How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 106

After the meaningful encounter with the village chief of Geumgorae Village, I ordered dinner at the lodging’s restaurant.

Fortunately, it did not seem like they had played any tricks with the food, such as slipping candy into it.

The staff member who was carrying dishes repeatedly urged me to drink and even placed several bottles on my table, but I firmly refused every time.

As a result, I ended up occupying a table alone, unable to mingle with the free mercenaries whose behavior could be described as downright barbaric if one were to be harsh. Still, since I had no flamboyant war stories to chatter about with them, it was better to remain quietly apart.

So there I was, eating slowly while waiting for Monica, who might or might not show up, when after a while a woman around my age, who appeared to be a staff member, approached me with noticeable hesitation.

She was a different employee from the one who had been carrying dishes earlier.

Assuming she was about to recommend alcohol again, I deliberately looked out the window to avoid her gaze.

Contrary to my expectations, however, she spoke with an unexpectedly surprising line.

“May I sit here for a moment?”

There was an air of innocence in her tone.

Her voice was far too gentle for someone who would brazenly pressure a customer into anything.

Before answering, I nodded.

After taking a seat, she introduced herself as Go Minhwa and said that she made wild strawberry candy here.

She also added that she had never once left this village.

“So, I ended up overhearing your conversation with the village chief earlier. You are patrolling the barrier, right?”

“Yes. For now, at least.”

“Wow, that sounds so wonderful. I have barely ever gone far from this village. So whenever I meet Hunters who travel all over the place, I cannot help but admire them.”

Admiring Hunters who crossed the barrier while dragging bodies stained with sweat and blood.

And not even guild-affiliated Hunters who enjoyed popularity comparable to celebrities, but free mercenaries instead.

She certainly had a rather intense taste.

Only after thoroughly chewing on a meatball made from meat of some unknown monster did I respond.

“I actually envy people who stay in one place more than those who travel around.”

“Really?”

“Yes. In a world where a rift could open at any moment and monsters could strike, it is better to remain quietly in one’s neighborhood. More than anything, people usually end up longing for their hometown once they leave.”

“Longing for one’s hometown… You might be right. I really like our village. It has a kind of atmosphere that only the residents can feel.”

“That is good to hear. Life is best lived long and thin. All the more so if you love your own village. I have never really had a place I could call a hometown, so I cannot help but envy you.”

I twisted the corner of my lips in self-mockery.

Go Minhwa showed interest in my words and was about to speak right away, but…

“How did you end up losing your hometown—”

She quickly caught sight of my expression and changed her words.

“Ah! If it is all right with you, would you like me to show you around the village? There is not much to see, but there are hidden bits of natural beauty tucked behind the neon signs.”

She finished speaking with a bashful smile.

It was a smile full of Eastern charm, the kind one rarely saw in Seoul, where people of mixed heritage were common.

Of course, it was a bit bewildering for her to suddenly offer to guide me around the village, but since I was here to investigate anyway, it would be useful to observe the villagers’ perspectives.

“All right. But it is late today, so let us meet tomorrow during the day.”

“Um, that might be difficult. I am busy making candy during the daytime. So… let us meet in front of the whale statue after the sun sets.”

“All right, let us do that.”

“Oh! And, um, will I be able to hear your stories tomorrow as well? Your adventure stories.”

Unfortunately, I was a person quite far removed from adventure.

Still, I nodded for now.

“Really? I will be looking forward to it! My heart is already racing!”

***

Morning dawned over Geumgorae Village.

Thanks to avoiding the drunken, senseless Hunters the night before and returning to my room early, I woke up relatively quickly.

Of course, Monica did not show her face even once by the time I finished my meal and returned to my room.

Well, it was exactly as expected. She was probably still immersed in her games until late into the night.

“If the citizens of Seoul found out what a Special Affairs Division investigator was doing, they would probably foam at the mouth in outrage.”

In the end, I headed to her room.

Monica’s door was slightly ajar.

Wondering if something had happened, I carefully opened the door and stepped inside.

Fortunately, she was asleep in the lodging, but as soon as I made a sound while entering the room, she snapped awake, sharply lifting her eyes.

“Haah… I almost killed you.”

A chilling remark.

She was still clinging to the bed, so it was not as if she could kill anyone, but as the original author who had written her settings, I felt a slight chill run down my spine.

Monica lazily raised her upper body.

Then, ruffling her disheveled hair to an extreme, she asked,

“So, how much investigation has our probationary investigator managed to do? You seemed to be wandering around quite a bit yesterday.”

“Would it be fair to say I have grasped the outline?”

“Oh? Does that mean you can prove the tip-off? That things keep disappearing?”

“If I had figured that out, I would have left this village already. But I can at least make some deductions.”

I calmly laid out what I had learned the day before.

At that moment, seriousness seeped into Monica’s eyes, which until then had seemed endlessly light.

It was an expression that proved she was not a Special Affairs Division investigator for nothing.

“So the entire village is in on scamming the Hunters. The wild strawberry candy is the evidence.”

“Yes. Without secretly stealing Hunters’ items, it would be difficult for this village to accumulate wealth.”

“Then how are they getting their hands into the Hunters’ pockets?”

“They probably do it when they are passed out asleep at dawn. In a village without a single CCTV camera installed except at the entrance, it would not be difficult.”

“An excellent approach. Do I really not need to get involved at all?”

Monica now openly gave off the nuance that she intended to go play again.

I said, sounding fed up,

“You are not planning to go play again, are you?”

“Of course I am! Do you know how much I lost yesterday? When I leave the table, it is either after I win back double what I lost, or when there is nothing but dust left in my pockets.”

That was an extremely bad attitude, was it not…?

“Besides, this village has a rule that if you get a royal straight flush, they give you the golden whale in the center of the village.”

“What? That statue?”

“Yeah. No matter how I look at it, that thing seems like it was prepared just for me.”

“……”

Give it a rest.

The probability of getting a royal straight flush in a card game is 0.000154%.

In other words, they had no intention of giving it away.

From the village’s perspective, it was probably a condition they put up to attract Hunters by any means necessary.

But since I had no confidence in persuading her, I simply nodded my head several times without any real meaning.

“Well, anyway, if you are not going to look for clues, I will head out first.”

“I like your enthusiasm. Personally, I would prefer it if you found them as late as possible, but… still, as a senior investigator, it would be proper of me to give you one hint.”

A hint?

Did she know the truth behind this incident?

Without realizing it, I narrowed my eyes at Monica.

No matter how playful she was, she would not lie about an investigation.

Was her continued indulgence in games a form of leeway all along?

Was she testing me, a probationary investigator?

Just how long had she seen through the truth of this case?

Monica smiled slyly, as if she were enjoying my reaction.

“Have you ever read any folk tales?”

***

The daytime in Geumgorae Village was peaceful.

So peaceful that there were hardly any people walking the streets.

Aside from Hunters sweating as they tried to shake off their hangovers, or groups of mercenaries leaving the village, it was difficult to find anyone else outside.

“No matter how small the village is, can it really be this deserted?”

Watching the streets with suspicion, I soon realized that, as expected, the residents were nowhere to be seen.

Could it be that all the villagers were ghouls?

I pondered it briefly, but if they were all ghouls, I would have noticed right away yesterday.

Even without using the Demonic Eye, I could distinguish the mana exuded by ghouls purely through my senses.

“That said, they are not asleep or missing either.”

As I left the lodging earlier, I had seen the staff busily working.

They simply did not step out into the sunlight.

To prove my theory, I set out alone through the village.

If the villagers were deliberately stealing the Hunters’ belongings, there had to be a place where they stored those items.

After all, the demand for such items was only in Seoul, so they would not have been able to dispose of them every time.

Moreover, according to the tip-off, not only items but people were disappearing as well.

More precisely, whenever a group of mercenaries returned from hunting beyond the barrier and stayed one night in Geumgorae Village, one person would inevitably steal their companions’ belongings and then disappear.

Considering the strong individualistic tendencies of wandering Hunters, it was not an entirely implausible report, but…

“The problem is that they never manage to find the runaway companion.”

And this had happened multiple times.

If I were a resident of Geumgorae Village committing the crime, I would secretly kill one Hunter from the mercenary group and pin the theft on them.

That would make it much easier to slip through the investigative net.

“Where would I hide them? Where would it be effective to store them…?”

Given the mountainous terrain, there were plenty of places to hide things, but considering that the items would eventually be taken to Seoul to be sold, they would not use a location that was too deep.

A place with a reasonably nearby route, inconspicuous to the eye, and most importantly, accessible by wheels…

Without much hesitation, I activated the Demonic Eye.

I wandered through the forests around the village and even climbed a fairly tall nearby peak, but in the end, I found nothing.

“Am I coming up empty-handed?”

It was the result of my arrogance in thinking that everything would work out as long as I had the Demonic Eye.

From the peak, the entire village lay clearly in view.

The most eye-catching thing in the village was, unsurprisingly, the golden whale.

“Golden whale, huh….”

Although the sun should have been high in the sky, being a mountainous region, half of the village was already covered in shadow.

Watching more closely, I saw that the residents only used the shaded streets.

I examined the villagers moving about outside with the Demonic Eye, but still found no trace of ghouls.

However, there was a peculiar mana that they all shared.

It was similar to that of ghouls, yet subtly different.

“So that was it, after all.”

The truth of the case, which I had only grasped in outline, was now approaching in fine detail.

If not for the folk tales Monica had mentioned, it would certainly have taken much longer.

Of course, if this incident had been an episode described in the original work, I would have wrapped it up already and left the village, but for some reason, the process did not feel unpleasant.

Infuriatingly enough, the thought that I was facing a world even I, the original author, did not know made me feel a bit excited.

***

After sunset, Geumgorae Village was engulfed in shadow.

Monica was still engrossed in her games, and after having a simple dinner, I headed for the golden whale statue.

After waiting for about five minutes like that—

Before I knew it, Go Minhwa approached the statue.

“You waited, right? I am sorry.”

“No, I just got here as well.”

“Phew, that is a relief. I was worried you might not come.”

“There was no reason not to.”

“Is that so?”

She continued, wearing a shy expression.

“To be honest, my heart kept racing at the thought of spending time together. Perhaps… were you the same?”