Chapter 5 – Kim Jihyeok – [Four]

The two of them reached their destination about four hours later.

Seo Yun pointed toward the massive wall stretching out in the distance.

“We’re here.”

“Ah, that place…”

Kim Jihyeok’s voice trembled.

Seo Yun studied Kim Jihyeok’s face. It was filled with relief; though he hadn’t said it, walking all the way here must have been an ordeal.

Come to think of it, if this were during her time as a firefighter, it would have been unimaginable. Making a legendary survivor who had been trapped underground for two years walk on his own two feet? Even in the old days, they wouldn’t have done this.

Thinking about it, there had been more than one or two things over the past couple of days that would have disqualified her as a firefighter. Still, she had no intention of reflecting on it now.

After all, she wasn’t a firefighter anymore. Besides, if she tried to act according to what she learned back then in this day and age, there would be more than one or two things that would make her quit midway.

Still, some of the professional ethics from that time remained, so she had tried her best to treat the boy who had barely returned from disaster as well as possible.

But now, it was time to create some distance.

Seo Yun spoke.

“There’s something I need to tell you before we enter the village.”

Kim Jihyeok’s excited voice replied.

“What is it?”

“You probably have your original home, but there likely aren’t any family members left there. Right?”

“Probably…”

“Then from now on, you’ll have to live in that village…”

Seo Yun paused briefly before continuing.

“Once we’re in the village, don’t act friendly with me.”

It must have been too sudden. Kim Jihyeok’s eyes widened.

“What?”

“I don’t have any friends there. To be precise, I’m ostracized. You know if you hang out with someone who’s ostracized, you become ostracized too, right?”

“So… you’re telling me to ostracize you too if I don’t want to become ostracized?”

“Ah, I guess that does sound like I’m telling you to be a complete jerk. But really, it’s fine. I’m going to leave this village soon anyway.”

“When?”

“In about… a year.”

After saying that, Seo Yun observed Kim Jihyeok’s expression. His face was extremely serious and stunned, clearly not accepting it, so Seo Yun let out a sigh.

“Anyway, don’t act friendly with me in the village. Even if you do, I’ll ignore you. Got it?”

After repeating the same thing several times, Seo Yun finally extracted a promise from Kim Jihyeok that he wouldn’t cling to her or act friendly in front of people in the village before leading him forward.

A long wall stretched out like a fortress wall. It was once the wall of a high-end apartment complex. Two people were blocking its entrance.

One of them shouted.

“Hands up! Move and I’ll shoot.”

Someone else spoke.

“Stop screwing around and open the gate, you idiot. It’s Seo Yun.”

“Oh, right, damn… Who’s that next to her?”

Seo Yun led Kim Jihyeok through the gate. When she paused briefly, she heard Kim Jihyeok’s voice, close to a groan.

“This place…”

Kim Jihyeok, looking around at the village’s scenery, seemed utterly bewildered.

He probably thought this was an apartment complex after seeing the wall, but it wasn’t. There wasn’t a single apartment building in the village. It wasn’t a 21st-century landscape to begin with.

Beyond the wall was a primitive village. A village lined with massive tents. Those tents weren’t nylon tents but things made by stitching together what looked like leather—exactly the kind of thing medieval nomads would use.

Seo Yun guided Kim Jihyeok to one of those tents.

“First, wash up. There’s no warm water, but that can’t be helped. This is a groundwater pump; you use it like this…”

After sending Kim Jihyeok inside the tent, Seo Yun was waiting alone in front of it when a voice reached her.

“Did you go out on your own again?”

Seo Yun frowned upon seeing the owner of the voice.

A short boy was approaching. On either side of the boy stood a taller boy, both faces Seo Yun recognized.

The short boy sneered.

“You’re dead, bitch. The Chief told you not to wander around, but you went out and screwed around…”

Seo Yun approached. Secretly lowering the pickaxe in her hand, she called the short boy’s name.

“Park Taeyang?”

Then, she tightened her grip on the pickaxe.

“What—”

Mid-sentence, Park Taeyang screamed like a pig. The two boys standing on either side of him widened their eyes at the pickaxe blade embedded in Park Taeyang’s calf.

Seo Yun spoke.

“Want to die?”

Seo Yun kicked Park Taeyang’s thigh. The pickaxe blade pulled out as Park Taeyang fell.

Amid the blood gushing from Park Taeyang’s leg where the pickaxe had struck, Seo Yun spoke to the remaining two boys.

“What are you doing? Take this bastard and get lost.”

The two boys said something with heavily distorted faces, but their voices were drowned out by Park Taeyang’s screams. Eventually, giving up on protesting or threatening, the two boys supported Park Taeyang and disappeared somewhere.

Seo Yun briefly wondered if she had gone too far, but figured it was probably fine. Isn’t this a fantasy game world? Whether there’s a hole in your leg or your arm is broken, a Heal fixes it. Just like a game character who fought a giant monster becomes perfectly fine in an instant with a healer’s magic…

A moment later, Kim Jihyeok poked just his face through a gap in the tent and asked. His voice trembled as if he were cold.

“It was noisy outside… Did something happen?”

“Not really.”

Seo Yun gave clean clothes to Kim Jihyeok, who had finished bathing, and brought the village barber. After having the barber shave the boy’s hedgehog-like hair—likely cut himself with kitchen scissors—a somewhat human appearance finally returned.

‘Still not handsome, but it’s better now.’

Seo Yun nodded in satisfaction and spoke.

“Now we need to meet the Commander here. We need to get permission for you to live here. Before that, let me tell you…”

“Tell me what?”

“Don’t be too shocked when you see his face. Even if he doesn’t have a human form, he’s still a person.”

Kim Jihyeok seemed not to understand that statement.

“What do you mean?”

Seo Yun spoke.

“Didn’t I say that meteorite turned the world into a fantasy game?”

“Yeah.”

“In a fantasy game world, there aren’t just humans; there are fantasy races like orcs, elves, trolls, and such.”

“Right…”

“But since those races didn’t exist in reality, the meteorite even created those anew? But I guess creating them entirely from scratch was too difficult. Maybe it wanted to recycle resources, so there were cases where existing people were changed into fantasy races.”

“Then that Commander person is…?””An orc. An orc vampire.”

Kim Jihyeok seemed to ponder for a moment before muttering.

“Must look scary.”

“Right. So that’s why I’m telling you to prepare yourself in advance. Got it?”

As Kim Jihyeok nodded, Seo Yun led him to a large tent. She spoke in front of it.

“Chief? It’s me. May we come in?”

A gruff voice came from inside the tent.

“Seo Yun? Come in!”

And as the two of them entered the tent, Kim Jihyeok made a choking sound.

Kim Jihyeok’s gaze was fixed on the large chair in the tent. More precisely, on the monster sitting there.

Seo Yun also looked at the monster Kim Jihyeok was staring at.

There was a monster there that looked much larger and more dangerous than the Mothman she saw yesterday.

It had a form similar to a human’s. However, its height seemed to be almost 2.2 meters, and its forearms and neck were thicker than Kim Jihyeok’s torso.

Above all, that face.

The massive fangs protruding prominently from the lower jaw like a wild boar’s tusks, the small eyes glowing crimson between the fangs. Looking at the distinctly non-human, grayish face, Kim Jihyeok seemed to be thinking, ‘This monster is the leader here?’

Seo Yun tapped Kim Jihyeok’s shoulder and spoke.

“Greet him. This is Commander Oh Haengbok. The villagers call him Chief.”

Even though it looked like a monster, perhaps he felt a bit reassured because it had a Korean name? Kim Jihyeok barely opened his mouth.

“Ah… Hello, Chief.”

Oh Haengbok stared at Kim Jihyeok with narrowed eyes and asked.

“Who’s this kid now?”

Seo Yun took over the conversation.

“He was trapped underground, so I pulled him out and brought him here. He said he has nowhere to stay, so it seems he’ll have to live here. I came to get your permission, Chief.”

Oh Haengbok glared at Kim Jihyeok. It probably wasn’t meant as a glare, but that’s how Kim Jihyeok must have felt.

As Kim Jihyeok’s body trembled, Oh Haengbok muttered.

“This kid… I’ve seen this face somewhere…”

After examining Kim Jihyeok’s face for a while, Oh Haengbok’s eyes widened. And he asked.

“Aren’t you Jihyeok?”

Kim Jihyeok cautiously asked.

“You know me…?”

“It’s me, me! Don’t you remember?”

Kim Jihyeok also examined Oh Haengbok’s face. Then, it seemed Kim Jihyeok finally managed to find traces of someone he knew in Oh Haengbok’s grayish face. He asked in a voice filled with surprise.

“Master Haengbok?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Oh Haengbok! The taekwondo master from this neighborhood… Where have you been staying all this time? Do you know how much your mom looked for you?”

“Is my mom here?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Haekyung! Isn’t that right?”

“That’s right…”

A short while later, following Oh Haengbok’s call, a middle-aged woman entered the tent. She looked at Kim Jihyeok and staggered towards him.

“Jihyeok-ah?”

“Mom?”

Watching the mother and son reunite after two years, Seo Yun thought. She had doubted whether the kid, with his awkward speech and weak physique, could adapt to the village, but now it seemed he could adapt just fine.

He must be acquainted with the village’s Commander from before, and his mother is alive, isn’t she? These were much more favorable conditions than her own situation when she first arrived, knowing no one in the village.

‘Seems I won’t need to look after him separately from now on.’

So from now on, they could really just be strangers. Thinking that, Seo Yun felt relieved.

It was then that Oh Haengbok called Seo Yun separately.

“Seo Yun, you, come see me for a moment.”

Thinking ‘here it comes,’ Seo Yun approached Oh Haengbok. Oh Haengbok asked.

“You went out again, didn’t you?”

Seo Yun bowed her head.

“Yes.”

“To collect outdoor items?”

“Yes.”

Oh Haengbok growled.

“I told you not to go outside alone. Are my words a joke?”

From Oh Haengbok’s mouth flowed an infrasonic wave that stiffened a person. It was the orc’s Racial Trait.

Feeling her shoulders shrink a little, Seo Yun answered.

“No.”

On the other hand, Oh Haengbok still had an expression full of anger, but Seo Yun only bowed her head lower and wasn’t really scared.

She knew this orc would forgive her soon. Because that’s how it had always been for the past year.

Indeed, Oh Haengbok, who looked like he would roar any moment, soon let out a deep sigh and spoke in a voice drained of strength.

“Save some face for your hyung… How much do you think I, the Commander here, get cursed at when people see a tiny runt like you wandering around alone collecting items? Or is it still because that bastard Park Taeyang is bullying you? Is it uncomfortable for you to stay here?”

There was no reason to protect that son of a bitch.

“Yes.”

“That fucking bastard Park Taeyang, I really need to beat the shit out of him.”

“You don’t have to, sir, because I already beat the shit out of him. So, may I go now?”

“Yeah, why would you stay? That lady will probably come thank you soon.”

“It’s okay, I can hear the thanks later. I’ll go then.”

Oh Haengbok waved his hand, and Seo Yun bowed her head in farewell before turning around.

Before leaving the tent, Seo Yun glanced back slightly. The mother and son were hugging each other. Kim Jihyeok’s mother was outright sobbing, and seeing that, Seo Yun thought.

From what she heard on the way here, their mother-son relationship wasn’t said to be that close. But seeing each other after two years, I guess tears come out?

Well, it was a good thing.

Lost in her own thoughts, she made eye contact with Kim Jihyeok.

Seo Yun was about to ignore him but decided not to, just for now. She gave a slight, very slight wave of her hand and then left the tent.

Kim Jihyeok watched Seo Yun’s retreating figure.

Even while being held by his mother, Kim Jihyeok couldn’t take his eyes off the back of the girl who had brought him here.

After that, Kim Jihyeok lived in the village.

Adapting wasn’t as difficult as he initially worried. Kim Jihyeok learned work by following his mother and attended the crudely operated school in the village. Due to his awkward speech from being trapped underground for two years, he didn’t make many friends, but he made a few.

Kim Jihyeok wanted to include Seo Yun among those few friends, but Seo Yun refused.

Seo Yun truly kept her word. Even if Kim Jihyeok acted friendly, Seo Yun ignored him.

If Kim Jihyeok approached her where there were people, Seo Yun wouldn’t even acknowledge him. Only when he approached her occasionally when she was alone would she barely exchange words with him.

Disappointed by that harsh treatment, Kim Jihyeok continued to watch Seo Yun.Thus, I came to learn several facts. That Seo Yun lived alone in the village; that she spent most of her time outside, so she rarely encountered other villagers under normal circumstances; and that there was a group that periodically picked fights with her.

Lastly, I realized that the kind attitude and gentle smiles Seo Yun had shown while accompanying me this far were nowhere to be found here.

Her isolated existence did not sit well with me. I pondered ways to help, but it was presumptuous thinking. There was nothing Kim Jihyeok, who hadn’t been in the village for long, could do.

Kim Jihyeok merely recalled Seo Yun’s words that she would leave in a year and felt disheartened.

And so, a year passed.

It was also the day marking three years since the world had become a game, and two years since a man who had been a firefighter opened his eyes in the body of a young girl.