Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 102

Episode 102

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

A dirty alley in some slum.

A scruffy boy stood blankly, his eyes welling with tears.

"Kiiing……"

"Samsaek. Samsaek, open your eyes……"

In front of the boy, several furry monsters were bleeding and dying miserably.

The slum dwellers called the three-eyed monsters that cried 'meow' all night 'vermin' and hated them intensely.

So they would often throw stones and get angry whenever the monsters passed by.

But to the boy, these monsters were precious friends.

Not only would they approach him first, roll over to show their bellies, and act cute, but they would also often pick mushrooms and bring them to him and his twin sister, who were always starving.

"S-Samsaek…… hic."

The boy's tears fell as he stroked the familiar, tricolored monster.

This one had followed him more than any other.

He had even fixed its leg when it came to him limping just a short while ago.

But now, Samsaek's body was already cold and stiff, blood trickling from the top of its head, as if someone had viciously struck it with a rock.

No matter how much he pricked his finger with a needle and rubbed the blood on the wound, the already dead monster's body would not heal.

'Angel-nims. Please save Samsaek.'

The boy eventually sobbed, praying to the voices that always spoke to him in difficult words.

Death is but another life.

If you let this, too, flow by, the day of reunion will come before long.

As soon as he prayed, a clear language reached his ears.

It was a sound only he could hear.

A few days ago, just after his birthday, his only twin sister had been falsely accused of being a petty thief and had been beaten by a noble.

Because of it, she came down with a fever, and as he held his sister, who groaned all night as if she were about to die, the boy prayed to the gods.

"P-Please save my sister. I-If you just save her, I'll do anything you ask. P-Please……"

And surprisingly, as if it were a lie, an answer to his prayer came.

The essence that flows through your body is a blessing, and another light.

It shall brightly light and illuminate this chaotic world.

At first, he couldn't understand what it meant.

So even as he heard the distinct voice echoing in his ears, he could only stand by helplessly and watch his sister suffer.

His sister's fever barely broke, but she couldn't walk well because of her calves, which were torn open from the beating.

For his sister, the boy went outside and picked the long, tough grass that grew wild by the roadside.

It was a folk remedy the slum dwellers often used instead of medicine, as crushing it and applying it to wounds had the effect of reducing swelling and bruising.

"Ah!"

Just then. The grass was so stiff and tough that its edge cut deeply into the boy's soft palm.

Bright red blood welled up and dripped onto the pile of grass he had picked.

"Heuk……"

The cut stung, but he was relieved that he didn't have to throw away the grass he had already picked.

Strangely, his blood would turn a transparent color over time and gradually disappear.

It was strange, but he didn't think deeply about it.

He had neither the time nor the luxury to do so.

In the slum where the twins lived, waking up to find someone had starved to death was a common occurrence; just surviving was overwhelming.

A short while later, the boy returned home with the grass his blood had touched and disappeared from.

He crushed it with a stone and carefully applied it to his younger sister's calves.

Not even a few minutes later, his sister shot up from her spot.

"Oppa! It's weird, I'm not sick at all!"

Her calves, which had been messy with the grass pulp, were now smooth, without a single wound.

The twins were just bewildered by the miracle.

At that moment, a voice flashed through the boy's mind.

The essence that flows through your body is a blessing, and another light.

"Essence……"

The boy looked down at his palm, where the cut had not yet healed.

The same grass he always picked.

There was only one difference with the grass that had performed the miracle.

His blood.

After that, there were times his sister got hurt or sick, and each time, the boy offered a prayer.

And when an answer came, he would prick his finger with a needle and draw blood.

He tried it a few times not only on his sister but also on his precious Samsaek monsters, and the result was always the same.

His sister just thought the miraculous healing of her wounds was amazing.

But the boy instinctively felt he had to hide this ability.

"Th-This…… has to be a secret."

"Whyy?"

"I-If father finds out, h-he'll sell us……"

If their father, who was addicted to alcohol and gambling, found out, something bad would surely happen.

The twins linked their fingers, promising to keep quiet about the unexplainable miracle.

After that, the boy often prayed or asked questions to the unknown presence, and he received an answer every time.

It was always cryptic words, but if he interpreted them well, it was all helpful advice.

When he said he was hungry, it was that voice that told him to heal Samsaek and have it show him where the mushrooms grew.

That's why the boy believed this time was the same.

Death is but another life.

If you let this, too, flow by, the day of reunion will come before long.

"Flow by……"

Mulling over the voice, he threw aside the needle he was holding and crushed his finger on Samsaek's sharp fang.

"Ah!"

The wound, which had been just a tiny pinprick, immediately gaped open.

He generously poured the blood that gushed out into Samsaek's mouth.

The young and ignorant boy did not doubt for a second that this was what 'flow by' meant.

When the blood stopped, he tore open another finger, and then another, repeating the process.

By the time his vision started to grow a little dizzy.

In his blurred sight, he suddenly saw something thin wrapped around the dying monsters.

"Threads……"

They were shining threads.

Startled, he looked down at Samsaek's body.

Surprisingly, Samsaek was also wrapped in the threads.

But perhaps because it had already died, the threads around Samsaek's body were snapped here and there, slowly disappearing.

"Oh, no!"

He felt that if all those threads disappeared, it would be irreversible.

The panicked boy looked around.

Then he grabbed the still-vivid threads of the other monsters and frantically wove them into the snapped sections of Samsaek's threads.

For some reason, he felt that doing so would save Samsaek.

He wondered how long he had been absorbed in the work of tying the threads.

"Nyaa-"

Suddenly, Samsaek, who had been limp, shot up and let out a long yawn.

"Hah……"

Only then did the boy snap back to his senses.

The threads that had been clearly visible before his eyes were all gone, and he saw Samsaek tilting its head, staring at him.

"S-Samsaek!"

The boy's face lit up at the sight of his friend, alive again.

But before he could even savor the joy of reunion, he was horrified, witnessing the sin he had committed.

All the other monsters, except for Samsaek, were dead.

He was sure some of them had still been alive.

He had planned to heal Samsaek first and then heal the others one by one, but…….

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry……"

The boy was terrified by the fact that his thoughtless action had decided their life and death.

He was hugging the revived Samsaek, trembling, not knowing what to do.

Whoosh, thwack.

"Ugh!"

A rock flew from somewhere and struck the boy in the head.

He grimaced at the stinging pain and struggled to lift his head. He saw the group that often tormented him approaching.

"Hey! Red-roof-house retard! You playing with the monsters again? You filthy bastard!"

"What, it's still alive? Shit, I thought I'd beaten them all to death with a rock……"

The three kids, much larger than the boy, quickly surrounded him.

"Hey, retard! Hand it over, I'm gonna kill it!"

One of them tried to snatch the monster from the boy's arms.

"N-No. D-Don't do this……!"

"You bastard! Do you know how scared I was when that thing bit me last time?!"

"The adults in the village are also sick of them suddenly multiplying! It was you, wasn't it? You've been secretly breeding them, you creep!"

"You'll be arrested if we report you! You'll be burned at the stake as a witch!"

"N-No. I-I didn't do that……!"

The boy desperately shook his head, denying it, but it didn't work on the kids, who were just getting started.

In the scuffle, as he tried to protect the barely revived Samsaek, the monster leaped from his arms and fiercely scratched the kids' arms and faces.

"Nyaang!"

"Aaak!"

"Agh! That thing……!"

Unable to chase the monster, which had disappeared in a flash, the kids' anger and violence naturally turned on the boy.

The particularly large kid roughly grabbed the boy by the collar and hauled him up.

"Uugh……"

"XX bastard! I got scratched because of you!"

"A retard with no mom, you should just stay rotting in your house instead of running your mouth!"

Just as the kids' fists were about to rain down on the boy's head.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to my oppa!"

A loud shout came from the distance.

The kids' gazes instantly snapped in that direction.

A girl, who looked just like the boy, was running toward them, swinging a tree branch.

"Aargh, that tiny thing!"

She was a girl who didn't even look like a handful, but the kids let go of the boy's collar and hesitated, backing away.

The girl, who had run up in a flash, swung the branch in a frenzy, not caring who she hit, and shouted boldly.

"What! You wanna get beaten up by 'that tiny thing'? Wasn't it enough last time when I kicked you in the balls and you ran home crying?!"

"U-Ugh…… L-Let's go!"

The biggest boy's face turned pale, as if he'd remembered that day.

He motioned to his group, slowly backing away, and held up a fist.

"You, you two are gonna be really dead soon!"

"You're not leaving?!"

"Uwaaaaah!"

Whoosh!

When the girl feinted, swinging the branch toward their lower bodies, they dropped their pretense and just ran.

"Hmph, not even a handful…… Oppa. Are you okay?"

The girl threw the branch on the ground and turned to her twin brother.

At that kind, bright smile, the boy finally felt his wildly pounding heart begin to calm down.

"Uh-huh……"

"You're pale. Did those bastards hit you?"

"N-No. Th-They didn't hit me."

"Oh my god, they did this to the monsters? They're such psychos! You must have been so upset, oppa."

The younger sister chattered, comforting the boy.

As if they were connected as twins, she knew, without him even having to say it, that he was upset about the dead monsters.

"Is Samsaek okay?"

"Uh-huh……"

"Well, that's good, then. I was worried, since Samsaek is always scratching those bastards and running away on your behalf."

"I-It's fine, Samsaek is……"

In front of her bright smile, the boy couldn't bring himself to say he had harmed the other monsters to save Samsaek.

You know. I think I have another power, besides healing.

The boy barely swallowed the words.

"That's a relief, oppa."

His younger sister smiled.

It was a memory from a day when his world consisted only of his twin sister and Samsaek.