Sanctuary of Dreams Inn
Ian hurried down a moderately narrow, dimly lit alleyway. But the light, bouncy steps he had started with grew heavier as time passed. It was only natural—he had essentially been awake for nearly twenty-four hours straight.
Around four in the afternoon, the moment he stepped out of the school gate, he had been dropped straight into this other world just as dawn was breaking. After that, he had spent the entire day rushing around without a single break until this dark evening. It was no wonder his mental strength was reaching its limit. His eyelids felt as if heavy weights were hanging from them, and one corner of his brain felt stuffed full of cotton, leaving him dazed.
Ian let out a string of yawns as he stopped at a fork in the road. He steadied his blurring mind and chose the right path, just as Roskal had told him. How long had he been forcing his increasingly heavy legs forward?
‘Huh? Is that it over there?’
A faded cast-iron signboard swaying faintly in the night breeze came into view. The words Dream’s Rest were written on it. Ian squeezed out the last of his strength and finally arrived in front of the inn.
‘Hmm… It really is quite run-down.’
The three-story building bathed in the glow of the streetlamp looked frankly shabby. Thick, heavy ivy vines clung to the gray brick walls in many places, bearing witness to the passage of long years. The log pillars that formed the building’s frame were clumped with sticky dust and thick spiderwebs, and every corner of the first-floor window frames was covered in unidentified black stains.
Just as a sigh was about to escape him at the more unsanitary exterior than he had expected, Ian’s eyes flew wide open after reading the price list on the small sign hanging on the wooden door.
One night including meals was only one gold and two silver. Even more surprising was the original price marked with an X beside it—two gold and five silver.
‘Even a run-down inn like this used to cost over two gold. A normal inn must charge at least three gold for a single night.’
At these prices, what did a little dust and shabbiness matter? He could air out the room and clean it up moderately with his Perfect Bubble skill. What’s more, paying for seven nights brought the price down sharply to six gold. With simple meals included, it was nothing short of a godsend for penniless Ian—a true sanctuary.
‘All right. For the time being, I’ll make this Dream’s Rest Inn my base of operations.’
Having made up his mind, Ian finally opened the door and stepped inside the inn. Unlike the bleak atmosphere outside, the interior felt rather cozy. Crimson lanterns installed throughout the dark walls cast long shadows, creating a quiet and calm mood instead of the scent of old dust.
There was no one at the counter near the entrance. However, in the dining area deeper inside, a few guests appeared to be having a late dinner. True to its cheap rates, their clothing was plain to the point of being crude.
As Ian carefully walked across the creaking wooden floor, an old woman with snow-white hair neatly tied in an updo emerged from the kitchen behind the bar counter. She frowned as if her eyesight was poor and peered at him with half-lidded eyes. Ian quickly realized she must be the innkeeper and strode over to her.
“Um, hello. I’d like to stay for one night. I’ll have breakfast tomorrow morning too.”
“Mm… Welcome.”
The old woman nodded slowly, then took out a worn key from behind the counter and handed it to him.
“If things go well with my work tomorrow, I might end up staying here long-term.”
Ian placed the one gold and two silver on the counter while watching her expression. She nodded slowly once more and replied.
“Then I’ll consider room 205 reserved for you until tomorrow evening.”
“Wow! Yes, thank you!”
Ian flashed her a bright smile, took the room key, and hurried up to the second floor. Room 205 was located at the very end of the hallway. With a slightly pounding heart, Ian inserted the key and opened the old door.
With a long creeeak, the only light inside the room came from the streetlamp filtering through the window beside the bed. It was dim, yet to Ian it felt more satisfying than any hotel room. Having grown up in an orphanage, even this shabby, narrow space was an unimaginable luxury—an area he could have entirely to himself.
‘How long has it been… since I’ve been this alone?’
Escaping the daily routine where he had always fallen asleep amid someone else’s breathing, this silence that held only the sound of his own faint breaths felt both unfamiliar and sweet. The last threads of tension he had been barely holding onto slowly dissolved like mist.
Ian’s shoulders sagged so heavily that he moved at a snail’s pace. He set his bag down on the table by the window, staggered while removing his coat, and hung it on a hook in the corner. Beyond the faint outlines, he could see a door on the left wall that appeared to lead to a combined bathroom, but he had no strength left to wash up.
With half-closed eyes, he kicked off his leather boots and flopped onto the bed. The innkeeper must have paid special attention to the bedsheets; instead of the smell of old dust, the scent of sun-dried fabric tickled his nose.
‘Whoa… I’m so tired, but it feels so good.’
As his body sank into the soft mattress, familiar faces flashed through his foggy mind right before he slipped into the swamp of sleep. The little siblings from the orphanage who used to cling to his sleeves crying “Big brother!” and “Hyung!”, the teachers who had pretended to be gruff but always looked after him with deep care, and the volunteers who visited every week with warm hands.
That place had been both his home and his hometown, yet it had also been a yoke of responsibility that forced him to always act like an adult. The fact that he could never return there made one corner of his chest ache with bittersweet pain. At the same time, being thrown into this unknown world after leaving behind the Korean life where he had been pushed forward into a bleak future finally felt like his real life.
A mixture of relief and regret stirred in his chest. Ian thought he wanted to say just a few words to them.
Don’t worry too much. He was living more freely and happily here than in Korea. And from now on, he would continue to live proudly, without worrying about anyone’s judgment.
His slowly blinking eyelids finally sank shut. And so Ian fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Mornings at the inn came quite early. Ian’s eyes sparkled with satisfaction at how refreshed his body felt. After shaking off the terrible fatigue, he stretched vigorously and looked around—only for his brow to furrow slightly.
‘Yeah… I’m definitely going to need a proper cleaning.’
The pale morning sunlight mixed with dawn light streaming through the window mercilessly revealed the room’s true state. Gray clumps of dust rolled in every corner, and dark mold had formed in many places on the walls. The wooden floor was even worse. Sticky marks where something had been spilled were plastered everywhere. It was a relief that there were no spiderwebs visible.
Just in case, he opened the bathroom door and peeked inside. Fortunately, the narrow bathroom was in better condition than the room. The tiled walls and floor looked extremely worn but showed no rampant mold.
However, the crude stone toilet and sink, along with the sunflower-shaped showerhead, looked a bit strange. Small magic circles were intricately engraved on each fixture. Instead of toilet buttons or faucets, there were small crystal-like buttons. There weren’t even any visible drains in the sink or on the bathroom floor.
‘Just… how does this work?’
Ian stood there tilting his head for a moment before mustering the courage to press the button on the sink. At that instant, the magic circle embossed on the basin floor sparkled, and he felt a small amount of mana drain from inside his body. Then, clean water at the perfect temperature for washing his face appeared above the sink as if by mirage.
‘Whoa! So daily magic has been commercialized like this.’
It seemed possible because this was a world where everyone possessed mana and skills.
‘Then is the study of magic about learning one’s own skills more deeply? If I study, could I permanently engrave magic circles like these and even raise my skill ranks?’
His chain of reasoning continued, but he stopped his thoughts for now. Without basic knowledge, these were nothing more than wild guesses. First, Ian opened his status window to check how much mana had been consumed.
Mana: 98 / 100
— 2 mana consumed by basic household magic —
Only about two points had been deducted. At this rate, he would have plenty left even after cleaning the room and taking a shower. He washed his face lightly, then rummaged through the cabinet and finished brushing his teeth. The toothpaste here must have been made from herbs; it tasted bitter and had a strong scent, but it left his mouth feeling far fresher and more effective than the Korean version.
When he stepped out of the bathroom, the room’s dirty state stood out even more after being clean himself. Ian walked over to the wall where the mold was worst and activated his skill without hesitation.
“Perfect Bubble, activate!”
A blue magic circle instantly drew itself at his feet, and a clump of pure white bubbles formed in midair. The fluffy mass of bubbles emitted a blue, sparkling light and floated cutely before his eyes. Ian grinned as he observed the bubbles for a moment, then waved his hand and sent the clump flying toward the wall.
Splat!
The moment the bubble mass struck the wall, it produced a astonishing sight. Small soap bubbles began to boil and froth, spreading rapidly across the entire wall like living creatures. At the same time, a refreshing, crisp fragrance Ian had never smelled before filled the entire room.