"Every woman has her own kind of beauty," Lando said carefully. "Helena has hers ... and you have yours."
I narrowed my eyes, suddenly unsure whether I should feel flattered that he liked both my old and new appearance, or annoyed that he was clearly trying to find the safest answer possible.
When I didn’t say anything, he looked a little nervous. "But of course," he added quickly, "I like you more."
Both of us gasped at his last words. I didn’t expect him to say sothing like that. He looked like he wanted to take it back, but I smiled before he could. "I like you too, Husband."
"Like" could be associated with when you favor sothing, right? Like saying I like ice cream, or sothing similar. It didn’t necessarily have to an love, right?
But even if it was a love confession, I wouldn’t mind either.
However, that wasn’t the topic I wanted to discuss right now. I quickly added, "Actually, I know Helena personally."
Lando looked a bit surprised. "Really?"
I nodded slowly, worried my story might sound too unbelievable. "Maybe not that close, but ... I t her once when she was working part-ti at a convenience store. She was such a sweet person. Sotis she’d even buy snacks when I stopped by."
First of all, yes, I did work part-ti at a convenience store and a café before I died. And second, yes, Helcia once had a kind store clerk who felt bad for her because she always ate instant noodles for lunch.
I just mixed our stories a little and turned them into sothing more convincing. Besides, that friend of Helcia’s was a middle-aged woman who had passed away from illness a few months ago, so no one could check whether this story was true or not.
"Before she died, she actually told she got an offer to appear in a bikini comrcial," I lowered my voice, feeling both nervous and anxious as I shared my past story with Lando.
I took a deep breath before continuing, "I heard the paynt was good, and she probably could’ve returned to the entertainnt industry after paying off her debt. But ... I didn’t expect her to jump from the third-story building on the day she went to the shoot, and even more shocking, the news said she sold her body in a brothel."
Lando didn’t say a word. He just listened, waiting for to finish.
"Everything just feels so strange. Even though I didn’t know her that long, I know she wasn’t the kind of woman who would sell her body for money." My words began to stumble as emotion took over. "And the scandal! It was fake, everything about the drugs or her being soone’s mistress. She told herself that soone frad her, and her agency didn’t even try to help."
"Really ... I’m not lying," I said, my voice breaking a little. "She was really a good woman. Sweet, kind, and hardworking. That’s why I know sothing about her death isn’t right."
I leaned closer to Lando and grabbed his hands tightly. "I ... I don’t know what to do, and I don’t know who to talk to, because no one would believe . But I swear ... I swear I’m telling the truth."
Suddenly, panic rushed through so fast that my chest tightened and my breathing turned shallow. "I swear—"
"Helcia." Lando gently squeezed my hands. He looked straight into my eyes. "I believe you," he said softly. "I believe every word you’ve said. So please ... tell everything you want to say."
I held my breath for a mont and locked my gaze on his eyes. All the panic and anxiety that had been eating away at my heart slowly began to fade, little by little.
"I believe you."
Those were the words I had once longed to hear more than anything else. But no matter how many tis I tried to explain myself, no matter how desperately I begged people to believe that I wasn’t who they thought I was, no one ever listened.
They said I was just trying to save my career, and the more desperate I looked, the more they pushed deeper into that pit of humiliation.
I never imagined there would co a day when soone would look in the eyes and sincerely say they believed .
"She was a good friend of mine," I said softly after a long pause. I took a deep breath before continuing, "I know it might be asking too much, but ... would you help again? I just want to find out what really happened to her."
I wanted to find justice for myself in the past. I didn’t need people to kneel by my grave and apologize; I just wanted them to speak my na with a bit of respect.
Maybe I could handle it alone, but having soone beside ... it felt comforting. Maybe it was okay to ask for help this ti. Maybe, with him, I could find the justice faster than I ever could on my own.
"I will," Lando said imdiately, without even a second of hesitation.()
I blinked, a small smile tugging at my lips. "Is it because she was your celebrity crush?"
Lando quickly looked away, his ears turning slightly red. "No," he said quietly. Then, after a pause, his gaze softened. "It’s because she’s your friend."
If I told him that Helena was my past self, what kind of reaction would he give ?
He’d probably think I’d lost my mind, right?
Before I could even think about it further, Penny’s voice suddenly popped up in my head.
[Random Quest!]
[Quest: Find the illegal site you saw in the past with Lando!]
[Reward: $40,000]
[Ti Limit: 24 hours.]
My eyes widened. The reward was even higher than the last random quest.
[This quest is considered very difficult because it may affect your ntal state, Host.]
[That’s why the reward is higher than your previous quest.]
Besides that, the ti limit was ridiculously short. Penny might as well have told to check the damn site right now.
"Okay, so ... since you’re on my side now," I began carefully, "there’s actually sothing I’ve been wanting to look for for a long ti, but I never had the courage to do it alone."
I hesitated for a mont before continuing. "Helena once sent a one-ti-view ssage. It was a little blurry, but I could see she was taking a picture of a hat with the words ’Hiddenpleasure.hub’ written on it. Doesn’t that sound like a porn site to you? Do you think Helena was tricked into filming porn, and then jumped to escape?"
I already knew the answer, but I wanted to see how Lando would react. He didn’t say anything right away. His expression stayed calm, but I saw his brows furrow and his eyes darken slightly.
"It’s possible," he finally said. "The building she jumped from was a brothel. But there’s also a chance it was used to film illegal videos."
He continued, "I’ve heard rumors that so won were dragged inside by force. But every ti the police inspected the place, they never found any evidence of coercion. All the prostitutes there were legally registered in the country."
The red district was legal in our country, so the police couldn’t just barge in and shut the place down unless they found solid proof of forced activity.
Since many people disagreed with the legalization of brothels and red districts, the police often received false reports of violence in those areas because people hoping that such reports would lead to the districts being shut down.
That was probably why the police thought the reports about that building were fake, too.
I let out a heavy sigh. After all, it was partly my fault for not digging deeper into what kind of place that building really was. But honestly, it truly looked like an ordinary apartnt complex.
"But have you heard of that website? I don’t think it’s the kind of porn site people usually visit," I asked.
Okay, let’s be real, everyone’s probably opened a porn site at least once, right? But I’d never heard of Hiddenpleasure.hub, and since Lando was a man, I figured he might know more about it than I did if his little brother was still working.
Oh, for God’s sake, I should stop thinking about his little brother!
"No," Lando said, looking a bit embarrassed. "I don’t think it’s a common site people visit. But I have heard there are a lot of sites that can only be accessed through the dark web."
I scooted closer to him. "Maybe we can try the normal website first," I said. "Let’s open it together!"
Lando’s eyes widened slightly, probably because I sounded way too casual about opening a porn site, like it was no different from checking my email or watching a cat video on YouTube.
"Okay." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and said, "Let’s check it out."
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