Chapter 2 : Adventure Level 1 (2)

The stay at the pension was more enjoyable than expected.
In my past life, even when I took vacation days, I usually stayed home, so I wasn’t particularly interested, but experiencing it firsthand was different.
Walking along the nearby trails and having a barbecue party naturally brought laughter.
Even better was the bench in the pension’s yard.
It sat under the shade of a large tree, and its location was picturesque.
Since I’d brought a book, I went to the bench and read.
My mood improved so much that when Dad tried to take pictures, I even struck a few poses for him.
However, I only got a taste of the reading atmosphere and couldn’t actually read properly.
It was because of Do Yugeon, the son of my parents’ friends.
According to the adults’ plan, they hoped Do Yugeon and I would have fun playing together, but I had no intention of going along with their wishes.
At least, that was the original plan.

The reason I didn’t want to hang out with him was obvious: it would be boring.
He wasn’t reincarnated, nor was he a genius—just an ordinary kindergartner.
A six-year-old, about to enter elementary school.
What could I possibly do with a kid like that?
Still, as someone aware of a past life, I might have a responsibility to look after a preschooler, but anticipating this, I’d already set a policy for myself.
That policy was to calculate my age based solely on my current life, separate from using the advantages of my past life.
Meaning, I am a kindergartner.
I have no responsibility to take care of others.
It was shameless, but that’s what I decided.
But just because I decided didn’t mean things went as planned.
He kept following me around, talking to me, and it felt awkward to keep brushing him off half-heartedly.
This was especially true because Do Yugeon approached me smiling, even though I hadn’t done anything for him.
After enduring it for a while, I inevitably gave up reading on the bench and ended up hanging out with him.
Sigh.
Things didn’t go as I planned, but Do Yugeon seemed happy, so I figured it didn’t matter.
Thus, the stay at the pension went reasonably well.

Not long after, I entered elementary school.
As if planned rather than by chance, it was the same school as Do Yugeon.
We weren’t in the same class, so he visited me every break time.
I told him several times to hang out with his classmates, but he didn’t listen, so I decided to visit his class instead.
Since he was just an ordinary elementary school student, it wouldn’t be good if he became isolated in his class.
That routine changed when we became fourth graders.
He declared that I shouldn’t come over anymore, perhaps because he was teased about a girl always visiting his classroom.
“Okay, fine.”
Although I’d grown fond of him, visiting him every time was bothersome, so I readily agreed to stop.
Do Yugeon looked visibly flustered but didn’t say anything specific.
He just occasionally visited my classroom instead.
And so, time passed, we graduated from elementary school, and we entered middle school.

Now that I’m in middle school, I don’t think about my past life much, but looking at the sky always reminds me.
What on earth is that pattern drawn in the sky?
Something—neither language nor picture—that exists as if covering the heavens.
Historically, it’s been present even in humanity’s oldest records, and scientifically, it’s an unidentified pattern with no proper theory to date.
People in this current life seem to just accept it, but it feels unsettling every time I see it.
This feeling isn’t helpful, so I should shake it off, but it never quite goes as planned.

The subway doors opened, and Do Yugeon stepped in.
He looked around before approaching me.
We go to different middle schools, so we usually bump into each other briefly on the subway during commuting hours or hang out when he asks to.
I asked him, “Did you study properly for the test over the weekend?”
“Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
He stood next to me.
“I’m asking because you were so confident.”
“Well, my grades were good in elementary school, so middle school should be the same.”
“Hahaha, sure. Then today’s test should be manageable for you?”
“Of course.”
Getting good grades in elementary school without studying gave him useless self-confidence.
It feels like just yesterday he was intimidated by the difficulty of middle school textbooks, but it seems he managed to rationalize it away in the meantime.

He frowned.
“Aren’t you looking down on me too much?”
“Well, you didn’t study much. Does it make sense to ask to hang out all the time?”
“You’re not one to talk. You always came out when I asked you to hang out, so what’s this? Shouldn’t you worry about yourself first? Isn’t your top-student title going to fly away?”
It was so absurd I laughed.
“Excuse me? I finished the middle school curriculum ages ago, okay? Didn’t I tell you last time?”
He looked flustered.
“Huh? Wasn’t that a joke?”
“What, you didn’t believe me? I don’t know who’s looking down on whom.”
I shook my head slowly.
“Don’t lie. How long has it even been since school started? There wasn’t enough time.”
“Obviously, I studied during elementary school.”
“We hung out together back then too.”
“At home. Without you. Alone.”

He turned pale and fell quiet.
Could it be that his confidence stemmed from thinking his childhood friend wasn’t studying either? Oh dear. I might bear some responsibility for this.
I patted his back gently.
“It’s okay. You might mess up.”
“That’s not comforting at all…”
He rubbed his face and continued.
“What should I do? I promised Mom I’d get good grades.”
“You even made a promise? Oh dear, you won’t be able to keep it.”
“If I break the promise, I have to start going to cram school…”
This is ridiculous.
“You made a promise like that and still didn’t study?”
“It’s not like I didn’t study at all—I did some.”
“What, then just do well.”
“Yes, yes, Mr. Top Student. That must be so easy for you.”
Despite his words, his expression clearly brightened.

As we passed one station, he spoke again.
“Did you hear the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
He glanced around cautiously, then cleared his throat, as if about to bring up something embarrassing.
“The story about slimes appearing.”
“Slimes?”
Why suddenly talk about slimes?
“Guess it hasn’t circulated at your school yet. I heard it too—apparently, slimes have been wandering around the city lately.”
“Wait a minute. What are you talking about? So, if you wander around, you might see discarded slime toys someone threw away?”
“No. Fantasy slimes.”
“Slime models?”
“No. Living ones.”
This is absurd.
“Ah, right. Makes sense our school wouldn’t know.”
“Listen seriously. I didn’t believe it at first either, but it’s surprisingly credible. It’s not just a rumor circulating at our school.”

He opened Facebook on his smartphone and searched for “slime sighting.”
Several posts popped up.
Many were from random people, and quite a few included photos.
The photos showed something blue and slime-like.
Since I don’t use social media, I couldn’t tell if this was a joke or real.
“Isn’t it an internet meme?”
“No.”
“Hmm.”
I suspect this kid is trying to mess with me.
He shrugged.
“Don’t believe it if you don’t want to. The reason I brought this up is, let’s go look for slimes after the test today.”
“You just said I don’t have to believe it.”
“I mean, let’s look for fun. We’ll finish early and have nothing to do anyway, right?”
Cha Haneul blinked.
“Weren’t you just worried about failing the test?”
“That’s… Anyway, are you going to hang out or not?”
“I’ll hang out. But I have plans today, so let’s do it tomorrow. And don’t blame me if you fail the test.”

After deciding on a meeting place and time, we reached my station.
I said goodbye to Do Yugeon and got off.
My station is closer, so I usually get off first during the commute to school.
When I arrived at school, the kids in my class were all talking about the slimes Do Yugeon had mentioned.
It seems the topic had circulated on social media over the weekend.
I got the explanation from the kids.
The basics were that slimes appear in the city, and you supposedly get experience points and can even level up by catching them.
They mentioned the experience points and leveling up jokingly, but they were serious about the slimes appearing.
However, while I was listening, a classmate by the window shouted for everyone to look outside.
The classmates murmured and crowded around the window.
Cha Haneul went to the window along with them.
Looking outside, the sky was strange.
It was blue with white clouds drifting by.
The only thing that had changed was that the unidentified pattern, which had always been there as if it were natural, had disappeared.
It looked just like the familiar sky from my past life.
Kids took out their smartphones to take pictures.
Sounds of awe could be heard here and there.

The next day, Cha Haneul finished school and took the subway.
The place I’m heading to now is a neighborhood where office workers mainly live because the housing prices are low and the location isn’t too bad.
Perhaps because of that, the neighborhood is empty after commuting hours and only fills up again when people return from work.
Slimes are said to be mostly found in places with few people, so we decided to search here.
Coincidentally, it’s exam period, so being able to wander around before rush hour is a good situation.
I got off the subway.
Looking around the station, I saw Do Yugeon sitting on a bench, staring at his smartphone.
He looked up and stood.
“You’re here. Listen, I thought of something important.”
His voice was excited.
“What is it?”
“Slimes are appearing in the city, right?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“Anyway, they are appearing, right?”
“Okay, let’s say they are. So what?”
“Then this is a prelude to fantasy.”

Do Yugeon’s voice echoed in the station.
He had a serious expression.
…?
I discreetly looked around.
A few people were looking this way.
Some smiled when our eyes met.
I grabbed Do Yugeon and started walking toward the station exit.
“Uh, why, why?”
“It’s all good, but let’s move first.”
Honestly, this kid is a bit embarrassing right now.
Do Yugeon grumbled but didn’t say anything embarrassing until we left the station.
There happened to be a fresh juice shop nearby, so we went in.
I asked him, “What do you want to drink?”
“Hmm… Either mango or melon.”
“Should I just pick for you?”
“No. Wait a second.”
While he was deciding, other customers came in, so we stepped outside to let them go first.
The worried (indecisive) kid looked up at the blue sky and said, “The appearance of slimes and the change in the sky must be related, right?”
“What, were you thinking about that just now? I’ll listen to that later—just pick your juice first. What are you drinking?”
“Still thinking.”
“Something to be proud of.”

After much deliberation, Do Yugeon chose mango juice.
I bought mango juice and a strawberry yogurt, and we left the shop.
“Alright. Now explain. What’s this about a prelude to fantasy?”
“Ahem, listen. Slimes appeared in the city, and the sky suddenly became strange. Plus, you get experience points for catching slimes.”
“Hold on. The experience points thing is a joke, right?”
“It was until yesterday. Today, people started trying to verify it, and a few succeeded. When you catch a slime, it turns into gold powder and gets absorbed into your body.”
I can’t tell if this kid is joking or serious right now.
His expression is dead serious, but the content is way off.
“So that gold powder is experience points?”
Do Yugeon avoided my gaze.
“I don’t know if it’s experience points, but it’s practically confirmed, right? What else would you get for catching a slime? Obviously experience points.”
“That’s how games are. This is reality.”
“With slimes appearing, you’re still talking about reality?”
“The slimes seem fake too.”
He pointed at the blue sky.
“Then what about the sky? The sky changed too.”

Honestly, although the unidentified pattern disappeared from the sky, from my past life’s perspective, this is the normal state, so I don’t feel much about it.
“Right. The sky changed.”
“Good. My point is that this current situation is a prelude to fantasy. The world has already changed in a fantasy-like way. So, bigger events will happen in the future—fantasy-like events that shatter common sense.”
“Ah, right. If slimes really exist, it’s worth considering. But I still think it’s a lie.”
He gulped down his juice and said, “We can confirm that today.”
“Hmm… Okay, let’s do that. More importantly, doesn’t drinking like that give you a brain freeze?”
“It does.”
Do Yugeon frowned, suffering.

We said we’d look for slimes, but we hadn’t planned anything specific, so we just wandered around the neighborhood aimlessly.
We bought street food and walked through a park.
There happened to be art displayed in the park, so we looked at that too.
But after wandering for a long time, we didn’t see any slimes.
Cha Haneul sat on a swing in the playground, kicking her legs.
“Be honest. Are the slimes just an excuse for us to play?”
“It’s not exactly an excuse—it’s just that we don’t really know where the slimes appear.”
He was sitting on the seesaw, looking at his smartphone.
“Yeah, I guess so. Then let’s quit and go to a PC bang. My legs are starting to hurt.”
He remained silent.
It didn’t seem like he was on KakaoTalk; he was probably searching for information about slimes.

I pushed off the ground with my feet.
The swing went back, then forward.
As I was about to push off again, I saw something blue in the corner of the playground.
Looking closely, it was a blue, round, translucent slime.
The slime moved as if sliding.
A leaf in its path was swallowed.
…
They really exist? Does this make sense?
The slime moved toward the seesaw where Do Yugeon was sitting.
“Hey, Do Yugeon, hey.”
“Whew, okay. Let’s quit and go to a PC bang.”
Do Yugeon ruffled his hair and stood up.
“Not that—over there.”
He turned in the direction I pointed and spotted the slime.
“Oh!”
“It really exists.”

The slime had already gotten close to Do Yugeon.
He cheered and came toward me.
Cha Haneul got off the swing.
“I thought it was impossible, but it really exists. So now, do we catch it as planned?”
He took a picture of the slime with his smartphone.
“We have to.”
“I don’t really think catching that will give experience points, though.”
Do Yugeon grinned and rummaged through his bag.
A rubber mallet came out.
He’d bought it at Daiso while looking for slimes.
Do Yugeon held the rubber mallet and crouched down in the slime’s path.
As the slime approached, he brought the mallet down.
The slime burst, splattering blue liquid everywhere.
Then, in an instant, it turned into gold powder, flew toward Do Yugeon, and was absorbed.
“Huh.”
“See? See? What did I tell you! I was right!”
Do Yugeon jumped up and shouted excitedly.
“Wow, amazing.”
I didn’t know if what was absorbed was really experience points, but I applauded anyway.
It really felt like something fantasy-like was about to begin.
He continued shouting.
“The adventure begins now!”
Don’t just shout things like that out of the blue…