The Chicken Fell
The chicken had fallen off. I realized with a start as the words crossed my mind. Three years of my grandfather’s mourning period had come to an end. It was my grandfather’s dying wish. “Mourn for three years.” He had taken me in when my own parents abandoned me. If only my grandmother had passed away before him… none of this would have happened. I shuffled down the mountain path. “Hah… how am I even supposed to get home?” My beard was scruffy, my hair a wild mess. I didn’t have the guts to face anyone looking like this, so I walked toward home, avoiding people. Using public transport would have gotten me there in thirty minutes, but I made it in four hours instead. * * * My old house felt like a stranger now. The walls that used to be white were black with mold. I didn’t dare step inside barefoot, so I walked in with my shoes on. “Haa…” What was I going to do now? I flipped the switch first. Luckily, the power was still on. I should thank the landlord for letting me know. I pulled my phone from my pocket and plugged it in. “Fuck…” I felt completely stuck. “Grandpa… why did you put me through this?” I had to pour everything into mourning for three years. The retirement pay from the factory I worked at since high school. The little savings I scraped together. The allowance I saved in tiny bits after work. All of it had been spent on three years of food and taxes. “Let’s try this…” I couldn’t just give up. Me, twenty-five-year-old Lee Jiha. Even though all I had left were two balls, but— Handsome face! (My opinion) Tall height! (Korean average) Solid build! (This one’s real) New life started now. What was a guy with nothing left to do? Hunter, of course. Grandma always warned me against dangerous jobs. Grandpa told me not to think about the stuff the twins did. But no one could stop me now. If I just buckled down for one year, I could pay off the back rent too. Positive mindset ON—! I had dreamed of living like a normal person and ticking off my bucket list. Getting a girlfriend, escaping the basement, eating a whole chicken by myself… Uwoong—! My phone rang. Charging finally started. I needed more time before I could turn it on. “I’ll start with cleaning.” The walls were hopeless. How do I even deal with the dust? I stripped off my clothes. The ones I’d worn for three years—they were rags now. I dusted every corner and wiped the floor. One hour… two hours… Scrub scrub. “Heh heh.” The place was clean except for the walls. “Grandma… are you watching?” I stared at the dark basement window and spoke. Grandpa’s voice sounded right by my ear. “You bastard! The chicken’s gone!!! What kind of shit is this?!” Grandpa had been a real scholar. I wasn’t even allowed to enter the kitchen. Because of that, Grandma did all the housework alone until the end. “Grandpa… you were too much of a scholar. How hard it must’ve been for Grandma.” I couldn’t say “scholar” in front of that word. The vigorous cleaning in mold hell made my throat tingle. I needed water. In the old days I’d have asked Grandma for water, but not anymore. I stepped into the kitchen. Something felt off. It was the most normal thing in the world, yet it felt like I’d broken a forbidden rule. Thump thump! My heart raced. It was just something small. It felt like being set free from whatever had been holding me down. Clack! Was that the sound of the chains that bound me falling? Something dropped. My body felt lighter. I grabbed the cup and turned on the faucet. Shwaaa—! Clear water came out. What if it was rusty? Without hesitation, I filled the cup and drank. “Kya!” When thirsty, this is what you do. Just go to the kitchen and scoop water with a cup. Why did Grandpa make Grandma do even this? “Grandpa, look. It’s faster to just scoop it yourself.” In the afterlife, I hope you become a good husband instead of a scholar. Thinking that, I washed the cup. Tap tap, rolling… “Why does that sound keep happening…” I looked in the direction of the noise. It was under my feet. Two pink things like quail eggs rolled across the floor. “…” And at the edge of my vision. The kitchen entrance, which should have been empty after cleaning. A long, familiar object lay there. “Snake…? No… that’s…” Liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar liar!!! Grandpa’s voice rang in my ear. “See? The chicken’s gone, you bastard! Hahaha!” At the same time, everything went black. * * * [Ding!] [Ding!] “Uuuuh…” An alarm blared in my head. My eyes slowly opened. “My chicken!!!!” The moment I came to, I scanned the kitchen floor. “Heh heh, there was no way.” But the floor was clean with nothing on it. Mourning had been tough. After three years in a real house, maybe the tension finally broke and I had a bad dream. “Uch!” I sat up. I drank cold water to clear my head. “Huh? The sink…” Why was it so high? And why was the cup so huge? Sluuuck. Why were my panties sliding down? My gaze naturally dropped downward… “Kiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” A girl’s scream tore from my throat. * * * “Fuck fuck fuck fuck…” Nothing was left. My last remaining treasure. “I said I only had two balls left…” My hands shook as I grabbed the phone. It was huge too. On the black screen, a chubby little girl smiled. “Grandpa… was that true…” I powered it on and checked the date. A full day had passed. First things first. I looked at my contacts. There weren’t many saved, so I found them quickly. I called. The recipient was the landlord. “The number you are calling is not in service. Please check and try again.” “…” I checked my call history. A record remained from three years ago, when I had saved the landlord’s number. “The number is correct…” I tried calling again, but it didn’t work. “Why are you doing this to me…” I had to contact the landlord. I needed to thank him and promise to pay the back rent as soon as I got a job. But the number was gone? Was he going to come one day and tell me to vacate because he found a new tenant? With the chicken already gone, now I was going to end up on the street. My mind shattered. I dove into the community I used whenever I was desperate, searching for emergency relief. Back when I snuck into the factory with Grandpa. Gaming and online communities were my only hobbies. I checked what was trending right now. Title: Fuck, I’m going to the frontlines. Title: Don’t you need to shoot a hack or something? Same old North Korea issues. Title: (Nationalistic) Heaven Guild reaches 50 floors! Title: Even our country can reach 50 now lol Title: Just the light of heaven “Oh, they really reached 50.” Stories about Korea’s top guild. That was peak content. The rest was ads, spam, and garbage. “What? No one’s managing this?” Online communities were dying. Not many regular people used them. Back when it was managed by over ten operators… Title: Ya jjjal ppuriim (Unmosaic explicit photos) “Ouya.” The community had gone downhill. Even this kind of post wasn’t deleted. No one posted the funny stuff anymore. “I guess I should quit.” The urge to flip my phone over lingered. This had been my only hobby. I’d cut the internet to go to the mountains, so the computer was either a plus or minus. I flopped onto the bed and started thinking. Three years had passed, but the world hadn’t changed much. North Korea was still the problem, and Korea was still hard to live in. “Still… I have to live.” I had to live. I needed money to survive. I had nothing to eat today. I should go to a manpower office. If it was a hunter day labor job, I could get a week’s food money in one day’s pay. I reached up to the ceiling, clenched my fist. The black walls made my pale hand stand out. “… No veins visible.” It was probably a hallucination. First I needed to clean up this pathetic body. No matter how desperate, I couldn’t show up looking like a bum. I stood and headed to the bathroom. Had it always been this far? The moment I opened the door and grabbed the shower head from the sink, I met my eyes in the mirror. “…” I moved the shower head. The figure in the mirror did the same. “Ah—” I opened my mouth. Blinked. “Fuck?” It wasn’t just the chicken that was gone. The mirror showed a girl. “Status window.” [Ding!] Name: Lee Jiha Class: Necromancer (S) Level: 1 HP: 10 MP: 50 Strength: 1 Agility: 2 Skill: Summon Skeleton / Necropolis (Ongoing) “… Necromancer?” I stared blankly at the status window. Necromancer? “No way… three years stuck at Grandpa and Grandma’s grave?” It sounded plausible. Mourning wasn’t something anyone did casually. But I, who had done it alone in this modern era. “I’m S-class…” The only S-class in Korea. The guild master of Heaven Guild, always mentioned in communities. Lee Haneul was the only S-class holder in the country. “I’m here!!!!!!” I stepped out into the oddly spacious living room. Probably because my body was smaller now. The chicken falling or turning into a girl didn’t matter right now. “Skeleton!!! Summon!!! Come out!!!” I cast the skill. Black clouds formed on the floor and a skeleton crawled out. The fully emerged skeleton slowly stood up. “Eh? Smaller…” The skeleton felt strangely familiar. Seeing human bones move was scary, but it was weird. I spun the skeleton and observed it. The skeleton only stared back with dark eyes. “……” Eyes full of affection toward me. I’d felt that before. No way… “Grandpa?” The skeleton didn’t speak.