Because knowledge he’d never had occasion to recall before naturally seeped out as if it were his own.
“Yeah? Who introduced you here?”
“Walter.”
Chris gave the name of the addict he’d discovered at the re-education center. At the unhesitating answer, the man narrowed his eyes but stepped aside.
Going inside, he heard giggling laughter mixed together here and there. Some people were squirming as if they were half-mollusk before collapsing on the floor. But no one lifted them up or supported them.
He saw someone punch another’s face for no reason and get hit back. They began to fight, entangled with each other. He could see emotions overflowing because they couldn’t control them. Those nearby, rather than stopping it, grinned and cheered, shouting they’d place bets.
It was a complete pandemonium.
The further inside he went, the more lethargic and quiet people became. Chris discovered two people with solid builds standing guard in front of an iron door, just like when he entered this alley.
Instead of stopping or testing Chris, they stepped aside and opened the door. Stepping inside without hesitation, what caught his eyes was a space like a kind of laboratory.
Though there were no researchers in white coats, beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks filled with murky liquid were scattered about messily. In one corner, he could see drums stacked that looked similar to the ones he’d used when disguising his illegal entry.
And in the center of the laboratory, there was a heap of Guiding Delight that looked like jelly coated with sugar powder. Looking at just the Guiding Delight in giant plastic bags waiting for customers, it felt like being in a candy store.
Somehow fairy-tale-like, a feeling disconnected from all these surrounding circumstances.
As Chris’s gaze was drawn in that direction as if enchanted, a man walked out.
“Since it’s your first time, just pay five hundred Credits.”
“That’s a rip-off.”
Chris answered dryly without even a moment’s pause. He didn’t know the exact price range of Guiding Delight, but there was no way the cheapest drug could approach the price of one antique book he could buy at Magnolia Bookshop.
“It’s your first time. Since there’s insufficient trust, I have to get at least this much.”
The man vulgarly made a money gesture with his hand as he answered. The greed emanating from his smirking lips was black like sticky tar.
Chris swallowed a sigh and took out five tokens from his coat and tossed them.
“They’re anonymous tokens. There’s money in them, so you can go to any branch of any bank in Aurum City and transfer the Credits to your terminal.”
“What? Were you some rich kid scholar?”
The man asked, strangely contorting his face. He kicked the bag containing Guiding Delight a few times, then grinned widely showing his yellow teeth.
“Should’ve said so earlier. If you spend one more, I could give you something better.”
“Something better?”
The man rummaged through a drawer and brought out a small locked box with a number lock. Chris tried to take it, but the man held out his hand.
“You keep showing you’re a first-timer. Money first.”
“And you’re quite blatant about trying to fleece people.”
Chris chuckled and took out five more tokens from his coat. Chris, who placed three of them in the man’s hand, added threateningly.
“I’ll hand over the rest when you give me the goods. Even if you’re a naive customer, a customer is a customer… so treat me properly.”
For a moment, Chris’s glistening eyes seemed to flash coldly gold like a beast’s. The man, who missed the timing to sneer at that indescribable sense of pressure, swallowed empty air.
“Alright. Alright. I’ll give it.”
Finally, the small box in his hand entered Chris’s possession. There was no way to know right now what was in the box that was surprisingly light.
“The combination?”
“5-8-4-4.”
Chris nodded and turned toward the door.
“Wait. You have to take this too.”
The man handed Chris a slip of paper.
“Buy the kid waiting outside some candy or something. Well then.”
The man, who winked slightly, pushed Chris out the door as if escorting him. The roughly shoved hand, as if stealing something, dropped a few Guiding Delights wrapped in candy wrappers into Chris’s pocket.
As if giving him a service bonus.
The iron door closed before his eyes, and Chris had been pushed out of the space that looked like a laboratory.
The huge men standing on both sides of the door kept their positions without even glancing at Chris. However, Chris knew well that the moment he tried to enter there again, he’d be blocked.
He turned around without hesitation. Though he’d given quite a large sum of money to the drug dealer, there wasn’t a hint of hesitation in his steps as he left the alley.
Though called anonymous tokens, they actually have serial numbers assigned. They were items provided by Northern Light, and Credits received through them could all be tracked. Those bastards would think Chris gave them money without name tags, but in fact, that money itself was a trap to chase them.
Since he was on a mission, he wouldn’t track them and freeze their accounts right away, but later when he withdrew from the November Continent, headquarters would move.
Chris passed by the addicts. He didn’t even try to remember a few faces. All of this smelled of deception, as if it were a huge drama set.
‘It’s all a decoy.’
The addicts didn’t smell of Guiding Delight. At first he was skeptical, but from the moment he entered beyond that iron door and observed the interior, Chris was certain all of this was a decoy.
Though they were creating an atmosphere like putting in dry ice or something to produce rising smoke, dust was piled high around the beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks. Considering only a few handprints were visible in the dim light, human hands had touched them only when setting them up as plausible background props.
Did they make this laboratory-like production for marketing that you’re buying proper drugs? Or was it…
‘To avoid crackdowns? Or when the sable goes out hunting, to cut off just the tail and escape?’
Questions led to more questions.
When he arrived at the alley where the gatekeeper stood, the boy was waiting in front of him.
The boy who had confirmed to the gatekeeper earlier that Chris hadn’t wandered around but came straight to the alley where the drug dealer was.
‘The kid waiting outside’ must be this child.
The child, who had been chewing gum with all the flavor gone, walked ahead the moment he made eye contact with Chris. Though there were no words to follow, Chris naturally chased after him.
The boy guided him out of the alley and got straight to the point in his explanation.
“This month, find the shoeshine John at the ticket gate in front of the tram station.”
“This month?”
“Next month it’ll change. To newspaper delivery boy Tom or something.”
The boy replied as if it were nothing. Chris had a hunch that if he made another visit, the boy would be his guide. It seemed this drug dealer’s location wasn’t fixed.
Police might be one thing, but to avoid Yuri Sobolev’s eyes, it was inevitable.
“Don’t lose that slip of paper. It’s your marker.”
The boy, who had been glancing back to check if Chris was following well, added.
“If I lose it?”
“I can’t guide you.”
The boy answered, wrinkling his nose slightly. His shoulders seemed to shrink a bit, as if recalling some past pain.
It seemed he’d once had a rough time after guiding someone who’d lost their slip. One side was an addict desperate for drugs, the other was someone selling drugs secretly from the mafia and police, so the boy caught in between was just getting crushed from both sides.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel sorry for him. Chris changed the subject.
“How should I give the ‘candy’?”
“It’s like a guide fee. Those, pink jellies.”
He was talking about Guiding Delight. But Chris knew what he’d received this time wasn’t Guiding Delight.
“If I don’t have it?”
“Can’t be helped.”
The boy, whether John or Tom, replied indifferently.
“I didn’t know you’d eat it.”
“I don’t eat it.”
Before turning the corner of the alley, the boy who had stretched his neck long as if keeping watch before returning to position said.
“If I have even one on hand, there’s less chance of getting grabbed by the collar while guiding. So when there’s a generous customer, I receive it sometimes.”
His tone was quite bitter.
“But then people will start targeting you for the candy.”
“Then it’s an unlucky day. Whatever.”
Chris felt his heart sink coldly. Perhaps sensing something from his silence, the boy said.
“Still, it’s better to have even that. People who get angry because I don’t guide them all the way to the lab are all rough and won’t listen to reason. At least if I throw them candy, they don’t hit me. If I get beaten too much and have to rest even one day, it’s hard to even put food in my mouth…”
He seemed to be watching Chris’s reaction, worried he might not give him the drug out of concern for his danger.
