Work Text:
It had been a year since the children left on a grand adventure to explore the world. Cale had expected them to bring him souvenirs when they returned, but he hadn’t expected something like this.
They had brought him to one of the vast and empty rooms in the castle they stayed in, and when he said he was ready for his present...
Bags upon bags with spatial magic appeared in the air. Their clasps loosened and out poured an endless stream of treasures... and by endless, it truly was endless. Jewels, crowns, coins, and other beautiful artifacts flooded the entire floor of the room and gradually formed small hills, and then mountains, reaching towards the ceiling.
Cale gaped at the sight of it all.
“Human children receive allowances from their parents, and they take care of their parents in return when their parents are old!” Raon declared happily. “Since you’re our human, we will take care of you!”
The explanation caused Cale to become even more flabbergasted.
He was in his mid-twenties, and, as some would say, in the pinnacle of his youth.
The golden and sparkly stream continued to flow from the bag. It was honestly quite impressive.
He remembered how excited the children had been to go on their journey to explore the other continents, and also how worried they had been at the same time. Instead of worrying about themselves, they were worried about leaving him behind. These children worried about him excessively; about whether he would be lonely without them, about whether he would starve to death instead of having his three meals on time, if he would take a single step out of bed, and other ridiculous concerns.
It had taken a lot of persuasion and promises before the children finally left, leaving the welfare of their favourite human to their family and friends.
“Human, human, you should try that thing!”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“The bedtime story you told me about! And how you wanted to do it too! You said it would be fun to slide down a mountain of gold!”
Once upon a time, Kim Rok Soo had been penniless. It had been his dream to jump into a pile of money and swim around in it.
To be honest, even now, Cale wanted to do it.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
Using his magic, Raon carefully lifted his human, bringing Cale to the top of a gold mountain of glittering treasures and gold coins. A few gold coins got displaced and bounced down the slope when he was set down on the tip of the mountain. Sat here like this, there were treasures as far as the eye could see. The room which had been empty before they came was now completely covered in sparkles of gold.
With much anticipation, Cale pressed down with his hands and pushed.
He slid down the gold mountain, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the tinkle and crinkle of the treasures beneath him, around him, everywhere. The treasures was slightly cool under his touch and the slide was unexpectedly smooth.
A few seconds later, he stopped at the bottom of the slope. Raon quickly used his magic to stop a gold coin from bonking Cale’s head. He had followed Cale’s entire journey by levitating in the air next to Cale, looking out for Cale’s safety. It was hard to tell who was the adult and who was the kid in this situation.
The cats also came sliding down the mountain, and they tumbled, their fluffy bodies rolling much further than where Cale had stopped.
With a wide smile on his face, Cale remarked, “That was quite nice.”
The children saw the happiness on his face and beamed. They wore matching grins as they exchanged looks of tacit agreement.
They declared together, “We’ll get even more so you can have a longer slide!”
Cale’s pupils shook. More? Were the kids planning on hoarding all the treasures in the world?
This was bad. The kids were growing up to be just like him. At the rate they were hoarding treasure and gold, they would end up having an amount a few times larger than the Mogoru empire's treasury. An entire empire.
He might not have paid much attention in economics classes in high school, but he still knew the impact of the rich growing richer and the poor getting poorer.
“Come here.”
Cale patted the space in front of him.
The children listened to him at once, gathering around him to form a circle.
“Money might be good, but it’s useless if it’s not spent at all. You have to spend it on the things important to you, things you like, things that interest you, and things that are good. Of course, you should save some in case of emergencies. Money can save a life.”
“Oh. Doesn’t that mean we should spend it on you?” Hong asked, tilting his head cutely.
Cale lifted his eyebrows. “How so?”
“Because you’re important to us, we like you, you’re the most interesting human in the world, and you are a very good human!” Raon declared, his tone matter-of-fact. He lifted his snout in the air and his wings flapped, as though proud of himself.
“Our maknae is right!” The two cats cheered him on, clapping their paws.
“No, I meant... hah...” Cale sighed and covered his face with his hand, immensely embarrassed. What was he to do with this bunch of kids who loved him too much? He knew there was no arguing with them, however, so he didn’t bother to fight them by saying he was a terrible person. “Yes, it’s good to give money to the people important to you, but you should also use money on other aspects.”
Slowly, Cale taught them how to invest, support local businesses, and donate to charities.
The children listened to him with sparkling eyes, taking his lessons seriously.