Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Kim Pokttal's Adventure
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ This is just me talking to myself.
My past was so drab and colorless, nothing worth sharing with anyone.
So I buried it deep in my heart and tried to forget it.
But today, out of nowhere, I dug it back up.
No one’s around to listen, so I’m mumbling it out loud.
But if, by some chance, there’s someone out there hearing this soliloquy...
Please don’t go anywhere. Have a seat.
Today, for the first time in my dull life, a bright red candle flame flickered to life.
So this isn’t a sad story anymore.
It’s a rambling monologue from someone so overjoyed they’re dancing in their head, not knowing what to do with themselves.
I hope you’ll listen.
My name is Park Dahye.
My first memory is a white hospital ceiling.
It was incredibly noisy, as I recall. I’d been in a coma and woke up after a whole month—what a shock that must’ve been.
I remember nurses running off and a swarm of doctors rushing in.
Apparently, it was a car accident. A month later, I learned that my mom, who’d been in the car with me and Dad, had passed away.
But I wasn’t really sad.
I couldn’t remember her face.
The reason my first memory is that hospital ceiling at age six is that everything before it is blank.
While I was laid up in the hospital, Dad and my aunt came to visit every day.
Auntie cried every time, and Dad’s face would always turn red as he stammered through his words.
By the time I was discharged a year later, Dad had stopped coming altogether.
He probably abandoned me. I don’t know the details.
That’s how I ended up holding Auntie’s hand and going to live with her family.
Auntie was a good person.
She hugged me every day, and at bedtime, she’d rest her hand on my belly and read me fairy tales.
Her hands were so warm.
But I wasn’t a good daughter.
Auntie dragged me to doctors nonstop.
“No signs of developmental disorders. If anything, her concentration is above average for her age, her cognitive abilities are perfect, and she responds well.”
“But... Doctor, the child doesn’t ask for anything. She listens too perfectly, almost scarily so. She doesn’t even throw tantrums. Is this normal?”
The doctor spun around in his swivel chair and looked at me.
“Dahye, what’s your auntie’s name?”
“Juseon.”
“Okay, Dahye. Do you know what a wolf is?”
“Yes. It’s an animal.”
“Can you imitate one?”
“Awoo~!”
“Good job. Now, when you go home with Auntie, what do you want to do?”
“...”
“Nothing you want to do? Like watching cartoons with Auntie, or eating something yummy?”
“...”
“Dahye, want some candy from the doctor?”
“...Yes.”
I’m not sure where I slipped up, but the doctor’s face darkened.
Was it because I hesitated on the candy?
Or maybe I was supposed to answer one of the earlier questions?
But there was nothing I could do.
I didn’t want anything.
“Auntie, does Dahye have any favorite toys? A security blanket or something?”
“No. I’ve never seen her play with toys.”
“Favorite food...?”
Auntie shook her head, on the verge of tears.
Yeah. I didn’t have anything I liked.
That was the problem.
Even the doctor couldn’t figure it out, so it must be some incurable disease.
I didn’t want to do anything, didn’t crave any food, so I just sat there a lot.
Over the next year, Auntie stopped talking to me as much,
and eventually, I was sent to an orphanage.
“Dahye, Auntie’s... so sorry. But... I just can’t anymore... Auntie’s struggling too. I’m sorry.”
Auntie didn’t need to apologize.
That moment was the only time I ever helped her.
The orphanage suited me better.
When meals were served, I ate. When it was cleaning time, I cleaned. Sleep, wake, repeat.
Before long, I got good at talking to people.
I even learned to smile well. Everyone said I was a good kid.
And I went to school.
I attended regularly, but I have no memories worth calling memories.
It was like I was on a separate server from everyone else at that school.
— Classmates whispering [That kid lives at the orphanage.] [For real? So she’s an orphan? Kinda figured... she’s so gloomy. Anyone ever heard her talk?] [What if she can’t even speak?] [Nah, no way. Go ask her yourself. Like, ‘Hey, you got no parents for real?’] [You asshole, that was brutal. Kekeke.] I knew they were whispering about me, but it didn’t bother me.
I just didn’t know what to do about it.
Should I get mad at them? Or laugh along and make friends?
I had no idea.
I didn’t know how to like people, since there was nothing I liked.
I just wasn’t interested in them.
My indifference probably hurt Auntie.
I wasn’t the one getting bullied at school—I was the one tormenting the others.
Time passed, and the orphanage kids grew up.
Some older ones ditched for street gangs, slipping out of the orphanage. Others glued themselves to their desks.
Once you hit adulthood, you had to leave, so they were all preparing in their own ways—messy or neat, everyone pushing forward.
Except me.
I spent more time alone.
Then one day, I had a dream.
It was a memory of going to an amusement park with Mom and Dad.
Dad rode the carousel with me, and Mom ran alongside, waving as we spun around.
When I woke up, my face was a tear-streaked mess.
That day, reclaiming my first memory, I intuited my future.
My happiest moment was already lost long ago, so from here on, I’d only grow more miserable.
No matter what I did, nothing could top that memory’s joy.
I’d stand here, wanting nothing, stagnating and rotting away.
I’d known it since I was little, so clearly.
That’s why I turned out like this.
Then I saw an ad.
📰 Advertisement [A journey no one has ever walked—yours alone.] Billion Saga. “A journey no one has ever walked.”
Those words captivated me.
Everyone else knew the paths and strode along, while I alone stood clueless and still.
If everyone took different roads, maybe there’d be others like me there.
I could watch them and copy what to do next.
I logged in using an ID an orphanage brother had made with my resident number.
Kim Pokttal—a hideous name. Whatever.
I’d never played with a toy for over an hour.
This game would bore me in one hour flat anyway.
“A journey no one has ever walked,” my foot.
The game I started was
trash.
⚙ Dungeon: Soul Binder's Labyrinth ⚙ [Tutorial] I didn’t know it then, but that tutorial was the worst of the worst.
Win rate: 0.0047%.
An endless shrub maze you just had to escape—a brain-dead tutorial.
The game was all random, so balance was broken in places, and I’d hit one.
Normally, you cancel and remake your character, but clueless me plunged in and quit after 10 minutes.
I tried to log off.
Then I spotted my first chat in the maze.
— Kwon Seonghyeon Fighter Anyone there? Help!!! @@@@@@ There’s someone here!!!! Another unlucky soul.
They spotted me and said:
— Kwon Seonghyeon Fighter Whoa! Thank God! Do you remember the way here? I forgot the path and have no clue where I am ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I don’t know why.
But I felt something strange.
I was a mess who couldn’t do anything.
People showed passing interest, hoping I’d do something, but always got bored and left.
Maybe because it was the first time someone begged me for help, tears in their text.
Yeah. This was a game.
Just avatars—no way to know the real me.
So this person was pleading with me.
Once they learned what I was really like, they’d sneak away.
So right now, anything goes.
I lied.
I’d come to copy someone’s life,
but the thought that maybe I could help flipped my head upside down.
— Me I know the way. — Kwon Seonghyeon Fighter Whoa!! No way, for real?? The maze was bigger than I thought.
I’d memorized the path, but new branches kept popping up endlessly.
Dead ends hundreds of times, backtracking intersections dozens more to find the right way.
Tutorial clear time: 9 hours, 30 minutes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Congratulations! You’ve cleared the tutorial! You are the first on the server to clear Soul Binder's Labyrinth with a companion! Hidden achievement unlocked! Obtained Legendary Tutorial Achievement Reward. Acquired item [Item Name]. When we escaped the maze, daylight had broken in the real world.
The whole time, all my focus was on my back.
As I backtracked, paused at forks to think, and hours dragged on.
That person stuck with me to the end.
Ha. What’s that about.
But my lie must’ve been obvious by then.
I tried in this world where my patheticness was hidden, but I failed again.
They’d get bored like everyone else and leave.
Like Auntie and Dad.
But
I didn’t know then.
That this person was way stranger than me.
⭐ Pivotal Moment — Kwon Seonghyeon Fighter Whoa, Pokttal-nim, you actually cleared this?? I believed in you, but this is insane. You’re the best! That was so much fun!!! I still remember this moment.
Perfectly, without a single mistake.
I vividly recall the instant my black-and-white world bloomed into 8-bit color.
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