Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 364

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 134.
May Your Final Performance
Be Your Greatest (9)
5. When There Is No Money
Having no money is fine. The problem is not wanting money.
Not eating is fine. The problem is not knowing how to eat.
Telling lies is fine. The problem is not knowing they’re lies.
Being dead is fine. The real problem is not knowing you’re dead.
“Hey.”
There was something unsettling about the voice. Sitting hunched over a small table in one corner of the bedroom, I thought to myself that I should not turn around. But then came words that seemed to peer directly into my mind.
“Turn around.”
“Pretending to be busy won’t work either.”
Left with no choice, I raised both hands in surrender and spun around in my seat. Maximian stood looking down at me with his arms crossed, and the atmosphere emanating from his face was just as unsettling as his tone.
“I heard about it from Riche.”
“You did.”
I had known what he intended to say from the moment he pushed open the door, so there was no need to hear his full explanation. I clasped my hands together and grinned sheepishly like a child.
“That script…”
“Yes, that script.”
“…Was it you?”
There was no point in denying it now.
“Me? Well… perhaps a little.”
“Then…”
I thought the conversation would end here and move to action, but strangely it continued.
“Hm?”
“Hand it over.”
Maximian held out his hand confidently as if he expected to receive something. I hesitated, looking down at his palm.
“What? But I’ve already copied and distributed dozens of copies of the script. What good would taking the original now do…?”
Maximian shook his head.
“Not that.”
“Not that? Then what?”
I was certainly a genius, but there existed worlds operating under entirely different laws than mine.
“Royalties.”
Maximian stared down at me with an expression that was grim yet composed. I found myself responding without thinking, surprised that he even knew such a word.
“Royalties? What royalties are you talking about?”
At that point, Maximian suddenly stomped his right foot hard against the floor—a useful technique when pressing debtors for payment.
“You’re planning to take my original ideas and sell them without permission! Of course you have to pay the original creator! I’m not joking!”
Only then did I grasp the situation, my eyes narrowing.
“Listen here, Max. An ‘original work’ literally means the ‘original creation,’ but is your life a work? You’ve simply lived. You didn’t plan out how to live in advance and then follow that plan, did you?”
“My life—so I created it, not you? Whether it’s a work or a life, it’s mine!”
“Still, that doesn’t make it an original work.”
“You’re obsessing over useless semantics again. So tell me—is it perfectly fine for someone to take a living person’s story and use it however they please? If some nobody living in god-knows-where heard about the troublemaking genius Demonic Joshua and decided to turn it into a song or write it as a novel, you wouldn’t mind?”
Joshua reacted as though struck in a tender spot.
“I absolutely would mind!”
“Then why shouldn’t I?”
“But why are you demanding money for it?”
“Because that’s the bare minimum of courtesy!”
“Courtesy?”
“Asking for money instead of throwing punches—how remarkably civil and refined. What a peaceable alternative you’ve come up with.”
Joshua suddenly fixed Maximian with wounded eyes.
“That’s too much.”
“What’s too much?”
“Lumping me in with ‘some nobody living in god-knows-where.’ Couldn’t you have offered a more friendly alternative? Demanding money, of all things—you’re a cold one, aren’t you?”
But Maximian, far from flustered, shot back immediately.
“Stop fixating on every careless word I throw out and actually think. The heart of what I said wasn’t ‘some nobody living somewhere’—it was what came after: ‘however they please.’ If you wanted to use my story, you should have asked me first and gotten my consent, shouldn’t you? Did my life seem so trivial to you that you didn’t think it warranted even a single moment of asking permission?”
The last remark seemed almost like a jest, but his tone suggested otherwise. Joshua lowered his voice and spoke.
“You’re right. That would have been the proper thing to do. But now that we’ve reached this point, the truth is different. If I had asked you beforehand, would you have given permission?”
“Not a chance!”
“Exactly!”
….
The two of them glared at each other in silence for a moment, each searching for their next words. Maximian spoke first.
“You knew I wouldn’t give permission, so you went ahead and wrote it anyway, figuring you’d take a beating later to settle it. That won’t work, you bastard. I don’t like my story becoming a laughingstock any more than you do. This is a serious matter.”
“I’m not making your story a laughingstock.”
Joshua rose from his seat, slammed shut the script he’d been rifling through, and pointed at its cover with his finger.
“Do you think I wrote this just because I was desperate for material? I don’t regard you so lightly. And I really want you to see this performance. I know you have no interest in novels or theater. But this is… yes, I apologize for not asking your permission. But it wasn’t careless. It wasn’t thoughtless. The moment the idea struck me, I knew you’d never agree. So I decided to write it first and then get permission while taking my punishment afterward.”
“I know you didn’t write it with malicious intent. But this is a matter of my personal preference. Whether it’s funny or not, I simply don’t like others knowing my story. I don’t think it’s worth discussing at all.”
Joshua smiled slightly.
“But no one will know it’s your story.”
“One person in the audience will know.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Joshua’s gaze dropped for a moment.
“I see… you’re right about that too. So what would you have me do? Should I scrap this script? Write something completely new?”
….
Maximian stared at Joshua without responding, then muttered.
“Write something new? Now? Damn it, how can you say something like that so casually?”
Joshua glanced at Maximian’s face and spoke.
“It might take a day or two for a new concept to come to me, but I can manage somehow. I’ll convince the others.”
….
At this point, it was practically a threat. Maximian understood that too.
“We’ve already assembled the staff with that script, held meetings, and we’re set to start production first thing tomorrow morning! I can’t exactly throw ash on a project meant to make money! You’re the one who started this, so you’re the problem! So just hand over the royalties! Then I’ll have sold my story and made money from it, and I can live with that!”
Joshua lowered his head as if apologizing, but in truth he was struggling to suppress his laughter. Ah, so it was a matter of understanding. After all, this fellow’s life philosophy was that anything could be sold if money was involved.
“Fine. I’ll do that. Oh, by the way, while we’re at it, shouldn’t I settle up the previous matter as well?”
“Previous matter?”
Joshua spoke without bothering to hide his mischievous smile.
“Back when I was Max Cardi, I once performed a show called ‘The Violinist.'”
Maximian fell silent as if trying to recall something, then the next moment he jumped to his feet.
“What! You mean this isn’t the first time!”
“Ah, haha, you’ve always had so many stories to tell. Of course, it was quite popular. The Theater Master especially loved the script. He liked the protagonist’s personality.”
“The Theater Master? You mean that person named Panyanna or something?”
“Yes. He said the protagonist was charmingly arrogant. Of course, I’m not talking about you—I mean the protagonist of ‘The Violinist’…”
Maximian narrowed one eye as if contemplating how best to punish this fellow. But Joshua grinned again and spoke.
“But here’s the thing about that money…”
“How much is it?”
Maximian apparently hadn’t thought about the amount either. He tried to calculate it immediately, but Joshua waved his hand to stop him.
“It’s not about the amount. I don’t have any money.”
“….”
The Young Duke Joshua von Arnim, the sole heir of Duke Arnim who possessed a castle rivaling the royal palace in Keltika, the capital of Anomarad, the largest and wealthiest nation on the Continent, had no money! Damn it! Now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense! If he had money in the first place, why would he be performing at all!
“A penniless Young Duke is truly useless.”
Joshua displayed his shameless attitude by spreading both palms and waving them.
“Think back on our journey. You even sold the clothes off my back. There’s no way there’s a single coin in my pockets that you don’t know about. If there were, would you have left it alone?”
Maximian’s solution was simple.
“Write a promissory note.”
When dawn broke the next day, before Joshua could go to the Theater to meet with the staff, he had to go somewhere else first. He’d mentioned having an early morning meeting, and as a result he’d been dragged away without even eating breakfast.
“Here we are.”
It was the place visible to the left when opening the window and looking out from Captain Kalaimon’s house where the group was staying. At eight in the morning, a red brick building with a faded sign reading “Kalaiso Shipbuilders’ Guild” hung half-bleached by salt water, obscuring roughly half the seascape where gulls leisurely crossed the waters after finishing their breakfast.
“A shipbuilders’ guild.”
Riche, who boldly entered the guild office while dragging along Joshua, who was muttering in a half-awake voice, brightened upon spotting a large sailor braced behind a table and spoke.
“Well then, shall we continue where we left off yesterday?”
Joshua had no idea what they’d been discussing yesterday. As for why Riche had brought him along in the first place, all that came to mind was that Maximian was difficult to wake in the morning.
The Sailor was not in a state of enthusiasm like Riche. He hadn’t shaved, and judging by the look in his eyes, he’d clearly drunk heavily the night before. Therefore, all that came out was a yawn-laden response.
“Haaa… haaam, you’re back again? I told you there’s no point in continuing that conversation.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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