After reading the note over and over, I came to a decision: I would head to the castle. Sure, Seo Ji-hwan had agreed to help, but I couldn’t just blindly trust him. Besides, if I wanted to foil some petty scheme, going alone would be tough. And honestly, going solo felt a bit lonely. Conveniently, the perfect companion came to mind.
Since it was late, the hallway on the fifth floor was quiet. Dim white doors lined both sides of the corridor in two neat rows. I tiptoed carefully, trying to keep my footsteps as light as possible. Now, where was my room again?
After wandering in the dark for a good ten minutes, I finally remembered—I’d been pacing in the wrong place all along. Feeling a bit foolish, I turned around and headed the other way. Facing away from the stairs, the room at the far left end, right? I knocked lightly.
“Who is it? At this hour…?”
Oh no, had I woken someone? A weak voice came from inside, sounding a little hoarse. The door creaked open slowly, revealing Ko Yeon-ju’s tousled face. She looked genuinely surprised to see me.
“Oh my, what’s the occasion?”
“Want to come with me to the town at night?”
I got straight to the point. Her smooth forehead furrowed slightly, and her left eye squinted.
“You want to go to the town at night… with me?”
“Yes.”
“Just the two of us?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“Hm? Don’t you want to?”
Her voice suddenly sharpened. Well, it was a strange request at an odd hour. But Ko Yeon-ju shook her head and gave me a sideways glance, her expression turning sulky.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just so sudden.”
“Oh, that’s—”
“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? After I said what I did and left, did you feel sorry for me or something?”
“…No?”
“Sure you did.”
“I have something I need help with.”
Her narrowed eyes widened. Realizing I hadn’t explained enough and caused a misunderstanding, I pulled out the note and calmly explained. I told her I really wanted the medicine that would be arriving today, and that there were people planning to use it for some shady business. After my brief explanation, Ko Yeon-ju chuckled quietly for a while. Feeling a bit awkward, I scratched my cheek.
“Hey, Ko Yeon-ju?”
“Yeah?”
“This is so like you.”
“Huh?”
“No, never mind. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“…”
“Anyway, okay. I’ll go with you. Just wait for thirty or forty minutes.”
With that, she smiled brightly and closed the door. I stood there blankly for a few seconds before suddenly opening the door again. She must have started getting ready immediately—her shirt pulled up to her neck, she turned to look at me with a puzzled expression. I glanced once at the silhouette of her chest outlined by the fabric, then quietly spoke.
“Gulp.”
Wait a second. That wasn’t what I meant to say—I wasn’t trying to imitate swallowing.
“Do you happen to like watching people change clothes?”
“No, that’s not it. It’s about the preparation time.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Thirty minutes? Just throw on a robe and come out quickly.”
The moment I said that, Ko Yeon-ju gave me a look of genuine disbelief.
“…Are you serious?”
“Well, serious or not…”
“I just woke up, and you want me to come out looking like this?”
“What does that matter…?”
“Honestly. Never mind. Just go wait quietly outside, okay?”
“Go—!”
Before I could say anything else, the door slammed shut loudly. From inside, I heard her muttering, “Seriously, what a mess. There’s a limit to being rude. Showing up unannounced is bad enough…” I grumbled back in kind.
“Man, I don’t get it. What could possibly take thirty or forty minutes to get ready? Even with washing up, ten minutes would be enough.”
“What did you say? I can hear you, you know?”
“I said it loud enough for you to hear.”
“…Unbelievable. You think men and women are the same? That’s the bare minimum prep time for me.”
I snorted deliberately, then lowered my voice and sneered.
“Yeah, yeah. Sure. I’d love to help you wash up. Then it’d only take five minutes.”
But—
“If you’re so confident you can take responsibility, go ahead.”
With that teasing voice, I quietly turned and walked away. As I headed back to the main entrance, I sighed to myself, confused by my own feelings. Was I really going to have to wait alone? All I could do was hope Ko Yeon-ju would come out soon.
In the end, she betrayed my desperate hopes—she came out ten minutes later than she said she would. But the moment I saw her rushing toward me, I was completely mesmerized.
She wore a tight turtle-neck top with a straight neckline that revealed the upper part of her chest, and a sheer, luxurious cotton fabric barely covering her lower half. The look was both incredibly sensual and beautiful. A golden bracelet jingled on her right wrist, and on her left shoulder hung a tiny Chaos Mimic connected by a silver strap.
She had covered her face with a mesh veil, giving her an almost dreamlike beauty. Her long ash-gray hair was elegantly twisted up and neatly tied. Truly…
“Really, I can’t live like this. Where are you looking?”
Her giggle snapped me back to reality. I realized my gaze had been fixed more than half on her exposed chest. Wow, sometimes a little coverage is even more provocative than full exposure.
“Alright, let’s get going. We’re already late.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly and turned away. Actually, we weren’t late at all. Since I’d woken earlier than planned, if we left now, we’d arrive just in time for the auction. Originally, I’d planned to stroll around and enjoy the sights since it had been a while, but this was a better deal.
“Okay, sounds good~.”
Ko Yeon-ju said cheerfully, linking her arm with mine and pressing close as if to rub against me. A heady, intoxicating scent wafted from her. I shook my head. She’d doubted me, laughed, gotten mad, and now she seemed happy. Women were truly impossible to figure out. Slowly, we moved toward the town at night.
Let’s see… southwest corner from the Mercenary Castle, right?
“Beep…”
“Hm? Why is that thing crying like Ansol all of a sudden?”
“Beeeep…”
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying, huh?”
As we walked, a mournful cry echoed. For a moment, I thought about tearing the entrance wide open to silence it, but I held back. After all, anonymous complaints about ‘Please stop tormenting the baby Chaos Mimic’ sometimes made it to the approval desk.
After about twenty minutes of leisurely walking, the destination finally came into view. Multicolored lights illuminated the streets, and countless users bustled silently along the main road.
Just as I was walking without a care, suddenly everyone around turned their heads. The reaction spread instantly, and the commotion died down as all eyes fixed on us. It was as if a ‘Hold’ spell had been cast—no one moved a muscle. An inexplicable silence fell.
“…”
I wondered why this was happening, even though I was wearing a robe pulled tight over my head. Then I realized all eyes were on the woman beside me. Even with her face veiled, the aura radiating from her outfit drew complete attention. Her allure was so strong that more than a few men visibly bulged in their lower regions—no exaggeration.
Inside, the crowd at the entrance parted hesitantly, clearing a path. Thanks to that, we didn’t have to push through or wait in line. But then an unexpected problem arose.
Men—and even some women—couldn’t take their eyes off Ko Yeon-ju, but many also glanced at me with looks full of resentment or a murderous glare that felt like a knife stabbing into me.
Yet Ko Yeon-ju was clearly enjoying the situation. No, “enjoying” was an understatement. Her seductive smile and playful wink could be dismissed as charm.
But when she complained about the heat and slyly hooked her index finger like a claw to pull at the neckline of her top… well, personally, it felt like she was teasing me with a “Want a taste? Want a bite?” kind of taunt. Hm. They say the cruelest thing in the world is to tease someone with food.
I forced her to keep moving as her pace slowed, finally reaching the entrance. After paying the surprisingly steep admission fee of thirty gold coins, we stepped into the town at night.
“Hmm, this is Ehito’s scent… no, is it Kamalina?”
Ko Yeon-ju sniffed around curiously. Taking a deep breath, I felt my vision sharpen.
“Hmm. Doesn’t seem harmful.”
“No, it’s not. It’s sprayed just enough to be barely noticeable… It’s a drug that gradually activates the five senses, enhancing human perception and eliciting stronger reactions.”
“Oh.”
“…The problem is that those reactions stem from primal emotions.”
“…”
“You’re Seo Ji-hwan, right? I’ve heard you’re quite the savvy merchant. I think I’m starting to understand why. You have a deep grasp of this district’s nature—no, you’re actually exploiting it.”
Agreeing with Ko Yeon-ju’s observation, I glanced around. The first thing that caught my eye was the soft, crimson glow of lanterns, reminiscent of a red-light district, and the sparkling crystals neatly hung along the building walls. A little further ahead, at the edge of the open street, pairs of patrons had spread out mats, setting up small stalls.
To an outsider, it might look like any ordinary market scene. But the true essence of this night district is the embodiment of desire—where buying and selling isn’t just about goods, but about fulfilling cravings.
From that perspective, it made sense why each person was charged fifteen gold coins. The fee covered both admission and the price of watching the spectacle. After all, some buyers want to see their desires come to life on the spot, so wandering through and observing was part of the experience.
There was, however, one ironclad rule all users of this sordid street had to follow:
“No matter what you see, no matter where, never interfere.”
The street we were walking was just the first—only the entrance. The night district was structured like a tiered ascent, with the intensity of desire growing stronger the deeper you went. In other words, the most forbidden cravings, the ones that must never be exposed to the world, took place in darker, more secluded corners.
For example, our final destination—the auction house—was likely at the very last stage, or just one step below it.
That made it all the more dangerous, but also all the more tempting.
A little while later.
After passing through the first street, we entered the second, where shops were clustered together. The signs gave away what kind of businesses they were, but it still felt like a normal level.
We moved on to the third street, and as expected, it was the district of brothels. More users roamed here than in the first two streets combined, and the doubled noise and bustle testified to its thriving business.
Of course, it wasn’t so abnormal as to cause outright revulsion. After all, the legal commodification of sex was something you could find anywhere.
…In other words, up to this third street, you could say it was a district used by ‘normal’ people—or simply, ‘humans.’
Then.
The night district truly revealed its true colors when we stepped into—
“…?”
“…!”
—the fourth street, the first of the upper tiers.