Dohyuk raised his eyebrow.
The ruler of the world. As far as he knew, this meant that person was a god. But-
“Right now?” Dohyuk asked. “I don’t have time right now. You already wasted my precious hour.”
“I-I’m sorry! Th-the president told me to bring you r-r-right now…”
“So he has business with me? How long will it take?”
“Uh…”
It seemed like she was not aware.
“Okay.” Dohyuk waved his hand, “Whatever his business is, if I can return back when I need to, I’ll accept the invitation.”
“OH!”
She brightened up immediately and handed over two tickets, one black and one white. Other than the two colors, they were the same as all the other tickets…
There was one difference. Dohyuk glanced at both tickets as he asked, “Which one is to ‘go’?”
“The black one will take you directly to the president. If you rip the white…”
“It only takes me?”
“Huh?”
Dohyuk pointed at the unconscious child at the back.
“You see, I have company and this isn’t a safe place to say the least. I need someone to watch the kid.”
“U-uh the ticket is very limited so…”
“Oh. Then it’s very simple.” Dohyuk smiled, “You watch the kid then.”
“What?!”
“If anything happens to the kid, our deal is over. You know that, right?”
Marie tried to object, but Dohyuk ripped the ticket.
Dohyuk could smell hundreds of scented candles at once. He was in a large tent. There were colorful ornaments and carpets everywhere; the place was decorated lavishly. Dohyuk then felt that someone was watching him. However, he was still out of balance and focus from the teleportation.
“Are you… the president?”
“You haven’t even seen me yet.”
He could hear the voice of a woman.
“Relax, control of yourself first.”
Dohyuk was surprised. The figure didn’t seem to be small at all. Soon, he was able to see the president.
“Welcome, customer.”
She was a very tall woman. She was lying down on a long table, so it was hard to figure out exactly how tall, but she was definitely taller than Dohyuk. Like all the other merchants, she wore baggy clothing, but it was easy to notice that she wasn’t plump at all.
“Here.”
She pointed at the floor in front of her. There was a plush cushion for Dohyuk to sit on, so he walked over and sat down. She sighed in astonishment.
“You really sat down.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Well, I didn’t think we’d meet right away actually,” she said as she let out smoke from her pipe. “I gave the ticket to Marie, but as you know, she’s not the persuasive type. I thought I would have to wait until you had no other way but to rip the ticket.”
She was being honest – no one would dare to travel to someplace that did not guarantee safety. No one in the right mind would agree to that kind of invitation. If Dohyuk was clever, he would keep the ticket to escape the worst possible situation he might be trapped in.
“But you came anyway, so we’ll talk.” She snapped her fingers, “I guess I still need to serve you with a feast.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I won’t stay too long.”
“Hmm.”
“Let’s keep it short and simple.”
“Do you think it is up to you?” she smiled teasingly at Dohyuk.
“That white ticket… you never know if it works until you try.”
“Right.”
“Then, don’t you think you should be ‘nice’ to me for now?”
Dohyuk looked at her silently and spoke. “Well, I don’t think you don’t want me here too long either.”
“Why is that?’
Dohyuk then flashed the white ticket in his hand.
“This. You’re not following the rules, are you?”
“….!”
Dohyuk first realized it when he held the ticket. Everyone else might’ve noticed it as well if they had a chance to touch it. Unlike other tickets, no ‘words’ popped up from the black and white tickets. Dohyuk already knew what it meant for items to have ranks or descriptions that popped up.
“I’m sure the existence of these tickets is probably not allowed. I mean, if you can kill me and perfectly erase the fact that I was here, I would be screwed… but I’m guessing its easier for you to put me where I was originally instead. What do you think?”
“Hmmmm.”
The president puffed on the pipe and let out some steam again.
She grinned. “I see! That’s what you had in mind. I was curious.”
The woman then scanned Dohyuk’s body. “You were so tense… it was as if you were ready to die in the next second. I like the courage, but isn’t it weird to see that from a man who carelessly ripped the ticket right away to come all the way here?”
A few men walked into the tent. Dohyuk turned, but there was nothing to worry about. It was the feast she had prepared.
“Enjoy.”
Dohyuk wasn’t really interested in what she had prepared until a few seconds ago. He did not have time as he was also not too fond of other worlds. Like the cities of those Bermurans or vampiric creatures, most worlds were corrupt and distorted. Yet the feast in front of him was…
“It’s different than what you expected, isn’t it?” she said. Dohyuk did not look up. He felt the urge to jump into the feast. With fifteen dishes and three cups, the table was filled with foods in various colors and a delicious smell that tempted Dohyuk to dive in. It was the urge to eat that Dohyuk had forgotten for a while.
“It’s okay to enjoy! It’s for you, customer.”
“…”
Dohyuk hesitated for a bit before took up a fork and a knife. He then sliced the steak-like meat and put it into his mouth.
“How do you like it?”
“….”
“Is it wonderful? Are you amazed?”
Dohyuk chewed. Then he swallowed the food and put the utensils back down on the table.
“It’s… good.”
“Haha! You are really something, customer.”
She spoke as she laughed and clapped. “Most of them are mistaken when they say that they lost all their senses while trying to survive! When they feel the pure ‘joy’ like this, they lose it.”
He understood what she was talking about. Even now, Dohyuk was resisting the urge to dive down to the table again and eat everything that was on it. His eyes did not stay on the table as he turned to the entrance of the tent where the men walked out.
“Why? Are you curious?”
“…”
Yes. Maybe this land was different, just based off the shape and taste of the food. It meant that this world had a civilization that prospered.
“I can show you around sometime. But as you said, we both don’t have time on our hands right now.”
“…Right,” Dohyuk nodded. “So, you are not a god.”
“Huh? Wow, you’re going straight for it?”
“I waited enough for your introduction. It’s my turn.”
“And you return when your time is up?”
“You have a problem with that?”
The president took puffed the pipe again. Dohyuk asked, “What are you… all of you?”
It was a simple but direct question. As he said, the president wasn’t a god. And the merchants and men that walked into the tent were not ‘corrupt’ either. It was weird. Casita was determined to illuminate every single living. Yet, these people were part of this illumination and they were still holding themselves together.
“How…”
“How we managed to keep all this?” the president interrupted.
“It’s simple. We fought,” she simply stated as she adjusted her sitting position to directly face Dohyuk.
“Just like you did, Yoo Dohyuk.”
