Before we officially headed out, I put the kid-sized hat and mask I had bought earlier on Cha Sahyeon.
There was still a chance that the lab bastards who'd escaped were searching for her. Letting her walk around with her face exposed while shopping was too risky.
Not that this will mean much at this point...
Still, when we'd gone to the dungeon or the rift before, we'd only used taxis or cars. This time, we'd be walking around for hours. I had no choice but to be careful.
"Bear with it, even if it's uncomfortable."
I worried she might complain, but Sahyeon quietly accepted everything I put on her without resistance.
In fact, she seemed oddly pleased with the hat and mask. I knew just how suffocating it was to wear all that—after all, I dressed the same way when using my hidden skill. So why did she like it? I couldn't begin to guess.
"Let's go."
After checking her outfit one last time, I took her hand and stepped out of the house.
Since she couldn't decide what kind of present she wanted, we headed to the nearest department store. It had just about everything; surely she'd find something she liked there.
Even though it was a weekday afternoon, the place was fairly crowded. I tightened my grip on her hand to make sure we didn't get separated.
"Kiddo, if you see something you want, tell me right away. Just... not clothes. I can get you those anytime. They're not really presents."
"Mm-hm."
Sahyeon nodded enthusiastically, though her gaze seemed distant and unfocused.
What caught her attention was the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the main hall. Her eyes lit up with fascination at the way the crystals shimmered in the light.
Come to think of it, she reacted the same way at the hotel lobby.
Does she like jewels, or is it just anything that sparkles? Probably both. Jewels are sparkly, after all.
With a decent idea now of what kind of gift might make her happy, I took us up to the fifth floor.
The fifth floor of the department store housed the item shops. Since there was such a huge variety of items that could be made from monster materials and artifacts, the designs varied wildly too—but the most common were those incorporating gemstones.
People often fused monster parts or artifacts with jewels to create accessories. I had done the same in the C-281 district, where I bought a necklace with an inventory function from Son Gayoung.
Passing stores filled with watches, gloves, and shoes, we finally entered one that focused solely on gemstone accessories. As expected of a specialty store, their display cases were lined with all kinds of sparkling treasures.
Just as I predicted, Sahyeon's face lit up with a faint blush as she looked at the accessories. Smiling to myself, I lifted her into my arms to let her browse comfortably.
"Please take your time."
A clerk who had spotted us approaching stepped back with quick intuition when she saw Sahyeon eagerly scanning the cases from my arms.
Holding her close, I slowly walked around the shop. Rings were by far the most common item, followed by necklaces—probably because they're subtle yet harder to lose.
"What do you think? See anything you like?"
We had made a full lap of the store, but nothing really caught my eye. I was just about to ask again when Sahyeon pointed at something without hesitation.
"This one?"
She had chosen a display of earrings. Among the various colors, she picked out a pair embedded with vivid green gems. It was obvious she liked them because they matched her own emerald eyes.
The employee, who had been standing a step behind us, stepped forward with a bright smile.
"You've got an excellent eye! These are earrings embedded with green sapphire. They can be enhanced with a B-rank defensive artifact. A great choice if you're thinking of safety."
B-rank defense, huh?
I glanced at Sahyeon in my arms.
Pretty meaningless for her, honestly...
Her official rank was listed as B, just like the earrings—but in truth, her capabilities far exceeded that. She had completely overpowered me when I was in S-rank form. That meant her real ability probably surpassed S-rank by the system's standards.
So a B-rank defensive item was essentially worthless for someone like her.
Well, really, nothing useful for her can be bought in a place like this anyway.
Shaking off that pointless thought, I asked her directly.
"Do you like these? Want to get them?"
"Mm-hm."
She answered right away, completely uninterested in the item's performance. I figured as much, but I still turned to the clerk.
"It's for a child. You don't happen to have them as clip-ons, do {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} you?"
"I'm afraid not. But we can move the gem to a ring or necklace if you'd prefer."
I figured that would be the case. A necklace or ring would be more practical than piercing her ears. But her preference was firm.
"I want the earrings."
"Really?"
Well, nothing to be done. I've got healing skills, so I'll just pierce her ears myself later. After putting her down, I gave the clerk a nod toward the display.
"I'll take them. Can you add an inventory function too?"
"Certainly. If you'd like additional artifact enhancements, it will take about an hour. Is that all right?"
"That's fine."
The clerk swiftly removed the earrings from their stand. While Sahyeon wandered off to browse the rest of the store, I pretended to pull out my wallet and casually reached for the pen at the register.
I scribbled a quick note on the memo pad beside it and tapped it lightly with a finger just as the clerk approached again.
<Please also add a location-tracking function.>
"...Ah."
The clerk blinked when she read it but recovered quickly and responded without skipping a beat.
"I'll help you with the payment now."
"Thanks."
After swiping my card and completing the transaction, she handed it back to me with a professional smile.
"We'll notify you by message once the piece is ready. Thank you for your purchase."
"See you later."
She gave me a quick smile. I returned it.
After a simple lunch with Sahyeon at one of the department store restaurants, we picked up the finished earrings.
Before giving them to her, I examined their details. Above the green velvet case containing the earrings, a system window appeared.
[Green Sapphire Earrings]
Infused with: Green Sapphire gem + B-rank Defensive Artifact + Location Tracking Artifact
Attack: F
Balance: F
Defense: B
Location Tracking
Inventory Function
Simple enough. Still, I was glad the clerk picked up on what I meant and handled it properly.
Of course, it cost extra for the location-tracking artifact.
The price was definitely higher than what had been listed. But thanks to the funds sent from the Yesung Guild after the recent rift incident, the expense wasn't an issue.
Since Sahyeon didn't have pierced ears, I had to take care of that first. Obviously, I couldn't use healing skills in the middle of a department store, so we'd have to head home. I had antiseptics there, too.
After wrapping up our short outing, we returned to the office area. I stopped by the market to pick up cooking oil, salt, and a few other household items. No more burnt, stuck-to-the-pan eggs from now on.
Am I about to get serious about cooking now?
All I'd ever made before was ramen or kimchi fried rice. The idea of me cooking—especially for a child—still felt surreal.
As we climbed the building stairs, I tried to imagine myself cooking something decent in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn't know enough for the image to feel real.
"Hmm?"
Just as I was tapping the code into the door lock, something bright white on the ground caught my eye.
It wasn't trash—far too clean for that. A pristine paper card. I picked it up and turned it over.
A familiar symbol greeted me: the spider emblem.
So he really did say he'd contact me if he found something...
It had to be from Eun Woojeong, the so-called leader of Spiderweb.
So he waited for me to leave with Sahyeon and then just dropped this here?
Was he really respecting my request not to monitor us?
"Haa..."
I wanted to ignore it. Really, I did. But I couldn't afford to—especially not with the strange developments surrounding Sahyeon lately.
I'll have to visit him tonight.
There wasn't a time written on it, so I could just go whenever I wanted.
Thinking about Eun Woojeong waiting all day for a visit he couldn't predict, I smirked.

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