It had only been a day since leaving home. The load on his arms felt heavy for the short time spent procuring it.Jin Muhae bought the strip of rare hide the Central cloth shop owner had set aside for him for almost 9,000 dils.It was a crazy price, but the moment he saw the quality he couldn’t hesitate. This wasn’t something money alone could normally buy.And, by luck, he’d just come into exactly about that much money.Seeing the leather’s reddish tint—whatever treatment it had undergone—Jin Muhae grabbed the windfall that had rushed in without delay.“I’m glad I bought so many meat skewers.”“You could buy them near home, why lug them back a few kilometers…?”“They’re different. This is the Seogyeong City version.”“Do whatever.”He handed the remaining money to Juo. If there was anything he wanted, he planned to top it off for him.But he spent every last coin on junk food at the temporary stop outside Seogyeong City.His bag was stuffed full and still he carried sacks on his shoulders, brooding for a long time inside the small vehicle on the way back to Goryeo City.It wasn’t even an hour’s trip. By the time they got off, the contents of the sack were gone and only the bag remained.“What about the sticks?”“I put them in the bag.”He felt oddly uneasy that there were no remnants of the eaten skewers, but it was unlikely Juo had eaten even those, so he let it go.When Muhae and the trailing Juo reached the side gate of Goryeo City, people’s gazes gathered again.This time they were openly staring at Juo. From the bulging bag came a delicious smell—like a golden goblin of meat skewers.“Wow… I heard you struck it rich near Seogyeong City this time?”Someone spoke in a nasty tone. Probably a mercenary from the jackal side.Muhae didn’t turn to them; he tucked Juo in and gave him a little shove. Once they boarded the hover truck he’d pull his cap further down.It was annoying. Even with his face mostly covered, Juo seemed to attract unnecessary attention.“There’ll be leftover leather scraps.”“Really?”“When we get home we’ll make you some shoes out of it.”Glancing down at Juo’s already ragged boots, he opened his mouth ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) in surprise.“The same as Jin Muhae’s?”“If you don’t like it, don’t say anything.”“No! I like it!”For a moment the half-hidden Juo’s face seemed plainly visible—his eyes wide and happy, an expression of not knowing what to do with his joy.“I love it.”“Okay, so wear your mask.”“Aww oah.”“Who told you to shut your mouth? I just said wear a mask.”He probably knew he’d played a major role in getting the hide—enough to deserve half the reward—but still he was giddy at the prospect of a single leftover scrap.For Muhae it was a profitable deal, so there was nothing wrong with it. Still, it left a sticky feeling, like he’d rigged a cam on the clothing and sent someone to do a private trade.“Get on. Let’s go home.”“Okay!”He was so touched even by being told to go home that he clung to Muhae’s arm.From the moment they left the hover truck on Starlight Avenue and went into the shabby house, Juo didn’t let go of his arm.It was irritating, but there was much to think about. Tasks had piled up. Muhae decided not to care whether Juo practically clung to him or not.[Would you like to open the log?]Yes[Day 5,640]I eat the same food as Jin Muhae and live in the same house,and now I wear shoes made from the same leather as Jin Muhae’s trademark red jacket.I succeeded. I think.No one who played this game has become as close to Jin Muhae as I have.Of course. I’m probably the only one who landed here like this!Today I witnessed the glorious moment Jin Muhae upgraded his jacket.It suits him more than the gray clothes he wore when we first met.I wonder if the new boots suit me too. Jin Muhae said, “They fit perfectly.” That’s all he said, so I don’t really know.I told him they looked good, but he was a bit cold about it.Which makes him feel more like the protagonist and cooler.Hmm….Honestly that day was a bit chaotic.I knew that if I stepped in, Jin Muhae wouldn’t get hurt.But I didn’t expect my head to ring like that suddenly. Something inside me swelled up.I thought I shouldn’t, so I swallowed it down with great effort.I’d seen stuff like ▒▒▒.If I’d let it out, I want to ask my malfunctioning More Form mode what would have happened.If revealed—Right. I can’t become that. The one who should be beside Jin Muhae is a human, not an aberrant.The story is approaching a turning point, and it would be bad to fall away from his side.It was so thrilling and exhilarating to suddenly enter the center of Seogyeong City.[Side] I need new clothes (Completed)Normally, Jin Muhae would report the aberrant hunt and stay a night in a shabby lodging at the temporary stop outside Seogyeong City.Then, thanks to a citizen who lost a friend to the Grade 1 stonemason, he’d get a temporary pass and go to the factory area.He’d drop the keyword “we caught a stonemason” to a merchant who recognized him and obtain the red hidden leather.I’ve never experienced entering the Central of Seogyeong City at this point in any playthrough!What’s going on? What was different?Was it because I got the signaler’s parts instead of him?But what you could expect from that was only a change in exposure.I don’t know what happened… .Still, Jin Muhae got the leather in the end and even made me shoes.Now I have weapons and shoes and I’m the only person Jin Muhae touches. —Probably—A signal will come from the clouds soon, and everything needed is proceeding correctly.When we move to chapter two, new allies will appear.To miss nothing, I have to stick closer to Jin Muhae.I want to be with Jin Muhae longer.NomMm!I’ve filled the inventory with super-curious tasting jelly and Seogyeong City’s special meat skewers.I won’t be hungry for a while. Not being hungry, smelling Jin Muhae, and touching Jin Muhae—makes me a being that thinks a little more than usual.I am thinking Juo!So whatever happens, it’ll be fine.As long as Jin Muhae doesn’t disappear, new variables are just fun.Crackle—.[Log saved.]Jin Muhae donned the new jacket and carried out a Company request.This time it was an escort mission. He had to take two of their employees to the crystal zone for an inspection and bring them back—a simple job.It was a stable mining area with almost no variables. The blue energy output was small, but it allowed steady extraction.So even with Juo in tow, he wasn’t particularly tense. Remarkably, Juo hadn’t done anything odd in front of them even once.The escort targets were not slum nobodies, so Muhae told him to take off his cap so he wouldn’t seem standoffish… and yet—“Are the two of them always paired for requests now?”“If they have temporary citizenship… it’s inevitable they’ll be paired. If something happens, the guarantor takes the risk too.”“With the added power, we can probably assign them to higher difficulty requests.”Juo drew excessive attention from them. Muhae thought it was because of Juo’s aura.If he kept his mouth shut and didn’t make a scene, he could pass as some kind of secret weapon.His clothes looked mercenary-made but his face was noble; for a rough job his hands had no scars, not even a callus.At one point he casually lifted a heavy machine the mobility should have transported and moved it with one hand.In short, he seemed to be hiding something impressive. If Muhae felt it, imagine what the Company people thought.But every so often he’d be quietly munching on something, and Muhae peeked to see it was the meat skewers he’d bought in Seogyeong City.He hadn’t known they were still left, and he wondered where Juo had stored them and why he was eating them here.When the Company folks tried to offer some, Muhae grabbed Juo’s wrist at lightning speed and stopped him.‘That kind is only for you.’It was a scolding—like saying that such food was for brats like him, not for Company employees.Juo took it in some way as a compliment and smiled radiantly. The smile made Muhae’s stomach flutter.Another week flowed away like water.Every day Jin Muhae fed Juo the food he inhaled, checked his father’s records, and forced himself to understand unfamiliar formulas and explanations.The funny thing was it wasn’t an impossible task. Muhae had been a mercenary since he was big-headed, so he wasn’t completely untutored.Codes the teacher Jeong or his father made him memorize as a child, and trivial trivia were in fact thoroughly refined “knowledge.”They really had marked Muhae early as the next move in a frustrated plan.The more he analyzed the return records, the more Muhae felt that fact keenly.Beep—beep—ping—!One evening. A signal tone he’d never heard from the wrist console where he was eating sounded.Muhae instinctively realized this was a return-related signal.Even Juo seemed to feel the same. He stopped eating his meat sandwich and frozen veggies and looked at Muhae.Beep—beep—ping—![Incoming while waiting: 1][Connect/Cancel]A sudden contact arrived via the signaler. A familiar serial number filled Muhae’s eyes.It was ‘Cloud.’ The emergency contact who had been repeatedly trying to connect over the last few weeks and a participant in past returns.He had finally answered the call.

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