novelraw Chapter 4 : Robbing the Orphanage
Chapter 4 : Robbing the Orphanage
Chapter 4: Robbing the Orphanage
After returning from the orphanage, Burt had a sword at his waist that Robin had never seen before.
His expression was the same as always.
If anything, he even looked a bit brighter.
“Did things go well with Director Timmy? Boss Burt doesn’t look like he’s in a bad mood.”
“Hmm, maybe things worked out. That’s not good.”
Jeremy couldn’t contain his curiosity and stood in front of Burt.
“Boss, are you going to give Director Timmy credit?”
“You little… you read the letter.”
Burt slightly frowned, rolled up the letter on the counter, and shoved it into a drawer.
He motioned for Jeremy to come closer and then flicked him on the forehead.
“Ow!”
“That’s none of your business. Go clean up.”
Jeremy rubbed his forehead where a bruise had formed and walked off.
It had been a sharp flick, enough to bring tears to his eyes.
“Jeremy, are you okay?”
“Boss’s hand stings, but I’m fine. But we should rethink robbing Director Timmy.”
“No, let’s go tonight. Boss Burt looks happy because of that new sword. But I don’t know if it has anything to do with Director Timmy.”
‘It was clearly a fine sword.’
Robin had never properly looked at a sword in his life, yet he could tell. The sword Burt wore was quite well-made.
Seeing a real blade that could cut whatever was in front of it ignited a sudden blaze in a desire that had lain dormant.
He knew well that a child like him couldn’t own a real sword.
Even if someone gave him one, he wouldn’t be able to lift it; it would be too heavy.
That was why he needed a wooden sword. A wooden sword light enough to hold, yet good enough to train swordsmanship with.
“Well, if you say so. Fine, let’s go tonight.”
It was a strange thing.
Robin had always been oppressed by the strong and had never thought about wanting something or doing something.
He had simply endured each day with the vague goal of one day leaving this place.
But when he saw the sword, a fierce desire began to rise.
He wanted to swing a sword. To cut, thrust, block, to clash strength and seize victory.
A deep impulse he couldn’t explain filled him with confidence.
“Robin. Robin!”
“Huh? You called?”
“I’ll check the fabric inventory. You check whether anything’s missing among the decorations over there.”
“Okay.”
At Jeremy’s call, Robin snapped out of his thoughts and resumed organizing the stock.
His pounding heart didn’t calm down for a long time.
---
Night had fallen after the general store closed. A time when everyone should have been asleep.
A window at Burt’s general store cracked open, and a rope dropped outside.
Through a window barely big enough for a single person to squeeze through, two small children climbed down the rope.
The two checked their surroundings, then moved quietly.
“It’s time for the guards to patrol. Remember what I said?”
“Yeah. You said I just need to follow right behind you.”
Jeremy, who had been creeping forward, suddenly stopped.
A guard holding a torch was approaching from afar.
Jeremy silently pointed to the right and slipped into an alley.
Before the guard passed the alley, they turned again and avoided detection.
“You’re amazing, Jeremy.”
“Shh! Someone’s coming again.”
Footsteps echoed several blocks away.
It was a sound one couldn’t have noticed without listening closely, but Jeremy reacted instantly.
When Jeremy had said to trust only him, it hadn’t been empty bragging.
Whenever patrolling guards approached, he sensed them like a ghost and hid.
Robin knew the streets in this area well, but avoiding guards on the way to the orphanage wasn’t easy.
‘Jeremy looks used to this.’
Robin asked himself—could he avoid guards and go to the orphanage the way Jeremy did? The answer was ‘yes.’
But he couldn’t move with such skill and speed.
Robin suspected Jeremy had sneaked out at night before.
“Is this where the dog hole is?”
“Yeah, here. Thanks to you, we got here without being caught.”
“This is where it really begins. From here, lead the way, Robin.”
Even among the kids at Timmy’s orphanage, it was hard to find someone as small as Robin.
Thanks to his small frame, Robin could slip out early each morning through the dog hole.
He was the only one who knew about this hole.
Pushing aside some branches revealed a hole large enough for a small dog to pass through.
Under the stone wall, a worn cloth Robin had placed there lay spread out.
Moving as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Robin slipped right into the hole like he was walking through a door.
“Everyone’s asleep now, but we can’t relax. Sometimes someone wakes up to go to the latrine.”
“It seems like now’s the best chance since no one’s coming out.”
“No, Marcus and his gang are likely to show up. Let’s wait a bit.”
Right as Robin finished speaking, Marcus appeared from the orphanage’s back door.
Marcus walked to a far corner away from the building, pulled down his pants, and relieved himself.
He was completely defenseless.
Jeremy silently offered Robin a wooden sword.
Robin whispered in shock.
“You brought something from the general store?”
“Yeah. You said you wanted a wooden sword. Why not try it out early?”
“This is stealing!”
“It’s nothing. Boss won’t get mad just because we played around with a wooden sword.”
Jeremy looked at him as if asking whether he was going to refuse.
Robin had no choice but to take the wooden sword.
He hoped Marcus would go back into the orphanage soon, but Marcus didn’t return after finishing. He seemed to be waiting for someone.
If this kept up, they would be blocked before they could even get inside.
“Jeremy, I’ll knock Marcus out. If I fail, run right away.”
“You’re going to knock out a guy two heads taller than us?”
“Yeah. I feel like I can.”
With the wooden sword in his hand, Robin felt different from usual.
It was just a toy sword, but confidence welled up inside him.
Jeremy pulled a black mask from his bag.
With masks on, the boys’ faces were unrecognizable in the dark.
Robin picked up a small pebble from the ground and threw it near Marcus.
Tap.
“What the hell?”
Marcus turned toward the sound.
Sneaking closer, Robin jumped with all his strength and brought the wooden sword down on Marcus’s head.
Thunk.
“Aagh….”
A dull thud rang out, and Marcus let out a shrill cry as he turned.
Robin climbed onto Marcus’s shoulders and covered his mouth.
Striking Marcus’s temple with the hilt of the wooden sword, Robin silenced him as he collapsed.
Thud.
“Wow, Robin, that was amazing. Are you some kind of secret assassin?”
“Haha….”
Jeremy whispered in admiration, but Robin couldn’t quite believe what he had done.
‘When I thought of the wooden sword as a real sword, my body felt light.’
Telling himself it was just his imagination, Robin dragged the unconscious Marcus into a corner.
His heart pounded furiously.
He felt like he had done something incredible, but instead of fear, exhilaration filled him.
‘Don’t forget why you’re here. Find the promissory note and show it to Boss Burt.’
Calming his startled heart, Robin spoke.
“Let’s go in now.”
Following the door Marcus had come through, they entered the orphanage.
Only moonlight faintly lit the dark hallway.
‘What’s that smell.’
A mix of sweat and the sour stench of unwashed bodies hung in the air, filling the orphanage with an unpleasant odor.
A few days earlier, after following Jeremy’s lead and cleaning himself properly, Robin had realized that this was the smell that had originally filled the orphanage.
It hadn’t even been a full month since he left, but the stark difference struck him hard.
‘I must have smelled like this too.’
He glanced at Jeremy, who was pinching his nose.
Suddenly remembering the first time they met, Robin’s face flushed red.
Vowing to pay much more attention to cleanliness, he headed toward the annex where the director’s office was located.
‘Fortunately, no one’s walking around.’
The director’s office was in a separate annex apart from the main building.
Robin, who had often been summoned there for not paying his donation, had no trouble finding it.
As they approached the annex, both boys’ hearts pounded faster.
“If we stick to the plan, there won’t be a problem.”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you, Robin.”
Robin pulled out the bone he had prepared from inside his clothes.
He had taken it when Gilliam the butcher tossed a pile of bones scraped clean of meat.
Though it was just a bone, bits of pink meat and white fat still clung to it.
‘The scary dog should be sleeping around here somewhere.’
The annex was smaller than the main building, yet far larger than a typical house.
Robin’s heart trembled more the closer he got to the director’s office among its many rooms.
It felt as though a huge black dog might leap out and tear him apart at any moment.
Even so, he kept moving, following the silent hallway filled with stillness.
“Here.”
Robin whispered very softly to Jeremy.
In front of the director’s office was a doghouse, and a large dog attached to a chain lay asleep.
Carefully approaching, Robin loosened the dog’s chain.
Moving quietly but quickly, he kept his hands steady, worried the dog might wake.
After taking a deep breath, he held the bone right under the dog’s nose.
“Grrrr…….”
Perhaps having smelled it, the dog stirred and opened its eyes.
Robin was so tense he felt as if even the sound of his pounding heart might wake someone.
As he held his breath and watched the dog’s reaction, the dog rose fully and lunged toward the bone.
“Woof! Woof woof!”
Robin didn’t miss the moment and hurled the bone outside with all his strength.
The dog dashed out after the bone at full speed.
Its fierce barking filled the entire annex.
“Grrrrrr!”
“……”
Once they confirmed the dog had rushed outside, Robin and Jeremy sprinted the opposite way.
They ran soundlessly to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner.
Soon after, the director’s office door opened and Timmy stepped out.
“Bolt! Where do you think you’re going!”
Seeing Timmy in his pajamas, panting as he chased the dog, Robin and Jeremy struggled not to laugh.
Barely able to hold back their voices, they slipped into the now-empty director’s office.
“Jeremy, we don’t have much time. I couldn’t throw the bone that far.”
“How long do we have?”
“Three minutes at most. We have to find it within three minutes.”
Jeremy was already gathering every paper on the desk in a hurry.
Robin searched through the decorations on the shelves and found a black dagger.
Since they were robbing the place anyway, he quickly tucked the dagger into his clothes.
It was his first time stealing, but he felt no guilt.
Timmy was a villain who committed cruel deeds—anyone could see that.
Instead, something long suppressed burst open inside him, and a wave of liberation rushed in.
“Woof! Woof!”
The dog’s barking grew closer.
Jeremy’s hands grew frantic.
Robin also searched every corner of Timmy’s desk.
But reading documents in the dark using only the moonlight wasn’t easy.
Thud thud thud.
Hearing Timmy’s hurried footsteps, as if he sensed someone entering his office, Robin pulled out one more bone and threw it outside.
“Bolt! Calm down!”
“Grrrr…….”
With no choice left, Jeremy shoved every paper he could see into his pockets.
Robin followed him, grabbing anything that looked important.
“Jeremy, we have to go.”
“Damn… let’s hope the promissory note’s in here somewhere.”
When Robin and Jeremy slipped out, Timmy was busy trying to calm Bolt.
Leaving the barking dog behind, they exited the annex through the opposite door and entered the main building.
There was enough distance that the commotion in the annex hadn’t reached the main building.
When they stepped out behind the main building where the dog hole was, they met an unexpected obstacle.
‘Damn.’
Jorge was outside relieving himself.
Because they stopped so quickly, Jorge hadn’t yet noticed Robin and Jeremy.
Robin gripped the wooden sword and crept closer.
Thwack!
He swung the wooden sword at the back of Jorge’s head.
It was a clean hit. Jorge collapsed onto the bushes where he had been peeing.
Jeremy’s eyes widened as if he wanted to say something, but there wasn’t time.
“What are you doing! Come on!”
By the time he came to his senses, Robin had already slipped through the dog hole and was catching his breath in the alley.
“Huff, huff. Robin, we’re really okay, right?”
“Of course. As long as we keep our mouths shut, no one will know what happened.”
At Robin’s certainty, Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn’t expected Jorge to come outside in the middle of everything.
Step, step.
From afar, the sound of a guard’s footsteps approached.
Jeremy took the lead, weaving through the alleyways.
Robin followed without a moment to calm his breath.
‘If we get caught by a guard now, we’ll end up in prison.’
Fortunately, they reached Burt’s general store without encountering anyone.
Climbing back through the window the same way they left, the two could finally relax.
Once the window was closed, silence settled over the room, and Robin and Jeremy faced each other.
“Haha… it feels like I dreamed all that.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while since I felt something so thrilling.”
“Jeremy, let’s check if the promissory note is in here.”
They spread the papers out on the floor and examined them one by one, losing track of time.
They found unexpected information and plenty of useless things all mixed together.
By the time dawn broke, they had finally found the promissory note.
But instead of celebrating, both boys just sweated nervously.
“I think we might’ve made things way too big, don’t you?”
“They say real men have to act boldly, haha…….”
“Don’t worry, Robin. No matter what happens, I’ll follow you to the end.”
“To the end? Don’t say it like I’m some criminal mastermind.”
As he organized the papers they had spread out, Robin gave a bitter smile.
He decided he ought to lay low for a while.