NOVEL NEXT Chapter 207
The underground village was built by modifying the sewage system beneath the landfill.
The scorching sunlight that burned the skin never reached there, and the damp filth and moisture gradually worsened health.
And there, an orc known as Four Eyes, who had been living and serving for decades, tidied up his bed with familiar movements.
He didn’t need to check the clock on his visual interface or look outside to know it was early morning.
Power used in the underground village was a precious energy source.
Thus, it was a basic lifestyle for the residents to wake up at sunrise and sleep in the evening when the moon rose.
Four Eyes let out a long yawn and stared blankly at the cracked walls.
‘…Did I have leftover water from yesterday?’
He sipped the lukewarm water from a mug with a crack and realized that another ordinary day had begun.
‘How much drinking water did I take from the water supply? Ah, I should check the plumbing on the ceiling too. I’ll need to borrow some tools from that fixer guy.’
He thought about his schedule for the day and climbed the ladder in the corner up into the sewage.
Beyond the rusty bars, the rising red sun peeked through.
I heard that in the inner city, there are so many clouds that the sun isn’t seen well, but living outside the city definitely had its perks.
The downside would be the occasional toxic storms or radiation storms, or maybe the contaminants separated from the pack.
Anyway,
Four Eyes looked at the landscape made of garbage and pulled out a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
He lit it with a match. Puff Puff He breathed out gray smoke, regulating his daily routine.
‘Speaking of which, was it today?’
That little one he used to take care of.
The day they said they were getting married.
Four Eyes casually rubbed the shriveled cigarette against the brick wall. The sparks couldn’t penetrate his thick skin and fell.
‘…Gyeomjok and Bisi are getting married.’
What a long life it’s been.
Well, Gyeomjok always took care of that kid oddly well. So, I felt more affection towards them.
Four Eyes smirked as he recalled old memories.
He gazed at the distant city walls.
“…Congratulations, you guys.”
He hadn’t really done anything to say they were like his children.
He just genuinely wished for their happy future deep in his heart.
By the way,
This was an hour before the monolith’s airship arrived.
*
The orc from Redwood, the diligent taxi driver, Thomas, who came to congratulate the wedding.
He, nicknamed “Tom,” felt that the situation he was in didn’t feel real.
“……?”
With a puzzled expression, he looked at the sign with the hotel’s name.
i【Casa del Luso Gracium Hoteli
That name was the same as the “wedding venue” he had heard.
Tom instinctively shrank his neck.
It felt like everyone around was staring at him.
He had come in his cleanest and best outfit, but he felt even more awkward than the employees working nearby.
Tom was certain.
This was not a place he belonged.
‘…I thought it was just a joke.’
After all, the hotel was located in the “upper-class” area.
A place he’d never been in his life.
He was standing on walls he had only imagined. Perhaps due to the pressure difference, Tom felt dizzy.
“…I should’ve bought some new clothes if I’d known.”
By the time Tom fully understood the situation, it was already too late.
He could only stare with his mouth open as the airship descended from the sky.
In hindsight, it was strange to be told he’d be picked up. Tom, the taxi driver.
Tom calmed his racing heart and looked around the grand hotel.
“…Can I even go in here?”
He murmured in his habitual taxi driver style, hiding quickly into the outer area, the corner of the hotel.
There was still a lot of time until the wedding.
Tom decided to observe the situation a little longer.
Just then, right in front of the hotel, one more airship landed in the parking lot.
Indeed.
“…Are they really transporting all the guests by private airship?”
He couldn’t imagine how many credits that would cost.
A neatly suited middle-aged man got off first, followed by a young woman in a kimono.
‘…That’s right. Only people like them attend places like this.’
Tom thought, recognizing a few faces he had seen on the news.
Of course, as he was busy just trying to make a living, he couldn’t recall their names.
‘…Was he a high-ranking person from Kojaka?’
It was probably that.
Tom just wanted to pass on his congratulations and escape this place.
A second airship arrived.
“…I guess it’ll be the same again.”
Tom looked at the departing people.
However, this time, the people felt a bit different.
An intense familiarity brushed through him.
They were two human males. Just like Tom, they probably dressed up, but the age-worn signs of their existence couldn’t be hidden.
“……!”
They chatted, looking around like Tom did when he first arrived, their faces clearly bewildered.
Tom understood their feelings.
The blue sky, the grand mansion, the vast garden, and the “sunshine” that was foreign to the Redwood-born Tom.
The surroundings were full of fascinating things.
Tom, almost blinding himself from staring too much at the sun, understood their emotions fairly well.
And, they sighed softly while gazing at the airship that was leaving them.
““Ah.””
Their way home just vanished.
Tom felt a vibe like watching his juniors.
They would soon seek a hiding place.
…Right here.
It was as natural as water flowing downwards. They moved toward the spot Tom was hiding.
“…….”
“…….”
Their gazes met Tom, who had arrived first.
The two of them, Harry and Mav, were taken aback to meet the orc but quickly changed to relaxed expressions.
“Uh, excuse me, but…?”
“Wow, it’s my first time being happy to meet an orc.”
Tom nodded while listening to their words.
“Are you also feeling the same?”
Just like how Alice fell into a strange land, they, too, were comrades who had suddenly dropped into a place that didn’t suit them.
A bond reminiscent of a greater familiarity than a friend of ten years arose.
Tom shook hands with them, looking happy.
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Thomas. Just call me Tom.”
Harry and Mav smiled back at Tom’s greeting.
“I’m Harry, and this is Mav.”
“Nice to meet you.”
A feeling of encountering a hometown in a strange land was similar for Harry and Mav.
The two humans and one orc exchanged small talk while lamenting their current states.
“I just saw a high-ranking corporate person from Kojaka earlier. They probably meant to invite only people like that, but I think something went wrong, and we got invited too.”
“Oh…, that does sound right.”
Harry nodded at Tom’s words.
He resonated intensely with the orc’s statement.
It was true.
What kind of insane person would invite a thief to a wedding?
Harry thought about how it was odd since they originally planned to nab the thief to make a proposal.
However, it was hard to share that story with an orc they had just met.
It seemed too unbelievable a tale.
Tom learned from watching Harry and Mav that they probably had their reasons just as he did.
“…This is an odd situation for me as well. Honestly, I don’t know why I’m here.”
Tom had just guided someone looking for a missing person around Redwood, as it turned out, just because he was a taxi driver.
And afterwards, he had merely lent out a place for someone in need of shelter.
‘…I don’t even know who my identity is.’
He was a busy taxi driver who didn’t even get to witness Siwoon’s engagement.
He didn’t even look like someone who could afford that kind of money, wondering if he’d been swept away in the upper-class’s play.
Thus, Tom and Harry, and Mav sighed while pondering their situation.
Just then,
“What are you all doing here?”
They heard the voice of the (crazy) person who had invited them to the wedding.
The star of the wedding, Lee Siwoon.
He wore a clean black suit.
He usually wore a dull coat, so he didn’t realize how neat he looked in a suit.
This was also the first time Tom had seen Siwoon without his mask. His features were extremely defined, and the dark circles under his eyes didn’t stand out as much.
‘…He was really an upper-class person.’
Tom instinctively shrank his shoulders and stepped back.
“Um, I-I congratulate you on your wedding…”
“Haha…, thank you.”
It seemed Siwoon felt similarly unreal about the wedding.
He was looking down at himself with an awkward expression.
Harry remained silent, noticing how friendly the two appeared.
He had thought perhaps they were both in the same situation of being caught up in some heist, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Siwoon looked up and surveyed the surroundings at Harry, Mav, and Tom.
They were people who had nothing in common, he never expected to see them chatting here.
“But why is everyone just standing outside?”
In fact, Siwoon had been waiting for them at the entrance.
He had heard they arrived but couldn’t see them, so he came out to look for them.
At Siwoon’s words, the three exchanged awkward glances. They couldn’t exactly say they were too scared to go inside.
Not even Mav, who didn’t read the room.
Tom forced a grin.
“…Just enjoying the fresh air here.”
“Oh, the air is good here. The upper-class is definitely different.”
At least that excuse worked, which was fortunate.
Anyways,
“Shall we go in?”
“…All right.”
They dragged their heavy footsteps like livestock being led to a slaughterhouse, moving inside the hotel.
They just wanted to go home.
*
Unlike the brides who had many preparations to make, I had nothing to do.
I only needed simple makeup and hairstyle.
So, it was only natural that greeting the guests became my role.
Seven people… including me, eight in total.
I thought there would be a lot of guests arriving, but looking now, that wasn’t the case.
In retrospect, it made sense.
Catherine had no friends, and Andrea had no close ones in the entertainment industry; Eve was needless to mention.
There weren’t many close friends for Natasha or the Chairman, and Maya, who had been imprisoned for a while, and Julia, who was a wanted individual, had no one to call as well.
That being the case, most of the people attending the wedding were familiar faces to me.
“Jane, right? Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, nice to meet you. I was wondering who would take Andrea, and it was you after all.”
“Haha….”
Such as Jane, the representative from Andrea’s agency.
“Thanks for coming.”
“…Yes.”
Or Andrea’s manager, whom I didn’t know the name of, who looked at me like I was trash getting married to seven people.
“Haha…, congratulations, congratulations!”
“…Um, who are you?”
“?”
“It’s a joke.”
Or Merlin, the long-forgotten master.
Farewell, just a mundane being born before dragons existed….
Anyway, all familiar faces.
Not that I’m one to talk, but shouldn’t everyone be going out to make some friends, right?
It seemed everyone had arrived…
Except one person.
[The airship carrying the current entity, ‘Father-in-law,’ is landing in the parking lot.]
…Father-in-law?
…….
I didn’t bother to point that out to Eve’s voice.
Truthfully, she wasn’t wrong.
I watched from the entrance of the hotel as the airship landed.
Soon, the Four Eyes began to awkwardly disembark from the airship.
By the way, the airship that Four Eyes was on was equipped with showers and a dress room.
I turned to the neatly suited Four Eyes and spoke.
“Did you arrive?”
Four Eyes, looking as if he had aged a few years from the struggles of this short trip, finally raised his head.
“…What the hell is this?”
What do you mean, “what is this?”
“It’s the wedding.”
And the wedding was just about to begin now.