I couldn’t help but tighten my grip around Jo Hye-Jin’s hand as I felt like I was falling for a criminal’s trap.

“Don’t be like that. I’m a pretty charming person, you know. It’s a bit uncomfortable since you can’t see my face because of my mask and I can’t take off my clothes either…” the woman said.

“I’m sorry but we already have plans. If we get the chance later, let’s meet,” I suggested.

“How about for a moment? If that’s uncomfortable for you, we can go talk in a quiet place. I don’t make this kind of offer to just anyone… really,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” I declined once again.

I glanced at Jo Hye-Jin as if I was asking her to take care of this crazy woman somehow and she must’ve understood because I saw her standing in front of me. Seeing me hold her hand tightly while looking anxious made her realize that I was feeling uncomfortable.

“I don’t know who you are, but please stop. Didn’t he decline several times already? Asking him anymore is considered rude,” Jo Hye-Jin said.

“Ohh…”

“Let’s go, Yuka,” I said.

“Yes, Haruka,” she replied.

“Wait, she’s your underling and not your lover?” the woman asked.

“It’s none of your business what kind of relationship we’re in, so please move aside. If you keep causing us trouble, I will call the guards. I don’t want to cause a commotion, so please move out of our way. The fact that you’re blocking our path is very uncomfortable,” Jo Hye-Jin responded back.

“Your subordinate is more possessive than I thought,” the woman commented.

“It’s not a matter of possessiveness, but more like basic courtesy,” Jo Hye-Jin said bluntly.

“...”

“...”

The two women glared at each other and even though I was feeling a bit nervous, there wasn’t anything this crazy woman could do because she knew that she wasn’t allowed to cause a commotion here. Jo Hye-Jin pulled me to her side once again and naturally, our bodies got closer. I was certain there wasn’t a hidden meaning behind it. She was just trying to protect me, but for the others, it looked as if she was marking her territory.

The woman whose unique habit was corpse lover looked at me and then quietly moved. Another woman who had the unique habit, the master of pain, turned her attention away from me.

‘Why are there so many crazy women here?’

There were a lot of crazy men too, but I didn’t care about them, so they were out of the question.

Xiaolin must have realized the crowd was looking at her because she started walking away slowly and the group of men who ran to her side must be her entourage.

“A pen and paper,” the woman requested.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“You can send letters to this address. I do hope you contact me,” she said.

“I’ll contact you if I get the chance,” I told her.

“It seems like we both don’t want to reveal our identities… Seeing as how you’re here, I think we’re in the same position, but I’m more competent than you think. I’m sure I can be helpful in many ways…” she trailed off.

“I can’t promise that I’ll contact you, but I’ll be sure to visit you someday,” I said.

‘I never will, you bitch...’

“Please do. It’s a promise. I’ll be on my way…”

‘Please go away, please go away. Disappear from the continent…’

The woman kept looking back at me as if she was disappointed and naturally, I felt my goosebumps rising. When I avoided the people’s gaze as much as possible, we arrived at a place where we were completely out of their sight.

“You sure are popular,” Jo Hye-Jin commented.

“I’m not happy about being popular in a place like this. I want you to walk closer to me,” I requested.

“...”

“I don’t like to pretend that we have a good relationship, but can’t you at least act like you’re possessive over me? I’m uncomfortable by the fact that people are looking at me,” I explained.

“Did you spray pheromones on yourself or something?” she asked.

“I think it’s something similar. It’s a bit heartbreaking that it’s people like that women are getting influenced by it… anyway, let’s walk a bit closer…” I said once again.

“I feel uncomfortable being this close to you,” she spoke up.

“It breaks my heart to hear you say that in front of me,” I told her.

“...”

But it was effective. Since we walked like a couple whispering sweet words to each other, it felt like the people no longer wanted to approach us. In this place, talking to other people wasn’t a common thing to do, so I was sure that the Xiaolin woman had been a bit aggressive. Since the guards had to be thorough with the security and the guests’ safety, I didn’t have to be that worried about an incident breaking out here.

‘Let’s not see each other ever again...’

I didn’t really want to meet any of the women here. I couldn’t deny the fact that everyone here was skilled, but I didn’t want to deal with more women.

Anyway, when we reached our destination, I couldn’t help but look around slowly and Jo Hye-In must’ve gotten used to the place now because she started looking around as well. We were more curious than uncomfortable about this place, but the deeper we went in, the more we realized that the atmosphere was changing. The changes made us wary. In the hallway that was once filled with people, people started disappearing one by one, so I assumed everyone went off to fulfill their personal tasks.

I thought it would be best to go into one of these rooms, so I decided to enter a random room. When I signaled to the guards protecting the door, the large door opened and what I saw was a typical slave auction house. The fact that the people here could casually sit and talk in the luxurious chairs proved that they were used to this kind of situation.

‘Is this her first time seeing a different race?’

As soon as I pulled Jo Hye-Jin into a chair, one of the guides approached us.

“Anything is fine,” I told them.

“Okay...”

They must have approached us to ask what we wanted to drink.

When I sat on the luxurious, soft chair that was big enough for me to lie down, I wanted to sleep. I guess the auction hadn’t started yet because the empty chairs were starting to become occupied.

“What is this place?” Jo Hye-Jin asked.

“I didn’t check so I’m not sure… it looks like a slave auction house though. I’m sure we’ll find out. By the way, don’t make a fuss,” I warned her.

“I already know,” she answered.

“I’m glad you know. By the way, do you know anything about the other races?” I asked.

“No, I’ve only heard rumors and never seen them myself,” she replied.

“Really? That’s unfortunate. I don’t know much about them either,” I told her.

“More than that, isn’t that the same woman who approached us earlier?” she asked.

When I followed her gaze, I saw the same woman from earlier.

‘Sh… shit…’

“I’m sure she didn’t follow us, but don’t look at her. I don’t want her to know that we’re here,” I said.

I was certain she was here before we came in. When I turned my attention away from her, I saw someone walking on the stage. The bright lights filled the dark room and the scene reminded me of a movie theater and that was when I heard a voice.

“Thank you for waiting. I would like to thank each and every one of you for visiting our auction house today. You can look forward to the quality of the items we have today because our club is all about sincerity,” said the person on the stage.

It was such a cheesy, typical statement. I had high expectations since it was such a luxurious place, but I guess they couldn’t do anything about his speech.

“It wouldn’t be nice if I took too much of your time since you’re all busy people. I know it’s sudden, but we'll begin the auction. First up is a 54-year-old elf, Lumania.”

From one side of the stage, a woman with long ears appeared and I didn’t want to do this, but my eyes widened because I had never seen anyone more beautiful up until now. But that only lasted for a moment. I couldn’t help but frown when I noticed how frightened the elf looked when she walked on the stage. She was bare with restraints on her hands and feet and the way she was trembling was enough for me to pity her. Greed quickly filled those who were in their seats and even though the elf was moving her mouth, I couldn’t hear anything, so I guess they used a spell on her.

“We had a hard time capturing this elf. As you can see, she has emerald-colored hair which is rare and she also has a great figure. She’s a clean product and has been well taken care of overall, including her nutritional needs,” the auctioneer said.

When the two people who came with the elf slowly grabbed the elf’s body and restrained her, the elf tried to scream but no sound came out. I thought they were trying to show Lumania’s back, but she was so scared that her body was trembling. Tears were rolling down her eyes and her legs must’ve gone weak because she couldn’t stand properly.

“She barely has any combat knowledge, so we purposely didn’t train her, but I believe this is a necessary product for those with a sadistic personality because despite being an elf, she’s considered pretty young,” the auctioneer added.

“I want to hear her voice...”

“If that’s your wish, of course, we’ll let you hear her voice. To the other guests, we appreciate your understanding. I’ll temporarily remove the spell casted on her,” they said.

A mage on one side of the stage started reciting a spell and I immediately heard the elf scream. “Please help me! Please… help me. Someone… please help me,” the elf begged.

Her voice was clear and beautiful, but her words weren't. She looked around while crying, but no one reacted to her plea. Some of the Holy Empire’s nobles didn’t even consider other races as individuals and it was obvious what kind of personalities the other people here had.

“She has a nice voice,” one of the guests commented.

“Hahaha, I knew you would feel that way,” the auctioneer boisterously laughed.

Basically, this was the situation…

When I glanced over, I noticed Jo Hye-Jin shaking angrily. She tightened her fist and the frown on her face made it seem like she was in the bathroom. I knew she was going to be angry, but I never imagined that she would be this angry. Her personality was better than I thought.

“I’ll say it again, but if you make a fuss…”

“I… know,” Jo Hye-Jin said, interrupting me.

Basically, we were witnessing a violation of personal rights, and naturally, the scene was difficult to understand with the common sense of modern people. There was no way our righteous Jo Hye-Jin would understand the people who were cheering or raising their fingers to bid on the elf. Those people didn’t care about the pain others felt; no, they actually enjoyed the pain of others.

“What do you think the problem is? What will solve the problem?” I asked her.

“What kind of answer do you want to hear from me?” she asked.

“It’s nothing, Yuka,” I said.

Jo Hye-Jin seemed like she was regretting it, but she also felt stressed by it. I was sure she never imagined that it would be like this. She probably didn’t know the auction house would be this big and the connected rooms would be filled with madness because the only thing she saw was a ledger. I was certain she never saw how things actually worked around here.

“This is nothing. I’m actually surprised that it’s a lot cleaner than I thought. I’m sure they have separate spaces for special slaves, but since we don’t have a lot of time, we can just skip it,” I suggested.

“...”

“Now that we saw with our own eyes how the slave trading works, aren’t you curious about how monsters are being used?” I asked her.

“That’s…”

“Let’s go.”

Jo Hye-Jin remained silent.

“I’ll have a glass…”

I knew she was going to react that way.

“Let’s move to the next location, Haruka,” she said.

“Okay, Yuka.”