”

“I care very much. You are sabotaging my plans!”

At dawn today, Lee Eunho killed a free mercenary.

The pretext was revenge for the Gangneung incident.

Because he was dressed as the Phantom Thief, it would not be easy to identify him, but Gen was furious that Lee Eunho had consumed the Phantom Thief’s image.

“I told you to wait a little.”

“How long are you going to tell me to wait? Listen, I do not have much patience.”

“Patience? From the first day we began cooperating, you have been roaming outside. Are you not the one testing my patience?”

“Cooperation, that is a fine word. The only reason I joined hands with you was revenge. The one I killed at dawn was an enemy who attacked Gangneung. I only took revenge to achieve my objective, so why, why are you trying to interfere with my purpose?”

In an instant, electricity burst from Lee Eunho.

BZZZT.

The electricity caused a brief blackout across the entire building, and Gen, struck directly by the shock, was flung into the opposite wall.

“…”

It was a blow strong enough that the wall would not have been strange to collapse.

Slumped on the floor, Gen stared at Lee Eunho’s hand for a moment.

The ring’s power is already eroding him? Damn it. To think he would fall this quickly… Was he hiding his true nature all along?

Before long, Lee Eunho stepped up to Gen and grabbed him by the collar.

Lifting Ooyama’s heavy body with ease, he slammed him back into the wall and spoke.

“Etch this into your mind. I am not here to obey the orders of a Demonic Being. If you interfere one more time… then I do not know what choice I will make.”

“…”

***

A tavern located on Seoul’s outskirts, Leather and Bloodbath.

Superpowered Detective Im Seonjae pushed through the steady rain and arrived at the front of the tavern.

“You are late.”

“My apologies. I was busy, and I did not check the weather.”

The tavern’s door was closed.

Though the sun had not yet set, the surroundings were quiet, devoid of any trace of people, and only Bruno, his hat pulled low, stood out against the street.

Bruno went straight to the point.

“Did you find anything about the Phantom Thief?”

“That is exactly why I had such a hard time. For some reason, the Special Affairs Division has been investigating the Phantom Thief. Well, it is probably because of the probationary investigator.”

“So they are considering the possibility that Ji Seokhyeon is the Phantom Thief.”

“I do not know the details. Of course, if you gave me a proper commission, I could find out.”

“Enough. Tell me what you learned.”

Im Seonjae started to speak, then lowered his gaze to his toes.

Only after confirming that the rain was not reaching the tip of his shoes did he speak again.

“The murder case in District 26 two days ago. Based on testimonies from people who witnessed a strange light, Dispel has judged it to be the Phantom Thief’s work and is moving. The problem is whether it is the Phantom Thief we were chasing…”

“And?”

“Well, I do not know whether to call it yes or no. The outfit matches what we knew. District 26 has CCTV even for the outskirts, so we could trace some of the Phantom Thief’s route. But the problem is the method of killing.”

“I heard it was electrocution so severe it could not even be identified.”

“Exactly. If that Phantom Thief is Ji Seokhyeon, that cause of death makes no sense. He is not someone associated with a lightning attribute.”

Bruno nodded silently.

“If we follow that assumption, then Ji Seokhyeon must have lost the Phantom Thief’s cloak. Who touched those clothes? Did he hand them over himself? We can find the answer to this mystery in Lee Eunho, the wanted fugitive reported to have contacted a Demonic Being not long ago.”

“You mean the one who was with him at the exhibition in District 8, the lightning-attribute user.”

“Yes. There is a high chance that Lee Eunho took the Phantom Thief’s cloak from Ji Seokhyeon. In fact, even before the murder, there were many rumors about sightings of the Phantom Thief in Seoul’s outskirts. Even during the period when Ji Seokhyeon was outside Seoul.”

“So Lee Eunho became the Phantom Thief… I cannot understand it. Committing crimes with a lightning attribute that is easy to identify. If he attends Hero Prep, he should be intelligent.”

“Well, is that not Dispel’s problem? In the first place, what you wanted was Ji Seokhyeon, the previous Phantom Thief.”

“…”

Adjusting his hat, Bruno fell into thought.

Watching him carefully, Im Seonjae continued in a cautious tone.

“You probably regret that you could not finish it during the Spring Scholastic War. A Special Affairs Division investigator is a wall too high for a mere mafia to reach. Even in investigative circles, the first rule is not to become an enemy of the Special Affairs Division.”

“You are bold, saying that to your client.”

“I am giving realistic advice. To be honest, I think highly of Ji Seokhyeon, regardless of the Special Affairs Division.”

“Why?”

“Because I still cannot figure out how he hid the Core of the Earth.”

“And why are you so certain he took it?”

“It is simple. He reached the hiding place before you. As you said, why would a Hero Prep cadet be there wearing a ragged cloak?”

Last March, Catalina attacked the exhibition in District 8 for the sake of the Core of the Earth.

After that day, there had been no word of the Core of the Earth anywhere.

Whether it had been sold, used, or who possessed it.

And how Ji Seokhyeon had hidden it in the first place.

“With the clues so far, there is only one conclusion. He used Stow.”

“That is absurd…”

“Exactly. That is the point. You need to recognize you are dealing with an absurd person. I think it would be better to abandon your obsession and only retrieve MA13.”

Im Seonjae watched the rain striking the ground.

From the way the droplets stung as they splashed, it was raining harder than before.

Bruno seemed to notice and asked.

“Are you leaving?”

“I have delivered the information. And it does not look like this commission will continue. The target’s identity has surfaced, has it not? Only your choice remains.”

“I will deposit this commission fee by tomorrow morning.”

“That is pleasant to hear.”

Im Seonjae turned toward the rain, then stopped as though something occurred to him.

“Oh, I just remembered.”

“Hm?”

“If you truly only want MA13, then catch the Phantom Thief yourself. It would be better to use that to negotiate with Ji Seokhyeon.”

“You said you could not tell whether the clothes were stolen or handed over.”

“I do not mean the Phantom Thief’s cloak.”

“Then what?”

“I mean you should take Lee Eunho.”

***

Hongcheon County, Gangwon-do, a few days after the outpost incident.

“Th-this is insane… It rose this much?”

Staring at the stock prices on my smartphone, I could not close my mouth, like someone who had been starving for days.

And for good reason. After the Suwon administrative government announced it would resume the outpost project together with Hyeonseong, the roughly 600 million won I had invested early doubled in just a few days.

Not only Express, but related stocks as well, surged sharply.

Hyeonseong’s shares, in particular, were climbing toward the ceiling at an unprecedented pace.

“Should I reinvest?”

This was surely a peak…

“No. From now on, I need to turn it into real assets.”

For example, buildings, or land.

Whether in this world or the other, nothing beat being a property owner.

And with the population inside Gyeonggi-do alone in the hundreds of millions, people in this world were intensely interested in housing.

“Should I go to Jeju Island? No, there are too many eyes there. I wish there was a place like Gangwon-do from the other world. Somewhere quiet, deep in the forest, where I could cut ties with superpowers entirely. With Hero Prep, with the Special Affairs Division… and with the Avid Reader.”

With a massive lump sum in my hands, all I could think about all day was how to spend money.

It was pathetic, but twelve billion won here was one hundred and twenty billion over there.

And I had passive income on top of that, one percent of the outpost profits, so it was impossible not to have my mind dyed in money.

“First, I need a sword. Real assets or not, a sword comes first.”

In that way, the outpost commission concluded successfully.

Once the existence of the murals became known to the world, many people grew interested in the records from beyond the Rift, and the materials left behind by the Basilisk set the Production Guild’s auction house ablaze for several days.

“Ah, the Basilisk scales Cha Yeri transferred to me had better sell for a high price too.”

Cha Yeri and I agreed to keep silent about the dwarf.

If it became known that another race had been living there, the outpost project might be canceled.

Of course, I lied that I had also lost consciousness when Cha Yeri passed out.

By the time we came to, the dwarf had vanished without leaving evidence, so we concluded it was better not to create controversy.

In truth, it was because I, as the Special Affairs Division, had promised I would investigate it myself.

“Still, it is strange that she listened so obediently.”

Normally, she would have pressed me about whether I truly passed out.

More importantly, I had an appointment outside Hero Prep today.

I was going to meet Park Chaeshin at White Bottle in District 2.

And I intended to move properly under Stealth the whole way there.

Because the Hunters had been talking about my sword strike, I was drawing unnecessary attention.

The growing attention worried me, but thanks to the solid shield of being in the Special Affairs Division, I rarely got dragged into nuisance.

Bothering a Special Affairs Division investigator who might be carrying out official duties related to Demonic Beings?

In the inner districts, at least, that would be condemned as outrageous.

Especially among families who valued reputation and honor.

“If this were a fantasy novel, all kinds of Hunter guilds would have been swarming.”

In any case, there was one place I needed to stop before meeting Park Chaeshin.

The unmanned convenience store near the main gate.

I was meeting Cha Yeri there.

After what happened, I thought she would find it uncomfortable to meet me separately, but she had contacted me anyway.

“You are in casual clothes?”

When I entered the convenience store, Cha Yeri’s clear voice flowed toward me.

She was holding a rather handsome sword, but more striking than that was her hair, now cut short enough to barely brush her shoulders.

It was a stark contrast to the thick hair she had once grown down to her waist.

The original story never described her cutting it…

“Yes. I have an appointment.”

“…With a woman?”

“With a man.”

“That is hard to believe, you having friends.”

It was not as though I suddenly had friends.

“If you called me just to get under my skin, I am leaving.”

“I did not, so do not leave.”

I placed a carbonated coffee on the counter and walked up to her.

“So. What is it?”

“Here. Take it.”

Cha Yeri held the sword out to me.

I accepted it and absentmindedly drew the blade, and a red glow shimmered along the steel.

“This is…”

It was my first time seeing it this close, but there was no mistaking it.

This was Brichalcon.

Just gripping the hilt told me it was no ordinary weapon.

Judging by the size and weight, she had considered the specifications of the Mist-Clearing Sword I had commissioned before.

In other words, this was a new sword made for me alone.

“You seem to like it.”

“Huh? Yes… But why are you giving this to me…”

“It is after-service for the sword you broke last time. It is a matter of pride if Hyeonseong’s equipment breaks that easily.”

This was after-service?

The grade of the metal was not even comparable.

“And just in case you are thinking it, there is no other intention behind it, so do not misunderstand.”

The context made it impossible not to misunderstand, but I nodded anyway. If I said something odd, she might snatch the sword back.

“Anyway, thank you. I will use it well. Uh, is it strange to say I will use it until it breaks?”

“If Brichalcon breaks, would it not be faster for your bones to be pulverized first?”

“Well, that is true.”

After admiring the blade a little longer, I slid it back into its sheath.

Then I looked at Cha Yeri, and for some reason she was staring at me persistently.

As though she had something to say.

But she was not saying it.

No, it was more like her lips would not part.

In the end, watching her expression, I spoke.

“I have an appointment, so I should go…”

“W-wait!”

All at once, Cha Yeri grabbed my wrist.

She lowered her head slightly, and a faint tremor entered her voice.

“Last time, everything was so chaotic that I could not say it, but if it were not for you, we all would have been finished. So…”

Her words trailed off unnaturally.

A strange atmosphere settled between us.

I swallowed.

A slight pressure came from the hand holding my wrist.

An unconscious force born of tension.

At last, Cha Yeri raised her head and met my eyes.

“Th… thank you.”