Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Rinar the Thief
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Someone seemed to have stolen something.
Seo Woo-jin looked over with an intrigued expression.
It was a rare sight in Korea, where public safety was so good.
“Stop! If I catch you, I’ll kill you! No, I won’t kill you, just stop!”
A noisy commotion broke out.
Even though someone could have stepped up to resolve the situation, people were just grinning and enjoying the spectacle.
“Looks like he got hit again.”
“How many days has it been? Feels like at least a month.”
“Stealing every single day without a break? Rinar’s no ordinary guy.”
“Or maybe Amir’s just an idiot?”
Loud guffaws erupted.
‘Rinar?’
It seemed like the thief’s name.
“You bastard, that’s really off-limits! It’s already under contract!”
“I’ll just use it a little and give it back!”
“You crazy punk! How do you ‘just use a little’ goat milk?!”
The young woman named Amir screamed at the top of her lungs, but Rinar had long since vanished.
“Couldn’t catch him again today, huh.”
With people’s chuckling and tongue-clicking, the street began to clear up.
Just as he’d overheard, it seemed like a familiar occurrence.
It was fascinating how they could laugh it off even after witnessing a theft.
“Isn’t anyone going to catch the thief?”
Seo Woo-jin asked a man who had been watching beside him.
“Huh? Oh, you’re from out of town.”
The man nodded as he eyed Seo Woo-jin’s clothes.
“It’s not that serious. It’s practically a daily event around here.”
“…Theft?”
“Pfft, yeah. Might look that way to an outsider. Truth is, Rinar and Amir are siblings.”
Seo Woo-jin’s eyes widened at the man’s words.
So the little brother was stealing from his big sister?
And this had been going on for a month?
Honestly, it was hard to wrap his head around.
Not that he had any intention of getting involved.
“Rinar’s on a protest right now.”
“A protest?”
“He’s protesting to be allowed to go up to the capital. Says he wants to become a hero or something.”
The man laughed as if it was absurd.
“He thinks he can become a hero by going to the Academy, but is that even realistic for folks like us? Poor Amir’s the one stuck with the headache.”
Seo Woo-jin wore a strange expression.
The order was backward.
Heroes went to the Academy, not the other way around.
‘Do they really think that? Surely everyone knows about hero summoning.’
The man quickly cleared up Seo Woo-jin’s doubts.
“Guess those bedtime stories Amir told him as a kid stuck with him.”
Seo Woo-jin nodded.
Probably something like, “You can become a hero too.”
That became the boy’s dream, and now no amount of explaining could get through to his rebellious teenage brother.
‘Or maybe he knows but is just being stubborn.’
The burning desire to escape this sweltering city and head to the capital.
The allure of the capital was the same on Earth or here.
“Since Amir keeps blocking him, he’s doing this just to give her a hard time and break free. Fat chance, though.”
“Thank you.”
Seo Woo-jin had heard enough.
He gave the man a grateful nod and resumed walking.
It was a minor incident.
A bit curious and amusing.
That’s what Seo Woo-jin thought.
* * *
“Rinar! Goat milk today?”
A sun-tanned boy approached Rinar.
“I have to return it soon.”
“Can’t we just drink it?”
The boy’s eyes sparkled, but Rinar shook his head firmly.
“No. It’s under contract. If we drink it, Sis will be in trouble.”
He’d stolen it to make a point, but he didn’t want to actually put her in a real bind.
Amir was his sister, after all, whether he liked it or not.
‘I just hate seeing her bow and scrape to other people.’
If the goat milk disappeared, she’d have to apologize to the contractors with her head bowed.
Rinar didn’t want to witness that.
“Tch, why’d you have to grab this one?”
He would’ve stolen something else if he’d known it was contracted.
He’d still get a beating when he got home, though.
“How am I supposed to save up like this?”
Rinar was scraping together money bit by bit to head to the capital.
He ran small errands for neighbors to earn pocket change or sold stolen goods from his sister’s shop for pennies.
All that added up to a whopping 2 gold.
Pretty impressive for a thirteen-year-old kid.
“How much was the train ticket again?”
“Uh, like 100 gold, I think.”
A jaw-dropping sum from Rinar’s perspective.
At this rate, it’d take years before he could afford a train.
“I need some drastic measure.”
As Rinar sat pondering on a stack of wooden crates in the alley, his friend and lackey Ashad dropped a hint.
“I heard something on the way here.”
“What?”
The kid was useless in a fight, but he had a knack for picking up rumors.
Rinar’s eyes lit up, and Ashad launched into the story excitedly.
“Uncle Omar said a guy got off the first-class train car today.”
“F-First class?”
A seat beyond Rinar’s wildest dreams.
But the real shocker came next.
“Looks like he came down from the capital. Fancy clothes and even a sword.”
“The capital?”
Rinar jumped up, eyes bulging.
The capital was a fantasy even in his dreams for a boy his age.
Hearing someone from there had arrived made his butt twitch with excitement.
But Ashad held him back down.
“Apparently loaded with cash too.”
“…Cash.”
Rinar knew exactly what his friend was getting at.
“Let’s rob him.”
He’d picked pockets from tourists and merchants plenty of times.
If he stole from his sister’s shop without hesitation, there was no reason to balk at a total stranger.
He actually preferred outsiders.
‘At least I won’t get thrashed at home.’
Rinar furrowed his brow, lost in thought.
‘If he’s from the capital, he’s gotta be rich. Robbing him could cut my timeline way down. But what if I get caught?’
Unlike with locals, it wouldn’t end with a few spanks.
“Didn’t you say he had a sword?”
That made it even riskier.
But Ashad didn’t seem worried.
“Uncle Omar said it looked decorative. All shiny white and flashy. More for showing off than actual fighting.”
Ashad took Omar’s word as gospel.
“Really?”
If he wasn’t a swordsman or knight, it was worth a shot.
No clumsy adult could keep up with his running anyway.
Plus, outsiders didn’t know the terrain.
‘I know every alley like the back of my hand.’
The more he thought about it, the more it felt like an opportunity too good to pass up.
Finally, Rinar nodded.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
“Good call!”
Ashad beamed, thrilled with the decision.
“Round up a few more kids. Money pouch is priority one, but if we can, snag the sword too.”
“It looked expensive, so selling that could make us a fortune!”
Ashad bounced around in excitement.
‘10 gold.’
That was Rinar’s goal.
A 100-gold train ticket was unrealistic, so he planned to use that as seed money and walk to the capital if needed.
“Quit hopping around and go get the kids!”
Rinar urged Ashad, growing impatient.
* * *
“Hmm…”
Seo Woo-jin groaned as he inspected the inn.
He hadn’t expected Academy dorms or the Grand Duke’s reception hall.
Those were extravagantly luxurious even by imperial standards.
He wasn’t hoping for that level.
This was the empire’s south.
Just a modest little town.
‘But this is too much, isn’t it?’
He’d come in because it was supposed to be the best in town, but…
“What a dump.”
He sighed involuntarily.
Walls cracked wide open.
A bed so tiny it looked like a squeeze even for him alone.
Cobwebs in the ceiling corners—had they even cleaned?
He could sleep on bare ground with just a sleeping bag if needed, but paying good money for this? No thanks.
‘I already miss Ailin.’
If she were here, he wouldn’t have picked a dump like this.
Frowning, Seo Woo-jin turned and headed out of the room.
“Huh? Customer, why are you coming back out?”
The greasy innkeeper, sweating profusely and wiping his brow nonstop as he climbed the stairs, spotted him and asked.
“…The room’s too…”
“Ah, picky one, huh? Do you know how hard it is to find a room like this in this town?”
His massive frame blocked the stairs.
“Haa—”
Seo Woo-jin sighed.
Seemed like he’d run into a sleazy type.
‘Feels like old times at Dongdaemun.’
Trapped by scary guys, forced to buy clothes he didn’t need.
But back then and now were different.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Seo Woo-jin narrowed his eyes.
“What? I’m just guiding you so you can take a closer look at the room.”
“Step aside. I’m not staying in a place like this.”
The innkeeper’s smile froze at Seo Woo-jin’s firm tone.
“Jeez, bad luck from the start. Hey, drifter, you think I’m a pushover ’cause I’m being nice? Window-shopping and bailing? If you wanna leave, at least pay a viewing feeeeeek!”
The guy screamed mid-sentence.
Seo Woo-jin’s fingers were twisting his ear.
“Your breath stinks so bad I can’t even listen. Hey, mister. You thought that’d scare me?”
Not even funny.
“Aaaah! W-Wait! My ear! It’s gonna come off!”
His yells shook the inn, stirring up noise from below.
“What’s going on?”
“That’s not Big Bro screaming?”
Clattering footsteps rushed up the stairs as several men appeared.
“Kill this bastard! No, fix this ear first aaaah!”
Not your average inn after all.
Irritation flared at picking such a place.
“Hey, punk, let go of that hand right now?”
Rough-looking thugs who seemed like underlings threatened him.
But it wouldn’t work.
“Yeah, this is kinda refreshing.”
Come to think of it, he’d only fought powerhouse types lately.
Sometimes you needed punks like this to blow off steam.
Seo Woo-jin clenched his fist.
* * *
Creak—
The inn door swung open.
Unlike the rooms, the door itself looked decent.
Seo Woo-jin wiped the bloodstains from his knuckles roughly and stepped out with a refreshed face.
“Any decent inns around?”
Not like this one.
As Seo Woo-jin muttered while scanning the area, a voice piped up beside him.
“Looking for an inn by any chance?”
A boy’s voice, yet to hit puberty.
It was Rinar.