The Eve Of Victory Festival (2)

I felt the gazes of many people looking at me.

I could guess the reason was likely due to my attire.

I usually stuck to a gloomy appearance, but was it because the store clerk put so much effort into it today?

It was a quite flashy look.

However, I couldn’t tell if this was a cool look or an embarrassing one.

‘Since I have no talent for this kind of thing…’

People who knew me often asked if I had anything other than the grim reaper look.

But I preferred the so-called grim reaper look because it didn’t show much even if ‘blood’ splattered on it.

Since I was not someone living an ordinary life, it was perhaps a natural choice.

The importance of clothing was unrelated to my quality of life.

Rather, I couldn’t prefer flashy attire because it could drive me toward a more painful death.

‘I thought life before the Great Cataclysm would be quite flashy. I had just entered university, and I thought I would be able to enjoy that moment full of dreams, but…’

In the end, it was a series of great shocks that even shook the world, and even before I could think that I could return to the past after barely surviving from monsters, life itself was bound to be shaken by human greed.

‘No, life was already more than shaken; it was as good as broken…’

The generation that went through the war—almost everyone here experienced the war and had overcome those moments in their own way.

Those who didn’t overcome it would be stuck in a room, floundering in the shock of their past lives, while those who did were working hard to find what was important in life.

I was the same; the goal I pursued was not wealth or honor. I just… wanted to become ordinary.

A life where I wanted even a fleeting moment of being able to live an ordinary life to be mine—now I felt satisfaction because I was enjoying such an ordinary daily life.

“You’re here early?”

When I turned my head at the voice heard from behind, Go Yu-jin, who had come out looking very beautiful, caught my eye.

It was a radiant appearance that Go Yu-jin had never shown until now.

“You look beautiful.”

It was pure admiration, and people around were even glancing at Go Yu-jin and sending jealous looks toward me.

“You look good too, Seong-chan?”

She replied with a bright smile, and it seemed my appearance wasn’t awkward to her.

I was slightly flustered by Go Yu-jin’s action of coming close and linking her arm with mine, but I asked quietly rather than pulling away.

“Isn’t it awkward?”

“Is there a reason for it to be awkward?”

I pondered the question she threw back for a moment, but the answer came out easily.

“That’s right. There’s no reason to think about it in a difficult way. If we act like this in such a place under these circumstances, we’ll look like a couple in anyone’s eyes.”

Go Yu-jin turned her face slightly red and showed a fresh smile.

While thinking she was a truly beautiful woman, on the other hand, the traces of the arduous war all over her body felt painful to me.

“A festival where we are the protagonists always feels new.”

As Go Yu-jin said, it was a festival commemorating those who led the war to victory.

The victims would be the same, but anyway, it was a festival for everyone who went through the war and endured hardships there; therefore, it was a festival with a strong sense of forgetting all the pain, just for this moment, in a slightly lighter way rather than a solemn one.

It was a bright atmosphere, a festival where everyone made an effort to show a smile.

If one could truly enjoy joy, that alone would be enough to feel satisfied.

“Where should we go?”

In a situation with no particular destination, I asked a question I often asked Go Yu-jin.

“Have you had dinner?”

“No. As you can see, the time I needed to prepare was long.”

I agreed because it was obvious she had put a lot of care into everything from her makeup to her outfit, and after thinking of An So-mi, who clearly helped her prepare, I asked after her.

“What is Ms. An So-mi doing?”

“So-mi went to an auction today.”

“…It should be about time for her to run out of money, though?”

“Ah, you must not know well, Seong-chan?”

I tilted my head in wonder at what she was saying, and Go Yu-jin said with a laugh.

“So-mi’s parents are chaebols. Her father is the head of a company whose name you’d recognize.”

Being a company head in this era meant being an incredibly massive chaebol.

The reason was simple: they had either accumulated enough wealth to withstand the war or had accumulated massive wealth through the war, and there were not even 20 such companies currently in the country.

This was because almost every company—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say all—had gone bankrupt.

“I’m envious.”

“She’s someone who lives without worrying about money, so why does she act like someone who stakes her very soul for money every time?”

Go Yu-jin laughed after hearing my words.

I didn’t know what was funny, but anyway, the laughter continued, and then Go Yu-jin spoke after lightly wiping the corners of her eyes.

“She left home. Actually, she didn’t like her family being called a war merchant family. She said they made money from people’s lives. So now, she’s working hard with the goal of being self-made on her own.”

“Hmm, then the story doesn’t quite add up, does it?”

I was pointing out where An So-mi would have the money to hang around an auction house currently.

At that, Go Yu-jin put on a beaming smile and proudly puffed out her chest.

“She earned quite a bit of money while practicing hard with me.”

“Ah, it became a way to make money while also putting in the effort to make her stop fearing blood.”

“That’s right. Extra incentives are paid to those who worked on the Gates. But since So-mi stepped forward saying she would do most of it while working with me, she handled quite a lot of Gates alone. There were many ups and downs, but she did well.”

Then it made sense.

Processing fees were set separately by grade, and on top of that, fees were charged according to the volume of internal byproduct processing.

Generally, Grade 1 was within 1 billion won, and from Grade 2, the costs became large because the amount of mana used was high.

It was accurate to see it as 2.5 billion, 8 billion, and 20 billion in order.

For reference, these were basic costs, and the fees charged depended on the condition and volume of the recovered byproducts, with the weight and market value being calculated to charge the costs.

In this case, if the government official presented a list, we would coordinate accordingly. Anyway, the form was that the worker took up to 20% of the amount earned this way.

Although there were quite a lot of cost charges, including taxes, so the pure margin wasn’t even 30%, even so, the profits transcended imagination, and as a result, it was accurate to see the amount earned in a month as reaching the level of a mediocre large corporation.

“And what else does she intend to buy?”

“There’s an item So-mi had her eye on. Do you happen to know an accessory called ‘Dignity of Corruption’?”

“You mean the artifact that increases curse efficiency. Isn’t that an item with quite bad rumors?”

“That’s right. It’s a curse that says the owner won’t last half a year and will die, but actually, it was just a coincidence of events, and in reality, it’s a very good artifact.”

To call it a coincidence, I remembered it changing hands more than ten times in the last five years.

So, the item that was evaluated as being worth over 1 trillion won when it first appeared at an auction was recently known to have been sold for 1 billion won at an auction house.

‘Death’ was an option that made people avoid it, no matter how great the item was.

‘The actual artifact wouldn’t have such an option attached, but…’

A 50% increase in curse efficiency was practically an efficiency that allowed one to kill a life with just a curse.

Because of that, many people desperately wanted it.

However, perhaps due to the condition that the possessor would die, it was an item one wouldn’t use even if given.

“So the owner changed again?”

“I heard the current owner is just putting it on the exchange. They said they couldn’t use it anymore because of the psychological pressure.”

That made sense.

Since most users were black mages familiar with death, how terrified they must have been?

“That’s interesting. It seems like there will be quite a few people aiming for it, so I should cheer her on.”

“She’s a kid whose temper only calms down when she gets what she wants, so she’ll handle it on her own!”

Walking the streets amidst such casual conversation, we found a suitable restaurant and talked about going there, and upon entering, we sat down in suitable seats after confirming it was filled with customers in a bright atmosphere and a somewhat quiet restaurant.

“It’s been a while. This kind of leisure.”

Sitting across from me, Go Yu-jin’s gaze as she looked at the people passing by outside the window was poignant.

“This kind of life will continue. Because it’s a victory achieved through desperate wanting and hoping.”

“That’s right. It’s a miracle created by everyone’s wishes.”

Just then, fireworks shooting up into the sky caused a brilliant explosion, and everyone watched it, savoring the regained peace.

“We’re home.”

The date was satisfactory.

She could smell the ‘scent of a person’ that had been lacking in each other from the suitable food, the bright atmosphere, and the conversations exchanged.

“Generally, in movies or dramas, the man should see the woman off and return, but we’ll be going in together.”

Go Yu-jin ended up bursting into laughter at Geum Seong-chan’s words.

However, it was a joke she didn’t dislike, and she spoke to Geum Seong-chan.

“So-mi isn’t coming home today… Want to eat some ramen before you go?”

It was a story like a light joke, and Geum Seong-chan also replied nonchalantly.

“I hope it’s delicious ramen.”

“I’ll make it very delicious. Let’s go.”

Go Yu-jin’s heart pounded as she reached out her hand. It was a house they had to enter together anyway, and for her, the house was always a lonely and just vast place, but it was so good that it wasn’t anymore.

And Geum Seong-chan’s hand, which lightly held the hand she playfully reached out, was filled with warm heat.

When she first saw him, she could only think he was a truly cool man, and when she saw him later, he looked like a man with a deep story.

But when they reunited after the war ended, she was surprised because he had become a person who looked so emotionless that she wondered if it was the same person from back then.

However, now she could laugh because she knew that emotionlessness was not intentional and she knew he was acting with sincerity, showing the maximum emotion he could express.

Afterward, she entered the house, feeling a warmth different from before, and headed to the kitchen to keep her word about what she playfully said, when Geum Seong-chan asked.

“Do you really intend to cook ramen?”

“I wasn’t joking?”

Geum Seong-chan’s expression, which looked flustered, was an unexpected source of fun, and she asked while pulling him along.

“Surely you don’t dislike me cooking it, do you?”

“There’s no way. But… didn’t we just have dinner a little while ago?”

“The stomach for a meal and the stomach for a snack are separate.”

“I don’t think anyone would consider ramen a snack.”

“It’s a snack for me. Let’s go!”

That flustered appearance looked so cute to her. So Go Yu-jin, who couldn’t stop the laughter that kept leaking out, felt like she knew what the ‘scent of a person’ was.