Chapter 123 : Chapter 123
Chapter 123: Encounter with the Unknown (3)
It was when I was about ten.
Maybe even younger.
As a child, I was cared for in a slum orphanage, but to put it nicely, it was not a comfortable life.
The space was too small, and there were too many people.
Physically, the concept of ‘comfort’ did not exist.
There weren't enough beds, so I slept on the floor more often than in a bed.
Well, it was much better than sleeping on the street, so I was in no position to complain.
In the slums, orphans were always being created for all sorts of reasons.
They also multiplied on their own.
Usually, it was because they ate something wrong, whether it was drugs, water, or leftover garbage, and went crazy, or got caught up in a gang war, or were the ones involved, or just got stabbed in a back alley for no reason.
For that reason, in the orphanage, we had to learn how to not want things before we learned how to want them.
The director, Laira, wanted to grant any wish, but she was one person, and we were dozens.
It was impossible to grant every wish.
But, what do kids know?
Sometimes, the younger ones would throw tantrums.
At those times, the older ‘seniors’ would usually take care of it before it reached Laira's ears.
After that, the child would stop throwing tantrums from the next day.
There was a plausible reason that it was to not trouble Laira, the only person who took care of us, but now I know it was just because they didn't want their own share to decrease.
I was like that too.
We learned in that way.
Laira, who was a cleric, prayed to God every day to take care of us, but as far as I could see, God never once answered her prayers properly.
At first, I thought that because I wasn't a cleric, because I didn't truly believe in God, praying for a hundred days would be useless.
But after seeing her treat even the devout Laira like that, I realized that either God didn't exist in the first place, or even if he did, he didn't give a damn about those of us under the same sky.
Probably not just me, but most of the guys who were there with me felt that way.
Perhaps for that reason, an atmosphere formed in the orphanage where everyone would leave on their own once they were old enough to take care of themselves, around eight to ten years old.
Even if they couldn't become independent right away, they tried to create an environment where they wouldn't starve to death, you could say.
That is, they went looking for ‘work’.
Well, maybe it was just because they hated being cooped up in that small place all day, listening to the cries of the younger kids.
In fact, whether there was work or not, they would go out all day.
But, what could they do?
Even if they went out, it was still the slums.
It was a relief if there was no work; there wasn't even anything to play with.
The most reliable form of entertainment was to pick up and sniff the alcohol or unknown powder rolling around next to the guys who were sometimes completely out of it or had just gone to the other world, who were sprawled in every alley.
The problem was that the more you enjoyed that entertainment, the more you had to find work somehow.
‘Shark’ was one of those guys.
I still don't know why, but ‘Shark’, who was always called that rather than his name, was a senior at the orphanage.
At first, he just started by licking the streets like a dog, like many others, but as he got older, he wanted to be a real shark, not a dog.
A ruthless predator.
So he gathered the brats he knew from the orphanage and acted like the boss of a district.
And as a result, he really did become a shark.
To be precise, like a shark caught by a hook, he was hung up on display and became a spectacle for the streets.
The problem was, I was also there when that damn bastard got hooked.
Forced to choose between two options.
To become one of the small ‘fry’ hung up next to ‘Shark’, or to work for them.
There was a huge cartel in Tiaria, so technically the slums were also their territory, but a few gangs operated independently here.
As if to claim that at least these slums were ours, not those damn uptown bastards'.
‘Shark’, who tried to imitate that, messed with them without knowing his place, and paid the price.
The only reason they gave me a choice was because I was a ‘half-breed’ like them.
Of course, I chose the latter.
And so, I joined a gang made up of dark elf half-breeds like me.
It was said to be a vigilante group formed to protect the dark elf half-breeds, who were treated as even more trash and despised even in the slums where everyone lived a trashy life, but it was just an organization that had become a gang, getting involved in all sorts of crimes in the name of earning that money.
Still, it seemed that the culture of taking in other half-breeds when they saw them remained to some extent.
Though it wasn't necessarily in the sense of ‘protection’.
Because I was young, small, and nimble, I was given the role of a courier.
Not long after becoming a member of the organization, I set out for my ‘first deal’.
“…What? It's a kid?”
It went to shit from the very beginning.
“Fuck, what are we supposed to do with that?”
“Just like dark elves. Even a kid like this is a criminal.”
The people waiting for me at the meeting point were the damn city guards.
They usually acted as if places like this didn't even exist and looked the other way, but sometimes, guys who needed to boost their performance would come to show off, saying they were maintaining public order or something.
“Speak, you half-breed bastard!”
And I, of all things, had crawled into a place where they were lying in ambush on my very first deal.
“Who gave you this!”
“You think anyone will care if a half-breed like you is abandoned in the sewer? Just spill it, where did you get it!”
I didn't say anything.
It wasn't because I was particularly loyal, but because I was completely frozen in the situation where the city guards were holding a knife to my throat.
Because I kept remembering the incident from a short while ago, where I had watched a human, who had spent his childhood in the same place as me, get hooked, also with a knife to his throat, right before my eyes.
But when I didn't bring the money even after time passed, the gang members who were waiting nearby came to check the situation at the meeting point.
As a result, a fight broke out.
If you could really call it a battle, where guys who were chosen as fighters for the sole reason that they could kill a person without batting an eye, not because they were properly trained, were fighting against properly trained soldiers.
It was closer to a one-sided massacre.
What could a ten-year-old do in that situation?
During a brief moment of freedom, I ran away on my own.
“Woof! Woof woof!”
At that, a fierce hunting dog that the guards had brought, chased after me.
But when I quickly jumped over a wall and got on the roof, all the dog could do was look up at me and bark more fiercely.
And so, I ran between the tightly packed roofs and escaped the scene.
It was an ordinary day in the slums.
Slap!
As soon as he saw me return alone, the ‘boss’ slapped my cheek.
“Stop whining like a baby and get a grip.”
It was because a brat of about ten was talking while sobbing like a brat.
“The goods?”
“Th-That is…”
Clutching my swollen cheek from the harsh blow, I answered, holding back my tears as much as I could.
I said that I couldn't grab it in the rush to escape.
Hearing this, the boss slapped my cheek hard again, and this time, I couldn't even keep my balance and fell to the floor.
It was unfair.
If you think about it, it wasn't my fault that the deal went wrong, but because he had set up a deal with the wrong people in the first place.
And as a result.
“E-Everyone was either captured, or killed…!”
“So what?”
But the boss cut me off in a firm tone.
“Everyone dies here.”
As if it were no big deal.
“If you do this next time, you'll die by my hand too. Got it?”
At a loss for words, I could only nod silently.
“We took in a parentless orphan, so you should at least earn your keep.”
The boss clicked his tongue, tch, and went back to his seat.
“Don't forget. We took you in as ‘family’, as a fellow kin, when you were destined to die on the streets like a miserable piece of trash.”
He said, taking a deep drag from the pipe in his mouth.
“Who was it that made your worthless life worth something? Us.”
Then, as he exhaled, thick white smoke billowed out, covering his brown face like mine.
“So, offer it willingly for the family.”
***
“I am your father.”
At Kain's words, Ibi's two eyes, which had been glaring at him venomously, widened for a moment.
“……What?”
Her expression was one of not understanding at all what she had just heard.
“What, is that…”
At the same time as her lips, which had slowly parted, a voice slowly seeped out again.
“Bullshit……”
Then, as if she had been cut off, she froze.
It couldn't be helped.
Because Kain had taken off his mask.
Even the companions who were watching this together, gasped inadvertently upon seeing Kain's fully revealed face.
Of course, a gentle smile that Ibi would never show.
“I've finally met you.”
A gentle way of speaking.
A gentle attitude, as he slowly walked towards Ibi with his arms open.
“It's a moving reunion, but is there no warm embrace for your father?”
Despite showing such opposite sides, so different from Ibi.
“Evie.”
It seemed clear that the two were indeed father and daughter.
Because, to deny it immediately, the two looked too much alike.
“……!”
Ibi, who was watching Kain approach her with his arms open as if he were really expecting an embrace, silently took a step back.
As if in fear.
Truly, like a person who had just encountered an ‘unknown being’ they had never seen before in their life.
Kain, who was watching Ibi, nodded his head lightly as if he understood, and finally lowered his raised arms.
Then, with a smile on his face again.
“Let's go home, Evie.”
This time, he held out a hand.
“To where your family is.”