Chapter 281

“Where are you going?”
Outside the imperial palace, Ming Hu asked Jiayi.
“For now!”
In response to Ming Hu’s question, Delay pointed somewhere. Ming Hu turned his head to look at where Delay was pointing.
“The Great Square?”
“Yeah, there’s a restaurant there called ‘Merchant,’ and I need to meet the owner.”
Ming Hu and Jie Li talked for a while and arrived at the Great Square. After arriving at the plaza, they immediately started looking for a restaurant called Mushroom.
“Isn’t that it?”
After a while, Ming Hu found a restaurant with a sign that said “Merchandise”. Jieyi followed Ming Hu into the restaurant he pointed out.
“So what happened?”
“What’s going on, can’t you see this?”
“Kick ass, but thank goodness. I can’t believe you only ended up with a broken arm.”
“What?”
“Hey, when’s our food coming out, grrrr!”
“Coming soon!”
There were a lot of people in the restaurant talking and eating.
“I guess he’s the owner, right?”
At Jie’s question, Ming Hu looked toward the counter Jie pointed to. Behind the counter was a sharp-faced man in his mid-fifties, looking around the restaurant.
“I think so.”
Ming Hu nodded, and Jie Li walked over to the counter. Ming Hu followed Jie to the counter.
“Sorry, sir. Sir, there’s no room.”
When I got to the counter, the man looking around the restaurant said.
“Uh, no.”
At the man’s words, Delay opened his mouth.
“I was introduced to you by Arma.”
“…!”
The man’s eyes widened as Delay finished speaking.
“Emol, look at the counter!”
“Yes? Yes!”
The man’s shout brought a man named Emol to the counter. In a quiet voice, the man continued to speak to Delay.
“You must be Delay. I’ve heard from Arma, and I don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s go to your room.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Emol arrived just as Ji-yeon nodded, and the man handed the counter over to Emol and began walking ahead. Minghu and Jieyi began to walk behind the man and soon arrived in front of what they assumed to be the man’s room.
“He’s…”
The man looked at Ming Hu and trailed off. The man’s eyes demanded an explanation of who Ming Hu was. Ji-yeon responded to the man’s look and words.
“It’s a group.”
“Hmm, I see, I’m sorry, but…”
The man who cleared his throat looked at Ming Hu with an apologetic expression.
“Would you mind waiting a moment?”
“What? Ah…yes.”
Ming Hu’s unexpected question was met with a puzzled voice before he nodded. It wasn’t just Myung-hoo who was confused. Ji-yeon also seemed a bit taken aback by the man’s words.
“Sorry.”
In response, the man apologized again, opened the door and stepped inside.
-Delay: I’ll be right back.
Delay also went inside, leaving a whisper for Ming Hu.
Pinched Jaw
“Ugh, that’s embarrassing.
As the door closed behind him, Ming Hu smirked at the embarrassment that was building up. Then he began to wait for the delay.
Profit
After a while, the door opened and the delay came out.
“Are you done?”
Ming Hu asked, “What do you think? Delay nodded in response to Ming Hu’s question.
“Yep! And it’s made quests shareable.”
Originally, the quest that Delay received was a non-shareable quest. However, after speaking with the man earlier, the quest seemed to have changed to be shareable.
“Really?”
Ming Hu couldn’t help but smile at the idea of sharing.
“I’ll share it with you.”
“Yes.”
Ming Hu nodded at Delay’s words.
[Would you like ‘Delay’ to share the quest ‘In Search of Emos’ with you].
After a while, a message appeared. There was no reason to decline. Ming Hu pressed OK.
[The quest ‘In Search of Emos’ was shared with you by ‘Delay’].
After the quest was shared with him, Ming Hu immediately opened the quest window to see the quest.
<Finding Emos
Find Emos in the back alleys of Amond, the capital of the Aman Empire.
Quest Difficulty: C
Quest Reward: Finding Darus
"…?
Ming Hu couldn't help but scratch his head when he saw the quest; there was something off about it. Ming Hu looked at the quest again, wondering if he had misread it. But he hadn't. Ming Hu turned and spoke to Jie.
"Delay."
"Huh?"
"It says it's a back alley?"
The quest said to find Emos in the back alleys of Armond.
"Wouldn't it take too long if I had to go through them all?"
The problem was that Amond was the capital of an empire, and if there were no back alleys, there were hundreds of them.
"Alas, it's fine."
Myung-hoo nodded his head in acknowledgment of the delay.
"I've heard what back alleys you hang out in."
"Really?"
Ming Hu breathed a sigh of relief at Delay's words. At least he knew which back alley she was operating from.
"Yeah, they do it in the back alleys toward the commercial district."
However, Ming Hu couldn't help but smile bitterly at the delay that followed.
"Commercial District…
I don't know how big the commercial district of Amond is, but if it's a commercial district, it's basically huge, which means there are a lot of back streets.
'Well, at least that's a relief…'
But Ming Hu was relieved to see that the range was much smaller than at first, so he closed the quest window. Then he said to Jie.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes!"
Ming Hu and Jie Li started walking to leave the restaurant.
"Kahahaha, you mean you did?"
"Yeah, just thinking about that… Ugh."
"Hagi is a bear, so you'd better be scared if he lunges at you."
"It's not scary!"
As I reached the entrance of the restaurant, I could hear the conversations of the diners in my ears again.
"But who is Emos?
Ming Hu opened his mouth, looking at Jie Li with a question that came to him in that moment.
"Delay, but who is Emos?"
"Emos?"
"Yes."
That was the moment.
"…?"
"…?"
Minghu and the delay were bound to panic.
"…"
"…"
The noisy restaurant became quieter than ever. Ming Hu and Jie Jie couldn't help but be puzzled by the reaction of the diners. All the people who had been chatting were silent, watching Ming Hu and Jie Zi with bated breath.
-Latency: Why is it suddenly doing that?
In a chilly mood, Delay whispered to Ming Hu.
-To Delay: I think it's because of Emos…?
Sure enough, when I asked who Emos was, people's jaws dropped.
-To Delay: Let's just get out of here quickly.
The atmosphere was quiet and chilly, and once outside, Ming Hu spoke up and walked quickly out of the restaurant.
"What's wrong?"
As they walked out of the restaurant, Jian Chen shook his head. Ming Hu turned around and looked back at the restaurant.
"Emos seems to be on to something… who the hell is Emos?"
We don't know who Emos is, but it's clear from people's reactions that there's something special about him.
"Well…"
At Myung-hoo's question, Ji-yeon opened her mouth with a puzzled expression.
"I don't know, except that he's the one with the next clue…"
"Oh. I see."
At Delay's words, Ming Hu let out a short exclamation and nodded. Then, with a smile, he continued.
"You said it was a back alley in a commercial district, right?"
"Yes!"
"Let's go."
Minghu and Delay started to walk again.
"I wish I could get it done today.
Starting tomorrow, he had to attend a party at the imperial palace. Ming Hu hoped he could finish it today.
"This is it, right?"
After entering the commercial district some time later, Ming Hu and Jie Li scanned their surroundings and were soon able to reach the entrance of a back alley.
"Yes!"
At Ming Hu's question, Jie nodded, and Ming Hu and Jie stepped into the back alley and began to walk inward.
"…There are more people than I thought there would be.
I expected the back streets to be deserted, quiet, and dreary, but contrary to my expectations, there was a lot of activity in the back streets of the commercial district.
"Why are they wearing robes?
Not everyone was wearing one, but most people were wearing robes.
-Delay: Minghuya, should we wear robes too?
Delay asked if it bothered him that most people were wearing robes.
-To Delay: Let's do it.
In response to Delay's question, Ming Hu opened his inventory and pulled out the black robe he had gotten from Karot in the past.
That was the moment.
puck
A man in red robes approached Ming Hu and bumped into him, and at that moment, Ming Hu couldn't help but frown.
[Identify with high agility].
[Pickpocket NPC 'Hermeto' has stolen 2 of your gold].
"Pickpocket?