Vol.1 - Chapter 2: Future Plans (1/12)

''Huff... Huff...''

In the dark alleys, a young man was faintly panting. He was running as fast as his feet would allow, as if he was running from a huge monster, as if he was being chased by a Grim Reaper who would end his life.

''Huff... M- my legs... Huff... Al-most the-re.''

When he couldn't see anyone behind him, he stopped where he was for a while to catch his breath. His breaths were so irregular and heavy that he had to open his mouth more than once to say a word. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to do this for much longer, because while he was busy talking to himself, his pursuers caught up to him.

''There he is! Catch him quickly, if he runs any further we'll have to let him go!"

''Fu-ck this...''

As the moonlight reflected on the auburn hair of the chased person, he continued to breathe deeply. He was a young man of medium height with a body that could be called slim. His lungs still hadn't recovered, but when he saw the men he was trying to escape from approaching him, he started running again without caring about it.

---

""Shit... I'm lost again!''

A chestnut-haired boy continued to wander the empty streets. He had been trying to return to the inn where he had been staying, but he had made no progress on his way back. He was constantly trying to go back through the streets from where he had come to where he was now, but he only seemed to be going in circles.

'Great! Why am I wandering around the city at this hour? I thought I could find my way thanks to the mountain, but there are buildings everywhere! It's like a maze in the middle of the night.'

Although he tried to warm himself up by rubbing his hands on his body, the air was quite cold, so it could not be said that what he was doing was of much help to him.

'I haven't seen anyone for a while, should I knock on the door of a house and ask where I am?'

He thought about this idea for a few seconds. For a moment, even though this idea was in his head, his pride did not allow it when he was about to put it into practice.

'I've traveled through huge forests, I've crossed corners covered with fog and without a single living thing in it; I'm going to lose my way in a city? Hahaha, what a joke.'

If anyone saw this boy talking to himself on the empty streets in the middle of the night, they might have thought he was crazy. Fortunately, the only thing accompanying him on these empty streets were the cold winds.

'Ohh, yeah yeah. The light on the mountain was hitting from the upper right. If I go a little further to the left of the mountain, I can return to the streets I'm familiar with.'

...

.....

'Is there some kind of spell on this mountain?'

Shin was looking at the mountain in front of him rather annoyed. He had been trying to go to the left of the mountain for a while, but he had made no progress.

'Damn that mountain... Enough, I'm going to ask someone or I'll freeze here.'

He had not taken his coat on, so he started to feel the cold to his bones. At the beginning of his walk, the weather was calm and pleasant, so he didn't care much about the light winds blowing, but the length of his walk had took longer than he anticipated. The weather also gave him a little surprise and became colder as the winds intensified.

His patience overflowing, Shin threw his pride aside with the effect of the cold and headed towards the nearest building. He raised his hand to knock on the door.

''Ahh! Le-ave me a-lone!"

'You can't run any further, stay where you are! If you go any more, don't blame us for what happens afterwards!'

Shin's hand was left in the air. He was watching what was happening on the street before he could knock on the door in front of him. A few people were running towards himself.

'After hours I see a few people outside and they are playing catch. Great!'

But the chase seemed to end when the man in front, who was running away, tripped over a stone and fell. After the man fell, he did a few rolls and ended up right in front of Shin.

'Ouch... He fell really bad.'

There was some distance between him and his pursuers, but it seemed quite difficult for the fallen man to get up and run away again.

''Ahh!''

The auburn-haired young man on the ground cried out in pain while holding his leg. Then he realized the boy in front of him and started begging him.

''He-y, help me!''

His voice sounded very weak and it was hard to understand what he was saying as he was trying to breathe while trying to speak. The man tried to stand up after calling out to the boy in front of him, but he couldn't even manage that. Shin was looking at the group coming from behind.

'There are only three of them. I guess they wouldn't want to cause trouble here. I'd rather not interfere at all, but this guy looked like he was running for his life. If they're planning to attack him, I guess I might have to get involved.'

While he was thinking this, the man in front of him crawled towards him and grabbed his leg with his hands.

''Please help, they're going to ki-KÖHÖ-HÖ-LL ME!''

His eyes were shaking with fear and his voice sounded almost like crying.

'I've got nothing on me but my knife. It's really stupid to walk around on these streets in this weather without anything else on me! Anyway, I'll shout and try to scare them.'

As the man on the ground continued to beg Shin, his pursuers had finally caught up.

"Hahaha! It was obvious that you couldn't escape, you idiot! Now, either you come with us quietly or we'll collect our debt after we kill you!''

''My de-debt is not due yet! You bastard bandits! Just give me a few days and I swear I'll pay!''

The man on the ground must have caught his breath, because he was able to form a proper sentence. Although his voice was a little muffled, at least it was more understandable what he was saying now.

''So who is this brat? I think you are adding more people to your debt. Sharing is good, isn't it?''

''Hahaha!''

As the young man said, the men who looked like bandits were talking and laughing among themselves. Meanwhile, one of them glanced at Shin and grinned wickedly.

''Actually, what you're wearing looks nice. Maybe if you get stripped down and drop everything you have, we won't take you along with that idiot on the ground!"

''Hahaha!''

While they were distracted by laughing and having fun, the man in front of Shin was trying to sneak away, but unfortunately his body was quite tired and with his leg injured, he could hardly move. Shin supported the man with his shoulder when he saw his desire to escape.

''Anyway, enough laughing. If we linger any longer, the boss will feed us to the dogs.''

When they finished their conversation and turned round, they were unexpectedly surprised.

''Hey! Where the hell did they go?!''

"You shitheads! How could you lose the men in front of you?!''

''You were here too, how could you not notice!''

The men started to fight with each other where they stood. What they didn't know was that the guys they had lost were behind a building just a few meters away.

''Hey, are you alright?''

Shin asked the man next to him in a calm and low voice. The auburn-haired young man still looked worried and wanted to get away from where he was. When he tried to walk away from the boy supporting him with his shoulder and tried to walk on his own, he ended up on the ground without taking a single step. Apparently, he could not make his exhausted body accept this desire to escape.

''Ahh!!!''

''Slow down you moron!''

Even though he screamed painfully for a second when he fell to the ground, he immediately lowered his voice, but in this quiet night when the streets were empty, even the slightest sound spread everywhere. Fortunately, the bandits were too busy fighting among themselves to notice the young man's groan.

''You don't need to run anywhere; you wouldn't be able to escape even if you wanted to. Don't worry, these idiots won't be able to find us.''

Shin was trying to calm the young man down. The man had already forgotten about running away when he failed to stand up.

''Huhh...''

The young man took a deep breath and leaned his back against the stone building behind him.

''Brr... It's way too cold tonight. Look what I went through on the day of the celebration!''

While his body was shivering from the cold, he finally started to speak calmly. While he was complaining about the cold, the boy in front of him was not much different from him.

''Brr... I completely agree with you. This celebration day is a total joke.''

While Shin was complaining for the same reason, the two suddenly locked eyes and looked at each other. Then they exchanged a little chuckle. In the alley that was illuminated by the moonlight for a few seconds, both of them were able to see each other's faces very clearly. With the influence of their chuckle, they did not react immediately, but a question mark arose in both of their minds. When the moonlight stopped illuminating their faces, both of them squinted their eyes in the darkness of the night and examined each other again. When they were finished, they said something at the same time.

''Wait a minute...''

''YUMI'S LITTLE BROTHER?!''

''SUCKER LOVER?!''