Fair Trade

‘Did you give me only 5 minutes?’

The short countdown began. Sei read the list on the screen at high speed. Of the 2,000 invited, about 1,000 of them were listed on the bounty list. Among them, there were only about 30 special criminals with large bounties.

The wedding will be held in 20 days from now.

Just as Gavin said, it was being held in a private island resort in the Maldives.

Sei quickly began to grasp the list except for a few people with photos.

There was no need to memorize all 1,000 people. It took about five minutes to memorize the names, affiliations, characteristics, and crimes of about 30 people who were chosen based on cost-effectiveness with the goal of earning 10 million dollars.

As soon as she clicked the last name, the screen went black and the host went down. At the same time, the counter called for customer number 7. Sei held out the receipt and received a tray of food.

“Enjoy your meal.”

The employee beamed, showing a straight line of teeth. The man pushed the receipt straight into the shredder.

‘He’s just putting on a show.’

It was all arranged by Gavin. She guessed the juice was intentionally put on the menu. She picked it up and approached Stefan, who was addicted to playing games on his cell phone. Then she put the tray down and immediately served out the juice.

“You want to eat with me? What is this thing that looks like spit-out baby food?”

He sniffed the celery juice and frowned.

“Things that are good for the body mostly taste bitter. Actually, it didn’t suit my taste either.”

Stefan still looked at Sei, who had disguised as a black person, with a strange, curious gaze. The sky was clear as if it had been washed away by the rain that had fallen all day yesterday. Having ordered a new iced coffee, he asked her pensively.

“You’ve been acting weird since yesterday. What are you scheming? Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“It isn’t obvious, but you do give a slight impression.”

Sei whirled around the ice with a straw and rested her chin on her hand. Her palms were white, the back of her hand was dark brown, and her cheekbones were high. The makeup accurately captured the characteristics of a black person.

The more he looked at her disguise, the more mysterious he found it. Stefan couldn’t help but touch her skin.

“Is it real skin?”

“Hmm. Almost. Stefan, I have a question.”

Stefan crossed his legs and picked up the iced coffee.

“What?”

“By any chance, will you follow me even if I go on vacation?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Even next month? No matter where I go?”

“Why? Are you trying to flee to the other side of the world?”

It wasn’t that she was planning to go to the other side of the world, but the place was quite far.

Sei gazed straight into Stefan’s eyes, fiddling with the straw on her lips. Then, as if he had foreseen something, he leaned away from her, picked up his cell phone and showed Yuri’s number.

“I’m going to call him”

Sei shrugged her shoulders.

I’m not running away. I just asked you just in case I have to include you in my schedule…

Just then her cell phone in her pocket rang. A few short messages arrived. Sei accessed her personal mailbox with a grim face. Her mailbox was full of bills and unread spam.

Her eyes quivered when she saw the address of the mail that had just arrived, and her fingertips scrolling through the contents became tense.

Stefan’s face also turned serious when he saw the sudden change in her expression.

“What’s the matter?”

“…Stefan.”

“Yes.”

“You said you’d contact Yuri earlier…?”

“I was just kidding. Tell me what’s going on. That’s only how I can decide what to do.”

“No, you don’t have to do that anymore. That vacation I mentioned earlier… I think I’ll go with Yuri.”

“… What?”

“Christina Evans’ wedding! Why did this crazy guy send me an invitation?”

Sei put her cell phone down on the table. What she got was clearly a scanned handwritten invitation with the signature of Mackenzie Evans. It had arrived in her personal mailbox with an invitation code with the name of the recipient, “Jang Sei.”

Leaving Stefan, who was racking his brain to figure out the situation, she got up and jumped out.

“Rose!”

“Go home and wait for me!”

Sei waved to Stefan and immediately got into a taxi. When she asked to be taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center, the driver glanced at her, furrowing his nose and then started the car.

“Lily, it’s me. Call Gavin and tell him I’m going to the detention center now. I need to visit my dad.”

[What? Why are you suddenly…]

“I know you have Gavin’s contact number. Hurry!”

[Oh, okay!]

After hanging up the phone, Sei rubbed the tips of her fingernails nervously. If this invitation was real, as Yuri said, all of her personal information had been disclosed.

They must have finished preparing to drag her into their game. She was terrified. She wanted to immediately hand over the things she had to her dad and get out of this game.

Her cell phone rang as she closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as if praying.

After identifying the caller, Sei answered her call with a trembling voice.

“Yes.”

[Get off at 300m. Look carefully from side to side, and be careful.]

“…Were you watching me? Where are you now?”

Biting her lips, she tapped the driver on the shoulder and pointed to the crosswalk in front of the intersection. Hearing her trembling voice, Yuri let out a low sigh over the receiver.

[Behind you. So get off. Now.]