Even in the late evening streets, winter sat so deep that it might as well have been night, but the brilliant lights more than compensated for the darkness.
"What a dazzling, killer view."
Don't misunderstand. I don't mean it literally killed anyone. I mean it's beautiful.
Every direction was ringed with warm, multicolored light, and wherever I looked, brightness filled my vision until I felt a little dizzy. My eyes were simply accumulating fatigue.
"Huu... it's cold."
When I opened my mouth, the residual warmth that failed to become words scattered as vapor. It was amusing enough that I tried it a few more times, but I stopped before I started looking childish for my age. Looking like this didn't mean I had actually become a child.
"Though compared to usual, I guess I've gotten a little immature."
"'A little? Just how immature were you before?'"
"Shut it."
I'd grown somewhat close to the mountain spirit. Well, of course. We'd been stuck together like this; it was about time we got familiar.
"'Keep your nonsense to a minimum... seven o'clock direction, a stunning beauty!'"
"What? Really? Wow..."
"'You've got to play in deeper waters, that's how it is. Hm.'"
Our method of getting along was a little strange, but whatever. If it's good, it's good.
For the record, this mountain spirit knew I had died, become a soul, and taken over this body, but it didn't seem to know this world was a game. It couldn't even read my thoughts on that subject.
"Maybe it's some kind of error?"
"'What nonsense are you thinking now? You're hopeless when it comes to staring at the clouds.'"
It only recognized thoughts like that as idle drifting, a kind of blank-minded daze.
"More importantly, as expected, this is still as expected."
Every family passing by was carrying either cake or gifts in their hands, and it felt as if all of Lungmen's presents, cakes, happiness, and laughter had gathered on this street.
"Parents, huh..."
The ones smiling along with the children's laughter were the parents holding both of the children's hands. They looked about my age, and from where I stood, it was strange that they could smile over a single toy... and infuriating too.
Parents... yes, that was right. I had been told I was injected with the mountain spirit as an experiment and then discarded. But one question remained: if that was true, had I been artificially created?
Even if Terra's ethics were stuck in the Middle Ages and technological progress never stopped, was it really possible to create life artificially from nothing? In Danguk, of all places?
The word "test subject" made sense. There were two operators similar to me. One was Amiya, then still a child in Babel, and the other was Operator Rosmontis, who would be in Columbia. Both were weapons that used powerful Arts through artificial procedures.
But the claws felt like an entire personality and combat dataset had been inserted into them. And on top of that, they had stuffed in a mountain spirit too. Did technology like that even exist?
"Hey, stop spacing out! You're annoying me... tch."
"Ah, sorry."
I'd let my thoughts spiral too far. I bumped into someone.
"'Surprisingly, you're just standing there?'"
I'm not some lunatic. In situations like this, I endure it and move on. If I drew my sword here, I'd be expelled for losing my temper.
There was a contract involved. It would be troublesome to break it before even starting. Swordplay doesn't make money just by swinging around, and even if it did, it would only be pocket change. I didn't want to throw away such a cash machine so carelessly.
"...Forget it."
"'...Do you need parents?'"
Do I need parents? No, I don't. I can cook for myself, and I can take care of myself. Even so...
"It's a little... cold."
Even though I had shoved both hands deep into my pockets, for some reason they felt miserably cold.
"The cakes sold out completely this afternoon, customer."
"I see..."
As expected. This was the fourth shop I'd asked, and the answer was the same every time.
"If I'm going to give up... fine. I'll try exactly as many times as I have fingers, then quit."
One in ten should be enough to get a chance... probably?
"'You're running so hard your feet must be on fire, even in the middle of winter.'"
"What, did you call me just to mock me?"
"'Want me to stick real fire to your feet?'"
"...No."
Still, I didn't want to become famous in Lungmen as some street-level diablamb villain. Especially not in the bad way.
"'Sugar. And that cream...? Smell.'"
"Smell? I don't smell anything."
"'It's carried on the wind. Honestly, you let Arts go to waste without knowing how precious they are. Ugh, I'm going to burst a vessel...'"
Carried on the wind? Sniff, sniff... I had no idea. All I could tell was that this was a busy district, so all kinds of smells were mixing together.
"Which direction?"
"'Roughly... ah, that alley.'"
An alley? Was there a bakery in an alley? It looked a little remote too.
"This is... a dumpling shop, isn't it? Did this mountain spirit confuse the smell of meat?"
"Oh? Aren't you the kid who bought the whole tray of dumplings last time?"
"Huh...? Ah. Yeah. Good to see you, boss. Could I maybe... never mind."
I didn't want to pull some insane nuisance act and ask a dumpling shop for cake.
"Those... dumplings. The whole tray again."
"Again? That won't all fit in your stomach."
"For a group! Right. I need to feed a group."
That wasn't an excuse. I really was going to feed a group.
"Hah... you're the one keeping me in business. Thanks to you, the best sales I've had in two days were the two trays you bought. Take this as a bonus."
"This is... cake?"
"'See? I told you, you idiot. I said I smelled sugar.'"
"I didn't know it was real. How does cake come out of a dumpling shop?"
"I'm old and don't even eat it anymore... a young kid like you would probably like it more, right?"
"...Thanks. I'll stop by again sometime."
"Then I'm the one who should thank you! Regulars are a good thing, you brat."
"Come out. I know you're in there."
In Lungmen's back alleys, where the filth and grime stood in stark contrast to that bright light, several pairs of eyes approached.
"Is that the older brother...?"
"He came again?"
"How miserable..."
I wasn't talking about their smell or their appearance. What was miserable was the world they lived in itself. Just a few steps away, a beautiful world existed, yet they could not go outside it because black stones grew on their bodies.
The 기준 by which people were divided varied from person to person. Good and evil, men and women, my people and not my people.
But in this era, no—along with the rise of Originium, the standards by which the nations of Terra divided people, and by which their citizens divided people, had become more or less the same.
The Infected and the uninfected.
With that one difference, they could only tremble in this filthy alley and watch.
"I brought this for you to eat again. If you want it, take it."
Maybe because they'd already tried it before, they came closer with less caution than last time and accepted it readily.
"'You do realize how deceitful this is, don't you?'"
".....It'd be stranger if I didn't."
As I said, they were Infected. In this society, it was considered natural to exclude them. They were just children who lived huddled together in places like this alley, hiding from people's eyes because that was the best they could do.
How precious must a single warm dumpling be to children like that? And now... how desperate must they have become for it?
I'm only staying two years. Exactly that long. After that? I can't bring dumplings to these kids every meal, and once they get used to being fed, some will collapse again, while others may never forget the taste and do anything to get it back.
Human beings really are fickle. Even if one dumpling makes you feel like you own the world, you still end up hungry for the next thing, hungrier for something better, and move before you realize it.
"Last time and this time too... all I can say is thank you."
"That's not free. I told you last time—count it as a debt I owe."
"R-right."
"You. You said yourself you were well-connected, right? Then help me out a little."
"Help... you with what?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. I'm going to be tearing through this place for the next two years, so every time I do, sell me some information."
"The fact that you said 'sell' means you weren't planning to take it for free, huh?"
"Hey, brat. Who do you think I am, a bandit? I'll pay a fair price. So?"
"...Fine. Sounds good. I'll introduce myself properly. Call me Noya."
"Why are you suddenly an old man?"
"...That's what it means?"
"What? You didn't even know what Noya means?"
"Well, it was just a cool word I vaguely heard on TV, and that's what it meant?"
"...Pfft! I like you. I'm Baekhyun. Let's get along, all right!"
—creak
"...You in there?"
Was I too late? It was already almost nine o'clock. As expected, doing something I wasn't used to...
"'Lungmen young lady profanity' Why are you here?"
"'Lungmen polite speech' Came to tease you."
"C-Chen, that's too harsh..."
"Ugh... why would I come all this way to see those things...? Huh? You're definitely the one from this morning..."
—thud!
Ugh, damn it. I really don't want to go in.