New Beginning
That kid… did he eat lunch wrong?
The sudden situation left me surprised.
With my full weight driving the charge, Kim Juho tumbled backward.
And then.
I landed a weak punch right on Kim Juho’s face.
Hit him until he was dead.
A moment later.
Kim Juho’s crew jumped in, and I was stomped into the dirt.
That day.
Kim Juho and I were summoned to the teacher’s office.
“What’s the point of fighting among friends? Just apologize to each other.”
Kim Juho spoke first.
“I’m sorry.”
“Doun?”
The teacher prodded, but I stayed silent.
I didn’t like the way this was going.
It had happened before.
Me, Kim Juho, and the homeroom teacher in the exact same setup.
Back then it was school violence.
We were dragged in for one-sided beating.
The teacher had done the same thing then—called us both in, forced a fake apology, and called it a day.
Acting like the noble teacher all along.
Selfish bastard.
Is it wrong of me to think that about the teacher?
Whatever.
I wouldn’t say it out loud.
“Doun isn’t apologizing?”
“No.”
In the past I had apologized too.
Even though I had nothing to apologize for.
Or what was there to apologize for?
This time there would be no apology.
The teacher tried again and again.
“Doun-ah, being friends in the same class is good, right? You’ll still see each other when you’re adults.”
“I have nothing to apologize for. I have no plans to see Kim Juho later either.”
Maybe the sincerity showed, because the teacher gave up on reconciliation and sent us back.
The matter ended there.
A trivial fight between classmates.
We were released by the teacher, but outside the office Kim Juho’s crew was waiting.
“From now on, be careful.”
They threatened in a small voice and left with Kim Juho.
And.
I walked home alone, dragging my feet.
“Doun.”
“Ah… Eunhye.”
Are you okay? Why is your face like that?
“It’s nothing… I fought.”
Kim Juho, right?
She knew.
If Eunhye knew, every student in the school must have known too.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
The walk home after getting stomped.
It had happened before.
Back then I had no one walking beside me.
At home I would sit alone in my room.
Compared to then, this felt like heaven.
With Eunhye walking with me.
“Eunhye, thank you.”
“Huh? For what?”
“Just… everything.”
“Eh…? Eh??”
Eunhye replied in a surprised voice.
It would have been awkward to explain with words.
Thank you for staying with me on the way home after I got beaten so much?
p>That sounded off.
I hadn’t won the fight or anything.
The elevator dinged on the 10th floor.
“Doun, keep up the stamina.”
“This is nothing.”
My whole body ached from the pain, but compared to my mid-thirties body it was still good.
“Still…”
“I’ll shower and log straight into Hero. Meet me in-game.”
“Yeah!”
After saying goodbye to Eunhye and walking into my apartment.
“Oppa, what happened?!”
Hyemi shouted the second she saw my face.
Kim Juho had hit me today.
I couldn’t hide it.
“It’s fine. I fought.”
“Oppa fought?! You must have gotten beat up. Who was it?”
Was I really that unreliable?
Hyemi stared at me with confident eyes.
“I couldn’t have fought. You got beat up.”
It’s fine. Go inside. Don’t tell Mom.
“How can I not worry?”
I barely calmed Hyemi down and went to my room.
And.
My future.
I logged into Hero.
**
Kim Juho’s crew had stayed quiet.
Because of that, my school life was peaceful.
The only thing I needed to do at school was survive the boring classes.
For the next few days in school.
Cain kept growing.
Level 8 and then 9.
I almost wished for wolves to appear.
The wolves that spawned could be killed, but they weren’t at the level to enter their habitat.
[Cain, I leveled up! Finally 10!]
[Congrats. I leveled up too.]
[Yeah, congrats Cain too.]
While Seolhwa opened her status window to distribute bonus points.
I opened mine.
Name: Cain
Level: 10
Job: Head of the Household
DNA: Gambler
Strength 23
Agility 20
Stamina 21
Intelligence 17
Charisma 4
“Head of the Household?”
The job was Head of the Household.
Someone who led a household.
That Head of the Household.
But looking at the description, it seemed decent.
Head of the Household
• You can party only with those you have a special bond with.
• +10% party experience bonus.
The special bond meant Family Setting.
Family Setting (0/1)
You can set someone as family.
[I got the Novice Swordsman job!]
[Yeah…]
[Cain? What job did Cain get?]
[I… I’m Head of the Household…]
[Huh?]
I explained the Head of the Household job to Seolhwa.
[A 10% experience bonus. Sounds good…]
[Seolhwa, can I set you as family?]
[Family?]
[Yeah.]
[Okay.]
I set Seolhwa as family and kept hunting.
The 10% experience bonus was subtly helpful.
One kill I didn’t notice.
After 10, 20 kills, the difference was clear.
[Cain, no more deer?]
[Yeah. Next quest.]
[Good. Deer was boring anyway.]
I handed the deer hide to the old man.
And clicked him for the new quest.
[Traveler, are you looking for work?]
1) Find animal hides.
2) Clean the house.
I chose 1.
1) Rabbit hide.
2) Deer hide.
3) Fox hide.
[Cain, want to choose fox?]
[Yeah.]
At Seolhwa’s question I answered and chose 3.
While that was happening I swapped weapons and armor with the money I had collected.
Name: Artisan’s Longsword
Attack: 20
Description: A sword made by an artisan.
Name: Iron-padded Leather Armor
Defense: 15
Description: Iron plates on important areas.
And I bought a shield too.
Name: Artisan’s Shield
Defense: 10
Description: A shield made by an artisan.
[Seolhwa, let’s go.]
[Yeah, let’s go~ let’s go~]
After spending time together, Seolhwa had become much brighter.
She didn’t talk like that in real life, but in-game it was nice.
Now she really sounded like a middle-school girl.
Before, she was too dark to even be called a middle-schooler.
[Seolhwa, I’ll tank. You put in the damage.]
[Yeah! I’ll do the same as when hunting wolves.]
[Let’s go!]
We moved south of the village.
Foxes were stronger than deer and weaker than wolves.
We were already at the level where we could kill a single wolf, but fox hunting needed caution.
We had to enter the fox habitat instead of just fighting the occasional wolf that came down.
[Seolhwa, stick close to me.]
[Yeah.]
Foxes usually hunted alone.
But.
If you mistakenly pulled aggro from multiple, it was dangerous.
At the edge of the fox habitat.
Over 30 foxes were in view.
[Cain, there are really a lot of foxes.]
[Yeah.]
It must have been before the NPCs started clearing monsters around the village in their rotation.
The monster count had been high.
Now it had dropped sharply.
Rabbit, deer, fox, wolf…
[Lots of monsters is good, but be careful.]
[Yeah!]
I circled the fox habitat edge, luring and killing one by one.
Just in case I accidentally pulled aggro from the others.
[Awesome. The EXP is different from deer.]
[Today we’re rolling big!]
Seolhwa smiled happily.
[Fox is coming. Be careful.]
Block!
I blocked the fox’s direct attack.
With higher stats the block was easier than my level.
And Seolhwa came up beside me and slashed the fox’s health.
[Easy…]
…
…
1:30 AM.
Excitement for the new hunting ground made me forget the time.
[Seolhwa, let’s stop here today.]
[Huh? Ah. Time’s… see you tomorrow.]
[Yeah.]
I shut down the computer and lay in bed.
“Lots of monsters. Good.”
Rabbit hunting and deer hunting had been tedious.
There were too few monsters.
More time spent resting than hunting.
But foxes were different.
While the villagers hated fox meat, I hunted without pause until the count rose high.
“Tomorrow looks promising. I’ll get a lot of EXP. The 10% bonus will help too…”
Maybe because it was late, sleep rushed in after only a few minutes in bed.
And.
I dreamed of hunting foxes.
With Na-eun.
**
“Mom, I’m going to school.”
“Okay.”
While I woke early, Mom had woken up earlier than usual too.
She probably wanted to see me leave for school.
Waiting for the elevator, I thought about last night’s dream.
“Fox hunting I understand, but Na-eun?”
Until now Hero had been played with Eunhye.
Even until dawn I hunted foxes with Eunhye, that is, Seolhwa.
But in the dream it was Na-eun.
I had the memory of being 35, but in the unconscious dream world the body influenced it a lot.
If it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have dreamed of Na-eun.
Plus we were laughing while hunting foxes.
Even holding hands.
In real life that was impossible.
Na-eun wouldn’t do it, but I didn’t want to either.
“She betrayed me…”
Not sure if “betrayed” was the right word, but that was the feeling.
Ding.
“Doun.”
“Ah… Eunhye.”
Today the timing matched.
Meeting in the elevator.
“Doun, what did you mean she betrayed you?”
“Huh? Ah… it’s nothing.”
Eunhye looked at me strangely, but I didn’t explain.
How could I explain “She betrayed me”?
That one sentence needed a lot of context.
“Eunhye, fox hunting yesterday was really good, right?”
“Yeah.”
I quickly changed the subject.
“Lots of prey, so I got a lot of EXP. I got a lot of meat and hides too.”
I spoke in a long sentence and focused Eunhye’s thoughts on fox hunting.
“Yeah. If we keep going we’ll become rich. Even if it’s just game money…”
Eunhye answered while talking about fox hunting.
“Eunhye, Hero money isn’t just game money.”
“Huh?”
I hesitated what to say to Eunhye’s question.
Should I explain that Hero money would be exchanged for real money later?
Should I say real financial companies were entering Hero and doing business?
Should I say it was a role beyond virtual currency?
I didn’t.
“Just that it’s different from other games. Money disappears when you die.”
I didn’t say the future fact I knew.
That fact wouldn’t become reality for a while.
“Yeah. I died a few times too, and all the money and items I collected disappeared.”
Eunhye muttered to herself and stared at my eyes.
She used to avoid eye contact a lot, but now she looked first.
With bangs hiding the burn scar on her forehead.
With the mask covering the burn scars below her eyes.
In my view only Eunhye’s clear eyes were visible.
My heart was beating fast.
“Doun, will you keep my money for me?”
In my mind she was still a child, but my body saw her as a girl her age.
I sighed deeply.
Going back to the past.
This kind of thing had happened before.
Especially when I met Na-eun it got worse.
My body and mind wanted her.
In reality too.
After graduating middle school I had forgotten her for a while.
“Doun, no?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Can you keep my money?”
“Ah… but if I die it disappears.”
“Then I can leave it with the quest old man?”
“Even then it’s useless. When the character dies and you make a new one, you lose the money anyway.”
“Yeah… it’s tricky.”
“We have to be careful.”
Until real financial companies enter Hero, this problem will continue.
The phenomenon where you lose money and items along with the character when you die…
Ding.
The elevator arrived on the first floor.
We left together and walked to school.