chapter 124

We had a friendly meal together and then I brought Joseph to my office. In fact, it was a bit embarrassing to call it an office but it was still a good place to talk.

“Yes, tell me more. What do you mean by you think you can help?”

I sat in a chair with my arms crossed and Joseph pulled something out of his inventory with a meaningful smile. He touched his chin and took out a few photos.

“What is this?”

“This is how I can help.”

“Really?”

I immediately focused on the photos. There were several photos of an elegant looking woman. “I didn’t know you were such a bad guy. Are you taking photos like this these days?”

“Don’t mistake me as a pervert and keep looking.”

“…You are a pervert.”

“No, I’m not.”

I turned over multiple photos and a familiar face came out. My eyes suddenly widened. “This guy…?”

I knew him very well. I couldn’t not know him. He was the first person I met in this village. “Why is Kis here?”

The even more surprising thing was that he was photographed secretly meeting that first woman at night. The two people looked very cautious.

“Do you remember the first time you met me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You asked me why I was here.”

I searched through my memories. He said he came here to investigate something. Then the investigation…

“Don’t tell me, he is the one having an affair with the noble’s wife?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and I smiled as I continued to look through the photos. He was a libertine. The funny thing was that he was meeting other women too, not just the noble’s wife. Some of them were faces I knew.

“This woman…?”

“Yes, the woman you mentioned, Diana, is also with the fisherman. They are having a meeting every night. There are also photos of him meeting girls from other villages.”

“Other villages? There are girls from other villages?”

“This man has met dozens of women. He is a complete casanova.”

At the same time, a message came out.

Ttiring~

[The true identity of Fisherman Kis is a rare Casanova.]

[He is a named NPC with very high charm and good luck stats.]

[If you let him settle in the village, many women will come here to visit him.]

It turned out he was catching women, not fish. I heard of named monsters but I didn’t know there was something called a named NPC. In the context of this situation, he must be better than ordinary NPCs. There was just one problem.

“I was entrusted to investigate this by Aidan, a nobleman of Fortren who has great wealth. His second wife seemed to be having an affair and he asked me to investigate. I originally wanted to sell these photos to the nobles. Photos that show the face well can gain a higher price. I can make big money but this man will probably die. He had an affair with a noble’s wife and the noble will probably try to kill him by any means. He is a bit eccentric.”

I hesitated for a moment. Kis might die. Sometimes, people said that ignorance was better. If this fact was known to the noble, not only would the peace of the family be destroyed but the life of a man would be at risk. He might be a rude fellow but a life was precious, even if he was a NPC and not a human.

“Hrmm. It would be beneficial to save him…”

There were two things that would benefit me if I saved him. First, he could take advantage of a named NPC. There was the message that many women would visit if he settled in the village. Once the village is completed, people should visit. That way, the people here could eat and live. I also didn’t know it yet but there might be other ways to take advantage of him.

Second, it was peace. If the noble found out about his wife’s affair, he might exert pressure on me. Based on what I heard, he was a big person from Fortren and would do something if I didn’t hand over Kis. As Joseph said, his personality was a bit eccentric.

I was worrying while holding my beard when Joseph opened his mouth, “I have a good idea…”

“Tell me.”

He rolled his eyes and stated, “There is just one condition.”

* * *

The sun was setting. The darkness of twilight came and Joseph and I talked a lot. We met Diana soon after and she insisted that she never had an affair. It turned out that she was good at calculations and had laundered the town’s money to give to Kis. This was why they looked cautious.

In any case, I threatened her a bit by showing her the photo and telling her it was the same thing.

“I’ll repeat it one more time. There will be rumors about you having an affair if this photo is spread.”

“Sob sob! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

[The villager Diana will obey you.]

[The conditions of the quest have been met in a different method.]

[Your knowledge has increased by +1.]

In the end, there was nothing like intimidation. If I couldn’t gain their recognition, there were ways to force them to be loyal. Intimidation was a very useful means. I left Diana’s house and saw Joseph waiting at the entrance with his arms crossed. He laughed. “Aren’t you even more threatening than me?”

“This type of thing needs to be stronger to work well.”

“You seem to have done it many times.”

“It was because I used to be a terrible person.”

“Aish. Are you kidding me?”

“…Do I sound like I’m joking?” I spoke seriously and his face turned blue.

I started laughing at the sight of him. “Kekeke! It’s a joke. This guy. Still, is that really all you need?”

He had made one request earlier and it was an unexpected one.

“I just got married and settled in South Korea so I don’t have a good record yet. I’m living as a paparazzi to feed my family but it would be nice to have a decent job. It is good to build a career and be a father my twins can be proud of. Well, who knows? I might get a scoop that will allow me to win the Pulitzer.”

His request was that if I revealed my identity one day, he would get an exclusive interview. Additionally, he wanted to take photos and videos of my life. In other words, he wanted to monopolize my coverage. Of course, it would be at a later time. It wouldn’t be difficult if he kept his promise.

He would be a good friend to know. I wasn’t trying to meet people to build up connections but I really liked him. I had been observing Joseph for the past six days and he seemed like a sincere and simple father of twins. He could be trusted. Sometimes, he looked so happy when showing off photos of his children.

I smiled and said, “By the way, how do you navigate dangerous places so well? You might get caught by monsters. Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Ah, that?” He murmured something and suddenly turned transparent. He spoke with his transparent body, “Reporters basically have this Stealth skill. Most of us chose an assassin-type class.”

His body returned and he continued speaking, “However, I have a slightly special class so I can go to more dangerous places.”

“What is the name of your class?”

“Death Paparazzi.”

“…It is an eerie name.”

“Well, take a look.”

Joseph raised the camera around his neck and started to take a photo of a cat passing by. There was a dazzling flash of light when he pressed a button and the cat started to make noise and rubbed its eyes.

“As you can see, my camera is a bit unusual so I can deal a ‘blinding’ effect.”

“This guy, don’t abuse animals.”

“Haha, it will be released in five seconds. I’m sorry, cat.”

“Meoooow!!”

Five seconds later, the cat returned to normal.

I nodded. “If you have these two abilities then you can easily run away.”

“Well, sensitivity is important. For example, I will die if I encounter a monster with the ability to detect Stealth or a blind one. Of course, this isn’t the only ability I have. Haha.”

As we talked, we reached a fishing area. This was a place that Kis frequented. He could be seen enjoying the night fishing while casting paste bait. I acted as usual and approached him. He wondered, “Why did you come here?”

This tone of speaking… tsk. I stared at his clear eyes and almost fell for him. A fascinating man… he was really dangerous.

“I want to ask you one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Why don’t you like me?”

I didn’t know if I sounded too proud but I could hear Joseph holding back his laughter. Kis asked with a frown, “Why do you think that?”

“It is just a feeling.”

“I just don’t like men. I was beaten by my father as a child.”

“……”

I was the one who was flustered by the sudden confession of family matters. I had wondered why I couldn’t gain his recognition. This must be the reason. I bluntly spoke to him, “I know you’ve been having nightly meetings with many women. One of them is a lady of Fortren.”

“H-How do you…?”

Joseph handed him a photo from beside me. I spread out my hands.

“You’re such a rogue. You seduced all those women to get money from them and spent it on gambling. Tsk tsk. I heard you spent some of the village finances?”

Kis’ face turned red at my words. Perhaps it felt like he was stabbed.

“So what are you going to do? Shit. Do you think I wanted to be born like this? Is being handsome is a sin? Aish, it is better to leave on my own!”

I had never seen a man who wanted to die because he was so handsome. Some people wished to live with this type of face… Tsk.

I pulled out Alexus’ Fork Spoon. The size could be adjusted and it usually took the shape of a spoon. The bottom of the spoon hit Kis on the forehead and he screamed, “This damn old man!”

“You!!!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Small bumps formed on Kis’ forehead. There were even lumps on the bumps. Then suddenly! The sound of something being pierced was heard. Ah, that’s right. This was a fork spoon.

“…Uh, um, hey. I’m sorry.”

Blood flowed. His forehead had the fork spoon attached at a right angle. A message appeared.

[The villager Kis has given in.]

[The conditions of the quest have been met in a different method.]

[Your knowledge has increased by +1.]

I looked at him and muttered, “I’m going to have to take him to Sujeong.”

A good clinical experiment had emerged.