By Zephyria “Did you order?”
“Yeah. They said they’ll bring it out one by one.”
At this point, Sakdal must have Jin Mu-hae’s description circulating. Unlike last time, even if Jin Mu-hae blends into the crowd, they can easily recognize his visit and report it.
Reporting, though, isn’t anything grand, just passing from mouth to mouth to a few people involved.
Ultimately, it should reach the person who ordered it. So, the manager of Sakdal should hear about it.
[Quest]
Main Quest
Tutorial (Completed)
Chapter 1 (Completed)
Chapter 2
☞ Responsible for the Failed Reform (In Progress)
Planned Duty √
DIY 777
Joo-oh sensed that Cheong would appear soon by looking at the quest status. He didn’t know it would be today, but a day or two difference, whatever. It could change.
Joo-oh scanned the system window and swung his legs. Then he kicked Mu-hae’s leg, and Mu-hae, lost in thought, glared at him coldly.
“Does it hurt?”
In the game, Jin Mu-hae was a character who never uttered a word of weakness.
If he said he made a mistake or did wrong, he would definitely be nagged, but if he asked like this, he would just give him a look of disapproval.
“I won’t be sitting here as long as I did last time.”
Yeah, like that. Having watched him for so long, his actions are really easy to predict.
On the other hand, it’s surprising how difficult it is to grasp the real Jin Mu-hae’s inner thoughts.
Why he suddenly gets annoyed, why the same actions are okay sometimes and not okay other times, what he sometimes can’t understand… is it because Joo-oh has lived too far removed from human life?
Or is the real Jin Mu-hae a more complex and capricious character, unlike mere game data?
“Your order is here. Where should I put the liquor?”
“You, you ordered liquor too?”
“Yeah. For Jin Mu-hae.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t know Jin Mu-hae’s drinking preferences. In «La Vida Blue», food and drinks were just consumables for the player’s personal satisfaction; eating something didn’t give you any bonus effects.
Of course, no matter what you bought, there was only a short animation of you munching on it. Joo-oh had repeated the same game countless times and had fed him all the items that could be consumed in the world.
Liquor like beer, soju, and whiskey, from Central’s gukbap to the junk food outside the City. It was something the real Jin Mu-hae would have shuddered at if he knew.
“It’s 13 Deal. But why do they hide this stuff and bring it in?”
“Even the same liquor can have different prices depending on the type.”
“What’s more expensive?”
“Things that are clearly luxury goods. Things brought in from outside the city. And things that Goryeo City has plenty of substitutes for.”
Perhaps feeling better that there was something to sip on amidst the cream and sugar-covered cake, Mu-hae explained quite kindly.
Only after hearing that these items had enormous taxes attached did Joo-oh put down the cake he was eating and open his eyes wide.
‘Ah. That’s why.’
So that’s why all the strangely named liquors you could see in Central later were so expensive.
They charged ten times more than what they sold in Sakdal or the slums, so he thought they were actually ten times tastier.
From the start, liquor didn’t seem like a particularly delicious drink.
‘…Is it not tasty?’
He probably had it in the past. So that’s why these thoughts come to him on their own.
And what Jin Mu-hae is drinking now doesn’t smell very sweet either.
Joo-oh munched on the cake again, trying to understand and remember as much of the economic information of «La Vida Blue» that Jin Mu-hae had mentioned as possible.
As he did, he began to feel a subtle unease.
Someone had started glancing this way. Human gazes leave a strangely noticeable trace, so if he was properly aware, Joo-oh could always pinpoint the location they were coming from.
“Jin Mu-hae. Someone’s watching us now.”
The tail was following them somewhat slower than when they came before. Back then, there wasn’t even a separate reporting system for Jin Mu-hae.
He was a little late in noticing. Jin Mu-hae’s attempt to deliberately blend in during a busy time worked, and even if it hadn’t, he was dressed completely differently than usual.
Thin-rimmed glasses. Hair that looked carefully styled. Added to that, a neat shirt, making him look like an ordinary, unassuming customer who had just come straight here after getting off work from the production zone.
His height and appearance were quite striking, so surveillance was attached even in the midst of that, though.
“Who.”
“Third from the bottom on the left. Looks very unremarkable.”
“Even in this state, if someone’s attached this quickly…”
Looks like someone who’s really got connections was waiting for me. Mu-hae, muttering lowly, picked up his glass and stood up.
Joo-oh, sucking on his straw, followed him closely as he strode towards the table mentioned just before.
Thud, splat.
At the targeted location, Jin Mu-hae staggered as if he had tripped.
The liquor he was drinking spilled on the tail’s clothes, seemingly by accident.
“Oh… I’m sorry. The store is a bit dark.”
“Ah, tsk. It’s okay. Be careful next time.”
Looking at him up close, he really was a man with an unremarkable appearance, as if he had been drawn that way. He frowned slightly and shook off his clothes.
Jin Mu-hae watched him for a moment, then grabbed the man’s shoulders as if to help him shake it off.
Mu-hae, lowering his body slightly, whispered in his ear.
“It’s not okay. That’s a really expensive shirt.”
“……”
“If you’re going to pretend to be out for fun on the weekend, wearing your cherished clothes that you bought with a big heart… isn’t it natural to be a little angry? Be careful next time.”
The hand holding his shoulder was white as a sheet. It looked like Jin Mu-hae was squeezing and tearing at him with all his might.
Only then did the man’s expression change, and he glared back at Mu-hae.
“I want to go to a better place. You can take me there, right?”
If he’s someone within Sakdal’s system, he can guide Jin Mu-hae to a more precarious level of service.
There, the things to see and enjoy, the things to eat and drink, evolve in a stimulating direction.
If they need to look at items related to smuggling, that kind of place would be better than this comfortable cafe.
Jin Mu-hae found the right path! Since the other party recognized him, the probability of being rejected was low.
“Right?”
Joo-oh smiled and echoed Mu-hae’s words.
An intriguing expression emerged from under his pulled-down hood.
‘I don’t do drugs. I also hate disgusting STDs.’
‘Then do you gamble?’
Gambling in Sakdal is surprisingly not a serious area. In the publicly exposed arcades, you can’t lose enough money to push your life into the abyss, even if you only have a sliver of self-control.
The prerequisite is that you can’t win that much either. For those who find that disappointing, Sakdal has darker betting arenas.
Those with bigger guts and less sense gather inside. As is usually the case with gamblers, these customers are insensitive to stimulation and crazy for dopamine, so they can’t be satisfied with simple roulette or slot machines.
Past the card game rooms and tables with a gloomy atmosphere, there is a fighting arena that only those in the know enter.
That was the ‘gambling’ scene that Jin Mu-hae was guided to through the man, a bloody fighting gambling arena.
‘Finally. A five-times cash event.’
Throughout the game, Jin Mu-hae’s financial situation isn’t very generous.
The 200,000 Deal that exists in the setting is divided into pieces and paid out little by little whenever there is a time in the story when a large sum of money is needed.
Money to spend on equipment repairs, consumable purchases, etc.? Of course, the player has to earn it diligently.
But «La Vida Blue» is a game where exposure increases the more you repeat the same side quests and slaughter a large number of Beasts in the field, so to avoid that, the balance in your account is always tight.
“Is Jin Mu-hae betting too?”
Still, there are a few events in the story where you can earn a lot of money. One of them is ‘DIY 777’. A gambling match.
Jin Mu-hae came here to find clues related to smuggling and to catch the eye of a ‘big shot’. He doesn’t know why or what the purpose is for that person to be interested in this side, but the fact that they attached a tail so obviously means they don’t intend to hide it.
Even if he doesn’t go out of his way to choose good options, Jin Mu-hae will find a good path on his own.
Joo-oh stuck close to Mu-hae’s firm arm, listening to the cheers that gradually grew louder from below the stairs.
“Waaaaaah!”
“Break him! Break his head!”
The fighting matches in Sakdal are made up of only bare-handed fights. Dozens of matches are held every day, and if even a single wooden stick is allowed, there will be a long line of corpses to dispose of.
Nevertheless, after a fierce fight, the ring surrounded by barbed wire is covered in bright red blood.
Even as the two of them entered the entrance, a man whose face was so covered in blood that it was difficult to recognize was being dragged out of the ring.
“Money… yeah. I have to bet.”
There will be opportunities for fighting matches for the next three games.
Since the people who come up change every time, the results of each match vary greatly, but that was no problem for Joo-oh, who had memorized all the players in the fighting matches.
‘Above all, the last match is…’
Jin Mu-hae is scheduled to go up himself. Betting 1,000 Deal on himself.
There was no need to worry that he might lose. In Joo-oh’s view, Jin Mu-hae fought well and moved smoothly, like a character being run by a good-win-rate AI.
‘And because I’m here!’
It would break his heart if his face got scratched or bruised. He didn’t want to see Mu-hae get punched in the face, so Joo-oh was going to subtly let him know the opponent’s weaknesses.