Ch.55 – Mother Bird and Baby Bird

Where am I? Who am I?

It’s cold because there’s no sun. The wind is blowing. My right ear itches.

What does cold mean? Wind? Where is right?

“Um… hello?”

A girl shyly greets me.

Her pure, long straight hair flutters in the wind. She looks barely twenty.

Her cheeks are flushed red, perhaps from the chilly weather.

“You. You? You… yes, who are you?”

“Oh…? Haha, right, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Seol-ah. As you can see, I’m a gamer like you.”

“Gamer?”

“We’re inside a game! Actually, I haven’t played much myself, so I don’t know a lot… but I’ll show you! Want to come with me?”

The succubus lady who introduced herself as Seol-ah eagerly grabbed my hand and led me to where red light was gathering.

She was quite the chatterbox.

“I’ll explain this once, so remember it well! Actually, if you forget and ask again, I’ll kindly explain it again, so don’t worry… but it’s better if you memorize it in one go!”

“This is the Starting Village. Check your pocket, you should have some money. If you give money to merchants here, they’ll give you items according to the price. Since it’s a game, they won’t cheat you, so don’t worry. What items should we get? Hmm…”

“This is our team’s Citadel. You need to protect this with top priority! With all your might! Come on, come on! How much effort should you put in? Well? As much as our lives are worth?”

I could see other people at the place she led me to.

[■■■■:■ ■■■ ■■■? ■■ ■ ■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■]

“Before going to lane, stop by the forest like this to help the jungler. But you absolutely must not kill those monsters! That friend will get very angry if you do.”

Leaving behind the friend who couldn’t understand a word, we joined the ongoing battle.

On the opposite side, beings similar to us were taking down our soldiers one by one.

“Let’s do the same thing. See that fox orb in your hand? Throw it as hard as you can over there!”

“But don’t go too far forward! Run away from the scary monsters!”

“Hehe. I got caught too. It’s okay, it’s okay, we just need to not die next time. Let’s go fight again!”

“This game… seems difficult.”

Back then, I was foolishly passive.

If Seol-ah didn’t specifically tell me to do something, I wouldn’t take the initiative to move.

I could never keep up with Seol-ah as she busily darted around, so I would often end up isolated and dead.

Each time, Seol-ah would encourage me not to give up, but in contrast, her daylight didn’t seem so bright. The shadow of anxiety remained undiminished.

“Again… yes, let’s start over. Who’s good at something from the beginning?”

After playing together for a few hours, we return to the waiting room after another accumulated defeat. Seol-ah stared blankly at the swamp of terrible losing streaks.

Red. Crimson. Scarlet. Reddish.

“We’ve lost 10 games in a row…”

“Are you tired too? But today was fun, right?”

“Let’s go home now. I’m sorry for making you work so hard on your first day.”

We had a home.

A stark white, plain room.

The only furnishings were a bed, a table, one chair each, and an elegant carpet.

“I’ll have to sell this carpet. I liked it though.”

When Seol-ah manipulated a few buttons, the carpet disappeared without a trace.

She sat me on the bed and showed me the screen she was operating.

Squiggly characters float in the air.

I could easily tell they were Chinese characters.

But what are Chinese characters?

“The game gives you titles when you win a few matches. Then you can resell the titles like this. Look, click here… upload the title, set the price… hmm, this one could sell for 1,000 won. Finally, click that button and you’re done. Difficult, right? I’ll show you again, look.”

“It’s difficult and you probably don’t understand why we’re doing this right now… but you must do this after the game ends! Once you’ve sold everything, you can go back to playing the game.”

“Are you very tired? Should we sleep and meet tomorrow? Promise you’ll play with me tomorrow too? Promise!”

Seol-ah was optimistic about everything, but that didn’t mean she lacked competitive spirit.

She would cry her heart out when we narrowly lost a game we almost had. In 2v2 battles, she never let her guard down. Sometimes she would even forget to breathe.

But whether I was playing the game or sleeping, she was always gaming. Only in the early morning, when I briefly woke up from the sound, could I see her sleeping.

“Seol-ah.”

“Yes?”

“How long are you going to play?”

“Today feels like the day we’ll finally make it! Won’t you play with me just a little longer?”

“Okay.”

Today’s record was slightly better than the first day: 2 wins, 19 losses.

But after losing 19 games in a row and miraculously winning 2, her spirits were incredibly high.

“Let’s play until we lose just one more game.”

Today she was more desperate than usual. But that didn’t mean her skills had improved much. If anything had changed, it was that after two weeks of forced marching, I had begun to understand the game.

I started to understand her commands and learned how to perform tasks without being told.

For example, I grasped the resource gathering mechanism and the difference in risk exposure based on position at each front line, and even figured out how to modify the front lines at will.

I also realized that before the 14-minute mark, it’s better to attack multiple fortresses evenly rather than focusing on just one. Other small but important knowledge was gradually established in my mind.

In this game, small things were stepping stones for growth, and as we grew, we systematically laid the foundations for victory.

But this wasn’t a solo game, and eventually our miraculous winning streak was bound to end.

It wasn’t even a close loss. We simply weren’t as good as our opponents, our composition wasn’t great, and luck wasn’t on our side in an even situation. I thought it was just a game we deserved to lose. But apparently not for Seol-ah.

“We lost…”

“Yeah.”

“Did you have fun?”

It was tiring, but if I had to say, it was fun.

I nodded slightly.

“I had fun too.

I’m glad I could… be with you…

*sob*… *sniff*… I really had fun…

I’m sorry…”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I don’t think… we can play together anymore…”

She kneels down, sobbing.

Seol-ah’s eyes meet mine directly. I realize now that Seol-ah was quite tall.

“Now you’ll have to wake up on your own without me waking you. You’ll get up by 7 AM at the latest, right?”

“Yes…”

“Now you’ll have to play games alone without me playing with you. You’ll play at least 20 games a day, right?”

“Yes…”

“Even if you like the game, don’t stay up too late. You’ll oversleep the next day. Understand? Will you promise?”

“Can’t we play the game together?”

Seol-ah maintained silence for a while after my question.

“No… I hated the game. I hate it, hate it, I’m sick of it.”

“Why?”

“Well… it’s natural to not enjoy a game made for enjoyment, right?

It’s a fate where if you don’t make money from the game every day, you die trapped in the capsule.

I was scared.

Wondering if we’d lose this match too.

I’m tired of counting how many games I need to win each day just to survive.

Every time the game drags on instead of ending quickly, I feel like I’m suffocating.”

Seol-ah was silent for a while.

By now, the enemy had invaded our citadel and launched their final assault.

Perhaps due to the sunset’s reflection, her cheeks were flushed bright red. Maybe because it was a bit chilly, there was something like dew gathered around her eyes.

“I want to call your name one last time.”

“But I don’t know my name.”

“It’s okay. I’ll give you one now.”

She slowly began to speak.

And her eyes looked toward the top of my head.

“Name.”

“Name?”

“Yes. Look.”

She pointed above my head.

[NoName]

“I don’t know English well… but I can read it.”

Seol-ah hugged me tightly.

“You’re not without a name. You have this beautiful name, Name.”

“Name… I see.”

“Our Name, you must live. Survive tenaciously until the end, live for your mother’s sake too. Someday, if you wait and wait… someone will come to get you out of here.

Actually, I was going to pretend to be your sister…

But… I…

*sob*… *sniff*… *hic*…

I can’t do it.

You’re my daughter.

I’m afraid of dying,

But I’m more afraid of being forgotten.

Please remember that you have only one mother, No Seol-ah.

My proud daughter, Name.”

* * *

I still haven’t grown.

My mind keeps developing, but this tiny body remains the same.

I know the reason.

The virtual reality capsule is only meant for ages 7 and up. If you’re connected to virtual reality through illegal means right after birth, you naturally take on the standard form of a 7-year-old, the minimum age.

A body projected for 7 years later when I was a newborn—would my actual body have grown the same way? I’m not sure. The cost of finding out was too great.

Seol-ah eventually closed her eyes without explaining why we were trapped in the capsule.

Perhaps she wished I wouldn’t be involved in bad things. I don’t know the details. I don’t really want to know either.

Still, not growing has its advantages sometimes.

When I lie here with mom, just the two of us, it feels like time has stopped.

I guess neither mom nor I have moved beyond six years ago.

Seol-ah seemed to have considered suicide at first.

Because the name of the capsule we were trapped in was ‘MEIMEI-2X’, also known as ‘coffin’.

A knockoff created to compete with American high mana-technology products. Initially, despite being a budget model, it gained attention for its decent performance.

It featured complete soundproofing, odor elimination, and complete mana interference cancellation. But soon an incident explained why this product was still called a coffin.

When a client error occurred in ‘MEIMEI-2X’, there was a significant chance the capsule door wouldn’t open.

They focused too much on performance and neglected the mechanical aspects. Particularly, the hinge was an anti-mana product, so there was no way to open it remotely from the network.

Unless firefighters forcibly opened the entrance from outside, you’d remain trapped.

Of course, the product was completely recalled, but… companies wanting to minimize losses typically resort to tricks.

They still had the option of selling them cheaply to individuals through underground channels.

But in such matters, regardless of corporate intentions, there are always those who try to exploit the situation.

Someone came up with the idea of using the capsule’s complete anti-mana properties to trap people.

In today’s era, every individual is assigned a biochip, making it impossible to hide anywhere on Earth. Damaging it was even more forbidden.

But what if you put someone in a capsule that can’t be detected by mana?

They might eventually be found, but until then, the person can’t send rescue signals, and even their death isn’t registered in the database.

Even if they’re found after much effort, all that remains is a cold corpse and criminals who’ve vanished without a trace.

If you damage the language processor module and protocol,

There’s no chance of survival.

But Seol-ah, realizing I was trapped with her, seemed to have devised ways to survive. So through trick after trick, what she came up with was this not-even-funny title farming.

At first, she probably played games alone to desperately save money for life support, but there was a limit to providing for two people.

She ultimately gambled on teaching me to play games independently, and with my memories from a previous life, I could follow her teachings with an intelligence not even reaching 2 years old.

Yes, it was divine luck.

But I thought this divine luck wouldn’t happen twice.

Until the prince and princess appeared before me today.

Well, instead of a prince and princess, it was a spiky turtle and an ice eagle.

As I was spending sweet time with Liri, the game was already approaching its end.

The ancient tower collapses, and fire engulfs the citadel.

Our allies lose their will to fight and retreat.

Three enemies are busy destroying the remaining citadel.

But what about you two?

Why did you leave the citadel and come all the way to the Starting Village?

“■■■■■■■■: ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ■ ■? ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ■ ■?”

The signals I’ve been sending?

Ah, I see.

You’ve finally come, Mom.

People may seem foolish.

But when a million gather, one or two might not be fools.

Although I couldn’t laugh or cry—no, I was unable to—

I could blink more happily than ever before.