I Just Traded in the Forest of Monsters, but the World Changed - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 16
Se Hui watched his retreating figure, her expression growing complicated for a moment.
‘This man is genuinely obsessed with coffee.’
Still seated, Se Hui glanced down at the paper cup once more.
It was the same Mix Coffee she’d prepared lightly before breakfast.
‘Nothing particularly special about it.’
Her gaze shifted to the items stacked temporarily inside the Tent.
Cup Ramen, Canned Goods, Mix Coffee.
‘If I can just distribute these ordinary items properly…’
Se Hui bit her lip slightly.
……
After running through calculations in her head several times, Se Hui lifted her gaze.
Erasmus was looking around, seemingly pondering how to sort the recycling.
His expression was utterly serious.
A Grand Mage tending to the Courtyard cleaning.
Se Hui took another sip of coffee and muttered softly to herself.
“Not bad, really.”
It had been a week since she fell into this place.
Se Hui felt she needed to take stock of her situation once more.
‘First, let me check my Points and inventory.’
A semi-transparent window materialized before her eyes.
Se Hui swiped across her chest with her hand.
Watching the numbers decrease felt less like arithmetic and more like watching her bank account being torn apart in real time.
[Accumulated Points Status]
By now, this screen was all too familiar.
“My own money…”
A small line of text was attached below the status.
‘Commission deductions included.’
She knew.
The System took twenty percent of her profits.
“God, I really… I’ll never get used to seeing this.”
Revenue: 1,480P.
Looking at just that, it wasn’t bad.
It was actually quite decent.
If the mercenaries alone had generated this much through food and drink, it meant the shop was definitely operating.
The problem came next.
It was Erasmus’s purchases from earlier, each one itemized.
[Purchase History]
• Pu Ramen (5-pack)
• Man Seong Tang Noodles (5-pack)
• Maximum Backgold (10-count) x2
.
.
.
Total Cost: 4,510P
“Wow…”
Se Hui opened the System window to check the details, then promptly closed it again.
Ramen, coffee, water, beverages, and so on.
Each item was necessary to stock for business, but when they all arrived at once, the price became obscene.
She didn’t need to recalculate to know.
Revenue: +1,480P.
Expenses: -4,510P.
‘So my remaining Points are…’
[Current Points: 703P]
There weren’t many Points left.
“No wonder people in business are always broke…”
Murmuring this to herself, Se Hui scrolled back up.
Se Hui tilted her head back.
“I’m bleeding tears, seriously.”
That’s when it happened.
The sound of the broom in the Courtyard stopped.
Erasmus glanced up cautiously, his eyes flickering toward Se Hui before he ventured to speak.
“Ma’am.”
“……Hmm?”
Se Hui answered absently, then a beat later her eyes widened.
“Wait. What did you say?”
“I called you ma’am.”
As Erasmus spoke, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
“Why? No, that’s not what I mean.”
Se Hui waved her hand dismissively.
“Why are you calling me ma’am?”
Erasmus tilted his head for a moment.
His expression suggested he was puzzled by the question itself.
“Well……. Haven’t you already signed an Employee Contract with your own hand?”
“I did. An Employee Contract.”
“Then formally speaking, it would only be proper to call you ma’am, would it not?”
“But does it connect like that so immediately?”
Se Hui found herself at a loss for words.
Erasmus then added with utmost seriousness.
“One calls an employer by such a title, does one not? Especially in the case of a permanent contract.”
“No, permanent? Please don’t use expressions like that.”
“Once my name and Mana have been inscribed, it cannot be undone, that is the law.”
Se Hui pressed her temples hard.
“No, what I mean is…… that’s just an exaggerated way of putting it.”
Se Hui paused, searching for the right words, and continued.
“We are, well……, employer and employee? Something like that, you see. So ma’am is a bit…….”
“Boss, you say. Yet it is still a word meaning an employer, so is there truly much difference from ma’am?”
Well, technically.
“By any other name, you still hold my life in your hands—that much remains the same.”
“No, there is a difference. A big one.”
Erasmus fell silent for a moment in thought, then nodded.
“Hmm, if you prefer, would you find it more comfortable if I called you boss instead of ma’am? I shall oblige if that is your wish.”
“That would be much better.”
“Or would it be more comfortable to be called Se Hui?”
Se Hui answered at once.
“Yes! I think that would be the most comfortable.”
Erasmus closed his mouth and regarded Se Hui for a moment, then gave a single nod.
“Very well. Then I shall call you by that name.”
“Oh, but why did you call me over in the first place?”
At that, Erasmus cleared his throat once and then spoke carefully.
“Your expression did not appear particularly bright, Se Hui.”
Se Hui hesitated briefly, then shrugged.
“Ah, that.”
Se Hui fell silent for a moment.
She doubted an explanation would help.
Besides, this didn’t seem like something he could understand anyway.
‘Well, he wouldn’t understand anyway.’
Se Hui decided to brush it off.
“The System is just draining my money.”
“The System, you say……. What in the world could that be? I’ve never heard such a name before.”
“It’s just like magic that lets me do all sorts of things.”
Erasmus nodded gravely.
At his reaction, Se Hui laughed.
Just then, Vargas poked his head between the two of them.
“Got any drinks left?”
Se Hui glanced at him.
‘Should I hire Vargas as an employee too…….’
She felt some hesitation, but sensed it was still too early to trust him completely.
Unlike Erasmus, Vargas had only become docile because of her attack on him.
So it seemed better to keep watching him a while longer.
Se Hui hid her true thoughts behind a smile as she spoke.
“Of course, I charge separately for the paper cups.”
“Well, that goes without saying!”
Erasmus moved quietly, taking up a cup and beverage before approaching Vargas.
The mercenaries stiffened for a moment.
“Uh… directly?”
“Don’t be alarmed. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m simply helping Se Hui.”
At Erasmus’s words, the mercenaries exchanged glances before slowly accepting the cups.
Vargas flinched slightly, but catching sight of Erasmus’s serious expression, he simply shrugged.
Observing this, Se Hui swept her gaze across the table beneath the parasol and the goods stacked beside it.
In the clearing before the Tent—barely worthy of being called a Courtyard—Erasmus had begun sorting garbage once more, without a word.
‘This is unbelievable. I don’t even have what you’d call a proper shop.’
A Grand Mage was sweeping the Courtyard while mercenaries stood in line buying ramen and drinks.
‘When you think about it… all I’m doing is setting out goods and selling them.’
Se Hui nearly laughed but managed to hold it back.
It was a sight so absurd it defied belief, yet the business was running smoothly regardless.
‘But I have far too few Points right now.’
She’d already stockpiled inventory to a degree, but commerce always favored greater selection.
Se Hui tapped her fingers rhythmically against her knee.
“703 Points, then…”
A quick calculation crossed her mind.
Utility supply monthly fee: 500 Points.
Subtract that, and all she actually had left was barely 200 Points.
“It’s really tight.”
Even a single day without sales would shake the whole structure.
A single misstep in inventory purchases meant immediate losses.
“No matter how I look at it, this doesn’t make sense.”
Se Hui muttered to herself.
“It’s structured to squeeze me from the start.”
All losses fell on her shoulders while profits slipped away elsewhere.
It was only when she realized her muttering had gone on a bit long that something shifted.
Erasmus slowly—very slowly—lifted his head.
“Are you well?”
Erasmus had heard that she had a habit of speaking to the empty air, but it still struck him as peculiar no matter how he reasoned about it.
Se Hui, aware of this, averted her gaze as she spoke.
“Yes? What do you mean? I’m completely fine.”
“It hardly seems so.”
Erasmus paused, choosing his words carefully.
“Something other than magical power seemed to be churning quite violently within you.”
“…Is that so?”
“Anger and obsession mingled with a curious resolve, I’d say.”
He added his observation gravely.
“It resembled a commander just before ordering a cavalry charge.”
Se Hui found herself speechless for a moment, then burst out laughing.
“Ah, it’s not that.”
She waved her hand dismissively.
“I was just… thinking about business.”
“Business.”
Erasmus nodded slowly.
“That field is certainly a battlefield I find difficult to comprehend.”
Se Hui drew a breath and spoke.
“Don’t worry.”
Instead, her eyes gleamed.
“This is just the beginning.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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