"Do we even have any money?"

"Yeah, Dae-sung gave me enough to last us a month."

We were scoping out the inns in District 1.

"Gi, how long does it take to go from outside of District 1 to the exam site?"

"Uh… a little less than an hour?"

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to use an inn outside District 1?"

"Ah… that's right…"

Gi looked slightly downcast- I think he wanted to splurge a little.

It only took us a few minutes to find an inn.

"We'd like an overnight room for 2 people."

"That'll be 200."

Gi pulled a small bag out of his robes and handed him 4 copper coins.

I realized then and there I knew nothing about the currency here. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Gi, what did you give him?"

"I gave him 4 '50' coins."

"...'50' coins?"

Gi sighed.

"There's '1' coins, '5' coins, '10' coins, '50' coins, '100' and '500' coins. After that it's paper money, but those are mostly used by nobles."

All of the coins looked identical, the only difference was the 1 coin had '1' engraved on it, and so on- it seemed rather lazy. All of the coins were copper, but the 100 and 500 coins were silver.

"Now that we've got a room, let's eat!"

The inn was on the edge of District 1, in District 3. It only took us a few minutes to get back to District 1.

It was still bright out, but the sun was gonna set soon.

District 1 was bustling with people- there were a lot of people wearing robes similar to ours, but in different colors.

"There's a lot of people wearing doboks."

"Doboks?"

"Kwang-sik, you're wearing a dobok. It's a martial artist uniform." Ah, Dae-sung had definitely used that word.

"They're gonna be our competition."

Now that he had mentioned it, I could feel a slight hostility coming from every direction. I was curious what their statuses looked like.

[???]

[Rank: Third-rate]

[Strength 60/100] [Agility 72/100] [Stamina 53/100] [Ki Level 30/100]

[???]

[???]

[???]

[Rank: Second-rate]

[Strength 35/100] [Agility 10/100] [Stamina 41/100] [Ki Level 20/100]

…Suzie, why can't I see their names?

[You don't know their names.]

I realized then and there that I had never looked at the status of someone I didn't know the name of.

"Dae-sung took me to this place the last time we were in the capital, you're gonna love it- it's called pizza!"

…Pizza?

At the orphanage, the food was good, but it wasn't anything I had eaten before, so seeing a pizza place was surreal.

I looked around. Now that we were further into District 1, what I was seeing was odd- there was electricity. They were off, but there were streetlights on the side of the road.

Were these only in District 1?

The clothes and the shops seemed influenced by modern day Earth as well, it felt so out of place compared to the rest of the Districts we walked through.

"Gi, how big is District 1?"

"Ah, District 1 is the exception- it's about 100 kilometres wide.

It's run by the Wudang Sect Council directly- as you can tell, the funding it gets is on another level compared to the other Districts, it isn't the capital for nothing."

I had thought that District 3 looked nice, but now everything besides the capital looked like the slums.

I could also see why Gi wanted to splurge on the inn- we could have gotten an inn with electricity.

Park's Pizza.

My anticipation was through the roof. I was grateful for the food at the orphanage, but it wasn't very flavorful- there was rice, veggies and sometimes meat, but nothing was seasoned.

I followed Gi in- it was a pizza joint through and through. I could smell the mozzarella, and the people around us were sitting down and eating pizza.

And standing front and center was the Flame Sect.

"Ah! It's that boy!"

"Wait, don't tell me he's here for the exam."

Gi looked confused, and I felt embarrassed remembering what I said.

"You made a Dantian."

…!

It was the woman I had copied the Ember's Flame Step 4 from, she was staring straight at me.

"Are you here for the exam?"

"...Yes."

"I'm Sena. What's your name?"

"I'm Kwang-sik."

Open Sena's Status.

[Sena]

[???]

"How old are you?"

"...I don't know."

She must have been curious as to what age I formed a Dantian- she looked disappointed with my answer. She then proceeded to leave the restaurant.

"I'll see you during the exam."

The Flame Sect members followed her out- their smugness was gone and they were now looking at me with contempt.

***

"Kwang-sik, who are those people?"

I told Gi what happened on the day I got here with the Flame Sect.

"She can use Ki compression?"

"...Yeah."

"Here's your pizza!"

We had already ordered and were waiting for the pizza to arrive.

It was glorious- they had brought out a pepperoni pizza for the 2 of us. Ah, I don't think I can go back to unseasoned medieval food.

We spent the rest of the day checking out shops. We didn't buy anything, and a few store owners got mad at us for it.

The sun had set and the streetlights were now on, so we decided to hurry back to the inn.

"I'm sorry, we booked your room."

"What? It's the night before the exam, we aren't going to be able to find a room-"

"We didn't think you were coming back, and the people that came by were in a Sect-"

Gi looked furious.

"So if we were in a Sect, you wouldn't have given our room away, is what you're saying."

I could see this going poorly very quickly, so I decided to intervene.

"Then just give us our money back, we'll go somewhere else."

The woman behind the counter handed us 3 copper coins.

"...The room cost 200, not 150."

"The 50 coin was for the 4 hours you did have the room."

[...What a bitch.]

I know, right?

"...We weren't even in the room, we booked an overnight room specifically to sleep here once it got dark."

"...The room was still in your possession."

Should I fucking burn this place to the ground?

[That would be ill-advised.]

I sighed.

"All right, we get it. Your inn likes to rip off children, as long as they aren't part of a Sect."

I wouldn't say I was yelling, but I was talking very loudly- since most walls were wooden, I was sure everyone in the inn could hear me.

The woman looked nervous. "No, I wouldn't say that-"

"Shut it. You put a 9 year old child on the street for the night to make a few extra bucks. We'll get going then."

I pulled Gi out of the inn with me- he looked really nervous.

"Kwang-sik, we can't sleep on the street, there's a curfew- it would be bad if we caught got sleeping on the street here-"

He was panicking- was it really that bad?

Most places were already closed- we stopped by a few inns but they were fully booked.

Gi's nervousness was spreading to me too, but I had a last resort.

***

"Kwang-sik, where are we going?"

We had been walking for about an hour and a half, but we were here. It was a horse stable we had passed on our way here.

"...A stable?"

It was time to use one of the perks of being a child.

"You look a little young to ride a horse."

"We came to District 1 for the exam, but all the inns are booked-"

"You shouldn't have waited till it got dark."

Gi started reaching for the money bag in his robes and I stepped on his foot.

"W-we did book in advance, b-but when we c-came back to t-the inn after exploring the c-capital they h-had given away our r-room to Sect members.

W-we couldn't say anything b-because we're orphans.

…T-this is all we have."

I held out the 3 coins I had gotten back from the bitch at the inn.

I had played it up a little- I was desperate, but not to the point of crying.

He groaned.

"Alright, come in. You don't have to pay."

"Thank you!"

[You've gotten more devious.]

Is that bad?

[...No. Right now, I'd say it's good.]

"You can sleep here."

"Thank you. It means a lot."

The man had guided us to one of the empty pens- sleeping on hay wasn't ideal, but it was better than the street.

***

"Man, I was useless earlier."

We had been laying there for a while, and Gi had spoken up.

"I was panicking, and you solved the problem perfectly. It's hard to imagine you're just a child."

Since it wasn't a question, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to respond, or if he was just talking.

"But we've got another problem. This place is almost 3 hours away from the exam site.

How are we going to wake up on time to get there at 8 in the morning?"

…That was a good question.

[I can wake you up on time.]

You can? That'd be great!

"Don't worry, I'll wake us both up at 5."

Gi looked skeptical, but he must have trusted me somewhat since he fell asleep shortly after. However, I couldn't get myself to fall asleep- I still had too many things on my mind.

This world had electricity and pizza joints.

Since there were influences from modern Earth, did that mean I wasn't the only person from Earth to travel here? Or was this actually the same Earth but in the distant future? Or was it just a coincidence?

That was already a huge shock, and I was still pissed at the inn lady from earlier. I wasn't sure if I would be able to sleep, if at all.

[Do you want me to put you to sleep?]

That would be perfect. Good night, Suzie.

[Good night Wyatt.]

…Suzie, why do you call me Wyatt instead of Kwang-sik now?

[Because you prefer being called Wyatt.]

Ah. That was true.

***