At least, she had many conversations with Ichulok, the plant enthusiast, or rather, the botanist, but... she couldn't tell her the inner workings of the guild.
He didn't know what to say. A vague sense of unease, doubt, and isolation intertwined, making him feel lost. He wanted to talk, but he didn't know what to say.
He wanted to show her his best and most confident side, befitting his second-place ranking. If he called out of the blue and only talked about his depression, she might be surprised. She probably hadn't noticed his timid and dark personality.
Moreover, she was a relative of Kwon Ji-won from the Silver Guild.
C&L was continuously pressuring the Silver Guild.
'So how do I tell her that I might be doing something that could harm her brother...'
I barely reached the top ranking through relentless work and selling personal information, but the game kept throwing annoying interference quests. That's why it was called a bad game.
There was some weirdly named guild... Ah, 'IfYouQuitImAGameOver' people kept bothering me.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Ah, the milk just ran out."
There was nothing I could do about something that wasn't there. I thought I would have to use regular store-bought milk as a substitute.
"...As, what do you think?"
"..."
As looked troubled and swallowed his words. The satisfaction bar above his head filled a little and then stopped halfway. His silence was a clear answer.
I also put down my cappuccino.
To clarify, coffee made with regular milk isn't tasteless. The harmony of the bitter espresso and the creamy milk was definitely the cappuccino I knew.
The problem was that my taste had been spoiled by the coffee made with milk from the dimensional shop.
Moreover, the grade of the coffee made with regular milk was one star, and the recovery efficiency was poor.
This wouldn't do. If someone who had tasted the previous coffee noticed the difference, rumors about the change in taste would spread, and I didn't want that.
In the end, I decided to remove all milk-based drinks from the menu until I could get more milk.
While sending away the disappointed customers, I looked at the dimensional shop hopefully, but it was still out of stock.
Where could I get milk?
According to the item description, the milk I had been using was A-grade Golden Triangular Horn Cow milk.
Where could I find an A-grade Golden Triangular Horn Cow?
Ding.
[A new entry for 'Golden Triangular Horn Cow' has been added to the Ether-Wiki.]
The system notification rang as if it had been waiting. However, the Ether-Wiki didn't have any particularly helpful information. It only briefly described the ecology of the Golden Triangular Horn Cow.
[Would you like to play the video 'A-grade Golden Triangular Horn Cow Ecology'?
Yes / No]
I didn't know the wiki had a video function...
[See the ecology of the A-grade Golden Triangular Horn Cow, which lives only in pristine areas, and heal the hearts of modern people tired of city life. Free for 3 days]
There was a long promotional tagline.
After a moment's thought, I chose 'No' and stood up.
Finding a way to get milk was important, but since things were like this, I decided to take care of some overdue tasks first.
The sales had accumulated quite a bit. If you make money, you should spend it.
"As, come here for a moment."
"...Why?"
"We need to go somewhere."
* * *
An hour later.
"..."
The stares were intense. Ignoring the silent protests, I gently pushed As's back.
"I'll wait here."
As, who had finally given up on resistance, sighed and shuffled his feet.
This was a clothing store in a shopping mall in Yongsan.
The purpose, of course, was to buy clothes for As.
When I first found As collapsed in front of the store, he was wearing very old clothes. Or rather, they weren't even clothes... more like rags? The shape was unrecognizable, and they weren't even ordinary modern clothing.
There were all sorts of things in the warehouse, but there were no clothes suitable for a boy As's size.
In a hurry, I had him wear my clothes under the pretense of a part-time uniform, but they were too big. Even with the sleeves and pants rolled up, it was obvious he was wearing someone else's clothes.
I had been thinking about buying him some clothes but hadn't found the time until now. It was a good opportunity.
For reference, I have been paying As a proper part-time wage. However, he seems to be a runaway teenager with some unspoken circumstances. It would be good for him to save the part-time wage and use it for other things.