About Gutter Alley, Part 2
Lee's earliest memory was of himself, searching desperately for something.
The small, young boy darted between fallen trees and collapsed structures, his eyes glued to the ground.
“Found it!”
Plucking the mushrooms growing from a rotting log, he gathered them in the hem of his dirty shirt and hurried back to the hideout.
“Chef! I brought food!”
“Huh? You little brat, I told you it's dangerous out there!”
Spindle, the gang's cook, grumbled, but when he saw the armful of mushrooms, he dumped them onto the floor and began sorting through them.
“Hey, you can't eat this one. Eat it and you die. This one too.”
“Ugh...”
“But the rest are edible.”
“Yay!”
Lee cheered.
Only three poisonous ones. That was a pretty good haul.
“Bring your head here.”
“Yes!”
Thwack!
Spindle brought his fist down hard on Lee's head.
Lee collapsed to the floor but quickly scrambled back up, only to take two more hits in succession.
After delivering the three blows, Spindle taught Lee how to tell edible mushrooms apart from poisonous ones.
“Got it? I told you this last time. Forget it again, and I'll beat you to a pulp.”
The cook warned, tossing him a worn, dog-eared botanical guide.
Aside from lacking a bit of knowledge, the kid was a decent assistant for his age.
That was the only reason they kept him alive, after all.
“Get over here. We need to make dinner for the Boss and Arciel.”
“Yes.”
While Lee was stir-frying the mushrooms, the other children began returning to the hideout one by one.
Most of them came back empty-handed, their faces long and tearful.
“Anyone who didn't bring anything back, get over there.”
At Spindle's gesture, the young children gathered in the designated corner, trembling.
The adults of the hideout surrounded them, clubs in hand.
“If you little shits can't earn your keep, why the hell should we feed and house you!”
“P-please, we're sorry...!”
With heavy, rushing sounds, the clubs rained down mercilessly on the children.
Only when the screaming, huddled children went limp and stopped moving did the beating finally cease.
“The Boss is coming! Spindle, is dinner ready?”
“Almost. Hey, brat, set the table.”
Lee quickly arranged the plates, forks, and knives on the wooden table.
Two sets in total—one for the Boss, and one for Arciel.
“Well, well. Smells good.”
Brack was the only man who had ever unified Gutter Alley.
By crushing the skulls of anyone who resisted with his brutal fists, he had built the alley's largest faction and established a system of exploitation with himself at the absolute top.
It was a beautiful trickle-down system of abuse: Brack exploited the capable, the capable exploited the incompetent, and the incompetent exploited the women and children who were even weaker than them.
Yet, even a man like him had one child he favored.
“How is it, Arciel? We even have mushrooms today.”
“I hate it, it smells...”
Slap!
Arciel was struck across the cheek and thrown to the floor.
For Brack, 'favoring' someone simply meant he wouldn't kill them when they got on his nerves.
“Eat.”
“I really can't, the smell makes me—urgh!”
The brown-haired girl was forced to swallow the stir-fried mushrooms as her mouth was pried open.
Though the hot mushrooms burned the roof of her mouth and throat, and the pungent smell made her gag, Arciel endured, trembling violently.
If she threw up here, she would die.
Of that, she was absolutely certain.
Following the survival instinct drilled into her young mind, Arciel breathed softly through her mouth to cool the heat while Brack merrily enjoyed his dinner.
Slide.
A cup of water was pushed toward her.
It was Lee.
She didn't say thank you; she just took it.
The last time she had thanked him, Lee had been kicked by Brack.
Lee poured another cup of water and set it at Brack's spot.
“Did you make this?”
“Yes.”
“Did you gather the mushrooms too?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly, Brack grabbed a plate and smashed it over Lee's head.
The plate shattered into pieces, and blood began to trickle down Lee's forehead.
“Arciel doesn't like them. Don't bring mushrooms anymore.”
“Yes.”
Having finished his meal, Brack went out to patrol his territory, taking Arciel with him.
The shattered plate and the half-eaten stir-fried mushrooms lay scattered across the floor.
Lee couldn't take his eyes off them, mourning the waste.
Seeing this, Spindle snapped at the bleeding boy.
“Hurry up and wash the dishes, brat!”
Late that night, Arciel nudged Lee, who was sleeping beside her.
“Lee, wake up.”
“Mmm...”
Lee rubbed his eyes as he sat up. A dark scab of dried blood had formed on his forehead.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“I'm fine. What about you, Arciel? You swallowed that hot food without even letting it cool.”
Arciel opened her mouth wide.
“I healed it all.”
Arciel and Lee were anomalies in Gutter Alley.
Normally, children were not born in Gutter Alley.
It was a den of beasts, a place where those who had committed crimes or fled from sin drifted in to settle, constantly backstabbing one another.
Because of this, weak women were routinely violated and killed.
Even pregnant women were no exception.
So where did the children here come from?
It was simple.
They were kidnapped and abducted from the outside world.
But Arciel was different.
She was born to a pregnant woman who had struggled with all her might to reach Gutter Alley.
A woman wearing the robes of a priestess of the Goddess had entered the alley heavily pregnant, given birth, and died.
Brack had found the situation itself fascinating, which was why he kept Arciel alive and favored her in his own way.
What about Lee?
Lee had simply been left in front of the hideout, wrapped in a swaddling blanket.
It happened not long after Arciel was born.
His family name is Lee, but he has no given name. Please name him and raise him.
The swaddling blanket was filthy, contrasting sharply with the neat handwriting on the note.
With a common surname like Lee, he certainly didn't seem to be the child of some noble house.
Brack left him alone for three days and nights, but Lee neither died nor cried.
“A kid like this will grow up to be useful. He's extraordinary even as a baby.”
Having become the ruler of Gutter Alley, Brack took in both Arciel and Lee, viewing them as auspicious omens.
Only two children were raised entirely within Gutter Alley.
They were Arciel and Lee.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah. I've got the sweet herbs and bracken ready.”
“Let's go.”
The two, who slept slightly apart from the other children, slipped away once the adults were fast asleep and crept toward where the kids huddled.
“Arciel...?”
“Yeah, it's me, Jack.”
“Rufino's ankle is swollen really badly.”
“Let me see.”
The other children, who were also awake, parted to make way for Arciel.
Rufino, whose ankle was so swollen his anklebone was buried in flesh, was sweating profusely.
“I'll heal it.”
At her words, the children held up their tattered blankets to block the view.
Once Arciel and Rufino were completely shielded by the rags, her hands began to glow with a soft white light.
Where the light touched, the swelling gradually began to subside.
However, Arciel stopped her divine healing before the swelling was completely gone.
“How is it?”
“Much better. Thanks, Arciel.”
“I'm sorry I couldn't heal it completely...”
“No, if it suddenly healed all the way, the adults would definitely suspect something.”
Meanwhile, Lee distributed the sweet herbs he had secretly gathered and the bracken he had boiled and dried beforehand.
The children, who had been beaten and starved after returning empty-handed that afternoon, eagerly stuffed the wild greens into their mouths.
Thanks to this secret care, the children did not envy the two who received special treatment from the adults.
Instead, they looked up to them as the only ones in the gang they could trust and rely on.
“Chew slowly and thoroughly. If you swallow too fast, you might choke and die.”
“Alright, who's next? Those who have trouble moving or are in constant pain first.”
Every night, the brown-haired girl and the black-haired boy healed and fed the children, hiding from the adults' eyes.
They couldn't remember when it had all started.
Ever since Arciel awakened her divine power, and ever since Lee learned to cook and study the botanical guide to gather wild greens, they had looked after the children.
“I want to grow up quickly. Then I'll get revenge on all of them.”
“Hey, don't say such scary things.”
“But Arciel got hurt today too. Those bastards beat us whenever they want just because they're adults.”
“And you think you can beat them when you're an adult?”
“By the time I'm an adult, they'll all be hunched-over old men!”
Listening to Arciel and Jack's conversation, Lee wondered.
Will the adults even be alive by the time we grow up?
More importantly, will we even survive long enough to become adults?
“Alright, we're all done. We're going back.”
“Goodnight, Arciel. Goodnight, Lee.”
“Goodnight, Jack.”
Surprisingly, it was Lee, not Arciel, who waved and chatted warmly.
Before he obtained his exclusive item, the Luggage Carrier's Bag, and before he even had the name Rin, Lee was a warm, expressive child—except when he was in front of the adults.
“Lee.”
“Yeah?”
“Face me when you lie down.”
“Why?”
“I want to look at your face while I sleep.”
Lee chuckled.
“But you won't see anything once you close your eyes.”
“Dummy. It's nice to see your face right before I close my eyes and right after I open them.”
“Why is that nice?”
“I don't know. It just makes me feel good.”
“Alright, then.”
As he turned to face her, the girl finally smiled.
In this way, Arciel found the comfort to end her day and the courage to start the next.
“Lee.”
“Yes, Arciel?”
“I really can't eat mushrooms.”
“I know. I'll look for something else.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't mention it.”
And the next day,
Lee stood holding a mushroom, facing a young girl with silver-blue hair.
“What are you staring at, you ugly brat?”
“I'm ugly?!”
“No, you look like shit.”
“Just say I'm ugly. The meaning changes completely depending on the words you use.”
“Like I give a fuck.”
“Where are you from?”
“Why do you care?”
What a lovely way with words.
Even Lee, with his easygoing nature, couldn't help but frown.
“Now you look even shittier.”
“You're really annoying.”
“Yeah, and you look like shit.”
I shouldn't engage with her.
Shuddering, Lee packed away the mushroom and tried to walk away from the girl.
Growwlll.
Until he heard her stomach growl.
“Ugh...!”
Blushing furiously, the girl covered her stomach, but she couldn't hide her hunger.
Sighing, Lee pulled the mushroom back out and tore it into small pieces.
Just to be safe, he popped a piece into his own mouth, chewed it to confirm it was safe, and then offered the rest of the mushroom to the silver-blue-haired girl.
“Want some?”
She was too hungry to refuse.
“I have water, too.”
And water, a commodity more precious than gold in Gutter Alley.
Receiving kindness for the first time in her life, the girl felt a strange, ticklish sensation in her chest.
Staring blankly at Lee, she blurted out without thinking:
“Actually, I've been waiting for a man like you for a long time...”
“Huh?”
“...Ah?!”
Turning from pink to beet red, the silver-blue-haired girl rolled around on the ground in sheer embarrassment.
She's energetic. Maybe she isn't that hungry?
Lee tilted his head in confusion.
The girl writhed in mortification.
This was the very first meeting between Rin and Labin.