Chapter 14: A Forgotten Plushie’s Secret
[Searching for Helena Moore’s grave ...]
[Ding! Helena Moore’s grave is located in a small town called Ashbourne.]
Ashbourne?
I never thought I’d hear that name again after leaving that city more than fifteen years ago.
[Your old body was buried in a public cemetery near the Joyful Rainbow Orphanage. The route to reach it—]
"I know where that is," I cut the system off.
The Joyful Rainbow Orphanage was the small place that raised me after my mother abandoned me at its doorstep in the middle of winter.
The caretakers told me I’d been left in a basket, wrapped in nothing but a thin blanket. My mother hadn’t even bothered to knock on the door, so if one of the staff hadn’t stepped outside to fetch firewood from the shed, I might not have survived the cold.
No one ever knew who had abandoned me there, but an old man living nearby claimed he saw a teenage girl running away from the orphanage in a hurry.
So, I always assumed my mother had gotten pregnant too young and decided she couldn’t take care of me or maybe ... she thought I was nothing but an obstacle in her life.
Sometimes, I wondered why she didn’t just abort me instead of going through all the trouble of giving birth, only to throw me away afterward.
Still, whatever her reason, at least she left me in front of the orphanage and not in a dumpster.
"But why there?" I whispered. "I haven’t kept in touch with them in years, except by sending monthly donations."
But, I even stopped donating once the scandal hit.
[Your manager and agency refused to handle your body, so they called the emergency contact you listed on your registration form.]
Oh ... I hadn’t expected that number to still work.
It belonged to a woman who grew up with me at the orphanage. She was older, so I always saw her as a big sister.
But unfortunately, we fought before I left because she didn’t want me to move to the big city at such a young age, and when I refused to listen, that was the end of our bond.
The last time we spoke, she was training to become a nun. So maybe now, she had taken her vows at the church in Ashbourne.
[Do you want to visit your grave, Host?]
I thought for a moment, then shook my head. "Not now."
The trip from Redmont to Ashbourne would take too long and could only be done by train. It felt like a waste of time, and besides, I didn’t want to squander my lucky buff.
I let out a long sigh before closing every article about my death. I didn’t even want to look at the comments, because I already knew they’d be filled with nothing but curses.
I don’t think I can bear reading hate comments about me for a while.
[Maybe you should take a short break, Host,] the system suggested gently. [You could apply the scar cream while calming your mind.]
Before I could answer, a large tube of scar cream appeared on the desk right in front of me. I jumped in surprise, my eyes going wide. "You ... you can just make things appear like that?"
[Yes, Host.]
[The system can also produce cash if you want it.]
So the money didn’t need to be transferred to my real bank account after all. Still, carrying around stacks of cash would be such a headache.
I really should open a new bank account, especially since my old one was still tied to Gideon Davenport.
"How much money do I have right now?" I asked while gently applying the cream over my scars.
[System Notice]
[Host: Helcia Orszebet]
[Body Age: 24]
[Balance: $31,060]
[Debt: $1,000,000]
[Fame: 11 / 100 — Local Buzz]
[Public Favor: -15%]
[Acting Skill: S-Grade]
[Main Quest:
Become the Nation’s Treasure (0%)
Earn 100% of Lando Brixton’s Favor (14%)]
Oh, that damn debt.
Every time I saw those numbers, I wanted to scream. I’d probably have to work myself to the bone for a full year just to scratch the surface of that.
But really, why should I even bother paying it? Addison was the one who forced Helcia to take out that bank loan. Couldn’t I just report her to the police?
Unfortunately, without concrete proof that she had forced me, it would be almost impossible to win in court.
Or ... maybe there was proof?
My eyes widened as Helcia’s forgotten memory slammed into me.
Without wasting a second, I dug through my luggage and pulled out the ugly frog plush toy that I had taken from Helcia’s desk earlier, but I didn’t even remember why I had taken it.
When I turned it over, I found a hidden zipper neatly stitched into its back.
[Congratulations, Host! You found a hidden camera that Helcia planted before!]
[A Random Quest!]
[Quest: Repair the spy cam’s memory card and let Lando see its contents.]
[Reward: $5,000]
[Time Limit: 4 days.]
"What ...?" I froze, staring at the system hologram panel. "What is this? I thought I was done with my weekly missions!"
[Sometimes, when you uncover something unusual, the system will generate a random quest.]
[But unlike weekly missions, you won’t be penalized if you fail.]
So in other words, I could earn even more money beyond the weekly missions! And the reward was even bigger than before!
[The rewards depend on the quest’s difficulty, Host.]
[The harder the task, the higher the prize.]
Still ... the system had only given me $3,000 for marrying Lando, and added $7,000 more for sealing the deal on the same day.
Was marrying him really that easy? So easy the system only valued it at ten grand in total?
Well, thinking about it, it hadn’t been difficult at all to convince him to marry me today.
Oh, whatever, forget that for now! Did the system just say fix the memory card? So ... in other words, it was broken?!
I pulled the tiny hidden camera out of the frog plushie and carefully slid the memory card free. My eyes narrowed when I noticed a burnt mark on one side of it.
I hissed under my breath. "Did this thing short-circuit?"
[Yes, Host. Because Helcia didn’t have much money, she bought a cheap spy cam. It’s only natural for it to break easily.]
I tilted my head, frowning as I turned the memory card over in my fingers. My voice dropped to a whisper. "How am I supposed to fix this ...?"