Then my gaze turned to the table. The razor Gilbert had been scammed with was left there alone.
“What, he left it behind?”
I don’t even grow a beard, but I scratched my head for no reason and put the razor in my pocket.
Soon the sun set slowly, and the round moon rose brightly above the inn’s roof. In the silence without a single customer, I did the cleanup as usual. Sweeping and wiping as I wandered around the empty hall, my steps suddenly stopped.
My gaze turned to Happy, tied to the pillar.
I set down a bowl of gukbap in front of him and crouched down to watch him eat. Chomp chomp chomp. The eating sounds echoed unusually loud. His red eyes occasionally glanced at me, and when the bowl was nearly empty, I slowly reached out my hand.
Click. Along with the sound of the chain being released, the sealing tool came off his neck. Happy, who had been grooming his fur, just stared at me intently.
I raised both hands and muttered.
“You can’t come anymore, okay?”
The reason for sending Happy away was simple.
Because tomorrow was the day Jeffrey comes.
Having decided to terminate the deal with him, I couldn’t keep Happy, who bore traces of him, here.
Happy, who had been staring straight at me in the darkness, didn’t move for a moment. His red eyes gazed at me quietly, then he suddenly turned and disappeared as if melting into the shadows.
Only silence lingered in the space left behind.
I stared blankly at the empty air, feeling an inexplicable emptiness.
…Should I say it’s regretful? Or should I say it’s finally settled?
Anyway, before the emotions could even fade, the night slowly deepened.
And the next day.
As usual, Jeffrey opened the door and entered early. A familiar smile rested on his lips, but his expression was rigid.
Is it because my expression looks bad?
Or maybe he saw the 2 Gold placed on the table. No, more likely he noticed Happy’s disappearance before that.
As the silence stretched long, my heart tightened for no reason, so I spoke first.
“Good morning.”
Jeffrey looked at me for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“It’s an unusually quiet morning today.”
So it was the latter?
If it’s the smart Jeffrey, he probably already guessed that I sent Happy away. And the intention behind it too.
I hesitated for a moment, fidgeting with my fingertips. The two gold coins on the table felt unusually heavy. Finally, I steadied my breathing and carefully picked them up and set them down in front of Jeffrey.
“I’ll be returning this.”
His violet eyes pierced through me intently. I forced a smile and continued speaking.
“I couldn’t tell you properly before… but leaving aside this world or my amnesia, as you can see, I’m someone completely ignorant about this place. And I never properly thanked you for the help I received. Ah, though it’s late, thank you once again for that.”
“…”
There was no wavering in Jeffrey’s gaze as he looked at me. Feeling awkward, I smiled and bowed my head as I added more words.
“But no matter how I think about it, receiving such a large sum of money in exchange for my body doesn’t seem right.”
A brief, uncomfortable silence flowed. I forced an awkward laugh and tried to read the situation, but Jeffrey didn’t even move.
How long did the silence continue? Finally, a long sigh flowed from between his lips.
“You’re impossible to read.”
“Hahaha…”
“It seems my kindness was unnecessary.”
Looking at me laughing awkwardly, his violet eyes rippled gently. As if smiling, as if sneering. That subtle temperature difference made me shrink even more.
“…I’m sorry.”
Silence stretched long once more.
Jeffrey silently tapped the table—tap, tap, tap—in a steady rhythm. That monotonous sound strangely scraped at my heart, and my heart also beat—thump, thump, thump—anxiously in time.
Then with a final tap, silence descended.
I unknowingly held my breath, but contrary to my expectations, a gentle smile spread across his lips.
“The human heart is truly unknowable. However, I have always believed that money is the most reliable driving force. Material things have always been what most strongly stimulates human desire.”
I stiffened my lips briefly at those words.
It was something I deeply related to. Aren’t I also a terrible penny-pincher, practically the embodiment of materialism? Money—the more the better, and the less you have, the more anxious you become.
“I thought you wouldn’t be much different… Ah, excuse me. When you get older, fixed ideas tend to harden.”
So saying something like that with that appearance has no credibility.
I scratched my cheek for no reason and mumbled.
“I probably wouldn’t be much different either.”
“Then why are you refusing?”
I can’t exactly say that what you’re doing seems like an old man hitting on a young woman.
So I tried to put it indirectly.
“Uh, well. Haha… I’ve saved money before, but never spent it. Maybe large sums of money don’t feel real to me?”
It was something I said casually. But I unknowingly hesitated.
Because I suddenly recalled the days when I desperately saved money but never actually spent it properly.
…Come to think of it, that might have been my true feelings I’d held for quite a long time.
“…Or maybe it’s a kind of conviction. Like, only money earned by the sweat of your brow is real money.”
“A conviction.”
Jeffrey muttered as if sneering. His violet eyes narrowed halfway, and a strange cynicism appeared within them.
Well, it’s not exactly the wrong reaction.
The ‘conviction’ nonsense I just spouted was just me forcibly recalling and parroting what Gilbert said yesterday.
Isn’t this world ultimately no different from the world I lived in?
Knights stab their masters to death for a few coins, and even parents abandon their children for a few pennies. So I already know all too well how futile the convictions I speak of are.
Besides, my dream, whether there or here, is striking it rich. It’s my unchanged goal.
Jeffrey shook his head and let out a low laugh as if amused. That laugh had both weight and lightness mixed in, making his true intentions completely unreadable.
“I understand. Your intentions are clear. I understand.”
Finally, it’s over, I thought with relief. I expected Jeffrey to leave like that, but instead he didn’t get up and continued speaking.
“Then, what if I come purely out of goodwill?”
“Is there such a thing as goodwill without compensation in this world?”
“As I mentioned before, I want to receive goodwill from you. So if my goodwill returns as your goodwill, wouldn’t that alone be sufficient compensation?”
But why, why exactly me? I wanted to ask.
But again, he’d probably just go on about ‘preferences’ or ‘you impressed me’—insincere words.
In the end, I cut him off firmly.
“I have no intention of showing goodwill to someone I don’t even know well.”
Jeffrey’s violet eyes swept over me piercingly. I also pretended to be calm as I met his gaze. But inside, my heart was beating like crazy.
Of course—he’s the Grand Mage, the protagonist of the original work, and I’m just an inn owner serving gukbap.
If this person sets his mind to it?
Whether it’s a contract or whatever, even if he forcibly pushes it through, I’d be in a position where I could only say “Yes” and stamp my seal. In the first place, sitting here with my back straight in front of the Grand Mage itself is unrealistic.
Before long, Jeffrey slowly opened his mouth.
“If you don’t know, you can come to know, can’t you?”
“…What?”
“Instead of meeting once a week like before, how about we simply share each other’s stories this time? If we meet frequently, won’t we become the kind of relationship where we can grant each other small favors?”
At those words, the back of my neck felt cold.
Small favors? Will those favors eventually include touching my body again?
My lips moved, but my throat seemed blocked—no words came out.
At that moment, Gilbert’s words suddenly came to mind.
‘Sion, receiving large sums of money… it’s not simply about exchanging money. Even if it’s just a single coin, it ultimately becomes a contract. Even if you’re not conscious of it, the moment you receive that money, you’ve already stepped one foot in.’
Contract.
The moment I received that Gold last time, had I already stepped one foot in?
…I shouldn’t have accepted it in the first place.
With brief regret, I glared at the Gold on the table for no reason, then turned my thoughts inward.
Perhaps even this current situation is an extension of another contract wearing the name of his favor.
Rather, if I can’t avoid it. If this relationship has already begun, if the connection with him won’t be completely severed.
Then it’s better if I’m the one who sets the conditions.
“…Then, how about making it a document?”
At least this time, I wanted to be the one drawing the line rather than being dragged along like someone ignorant of the ways of the world.
Jeffrey narrowed his eyes. His violet gaze slowly swept over me, as if trying to see through what thoughts led me to say such a thing.
“A document?”
“Rather, like a contract, clearly defining the limits of favors, time, compensation, and even my right to refuse.”
“A contract…”
After a few seconds of silence, the corners of Jeffrey’s mouth slowly curved up.
It was a strangely satisfied face.
As if he’d been waiting for me to walk into this trap myself, with a leisurely and ominous smile.
“Very well. Then let’s make a formal contract.”
