Chapter 35
Angelina pushed a pile of skewers into Yeon-Young’s hands.
If Ryu Won had been by her side, she could have called for help, but unfortunately, she was alone.
After looking down at the ground for a moment, Yeon-young looked up and handed the skewers back to Angelina.
She looked at her questioningly. She pointed to her uniform pocket and blurted out the truth.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any money, I’ll be back soon.” “Isn’t that bracelet you’re wearing your employee ID?”Angelina, her hands full of fruit skewers, pointed with her chin at the bracelet on Yeon-young’s wrist.
Yeon-young lifted the sleeve of her shirt a little and showed her the bracelet.
After examining the bracelet, Angelina shook her head up and down.
“This is an employee ID. You can pay with it.” “With this?” “That’s what they say in this world these days.” “Like a card?” “Uh, card! Here, swipe it.”Angelina gestured for me to follow her into the store.
Inside, it didn’t look like a fruit shop, since all the fruit was out for the festival.
It looked more like a laboratory. Colorful glass bottles of liquids were regularly displayed inside.
Angelina took a machine that looked like a power bank from the storage room and pressed the power button.
A hologram in an unknown language hovered over the machine, then disappeared.
“Put your bracelet here.”I cautiously stretched out my arm and pressed the gem on my bracelet firmly against the reader.
The hologram’s strange language scrambled a number.
[D5,000,000]
“Oh, you must have solved a big one, that’s a lot of money for a newbie.” “Really, I can buy a house?” “Not that much, just enough to buy all the skewers you want.”Angelina pushed a strawberry in front of Yeon-young’s mouth.
Yeon-young stared at the strawberry, her eyes as clear as the sky, and then popped it into her mouth.
Angelina’s strawberries were crushed and juicy, but the ones she sold had a crunchy texture like an apple.
The strange taste made Yeon-young’s eyes light up. Angelina touched Yeon-young’s cheek with her finger.
“This is delicious, isn’t it?” “It’s one of the reasons my family’s fruit is so popular. It tastes good and it strengthens your powers.”Yeon-young’s eyelashes fluttered at the mention of amplification.
It reminded her of the cookie incident that Jaeho had caused.
‘Why were the ghosts of the research team so obsessed with amplifying abilities?’
“It’s free since you’re here to do my bidding.” “I’ve heard rumors of someone joining the special team, but they never introduced me to Veronica, so I wrote the request as a joke.”So the request was a joke after all.
Yeon-young enjoyed the strawberry in her mouth, glad that it was a joke.
The more she chewed, the more she wanted more.
Luckily, Angelina was not a soul who had forgotten her experimental ethics.
With a flick of her hand, the scroll glowed green and was sealed, never to be opened again.
Her first request had been fulfilled.
***
Yeon-Young looked at the colorful glass bottles on the shelf.
‘Are these all energy drinks?’
It was a beautiful color that she would love to try if it didn’t have side effects like the strawberry one.
“Ms. Angelina, what is this?” “Ah! Would you like to try this?”Angelina’s face lit up when she saw Yeon-young’s interest in the glass bottle.
She rushed over, picked up the melon-colored bottle, and unscrewed the cap.
Yeon-young barely held back a gag. As soon as she took off the cap, instead of a delicious fruit, the smell of rotten eggs wafted out.
“This is new. It’s really good for you. Take a sip.”Yeon-young threw her hands up in a desperate attempt to keep the juice down, but it was no use.
Angelina was faster and got the drink into Yeon-young’s mouth.
The drink slid down her esophagus like frothy yogurt. She shook her head from side to side, trying to get the foul smell out of her mouth.
Angelina’s blue eyes twinkled as she watched Yeon-Young’s reaction.
“How about this? It’s a drink that boosts your powers for a day. The ingredients are stagnant water that can only be found in very deep forests…” “Ugh, wait.”Yeon-young spread her hands and bowed her head deeply.
As soon as she took a sip, her stomach turned as if she had been teleported.
At the same time, her eyes hurt as if they were going to fall out, and tears welled up in her eyes.
She rubbed her head with her hands, but the pain didn’t go away and she couldn’t help but sit there.
In response to her unexpected reaction, Angelina gently grabbed Yeon-young’s forearm.
When she blinked through the pain, the world went black as if she was going blind. Her chest heaved.
“Ms. Angelina. I can’t see my eyes.” “Eyes?”Angelina hurried to the dresser and rifled through her clothes. But Yeon-young could only guess from the sound, and she couldn’t even see a silhouette.
She wondered if she couldn’t see anything at all.
Trying to hide her fear, she grabbed the floor and stood up carefully.
Against her will, she felt tears trickle down her cheeks.
She wiped them away with her hand.
“Uh…”After wiping away the tears, she slowly closed and opened her eyes, did eye exercises, and began to see again.
Relieved to have her sight back, Yeon-young looked around the shop.
The scenery was the same as before, but something was different. The flow of the spirits’ power seemed to be relaxed.
There was a purple ball of light in Angelina’s direction.
It seemed to have been enhanced by the drink.
“I see nothing but cores.”She calmly shifted her gaze elsewhere, and all she could see were ability cores.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’d fallen into a world of goblin fire.
As she struggled to explain what was happening, she saw black smoke moving through the light of the power.
At first she thought it was a side effect, but it wasn’t. Something other than the core of the phantom was clearly filling the area.
The black smoke slowly rose into the air, merging with each other and growing in size.
When Yeon-Young moved forward a little, dodging the lights, the black smoke stretched into the air like a path leading somewhere.
She had seen it before. It was the remnants of the Snarl.
‘The direction is the forest?’
The sky near Iris’ forest was already covered with black smoke.
As if that wasn’t enough, the black smoke inside was also heading towards the forest.
Something bad was about to happen.
Her chest heaved and she felt a stinging pain in her eyes again. She covered her eyes with both hands and bowed her head.
Gradually, the numbness eased and she opened her eyes to see Angelina looking at Yeon-young with a worried expression.
The night sky was as clear as ever, with no black smoke in sight. She was back to normal.
Angelina sobbed as if she would burst into tears if touched.
“Are you okay, can you see me?” “Yes, I’m fine now, I can see you.” “I really thought you were in trouble…”When she came to, Angelina was clutching a bunch of glass vials to her chest, wondering when she’d gotten them.
Yeon-young’s brow furrowed slightly. She was glad that she had opened her eyes before she drank them.
The ominous aura in front of her eyes had dissipated, but she felt a sting.
The stream of black smoke was too much to let go.
Yeon-young handed the few scrolls she was holding to Angelina.
“Angelina, please take care of these. I have to go somewhere, but I’ll be right back.” “Where are you going?” “The forest. Oh, and if anyone comes and finds me, please tell them that the forest is strange and I’m going to check it out.”Yeon-young slipped out of the shop and looked at the sky. She retraced the direction the black stream had gone earlier.
Then she saw the black smoke in the air again.
She tapped her wristband and asked everyone on the special team to communicate.
She didn’t know if it was because there were so many ghosts on the streets, but no matter how long she waited, no one responded to her request.
Shuffling her feet, she found a deserted alley and ducked into it, thinking.
‘Was it right to evacuate everyone?’
Despite her nervousness, the streets were filled with the happy chatter of spirits.
The black smoke hung thick in the forest, too thick to waste time waiting for the other special teams to respond.
She chewed the flesh on the inside of her cheek and looked up.
“I’ll check it out first.”She tapped the bracelet on her hand to open the teleport, and black figures burst into the alley.
Visit my Ko-fi for discounted advanced chapters!!