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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: A Rough Night
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Do you know what it’s like to be dropped into another world with absolutely nothing?
“A day rate is 7 copper coins. Overnight stay is 10.”
“What? Why is it so expensive?”
“Where else in Valerius would you find an inn this cheap? If you don’t like it, find somewhere else.”
This was the eighth rejection already.
I’d been searching for an inn since dusk, but I still hadn’t found one by the time dark night fell.
The reason, of course, was a lack of money.
All the funds I had on me were a mere four copper coins.
‘If I’d even had goblin ears, I could’ve exchanged them at the Explorer’s Guild.’
But Densi, who had been carrying the backpack with the goblin ears, hadn’t been seen since we crossed the escape portal.
I figured she probably took the opportunity to run off.
Anyway, that’s why I’m practically penniless now.
The night grew deeper, and I still couldn’t find anywhere to escape the cold for even a single night.
“...Now that I think about it, you’re wearing a strange helmet, but you have a fine body, don’t you? How about I only charge you 5 copper coins for a room?”
Thwack! Thwack!
The pot-bellied female owner, whose BMI must have easily been 45, made a ring with her left hand and repeatedly thrust her right middle finger into it.
It was a clear sign that if I sold my body, the price would be reduced. How could I have gone to eight inns and gotten the exact same reaction?
I’d heard dozens of lewd jokes and propositions for sex in the past half-day alone.
It was already like this, so how many more outlandish propositions would I have to endure in the future? I was already dreading it.
“Owner. Please imagine you suddenly became a man, and then recall what you just said. How do you think I’d feel right now?”
“You bastard–”
“Seeing you immediately resort to insults, it seems you’re well aware of the seriousness of your own physical condition. Do you really think any man with normal tastes would be interested in that body of yours? It’s because you’re so greedy for money that you’ve piled on all that fat! You pig!”
“Stop right there, you bastard!”
I dodged the inn owner, who was chasing after me, face flushed with fury, and walked blankly down the street, where darkness had already settled.
Perhaps it was the late hour, but most shops were closed. There were almost no people walking the streets.
Before long, I was lost. When I thought about it, it was an obvious situation. I didn’t know any of the streets.
From a positive perspective, I wasn’t lost; I was merely in the process of learning the way.
‘Do I have to ask the guards again to find a cheap inn...’
The thought of starting that whole process over from scratch made my head ache.
I had just emerged from a dangerous Labyrinth, only to be caught up in the practicalities of daily life. Even getting a comfortable night’s sleep was proving difficult.
While searching for an inn with lights on, my eyes happened upon a strange sight.
In a dark alley between buildings, I spotted a group of people huddled together, illuminated by a dim lantern.
Why were they doing that in such a dark place, where people’s gazes barely reached?
In the lantern’s light, they were all as still as mice, not moving a muscle.
“...Why are those people doing that?”
I happened to ask a passing guard why they were like that.
The female guard, who looked at me with an annoyed expression, quickly scanned my upper body, then suddenly cleared her throat and spoke.
“Beggars. They’re pests that always exist in a Labyrinth city, no matter where you go. Explorers who’ve lost a limb, failed businessmen, people who went bankrupt unable to repay their debts, and so on. They’re all individuals who’ve ended up on the streets for their own reasons.”
So they were homeless beggars.
“Aren’t you going to arrest them?”
“There’s no need for us to concern ourselves with worthless beings who are barely clinging to life, dying day by day. If they were doing that out in the open on the street, we’d naturally intervene, but it’s much more pleasant to see disgusting things squashed away in the dark on their own. Oh, but don’t worry, we do clear away the corpses. Anyway, haven’t we met somewhere before–”
I ignored the guard’s words, which had naturally veered into flirtation, and thought.
‘Sleeping rough isn’t so bad.’
Still, sleeping where there were several people would be better than sleeping alone and getting into danger.
This isn’t inside the Labyrinth; surely, no one would lay a hand on me here?
I had just come out of hellish suffering in the Labyrinth, and I wanted to sleep in an inn with a comfortable bed, but it was also true that I couldn’t afford it.
In the end, I had to compromise with reality.
I finally managed to shake off the bothersome guard and stepped into the dark alley.
There were about six beggars.
As I approached, a faint stench reached me. It was the smell of people who hadn’t washed in a long time.
Around the beggars, there were similar-looking bowls and utensils. It seemed they were at least able to eat.
I felt the gazes of a few individuals fall upon me. The visibility was poor, so I couldn’t see their expressions.
However, I could sense a slightly surprised atmosphere.
Normally, if you sense someone while sleeping, you wake up startled. I just figured it was that.
“Sorry to wake you. I’ll just sleep here for the night. Please go back to sleep.”
“Uh-huh. Uh... alright.”
Since they gave permission with a flustered air, I found a spot a little ways off and lay down.
As I lay down on the hard dirt ground, I felt tiny bits of dirt and pebbles digging and scratching into my bare skin.
It was quite irritating and bothersome, but I had to endure it.
I tried to fall asleep by imagining myself as a rich man lying on a luxurious mattress, but the sense of incongruity was so strong that I couldn’t drift off easily.
Imagining myself lying on a stone bed, having earned just enough to buy one, sleep soon began to overtake me.
***
Rustle. Rustle.
“Haa. Haa. To come walking right into us, just to satisfy our urges. You’re practically an angel.”
“My thoughts exactly. I was just thinking of grabbing someone tomorrow to have our way with, but now we don’t have to.”
“By the way, this helmet is a bit annoying, isn’t it? Someone take it off.”
I woke up to the sound of cheap chatter and the all-too-familiar noise of someone trying to pull down my pants.
You idiot. You trusted people too easily again.
It was only yesterday that I’d eagerly accepted a kindness and almost got stabbed in the back and raped, so why did I keep making such complacent judgments, overcome by fatigue?
—‘This isn’t inside the Labyrinth; surely, no one would lay a hand on me here?’ ‘Still, sleeping where there are several people would be better than sleeping alone and getting into danger?’
Nam Su-jin. Did you get shot in the head?
The choice I’d made with such quick judgment was incredibly foolish.
Get a grip. Why do you think these people ended up on the streets?
It’s because they have some flaw, mentally or physically, that they couldn’t earn money and were pushed into the dark corners of society, isn’t it?
Do you think these people, who live without a home in sunless darkness, unable to wash and reeking of filth, would have any proper outlet for their sexual urges?
What on earth did I trust when I approached them? Baseless faith? Human affection? Philanthropy?
Look at reality. You know well enough from toiling in manual labor that no one cares about such things.
Did a few lucky breaks in solving difficult situations give you some baseless confidence?
Snap out of it.
Right now, I have nothing but my body. I need to protect this one body, my only source of income and hope, and use it effectively.
“So now, get out of my way, you bastards.”
I dropped the polite speech. These guys weren’t worth any respect.
“W-what...! He’s awake!”
“Hey! Quick, grab his arms and legs– *Cough*!”
I plunged my fist into the jaw of the guy who was frantically trying to order the surrounding beggars.
CRACK!
My muscles, tense from the uncomfortable sleep, stretched out like a yawn, adding speed to the blow.
The guy, whose jaw was directly struck by the fist, instantly rolled his eyes back and fainted.
“Whoa, the boss in one hit...?”
“...No way. The boss even went to the deepest part of the Labyrinth’s first floor...!”
With just a single punch, the atmosphere around us changed.
A quick glance at their expressions showed an atmosphere of disbelief at what they had just witnessed.
“This, this bastard–!”
I ducked my head to evade the grasp of the guy who, failing to read the room, rushed at me as if to embrace me.
SMACK!
I immediately delivered a punch to his temple, and the guy, still in his charging momentum, collapsed onto the ground and didn’t get up again.
...
The atmosphere was, quite literally, fucked. The beggars, their faces pale, began to tremble and back away.
I silently watched them, then spoke.
“Anyone else want a piece of this?”
“Uh, no.”
Perhaps they wanted to live, because a reply came immediately. Their pathetic appearance made me lose any desire to inflict further violence, leaving only a sense of emptiness.
“Take these bastards and get out. If I see you again, you’re dead.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, they immediately picked up the two unconscious men and started to flee.
They’d probably go hide like mice in another alleyway. I sincerely hoped they would.
“Life. Fuck.”
Yeah. Life is always fucked up. Most lives are, but I wonder if anyone else lives a life as messed up as mine.
“...Let’s just sleep.”
Continuing with negative thoughts wouldn’t help.
However, I had to remember what I’d experienced today and use it as fertilizer for learning. So I wouldn’t go through the same thing again.
As soon as I closed my eyes, sleep poured over me.
I was tired.
***
Click. Clack.
Goddammit. This again. Could they have brought another group to get revenge?
‘No. There’s only one set of footsteps?’
It could be the boss of the beggar gang. I couldn’t lower my guard.
At the unfamiliar presence, I quickly prepared to draw the axe from my waist and stared at the source of the footsteps.
“Oh... I-I’m sorry. Did I wake you...?”
A person with a very different aura than I expected stood before me.
Just looking at her appearance, she was far from a beggar.
Her well-maintained, lustrous black hair stood out even more under the soft moonlight, and her hairstyle, tied to one side, exuded luxury and elegance.
Her fair, flawless, smooth skin, and her subtly narrowed eyes, which created a mysterious aura, seemed capable of enchanting everyone in the world just by themselves.
‘Wow. Boobs...’
But the most shocking thing was her large, well-shaped chest.
H, no, I...? I don’t know. I’ve never seen such a size before; I can’t even guess.
She was wearing a tight-fitting dress that further emphasized her curves and overwhelming chest, revealing a vulgar figure completely unlike her elegant demeanor.
In a word, she was beautiful. In my life, this was the first time I’d seen a woman this beautiful, other than my sister.
If one only considered her harmless aura and well-maintained, beautiful appearance, this woman was definitely not the beggar boss I had been wary of.
But you never know with people, do you? I had learned that lesson brutally through various experiences by now.
“Who are you? State your identity.”
I said, aiming the axe, which had somehow found its way into my hand, at the unknown woman.
“Hmm...”
Her gaze briefly flickered to my axe. And then, after a short pause, she spoke again.
“I am Diana Ordia. I run an inn called [Cozy Winter Night] in the building next door.”
She, Diana, said that and held out something in her hand towards me. Distracted by her appearance, I was slow to notice what she was holding.
“...Soup?”
What was in her hand was a bowl. A bowl filled with thick soup, steaming warmly, brimming with ingredients.
As I took in the delicious-looking soup, my stomach rumbled.
I quickly clutched my stomach, and Diana smiled warmly.
“The nights in Valerius are cold. A warm soup should help a little.”
Right. As she said, it would definitely be warm. Probably so warm that sleep would come easily. As if it were laced with sleeping poison.
It was just yesterday that I had been tricked with soup laced with sleeping poison.
Recalling that bitter memory, I slowly opened my mouth.
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