酷视

Chapter 18: Tough choice

In other words, there was simply no benefit to robbing me... And no one would risk several years-long sentence or risk getting chased by the police just for the sake of randomly killing or even hurting me.

And, most of all, this was the one benefit of living in that shed of mine. By doing so, I joined the "elite" community of locals, making me both responsible for protecting the streets myself and also a beneficiary of others doing the same.

I was now a local to the backstreet, making them much safer than the wide and perfectly lit-up streets of the town\'s center.

Still, I never really saw the point of abusing this questionable privilege, opting to stay as far away from the trouble as it was humanly possible. But now, things changed. And as much as I hated it, I had nothing but gratitude for the time when I learned who was the local top dog.

Back then, I simply wanted to learn who to avoid and who to always be humble and respectful towards. Right now, though, I was actively looking to establish contact with a certain group.

And it didn\'t even take me all that long to find one of the group\'s foot soldiers.

"Ticket!" the massive man with a slight tattoo behind his right ear stood at the entrance to an adult club, dutifully checking the tickets of the men standing in the queue outside.

There were only two possible outcomes for the men waiting in the line. Either the bouncer would lift the pink rope that blocked the way and invite the person in or, if his judgment of the person or their ticket led to any doubt or problems, he would simply throw them to them aside.

This method also brought the convenience of how he could filter out all those whose clothes were stained with mud and dirt, as those who were already rejected.

Knowing better than to try to get ahead of myself and cut the queue, I opted to stand at its very back and patiently wait while slowly creeping forward.

"Huh?" Contrary to how he acted towards the other customers, the bouncer appeared to be quite surprised when I stood before him. "Aren\'t you a little..."

"Too young?" I guessed what he had in mind. "Yeah, but I\'m not here to get in. Rather than that, I need help. And who else to ask for help if not your boss?"

It was pretty daring of me to make contact with someone from a real underworld. With those people, a single wrong word would spell my death.

But how else I was supposed to sell gold coins inscribed with runes from another world? Where else could I find a buyer for gold who would ask no questions for the gold\'s source, even if it came at a cost of a steep fee?

"Are you..."

"Yes, I\'m sure. I know what I\'m doing."

For a moment, we entered a contest of stares... Only for the bouncer to let out a heavy sigh before grabbing the pink rope and lifting it up.

"You are still too young for this place... but you will find one of my older brothers in the manager\'s booth. Tell the servers that I\'ve sent you."

The look on the bouncer\'s face changed. For but a second, he proved he wasn\'t made up out of muscles and muscles alone, as he was capable of showing a look of deep concern underfit with sadness.

\'I guess he thinks I came here to sell my soul,\' I realized, smiling lightly as I couldn\'t help but feel amused.

To think a random bouncer with several pages worth of criminal record would be more mindful of my future than my adoptive parents...

Still, daring not to keep the queue from moving up any longer, I moved past the pink doors and stepped inside.

Normally, I should get frozen in place and gawk at all the female beauty put on a free display for everyone to know what they could get their hands on.

But to be frank, after experiencing an intimate closeness with Fay, no matter how exposed those call-girls were, they failed to ignite even a single spark of interest in me.

Unbothered by anyone, I managed to make my way all the way over to the small bar hidden to the side of the main hall.

"Excuse me," I called out, causing one of the smiling girls to turn to me... Only for a frown to appear on her face. "Yeah, I\'m too young to be here. But I was told I would find who I\'m looking for in the manager\'s booth."

There was no need for me to explain any further. The look of open concern the server girl gave me was no business of mine either.

After all, what she obviously thought I was here for couldn\'t be further from my real goal.

"I see," the girl thankfully didn\'t seem to linger on her feelings. She was trained well. "Just keep to this wall, and get through the second door. Then, knock on the first door to the left and wait for him to invite you in."

"Thanks," I politely nodded my head before turning around and following the girl\'s guidance. And before long, I found myself with my fist raised, ready to strike at the doors to announce myself...

But for some reason, bringing my knuckles down on the door proved to be a lot harder than I thought.

The weight of the single, gold coin in my pocket started to burn a hole in my thigh. The weight of my fist started to wear the muscles of my arm out.

\'Let\'s just get this over with,\' I thought, before gritting my teeth and bringing my fist down on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

And before long...

"Come in."