Chapter 170. Spare Me a Penny (3)
“Hehehe.”
Yukgap walked toward the meeting place with a confident expression, his day’s wages in hand.
The restaurant owner had been so shocked by how quickly he shelled whelks at near-sonic speed that she ended up giving him every box she had.
Thanks to that, he had earned a decent amount.
“Yukgap!”
Victoria spotted him from a distance and came running over while waving.
Yukgap asked teasingly,
“So, did you make any money?”
“Hehe. Of course. Look.”
Victoria proudly held up a fifty-thousand-won bill.
“I fixed some man’s boat engine and got fifty thousand won. Pretty good, right?”
Yukgap gave her a meaningful smile and pulled out a thick bundle of cash.
“Ahem. Is that so?”
“I made eighty thousand.”
“How?”
Victoria asked in surprise.
Yukgap drew one of the daggers he always carried.
“Just did a little knife work.”
Victoria stared at him in horror.
“You didn’t rob someone, did you?”
Yukgap protested indignantly.
“No!”
“I got paid for shelling whelks!”
“It’s clean, honest money!”
While the two were bickering, Nova approached from the other side.
For some reason, she was breathing heavily.
Both hands were also loaded with all kinds of food.
“Yukgap... Victoria...”
Nova barely managed to call out to them.
The moment they saw how abnormal she looked, both asked at once.
“Nova! What happened to you?”
“And what’s with all that food?”
Nova looked like she was in agony.
“It’s a long story.”
“I’m about two seconds away from throwing up, so I’ll tell you later.”
“At least people in villages are still generous.”
Victoria muttered while chewing the food Nova had brought back.
Nova looked traumatized.
“Generous?”
“That was the cruelest, most horrifying torture I’ve ever experienced.”
“But you got all this delicious food.”
Nova may have suffered after being dragged to the home of an overly generous grandmother and force-fed against her will, but the food she brought back was excellent.
Victoria and Yukgap, who had been starving, managed to eat a full meal from it.
Considering neither of them had eaten properly since morning, it was a welcome gift.
“Now that we have some money and food, we’ve at least avoided the absolute worst.”
Yukgap leaned back with a satisfied expression.
With his stomach full, everything suddenly felt more relaxed.
Maybe this was what people meant when they said even sightseeing came after eating.
“So what do we do with this money?”
Victoria looked down at what they had earned.
It was emergency money they had worked hard for.
She wanted to use it meaningfully.
Nova offered a suggestion.
“First, let’s find somewhere to wash and sleep.”
“We’ve been through too much today.”
“We need a place to rest.”
“I agree.”
“All we did after coming out of the sewer was change clothes.”
“We still haven’t properly washed.”
Victoria nodded.
Yukgap suddenly stood up and gestured with his chin.
“I actually noticed a decent place while walking around.”
“Follow me.”
Nova and Victoria hesitated briefly, then followed.
They did not exactly have many choices.
Yukgap led them to a shabby guesthouse on the outskirts of the village.
Ivy and moss covered the walls.
The building was old enough to give off a gloomy, almost haunted atmosphere.
The only thing that made its purpose clear was the faded sign on the wall reading:
[Guesthouse]
Victoria looked around uneasily.
“This place?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks like they give you breakfast if you stay the night too.”
They were desperate to save every bit of money they could.
Even if the place looked run-down, having somewhere to sleep and getting a meal included was more than enough.
It was also isolated, which meant fewer chances of being noticed.
“Are you sure this place is actually open?”
“It looks haunted.”
Nova clearly disliked it.
Then a gloomy voice came from somewhere inside the building.
“Welcome...”
A dark-looking man slowly poked his head out.
His voice sounded as though it might fade away at any moment.
Nova screamed.
“Eek! It came out! A ghost!”
“What? Really?”
Victoria also jumped and quickly examined the man.
The man gave them an awkward smile with hollow eyes.
“I’m not a ghost.”
“I’m human.”
“And I’m the owner of this guesthouse.”
Victoria laughed in relief.
“You’re so pale that I thought you were dead!”
“Ahahaha.”
“Business has been terrible, so I’m just depressed.”
“I am still alive.”
Whether it was a joke or self-deprecation was impossible to tell.
Yukgap asked directly,
“You have rooms, right?”
“Yes.”
“How many do you need?”
Yukgap thought for a moment.
He felt bad for Victoria and Nova, but they no longer had much money.
And if Abraxas attacked during the night, he needed to be close enough to respond immediately.
He quickly made up his mind.
