The streets of Ironvale buzzed, loud and restless as always.
As I glanced down at my hands, filled with dirt in my fingernails and some clusters appearing on my hands, but also three copper coins, not unlike bronze coins, but still better than nothing.
Soon I realised, for everyday life, copper coins were used prominently,
But if you looked around long enough, you'd spot a butcher taking rice for meat, or a cobbler fixing shoes in exchange for grain. Money here wasn't just metal; it was whatever kept your stomach quiet for one more night for me.
"Well, well, looks like we have a new blood," said a man, Dirty rags. Hollow cheeks. Hair like a bird's nest stew. As two other men with similar clothing and also with severe facial deformity stand behind him.
Before I could speak, all three of them surrounded me, " This corner's taken," spoke one of the men."…Taken? It's a street, not a chair," as I said nervously.
HA HA HA NEWBY MAKING JOKES!!
As all three laughed.
Then, smiling stopped, as all three of them stared into my eyes.
"This area belongs to the hollows," as they all showed markings on their palms of a bull.
A brand burned into his skin: the outline of a bull's head, scar tissue raised like an ugly crown. The others showed theirs too, the same bull mark etched deep into their palms.
"The… Hollows?" I repeated.
The leader grinned, teeth like broken pottery. "You don't understand? Then listen closely. Every coin that drops in this street, every scrap of bread tossed our way—it belongs to us. We are the ones the city spits out, the ones with nothing left but the dirt. We are the Hollows. And you're standing in our feeding ground."
[HOLLOWS]
They are one of the organisations of Ironvale. They comprise minor thieves and beggars.
I stood up and started to go away. I do not want to enrage them and get beaten up.
"What is that in your pocket?" a question rises from my back, as when I turn my head.
One of the guys punched me, and everything started to go blurry. I could not wake up. He hit me right in my chin, and then darkness. I passed out.
When I opened my eyes, the world was spinning. My jaw ached like someone had tried to break it with a hammer, and copper tasted in my mouth. I was lying in the filth of some side alley, rats crawling over a nearby barrel like it was their throne. The street noises were muffled now, distant, like the world had decided I wasn't worth hearing.
[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU UNLOCKED A NEW AREA]
So basically, those guys sucker punched me and threw me in some random place.
I somehow stood up and then felt something; my coins were gone.
Fuck me, as I muttered, as tears began to come from my eyes.
As it was not enough, another sharp pain came from my skull.
[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU EXPERIENCED ROBBERY]
[Lv.1(500/1000]
[Lv.2 Beggar(200/1000]
[PITY: 6
Charisma: -30
DIGNITY:-50]
[SKILL CHART-
UNIVERSAL HEARING LANGUAGE TRANSLATION
BEGGING
SHAMELESSNESS]
You could see this anytime by saying, open system and closing it by saying close system. Also, like previous times, it can close automatically by not paying attention :)
Good, good, SO NOW I FUCKING CAN EXPERIENCE PAIN ANYTIME I WANT!!!!
I started to go mad and tried to grab a nearby wood to throw at the wood, but then the wood did not move. I try to go towards it, but I can not. I tried to step back. Nothing. My foot lifted, swung out, and—bam—stopped midair like I'd just kicked into glass.
"What the—" I muttered, throwing my other leg. Same thing.
I could move, I could jump, I could swing my arms, but I can not interact with other things.
Then something occurred to me.
CLOSE SYSTEM, a sharp pain occurred similarly, and the stats disappeared. After the pain was gone, I grabbed the wood and threw it at the wall and screamed.
And an idea or a say curiosity comes into my brain. I started to walk along the alleyway. After a few minutes... I was on a different street, like the last one. It was not a market but a series of really small houses built up from mud, unlike brick. Then hit the disgusting smell, human feces everywhere, people lying, as foam coming from their mouths. It was clear I was in a slum.
I walked along it to find the busiest part of it to try something, as I found a place with many people.
OPEN SYSTEM
The moment the words left my mouth, the world froze.
The shouting, the coughing, the cries of children—all of it muted, swallowed whole like someone had stuffed cotton into my ears. People were not moving. I tried to step forward—same thing as before. My foot hit that invisible wall. My stomach twisted with anger.
[Lv.1(500/1000]
[Lv.2 Beggar(200/1000]
[PITY: 6
Charisma: -30
DIGNITY:-50]
[SKILL CHART-
UNIVERSAL HEARING LANGUAGE TRANSLATION
BEGGING
SHAMELESSNESS]
You can not interact with things and people when stats are showcasing, as you are experiencing time at a really, really slow pace, which creates an illusion that time has stopped.
Okay, okay, I understand what the system is saying, but with this new ability, I thought, what could I utilise it for, not dying from starvation?
After a while, stats go away from not paying attention, as it was better to do that than say close system thingy to experience pain.
Walking around the town was worse than the market. People slumped in doorways like broken dolls, eyes glazed, skin yellowed. A man muttered nonsense to himself, clutching a sack of rocks like it was treasure. Kids with ribs poking out chased each other barefoot in the mud. A woman tried to sell half-rotten fish from a basket, swatting flies with her hand as if that would make it edible.
My coins were gone, my pride was gone, and my jaw was hanging by faith alone.
And yet my stomach growled. Hunger didn't care about dignity. Hunger didn't care about gangs or gods or broken systems. Hunger just wanted me dead.
I do not want to be here; every sight I saw showed me unimaginable misery. So I closed my eyes and started walking in one direction. I hit many houses and people, but I do not want to see the misery any longer.
After hours of walking in the darkness, I hear the voices of horses. I opened my eyes, and I was not in a slum anymore but on a street.
[CONGRATULATIONS, YOU UNLOCKED A NEW AREA]
[HUNGER LEVEL: 67%]
[Warning: Starvation debuff incoming.]
"Shut up, system," I hissed.
I spotted a baker pulling flatbread from a clay oven. The smell—warm, smoky, real—slapped me harder than the Hollows ever did. My mouth filled with saliva. Without thinking, I shuffled over.
"Sir, can you spare…" My throat burned. "Just one piece?"
The baker looked me over. His hands were thick with flour, his face lined with years of heat and smoke. For a heartbeat, I thought he might say yes.
Then his voice cut sharply, every word measured like slices from a knife.
"No coin. No bread. Get out of my shadow."
[BEGGING FAILED.]
[-1 DIGNITY]
"Negative fifty-one dignity," I muttered. "At this point, I'm practically a worm." So why should I care anymore? The baker's words echoed in my skull.
"No coin. No bread. Get out of my shadow."
My stomach roared in protest. My hands shook. My dignity was already buried six feet under, so what was left to lose?
The flatbreads sat there on the counter, steaming, golden-brown, smelling like heaven and sin had made a baby.
I didn't think. Thinking was for people with full bellies.
I lunged.
One hand snatched a loaf, the other shoved through the crowd.
"THIEF!" the baker roared.
But no one cares, as it was a common sight in public. Before this moment, I laughed and made myself superior to the people who stole, but now I was in the same position as them.
My lungs burned, my legs screamed, but adrenaline turned me into a rat darting through trash. I zig-zagged down an alley, heart hammering, the loaf clutched tight against my chest like a newborn.
[YOU UNLOCKED ROBBERY]
I collapsed in a shadowed corner, chest heaving, sweat pouring down my neck. My hands shook as I tore into the loaf.
It was rough, half-burnt, dry as ash. The crust scratched my throat raw, crumbs sticking to my lips. But the warmth spread through my chest, and I chewed like a man possessed.
Tears stung my eyes. Not because of guilt. Because of joy. Because for the first time since Ironvale spat me out, I wasn't starving.
I devoured every last bite until nothing was left but crumbs on my filthy hands.
And for one brief, fragile moment, the world was quiet.
As I fall asleep.