"Fine. I'll tell you the truth."
Kwon Minseong hurriedly grabbed Tillio's arm.
Going bankrupt once in a lifetime had been enough.
Tillio lowered his gaze to the hand clutching him.
The withered body visible through the parted robe and the smooth neck that looked as though it could fit entirely within one hand possessed a certain curiosity value, but in Tillio's eyes they weren't worth as much as a stone lying on the roadside.
Yet he couldn't help finding the man's audacity intriguing.
Whether that flat little body was hiding twelve extra lives somewhere, the ill-mannered quack's fearless habit of grabbing the Emperor without hesitation sparked Tillio's curiosity more than anything else.
"He came..."
Kwon Minseong let out a long sigh.
"Your brother really did come."
"...If he came looking for you, does that mean he's carrying a child?"
"I was trying to confirm that, but then you smashed my clinic door to pieces."
Tillio shook off Minseong's hand and headed toward the ruined entrance.
"I'm going to kill him."
"Tsk. We don't say things like that inside a hospital."
"That rat from Devia dared lay a hand on my brother?"
Radiating murderous intent, Tillio stomped across the shattered door.
Just before stepping outside, he asked,
"You know where he went, don't you?"
Kwon Minseong's brain immediately went into overdrive.
He needed to send the Emperor as far away from here as possible.
The problem was that he knew absolutely nothing about the geography of the Elunem Empire.
Still, he wasn't completely out of options.
Elunem was an empire.
Nobody called something the size of the Korean Peninsula an empire.
The Roman Empire.
The Mongol Empire.
The one thing all empires had in common was vast territory.
"The border."
Minseong answered shortly.
"The border?"
Tillio stared at him with sharp, narrow eyes.
As though weighing whether he was lying.
Pretending not to notice, Minseong tugged down the hem of his robe, which had ridden up to the point where it resembled a minidress.
"Seriously... You yanked it up a lot."
He untied the robe completely and fastened it again.
Lowering his head as if adjusting the belt, he secretly smiled.
For something he'd made up on the spot, it sounded remarkably convincing.
The border had to be far from the capital.
Not dead yet.
My brain still works.
However, Tillio didn't move.
The Emperor seemed to need stronger assurance.
Determined to drive the nail all the way in, Minseong continued.
"He was trembling with fear. When people feel threatened, they instinctively seek somewhere they consider safe. So the place farthest away from you would be... uh...?"
Suddenly, Kwon Minseong's body began tilting.
The hair covering the back of his neck spilled downward.
Blinking in confusion at the abruptly inverted view, he waited for the world to right itself.
It didn't.
"Excuse me? What exactly are you doing?" Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Tillio slung Kwon Minseong over one shoulder and walked out of the estate.
Stepping over the demolished doorway, he crossed the garden and headed toward the outer gate.
"To the border."
"Right. Sure. But maybe leave me behind?"
Even though it was spring, the night air remained chilly.
A gust of wind flipped his robe completely open, exposing his thighs and bare legs.
SMACK!
Tillio slapped the spot between Minseong's thigh and buttock.
"Wha—! What did—!"
For once, Kwon Minseong stammered.
He simply couldn't believe the reality of being spanked by a man ten years younger than himself.
People had grabbed him by the collar.
Pulled his hair.
Punched him in the face.
But this was the first time in his life anyone had smacked his backside.
"Pray to the gods."
Bathed in moonlight, the Emperor pulled open the iron gate, his teal eyes gleaming.
"Pray that we find Aswin."
His smile widened.
"Because if we don't, the clinic you cherish is finished."
One hour after Kwon Minseong began an entirely unplanned journey beneath the moonlight with his bare backside exposed, two men arrived in a small village outside Elunem called Parselkona.
In the dead of night, when everyone except the young and hopelessly in love had long since fallen asleep, the pair wandered through the village streets.
After thirty minutes, they found a small inn near the village entrance and exchanged glances.
The man in the white robe knocked on the inn door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Six knocks echoed through the narrow alley.
The inn door slowly opened.
Upon seeing the visitors who had arrived alongside the morning star, Yvonne, the eldest daughter of the innkeeper, found herself debating whether to put on a professional smile or press the emergency alarm hidden beneath the desk.
Parselkona was Elunem's transportation hub.
The only railway connecting Elunem's border regions to Elunem City passed through Parselkona.
Running an inn in a place like that meant meeting every type of person imaginable.
Especially during the Spring Festival season.
There were guests who braided their beards into six strands reaching their chests.
Guests who deliberately shaved the center of their heads.
Guests who wore wooden shoes instead of leather ones.
The village attracted people with every imaginable regional peculiarity.
But in Yvonne's twenty-one years of life, she had never seen guests like these.
One was an exhibitionist wearing nothing but a robe.
The other was a suspicious man concealing his identity beneath a black cloak, black gloves, and a black mask.
No matter how many times she considered it, they looked suspicious.
Deciding she was one step away from calling the town guard, Yvonne slipped her hand beneath the desk.
Just as she was about to press the emergency button that would automatically dispatch a messenger bird to summon the guards, the exhibitionist in the white robe approached.
"Hello."
"Welcome."
Maintaining her customer-service smile, Yvonne rested a finger atop the button.
If necessary, she intended to press it immediately.
"Would there happen to be any clothing stores still open?"
The exhibitionist rubbed his brow as he asked.
Yvonne tilted her head, visibly surprised. This story is hosted at g.com.
Slowly withdrawing her hand from the emergency button, she asked,
"You aren't dressed like that on purpose?"
"Of course not."
The exhibitionist let out a bitter laugh.
"All the shops in Parselkona close at nine. At this hour, only inns and taverns are still open."
"Th-that's because I had to leave in a hurry and couldn't bring any clothes."
"You must have been in quite a hurry."
"Oh, I absolutely was. The thing is, I never intended to leave in such a hurry. But..."
The exhibitionist turned his head and glared at the black-clad man behind him.
"Do you happen to have any spare clothes? I'll pay properly. Please."
"Um... If you don't mind wearing my clothes..."
"As you can see, I'm not exactly in a position to be picky."
Now reduced to an unwilling exhibitionist, Kwon Minseong let out a long sigh over the counter.
Yvonne looked at him sympathetically.
By now, she'd removed her hand from the alarm completely and placed it atop the desk.
"It sounds like you have quite a story."
"You could say that."
He'd been kidnapped without even being allowed to wear underwear.
"Would you only like to borrow clothes? Or..."
"Ah, we'd like a room as well."
"Just for one night, correct? It's a little embarrassing to say this, but because of the Spring Festival, room prices have gone up."
"He'll pay."
Minseong pointed expressionlessly at the black-clad man behind him.
"The clothing too."
Naturally, the black-clad man was none other than Emperor Tillio, concealing his identity.
"Five hundred Giti. Payment in advance."
"Five hundred Giti?"
Kwon Minseong nearly choked.
At his clinic, the consultation fee for one patient was one Giti.
"It's the Spring Festival."
Yvonne gave him a look that clearly said I already warned you.
The markup was as shameless as the prices charged for seasonal tourist food.
Not my money, but it still hurts.
Pressing a hand to his forehead, Minseong extended a hand toward Tillio.
Tillio silently handed over a pouch filled with gold coins.
Carefully counting them, Minseong extracted five hundred Giti and placed them on the desk.
"The clothes will be eighty Giti. Normally I'd charge a hundred."
For eighty Giti, you could buy an entire outfit at Zigbird's shop.
What a ridiculous price.
Grumbling under his breath, Minseong added another eighty Giti.
Yvonne deposited the five hundred Giti into the safe and slipped the eighty into her skirt pocket.
"All done now?"
"Not quite. We still need to verify your identities."
"I don't have anything like a business card. I run a clinic in Elunem City, though. I'm fairly well known. If you've heard of—"
"No. Him."
Yvonne pointed at Tillio.
The man who had been standing silently behind them like a sack of grain finally stepped forward.
From inside his cloak, he produced a silver identification plaque bordered in blue and set it on the desk.
Yvonne picked it up and examined it from several angles.
The instant she saw the eagle crest engraved upon it, her eyes widened and both hands flew to her mouth.
"This is...!"