When I opened my eyes, I was already in this shitty world.
Pouring rain coming down hard.
Freezing cold asphalt that cut right through you.
When I lifted my head out of the muddy water, I could see neon signs flickering emptily in the distance.
Honestly, I couldn't really remember much about before I got here.
All I had left was this vague feeling that I was inside some kind of game.
The message stuck in the corner of my vision proved it.
[Tutorial in progress.]
But that was it.
I'd pretty much forgotten who I was, what I used to do—everything.
Thrown into this cold world with nothing but blank spaces in my head.
"Hey, are you all alone?"
And the person who picked me up was this girl who looked like she'd just turned twenty.
Red hair and these beautiful golden eyes.
Even with all the neon signs around, her eyes sparkled so pretty that I found myself nodding without thinking.
Whether it was a moment of pity or just some random whim, I don't know.
But she took me in, and from that day on, we lived together.
Turns out this place—Deon City's 8th Special District—was crawling with orphans.
I guess that's what happens when you've got useless cops and human garbage with zero respect for the law running wild, doing whatever the hell they want.
Down in the bottom of that city, having both parents alive was the exception, not the rule.
So I was curious.
Why me, of all people?
There had to be tons of abandoned kids in those back alleys, just lying around.
When I asked her about it, she just went "Well..." and gave me this mysterious smile.
Whatever. Honestly, the reason didn't really matter.
If she hadn't picked me up that day, I'd probably be some dark wizard's test subject by now, or sold off to some factory to get worked to death.
Just keeping me from that fate made her my savior.
Someone once said: Always repay kindness, but pay back grudges double.
So I decided to repay her kindness.
Stay out of trouble, listen to what she said, do the housework when she went out to work.
But that wasn't enough.
"How about I help you with your work?"
A few years later, one day I said this while looking at the back of her neck.
There was this outlet-looking thing attached there that seemed totally foreign to me.
Turns out her job was something like hacking—she'd connect cables to that outlet to do her work.
Just imagining it was pretty weird, but apparently it wasn't that uncommon in this world.
"I'm basically an adult now, and if I get an implant like you..."
Her face immediately showed this troubled smile.
"Well... hmm. Rather than that..."
She looked out the window at the polluted sky over the 8th District.
"I... I'd like you to live a more normal life."
"Normal? What's normal supposed to mean?"
"You know, like going to school and stuff. You've always been smart, so you could study there, maybe even date someone..."
"Sis..."
I had to look at her like she was crazy.
School?
"How am I supposed to go to school when I don't even have citizenship?"
"Haha. Yeah, I guess that's true."
She laughed awkwardly.
Not only me, who'd suddenly dropped into this world, but her too—we were both non-citizens. Illegal residents.
Actually, most people living at the bottom of this city were like that.
People without even basic citizenship rights, just moths drawn to the bright lights of the fancy city.
For people like us who had no guarantees, the normal life she was talking about was pure luxury.
"School, huh..."
"What, got something on your mind?"
"Nah. Nothing like that."
Empty bar with no customers.
The hook-nosed old man came out from behind the counter with a crumpled envelope of money and handed it to me.
"Here you go. Payment for your sister from yesterday."
"Can't you just pay this stuff on time?"
"Kid, we've got our own situation to deal with. Besides, when have I ever stiffed your sister?"
"I don't need to count it, right?"
"Come on. Haven't I been dealing with your sister for more than a day or two?"
"Yeah, yeah."
He glanced at me as I pocketed the envelope.
"Why didn't Lena come herself?"
"This job must've been tough. She's resting at home right now."
"...I see."
The old man lit his pipe and added quietly.
"Come have dinner with your sister sometime. I'll treat you to a meal."
"Sure thing."
He nodded and waved his hand as he went back inside.
I turned away from him and walked out through the musty curtain.
The sky was slowly getting dark.
Walking through downtown like usual, I caught sight of my face reflected in a puddle.
If I dressed up nice with a bag, I could probably pass for a college student.
I was way younger when I first dropped into this world.
"Well, it's been a few years now."
I'd gotten pretty used to these back alleys reeking of rotting garbage.
I walked past homeless people with VR headsets on their heads, twitching around like idiots, and climbed up the familiar hillside slum.
Was it even possible to go to school normally in this world?
'I'd need to get citizenship first.'
If I got citizenship, I could leave this shithole 8th District and move to a proper administrative zone.
Then I could probably go to school too.
'But...'
Unfortunately, for illegal residents like us, getting citizenship was like trying to pluck stars from the sky.
I couldn't even guess how much money it would take...
"...Huh?"
I looked up and saw two men blocking my path.
They had scorpion tattoos on their necks. They exchanged glances, then one of them jerked his chin at me.
"You Kyle?"
"..."
Kyle.
That was definitely the name my sister had given me.
But.
A chill ran up from my toes, and I threw the money envelope at the men.
"Hey! Fuck, that's him!"
I was trying to quickly pull out my self-defense pistol when a deafening gunshot tore through my ears.
BANG!!
"Gah!?"
My leg collapsed from the precise shot, and I crumpled onto the cold manhole cover.
Burning pain shot through me.
"Ugh...!"
"Just like that bitch's brother to be sharp as hell."
"Hey, finish this quick and clean."
"Yes sir."
I didn't have a chance to resist the approaching man.
Bang! Bang!
Just two shots.
Without any hesitation, he blew my head apart with those bullets.
…
And then I opened my eyes.
"HUUUUH!"
As soon as I came to, I instinctively felt around my head.
I could still clearly feel the sensation of my skull being blown apart by those pistol rounds.
But I had to stare in shock.
"What the...?"
It was fine.
"How is this...?"
No matter how much I felt around, my head was perfectly intact, like nothing had happened at all.
'Was it... a dream?'
No way.
That pain, that reality—it wasn't some dream.
Panicked, I checked the leg that had been shot too.
"...!"
Not a single scar—clean as a whistle. I swallowed hard.
"What the hell..."
A thought flashed through my mind and I jumped up without thinking.
This wasn't the time for this.
"Sis...!"
Those guys had definitely mentioned my sister before shooting me.
Which meant...!
I ran up the hill frantically and arrived home, gasping for breath.
"..."
The chaos I could feel from the front door was ominous as hell.
Signs of struggle everywhere.
I walked up to the door with dread and stepped inside.
Then I went silent.
The blood-soaked floor formed these weird puddles.
What was lying in them was clearly a corpse that had been brutally murdered and then violated.
Red-stained hair came into my dazed vision.
"..."
Despite my heart sinking like a stone, I reacted more calmly than I expected.
Maybe I'd unconsciously prepared myself for this.
Living in this underworld doing hacking and stuff, you never knew when you might die.
I walked forward silently, stepping into the puddles.
I reached toward those eyes staring blankly into space, having lost their light, and gently closed them so my sister could rest in peace.
My gaze moved to the pistol lying beside her.
The pistol my sister carried for self-defense.
I reached out and picked up its weight.
Someone once said: Always repay kindness, but pay back grudges double.
So what if you've got unpaid kindness plus a new grudge? How many times over should you pay that back?
"..."
But first, I had something I needed to check.
I brought the gun barrel to the back of my neck.
My eyes moved to the message in the corner.
[Tutorial in progress.]
I thought about what had just happened.
I should've died, but I didn't.
I asked myself: Do I really not die?
Is it because this is inside a game?
I didn't know.
But one thing was certain—depending on whether this theory was right or wrong, my whole approach going forward would be completely different.
"Huu..."
I took a small deep breath and, as if I'd made up my mind, pulled the trigger in my hand.
BAAAAANG!!
…
One week later.
At a luxury villa located in the upper level of the 8th Special District, where citizens mainly lived.
Standing guard in front of that incredibly fancy entrance were two men with familiar faces.
Two mafia guys in suits with scorpion tattoos on their necks.
Confirming that familiarity, I pulled my hat down low and approached them.
"...Hm? Hey. Stop right there."
I ignored them.
"Didn't you hear me tell you to stop?!"
"Come any closer and we'll shoot!"
I answered them.
"Shoot if you want to."
As I got closer and they recognized my face, they let out shocked gasps.
"You...!"
"Hey there. How've you guys been?"
"How did you...!"
They frantically aimed their guns at me as I unzipped the jacket I was wearing.
What was revealed was nothing other than plastic explosives wrapped around my waist like a belt.
"Well, it was nice seeing you again."
I smiled at them as their eyes bulged out.
"You fucking...!"
"See you later."
With a beeping sound, a massive explosion swallowed them up.
BOOOOOOM!!