The party continued on and arrived at a building.
The brokerage office.
It was a place where those who wanted to entrust work, and those looking for work, came as needed.
The moment Bido crossed the threshold,
he realized this place did not feel like “one place.”
The space inside was broad, but it was not orderly.
People barely looked at one another.
They only stepped aside to avoid colliding,
with an attitude that said there was no reason to take interest.
In one corner, low voices passed back and forth in conversation,
while in another, mercenaries with their armor removed leaned against the wall, passing the time.
They looked idle, but their eyes were not at rest.
Every time someone came in,
every time someone left,
those gazes shifted for a moment, then returned to where they had been.
Bido slowed his steps as he passed through that gap.
There was no one here to guide them, no one to welcome them.
It was impossible to tell who was a client and who was a broker.
And yet everyone
looked as if they knew exactly why they were here.
Along the wall, several people sat on a long bench with faces that seemed to be doing nothing at all.
Some had their eyes closed,
and some were looking down at the floor.
But no one was truly resting.
The air was mixed with the damp smell of sweat and oil.
The scent of cooling metal, the fishy odor of wet cloth.
Even after Bido drew breath, it did not feel as if he had properly inhaled.
When someone’s gaze brushed over him, it felt as though his worth was being appraised from the skin inward.
Even if no one spoke to him, it seemed the transaction had already begun.
This was a place where people were called not by their names, but by their uses.
So Bido hunched his shoulders a little more.
Ahead of him, Aslo headed inward with familiar steps,
and Miryeong naturally swept her eyes over the surroundings, as if memorizing people’s positions.
Melanie was looking around here and there with an expression of interest,
and Erdin already wore the face of someone reading the flow of the space.
Bido could not shake the feeling that he was somewhat out of place.
Here, no one tried to stand out,
and no one tried to hide.
They merely waited for what was needed and the person needed to happen to overlap by chance.
Bido steadied his breathing
and moved a little farther inside.
Only then did it truly sink in that this was the place where Aslo had been taking on jobs.
It was while Bido was looking around inside like that.
“Oh.”
A low voice sounded.
“Aslo?”
At that voice, Aslo stopped.
He turned his head to confirm who had spoken.
It was a woman leaning near the wall.
Her clothes were neat, but without ornament.
Her eyes were quick, and she showed no hesitation in measuring people.
“It really has been a long time.”
The woman spoke with a light smile.
“I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
Aslo gave a short nod.
Then, without a word, he looked back toward Miryeong.
Receiving that gaze,
Miryeong’s face showed that she understood the situation at once.
She gave a small nod.
“Go on.”
Aslo did not ask further.
He turned his head toward Rangnan and Muryeong,
and the three of them naturally followed the woman deeper into the brokerage office.
Bido watched them for a moment,
then soon turned his eyes away.
The remaining space was still busy.
But in the place Aslo’s group had left behind, there was a strangely empty feeling.
“Should we wait here?”
Melanie said.
Instead of answering, Miryeong scanned their surroundings.
“Don’t stand out.”
At that, Melanie shrugged.
In the meantime,
Bido found himself looking around more closely without realizing it.
A space that continued along the wall.
A place people often passed by,
but where no one lingered for long.
There,
he saw several sheets of paper posted up.
Bido moved his feet.
The closer he approached, the clearer the writing became.
They were notices pasted haphazardly onto the wall.
Some were new,
and some already had worn edges.
Bido stopped in front of them.
The writing was not large,
but it had been arranged deliberately to catch the eye.
Bold titles, and beneath them, short sentences.
Just then,
Miryeong’s voice came from beside him.
“You know how to read too?”
Bido flinched and turned his head.
“Ah… yes. A little.”
Melanie cut in with a laugh.
“She can’t read.”
Miryeong’s fist drove into Melanie’s side.
“Urgh!”
Melanie writhed in pain for a moment,
then pointed at one of the notices with her finger.
“That one.”
Bido’s gaze followed.
There, written in letters a little neater than the others, were the words—
— Blood Demon.
Elimination completed.
Beneath it remained one short phrase,
and a date so old its color had faded.
Bido drew in a breath.
“This is…”
Melanie continued naturally.
“That Blood Demon is the sword you have.”
When Bido lifted his head,
Melanie looked at the notice and said,
“Zhao, the one who used to own that sword.”
“And,”
she added,
“Aslo caught him.”
Bido looked back at the notice.
The word “elimination” felt heavier than he had expected.
Below it,
there were papers whose colors were still vivid.
— Fire Demon.
Currently exists. Extremely dangerous.
And beside it,
— Moon Demon.
Under pursuit.
Bido’s gaze stopped between those two words.
Moon.
Just then,
the light clink of a cup came from beside them.
“That.”
Bido raised his head and looked toward where the sound had come from.
A man stood a short distance away from the wall, holding a drinking cup.
The cup was almost empty,
and without drinking from it, he was rolling his finger around its rim.
“You’d be better off not looking too long.”
The man spoke while looking at the notices.
Miryeong and Melanie said nothing.
They merely listened without withdrawing their gazes.
“Chasing names like those,”
the man continued in a low voice,
“or stepping forward for the sake of earning some fame—seen plenty of bastards do that and never come back.”
He tilted his cup once.
“Blood Demon.”
When he spoke that name,
his voice slowed ever so slightly.
“That one’s an exception.”
The man shook his head.
“Aslo got the title Demon Hunter because of that.”
He rolled his tongue briefly before speaking.
“I don’t know how he did it.”
“Whether it was luck, or madness.”
He shrugged.
“But there isn’t a next one.”
The man’s gaze lowered toward the notices beneath.
Fire Demon.
Moon Demon.
“Things like that,”
he said quietly,
“the moment you start chasing them, you’re already half finished.”
After he finished speaking, the man added no more.
He raised his cup,
and as if nothing had happened, turned his gaze back toward the others.
Bido tore his eyes away from the notices
and slowly turned around.
Miryeong and Melanie did not look at them any longer either.
The four of them moved without a word.
Toward the inner area where Aslo had disappeared,
they crossed through the people once more.
As they walked,
Miryeong suddenly spoke.
“But.”
Her words sounded as if they were not directed at anyone in particular.
“Aslo must have been paid quite a lot.”
Melanie laughed.
“True. If you take down a name like that,”
“wouldn’t it be enough to buy several houses?”
Miryeong snorted.
“Where did all that money go?”
Erdin was walking ahead,
and without even turning his head, he spoke in a low voice.
“All of it into Eunwoldan funds.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
Miryeong paused briefly, then said shortly,
“Ah, is that so.”
She did not ask anything more.
Melanie shrugged,
and Bido let the conversation pass without a word.
Inside the brokerage office, everything was still moving at the same pace.
People were spending their own time,
and no one paid any attention to their conversation.
Feeling that this was something of a relief,
Bido walked forward again.
—
Some time passed.
The air inside the brokerage office had not changed much,
but people’s positions had shifted little by little.
Some had disappeared,
and some had newly taken their places.
Through them, Aslo returned.
Rangnan and Muryeong were with him,
and in his hand he held several folded sheets of paper.
There was no particular expression on his face.
Aslo stopped in front of the group.
Then, without a word, he began handing out the papers.
One to Erdin,
one to Melanie,
and the final sheet—
he held out to Bido.
Bido hesitated for a moment before accepting it.
Aslo said,
“For that one, you go with Miryeong.”
Miryeong narrowed her eyes.
“The two of us?”
“Yes.”
Aslo nodded.
“It’s a confirmation job.”
Bido unfolded the paper.
The writing was simple.
Outskirts of Schia.
Haraya man.
No contact for several days.
Last place sighted.
And at the very bottom, one short sentence.
“Confirm missing person.”
Erdin spoke as if reading it in a low voice.
“There may be a possibility of kidnapping.”
“Maybe.”
Aslo did not deny it.
“And there’s no basis to say there isn’t.”
Miryeong snorted.
“Then it’ll be pretty troublesome.”
Aslo looked at her once.
“Even so, you’ll be there anyway.”
Miryeong did not answer and merely shrugged.
Aslo’s gaze returned to Bido.
“It isn’t something you need to fight over.”
“So if it gets dangerous, come back immediately.”
He spoke clearly.
Bido gripped the paper tightly.
“So it’s… confirming a person.”
“Yes.”
Aslo nodded.
“But be careful.”
At those words,
the paper in Bido’s hand felt a little heavier.
Miryeong turned first.
“Then let’s go.”
Bido looked down at the paper once more,
then folded it carefully.
And following behind Miryeong, he walked out of the noise of the brokerage office.