KEG 101

[The offering has been completed.]

[His protection is bestowed.]

[Mental contamination immunity has increased.]

“You are very dark. I like that.”

It floated gracefully toward me. It exuded a fragrance that was in a completely different league from the foul, musty odor I had been accustomed to.

Yes, this being exuded a fragrance, not a stench.

It was the most alien presence in this alien space.

“Ugh… Haa, who are you?”

“I am your master.”

Bam!

I hit it with the chair I was holding.

As I tensed my body, a clump of something came out of my mouth along with blood.

I felt nauseous and bent over to vomit it out.

“Urhg, blergh…”

They were writhing plant roots and seeds that looked like insect larvae.

Why is this stuff inside my body?

It was so repulsive I wanted to stick my fingers down my throat right now and vomit it all out.

“How violent.”

The arm hit by the chair fell. But as if it hadn’t suffered any damage, the arm grew back.

Is this body built to withstand physical attacks? Or maybe it was just my imagination.

“Either let me out or get lost.”

“Why do you want to leave?”

“I was dragged here against my will…do I have to give you a reason?”

“Isn’t every day in your world a living hell?”

It was nitpicking.

After all that talk about heaven, does it actually believe it?

“Isn’t this a peaceful world where you don’t starve even if you don’t work, don’t get tired even if ​stolen content​you don’t sleep, and face no threats from the outside?”

Instead, your head turns into a flower garden, and you’ll obey the flowers until you’re dead and reduced to a skeleton. Brainwashed, you can think of nothing but flower wreaths, and you can’t say a single negative word.

“What, are you telling me to become livestock?”

“It’s better than being a stray dog on the street.”

The being in the dress let out a chuckle, even without a head. Even though the words were echoing directly in my mind, I mistook them for a sound.

I had encountered a being like this before.

The Goddess of Abundance who called me “Crow.”

“Humans are pitiful. Even though they could become lifeforms of a higher dimension, they ruin everything because of an insatiable void.”

Vines began to crawl out from the back of the being in the dress. At a rough guess, there were over twenty of them.

“I bloomed to be your salvation.”

The flowers in the garden swayed in a sudden rush. In this place where not a breath of wind stirred, they all moved in unison. An ominous vibration radiated from beneath my feet.

“Do not suffer any longer from the hardships of the flesh or material deprivation. Here, you will forget everything and find happiness.”

It presumed to define suffering, deprivation, and happiness as if it were some kind of authority.

I never asked to be dragged here. I never cried out in agony, and never begged to be made happy.

It was bullshit. It acted all high and mighty after doing whatever it wanted.

“You’re full of yourself for a creature that ends up sucking everything dry and turning us into bones.”

It was ridiculous for something which turned humans into livestock to pretend to be a savior.

At my words, the being in the dress swept its bare foot across the skulls scattered on the floor.

“Yes, this isn’t parasitism, it’s symbiosis. We give each other what we want.”

“Fuck, I never asked for it.”

Crunch.

A skull was smashed to pieces.

“Your wreath is pitifully meager.”

The being in the dress raised a hand toward my head. I hurriedly ducked to the floor and rolled sideways.

Petals trembled and were crushed, filling the air with a sweet scent.

“If you wear many wreaths, you’ll come to like this village.”

This was meaningless. No, trying to talk to it was a mistake to begin with.

I thought getting closer might give me a clue, but it was like ​Read on​sticking my head into a crocodile’s mouth.

Swoosh!

Thud!

Vines attacked me. I rolled over again to dodge them.

I have to get out of here.

I have to run to the door.

Bam!

I moved toward the door I’d come through while dodging the vines.

Creak, creak

I pulled on the doorknob, but it wouldn’t open. I ​unauthorized copy​pounded on the door and called out to Won Orim outside.

“It’s an emergency! Open the door!”

There was no response from inside, and behind me, the vines were closing in, ready to kill. I was trapped on all sides.

Squeak…

Just then, the door opened slightly. Without a second thought, I pulled the door and stepped inside.

And the one I encountered inside was…

“Hello! Do you need help?”

It was someone from the Twinkle Guild.

***

“Hey, what’s your name?”

It was the day a heavy rain advisory had been issued. The forecast predicted heavy rain overnight, and people were heading home, each holding an umbrella.

“Huh? You’re ignoring an adult speaking to you?”

I didn’t have an umbrella. I didn’t have a home to go back to.

It was 8 p.m. under a sky that looked like it might rain at any moment. As I sat on the sidewalk outside a convenience store eating a cup noodle, an elderly man approached me.

“It’s just that it looks pathetic seeing you wandering around like a stray puppy in front of our office. A guy like you chowing down on cup noodles is a disgrace.”

The man – I couldn’t tell if he was a middle-aged man or a grandfather – bought me a hot bar and a triangle kimbap.

I just glanced at him and didn’t take them. I simply didn’t react and continued slurping my cup noodles.

Thwack!

“Guh, cough…”

“You little bastard, you’re ignoring me? Don’t you know your place? Huh?”

I was eating my noodles just fine when I got smacked on the side of the head.

Thanks to that, I choked. I coughed for a moment.

“You little brat, you’re really ruining my mood to do something nice–”

Splash!

I dumped the cup noodles I was eating right on that old fart. I did it because I was pissed off.

“Fuck, I never asked for it.”

Smack!

I got slapped across the face.

“You little bastard. Looks like you haven’t been taught properly.”

He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into an alley. There, I got beaten up by that old fart with hot noodles broth dripping down his face.

My body was already a mess from fighting the drunks who’d picked a fight with me earlier. With that old fart (whose fists were unnaturally hard) punching me nonstop, I felt like my whole body was turning into a rag.

“Thank you. Say it, ‘Thank you.’”

“Fuck you.”

Smack!

“’I’ll enjoy this, sir~’ Say it.”

“…Get lost.”

Smack!

“What’s with this kid’s attitude?”

The old man’s slaps had split the inside of my mouth. I ran my tongue along my inner cheek and glared at him. It felt like the hair he was grabbing was about to be torn out.

No umbrella, no home, it was just one of those days.

“If you’d wagged your tail and acted happy when I gave you food, I wouldn’t have done this.”

When the old man let go of my hair, I collapsed right there on the floor.

I knew I had to get back up, but I just didn’t want to. All I wanted was to sleep.

“You give me something on a whim and expect gratitude…”

I muttered to myself.

I was 18 years old.

I was rejected by the family that adopted me, and I dropped out of school. All I did all day was day labor and getting into fights.

I don’t know where my life went wrong.

“If you were going to throw me away, you shouldn’t have taken me in in the first place…”

Yeah, I guess my life went wrong the moment I was adopted.

Nice clothes, a nice environment, good meals.

My adoptive parents poured their hearts into raising me to be a model elite.

When I failed to get the grades they wanted and disappointed their expectations, they didn’t hold back on punishment.

“These are things others would kill for but can’t get! You don’t know how to be grateful!”

That’s what my adoptive parents used to tell me.

Me, not knowing how to be grateful?

It’s you who don’t know satisfaction.

“You’re such a crybaby for a guy.”

The old geezer tapped me on the shoulder with the heel of his shoe. It was the arm that had been slashed by a drunkard’s broken soju bottle during a fight. I curled up in pain.

“If you’re a beggar, just act like one and take the charity you’re offered. Why are you bothering people?”

“…You’re the beggar.”

“What?”

The old man looked down at me with a surprised expression. Without getting up, I just stared at him from where I lay.

“You’re begging me for gratitude.”

The old man stared at me for a moment, then burst into laughter.

He gave me charity I had never asked for and expected my gratitude. Isn’t that just extorting a sense of superiority from me for doing a good deed?

“Hey, kid, people say it’s good to have a full stomach and a warm back.”

Raindrops began to fall from the sky. The old fart, apparently without an umbrella, glanced up at the sky and let out a sigh.

“You’d be happy if you were full too, right? So why aren’t you grateful?”

“…I didn’t really feel like eating.”

“Huh?”

“I just didn’t feel like eating much today. The hot bar and kimbap.”

The reason I’d been eating only cup noodles was simple. Today, I just wanted to eat cup noodles.

I had simply chosen not to eat the hot bar and triangle kimbap.

“If I just take whatever’s given to me and gobble it down, when will I ever get to eat what I actually want?”

As I muttered, “Just because I’m a beggar doesn’t mean I don’t have any taste,” the old curmudgeon crouched down and looked at my face.

“Looking at you like this, you’re actually quite handsome. Stop looking so glum! You little brat!”

“I can’t stop looking glum because you beat me up.”

“Well, should I apologize or something? Sorry?”

I was pulled back onto my feet by the old man’s strong grip.

Judging by his fists, he didn’t seem like your average middle-aged guy. When I took a closer look at his clothes, I saw he was wearing a pitch-black suit.

Was he a thug from a loan shark’s office around here? He was so old I hadn’t recognized him.