New Beginning
After school.
Kim Eunhye's bag was in my hands.
She had stubbornly refused, but I ended up taking it anyway.
This wasn't the first time I'd carried someone else's bag.
On days when Kim Juho's crew felt their own bags were too heavy, they always dumped the burden on me.
"Eunhye, are you playing hero today?"
"Yeah."
Because we both played the same game, she no longer acted as awkwardly as before.
She even looked at me once or twice.
Although her long bangs covered her forehead and the big mask hid the rest of her face,
only her clear eyes met the world head-on.
"My ID is Cain."
"Yeah.... I'm Seolhwa."
"Seolhwa. That's such a pretty ID."
"Yeah. Thanks."
We arrived at the apartment and stepped into the elevator together.
Ding.
I stepped out first.
When the elevator doors began to close, I quickly called out.
"Eunhye, I'll wait for you at the NPC quest giver in the starting village."
"Okay."
Eunhye's soft voice lingered in the hallway.
"Oppa, did you eat something delicious today?"
"Sorry. I don't have any money. I'll buy you something tasty the next time I earn some."
"Eat something tasty? How many years before you'll buy it for me again?"
Hyemi gave a reluctant pout, her face awkward.
Then she pulled a ten-thousand-won bill from her pocket.
"I got this from Mom so I could eat with you. Hehe."
"Hyemi, I'm sorry. I had something to do today."
I apologized to Hyemi several times and headed into my room to log into the game.
In front of the old man in the starting village.
With a racing heart, I waited for Eunhye.
Whenever I met her, I planned to receive weapons and armor from her.
Even if I had to pay whatever she asked for.
Maybe it was time to give up rabbit hunting too.
"Huh?"
A character wearing a ragged newbie outfit approached.
"New player?"
I ignored the new user and scanned the monitor.
Waiting to see where Eunhye would appear.
[Cain?]
[Huh? Seolhwa?]
Was she trying to pretend to be a beginner?
Was this really strong?
Was she hiding her power?
[Why is your outfit so weird?]
[I died yesterday....]
Died?
In Hero, death meant character deletion.
That meant she had zero copper coins and was still level one.
[Oh.... I see.]
My excitement turned into disappointment in an instant.
She probably had to keep rabbit hunting for a while.
[I'll give you a flask.]
[A flask? I'm sorry, but.... I can do house-cleaning quests. I do them well....]
It seemed this was not her first death.
[It's fine. I have money. I'll buy you a flask. Let's hunt rabbits together.]
[Yeah.... I'll pay you back later.]
Ninety-nine copper coins became forty-nine in the blink of an eye.
With her, I accepted the rabbit pelt quest and headed north of the farm.
Back to hard labor.
I circled the area and caught rabbits that wandered near the village.
[Do-woon, want to try going into the forest? It doesn't seem that dangerous.]
She was the first one to call me by my real name.
Meeting in the game felt easier than in reality.
[Eunhye, you've been dying a lot lately, haven't you?]
[...]
[Let's equip armor and go together.]
[Yeah.]
It was simple hard labor, but with a companion it wasn't as boring as before.
Name: Cain
Level: 3
Class: None
DNA: Gambler
Strength 12 Agility 14 Stamina 12 Intelligence 12
[I'm leveling up!]
[Chuka chuka]
The stat points were randomly distributed again.
But I still received the bonus points.
We hunted until dawn.
Seolhwa leveled up too, and we logged out.
The next morning.
I waited for Seolhwa at the apartment entrance.
"Hello? Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah. Thank you for the flask yesterday."
"No need to thank me! Helping each other is the best!"
"Yeah...."
Conversations grew richer as Eunhye and I walked to school together.
"The beginning of the forest is safe."
Kim Eunhye spoke first.
"Do deer appear there?"
"Yeah. But sometimes wolves come down."
Wolves.
In the future they would be called Beginner Slayers.
After creating a character, players started in a farm.
Right now we all started in the same farm, but as more users joined, players would be scattered across farms in different regions.
Most farms were surrounded by forests teeming with wolves.
Many beginners became the wolves' meals.
While we talked about the game, we reached school and Eunhye and I parted ways at our respective classrooms.
Throughout class I thought about how to raise my character.
My original plan had been to reach level ten and then hunt deer.
But with Eunhye?
It might be possible by level seven.
Save money to buy better weapons....
A flask from the shop would probably be enough.
Armor made of iron was expensive.
Leather armor then....
"Lee Doun!"
"Yes?"
"You haven't been paying attention in class lately? Come outside and solve this problem."
"Yes!"
The teacher was right.
I hadn't listened to the lesson content.
I had either slept or thought about the hero game during class time.
Even so....
Middle-school problems were too easy for me.
In the past I had studied like my life depended on it and entered a prestigious university.
If it had been a high-school problem, I would have studied and recalled the memory.
But a middle-school problem could be solved just by looking at it.
I finished the problem in an instant and returned to my seat.
"Ah.... Yeah. You're working hard. Let's move to the next page."
I sat down and took notes.
Level 10 to Level 7
What was Seolhwa's DNA?
Rabbit to deer.
*Caution: Wolves.
Ding dong. Ding dong.
Thud.
"Ouch."
A sharp pain exploded on the back of my head.
Kim Juho stood behind me.
After a while of quiet, trouble had returned.
"You study well. Because you study well, go buy some bread."
"What?"
What did studying well have to do with being a bread shuttle?
It was absurd, but the thought of creating one more piece of evidence crossed my mind.
I turned on the voice recorder I always carried.
"Go buy bread....?"
"Yeah. Let's try eating some bread that a friend who studies well bought. Who knows, maybe you'll become good at studying too."
"I don't have any money....?"
My voice trembled with fear.
The recorder was working well, right?
This was all evidence.
I was sending that bastard straight to hell....
"Hah. No concepts, huh. Don't you carry money to school? So how do your classmates get bread?"
It was ridiculous.
Did I really have to carry money around just to buy bread for friends?
When had school become this?
"Here. Pay it back tomorrow."
Kim Juho handed me two thousand won and said.
"Okay...."
I held the two thousand won and headed to the convenience store.
I bought bread.
And milk.
Just as I was wondering whether to spit on it,
"Do-woon."
Lee Naeun approached.
"Do-woon. Want to eat bread? Want to share?"
Lee Naeun pointed at the table in the convenience store.
"No.... This isn't mine."
"No way.... Did Kim Juho make you get it again? Seriously.... That's too cruel."
Lee Naeun's expression.
Her tone.
Her gestures.
I felt genuine worry in every move she made.
Looking at her, another thought struck me.
She knew I was being bullied.
Yet in the future she had said she remembered nothing.
"I'll go first."
I left worrying Naeun behind and hurried out of the convenience store.
It was hard to face her.
When I was near her, my heart raced and my body froze.
The body reacted before the brain.
Yet in my mind the cold version of Naeun from the future kept flashing.
Getting angry at her now wouldn't help.
I couldn't ask why she had turned away when I needed help in the future.
It wasn't even the middle-school Naeun's action.
The best thing was simply to keep my distance.
"Huff. Huff."
Even though I was a middle-schooler, my stamina was terrible.
At school I mostly sat on a chair, and at home I only used a computer.
I caught my breath and handed Kim Juho the bread and milk.
"Tsk. You ran over. Good job."
"Yeah."
"Oh, pay the two thousand won back tomorrow. Don't forget."
"Okay."
I returned to my seat and turned off the recorder.
That ended my day at school.
.
.
After school.
I stood at the school gate waiting for Kim Eunhye.
But.
"Do-woon."
"Huh.... Naeun...."
Lee Naeun handed me two chocolates.
"Eat these. They're the popular chocolate these days."
While I debated how to refuse, she slipped the two chocolates into my pocket.
"Do-woon. Let's eat tteokbokki together next time."
With only that left unsaid, she walked out the school gate.
Chocolate.
I simply accepted it.
After all, I was entitled to chocolates from Naeun.
She had helped me when I was in trouble, when Kim Juho was bullying me,
and I had helped her a few times after that.
I hadn't expected anything in return.
Yet when I needed help, she had turned away.
Even after weighing every possibility, I decided it was still fine to accept the chocolate.
After about twenty minutes, Kim Eunhye appeared at the gate.
"Do-woon. Did I make you wait long?"
"No."
"Should I leave early too?"
"No. It's fine."
I knew why she went home later than the others.
All the middle schools had the same dismissal time.
At that time many students walked the streets.
She probably wanted to avoid the crowds.
"No. From tomorrow I'll leave early. Let's walk together."
"Yeah."
I understood her avoidance, but I also cheered for her when she faced reality directly.
Walking with confidence among many people seemed better than passive dodging.
We arrived at the apartment and, as the elevator doors opened,
I handed one of the chocolates from Lee Naeun to Eunhye.
"This is?"
"Eat it. It's a hot deal right now."
I stepped out, and when the elevator doors closed behind me,
a small voice came from behind.
"Thank you...."
.
.
"Oppa! You're back?"
"Hyemi. You weren't playing with friends?"
Previously I hadn't cared whether Hyemi was home or not.
But now I cared about her actions.
Hyemi had always arrived home before me.
Whether she played with friends or not, once she came inside she wouldn't leave until the next day.
No way!
Was Hyemi being excluded too?
I couldn't let that happen to my little sister.
"Hyemi.... No way.... Are you without friends....?"
"I have lots of friends."
"Lots of friends?"
"Yeah. Lots. Want me to bring a friend next time?"
"Yeah. Bring them. Oppa will cook you something delicious."
"For real?"
"Yeah."
I remembered.
Back then.
Or rather, only a few months ago by now.
Hyemi had brought a friend home.
The friends had left and I got angry at Hyemi.
Why did you bring people over?
Is the house yours?
You're disturbing me.
What had Hyemi said then....
I didn't remember Hyemi's reaction.
She had simply endured my anger in silence.
"Oppa, you're talking nonsense again?"
"Yeah. Fine. Bring your friend."
Having my sister bring friends home no longer bothered me.
On the contrary, I wanted to treat them well to make Hyemi even closer to me.
"Oh, and eat this."
I handed her the chocolate I had received from Naeun.
"Whoa! Wow! These are so popular they're hard to find in convenience stores."
"Really?"
It seemed to be even more popular than I thought.
"Can I eat this too?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you, Oppa!"
I acted like a cool big brother and headed to my room.
Thank you, Oppa. I never thought I'd hear those words from my sister.
While I hid my expression in front of Hyemi, it felt like my mouth would split when I was alone in the room.
Back to the past.
Looking at Hyemi's happy face was joyful.
It was happiness.
My happiness was Mom's and Hyemi's joy.
I savored the feeling to the fullest and turned on the computer to log into Hero.
Seolhwa was waiting at the inn entrance.
[You're here?]
[Yeah. Let's go.]
[Ah.... Thank you for the chocolate.]
[Oh. It's nothing.]
Just like yesterday, we chatted lightly and did hard labor.
Rabbit hard labor....