The forest had grown quieter. The bodies were long behind them, and the path ahead twisted into hills and misty slopes. Hajin led the way, small and fast on his feet, while Kang Woo followed with the stolen sword slung across his back.
"Hyung," Hajin said after a while, "we'll need to move fast. Cloudmist Sect isn't close. It'll take at least a week from here on foot."
Kang Woo raised an eyebrow. "A week?"
Hajin nodded. "We're deep in the outer lands. No teleport scrolls, no carriages, not even marked roads. Just mountains, forests, and the occasional beast."
Kang Woo muttered to himself. "So this really is one of those worlds..."
They traveled for two days straight.
Sleeping under trees. Drinking from streams. Eating roasted wild roots and bitter herbs Hajin could identify. Kang Woo's body, though young again, was sore and stiff — but not broken.
He moved with more strength than he remembered ever having. The fatigue faded faster. His wounds from the fight had healed unnaturally quick.
This world was rough… but his body seemed made for it.
On the third morning, they spotted it — a small village resting at the foot of a hill, with a few wooden houses, a windmill, and smoke rising from chimneys.
"We can rest here," Hajin said with a grin. "Even just for a night."
They entered the village carefully. No one paid them much attention, though a few farmers eyed them with suspicion. The only real building of size was a small inn, with a creaking sign that read: Quiet Rain Guesthouse.
Inside, it was warm and dimly lit. The old innkeeper barely looked up from his ledger.
"Rooms are 40 silver a night. No food included. Extra 15 if you want dinner."
Kang Woo turned to Hajin.
The boy scratched his head, embarrassed. "I… don't have money."
Kang Woo sighed and reached into his robes.
He paused.
The fabric felt heavier than before — slightly weighted at the sides.
He searched the inner pocket. Something round, flat, and metallic.
He pulled it out.
A gold coin.
No — not just any gold coin. It shimmered strangely, stamped with a square hole in the center and a dragon insignia curling around the edge.
"Niyang…" Hajin whispered, eyes wide. "That's a gold niyang."
Kang Woo blinked. "A what?"
"One gold niyang is worth a thousand silver coins. That's more than enough for two months' worth of stay!"
Kang Woo patted his other pockets. Two more identical coins.
"…I have three?"
Even the innkeeper finally raised his head.
"You sure you want to stay in a place like this, young master?" he asked, suddenly polite.
Kang Woo chuckled, still stunned. "Yeah. One night. One room. Two beds."
The innkeeper bowed. "Right away, sir."
Hajin stared at Kang Woo in awe as they were led upstairs. "Hyung… are you from a noble clan?"
Kang Woo shook his head. "No. I don't know where this came from. But if the heavens are throwing me breadcrumbs, I'm not asking questions."
They entered a modest room with straw mats and paper walls. It wasn't much — but after two days of walking and sleeping under trees, it felt like a palace.
Hajin collapsed onto his mat with a tired smile. "You really are something else, hyung…"
Kang Woo sat quietly, the coin still in his hand.
> "If I had this kind of luck in my last life... maybe things would've turned out different."
He looked out the window.
The stars were clearer in this world. Sharper. Colder.
And tomorrow — they would walk again.
The room was quiet, Hajin already dozing off on the straw mat. Kang Woo leaned against the wooden wall, watching the stars blink through the paper-covered window.
His hand kept brushing against the gold coin in his pocket.
It didn't make sense. Why was it there? Was it placed by whoever brought him to this world? Was it a test? A trap? A gift?
He didn't know.
But one thing was clear — it had weight. And weight always drew attention.
---
Downstairs, the old innkeeper rubbed his hands together while pouring cheap rice wine into a chipped ceramic cup. He wasn't alone.
Three rough-looking men sat at a side table — patched leather armor, jagged knives strapped to their sides, tattoos half-hidden beneath their sleeves.
"You sure about this?" one of them asked, voice low and dry.
"I saw it with my own eyes," the innkeeper whispered. "A dragon-marked gold niyang. The kind only nobles or sect elders carry. And he's just some stray kid with dirty boots and no escort."
The largest of the three leaned back, smiling.
"Well now… That's worth staying up for."
The innkeeper gave a greedy grin. "Just leave the boy alive. I run a quiet place."
"Relax," the thug chuckled. "We're not killers. We're collectors."
---
Back upstairs, Kang Woo's eyes snapped open.
His ears caught something — the creak of a floorboard. Too slow. Too careful. Not the innkeeper.
He stood silently, walked across the room, and pressed his back to the wall beside the door.
Tap.
Someone tested the door handle.
Kang Woo picked up the rusty sword and held it low, breathing slowly.
The door slid open.
A shadow entered.
CRACK.
Kang Woo slammed the hilt of the sword into the intruder's temple. The man dropped instantly without a sound.
Behind him, two others rushed in — one with a dagger, the other with an axe.
Hajin woke with a start.
"Hyung—?!"
"Stay down!" Kang Woo barked, then ducked a blade swipe.
The axe grazed his sleeve. Kang Woo twisted his body, shoved the attacker back, and headbutted the one with the dagger in the nose — crunch. Blood spurted. The man howled.
The axe came again — horizontal. Kang Woo grabbed a stool and blocked it with both arms. The stool shattered, but the axe slowed.
He drove the broken stool leg into the bandit's stomach.
The man gagged and dropped.
The room was wrecked.
Three bodies. Two groaning. One out cold.
Kang Woo stood, panting.
His gaze moved to the door.
The innkeeper was standing there — pale, sweating, mouth wide open.
Kang Woo narrowed his eyes.
"You sold us out."
The old man stepped back. "I–I didn't know they'd actually—"
"Shut up."
Kang Woo walked over, grabbed the pouch of gold coins, and tucked it deeper inside his robes.
He turned to Hajin. "We leave now."
"But it's night—"
"They'll come back with more. And next time, I'm not sleeping through it."
Hajin nodded, quickly gathering his things.
As they walked out of the inn under moonlight, Kang Woo looked back one last time.
The village had seemed peaceful. Quiet. Safe.
But even here, greed hunted louder than beasts.