COUGH COUGH
“Did you catch a cold? But it’s summer!”
“Right?”
I got hit by a summer cold that even dogs don’t catch. And on the day of the health examination, no less.
The culprit was definitely the air conditioning at the job experience fair.
‘To be feeling this sick from just a slight temperature difference, how weak is my immune system?’
“I think I’ve gotten taller! I finally crossed 120cm! What about Na-me?”
“105.3cm? Wow, you’ve grown a lot.”
If that’s about 2cm in just two months, I guess there’s no issue with growth.
“Aren’t you, Ah-rin, too tall though?”
“Well, I’m still small compared to the class…”
Have kids these days really gotten that tall? I mean, I’ve seen dogs and cows at 120 to over 130cm too.
It’s quite pitiful that I have to keep looking up at these little ones.
“Na-me, you’re too light. You need to eat three meals a day properly, got it?”
I wish the health teacher recognized that gaining 1kg is a challenge.
Without potions, I can’t even eat properly. Plus, this magical mana potion is non-insured and costs a fortune!
Suddenly thinking about potions made height and weight seem trivial.
All the costs for this potion weren’t covered by the orphanage.
It was Ma Beom-il who prepaid 3 million won out of pocket so Na-me could keep taking them.
Na-me, unaware of this, was gobbling down three potions a day.
“I’m scared of getting blood drawn; can you hold my hand?”
“I’m already holding it.”
“Don’t let go!”
It didn’t even look like it would hurt. Modern medical technology is amazing. Kids’ whining remains the same, now and forever, though.
The kids took turns returning to class, pressing their blood-drawn arms with their other hands to stop the bleeding.
A little later, Teacher Ha Seon-hwa scanned the list and called a few students.
“The students I just called need to retake the exam because it wasn’t done properly, so when the break bell rings, go to the auditorium.”
The targeted kids murmured. Could it be that they have to get blood drawn again? Worry crept in early.
“And Na-me, I think you need to go to the hospital with me now. I’ll get lunch on the way, so let’s just eat in the car today. Okay?”
“Teacher, is Na-me sick?”
“No, Na-me just needs a little more detailed examination at a big hospital. Can you be brave and go home by yourself today, Ah-rin?”
“Yes…”
And unexpectedly, Na-me ended up with a date schedule with Teacher Ha Seon-hwa.
“Na-me, gather your backpack and let’s go down.”
No matter how small Na-me is, she wasn’t thinking of taking the car seat used by Seon-hwa’s estimated 20-month-old daughter.
With Na-me’s mental age, that would be unreasonable.
She simply sat in the passenger seat and strapped herself in properly.
“Do you like bacon sandwiches?”
She handed over a sandwich, and I took a big bite.
“Is there anywhere you hurt, Na-me? When we get to the hospital, you have to explain it to the doctor well, but if it’s too hard to talk, could you at least tell me now?”
Well, it’s mostly my lungs that hurt a bit when I cough from this cold.
To me, that didn’t really count as hurting, so I made an X with my fingers.
“I want to say this as a mature person: I really appreciate you helping Ah-rin fit in at school.”
The common topic between Na-me and Seon-hwa was definitely about Ah-rin.
Especially since she couldn’t stand silence, it was natural for Ah-rin to come up in conversation.
“I don’t know if you know, but Ah-rin wasn’t always this talkative from the start.
She’s a little sensitive and lonely, so at first, I tried to arrange group activities to help her make friends, but it just didn’t work out.
Originally, students weren’t supposed to enter the teacher’s office, but since Ah-rin is special, I’ve let her visit without complaint.”
“Is it because of her background?”
“Yeah. I just want you to know that the kids in our class don’t want to discriminate against you.
Last year, something bad happened at our school, so everyone is being cautious around you. It’s unfortunate that you’re suffering for something unrelated to you.”
Furthermore, she added that it was even harder to control this atmosphere since the parents were the ones propagating it.
The kids at Merlin Orphanage number about 30, combining elementary, middle, and high school students.
They’re not even located in the city center but are situated at the very outskirts, so they all ended up enrolling in the nearby Sea Star Foundation school.
But with those kids ruining the study atmosphere, with bullying happening now and then, and rumors about their involvement with crime cartels circulating, they’ve become the number one avoided group.
Seon-hwa thought this situation was very sad. That innocent kids were being ostracized due to such prejudice.
And on another level, she worried whether these kids would stray into becoming troublemakers, causing harm to others.
At that moment, Seon-hwa couldn’t decide whose side to take.
The children of Merlin Orphanage carried deep scars in their hearts.
Abandoned by their parents at birth, too busy with work, or severed ties with their parents…
It was impossible to cover all their wounds with just two or three people.
So they always hoped for adoption.
They endlessly waited for someone who would need them.
But as the years passed, they realized that there is an appropriate age for adoption, leading to despair.
In the end, they gradually came to acknowledge that the only ones they can rely on are their friends from the orphanage, and there was no guardian to correct their deviances.
After that, the conversation fell silent for a while.
“I’m a candidate for detailed examination from Sea Star Elementary School.”
“Yes, please have your guardian sign here. There’s no separate payment process, so you can just sit and wait behind.”
“Do you know how long it will take?”
“Umm… It will probably take about 20 to 30 minutes. How about our friend follows that nurse over there?”
With that, Na-me was led away by the nurse.
The procedures were the same as what she had previously experienced at the hospital.
A fine mana wave emitting at high intensity circled around Na-me’s body, and the usual moment of consultation with the doctor arrived.
The doctor, who appeared to be quite young, looked a bit ridiculous squinting through thick glasses, presumably from severe astigmatism.
Of course, the conversation took place with Seon-hwa as Na-me’s guardian.
Seon-hwa was the first to speak up.
“Is the condition serious?”
“How should I explain this… First of all, the diagnosis is Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy.
It is a hereditary illness, but in this case, it’s believed to have developed due to genetic mutations caused by prolonged exposure to high concentrations of mana.”
“So if it’s muscular dystrophy, does that mean the muscles will contract…?”
“Eventually, the muscles can atrophy.
At first, as you can see, it progresses gradually, often going unnoticed until adulthood. It’s fortunate that we caught it at a young age…
But you should think that Na-me will never be able to engage in physical activities for the rest of her life.”
As with most genetic diseases, a perfect cure hasn’t been developed yet.
The doctor added that Na-me would continue taking medication and supplements to alleviate the symptoms, and the dosage of the mana potions she was currently taking would triple.
Eating potions desperately to survive brought about early results in her lifespan.
‘There’s no such absurdity as this.’
“Is it really possible for a kid to drink that much potion when even drinking 3 liters of water a day is hard?”
“That’s the best we can do right now.”
*
Round and round, private funds were a problem.
For such a small body, it was devouring an outrageous amount of money.
I might even get kicked out of the orphanage. As far as I know, Merlin Orphanage was already at its operational limit.
Is it really fortunate that I still have my limbs intact? Whatever, the monetary issues ahead felt like a bigger reality than my health.
Do I want to pay to preserve my body or save money and become paralyzed?
The balance just doesn’t add up. Obviously, the former.
The talkative teacher didn’t say a word until she dropped me off near the orphanage.
She probably needed some time to think too.
I doubt they teach how to comfort a student with an incurable disease in teacher’s training.
I didn’t head straight to the orphanage but wandered around the nearby alley.
Being a girl, or maybe due to my nature, I sometimes found myself swayed by emotions.
Once I get inside, Ah-rin would rush in like a retriever, showering me with comfort, but right now, I preferred being alone.
In the early 2000s novels, the protagonists would wake up as adults after dying; why did I always have to start over from the beginning?
Had I been an adult, I could tutor the kids with the knowledge from my past life, but now I was just a little body slightly over 1 meter tall.
At least until I don’t look like a child anymore…
[Gung PC Bang]
[Free top-resolution streaming software support like Twish and V-tube]
“Shall we hang out for a bit before going in?”
“It’s 3,000 won per hour here.”
“For members, it’s 2,500 won.”
“Still too expensive.”
“I’ll treat today. There aren’t any other PC bangs around here anyway.”
I overheard two male students who looked like friends chatting.
Why didn’t I think of that before?
If I don’t have a decent body, I could just enjoy virtual reality.
Even when I was trapped in a capsule, there were times when people played games with personal cameras attached.
They all blabbered without taking a breather. I probably don’t need to be like that, though.
The lighting in the PC (Personal Capsule) bang was generally dim.
The owner was nowhere to be seen. Is it a completely unmanned system?
As the students said, the prices were a bit higher than what I knew from the old world.
However, there was only one PC bang on the route to and from school. This was all because the children’s protection zone overlaps awkwardly here.
Yeah, I thought it was a waste of time being at school.
I could spend the night in the capsule, which had even been enchanted with cleanliness magic, sleeping during the day at school.
What a perfect plan.
In the first place, the occasionally petty kids from Merlin Orphanage got on my nerves, and I was tired of handling each one of them.
This month, my allowance was just 5,000 won total. I paid for 1 hour and 30 minutes and entered the capsule.
A familiar, cozy feeling enveloped me…
It was truly disgusting.
[Muon SⅡ Terms of Service]
[Do you agree to the terms?]
[Welcome to Gung PC Bang.]
[You are a non-member.]
[Skipping account creation.]
[Would you like to create an avatar?]
[Skipping avatar creation.]
[Warning! Notice regarding Civil Law Article 751 and Information and Communication Network Act Article 44]
[Confirm]
[An avatar will be created based on the physical information registered in the capsule.]
[Scan complete.]
[Connecting to Void Space. Duplicate data conflict.]
[Error!]
[User Name: Welcome, NoName.]
“Ultimately, I’ve returned. But Mom is now gone.”
As six walls popped up in the empty universe, it morphed into a small one-room.
A small familiar one-room that I knew well.
White wallpaper, a bed, a table, and a chair, but there were no traces of Seol-ah anywhere.
“I wish we could play games together; I wonder if Mom hated games?”
I lean back against the bed where she used to lie.
“I made a friend named Ah-rin. She’s kinder than I expected.”
I thought I would live alone in this life too, but once again, I find myself receiving more love than I deserve.
“I’m really sick. Mom would have worried a lot if she knew, right?”
Even in the game, she jumped in to block for me every time I got attacked.
“How funny. I was supposed to take the brunt of the attacks for Mom.”
What would happen if Mom died instead of me?
Really…
That would ruin the game…
We’ve always played a game we couldn’t win, but I think I felt happiest in this life.
