Volume 3 Episode 4: Money
"This is bad."
Lin had no money, in a no-magic world.
He, who was born into an extremely wealthy family, never had to think even once about money. He never had a problem with wealth.
But he wasn't currently Lin Hamill of the Hamill family. He was Peter Han, a seventeen year old drug addict, in a middle class family. And Peter Han had no money left to spare.
"This is a problem. What to do now?"
Lin had to find a way to make a few bucks so that he could fly to Brusnia, or more specifically the Newport City in Brusnia where the tomb is said to be located.
"System, how much money do I need to fly in a commercial airline from Ales to Newport City in Brusnia?"
[ The cheapest flight available as of right now that flies from Synvil, Ales to Newport City in Brusnia is of the Ales International Airlines, which costs seventy four thousand yorkels.
Yorkel is the currency of Ales, if you hadn't figured that out. The value of the yorkel is extremely low compared to other currencies mainly because of the recent economic slump faced by the country as well as the massive dumping of equities and debts by a number of investors.
However, this fall in the value of their currency didn't seem to affect the wages of the normal people. As a result, the salaries of the everyday workers remained the same, as the value of foreign products increased rapidly. ]
"So what you're saying is that this boy's family doesn't make enough money for me to just take the flight cost out of their wallet."
[ … yes, I suppose that is where I was getting at. ]
Lin let out a heavy sigh and looked at the floating transparent screen in front of him.
"System, just skip to the necessary details only next time, alright? I don't need to know how the stock market works in a different world if I am not planning on using it."
The system was silent for a few minutes, giving the impression that it was considering the request before replying.
[ Noted. I shall consider your input the next time I give any information, boss. ]
Lin smiled at the screen and returned to his, or Peter Han's, bed. As he lay on the small but comfortable bed, he couldn't help but remember how just a few months ago, he was a normal high school student with no powers.
Everything that happens, happens for a reason.
Lin didn't believe in chances. Or to be more precise, he didn't want to believe in chances. He didn't want something to happen to him because he was lucky or unlucky. That would just mean that he didn't have anything to do with the overall result. He would just be the right guy at the right place at the right time.
He believed himself to be worth more than just a guy who was lucky. That was why he was extremely nervous during his meeting with The Man Upstairs. He felt that there was a reason he was assigned a mission. No, he needed a reason. He desperately wished for it.
He wished for his destiny. He knew that this sort of mindset was perhaps wrong, but he still believed it regardless.
And who knows, maybe this alternate world is a part of his destiny. He didn't know, but wished to find out.
As for how to escape this world back to his previous one, he thought about it, but didn't find anything that might help him make a quick amount of money in a very few amount of time. At least, not without any consequences. He was in a body which had no protection and no magic, which meant that consequences had a lot more weight to it. He had to consider everything carefully.
"System, what happens to the body of Peter if I leave this world? You said he passed away due to drug overdose. Doesn't that mean that once I leave, only his dead body shall remain?"
[ Yes boss. That is exactly how it will happen. Once you leave the body of Peter Han, it will just be a dead body, as the soul of Peter Han has already passed on. ]
Lin nodded slowly at the system's explanation. This meant that regardless of his actions, the end result of Peter Han is ultimately death.
'This means that whatever I do, I do not need to worry about the life of Peter Han after I leave. But the problem is, how can I limit my actions to just affect Peter and no one else?"
He now considered Peter Han to be expendable. There was no need to be considerate of a dead body. But he did need to be extra careful in order for his actions to retrieve money without hurting anyone else.
Even though Peter Han was dead, he still had his family. Lin was not a nice person, but he definitely didn't wish to put people he did not know in tight spots, especially if there might be a way around it.
If his actions to get money quickly as Peter Han somehow affect his family, then Lin would truly be the lowest of the low. Keep in mind, he didn't love the Han family all of a sudden, but he didn't hate them either. His belief was that he wouldn't interfere with their lives as long as they wouldn't interfere in his.
Lin closed his eyes, falling asleep before he could think of a way to earn money quickly.
***********************************
The next day, Lin quickly got out of his bed, and started training.
He was not in his original body, so he couldn't do most of the training methods. But other than his body training methods, he also did mind training as well, which helped in improving the mind and increasing its efficiency.
After training for almost an hour, he got up from the floor and quickly got ready for school. Right now, he was Peter Han, who was a student. Until he found a way to return to his previous world, he had to make it work over here. Roaming around without attending school would just result in more problems, especially without any magic powers.
And besides, it's not like he wouldn't be able to think of a way to get money while attending school.
So, he quickly had his breakfast and left the house like a normal student. He didn't wish to interact with the Han family for a longer period, so he purposely acted like he was late to school, leaving early.
The path to the school was surprisingly a bit long. Lin didn't know why the school was so far from the house. He saw a few other schools near his house, but for some reason he was going to a far away school.
He soon found an answer to his question, as he saw the villa in the picture frame on his desk come into view. The villa seemed to be a lot closer to the school, which meant that Peter was probably going to the same school he went to before, back when he was rich.
Lin finally reached the school after a while, and after figuring out the school's infrastructure, he quickly walked to his classroom, finally reaching it.
He opened the door and was about to step inside the classroom when he heard someone shouting his name loudly.
"HEY PETER, COME HERE!!"
Lin looked around to see who was calling him, and found a young boy with blonde hair waving his hands, motioning him to come near.
Lin looked at the boy confusedly. Apart from the blonde kid, there were two other boys with large build surrounding him along with a girl who was wearing lots of makeup. They were smiling at Lin, or Peter. But their smiles were a bit odd, which made him suspicious.
"System, can you tell me who those people waving at me are?"
[ The boy standing in the middle is Thomas Rivaldo, son of Hank Rivaldo, a global multimillionaire. The two boys standing behind him are David White and Patrick Button, and the girl sitting on the desk is Lizzie Garfield. These four used to be Peter Han's friends back when he was wealthy, but quickly started bullying him once his father's business went bankrupt. ]
Lin furrowed his eyebrows after listening to the system's explanation. It seems these four are the culprits behind Peter Han resorting to drugs. The system continued its explanation.
[ Furthermore, it seems that Hank Rivaldo had a hand in the Han family going bankrupt. He used fraudulent data that he forged to trap Peter's father and making him go out of business, as they were competitors in the same field. For some reas- ]
'Stop!'
The system was interrupted by the order of Lin. He walked towards the four bullies, smiling while he did so. He then started conversing with the system in his mind.
'System, what you are saying is that this boy over here.. might have a lot of money, right?'
[ ….Yes, I suppose he must have quite a large amount of money with him, probably in his account. ]
Lin smiled at the answer given by the system, as he neared the bullies. He didn't care about what the bullies did or what the boy's father did, but he did know one thing.
He had money to spare.