Tutorial - The Abandoned Child: What Kind of Damn Game Is This?
To avoid the thin raindrops that had begun to fall with a steady patter, I pressed my body tight against the eaves.
Game possession usually meant an endless barrage of misfortune.
But this situation was disguised as a proper virtual reality game, so there was no reason to throw the player into some ridiculous scenario just to make them miserable.
“Don’t you think so, Anomaly?”
My muttered words drifted off into the night air, unheard by anyone as I stared at the gloomy sky.
I let out a heavy sigh and lowered my gaze.
Short legs and arms.
And the childish, whining voice that came out whenever I spoke.
When I looked down at the puddle forming at my feet, I saw a child about five years old wearing a ragged hood that might as well have been a beggar’s cloak.
“Haah.”
This was crossing the line. A beggar brat, seriously?
As soon as I connected to the game, the Anomaly had dropped this on me.
Welcome to Eclipse!
With your outstanding abilities, you have acquired a hidden origin! Congratulations!
The tutorial will now begin. The tutorial will proceed from your character’s past perspective. Do not take the past lightly. Your actions in the past will definitely affect your character!
We wish you the best of luck.
After spitting out that nonsense, it vanished without a trace.
The small medieval European-style town was almost identical to what I remembered, though perhaps with a few minor differences.
The moment I opened my eyes in a shabby back alley and tried to stand up to get my bearings, I immediately toppled over again.
My mind rejected the unfamiliar eye level and absurdly short stature, triggering a dizzying vertigo like motion sickness.
What the hell was I supposed to do?
I dragged my creaking body to the end of the alley where bright light spilled in… only to turn right back around.
If this place was based on the Middle Ages, that reaction made sense.
Unlike the modern world where basic morality was widespread, the medieval era I remembered was a lawless zone.
The chances of a friendly adult smiling at a toddling child and taking them to an orphanage were extremely low.
So it was probably best to wait at the starting point. Some kind of event would trigger eventually.
That was what I thought, but the sun had already set and nothing had happened. What the hell was this?
The cold wind made my body shiver, and my frail frame kept begging for sleep, eyelids drooping.
When I slapped my cheek to chase away the drowsiness, my foggy mind cleared and I realized something.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t checked that yet.
“Status window.”
Name: Lee Han
Race: Human
Job: ?
─ Access Restricted ─
It is restricted.
“Haha.”
They could have at least tried a little. Restricted my ass. It wasn’t helping at all.
It looked like I’d have to spend the night on the streets. The moment I stepped deeper into the alley to find any shelter from the wind and rain, the long-awaited “event” finally occurred.
“Hey kid, what are you doing here?”
A hideous face suddenly filled my vision as I lay there, only my eyes moving.
Dark, sunburnt skin, matted hair, and yellow teeth that gave off a terrible stench.
The classic image of a back-alley vagrant.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you. You lost or something?”
The greed in the man’s eyes sparkled as he spoke.
This looked bad.
What were the odds that a back-alley bum would look at a weak, homeless child with such greedy eyes and actually offer help?
I couldn’t say it was impossible.
But if the event I’d waited for all day was an encounter with a greedy-faced vagrant, running away was the appropriate response.
Tap—
Enduring the nausea from my unfamiliar body’s strange sense of balance, I sprinted immediately.
“Where are you going, kid?”
“Huff, huff.”
I ran with my breath already scraping the back of my throat, yet the man’s voice came from right behind me.
Then a hand grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me up.
At that horrible sensation I gasped and looked up, only to see a filthy face.
Maybe he was a vagrant who only looked like that but had a heart of gold… Was there even a one percent chance of that?
“Sharp little brat, aren’t you?”
Haha, of course not.
He lifted me right up to his face and rambled on, his breath smelling like vomit.
“Whoa, looks like a kid with no guardian. Today must be my lucky day.”
“Let go!”
I tried to growl threateningly, but a five-year-old’s thin voice only came out as a whine.
“If I sell this one, I should at least get enough for a whole case of booze, right?”
Heart of gold? Bullshit. I’d run into the worst kind of scum—someone who dealt in human trafficking.
In Korea, where I’d recently been staying, the idea of human trafficking was unthinkable.
I watched his gleeful face and waited for an opening.
Humans, pitiful creatures without sharp claws or fangs, had needed to create weapons since ancient times.
But there was still one primal instinct left…
“Gaaaah!”
The moment he looked away, I stretched my neck and bit down hard on his forearm.
At the same time, I desperately shook off his loosened grip, weakened by the unexpected pain.
Thud.
The impact of hitting the ground made my whole body tremble, but I didn’t have time to waste.
He had tried to drag me deeper into the alley, so I went the opposite way.
My target was the far end of the alley.
Both places were dark because the sun had set, but compared to the sticky, abyss-like darkness of the inner alley, the end felt bright.
If I could just make it there!
Crash.
“You filthy little shit! If I’m selling you, I’ll make sure it’s to the worst place possible!”
The man who had run after me kicked me hard. My body flew up and slammed into the wall.
The impact rattled my brain and made my vision spin.
Fuck… It had been over two thousand years since I experienced being five years old. I didn’t realize I’d be this slow.
And feeling such vivid sensations was also a first in two millennia, making it even harder to regain my composure.
The pounding heartbeat I hadn’t felt in so long heated my body and pumped blood throughout my limbs.
Ha, you damn Anomaly bastard.
You call this a game?
A hand grabbed my hair and forcibly yanked me upright.
Then he shoved his stinking mouth right in front of my nose and growled.
“If you don’t behave, I’ll break both your legs, kid. Want to test me?”
“Ptui.”
“You rude little shit!”
I watched his hand rise high for a full swing and instinctively squeezed my eyes shut.
This wasn’t the modern world. He probably wouldn’t harvest my organs.
At worst I’d become a slave or a test subject.
Then there would be at least one coin, so if I could just keep my mind—!
“Daddy! Over here!”
Instead of the expected pain, a girl’s high-pitched voice rang out. I carefully opened my eyes.
At the end of the alley, a figure emerged through the dim light.
Short stature. Beautifully braided purple-black hair in twin tails. A childish dress with frilly lace.
…?
Another kid?
In my hazy mind, the little princess pointed straight at me.
Pointing is rude, you know, kid.
From behind her, a bear-like man stepped heavily into the alley.
Ah, she wasn’t alone?
My thoughts refused to connect properly.
“Mister, may I ask what you’re doing holding a child here?”
“Haha, the kid wouldn’t listen so I was just disciplining—”
“Mmmph!”
Had my final desperate sprint toward the alley entrance helped after all?
This might be my last chance.
I shook my head violently while screaming as loudly as I could into the hand covering my mouth.
“Hmmm.”
“Mmmph!”
What was there to think about!
Look closely! Do I resemble that filthy bastard in even the slightest way? If you have eyes, use them!
“Daddy! That ugly man said he was going to sell this kid to a shitty place.”
“Rebecca, language.”
“But that’s a bad word, right?”
Nice one, kid. I apologize for mentally cursing you earlier.
I promised myself I’d give her candy if I got the chance.
“Mister, it seems we need to have a talk…”
“S-shit.”
As the bear-like man cracked his knuckles and approached, the human trafficker stumbled backward, threw me aside, and fled.
To be honest, the man’s face was so intimidating that even the real me might have been a little scared.
…Just a little. Not much.
“Oh dear, are you okay, child?”
Being thrown to the ground for the third time pushed my mental strength to its limit.
As I squirmed like a caterpillar, the man stopped chasing the thug and scooped me up with his large hands.
“I-I’m fi—”
The moment I tried to smile at the scary but kind man and thank him, his face split into two.
…What kind of situation was this now?
“Oh no, why are you bleeding so much! You’re covered in blood and burning up…! Kid! Stay with me!”
Ah. So my body was just in bad shape.
“Daddy, can’t we take him home first?”
“We don’t know where his house is… I suppose we should. Can you hold Daddy’s hand and walk, sweetheart?”
“Yeah! That kid looks really sick. Let’s hurry!”
After those kind words, I finally let my eyes close, releasing the strength I had been forcing into them.
While my consciousness sank, my body—still burning hot and tense from the recent struggle—went completely limp.
What a frail little body.
But… it felt incredibly alive.
“Lee Han! I’m here!”
It might sound strange, but I am a primordial vampire who has lived for two thousand years.
In all those long years, I had experienced many things, but there was one experience I was still not used to.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you deaf? Huh? Why won’t you even look at me!”
Living as a child.
This girl’s behavior—grabbing both my cheeks and forcibly turning my head—was extremely disconcerting, but I couldn’t stop her.
“Have you ever been to the Moon Festival? What? You haven’t? Then do you want to go with me today?”
Because she was the daughter of the house’s owners.
If I could, I would punish her for the childish act of poking my cheeks with her fingers, but…
How could this be her fault?
From her perspective, she was just playing with a boy her own age!
“The priests of Lady Luna are all coming too. Aren’t you excited? Hehe, I already got permission from Mom and Dad to go to the festival. You’re the only one left! You’ll come, right?”
That day, the bear-like man who had saved me introduced himself as Tom.
And the name of the daughter who came to my room chattering from early morning was Rebecca.
Rebecca’s two parents not only took in this pitiful orphan but also treated me—a person lacking so much common sense—without prejudice and taught me many things.
They truly were angels without wings.
“Lee Han!! Answer me! Answer! You can speak properly now!! You understand everything, so why won’t you answer!!”
“Sorry. I was thinking about something else for a moment.”
“You…! How can you zone out when I’m talking to you!”
This little brat who had been glued to me like a twin ever since I started speaking properly.
I feel sorry for her wonderful parents, but sometimes I have the irreverent thought that they might have pushed her onto me because even they found her constant chatter burdensome.
“There’s going to be fireworks after the festival in the village today!”
“Festival?”
“Aish, come on! I told you today is the Moon Festival! The day Lady Luna first bestowed divinity upon this land!”
Haah.
A sigh escaped me already.
“I couldn’t go last year because I was sick. So I’m really, really excited. It’ll be so much more fun if you come with me!”
“…Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Yay! Oh, and they say there’s a talking cat at the festival, and people selling clouds, and a prophet who tells the future!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Tommy from next door told me. He went to the prophet and found out who he’s going to marry, then came and told me all about it?”
“…”
So that’s what Tommy was blushing about when he came to talk.
I’d better not say anything.
What good would it do to shatter the pure dreams of innocent children?
By now, I had grown used to this life.
It had been three months since my first connection to the game Anomaly called Eclipse.
I still hadn’t found a single clue about the past. I remained trapped inside the game, living as a child.