Chapter 14
“Yes, so, Mr. Jaei?”
Jaei alternated his gaze between the stack of documents beside him and the flustered man.
The man was sweating profusely, bowing repeatedly—it was the branch manager of the Wells Fargo Bank Mollibay branch.
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were listening. Haha.”
“I was listening. Currently, the cash remaining in the bank is 120 dollars, but by policy, you must always hold at least 100 dollars, so you can only give me 20 dollars. Even if the bill I brought was 24,000 dollars instead of 2,400.”
“Ah, yes, yes. You were listening well.”
“And more importantly, since I have no documents proving my identity, opening an account is also a problem.”
“It’s not exactly a problem, it just takes a bit of time.”
“If it takes more than three months, that’s definitely a problem.”
“Yes, yes, you could see it that way.”
This was driving him crazy.
Jaei pressed his brow and fell silent for a moment.
Now that he thought about it, not being able to receive the money immediately was one thing, but not being able to open an account was the real issue.
How was he supposed to carry around a fortune of 2,400 dollars?
It wasn’t like he could bury it in a garlic field.
“Is there no system here to help people who’ve lost their memory?”
A being that had suddenly dropped from the sky—Kim Jaei.
Where he came from, what his name was, even his age—he couldn’t properly prove any of it.
He had been blocked right from filling out the application.
The branch manager smiled awkwardly, troubled.
“My apologies, sir. We are bank employees, after all. How about discussing this matter with the mayor?”
“······Understood.”
“Then first, I’ll request the amount of the bill from the main branch. Before the stagecoach arrives, it would be good if the account issue is resolved. We will help as much as we can. Ah, the main branch is in California, so it won’t take too long.”
“Thank you. I should hurry and resolve it if I don’t want to carry bundles of cash around. By the way, just in case, how is the situation at the Ractover branch?”
Even if he couldn’t open an account, it would be better to go there if he could at least receive the money.
At Jaei’s question, the branch manager shrugged.
“You heard about the bank robbery?”
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“They still haven’t caught the robbers. There are rumors the main branch will hire Pinkerton, but it’s not certain. What is certain is that the Ractover branch isn’t operating properly.”
Jaei swallowed a sigh and stood up.
Rather than going through the trouble of receiving 20 dollars now, it was better to receive the full 2,400 later.
“Understood. Then.”
“Yes, best of luck to you.”
The branch manager followed him outside and politely saw him off.
A man who would receive a whopping 2,400 dollars.
Right now, he looked like a penniless beggar, but in the future, he would surely become one of the bank’s VVIPs.
Creak.
Jaei pushed open the door of the bar where the owner and the others had gathered.
The people who had been noisily drinking and eating all froze at once.
They glanced at Jaei and smiled awkwardly.
“J-Jaei, you’re here? What did they say?”
“What do you mean what? Because of someone, the money’s all gone, so they can only give 20 dollars for now. So I just came back.”
“W-who could that be? Those damn bank robbers! Seriously useless bastards.”
“I hope they get identified soon and a bounty gets put on them. Heh. Right, Jaei?”
“Come sit here. We already ordered yours too.”
“Don’t worry about the money! Whoever passes out first pays.”
The owner and the hunters awkwardly pulled out a chair for him.
Even if they hadn’t gone to withdraw money, Jaei wouldn’t have been able to get his 2,400 dollars anyway.
Still, the sight of them rushing off earlier was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh.
“They said they requested the amount from California, so I think I’ll be able to receive it. I’ll have to stay in Mollibay for a while though.”
“Planning to go somewhere else instead of Mollibay?”
“I’m not sure.”
For a modern man like Jaei to adapt and survive, it would be better to go to a somewhat developed city.
Moving toward current growth centers in the United States like New York or Washington sounded fine.
Or heading to California and settling there early wasn’t a bad idea either.
Either way, Jaei, as someone from South Korea, understood that buying property in places with future value was important.
‘Compared to New York, Washington, or California, Mollibay is way too rural. It won’t keep up with rising housing and land prices.’
“And I have something to ask the mayor.”
“Because of your identity?”
“Yes. I can’t open an account.”
“Just get a diagnosis for memory loss and have them make you a new record as being born in Mollibay. If you hand over a fee, it’s not difficult.”
It was a world where killing someone was easy, and creating someone anew was just as easy.
Jaei nodded and tore into the meat.
“Anyway, what were you talking about?”
“Oh, nothing much. We were talking about Roldiori and the Jackaria guys. Train robberies are large-scale, so gangs often band together. Roldiori and Jackaria did too, but after things went south, they became sworn enemies.”
“Jaei, if you had taken Roldiori’s body to Jackaria, you might’ve gotten more than 2,400 dollars.”
“Where would that guy get that kind of money?”
“Tsk, if you don’t know, just stay quiet. There’s a rumor he has piles of gold stacked in his underground vault. They say he’s the one who hit the Backbaind train headed to California last time.”
Backbaind.
A familiar name.
It was definitely written in the letter Roldiori had.
-Backbaind train departing from Oklahoma, around 16:00 on the 12th. To my little brother.
Jaei took out the note from his pocket, checked it, and nodded.
So Backbaind was the name of a train.
Then this was about Roldiori planning a train robbery with someone.
Whether he had sent it or received it was unclear.
“Mister.”
“Hm?”
“That incident at <Elens>, what date was it?”
“About a week ago, so… maybe the 24th?”
“And today?”
“The 1st. April 1st.”
That was ambiguous.
To find out properly, it would be best to check the Backbaind train schedule.
He recalled the railway he had seen in the vast plains on the way from Red Rock to Mollibay.
Perhaps Roldiori had been targeting that.
‘If the conspiracy is real, I can report it to the Backbaind side and earn a reward.’
The more seed money he had, the more prime real estate in big cities he could aim for.
Here, he desperately wanted to escape a life of loans and scraping by day to day.
“Here, drink!”
At the owner’s toast, Jaei gulped down his beer, tears forming as the carbonation hit his nose.
“So when is everyone leaving Mollibay?”
Jaei had tentatively decided to stay until he received the bill, while the other hunters would leave as planned after collecting their bounties.
The owner would return to Turtle Rock and begin a trip to Dallas with his family.
“I’ll rest today and leave tomorrow.”
“I’ll prepare within this week and head back to California. It’s time to send money to my parents. If I’m even a day late, they’ll go hungry.”
“They say <Elens> will close for a while too, so we probably won’t gather like this again.”
“Is that a shame?”
“Bullshit! Why would it be?”
“Jaei, if you have nowhere to go, you can stay at our place for a while. My sisters insisted. There’s an unused room—they’ll clean it up.”
“Is that alright? Libero, what about rent?”
“Do I look like someone who’d charge you? Five dollars a week. Meals included.”
Most of them seemed to be leaving within the week.
Jaei drank along, chatting noisily with them, and gradually became intoxicated in the lively atmosphere.
Meanwhile, a man who had been quietly sipping whiskey in the corner paid his bill and stood up.
Jingle—
A man wearing his hat low, his face hidden by a robe.
Jaei’s gun subtly tracked him, but amid the laughter and noise, no one noticed.
“Hm.”
With a cigarette in his mouth, the man carefully observed the noisy street.
Gang shootouts, deputies, and bounty hunters.
He mounted his tied horse and entered a shabby inn on the outskirts.
Knock knock.
“It’s me. Becky.”
“Come in. It’s open.”
Creak.
Six people, casually dressed, were enjoying drinks and a card game.
They turned to Becky and asked:
“How’s the town?”
“Chaotic. Two gangs really clashed.”
“Ah, so that was the gunfire.”
“Yeah. But something interesting happened. Looks like the bounty hunters teamed up with the deputies to take care of it.”
“Bounty hunters?”
Becky sat on the edge of the bed, flicking her lighter.
“Seems it was true the office had closed. Since they weren’t accepting hunter corpses, they made a deal—handle those, and they’d help push out the gangs.”
“Interesting. So?”
The others set down their cards and looked out the window.
The townspeople were still cleaning up the streets.
“Looks like the office issued bills. I confirmed they all stopped by the bank afterward.”
“Then the bank must be empty?”
As the men responded with disappointment, someone immediately refuted it.
“No.”
It was Priscilla, stepping out while roughly tying up her wet hair.
She held a cigarette in her mouth and gestured to Becky, who promptly offered a light.
“Think about it. If the bank had no money, would they just sit still? Wouldn’t they request funds from the main branch?”
“That makes sense.”
“With Ractover practically shut down, Mollibay has to cover for it. They’ll likely request even more money.”
Phew—
Priscilla smiled charmingly, as if everything was going perfectly.
“I heard the deputies here were incompetent, so we came, but I didn’t expect a haul like this.”
The deputies would have suffered losses, and the gangs that had been acting like guard dogs for them were gone.
Moreover, the hunters had been paid, so they would soon leave town.
“I even overheard they’ll leave within a week.”
“Perfect timing.”
As if sensing something, Priscilla suddenly flung the door open.
The innkeeper stood there awkwardly.
“Is there a problem?”
“Ah, well, I—”
He had come to strike up a conversation with a young, beautiful woman, but inside were men everywhere.
Priscilla exhaled smoke toward his face and gestured.
“We’re in the middle of business.”
“My apologies. Call if you need anything.”
“Yes, thank you for the thought.”
After confirming the innkeeper had left, she closed the door.
Her keen sense for detecting presence made her invaluable during operations.
“Damn it, tsk. Where were we?”
“Uh, all the decent shooters are leaving town?”
“And from California, a carriage carrying a large sum is coming.”
Priscilla tapped ash from her cigarette and smiled with satisfaction.
Their true identity—bank robbers who had recently hit Ractover.
Outwardly, they were disguised as a trading company, hiding in plain sight.
After all, if you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest.
If they kept running across open plains day and night, they would eventually be caught, so blending in among people and waiting for an opportunity was how they outwitted pursuers.
“Robbing a stagecoach is easier than robbing a bank. Our next target is the Wells Fargo stagecoach coming from California. Let’s prepare and move.”