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“If you need anything, feel free to use it…! And any guest I don’t recognize isn’t a guest, so kick them out!”

“………”

I wanted to grill her about what kind of worries those were, what she thought of me, but my hoarse voice and exhausted state made even basic replies feel like a chore.

The current time was 5 AM, and the location was… Helena’s place, which was hard to tell if it was a villa or an apartment. …I hadn’t realized that having to leave early meant this early. If I’d known, I would have smashed my head against the hotel wall to get a nap in…!

On the other hand, I wondered just how brutal the combat police’s work schedule was… While pondering that, I waved goodbye to her as she handed me the door lock code and contact information before leaving.

Vroom—!!

With the familiar roar, the motorcycle drew an arc and re-entered the complex web of overpasses.

Now that the original owner was wearing the helmet I had been using, the silk-like hair that had been fluttering in the wind was hidden, which was a bit boring… but the fully armed rider look was pretty cool too.

…But unlike Neo Haven, this city has all its major facilities built in the air, so isn’t that basically a highway…? Hmm… um….

“…Ah?”

Standing in the hallway, I was dozing off and lost in thought when I staggered for a moment, and then I remembered what I had to do.

…I should sleep comfortably in the bed.

Beep…!

I brought my wrist to the door lock of the room behind me, and it unlocked.

Any excitement or thrill of entering a woman’s house for the first time, especially Helena’s house, was completely wiped out by my hazy consciousness.

Right now, I’m a zombie for sleep, not really alive until I pay off my debts, and not really dead even if I die… what nonsense is this….

I pushed open the stiff door and entered the house.

I fumbled for the light switch on the wall, and I saw the packages that a drone had dropped off in the delivery box next to the inner door. …Later, I’ll get up and organize them for sure.

When I turned my gaze forward, the interior was wider than I expected.

Maybe it was because the only space separated by walls was the bathroom, but next to what looked like the kitchen was a refrigerator, next to that was a TV, and in front of that was a sofa. Seeing the bed placed right behind the sofa, I even felt a sense of familiarity, like she was a free-spirited single person.

Maybe… in reality, there might not be much difference.

Leaving home, moving to Metropolis, and getting a decent job, an ordinary… well, not ordinary, but extraordinary sword enthusiast, H. That’s probably where she’s at right now.

“…Do I have to organize that too…?”

I hesitated for a moment before averting my eyes from the spiky tool rack mounted on the wall next to the bed.

The rack, which I’d only seen in movies, didn’t even have a clean impression, let alone the tools it should have had. Knives, swords, pistols. All sorts of leather accessories and discarded clothes were dangling from it, looking quite pathetic.

Is this really the room of the person who nagged me about having spare clothes? Or was I not even meeting Helena’s lowest standards…?

“…Whatever.”

I threw my leaden body onto the bed with its disheveled blankets.

I should think about how to repay her for providing me with a place in her sanctuary, and for the hospitality and affection she freely gave me… later.

…Somehow, with the Implant and her sexual openness, it felt like my mind was getting a spicy hit every time I learned something I didn’t know, like peeling an onion with my bare hands… but I guess that’s the fate of a stranger.

Squeak…!

The moderate elasticity repelled my collapsing body before accepting it again.

I still like beds like this. I like the feeling that brings back memories of Korea, which seem to be fading already. Of course, my bed and blankets back home didn’t have this sweet floral scent….

……Sweet floral scent?

“Ugh…!”

I forced myself to roll over and moved to the sofa. It wasn’t like Helena’s scent wasn’t here too, but… at least the concentration was much lower.

I calmed my heart, which had started to assert itself unnecessarily, and entrusted my consciousness to the approaching sleep.

‘……?’

Crack!

‘……’

My stiff fingers were holding something, and when I wiggled them… the corner of a smartphone fell onto my forehead.

…If my senses hadn’t felt so distant, like I was wearing oversized rubber gloves, I would have passed out from that just now.

Instead of this, I should hurry to the computer, but my legs wouldn’t move. …I’m in terrible condition.

I had no choice but to pick up the smartphone that had landed on my face again.

I barely unlocked the screen and was about to type in the search bar when….

Tick… tick-tick… tick!

‘……’

I thought it would be better to use my tongue instead, that’s how bad my typing was. I had already passed the three times of patience a long time ago.

I just opened the browsing history and clicked on the Haven Wiki.

At this rate, I don’t know when I’ll get all the information I need.

Fortunately, the website loaded normally, so the server must be working fine. But… was Korean internet always this slow…? It should react immediately when I touch it!

I struggled to scroll down. Of course, I wanted to check Helena Valentine’s document first and decide on a course of action.

Fortunately, as befitting a main character, her name was proudly listed in the recently modified documents section without having to search for it individually….

‘Neo Haven’ New!

‘Harvest Planet’ New!

‘Helena Valentine’ New!

‘Anastasia Valentine’ New!

‘Ann Grisha’ New!

‘Aaron Dreyfus’ New!

‘Daredevil Horatio’ New!

……My rusty and dull intuition quietly spoke to me.

It’s a shame that you tried to satisfy a small curiosity and ran into an iceberg, but you’ll only be able to look at one of these, or maybe not even one completely.

First, let’s calmly prioritize.

I don’t know why Horatio the pervert is calmly registered as an official character, but it’s not urgent, so exclude him.

Dreyfus… is scary, but I’m not entangled in a bad relationship with him. I’m just afraid of the price I have to pay.

That leaves five. If I exclude ‘Ann Grisha’, who I don’t even know, and one document that’s painful to look at, the other two are Metropolis documents, so there was no need to betray Helena.

I go into her document.

…Speaking of betrayal, it feels really uncomfortable, like I’m secretly reading her diary without her consent. No, I actually feel really guilty. What am I doing.

Tick….

Still, the uncertain future was more concerning than just throwing away this rare opportunity.

Character stats… background… relationships… related quests… history!

I grabbed onto my vision, which was starting to blur again, and read the history section. My belief that there would definitely be at least one piece of information that wasn’t in Neo Haven was absolutely correct.

• ……The origin of Helena Valentine’s prickly personality (in fact, it’s not just prickly, she actually stabs you physically;) or attitude can be found in the dialogue that comes out with a low probability when raising Anastasia’s favorability. Also, the names of related people who haven’t been revealed will come out if you collect the memory cards hidden in Harvest Planet…. –

Comes out…? Comes out what?!

I barely held up my eyelids, which were as heavy as they were right before I fell asleep, and read the sentence all the way to the end.

• ……For more details, refer to the ‘Ann Grisha’ document. –

“Ah—!! What the heck…!!”

My second awakening of the day came with a hearty shout. I shuddered in anger at being completely deceived and jumped out of sleep.

Moreover, waking up from a terrible nightmare and seeing the sun high in the sky and the sunlight streaming in made me feel twice as good, as if I had established an amazing lifestyle pattern just a few days after entering the city.

“……”

I unconsciously shook my legs with an indescribable anxiety.

It’s infuriating that they’re teasing me by giving me only a piece of the background with nothing drawn on it and telling me to complete the puzzle.

…Who held a knife to my throat and threatened me to peek? My conversation with Helena was more of a threat than that. She even had a lot of knives she could hold if she didn’t like something.

“…. Haa… I can’t do this.”

I slapped the sofa with a bang and got up cheerfully.

It wasn’t because I had a good plan or a clear answer, but rather because the solution was so daunting that I decided to organize my things… and if I had time, I would help with the cleaning.

Because… hasty judgments or conclusions are forbidden.

Now that I know that something unknown is lurking ahead, I need to find out who Ann Grisha is first, naturally.

…And the best way to do that is for Helena, who is probably related, to tell me willingly without me asking.

Tear…!

I tore open the envelope and pulled out its contents.

Instead of the simple and complete Cleansing Gel, I neatly piled up the mouthwash… and facial cleanser… on the sofa. …I neatly folded and placed the towels and clothes that came out next.

I don’t know if I can even call this organizing my things, but I had no idea where my assigned area was in this room, so this was the best choice I could make.

The bed… is probably too expensive to buy another one…? I’ll believe that.

“……Ah! Ms. Sylvia? It’s not that, but… I was wondering if it’s okay to pour detergent on the floor when cleaning the house. ……You’re saying if I’m going to work as a housekeeper, I should just come to Neo Haven with my body? That’s… a misunderstanding.”

How many hours did I spend showing respect for my busy roommate, even mobilizing my one and only housewife connection? Before night came, Helena returned a step earlier.

……She wasn’t in as good of a condition as I had hoped, though.

“Ehehe… Asha…! Did you miss me, sis?! Tell me you missed me!”

“Uh… yeah, I did. Welcome back.”

Why can’t she control her alcohol tolerance….

Where did this cute drunkard suddenly come from?

I moved as soon as I heard the sound of the door opening, and Helena, reeking of alcohol that made my nose tingle, pounced on me. Well, she almost collapsed into my arms, but anyway.

While agreeing with the drunkard’s rambling topic changes, saying that I did a good job cleaning and that she was sorry for coming home drunk, and patting her back. My eyes were constantly on the woman who had escorted Helena to the door.

“……”

A wry smile that seemed to say it was difficult to respond.

Neatly tied back brown pigtails and large round glasses. Living in this city, she gave off a very pastoral and peaceful impression.

“Asha…! Say hello! This is Ann, my police colleague and engineer in the same team…!”

“…Nice to meet you. I’m Ann Grisha….”