Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

44 – A somewhat improvised extra pay arrest plan

A little mound grows out of the ground,

The invisible fight has begun.

Even as the grains of sand flowed slowly from my grasp, his mouth wouldn’t open.

Suddenly.

But I slowly spilled the sand.

Because I could see his eyes were still focused on mine.

If he was unwilling to give in, ‘Kuu, kill!’ I would have closed my eyes.

“……”

“……”

I could see the corner of his mouth twitching.

That’s why I didn’t say anything.

Suddenly.

About 30% of the sand in my hand.

The bloodshot eyes of the guy who kept looking at me trembled.

The core of this bizarre battle of spirits was too childish.

The one who opens his mouth first loses.

So even though the loser was already decided, this childish and meaningless thing continued.

Sareuk.

There is not much sand left.

Now his eyes were on the yellow line created by the gravity of the improvised hourglass instead of mine.

And I was trying to soothe my wobbly knees.

You bastard Vieri, there are no parses in another world.

But it was a pity that I had been crouching down until now, so I persevered.

Because the time he was able to endure differently from me was trickling down in front of his eyes.

Even at this moment.

The improvised hourglass is about to come to an end.

I set the angle of my hand a bit more.

The guy’s eyes widened.

It was an opportunity.

That’s why, laugh a little more, a little more.

His wrists were bent as if a dump truck was pouring silt from a construction site.

The quickening sand became thinner and thinner, and the silence was still maintained.

His face crumpled.

I don’t know what he imagined in this contemplative silence,

Seeing that the face gets distorted as the sand becomes thinner, it must be quite difficult.

But that wasn’t what I knew.

And finally.

The last drop fell from his grasp,

Just before falling to the ground.

“Okay! Tell me.”

The guy closed his eyes and declared defeat.

Looking at the trembling, it must have been quite bitter, whether it was in the eyes or in the subdued heart.

At the same time.

Tick.

The last grain of sand fell to the ground with a sound that was clearly inaudible but would have been obvious if it had been heard.

Taktak.

“Sorry.”

I opened my mouth as I brushed off the dirt remaining on my gloves.

“The crocodiles are very hungry.”

After the joke, slowly. It happened very slowly.

It’s not about playing Gao. It was because I thought my knee would go out if I suddenly got up.

Oh god damn. Since I’m over 30, my whole body is aching.

The hardened knee gradually straightened out, and the paralyzed sense of pain was awakened as much as it was straightened.

After confirming that he had his eyes tightly closed, I quickly frowned and continued to massage his throbbing knees.

“Now, since it took up a lot of time, let me ask you a quick question.”

I didn’t have to take care of my expression, but I had to pay attention to the tone of my voice.

A heavy voice flowed from my face, which must have been distorted in a funny way.

“Where is your mark?”

I asked him, pressing and turning the front of his knee with both hands.

“There is a piece of wood in my trouser pocket.”

“- Everything?”

“…”

“Yes.”

It was only then that he answered the nuance a little mildly.

“Ending everything with – sounds like sh*t to people to hear. It is not so?”

“Is that so?”

‘Am I crazy?’

“If you give such a f*cking answer, I have no choice but to treat you like a f*ck. Behave well.”

“Yes.”

I stopped him from dipping his hands into his pants.

“I take out the marker myself. Don’t move.”

Even though he said that, the bridge continued to scream his soul.

“Back pocket, right?”

“Yes.”

That’s why I was able to rummage through his pants after asking questions and doing Taekwondo academy-style stretching to loosen up the joints.

The mark he had was a piece of wood with a skull on it.

And after I got it, what I did was simple.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Yes?”

“Yeah, I’m not here to wake up. You’re just going to wake up.”

After putting the sack on his head again, I dragged him into the lobby.

Kick, thump.

And in front of me, I saw two men standing in front of the mercenaries.

“Yeah, ok.”

“That is the thief.”

Hwaran, who was standing next to Vieri, muttered, covering his mouth.

And with arms crossed as usual, I looked at the guy I had brought with me.

Seeing those silent eyes, I raised my empty hand, pointed at him, and sent a hand signal.

‘Enemy.’

The reason for doing this is simple.

If possible, it would have been better to postpone announcing that he was a mercenary.

Hwar Anh’s face distorted a little when he saw my hand signal, and he also opened his arms and sent a hand signal.

‘Enemy?’

Nodded.

‘Information, necessary.’

Brief hand signals went back and forth, and Hwaran, who roughly grasped the situation, pointed down.

‘To the basement.’

I knew where to go.

So we moved our feet quietly.

In the basement of the main building, there has always been a wine cellar inhabited by mice and Guilford.

And in the corner of that underground wine cellar, there was a tightly closed door with a small staircase that lay down again.

I don’t know when it started, but at least on the day the door was opened, the alcohol would always go away.

As if trying to cover up some smell.

Kikik.

Hwaran took him to the basement and came out after a while.

I tried to send a hand signal, but he stopped me.

“You don’t have to advertise that you’re good at hand signals. Aye.”

Now he can’t hear the sound of words.

Hwaran asked.

“Are there any markings he was carrying or anything like that? Like tattoos.”

“Here you are.”

I held out a piece of wood. His face frowned slightly.

“The black skull. It seems too obvious.”

He looked around for a while after receiving the mark from me.

“Hmm.”

And only one very brief review.

“They don’t give a f*ck, they carry a bloody picture.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“Well, it’s not like I know everything, but looking at the signs, at least he’s not in this castle. Must be a bandit.”

“After.”

At least Vieri was spared from being kidnapped by the guards.

“Then…”

“As always, if you investigate, you will find out, so you should be able to find out where the idiot came from.”

After saying that, Hwar An gave me instructions before going back into the cellar.

“You’d better not go into the basement today.”

“I will inform the other mercenaries as well.”

He nodded.

“I had a hard time.”

Kung.

With that one word, the basement door was locked again.

Standing on that narrow staircase, I listened towards the dark wooden door, but I heard nothing.

What will happen in there?

Eerie.

I don’t know if it’s because the air is cool and dark, but for some reason I felt a chill.

In the corner of that door, I felt like I saw something dark red.

Seeing that, I suddenly got goosebumps and climbed the stairs.

And never looked back.

***

The lobby I met again was refreshing.

It had been just a while ago that I had fallen face down shaking from the damn plague, but as if that had never happened, a warm feeling wrapped around my whole body.

“Hey, are you here?”

Kilt called out to me, and a few looked at me.

“Oh. I came first.”

After answering that, I stood in the middle of the lobby.

Party, pair.

After clapping to call attention, I shouted loudly.

“Hualan is banned from entering the basement today!”

“Suddenly?”

“Why?”

While some newbies muttered like that, Skal, who had come down from above and was reading a book on the table, asked.

“I guess you caught a thief?”

“Don’t be surprised, Vieri caught it.”

Upon hearing that, Vieri, who had been slumped over in her chair, stood up again, stretched out her hand, and shouted.

“Who would have caught that thief if not Vieri! A natural result!”

And what came to him like that was not cheers, but booing.

“Oh my God.”

“They say that even a broken watch is right twice, and finally it is right once. When will the next one be right?”

“Hey, did Vieri really catch it?”

I answered that question with a nod.

“Our Vieri has finally done something. The details are getting long, so I’ll pass.”

Hearing that, Guilford said, lifting only his head from the table where you broke it.

“Then I guess I’ll stop drinking today. It will cover the smell of blood well.”

Kung.

Then he hit his head on the table again.

After hearing Gilford’s words, the mood of the mercenaries towards Vieri changed.

It wasn’t that he was booing, it was as if he was treating the owner of a picnic.

“Vieri. I was counting on you.”

“Sure, then. We trust you, who will we trust?”

“He is a gambler who is good at everything except gambling, and a man who can pass on free drinks to his acquaintances even if he can’t share other money. I want to be like that in the future too.”

“Come out the bastard I just said.”

In line with that atmosphere, I sneaked in and shouted.

“Now, if there is someone who warmly welcomes Vieri, the main character of the day, shall we give a shout?”

“First of all, me!!!”

“Wow!!”

“Vieri! Vieri!”

They shouted together, and the mercenaries, who were rushing down to see what was going on, suddenly shouted his name together.

As I heard those shouts, I felt something cool in the cellar shake off.

As expected, it was right to raise the mood.

“Oh, what did you do to me like this? Really.”

Seeing that Vieri liked her that much made her feel better.

Absolutely, it wasn’t because I thought of free food to root for at the drinking table a little while later.

After the shouting died down, someone shouted.

“Now, let’s think about what to eat quickly.”

At that word someone shouted, the mercenaries, who had become a flower garden in their heads, no, drunkards, began running a happy circuit while holding a hasty marathon meeting.

“Should we go to the restaurant?”

“Is there a bar for all of us?”

“What a bar, you mean the restaurant in the headquarters. Asshole. Has the head that was hit by the mace still not healed?”

“Alcohol is in the basement, so I think I can just buy some snacks from the inn. Where would be a good place?”

“You go to the gray mare, I go to the sleeping giant.”

So everyone started to share roles, and some were on the verge of walking out the front door.

“What?”

But in conclusion, today’s drinking party could not be achieved.

“The captain has been working on splashing blood, but to think of splashing alcohol, tsk tsk.”

Because Huar’an came out earlier than we thought, before the plan was finalized.

***

The lobby, which had been in a festive atmosphere, became quiet, and only Hwaran and I were seated at a table.

“Hey, this is an opportunity to earn extra income.”

Hualan, with blood dripping from his face, said with a bloody smile.

“There are five guys who came down with him. They say it’s on the slum side. We’ll catch them.”

I asked him.

“Wouldn’t it be better to hand it over to the guards?”

The guards will be coming as mercenaries soon anyway, so why take the risk?

“I’ll give you a simple arithmetic problem, assei.”

Hwar An said, wiping his face with a handkerchief.

“If you defeat one thief, the reward is 10 coppers, but if you defeat all the bandits, the reward is 60 coppers. How much do you want to earn?”

The answer he wanted was simple.

“What can I do?”

“Catch without killing.”

Catch the rampaging thieves without killing them.

That was a pretty tough request.

“I don’t have confidence.”

Hearing those words, Huaruan muttered as he turned around.

“Then you can have someone else do it. I want to earn even pennies on my own, in the future-“

At that moment, several mercenaries who smelled the money began crawling out.

Wack.

I hurriedly grabbed his arm and said.

“What I said was that I was not confident that I would fail. Hwaran.”

f*ck, he laughed.

“As expected.”

“So, Hwaran, what do you think of the plan?”

Of course, it was impossible for me to deal with the five alone.

“Are you going to send me alone because I’m crazy? Everyone has their own plans.”

After speaking, he raised his head and shouted.

“Someone go to my office and get me a map!”

After a while, a crudely drawn map of the Hebrides was laid out on the table where the clutter had been cleared.

“According to my information, they’re here to buy necessities. And they might be drinking by now.”

He said, pointing all over the map.

“So, only five people go into the slums and bring them to the mercenary group, and the other two go to each inn just in case and wait appropriately. If they don’t come after that, we can buy snacks.”

Hwaran said with a smile.

“I’m going to open the wine cellar, but I’m running out of snacks. Should I use it?”

A small cheer was heard.

I asked Hwaran again.

“What is the composition of the ghetto entrance team?”

“Three volunteers, first-come, first-served basis, with you and one person who is knowledgeable about the geography of the slums.”

One of the mercenaries surrounding him raised his hand and said.

“Do you need an archer?”

Hwar An shook his head.

“It’s hard to deal with when an arrow breaks the window of someone else’s house. Similarly, mercenaries who use polearms are excluded. We need someone who is good at using blunt weapons like maces.”

“At least I think Zach will definitely be needed. I found the way well when I wiped out the bandits last time.”

I just said what came to mind.

“Then let’s make Zach the temporary squad leader, then what?”

At his question, I said with a smile.

“Please prepare only one wagon.”