A New Beginning
I had been in the game for a week.
[Player Cain – Level 5]
[Player Seolhwa – Level 5]
[Cain, what level are you at?]
[Mine’s five. What about you?]
[I’m five too.]
I had reached level 2 and Seolhwa was at level 3.
At least seven levels would let us run if we ran into a pack of wolves.
Chasing them down was basically impossible…
[Hey. Cain, look at that.]
[Let’s go.]
Right in the center of the farm stood the Quest Elder, and in front of him lay a corpse.
I clicked the old man without hesitation.
[Traveler. Are you looking for work?]
1) Get animal pelts.
2) Clean the house.
This was…
A chance.
I had no idea if he was an NPC or something else, but the body was right there.
The old man in front of it made no claim of ownership.
In Hero.
Whether user or NPC, death was permanent.
That meant the armor the corpse wore belonged to no one.
[I’ll take care of the body.]
I told the silent old man and picked it up.
[What are you doing?]
[I have to get rid of the body. It doesn’t belong on the farm.]
[???]
Seolhwa gave me a question mark and followed me.
We dug into the soil near the village.
[Cain treats this place like it’s real, huh? Burying the body too.]
[Not quite…]
I dug deeper, stripped the corpse of its armor and weapons.
Name: Fine Armor
Attack: 15
Description: Better than regular armor.
Name: Fine Leather Armor
Defense: 10
Description: Better than regular leather armor.
[Great.]
[Can I really take the gear from the body? What if the owner shows up?]
[The owner is dead.]
[But…]
Seolhwa looked uneasy about stealing from the corpse.
[It’s fine. It’s common in Hero.]
[Really…?]
I tossed the corpse into the hole after removing its weapons and armor.
[Let’s go. We can buy that armor and leather set with the money we just got.]
Normally we would have needed two sets, so money was short.
But things were different now.
We had looted an entire set for free.
I equipped the weapons and armor I had taken, while Seolhwa put on the regular set she had bought from the shop.
[Cain, should we go deer hunting now?]
She sounded tired from a week of rabbit grinding.
But with only level 5 between us, it was too risky.
[Let’s just hunt rabbits.]
[Aren’t you bored?]
I was bored.
But what could I do?
The wolves were still a threat.
When we left the village to hunt rabbits, a group of humans had gathered at the entrance.
[What’s going on?]
I walked over to the crowd.
From their clothes, they looked like village NPCs.
I didn’t reply in chat. When I clicked, a conversation opened.
[We’re going to get deer meat.]
The young villagers were forming a hunting party.
[Seolhwa, let’s go to the old man again.]
[Now?]
[Yeah. Before they leave, we need to switch to the deer pelt quest.]
We went back to the old man.
I canceled the rabbit pelt quest and took the deer pelt quest instead.
Fortunately, the young villagers were still at the village gate.
We joined them, and before long the group walked out of the village.
[Seolhwa, let’s go.]
[We can just follow?]
[Yeah.]
With this many people, the wolves wouldn’t scare us.
We would hunt deer and keep a safe distance. If a wolf appeared, the others would handle it.
Forest.
I remembered the first time I came here.
It had been virtual then, but the feeling was the same.
At the forest entrance, the young villagers spread out in a group.
[Let’s go. Deer over there.]
[Yeah.]
We hunted until the villagers returned to the village.
[Quest complete tomorrow. Good work, Seolhwa.]
[Yeah, you too. Sleep well.]
2:30 a.m.
I played longer than usual.
I couldn’t miss the safe opportunity to hunt deer.
“I burned it all white….”
The soft bed wrapped around my whole body.
And
I fell into a deep sleep.
“Oppa! Wake up! Why are you sleeping in so late today!”
“What… what time is it?”
**
**
Do-woon and I had hunted until late.
Yet I woke up early the next morning.
It was thanks to years of waking at the same time.
I ate breakfast as usual.
Took the elevator down.
Left the apartment building entrance.
Do-woon was nowhere to be seen.
She used to leave first every day.
I should wait.
At the apartment entrance, my feet refused to move.
I took out my phone.
But then I remembered there was no number.
I hadn’t needed her number before.
On the way to school, Do-woon had waited first.
In class, we never spoke.
At dismissal, she waited at the school gate.
After we got home, we played Hero until we fell asleep.
Ten minutes passed.
I checked the time and headed to school.
The longer time passed, the more people there would be.
Then there would be more eyes on me…
I covered my forehead with my front hair as usual,
Pulled my mask up to my eyes.
And
Walked the way to school alone in an awkward silence.
……
After the last class, I left the building earlier than usual.
Just in case Do-woon had already gone ahead.
Fortunately, she was at the school gate.
[You’re early today. Let’s go.]
[Yeah.]
Do-woon told me about yesterday’s deer hunt.
What was her phone number again?
[Eunhye, I hope the young people went deer hunting today too.]
[Yeah.]
How was I supposed to ask for her number?
[You leveled up too?]
[Yeah.]
I should give her my phone.
[Why do you always say the same thing?]
[Yeah.]
Ah, mistake.
My mind was full of other thoughts and I had slipped up.
Do-woon stopped walking and looked at me.
Our eyes met.
I quickly looked down.
It still felt awkward to meet someone’s gaze.
Even if it was Do-woon.
[Is something wrong?]
[That… I was busy this morning…?]
[Ah, I overslept. Then I’ll tell you my number? Call me if anything happens.]
[Huh?]
[Ah… no way?]
I shook my head quickly.
And immediately checked my mask.
Was it crooked because I moved my face too fast?
Since Do-woon had asked first, we exchanged numbers.
From now on, I could focus on our conversation.
Because the other thoughts were gone.
**
**
After I said goodbye to Eunhye and arrived home, I logged into Hero.
Unlike yesterday, there were no young villagers at the village entrance.
Everyone seemed to be working in the fields.
Just in case, I accepted the deer quest.
I figured I should switch back to the rabbit quest.
Since the fine armor and leather set were better than regular items, I could just hunt.
It seemed safe enough.
And…
There was another reason I trusted myself.
Every time I leveled up, I received five bonus stat points.
Even at the same level, my stats would be higher.
[Seolhwa, let’s hunt deer together.]
[Great!]
Seolhwa used exclamation marks because she liked deer hunting.
We arrived at the forest and attacked the deer.
Slash. Whoosh.
Slash. Whoosh.
With both of us attacking together, the deer’s health dropped fast.
[Cain, deer hunting gives a lot of experience too.]
[Yeah…]
[Let’s catch that one.]
Seolhwa ran toward the nearby deer.
……
By the time we had gathered a good amount of deer pelts,
A problem I had been worried about happened.
Yesterday with the young villagers, a wolf appeared with no pelt visible on it.
[Cain!]
[Let’s slowly move back to the village while watching the wolf.]
[Yeah!]
It was best to run if we could.
If we fought and died by mistake…
Everything we had done so far would be wasted.
[Be careful!]
Damn it.
The wolf had no intention of letting us pass.
I threw the deer pelts and meat from my inventory at it, but it did nothing.
Clang!
I blocked its attack.
[Eh?]
I was surprised by the block judgment too.
A level-6 character blocking a wolf’s charge.
And oddly, my character fought well.
[I’ll help too!]
When I faced the wolf head-on, Seolhwa ran to its side and swung her sword.
Clang. Clang.
Thrust!
Kaheng!
Seolhwa’s greatsword pierced the wolf’s flank.
Au!!!!
[Ah, damn it.]
A Beginner Slayer wolf.
A wolf’s howl triggered a status ailment.
The higher the level, the less effect, but right now…
My character was affected by Fear.
Thud.
I couldn’t block the wolf’s attack and took it full force.
20% of my HP dropped in an instant.
I thought I would die that way.
Clang!
Seolhwa blocked the wolf’s next attack.
[Did you not get the status ailment?]
Cain and Seolhwa were the same level.
Low-level section.
No special skills.
The fact that only Seolhwa quickly recovered from the status ailment was strange.
[Because of the DNA…]
While Seolhwa held up, my character also recovered from the status ailment.
And shortly after, we were able to kill the wolf.
[Wow… Cain caught the wolf.]
[Really… That’s good.]
With basic weapons at level 6, catching a wolf was almost impossible.
But we did it.
[Thanks to Cain and Seolhwa’s DNA.]
The Gambler DNA gave me five bonus stat points.
My total stats were almost equivalent to a level-9 character.
And Seolhwa’s DNA.
I didn’t know exactly, but it seemed related to status ailments.
On one side of the screen, the level-up window flashed.
[We leveled up.]
Name: Cain
Level: 7
Job: None
DNA: Gambler
Strength 18 Agility 19 Stamina 16 Intelligence 17
Of course, the stats had been randomly allocated.
The total bonus stats I had received were 30.
That was the amount you could get at level 11.
[I’m a little disappointed I can’t allocate them myself.]
It stung that seven points had gone into Intelligence.
I had planned to make it a warrior.
We caught a few more deer and returned to the village.
[Seolhwa, good work.]
[Yeah.]
When I tried to log out, the chat window opened.
[Do-woon. Are you going to school alone tomorrow?]
[No. I overslept today and that’s why. Sorry…]
[It’s fine. See you tomorrow.]
[Yeah!]
**
**
During school break.
Today I went to the vending machine to buy bread.
I bought a hamburger and chocolate milk, and sat in an empty seat.
But
[Do-woon.]
Lee Naeun sat in front of me holding chocolate.
[Ah… Naeun.]
I tried to stand up quickly, but she grabbed my wrist.
[Do-woon. Did I do something wrong?]
[That… It’s not that.]
I couldn’t say it was because of something that happened in the future.
[Why are you avoiding me lately? Because of Kim Juho?]
[No. I’ll go first.]
[Why? Can’t you stay until I finish my chocolate?]
Lee Naeun said with a sad expression.
She was beautiful.
I told my body to leave the seat, but it stayed.
Being in the same table with Naeun felt good.
Just sitting together like this was enough…
I decided to enjoy the moment.
My heart was racing.
The sight of Naeun smiling across from me was wonderful.
Why?
I used to hate her so much.
But now that I had returned to middle school, I felt this way.
Lee Naeun broke her chocolate into small pieces and ate it.
I silently ate my hamburger in front of her.
There were no words, but
It was wonderful.
This moment didn’t last long.
Break time was very short.
[Do-woon, it’s time for class.]
[Yeah.]
[Next time, let’s come to the vending machine together too.]
[…]
I couldn’t answer and we parted ways.
My body and heart wanted Naeun,
But my mind fiercely rejected her.
Beep. Beep.
Lunch break.
I was summoned by Kim Juho’s gang.
Recently he had sometimes made me run errands, but he never hit me.
What was this?
[I saw you with Naeun at the vending machine.]
Because of that?
I didn’t want to be hit even if I ran errands…
There was enough evidence.
The more, the better, but I didn’t want to get hit because of that again.
[I told you not to hang around with Naeun.]
Thud.
[Hah…]
Damn it.
It hurt.
Until now I hadn’t been hit in the face.
Sudden dizziness made my legs almost give out.
Over 180 cm tall.
I covered my face with one hand and looked up at Kim Juho.
I was 35, but even then I couldn’t beat Kim Juho.
Maybe if I had been a private in the military I could have wrestled a little.
Even back then, I couldn’t be sure of victory.
That guy’s stamina must have been insane.
Still.
[F*ck!!]
I rushed at Kim Juho without thinking.