Chapter 141
A Chilly Day.
Cold wind slipped right through the gaps between the poorly constructed buildings.
It was indoors, but it didn’t feel like it. Although the environment was harsh, she had grown accustomed to it over time.
Natalie was anxious.
She found herself wandering to places she didn’t have to be, and that was the reason.
Han Siha, Adela, Yoon Haul—they were all busy with their own tasks.
Attending academic conferences, visiting research labs—everyone was engaged in something, and she felt like she was being left behind with nothing to do.
Natalie hadn’t achieved the grades required to participate in the academic conferences.
She had applied to assist Han Si-hyuk with office work but was rejected.
So, she threw herself into whatever she could find, no matter how trivial.
Even though she knew, as Han Siha had said, that it was a foolish condition, she jumped in anyway.
Doing something—anything—was much more comforting than doing nothing at all.
Natalie was surrounded by people who would be remembered in Ardel’s history as geniuses.
The anxiety that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to catch up to them made her push herself too hard.
Though she didn’t show it, she was exhausted.
But even so, if she didn’t do this—
She feared she might truly become a useless magician.
Natalie couldn’t let go.
While she was lost in thought—
“Natalie.”
Han Siha called her name.
Natalie instinctively relaxed the tense expression she hadn’t realized she was wearing.
“Yes!”
Han Siha had also volunteered for the life water division process.
Starting today, Han Siha would be working with her.
The job didn’t have particularly strict requirements, so most students in the Magic Department could take part. This meant he could be put to work on-site right away.
Although most people seemed to quit after just a few days because it was so grueling.
Han Siha glanced around at the conveyor belt that never stopped moving and muttered quietly.
“It feels like I’m being dragged into loading and unloading work.”
“I don’t know what that is, but… Have you done something similar before?”
“No, of course not.”
Han Siha shook his head as he watched the water bottles clattering along.
“I may have gained a reputation for killing rats, but I grew up fairly well, you know?”
“Ah! That’s right!”
Natalie often forgot that Han Siha came from the Castica family.
Although he was approachable even to commoners, he must have grown up without lifting a finger before entering the academy.
Suddenly, Natalie began to worry.
The life water division process was notoriously hard work. Could someone from a prestigious noble family like Han Siha endure it?
Natalie, who could control water, was in charge of drawing water from the life water pump and distributing it into containers.
It was a task that required a lot of magical power, but the difference between having the ability to control water and not having it was vast.
Han Siha would likely be responsible for physically fetching or carrying the life water.
“Um… Since I can control water, my job is a bit easier… Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m good at everything.”
“Of course!”
Natalie was impressed by Han Siha’s confidence.
After all, a talented mage who frequented the professors’ research labs wouldn’t find carrying water difficult.
She had heard that Lee Han could carry such loads with one hand. Surely, Han Siha, with similar grades, could do the same.
With sparkling eyes, Natalie asked, “Are you going to carry it with one hand?”
“No? Why would I?”
Han Siha chuckled and repeated something he had heard somewhere.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just move it with basic telekinesis?”
Basic magic was something everyone was learning through scrolls, so using telekinesis to lift and move things seemed like a very magical approach.
However, Natalie shook her head with a surprised look.
“It might be heavier than you think to lift with telekinesis…”
“Whoa!”
Before Natalie could finish speaking, Han Siha, who had tried to lift a container full of life water with telekinesis, panicked.
“Huh? Why… why won’t it lift?”
Unless it was someone like Adela, who could easily lift boulders buried in the ground, it was nearly impossible for Han Siha, whose main focus wasn’t telekinesis, to do so easily.
Natalie shouted at the now bewildered Han Siha.
“I can’t do it either! That—that’s not something you lift with telekinesis!”
“What? It’s not?”
“No, no one can do it that way!”
“Uh… uh….”
At Natalie’s words, the relaxed expression Han Siha had been wearing hardened.
Wait a minute.
Does this mean I have to lift it by hand?
—
I thought it felt like loading and unloading work, and it really was.
“Ugh!”
While Natalie was drawing and dividing the life water, I had to lug around the heavy containers, trembling all the while.
The worst part was that the containers were even larger than the ones I was familiar with.
I was shocked by their size—so large that it was difficult to hold even with both arms.
Kill… Just kill me.
Trembling.
“Ugh!”
As soon as I finished moving one container, another one full of life water rolled down the line.
Natalie was working faster than I expected, which meant the number of containers rolling in was also high.
I came here ready to flip the place over if I got angry.
But now it feels like I’m the one who’s been outsmarted.
“Han Siha! Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Probably.”
“Han Siha…!”
“Damn it, I should have written my will before coming.”
Staggering.
Now I understood why Natalie had been walking around like a zombie.
And on top of that, there weren’t even many workers in this massive factory!
And they were always so strict!
If I die of overwork, will they take responsibility?
The supervisor, who was frowning heavily, clicked his tongue and scolded me.
“Student! You need to move this quickly!”
“W-Wait a moment.”
“A young kid like you can’t even lift that properly!”
A talent from the Magic Department was personally lifting and moving water containers.
This didn’t look good at all, but I wasn’t sure if it was just me.
I felt dizzy.
“Huff… Huff.”
The thought that I was working this hard for a daily wage of only 10,000 won made my legs tremble.
They weren’t shaking because I was tired.
They were shaking because I was pissed.
Seriously.
“Oh.”
The conveyor belt kept moving without a break.
I barely had a moment to catch my breath, but I had no choice but to grab another container that had just clattered down.
“Ugh….”
Although the carrying was done by several people, the division process was handled by Natalie alone.
That was much more efficient, but it was also grinding Natalie down in the process.
Controlling water required a considerable amount of magical power.
But that wasn’t all. Like any magical operation, basic tasks like dividing water into containers required delicate manipulation and control.
It’s not a job that can be done non-stop for hours on end.
Who could possibly stare at one spot and focus their energy there for hours without a break?
Natalie, her face as white as a sheet, looked at me while I took a moment to lean against the wall and rest.
“I feel like I shouldn’t have brought you here. Are you really okay?”
“Could you not ask that when your own face looks half-dead? That’s the question I should be asking you.”
“….”
“I go into dungeons and take down monsters. Did you really think I’d struggle with just a bit of lifting?”
“You do look like you’re having a hard time, though.”
“…You must be seeing things.”
Natalie worries about me, and I worry about her.
Pushing oneself to the point of exhaustion is never good for one’s health.
I clicked my tongue in disapproval.
“Just so you know, this isn’t how you’re supposed to work.”
“What?”
Natalie was still inexperienced in this regard.
She’s so kind-hearted, like soft tofu, that she’d end up at a loss no matter where she went.
She didn’t know the first thing about navigating the world with cunning.
Lowering my voice, I looked at Natalie and asked, “What do you think happens when someone is really good at their job?”
“If you’re competent… isn’t that a good thing?”
“You get more work.”
“What?”
“Everyone starts piling things on you.”
“…!”
Natalie is a capable magician.
She might not think so, but she’s essentially doing the work of three people here by herself.
And the supervisor, that real lowlife, still pays her the same as everyone else.
Anyway,
There’s something Natalie needs to understand.
“Just do your fair share. Even if you do the work of two people, they’re not going to pay you double.”
“Gasp.”
“And… you’ll just wear yourself out faster.”
Take it from someone who died of overwork—this is advice you can trust.
Natalie seemed shocked by my words, standing there frozen.
“Th-that’s true….”
“See? I’m right, aren’t I?”
Oh, and if you work too hard…
I’ll just have even more stuff to carry!
Thud, thud, thud.
I sighed heavily as I looked over at the water bottles starting to roll down the conveyor belt again.
“I’m going to go settle my karmic debt, so don’t overdo it.”
“Okay!”
—
The real reason I followed Natalie here was simple.
It wasn’t because I was short on money, obviously. I came here looking for a lead.
The Ardel Empire-affiliated factory was rife with illegal employment and embezzlement.
I came to bust those scumbags and, coincidentally, help with the investigation Han Si-hyuk had recently started.
This kind of backbreaking labor wasn’t part of my plan, but whatever.
Pretending to work hard, I started chatting with the other workers here and there.
I even managed to get some critical testimony.
Places like this are never without a few skeletons in the closet.
“So, do they pay you properly here?”
“Pay?”
I casually dropped the question to the worker next to me, and they started talking without hesitation.
The supervisor was notorious for treating students like dirt, and the work environment wasn’t great.
It was clear they had a lot of pent-up frustration.
“You’re new here, so you might not know, but they’re great at skimming off the top.”
“They cheat you out of your pay?”
“Especially kids like you who look young and easy to take advantage of. Just last month, some of them didn’t even get half their pay.”
So they even skim off the measly 10,000 won daily wage?
I was beyond shocked—utterly speechless.
“And I’ve heard they’ve been siphoning off the leftover money too. They say if you go into the office, you’ll find a safe stuffed with gold coins.”
“They’re embezzling money too?”
“Everyone knows, but they keep quiet about it. They’ve only hired people they know, so we can’t say a word. The supervisor and the rest are all so full of themselves.”
This worker seemed to have been at the life water factory for quite a while.
They knew a lot. They lowered their voice and added, “It wasn’t like this before, but after the factory owner changed, things went downhill.
The other day, they even told us to dilute the life water with regular water to increase the volume.
All the stuff on the market now is just watered-down life water. Who knows if the potions are even being made properly?”
“That’s unbelievable.”
Exploiting minors, illegal employment, embezzlement, and diluting the life water.
Their track record was impressive enough to leave me dumbfounded.
If I report this to Han Si-hyuk, we could completely shut this place down.
Since the Ardel Empire’s authorities would be handling the investigation, they wouldn’t be able to weasel their way out of it.
“Stop chatting over there and get those containers moving!”
The supervisor barked orders at me, pointing fingers aggressively. I glared back at him before picking up another container.
I’m quitting after today.
Even if it’s for an investigation, I’m not doing this twice.
Groaning, I glanced out the window, now completely dark, and took a deep breath.
It was 1 AM.
The fact that they were still making us work at this hour was ridiculous, and the job wasn’t even finished yet.
Natalie, who had completed the earlier stages of the process on her own, was resting against the wall, clearly exhausted.
What normally required three people to divide the life water, they were now making Natalie do alone.
If Natalie stopped, the next part of the process wouldn’t move forward.
So she couldn’t afford even a moment to catch her breath.
“Ugh… Ugh….”
Natalie, looking worn out, sat back down.
I told her not to push herself too hard, but she never listens to me.
She’s so kind-hearted she can’t even bring herself to rebel.
That’s just how Natalie is, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her.
I was observing Natalie from a short distance away when it happened.
“Natalie!”
“Yes?”
The supervisor, frowning deeply, called out to Natalie irritably.
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