Sinuiju Free Market (5)

Hyeonseong summoned Nemesis again. From among the footage where only one remained, she instructed it to bring as much footage as possible showing the movements of the two people who had exchanged the note.

‘I still need to check the rest, too.’

Thinking that, Hyeonseong glanced sideways at Hyeonyeong and Haesu. Hyeonyeong looked like she had nothing much on her mind, but Haesu was strangely fidgety.

“Why are you like that?”

Hyeonseong asked Haesu.

“Ah, well…… I just thought it might be a little weird if we just kept standing here…….”

Haesu flinched, then answered haltingly. It seemed like he was overly tense over something that was not that big a deal, but Hyeonseong soon understood Haesu’s reaction.

‘He’d been acting like that ever since he heard about the Heukwol Auction House.’

But aside from that, it did seem necessary to move again for now. There was one more suspicious shop right in front of them, so they could look around there while checking the footage.

“But what were you looking at since earlier? The Network?”

Haesu asked as soon as they started walking again.

“Well, basically.”

“Is there really that much worth looking at there? Things like messages only take a moment to check, and there’d be no reason to look at some kind of guidebook now…….”

“There was some material I needed to look at. More importantly, are you sure there really aren’t any rumors or anything about that place over there?”

Hyeonseong asked, pointing at the sign of their destination.

“There’s nothing I know. If it really is a suspicious place, then rumors would probably spread among bigger players than a guy like me.”

Haesu answered in a small voice.

‘It definitely just looks like an ordinary clothing store with nothing unusual at first glance.’

Neither Hyeonseong nor Hyeonyeong’s energy sense detected anything suspicious. If the camera security level inside the store had not been strangely high, it was a place that would have aroused no suspicion at all.

‘This place might also just have an overly sensitive owner like that place on the first floor, but…….’

Hyeonseong glanced to one side of the empty air. The footage Nemesis had brought in response to the new order was piling up.

Among that footage, Hyeonseong was able to find footage filmed in front of the clothing store currently before her eyes.

The moment she saw that footage, Hyeonseong pulled it in front of her and played it.

‘The person who got the note stopped by here once before receiving it.’

And they had not simply passed by. They had gone into the store, stayed there a while, and then come back out.

‘Whether they stopped by because they were really just browsing or because there was actually something in that store, I still can’t tell yet, but…….’

Hyeonseong arranged the footage featuring the person who received the note in chronological order. Then she found one more notable point.

‘This person didn’t stop anywhere except that store and the convenience store where they got the note.’

She could tell after playing everything together at high speed. The rest of the footage only showed them passing through passageways like corridors and staircases.

‘Then the picture that comes out when the footage is put together is…… after receiving some kind of instructions at that store, they went to the convenience store and waited for contact.’

Of course, stopping by the clothing store and receiving the note at the convenience store could have been unrelated incidents. They might really have had something to look for in the store and stopped by during spare time, then gone to the convenience store later to match the appointment time.

‘And coming out empty-handed is no problem either if they didn’t find what they wanted, or if it was an item and they put it into an extra slot.’

That was when Hyeonseong continued her speculation. Just then, a customer entered the clothing store.

The customer who went into the store headed straight for the counter. And right after that, Hyeonyeong narrowed her brow as if something bothered her.

“Is there something?”

Hyeonseong asked, sensing Hyeonyeong’s subtle reaction.

“The mana flow was a little strange just now.”

“Where?”

“Over there.”

Hyeonyeong’s fingertip pointed at the counter inside the clothing store.

“What exactly do you mean by strange…….”

“Wait.”

Just as Hyeonseong was about to ask something, Hyeonyeong cut her off. It seemed she was trying to focus on what was happening inside the store. Hyeonseong nodded and fell silent.

Not long after, the customer who had been talking with the manager at the counter came back out. There was nothing in their hands.

“……It’s over.”

At that point, Hyeonyeong spoke again.

“So what was it?”

“It seemed like a concealment or disguise-type skill. What I heard while staying still and what I heard while concentrating were different conversations.”

“That’s really blatantly suspicious.”

Hyeonseong turned her gaze in the direction the person who had just left the store was heading.

‘Looks like it found all the footage I asked for a little while ago too. Then…….’

The collection of footage related to the two people who had shown suspicious behavior at the convenience store was complete. Hyeonseong asked Nemesis to track footage again. This time, the target was naturally the person who had just come out of the store.

“How exactly was it different? The conversation, I mean.”

Hyeonseong continued asking Hyeonyeong.

“The disguised content was asking whether the store had attribute-resistance clothing. But the real one was…….”

“The real one?”

“It was saying something like a sudden greeting asking how someone had been. Something about the moon, I think…….”

“Really suspicious.”

At the word moon from Hyeonyeong’s lips, Hyeonseong thought of the auction house’s name.

‘It was called Heukwol.’

She could not tell whether using the moon in the name so literally should be called simplistic, or whether it should be called nice because it was easy to remember.

‘And to begin with, what kind of name is that for an auction house……. I swear, why do all these black-market, underworld types love names like that?’

“What should we do? Go in and check?”

“No. Wait.”

Hyeonseong checked the new footage Nemesis had brought.

The customer who had just come out of the store had already gone down to the second floor. Since they were not coming out of the stairwell, it looked like they were heading all the way to the first floor.

“Let’s go down too.”

There was nothing they could learn by going into the store anyway. Hyeonyeong had not heard everything the customer and the manager had exchanged either.

Since they were in no position to reproduce the exact conversation and use it to probe, it was right to change direction at this point.

Hyeonseong’s group quickly went down to the lower floor. On the way down, Hyeonseong checked the footage. The customer in question was going into one of the cafés on the first floor.

‘Does the second contact location change every time?’

Hyeonseong glanced at the convenience store interior footage she had not yet deleted.

‘I wonder where that person went.’

Judging from the movements before and after she had looked at earlier, their last recorded movement was leaving the shopping complex. What they did after that could not be known at this point.

‘Now that I know the time they left, I could probably find out by checking cameras around the shopping complex for that time slot, but…….’

Hyeonseong thought that tracking that far would be a waste.

‘Let’s focus on this side for now.’

Soon, Hyeonseong’s group stepped onto the first floor. Hyeonseong turned first toward the café that was their destination.

“There.”

“That was the person, right?”

As soon as they arrived in front of the café, Hyeonyeong pointed at someone sitting in a corner. It was indeed the person who had come out of the clothing store earlier.

“That’s right.”

“Huh, someone’s approaching them.”

“Watch carefully. See if they exchange anything or say anything strange.”

At Hyeonseong’s words, Hyeonyeong nodded and focused on the movements of the two people. Hyeonseong took out her smartphone and started filming the two with the camera.

They were too far away to know the exact content of the conversation, but in any case, the two started talking. From a distance, it just looked like two acquaintances having an ordinary conversation.

That was when they had exchanged a few words. The unfamiliar person sitting across from the clothing-store customer suddenly jolted in surprise and stood up. They had accidentally spilled their own cup.

The person who spilled the cup ran to the counter and brought back a fistful of paper napkins. They started wiping the drink that had spilled onto the table with the napkins.

As they wiped the table, that person also held out a napkin to the clothing-store customer sitting opposite them. It was presumably meant as a gesture telling them to wipe it off if any had splashed on their clothes or belongings.

Up to this point, it was definitely not a very strange sight. The strange thing came after that.

‘Huh? That person…… is putting the napkin into their pocket?’

At the clothing-store customer’s action, Hyeonseong frowned slightly. If they were not going to use the napkin, they could simply have declined it or just set it on the table. But instead, they deliberately accepted the napkin and put it into their pocket.

‘If they were the sort to casually pocket things like that, they’d usually have taken some from the counter in the first place…….’

Meanwhile, the person who had spilled the drink finished wiping things up roughly. Immediately after that, the clothing-store customer gathered their things and stood up. The customer gave a light greeting to the contact and then came out of the café.

‘Do we need to split up and track them?’

Putting away her smartphone, Hyeonseong thought it over. It was a situation where it would be regrettable to focus on only one person and let the other side go.

‘Actually chasing them down and getting into a scuffle isn’t my specialty.’

Hyeonseong asked Hyeonyeong to chase after the clothing-store customer and catch them. Hyeonyeong immediately went after the customer’s back.

In the meantime, the person who had handed over the napkin was also gathering their things. After packing up, that person looked around the area, then soon picked up the tray containing their belongings and empty cup as if nothing had happened.

That person calmly returned the tray and came out of the café. Aiming for that moment, Hyeonseong slung an arm around their shoulders.

“Haha, long time no see. Fancy meeting you in a place like this.”

“W-Who are you?”

At Hyeonseong’s greeting, the other party asked in alarm. From that reaction, Hyeonseong grasped that the other person was either an ordinary civilian or a low-rank Awakened.

‘If they were strong, they’d either have dodged from the start, or at least acted more boldly than this.’

Hyeonseong subtly put strength into the arm draped over their shoulder.

“We’re very interested in the conversation you were having with your friend earlier.”

“Tch……!”

At Hyeonseong’s words, the person who had handed over the napkin clicked their tongue and tried to run away. But Hyeonseong was already gripping their shoulder. The escape failed.

‘Even rating them generously, this person’s physical stats are D-rank or lower.’

While Hyeonseong was holding them like that, Hyeonyeong came back. Naturally, she had brought along the clothing-store customer who had left earlier.

“You got back fast?”

“You told me to hurry over. But where are we going now?”

“Good question. Somewhere quiet enough to talk would be nice.”

Hyeonseong glanced at Haesu.

“Uh…… it seems a little awkward to go far, so should I guide you to another café or something?”

At Haesu’s question, Hyeonseong nodded. Haesu immediately guided the group to another café on the first floor. Hyeonyeong and Hyeonseong each moved while bringing along the person they had caught.

“Ugh, this is cheating…….”

The clothing-store customer, dragged along while being held by Hyeonyeong, grumbled. Judging from the muttering, they seemed extremely resentful that an A-rank combat-type Awakened like them had been caught so helplessly.

Of course, it was whining that would not work on Hyeonseong at all.

‘Wow, good for you, being so impressive.’

Soon, the group arrived at the café Haesu had guided them to. After taking seats in a corner, Hyeonseong told Haesu to buy any drinks and immediately got to the point.

“We’re all busy people, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

Hyeonseong gave Hyeonyeong a look. Then Hyeonyeong stuck her hand into the outer pocket of the clothing-store customer’s coat.

“What are you doing?! Why are you reaching into someone else’s pocket……!”

The customer tried to protest, but before the sentence could be completed, Hyeonyeong was faster and pulled out the napkin.

“That. I think you need to explain it.”

Hyeonseong said, pointing at the napkin with nothing but numbers and letters written on it.

“That is…….”

The clothing-store customer and the person who had handed over the napkin looked at each other. It was obviously the sort of action taken when trying to hastily coordinate an answer by reading the room.

“I’ll tell you in advance, don’t even think about saying you don’t know anything about it or anything like that. We’re asking because we saw the two of you exchange that.”

Hyeonseong took out her smartphone and showed them the video she had filmed earlier.

“Here, look. You can clearly see you handing that napkin to this person, right?”

Hyeonseong zoomed in on the scene of the napkin being passed over. The two people who had exchanged the napkin fell silent at the clearly magnified screen.

“So now you’ll have to explain what this is.”

Hyeonseong said again, pointing at the napkin.