Chapter 66: Seomyeon Street

Seomyeon was one of the busiest commercial districts in Busan, and their hotel was right in the middle of it.

The streets were brightly lit and packed with people. Shop signs and the lights from the surrounding buildings blended together, casting a soft glow over the night.

Xia Jiuwei looked around as they walked along the street, and before long, she pointed toward a shop by the roadside and pulled Lu Nian’an over.

“Here, here.”

The moment they pushed open the door, the wind chime hanging above it swayed gently, producing a crisp, pleasant sound.

The owner behind the counter looked up and studied the two of them.

One had short white hair, the other long black hair. They were both dressed casually, without any obvious designer brands. The only thing that stood out was the small backpack carried by the black-haired girl.

Looking at their faces, they appeared to be wearing little more than a light layer of makeup, with hardly any other cosmetics.

The owner immediately greeted them in somewhat halting English.

“Welcome, welcome. Translation menu, there.”

As she spoke, she pointed toward the menu beside her.

Besides Korean, the menu was also available in English, Chinese, and Japanese. It also listed a few house rules, such as paying after ordering and no tipping.

Xia Jiuwei glanced at the owner, wondering how she had known they were foreigners at a glance.

She picked up the Korean menu and looked through it for a moment before she and Lu Nian’an decided to order the restaurant’s specialty.

“Two bowls of pork soup with rice, please.”

Hearing the fluent and natural Korean, the owner instinctively took the order.

It was only after she looked up and saw the two girls standing before her that she froze slightly, as though wondering if she had heard correctly.

Their Korean was practically indistinguishable from that of locals.

After hesitating for a moment, she still could not help but ask with a smile,

“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you two from?”

“We’re from Taiwan.”

“I see.”

The owner smiled.

“Your Korean is really good.”

“Thank you.”

Lu Nian’an took out her credit card and paid the bill.

The owner’s gaze lingered on the card for a brief moment.

The black-and-gold surface caused a flicker of surprise to cross her eyes, but she quickly composed herself and finished the transaction.

The two girls then went to sit in a corner of the restaurant.

“Please wait a moment.”

“Hm?”

The owner approached with a smile and quietly reminded them,

“Your Korean is excellent. It’s just that your makeup is rather light, so you look like foreigners at first glance.”

As she spoke, she gestured toward her own face.

Once she finished, even she could not help giving a somewhat wry smile.

Foreigners always seemed to think Korea was wonderful, but only those who actually lived here knew how much pressure came with it.

Not long afterward, a server brought over two steaming bowls of pork soup with rice.

White steam rose from the milky broth, carrying a rich aroma, while thick slices of pork covered the surface, accompanied by a few pieces of blanched greens.

Xia Jiuwei instinctively swallowed at the smell.

“Let’s eat.”

She picked up her spoon and scooped up a mouthful of the soup and rice.

The white rice was soaked in the rich broth, and after blowing on it to cool it down, she brought it to her mouth.

The rich broth soaked into the rice, blending perfectly with the tender pork. Warmth spread through her mouth with every bite.

“It’s good.”

Her eyes lit up slightly.

Lu Nian’an, sitting opposite her, nodded as well and quietly began eating.

Neither of them said much. They simply took one bite after another, quickly finishing every last bit of their bowls of pork soup with rice.

After resting for a little while, the two stood up and left the restaurant.

The moment they stepped outside, Xia Jiuwei and Lu Nian’an immediately noticed another gaze falling upon them.

Xia Jiuwei crossed her arms and sighed helplessly.

“Why does someone always have to come and ruin my mood?”

“Just ignore him.”

Lu Nian’an smiled faintly.

“By the way, where do you want to go next?”

Xia Jiuwei thought for a moment before taking Lu Nian’an’s hand and continuing to stroll through the streets of Seomyeon.

Neon lights flickered along both sides of the street, with all kinds of colorful signs crisscrossing above them, while the endless variety of shops made the entire area seem almost dazzling.

The two wandered through several drugstores and cosmetics shops, buying quite a few beauty products before stopping to pick up a few pieces of clothing as well.

As they walked along the street carrying their shopping bags, Xia Jiuwei suddenly noticed a small shop tucked away in a corner.

The storefront was extremely narrow, less than two meters across, and the interior was just as cramped.

Yet the delicate decor and the products displayed in the window immediately caught her attention.

“Nia, let’s take a look.”

The two pushed open the door and walked inside.

There was only one person in the shop, the owner, a middle-aged man with a somewhat weathered appearance.

All around them were various chibi figurines, and a sign beside them advertised custom-made services, although the listed price for creating molds did not look particularly cheap.

Xia Jiuwei could not help pointing at the price list.

“Boss, isn’t this a little expensive?”

The owner looked up and patiently explained.

“That’s the cost of making the mold.”

“If you only want a single custom chibi doll, we can make it by hand instead. That’s much cheaper.”

“Making a mold?”

Xia Jiuwei carefully read through the price list again.

If the mold-making fee and subsequent production were taken into account, it was actually fairly reasonable.

She turned to Lu Nian’an.

Lu Nian’an smiled.

“Didn’t I give you a card too? Spend it if you want.”

So Xia Jiuwei proceeded to ask the owner about all sorts of details.

That was when she learned that making a mold would take at least one or two days, while a hand-crafted figurine could be completed in roughly one or two hours.

After thinking it over, she simply said,

“Then please make two by hand for us first, and make molds for both of them as well.”

“If you can finish them a little faster, I’m willing to pay extra.”

The owner’s eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded repeatedly in agreement.

For the next hour or so, the two remained in the tiny shop, watching as the owner slowly sculpted the figurines piece by piece.

The two completed chibi dolls were made to look exactly like the pair.

As they were leaving, the owner reminded them with a smile,

“The molds will be ready in three days. If everything goes smoothly, you can come back and pick them up five days from now.”

“Okay!”

Walking through the nighttime streets, Xia Jiuwei held up the chibi Lu Nian’an, with her long black hair, round face, and tiny arms and legs, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it.

She could not help holding it up in front of Lu Nian’an.

“Look, it’s so cute!”

Lu Nian’an, meanwhile, raised the chibi Xia Jiuwei with short white hair in her hand.

“Yours is just as cute.”

“Hehe.”

The two continued to fool around as they walked, looking just like an ordinary couple out on vacation, completely ignoring the tail that had been following them the entire time.

Behind them, Shen Yanqing followed helplessly.

Ever since the airport lounge, he had felt that there was something unusual about these two girls.

Surveillance required skill, but it was rarely this nerve-racking.

As long as he blended into the crowd and made himself look no different from any other passerby, the people being followed would almost never notice.

There was skill involved in surveillance, but it rarely put much pressure on the person doing it.

This time, however, was different.

After following the two of them all this way, he could never shake the feeling that they had already discovered him.

And instead of going away, the feeling only grew stronger.

It left him feeling increasingly uneasy.

From the hotel onward, he had followed them as they ate, shopped, bought cosmetics, visited clothing stores, and even spent more than an hour accompanying them inside that little shop that made chibi dolls.

Time and time again, he told himself that it was merely an illusion. There was no way they could have noticed him.

Yet when the two entered the underground shopping district, he still maintained the ideal distance for surveillance, silently weaving through the crowd behind them.

Then, in the very instant he finally allowed himself to relax his guard slightly—

In the blink of an eye, the two girls simply vanished into the crowd.

Shen Yanqing’s heart jolted, and his pupils contracted sharply.

He immediately searched back and forth through the crowd, but no matter how hard he looked, he could not find them anywhere.

A wave of suppressed frustration surged through him.

He clenched his fists tightly, every muscle in his body tensing as even his breathing grew heavy.

After a moment of silence, he finally made up his mind.

Back to the hotel.

If the two really were ordinary tourists, they would definitely return tonight.

That meant he had not actually lost them.

But if they never came back…

Then it would prove that there really was something wrong with them.

And by then, he was afraid he would have no way to explain himself to the organization.

Sigh…

What a pain.

Once this mission is over, I think I really need to consider retiring.

“Hehe, we finally got rid of that annoying guy.”

Xia Jiuwei looked at Lu Nian’an with a smug smile, clearly waiting for her to praise her.

Instead, she received only a lighthearted reply.

“We still have to go back to the hotel later. He’ll follow us again tomorrow.”

The corners of Xia Jiuwei’s mouth, which had just been raised, immediately drooped.

Seeing this, Lu Nian’an could not help smiling.

“At least it’s peaceful for now.”

Xia Jiuwei thought about it before nodding as well.

“That’s true.”

And so the two continued leisurely exploring Lotte Department Store.

Unfortunately, less than half an hour later, the department store was already closing for the night.

The two could only leave somewhat reluctantly.

Xia Jiuwei looked around.

They had already explored almost all of the main shopping area in Seomyeon.

Then she suddenly suggested,

“How about we take a walk farther out?”

“Sure.”

The two of them slowly wandered toward the quieter end of the street.

After leaving the bustling commercial district, the streetlights gradually became softer and quieter, while the number of pedestrians thinned considerably.

One side of the street was lined with hair salons, each with large floor-to-ceiling windows. Each shop was brightly illuminated inside, creating a striking contrast with the tranquil street outside.

“Oh, there are quite a few shops around here too. We didn’t get to any of these earlier.”

Xia Jiuwei’s eyes lit up as she pointed toward the street.

“Want to go take a look?”