Chapter 25
It wasn’t just Timmy—everyone around Katya was like that.
Her family, her relatives—everyone seemed to live with a strange sense of pride in the fact that they hadn’t changed a bit.
Only Katya was changing.
Well, it was less about changing and more about simply seeing things for what they really were.
“Stop your bullshit already. I got fired anyway.”
“Seriously, Katya, what is wrong with you these days? Whatever you do, it should at least be something worthy of the Dozer family. A janitor? Really?”
Something worthy of the Dozer family.
Katya suddenly thought of her dead father.
The king of this sewer.
Back when he ruled as the king of the sewer rats, the whole underworld had been a haven for child pickpocket gangs and robbers. Security in downtown Lohas had been so abysmal that there were nightly curfews.
Timmy missed those days.
But Katya didn’t. Not even a little.
She stopped in her tracks and spun around to glare at Timmy.
Even through the thick smog, her eyes burned intensely enough to make Timmy flinch instinctively.
“So what are you trying to say?”
“What?”
“I said, what the hell are you trying to say? We can’t do anything anymore anyway, not with Anubis’s crew watching our every move. So why are you bitching? If you hate it that much, why don’t you go out and do some manual labor?!”
Timmy’s face turned bright red.
Just as Katya scoffed and turned her back—
“You little brat, you really think you can talk to your brother like that?!”
His rough hand twisted her wrist, and Katya clenched her teeth to suppress a groan.
Suddenly, for some reason, the earlier incident at the general store flashed through her mind.
More specifically, what had happened to the employee who tried to drag Nina away.
And then—
“Bro, what are you doing? The kids are ready!”
A boy came running, panting, having shoved through smog and garbage.
Katya took the chance to yank her arm free from Timmy’s grip and immediately barked at the boy.
“Doug, what the hell are you talking about? What kids?”
Doug faltered, glancing at Timmy.
Timmy smugly rubbed his nose with his thumb before speaking.
“Thanks to you, we’ve got a golden opportunity for revenge, little sis.”
“What kind of bullshit is that now?”
“A chance to finally get back at that guy. You saw the girl that’s always with him, right? She’s got a price tag. If we swipe her and sell her off, that bastard will really lose it.”
While Timmy grinned with twisted delight, Katya retorted with a deadpan glare.
“And how exactly do you plan to swipe her? I knew you were dumb, but I didn’t think you were this stupid.”
“Say whatever you want. It’s not called an opportunity for nothing. They say the brat and some other kid are alone at the Red District playground. Our guys need some new friends, don’t they?”
“That’s insane. Even if that’s true, someone must be watching nearby. If you get caught—!”
“They’ve probably got their hands full right now.”
Timmy’s cryptic tone made Katya’s deep blue eyes narrow.
“What did you do?”
“Who knows? Ask Uncle. Anyway, if this deal brings in cash, I’ll even buy you a new apron.”
With that, Timmy slung an arm around Doug’s shoulder and sauntered off.
Katya stared after them blankly for a moment, then turned and headed in the opposite direction.
* * *
The sun had long since set, but the warm glow of the streetlights kept the playground from being too dark.
“It’s January, but it’s not that cold here.”
Nina lay on the trampoline, breathing heavily.
Messi, now down on the ground, didn’t respond right away.
“Messi?”
“Hm? Oh, I think this region is naturally warm.”
Strange. It should be snowing in the capital by now.
Thinking that to herself, Nina sat up on the trampoline.
“What are you doing?”
“Building a castle.”
“Huh?”
“I was trying to build a castle that would suit you… but it’s not going well.”
At Messi’s feet, a half-finished sandcastle sparkled under the light.
Nina’s eyes widened.
“You made that all by yourself?”
“Is it okay?”
“It’s amazing! How did you do that?”
“I just gave it my best shot.”
For something he “just tried,” it was remarkably detailed.
Nina grabbed the jacket she had tossed aside and jumped off the trampoline.
“I want to do it too.”
“You’ll get your hands dirty.”
“So what? You’re doing it.”
“Alright. Let’s start from scratch.”
They got to work, building a large sandcastle together.
While Messi crafted intricate walls, Nina made rooms throughout the castle.
“Whose room is this?”
“Uncle Keith’s.”
“Keith lives here?”
“Yep. That one’s Smokey’s room, and that one’s Mira’s. This one’s Messi and Merci’s.”
“Nice. Where does Nina live?”
Messi’s golden eyes sparkled with mischief.
Nina pointed to one of the two rooms at the very top.
“My room’s here.”
“Nice view. Is the other one Lavian’s?”
“Yep. How’d you guess?”
“Just a feeling. What should we name the castle?”
Messi smiled.
Somehow, it felt like a teasing smile.
A soft evening breeze scattered their hair.
Nina hesitated, then answered.
“Castle of Wishes.”
“Cool name. I like it.”
Nina felt relieved at Messi’s warm response.
She had been afraid he might laugh at her, but thankfully he didn’t.
That was when she felt a strange sense of unease.
Startled, Nina turned her head toward the playground entrance—and spotted several shadows approaching.
Maybe five or six kids, from the looks of it.
‘Are they just kids coming to play late?’
Kids coming to a playground wasn’t strange at all.
Still, a weird, inexplicable dread gripped her chest.
“Um, Messi…”
“Yeah?”
Messi, still calmly shaping the walls, looked up with the same gentle smile.
It was hard to tell if he hadn’t noticed the group or just didn’t care.
“There’s someone coming.”
“Oh, this place must be popular.”
Yep, he definitely didn’t care.
Nina didn’t want to seem scared, but she couldn’t help the way her nerves tensed instinctively.
“They look… weird.”
Finally glancing up, Messi looked toward the group now stepping into the streetlight’s glow.
Four boys and one girl—every single one of them looked filthy and had a delinquent air about them.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
Messi’s tone was like a big brother trying to reassure his little sister.
Nina nodded unconsciously.
Then the boy at the front of the gang shouted loudly.
“Hey! Let’s play too!”
His voice was obnoxiously loud and crude.
Far too crass for someone who looked maybe twelve.
“No thanks.”
Messi’s calm voice echoed softly.
The delinquents murmured among themselves before bursting into laughter.
“What, too good for us? Let us join!”
“That girl your girlfriend or what? Damn, you kids are feisty.”
“This is our turf, you know. You got permission to play here?”
They surrounded the two, throwing out rude lines one after another.
“Is that the girl Timmy mentioned?”
“They both look good. Let’s take them both.”
“That one’s kinda cute. Hey, what’s your name?”
A shaggy-haired boy pointed at Nina and asked confidently.
Nina wrinkled her nose at their stench and snapped, covering her face with her hand.
“Go away. You stink.”
Silence fell.
Only Messi’s soft chuckle broke the air.
Then the short-haired girl in the group burst out laughing and mocked the shaggy-haired boy.
“Should’ve taken a shower, you idiot.”
