When Jae-hoon opened his eyes again, his mind was strangely foggy.
He distinctly remembered closing his eyes in the library, but he couldn’t comprehend why he was lying down.
‘Could it be that I really fainted and was taken to the infirmary or a hospital?’
But as he looked around, the surroundings were too odd to be either an infirmary or a hospital.
‘Is this a drama set? Or am I still dreaming?’
The bed he was lying on seemed lavish, but it wasn’t nearly as comfortable as the cheap mattress at home. There wasn’t even a fluorescent light on the ceiling, making the room dim, and the walls were covered with paintings. Although he wasn’t knowledgeable about art, he could tell that these were ancient-looking murals. Such houses are rare unless they’re part of a drama or movie set.
‘How did I end up in a place like this?’
The realization that he was in a completely unfamiliar place suddenly cleared his mind. He quickly sat up and looked down at himself.
“What the… why am I wearing these ridiculous clothes?”
He was dressed in a strange one-piece outfit with short sleeves that extended down to his knees, and a bizarrely decorated belt was fastened around his waist. Naturally, since it was a one-piece, he wasn’t wearing pants, which made him feel extremely odd. Not only were the clothes strange, but his body also felt different. His perspective seemed lower, as if he had shrunk.
Instinctively, he reached for his phone to make a call, but none of his belongings were anywhere to be found. Completely baffled by the situation, Jae-hoon began searching the room for a mirror.
“Young master, are you awake?”
“Young master?”
The woman who entered through the curtains did not speak in Korean. Despite this, Jae-hoon understood her words as if they were perfectly natural. Moreover, he found that he could speak fluently in this language, which he had never heard before.
“Uh, excuse me… I think I must have come to the wrong place. I wasn’t trying to sneak in; someone must have brought me here…”
The woman, dressed in a robe-like garment, tilted her head quizzically and then gave a vague smile.
“It seems you drank too much last night. Didn’t the master tell you not to drink too much wine? If you keep ignoring his advice, you might not be allowed to visit the taverns anymore.”
“Master? Taverns? But before that, where am I? Surely I haven’t gone outside of Gyeonggi Province, right?”
“Don’t you remember? Yesterday, Quintius carried you home after you passed out. The master was furious, saying that drinking until you pass out is unbecoming of a noble.”
The woman’s incomprehensible words made Jae-hoon’s head throb. Why was she calling him “young master”? He wanted to ask if she had mistaken him for someone else, but her expression suggested otherwise.
“Uh… I have a project due tomorrow, so I need to leave. And I also have to go to work…”
“Young master Marcus, working?”
This time, the woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Did you really drink too much last night? It seems you haven’t completely sobered up. I’ll explain the situation to the master.”
The woman turned to leave the bedroom, but Jae-hoon hastily called her back, bombarding her with questions.
“Wait, hold on! Where am I, and why am I wearing these clothes? Where are all the things I had with me?”
“Huh? This is, of course, the Crassus family’s villa on Palatine Hill, and you are you, young master.”
The woman approached with a concerned look and examined Jae-hoon’s complexion.
“Are you feeling unwell? Or did you have a bad dream?”
“No… it’s just that, uh…”
“Young master, why are you speaking to me so cautiously?”
Jae-hoon felt like his head was about to explode. The small, clean hands in front of his eyes were clearly different from the ones he remembered. A wild possibility crossed his mind.
“Um, can I have a mirror…?”
“Yes, I’ll get one.”
The woman left the room and returned within seconds with a small bronze mirror. The sight of the bronze mirror, something that belonged in a museum, left Jae-hoon speechless. With trembling hands, he raised the mirror to his face, but he was too shocked to even scream. Reflected in the mirror was a young boy of Latin descent with black hair, completely different from his usual East Asian appearance.
‘Is this… me?’
Jae-hoon, still glaring at his reflection in the mirror, was interrupted by the woman.
“It seems you haven’t fully recovered from yesterday’s exhaustion. Should I inform the master that you won’t be able to attend today’s lessons?”
“Wait. Your name was… uh…”
“It’s Coré. The fact that you’ve even forgotten my name suggests you really aren’t well. I’ll call for a physician.”
“No, don’t call a doctor… Ugh!”
As he continued staring at the face in the mirror, a sudden and intense headache hit him. Jae-hoon clutched his head and collapsed, causing Coré to rush out of the room in a panic, calling for help. Several people entered the room and spoke to him, but none of their words registered. Instead, an overwhelming flood of knowledge—places, names, and objects he’d never seen—rushed into his mind.
Suddenly, Jae-hoon remembered who he was in this world.
Marcus Licinius Crassus.
The same name as Rome’s wealthiest man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, making him the eldest son—Marcus Licinius Crassus II. The current Crassus family was one of the most prestigious noble families in Rome, having produced a consul in the past and holding the wealth of the richest Optimate. Somehow, Jae-hoon had become the eldest son of this great family.
The surge of information was too much, and Jae-hoon lost consciousness for a brief moment. When he opened his eyes again, it was already dusk.
“Young master! Are you awake?”
Coré, who had been watching him with concern, jumped up from her chair as soon as he stirred.
“I will fetch the master right away. Please wait here.”
Coré rushed out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a stern-looking middle-aged man. Even though Jae-hoon had never seen him before, he instantly knew who he was.
This was Marcus Licinius Crassus I, the head of the Crassus family and, apparently, Jae-hoon’s father.
“Tsk, tsk. How disgraceful. The eldest son of the Crassus family, incapacitated by wine at such a young age.”
“Well, that’s…”
Jae-hoon felt wronged, but he couldn’t deny that he held Marcus’s memories of binge drinking. With no room for an excuse, he kept quiet. Crassus glared at him, clicked his tongue, and turned away.
“To think I passed down my name to him, hoping he would become like me, only to end up with this. I suppose I’ll have to entrust the family’s future to Publius.”
Publius was Marcus’s younger brother, the second son of the Crassus family. The fact that his father openly said he would entrust the family to Publius meant that Marcus had completely fallen out of favor. Without saying another word, Crassus left the room, and Coré, after a brief glance at Jae-hoon, followed him out.
Now alone in the darkened room, Jae-hoon lay on the bed, trying to calmly assess the situation.
He was, without a doubt, Marcus Licinius Crassus II.
As absurd as it all seemed, he had no choice but to accept it as reality. The problem, however, was that he was a notorious troublemaker, currently twelve years old and a constant source of grief for his father.
Marcus II had already built up quite a notorious reputation in Rome, causing all sorts of trouble while hiding behind his family’s wealth and influence. Though just a child, Marcus was a particularly nasty individual. He carefully avoided breaking any laws but relentlessly harassed anyone he found the least bit irritating.
Most of his victims were slaves or impoverished plebeians from other households, so initially, Crassus paid no attention. After all, slaves in this era were considered mere property, and few people cared if downtrodden commoners were bullied. However, as Marcus’s behavior escalated, even Crassus could no longer ignore it.
Eventually, Crassus prohibited Marcus from mobilizing slaves to commit senseless acts of violence. In response, Marcus turned to indulgent drinking and gluttony as his new form of rebellion.
While it was common for Romans to drink wine, they usually diluted it heavily with water. Those who drank undiluted, high-alcohol wine and became drunk were looked down upon as lowly drunkards. Marcus, however, often mingled with disreputable young nobles, and drinking himself into a stupor had become a daily routine for him at an alarmingly young age.
Given all this, it was no surprise that his father had lost all faith in him.
‘This guy is the perfect example of a thoughtless, privileged noble brat. And now I have to live as him?’
Although his life had changed overnight, Jae-hoon surprisingly adapted to his new situation with relative calm. Back in Korea, he had been a dirt spoon, destined to spend his life struggling to repay loans and living in poverty. Compared to that, living as a scion of an ancient noble family, free from financial worries, seemed infinitely better.
Even if his younger brother would eventually inherit the family, Jae-hoon had no desire to continue the family line anyway. He figured that as long as he quit the life of a troublemaker and lived quietly under the protection of his powerful father and brother, he could enjoy a comfortable noble life.
‘Crassus, wasn’t he the famous figure who formed the First Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey, ruling Rome as one of its most powerful men? Great, great. Goodbye forever, dirt spoon life.’
The life of an ancient Roman might be a bit inconvenient, but for the golden spoon lifestyle he had always dreamed of, Jae-hoon was willing to endure it. He figured that if he changed too suddenly, people might grow suspicious, so he planned to gradually start following Crassus’s advice.
Just as his heart swelled with anticipation for his bright future, a piece of historical knowledge he knew suddenly flashed through his mind.
‘Wait. Didn’t Crassus die trying to outdo Caesar and Pompey by pushing for an ill-fated military campaign?’
His memory was accurate.
Crassus had launched an expedition against the great eastern power of Parthia, only to suffer one of the most humiliating defeats in Roman history and die. The problem was that his younger brother, Publius, who was in his prime, also died in that battle.
The plan to live comfortably by riding on the coattails of his father and brother was in danger before it even began. Jae-hoon’s expression, which had been brimming with excitement, crumpled like a piece of discarded paper.
