Chapter 42
“…Well, I guess that makes sense. You’re young, so you probably haven’t met that many people.”
“What?”
Seriously? That’s funny. Sure, my body is seven years old, but my mind is twenty-four. I frowned deeply and retorted, but Zute just shrugged and kept walking.
Was he trying to avoid a fight, thinking I might question him more aggressively? But strangely enough, he didn’t let go of my elbow, as if he still intended to escort me.
“If you take me to another weird place again, I’m really going to get mad. Got it?”
I gave him a firm warning and glared. But then I started noticing the surroundings more than Zute himself.
Huh?
Everything around me looked extremely familiar. That brick house, those run-down shops, the homeless lying around, and that fairly large four-story wooden building with a bit of light leaking through its windows. It was practically the most decent-looking structure in the area.
What the heck? This place… of course I was shocked. This was where I used to live. More precisely, where I lived with Anna and Mayra.
Just as I was feeling completely thrown off, Zute suddenly stopped in front of that building.
“Here we are. We’re here. Wasn’t that far, right?”
“…You live here?”
“I told you, yeah.”
“…But… wait. Which floor?”
“Fourth. It’s the cheapest.”
Fourth floor? A chill ran down my spine. Because that was exactly where I used to live with Anna and Mayra! When the three of us scraped together enough money to rent this place, we were so nervous the landlord wouldn’t approve.
Of course, rationally, I understood. Ever since I returned safely to Saylkar, the timeline had changed. It made sense that someone else would live in the apartment I once shared with Anna and Mayra.
But for that someone to be Zute? I never imagined it.
Could this really be a coincidence? As I stood there, stunned, glancing between Zute and the building, he casually said,
“Let’s go up.”
I followed him up the stairs. I used to take three steps at a time, but in this seven-year-old body, I realized just how tall the staircase really was.
“Come in.”
Zute opened the door and called me inside. With trembling steps, I entered the room behind him. How could I ever forget this place? The home I shared with Mayra and Anna. It only had two rooms, so two of us always had to share the bigger one. I remember how fiercely we competed when it was time to rotate who got the small room to themselves.
“It’s real…”
I covered my mouth in astonishment as I looked around the room.
There was a reason this spacious place was so cheap—it had way too many flaws.
Old, bad soundproofing, drafts everywhere. One day, Anna brought back a bunch of old but still usable rugs from somewhere and hung them all around. The place suddenly felt much fancier, and we’d play pretend as noble ladies living in a mansion.
As I walked through the house, I was amazed at how vividly those memories returned. We were so happy back then.
Then Zute spoke.
“…Your face looks really weird right now.”
“…My face? W-what about it?”
Weird? I couldn’t hide my flustered reaction and instinctively touched my face. Zute, watching me closely, added as if to clarify:
“You look like someone who just saw something deeply nostalgic. Like you used to live here or something.”
Is it that obvious?
No way. I looked at him in confusion. Was I just being too defensive, reading too much into his words? But Zute was asking vague questions—ones that felt like they were meant to bring up my past, back when I lived in the slums of Verdeut.
Whether he knew something or not, that unreadable expression of his…
“That’s impossible.”
“…Really?”
I quickly shook my head.
Zute kept his eyes on my face. His gaze was relentless, like he wanted to observe every reaction I had to this place. I deliberately changed the subject.
“Anyway, I’m just looking around because it’s interesting. How does a kid like you live in such a big place? And also… this atmosphere is seriously…”
I looked around more closely, trying to find the right words. The structure was the same, but it felt very different from the home I remembered. And somehow…
“…Why is it so luxurious?”
I finished the sentence in disbelief. Good grief. I said it myself, but it sounded ridiculous. “Luxurious” is probably the last word you’d ever associate with this part of Otern’s slums.
But it was true. Zute’s home was completely different from the old place I’d lived in.
The furniture and objects around made the place practically shine. Even the carpets weren’t ordinary. They had exotic patterns, like something imported from another continent, and the silky gleam was unmistakable. Even the walls seemed to be paneled with high-quality wood. Unlike when I lived here, the house now seemed almost draft-free.
“What is all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… why is this place so fancy?”
“This place? …Is it?”
Zute tilted his head like it was no big deal. Seriously? I picked up a beautifully decorated gold-trimmed vase near me.
“Is this… gold?”
“…Probably?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to.”
Zute shrugged and looked around the house with the same indifferent expression. No, the way he was acting—so casual—made it seem like he wasn’t lying. Everything in this house looked genuinely expensive.
But why were things like this here? I turned to him and asked again.
“…Are you rich or something?”
“No. Not rich. Rich people gave it to me.”
“Rich people gave you this? Why?”
“Who knows. Maybe I’m just popular.”
“Do you hear yourself right now…?”
I stared at him hard. The more I thought about it, the more it felt like he was lying. This was too suspicious. What kind of rich person just gives away stuff like this for free?
I wanted to think it was fake, but… I’m not blind. Everything in here was clearly the real deal. It was suspicious that this rundown building even still housed such valuable things. Normally, just bringing something like that into this alley would get you robbed immediately.
“What exactly are you doing to get this stuff?”
This was, at minimum, suspicious activity—at maximum, patronage.
That’s what I believed as I stared at him coldly.
“What? What do you mean ‘what am I doing’?”
Zute widened his eyes in surprise. That clueless face of his made my blood boil. I frowned and pressed him again.
“Seriously, how does a kid with no parents live in a house filled with valuables like this? They just gave it to you? Who does that? Who would believe that?”
“…”
“This is way too suspicious. And this neighborhood is one of the most dangerous slums in the entire capital. If word got out that your house was full of this kind of stuff, you’d get killed by robbers in no time. So how the hell is all this still here and you’re still alive?”
I clutched my head in frustration.
