༺ Redcliffe (1) ༻
1.
Everything went well until Sharon boldly stepped outside again.
It was only a few hours ago that she had finished her regular hunt with Siwoo.
Then again, if things could go smoothly by her thinking that ‘As long as I work hard, I can make money!’ she would definitely not be going through this kind of hardship.
“Phew…”
On the rooftop of a certain university hospital. The place was eerie and empty, a stark contrast to the lively streets of Sinchon.
Sitting on top of a water tank, Sharon looked at the compass with a gloomy expression on her face.
“Why is it at moments like this I can’t seem to find any? It’s annoying.”
The morning air that initially felt fresh had long heated up by the scorching sun.
In contrast, her fervent dream cooled down.
Even after a thorough two-hours search, she found nothing.
The time for her to teach Siwoo magic was approaching, but the compass needle continued to spin, completely disregarding her emotional state.
“What am I going to do…?”
‘Is this because I’ve been too relaxed lately?’
The pressure she hadn’t felt in a while was weighing heavily on her chest.
What if she couldn’t find a way to earn the money to pay her debts after two months?
While the Gemini Household wouldn’t personally come to collect payment from her if she were late for a day or two, due to their crazy amount of wealth…
It still didn’t mean that she wouldn’t feel any pressure at all.
“Well, if they came in person, at least I would have a chance to explain the situation…”
Based on her experience, if the payment for the quarter was a little delayed, she had to pay a fine.
And the amount of fine would be nearly three times the original amount of the current quarter and she had to pay it by the next.
It was a harsh contract, but back then she was completely penniless, so she had no choice but to agree to this kind of unfavorable debt agreement to borrow the amount of money she needed.
“I won’t let that happen.”
She ended her short break and continued on her way, stepping lightly on the trees to hunt for the Homunculi.
“Ah!”
At that moment…
‘Has my prayer came true?’
The aimlessly spinning needle suddenly began pointing in a certain direction.
She hurriedly followed it, bouncing along as she went.
‘Finally! I found one after a long time!’
‘My 1 million won, I’m coming!’
‘Is this what winning the third place in the lottery feels like?’
She soon found herself entering the interdimensional barrier created by the Homunculus.
“You cute little creatures, stay quiet and pave a way for me to pay for my debts!”
The place was a dark and desolate tunnel with subway tracks above it.
It was an old tunnel. Due to the new tunnel built to the east, it had turned into a desolate place with no traffic or people.
With a wide smile, Sharon greeted the Homunculus that she finally encountered.
But, when she confirmed its identity, she tilted her head in confusion.
-Creak…creak…
“Again…?”
It was the black dog-shaped homunculus that she was familiar with.
But this time, there were five of them.
She had seen a few before and had expected to encounter more of them in the future.
But after seeing this spectacle, she wouldn’t be surprised to find out that someone was cloning these Homunculi for one reason or another.
“Anyway, nice to meet you guys.”
Originally, she was eager to learn about their behavior and characteristics, everything about them.
But, as things became tough for her, she was too caught up in dealing with her main problem and completely forgot about her eagerness from before.
Then again, even if dozens of them attacked her, she was confident enough to handle them all. To her, the five Homunculi in front of her were nothing but walking money.
“Balance!”
Sharon swung her wand, offering the water from a bottle she had kept with her as a sacrifice.
2.
The long-awaited hunt ended without much difficulty.
What was scary about hunting those Homunculi was not knowing what kind of magic spells they had up their sleeves.
After all, each of them possessed its own unique magic based on the legacy they carried.
Well, one didn’t need to worry much with the one-eyed ones, though there were a few rare cases that they possessed surprisingly powerful magic.
In any case, the pack of dogs posed no threat whatsoever to Sharon.
They didn’t have any attacking methods other than physical attacks and she had long accustomed to their agile movements.
To her, taking down the monsters bouncing like rubber balls under the tunnel was as easy as cracking a fish head on a cutting board.
“Yay~ How much is this worth~?”
She squatted under the partially collapsed tunnel, the aftermath of the hunt.
Trying to find some crystals, she rummaged through their remains.
As expected, she couldn’t find any valuable legacies.
Still, with this, she probably could earn around 6 million won at once.
Feeling a sense of relief, as if her chest had loosened up, Sharon burst into laughter.
But her smile didn’t last long.
-Tak! Tak!
The sharp sound of shoe heels echoing within the tunnel resonated in her ears.
Following that, a haughty, overbearing voice, befit of a witch’s, accompanied by an unpleasant nasal tone, was directed at her.
“Hmm~? What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you have eyes? I’m hunting.”
Before they even started a proper conversation, Sharon had already felt a headache coming and stood up.
Standing there was a bitch draped in a red dress— No. Standing there was Della Redcliffe.
From hearing the sound of her heels to seeing the face of Della herself, Sharon’s expression twisted like a child faced with a plate full of spicy peppers.
“Why are you hunting here?”
“Obviously it’s—”
‘Ah…’
She was thinking of getting rid of her, the source of all troubles, but her words made Sharon scan through her surroundings.
That was when she realized that this tunnel wasn’t a part of her usual patrol route.
Due to her desperate hunt, it seemed like she had been so fixated on her compass that she didn’t realize the fact that she was trespassing into Della’s territory.
Judging from her arrogant gait, it didn’t take long for Sharon to piece this together.
“No, wait! I didn’t do this on purpose, I swear!”
“Tsk, tsk. Not only you’re dumb and pathetic, you’re also shameless.”
Observing her flustered state, Della quickly understood what was going on.
Had Sharon known this was her territory, she would undoubtedly restrain herself from even stepping foot here.
However, for Della, the thrill of this amusing catch outweighed the importance of the truth.
“In our duel, didn’t you promise not to intrude in my hunting grounds ever again?”
“…”
Seeing Della approaching with a wicked smile, as if she was thrilled to find a weakness of hers, Sharon instinctively took a step back.
Her ruby-like eyes gave her an extremely intimidating gaze.
It was as if the red witch in front of her was a snake toying with its prey.
“Yes, and I didn’t mean to break that promise. Here, you can take this.”
Biting her lip, Sharon threw her crystals at Della.
In this situation, it was better for Sharon to just yield and avoid getting into an unnecessary conflict with the other witch.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling pissed off, though.
After all, she had to bow down to Della, someone she hated with every inch of her being.
The red witch caught the sparkling crystals that were thrown towards her in an elegant gesture.
After rolling them in her palm for a moment, she casually tossed them onto the ground.
As they met the asphalt, the crystals scattered to pieces.
-Whoosh!
“What use do I have for such things? They aren’t even worth anything.”
As she had long become a slave to capitalism, Sharon sadly watched the crystals shattered, as if they were her own hopes and dreams.
Then, she remembered Della’s presence and shifted her gaze towards her, only to find out that the other witch was sneering at her.
“What? Are you thinking of picking up the scraps as well? You’re acting more and more like those poor witches.”
“…I gave you the crystals. If I had known that this is your territory, I wouldn’t have come in the first place.”
“Think about it. A thief returning stolen goods to the owner when she got caught… Do you think that’s enough?”
Sharon gritted her teeth and averted her gaze.
Della was certainly among one of the wealthy witches.
There were no rumors whatsoever about her hunting down such low-leveled Homunculi, so it was clear that she didn’t need them.
But, instead of letting her go for hunting down a few of them, she interfered and accused her of stealing instead.
This kind of her twisted personality was something that Sharon couldn’t comprehend at all, though not that she wanted to in the first place.
“So, what do you expect me to do? Like you said, I’m poor, I don’t have a single penny to spare you, so leave me alone.”
She felt irritated by the whole situation.
As she tried to huff past Della, the other witch just sneered.
“Well, with you having piles of debts and getting kicked out of you own home, I’m not cruel enough to take money from such a poor beggar like you~”
Sharon tried to ignore her eerie taunts and continued her way, but something in her words made her feet stop.
‘Kicked out of home?’
Suddenly, everything clicked in her mind, like pieces of a puzzle falling into place.
Suspicion filled her narrowed eyes.
“…How do you know that?”
“How do I know what?”
“That I got kicked out of my home.”
“There’s always a way to know, especially when I’ve been keeping a close eye on you. Do you not know how worried I was about you, Sharon? You’ve been doing something illegal, after all.”
Della’s dismissive shrug and smirk turned Sharon’s suspicion into certainty.
Her eviction from her old house was undeniably linked to the other witch in one way or another.
“Do you want me to show you the evidence?”
Sharon sent her a threatening gaze, but she replied with a nonchalant one.
They had fought before and it ended in Sharon’s loss, so more than anyone, she knew that this was a losing battle.
She knew that resistance was futile as she couldn’t even touch a single thread of Della’s clothes.
“Get lost.”
“No. I want to show you how much I care about you and how much I want to help you.”
Della skillfully flicked the shattered crystal away with the pointed tip of her shoe.
It rolled until it stopped at Sharon’s feet.
“Why don’t you take that little bit of money? It’s just a chump change to me, I can spend it on a single drink, but it means much more to you, no?”
At this disrespect, Sharon felt her heart seethe with anger. She clenched her jaw tightly, struggling to contain her fury.
She just couldn’t understand why Della was tormenting her so relentlessly. What kind of grudge did she have against her to make her do something like this?
‘This fucking bitch…’
Sharon muttered under her breath, her anger refused to subside.
“Still not picking it up? You can make some decent cash with it, you know? Just bend down and pick it up. It still worths more than thousands of flyers.”
“…”
Sharon clenched her jaw and swiftly turned away.
She refused to deal with the piece of shit anymore.
‘That piece of shit wasn’t worth her time and energy,’ she tried to convince herself.
As for Della, she seemed adamant to make her stay, so she didn’t loosen up her provocation at all.
“Hehe, you still care about your pride even though you’re in this kind of pathetic state. This is why you’re struggling this badly to pay off your debts, you know?”
“…”
“If only you accepted the job I was gonna give you, you wouldn’t be living this miserable life. Poor woman, your cluelessness and ignorance has got the better of you.”
Ignoring Della’s words, Sharon repeated to herself that she should just take her words as the muttering of a crazy bitch, and she didn’t need to pay any attention to her.
But her words kept flying toward her like sharp blades cutting through her emotions.
“Your predecessor must have been disappointed. After all the effort she put into finding a successor, she ended up finding an immature child who couldn’t even live up to the brand’s legacy. And on top of that, she’s struggling to manage her debts out of all things…”
At that moment, Sharon’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
She had endured a lot.
But, one person could only endure so much.
“Alright, I give. What do you want? Tell me.”
A chilling voice reverberated through the tunnel.
Within that voice, an insurmountable rage and fervor seeped through.
“What do I want? I don’t want anything, though.”
Facing that, Della let out a chuckle.
“You fucking bitch. Fine, let’s go for another round.”
Sharon withdrew a long smoking pipe from beneath her cloak and bit it with her teeth.
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