“Rockefeller hyung, how did it go at Banco’s?”

As soon as Rockefeller returned, the younger siblings who had been waiting at home flocked around him.

Looking at their expressions, he could see the nervous anticipation with which they had waited for him.

“DId you sell the gold?”

“Did you not manage to sell it?”

Rockefeller responded to his siblings’ questions with a smile,

“Things went well, from now on, we can take the placer gold we mine and sell it to the goldsmith there,”

“Really?!”

“What a relief!”

[Translation By Tani Andris – taniandris.co.uk]

At Rockefeller’s words the second and third children sighed with relief, even if they managed to mine placer gold, if they couldn’t sell it then it would have been meaningless.

“But how did you sell it? I would have thought the goldsmith would be suspicious if he was suddenly approached with gold to sell?”

“Well, I told him there was a smuggler and that I’m playing the middle role of selling the gold – I thought if I did that then he wouldn’t ask too much about the source of the placer gold,”

“Did he not notice anything off?”

“There’s nothing to notice, your big brother is an amazing actor. I think because I’m still young, he wasn’t too suspicious,”

Hearing that, it was Joshua who was the happiest,

“Rockefeller hyung is the best! Now we can be rich too!”

Andrew grinned just as brightly,

“Joshua’s right, now we can be rich too! We don’t have to worry about starving anymore!”

At the thought that he would no longer be hungry, the expression on Leo’s face also brightened. And watching her older brothers laughing and chatting brightly, despite not quite understanding what was happening, Lucia also laughed happily.

In such a bright atmosphere, it was only Rockefeller who’s happiness was moderate and short-lasting.

His dream was far too big, to be excited with just this.

‘It’s just the beginning, to think they’re this excited… well they are stil young after all,’

Rockefeller had no intention of living alone in this harsh world.

‘The motto I taught these younger siblings was not in vain. Weak people like us have no choice but to join forcerces in order to survive.’

If they were strangers who didn’t know each other very well, it would have been difficult but they were a family of the same blood.

‘Blood is thicker than water.’

While thinking about his dreams, Rockefeller got a little excited so he decided to calm his excitable brothers for a moment and had them listen to them,

“Hyung has something to tell you, so calm down for a second, I hope you guys will listen to me,”

What was their older brother saying all of a sudden?

As the second and third child were quietly looking at Rockefeller, waiting for him to speak, Rockefeller started speaking about his dreams to his brothers, while seated around their old creaky table.

“You see, I have no intention of staying within this reality, I want to move forwards with bigger dreams. What do you think? Do you guys want to do the same?”

They might have been young, but they were still old enough to think about their future and discern what they wanted to do.

Among the quiet siblings, the first to speak was none other than the third child, Joshua,

“Rockefeller hyung, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“So, simply put, I want to get out of this kind of life,”

Rockefeller slowly looked around their shabby house, leaving his brothers staring at him, the household items were old and the living standards weren’t very good.

‘I’ve always been unhappy with this house. Even though I couldn’t be a nobleman, it’s still too much. This isn’t the kind of place people live. It’s a pigsty,’

“Do you want to continue living in a house like this?”

At Rockefeller’s words, the younger brothers looked at each other, a little confused and nervous, finally Joshua said,

“This is our house… I like it here…”

Leo seemed to agree but the second child, Andrew was different.

He was one who often went out to play with the other children, so despite having the status of a commoner, having a home that was always ‘less’ compared to others had always bothered him.

“I… I think the same as Rockefeller hyung,” Andrew said,

“I don’t like it here either. If we live in a place like this, the other kids will ignore us,” he added.

“Does it make you embarrassed?” Rockefeller asked.

“Yeah..,”

He wondered how was it that his older brother knew his heart so well?

Still, perhaps embarrassed by what he had just said, Andrew quietly bowed his head, and Rockefeller began to continue his words with a faint smile on his lips.

“Andrew’s feelings are nothing to be ashamed of, it’s a natural human emotion. I don’t want to live my whole life in this old, dirty house either. I want to live in a bigger, much nicer place that others would envy,”

“But that’s… for rich people,” Joshua mumbled,

“Then isn’t it fine as long as we become those rich people?”

Joshua looked up at his eldest brother, who’s gaze was sincere.

“But being rich isn’t easy…”

“No, we can be rich,” Rockefeller answered firmly,

“Really how?”

“All you have to do is listen to me, follow your big brother and I will make us the richest people in the world,”

“Really?”

It looked like Joshua’s doubts grated on Andrew because he raised his voice sharply,

“You idiot! We already know how to get rich, why are you asking stupid questions?” he snapped,

Still, the third countered,

“True, but…”

Joshua knew it deep down, even if they continued to mine placer gold without anyone knowing and secretly sold it, as long as the Lord was there, they couldn’t become very rich.

“It won’t make us very rich. Haven’t you thought of that too Andrew hyung?”

“That- well… that’s true,”

Rockefeller spoke up,

“There’s nothing wrong with what you’re saying Joshua, you can’t become very rich by mining and selling placer gold. It might have been different if we were the owners of this place – but even if it can fill our stomachs, secretly mining placer gold and selling it while being careful of other people’s gazes won’t make us rich,”

No one brought up any objections to his words, they all agreed with that after all.

“Then how do we do it? How can we be as rich as you said?” Joshua asked,

“If we can’t get rich that way, then we just have to find another way,”

“Another way? What way are you talking about? Do you already have something in mind, Rockefeller hyung?”

“Actually, there are some ways to get rich,”

Rockefeller continued to speak to his brothers, who stared up at him with all of their concentration focused on his words,

“When you’re trying to make big money – it doesn’t come from working hard. You can’t make a huge amount of money no matter how hard you work – for that, you either have to run a business or gamble,”

“Gambling?” The younger brothers expressions were enough to express their displeasure at the word gamblling,

No matter what their eldest brother said, the stories they would hear from their dad when they were bored were enough to let them know they should never be gamblers.

“Do you mean you want to be a gambler?” Andrew asked, concerned.

“That’s not it, I’m talking about ‘Unearned Income’,”

“Unearned income? What is that?”

“I’m talking about money that you earn by sitting around doing nothing, rather than from working,”

“Is that possible?”

According to the common sense of these young siblings, it was an irrefutable truth that one could only earn money when they worked.

‘So how would you make money without doing that? And a lot of money at that’

“You guys know about the interest you get when you lend money to others, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know interest, it’s money you get from letting others borrow your money,”

“Yeah, it’s something like that interest. And besides interest, there’s also investment income like dividends and rent or profit from the sale of items or real estate. And the real big money comes from these things, and it’s not something earned by just working,”

The younger brothers fell quiet when difficult words they didn’t understand came out.

“In anything, early education is important,’

Rockefeller smiled softly and continued his words,

“You don’t have to understand all the difficult concepts right now – just remember that the money you make by sitting around is bigger than the money you earn by working hard,”

“Then who works? If you make a lot of money sitting around, there is no need for anyone to do the work,” Joshua asked,

“I don’t get it either, if the amount of money we make by doing nothing is bigger, then no one has to work hard right?” Andrew added,

Rockefeller shook his head slowly,

“That’s not it. Not just anyone can sit still and make money. To do that, you have to have a lot of money first – but there aren’t many people like that in the world right?”

It seemed like the penny dropped for Joshua first,

“I get it, if you lend a large amount of money and receive interest, then you get more money in interest than when you lend a small amount of money. Do you mean that?” He asked,

“Right, you can think of it like that as well,” Rockefeller nodded,

“Then that person would be able to earn money even if they didn’t work,” Joshua nodded,

“And from there, if you lend out a large amount of money?” Rockefeller asked,

“Then you would be very rich, even if you do nothing,”

Andrew, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, asked another question,

“Then what if the person who borrowed the money doesn’t pay it back? If they don’t pay the interest properly, then you’d be in big trouble,”

Rockefeller smiled,

“Didn’t I say in the beginning that Unearned Income is like gambling?”

“Yeah?”

“It can be quite a gamble, if you consider the case where the borrower doesn’t pay the interest on time or runs away with the money you lend them,”

“Wouldn’t that be bad?” Andrew asked,

“So in that case, who should I lend my money to, to increase the odds of me winning and getting my money back?”

“Right….you can lend it to nobles or wealthy people – people like that wouldn’t run away with the money,”

[Translation By Tani Andris – taniandris.co.uk]

“That;s right, if we lend money to people with credit, we can enter this gamble with high odds of winning Ultimately, what we have to consider is the odds of winning. If you keep betting at a gambling venue with a high winning rate, that’s how you become rich,”

Although his younger brothers didn’t understand every word, they seemed to understand the concept to some extent,

“I think get it?”

“Me too!”

“What I want you to understand is that we can’t get rich by mining and selling placer gold, so what Hyung wants to do is, after selling for a while, is going to work under the goldsmith,”

“Why there?”

“One of the things a goldsmith does is lending gold coins to others and earning interest. Like I explained before, big money is made by not working…?”

The two younger brothers shouted out in unison,

“It’s earned by sitting around!”

“Exactly. That’s how real money is made.”

After talking to his siblings, Rockefeller thought about what to do next.

‘In the current situation, gold mining is too risky. It’s a problem if they find out about it – but if we might still get unlucky and meet an orc as well. So as soon as possible I should work under the goldsmith and take a seat – that’s the way me and my siblings will live.’