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#063. The Old Man and the Rock Deer (1)
“Uh, that….”
“uh…!”
The situation was so dire that everyone completely forgot about the existence of the baby rock deer.
─Crook?
The guy tilted his head, as if he was aware of the attention currently focused on him.
When Veronica let him down from her arms, he didn’t go anywhere but stayed right next to the group’s legs.
Philip said.
“You have absolutely no sense of caution toward people?”
“Shouldn’t we send them back to the herd? There might be another family there.”
Veronica, bending her knees, stroked the baby rock deer’s head.
The bowl still had feelings of guilt and regret.
It seemed that he felt that he was somewhat responsible for the deaths of the Rock Deers.
Philip muttered in agreement.
“If I leave it like this, I feel like I’ll die… But I don’t think the pack will come looking for me. I might get eaten by a predator before that happens.”
“Yeah. If we leave it like this, Fran will definitely die.”
“Fran? That’s a boy’s name. How do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“He follows me well. He must be a boy.”
“… … .”
The two looked at Ray’s expression.
Ray, the final decision maker in the group, opened his mouth.
“The story I heard earlier. What do you think?”
“Huh? Ah!”
“…oh.”
The two immediately understood the intent of the question.
“I said a blue-skinned rock deer earlier! Fran is blue too!”
“If it’s a jewel, it could be related to a rainbow. The body turning into water could also be considered magic.”
The two men added in turn.
“But our Fran doesn’t have a jewel on her forehead. Her skin is also a bit too light to be considered completely blue.”
“That’s right. And the story itself hasn’t been verified. It could just be a made-up story.”
Objectively speaking, the story of a rock deer walking in the sky was hard to believe.
A ridiculous story that Grandma Viola would tell her children.
I knew it in my head too.
A clue to the rainbow, that the world doesn’t work so benevolently that what you want falls right before your eyes so easily.
“When I was up on the roof of the car earlier, I saw a rock deer that seemed to be the guy’s mother. It had dark blue skin.”
Also, most things that seemed like fate were actually just a terrible coincidence.
It must be a simple mutation.
But why is that?
The boy couldn’t figure out why he kept getting entangled in the story.
I turned my gaze.
I looked in the direction where the hunters’ vehicles and the herd of rock deer had disappeared.
‘It was said that the great migration of rock deers was taking place in the direction of approaching Sector 48.’
That’s what the mercenary captain said.
There is a place that I guess is the guys’ final destination.
“Once they reach their destination, they will be scattered all over the mountainous region, making hunting difficult. That’s why I intentionally drove them in the opposite direction to extend the hunting period.”
In that case, the Rock Deer herd will gradually get closer to Sector 48.
Mercenaries won’t be out hunting all day.
‘First, I need to meet the person who is the client.’
If the story turns out to be true, you will be back out in the wilderness and approaching a herd of rock deer.
To find the blue-skinned rock deer.
So to make sure that the guy isn’t the rockdeer in the story.
‘A baby rock deer might help us find a herd of rock deer.’
It’s only a possibility, but it can’t hurt to be fully prepared.
“Let’s take them. I think it would be better if we found the group ourselves.”
At Ray’s words, Philip and Veronica’s faces brightened.
*
The next morning.
The group got out of the car upon reaching their destination and walked inside the sector.
“There really were other sectors.”
“Yeah. The place we lived wasn’t everything.”
The existence of another sector, encountered for the first time in their lives, was quite a shock to Philip and Veronica.
Even if you knew it in your head, experiencing it firsthand was a whole other level.
But the size of the sector was larger, and the gloomy atmosphere it held was no different from before.
It feels like I’ve arrived back where I used to live.
The two men, whose excitement quickly faded, turned their minds back to how to pursue their goal.
Philip said.
——————
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“I think the direction to 22nd Street is this way. There’s a sign over there.”
The first priority destination is Hotel Gallot.
“Located on 22nd Street, the heart of the sector. It is a luxury hotel targeting out-of-towners.”
I already knew its location and appearance through Skyle.
I was planning to meet the client, talk to him first, and then find a place to stay nearby to begin my activities in Sector 48.
How long did it take to walk like that?
“You guys, can we see each other for a second?”
A group of people picked on me.
Boys with relatively large physiques compared to their peers, with clothes that are not very clean, but whose eyes shine fiercely.
“I’ve never seen your face before. Where are you guys from?”
“Who gave us permission to come into our area? Huh?”
The three unfamiliar faces were enough to attract the attention of local vagrants who had made their home on the streets.
A situation that Ray had hinted at in advance.
That’s why Philip and Veronica weren’t embarrassed.
‘You have to touch the people who are meant to be touched.’
‘Hit gently, Raya.’
I can only express my deepest condolences in my heart.
When the group followed him into the alley, it was the vagrant who was more confused.
What are these guys that they follow me so confidently?
and.
Bam! Bam! Kkaaaak! Sa, save me!
In the alley, various sounds of falling, breaking, and bumping could be heard.
In less than a minute, the group of vagrants were kneeling before Ray.
He was bleeding profusely, his eyes were swollen, and his hands were clasped in his lap in a very polite manner.
“Tell me. The name of the leader of your gang.”
At Ray’s words, the vagabonds looked at each other and glanced at each other.
He seemed to be hesitating, but as soon as Ray took a step closer, he screamed in fright.
“Hey, it’s Leonard! Leonard!”
“Height, height is 176cm! Mom, weight is 86kg!”
“The food I hate is cheese! I have a mole on my butt! I recently confessed to Ellis at the grocery store for the 6th time and got rejected!”
… No, I didn’t ask about that.
Anyway, Ray continued talking.
“Tell the captain to come to the front of the Gallot Hotel on 22nd Street. I have something for him to do.”
The task involved going around the sector and gathering information.
Of course, he would conduct the investigation himself, but he thought that there would be a limit to the amount of information that could be gathered by just himself, Philip, and Veronica.
This time the vagabonds stared at each other blankly.
Ray took the money bag from Philip and took out a handful of coins.
Knock knock. Knock knock.
The homeless people’s eyes widened.
The golden desire wavered in the bowl.
For them, it was a high-value coin that was difficult to even see on a regular basis.
“Bring the captain to the front of the Gallot Hotel on 22nd Street. Do you understand?”
The vagabonds nodded their heads madly.
At Ray’s gesture to go, he got up from his seat and hurried out of the alley.
Ray looked at their backs with dry eyes.
The guy called the captain will definitely show up.
With very high probability.
To steal money.
It’s very difficult not to be greedy when you see money.
The movement continued.
Every time he crossed three streets, he was harassed by another group, and Ray repeated the same task.
There are currently a total of five gangs that have received Ray’s call.
“I wish they would stop showing up now.”
Ray muttered as he watched another group of boys approaching him.
As the sector was large, the number of groups occupying it by dividing it into sections was also large.
The performance using bones and skin as instruments echoed through the alley once again.
After the number of called men had increased to six, Philip, who had been deep in thought, made a suggestion.
“How about trying on a different outfit?”
It was a fact that I suddenly realized.
In Sector 49, entry and exit were relatively free, as only people you knew were allowed in.
But here, they are complete strangers.
The only way for the other party to judge your identity was through your appearance, such as your clothing.
It was something I had never thought about, as I had never left sector 49 in my entire life.
“Would you like to try changing clothes?”
“I think if you just wear fancy clothes, there won’t be as many people attacking you. They’ll think you’re from a lower-numbered sector.”
All three were dressed in ordinary, everyday clothes.
However, it boasted a high level of clumsiness as it could not be changed while crossing the sector.
In fact, Ray was familiar with it.
Clothes were only meant to protect the skin and keep you warm, so unless they were very durable, there was no reason to change them.
That was the law that applied to all the street children.
The clothes I’m wearing now are the ones Veronica prepared for me when I took my first shower at the bookstore. I’ve been wearing them ever since, washing and sewing them.
“… Do you wear the same clothes every day?”
“… … ? Do you change your clothes every day?”
There were several attempts by Veronica to diversify Ray’s wardrobe.
Like shoving them into the shower and leaving another set of new clothes at the door.
Preaching about the joy of dressing differently every day.
However, each attempt ended in failure, and it was concluded that it was impossible to dress Ray in new clothes without tearing or burning them into rags.
Philip added.
“Come to think of it, we said that the place we’re going to now is a luxury hotel. I think it would be better to find a place to stay first and then wash up and go. Then we can buy some clothes and change.”
Ray was lost in thought for a moment.
Ray was the type who would never do anything, no matter how trivial, unless he could convince himself of the reason for doing it.
‘In sector 50, everyone lived wearing clothes like this.’
Whether you are a shop owner.
Whether they are members of a gang.
Whether they are miners or orphans on the streets.
In terms of clothing, they were all similar, faded and worn, with no significant differences.
Even if you wear new clothes or clean clothes, people’s treatment of you doesn’t change much.
We just stand before each other fairly.
Also, Ray had never seen such fancy clothing before.
This was because the radius of activity in Sector 50 was extremely narrow, so only a limited number of people were seen each day.
So, I couldn’t help but have doubts.
Would it really be effective to change the way you dress? Wouldn’t it be a waste of money?
“I think it would be a good idea to buy something like a formal dress or a suit. I don’t think this will be the last time I’ll be visiting places like this while traveling.”
Veronica nodded vigorously at Philip’s words.
The moment the word clothes came out, emotions of excitement and thrill rose in my mind.
“Okay, let’s do that.”
After much thought, Ray agreed.
Anyway, all the advice Philip had given so far had actually worked.
After finding a place to stay and unpacking, the group took a shower and headed out.
And on the way back, we stopped into a high-end clothing store that Philip had seen.
Daughter─
“Welcome─.”
The employee who was trying to greet the guest with a cheerful voice frowned.
‘What the heck? Are these just some neighborhood kids who came in to watch without knowing anything?’
It was the same with hotels.
It was a clothing store that targeted wealthy people visiting from out of town on business trips or vacations rather than local residents.
The wealthy tend to be ostentatious in their clothing and gait.
The three who just came in were outstandingly handsome, but their clothing was extremely ordinary.
‘I really don’t know the topic.’
I felt uncomfortable.
He was a clerk who was born in Sector 48 and had never left the area, but he thought that his status had risen as he dealt with the wealthy class of outsiders.
He was different.
With local residents who earn their living day by day.
“Guys. Here, you guys are together… .”
The moment the clerk opened his mouth, his voice clearly showing his displeasure.
Slurp slurp──
Ray emptied his pockets on the counter.
High-value coins flowed out and glittered on the body.
A clerk who can’t close his mouth.
Ray’s flat voice rang in his ears.
“I just wanted to look at some clothes.”
The clerk, who had been blankly staring for a while, quickly shut his mouth and shouted.
“I will serve you!”