Chapter 2

War makes you lose someone. Even if you’re lucky enough to not lose your own life, someone else’s will surely vanish. But not everyone who survives is lucky. The later lives of war orphans who’ve lost both parents are often far from fortunate.

Hendrik is one such person. He’s 14 years old. He lost his parents during the war and has three younger siblings. You could say he’s at an age where he should be cared for rather than caring for others, but the world isn’t so forgiving right now.

Despite this, Hendrik tried his best. He believed he had to protect his siblings. Of course, raising children alone isn’t easy. He spends all day going up and down the mountain, collecting branches, or searching for wild greens and medicinal herbs, but these aren’t money-making endeavors. His still-immature body can’t do much, and there’s no way to earn money when even adults struggle to survive. So, for now, all he can do is roam the mountain to gather food and firewood.

‘I have to find something today.’

His siblings are at Mrs. Hopa’s house in the village. She’s someone who takes in children from parents in similar circumstances and cares for them during the day. It’s not free, of course. There’s no set fee, but he still needs to compensate her. Since he hasn’t brought anything worthwhile in days, he definitely needs to today.

‘Is it because the wind blew so hard last night? There are a lot of broken branches today.’

He doesn’t have the strength to chop wood like adults, nor does he have tools like an ax. Even if he could cut wood, he couldn’t carry it back to the village, so all he can do is gather dry or broken branches and tie them together. But today, the amount was quite significant. He gathered them with vines and tied them tightly, but he couldn’t carry them. Even just dragging them little by little left him breathless. It wasn’t actually a huge amount for an adult. He was just 14 years old, and his physique wasn’t large for his age. He’d been prioritizing his siblings when food was available, so it had been a while since he’d eaten properly himself.

‘I need to muster some strength…’

His body felt worse than yesterday. He could feel that he was reaching his limit, but he couldn’t give up.

‘If I don’t move, I can’t take care of my siblings.’

He had promised his father and mother before they died that he would protect his siblings until the end. No, it wasn’t just because of that promise. Protecting and caring for his family was a given. If he didn’t care for them, the children would become vagrants or fall prey to wicked adults and end up in bad places.

“Huu!”

He took a deep breath again, steeling his resolve. His scrawny body, clad in rags, showed gaunt bones underneath, but his eyes were clear. However, that clear gaze didn’t last long. He tried to pull himself together multiple times, but at some point, his vision blurred, and his legs gave out.

“Uh…”

He didn’t even have the strength to make a loud sound. Hendrik, who had dropped the bundle of wood he was dragging, collapsed and lost consciousness.

“Ugh…”

When he opened his eyes, he saw a patch of grass. He managed to gather enough strength to roll over, and light streamed through the bushes and leaves.

‘Did I roll down here?’

His body ached everywhere, but thankfully, nothing seemed broken.

‘My head hurts.’

Did he hit his head somewhere? Hendrik, squinting with throbbing pain, repeatedly scanned his surroundings. Looking at the amount of sunlight, he thought not much time had passed. However, he soon looked up again, towards the rays of light pouring down on him.

‘Perhaps… my devotion wasn’t enough.’

There was a small temple in the village. But you had to pay to enter, so after his parents died, he’d never been inside and always prayed outside. Was that why? Was he too far away for his voice to reach God? Was his lack of devotion causing him this hardship?

“…”

Hendrik tried to force himself up but grew despondent as his head hurt more and his body wouldn’t move. His limbs trembled, and he broke into a cold sweat. He felt like he couldn’t move without eating something right away. But he had no food on him. All he had were rags barely covering his body and a stone knife he used to cut tough herbs or vines.

‘It’s gone.’

No. The stone knife was also gone, probably dropped somewhere when he rolled down. The branches he had painstakingly gathered and tied were caught on a tree stump a little further up. But could he carry them to the village in his current state? Hendrik felt his strength draining, but he forced himself to focus again.

‘I need to eat something.’

He looked around, but there didn’t seem to be any edible grass or tree bark. He didn’t know all types of plants yet, but he knew at least a few edible ones.

‘I don’t even know where I am.’

This wasn’t his usual path. Was it a mistake to go to an unexplored area since there had been no harvest recently? He seemed to have fallen into some kind of valley, and he felt he needed to climb back up to orient himself.

‘It could be dangerous.’

Animals lived in this mountain too. He had heard stories of wild beasts roaming around. He hadn’t seen them directly yet, but given the situation, he couldn’t help but feel scared.

‘I can’t… get up.’

But no matter how much he tried to muster strength, he seemed to have none left. He managed to lift his upper body, but his legs were as heavy as rocks and refused to move.

“Ugh…!”

Forcing them, they trembled and moved slightly, but then his vision blurred again, and he lost strength.

“…”

Hendrik slumped back down and saw the dizzying, swirling sky above. If things continued like this, returning to the village wouldn’t be the problem; he might die here. Could he shout for adults?

“Ah…”

He hadn’t eaten properly in so long that his voice was raspy, small, and weak, barely audible even a few steps away.

“Please help me…”

Hendrik began to pray. He didn’t expect any adults who might be nearby to hear him. What Hendrik looked at was the sky, faintly visible beyond the light rays between the leaves.

“Please…”

Please help me. Oh, God. Save me.

His voice barely came out now, but he didn’t stop. But he knew himself that such a small voice probably wouldn’t reach God.

“…”

Tears slowly welled up and flowed down his face. These were tears he had forced himself to hold back because he couldn’t show weakness in front of his siblings.

“I’m sorry…”

If I were stronger, if I were big and strong enough to help adults, I wouldn’t have made you suffer. Hendrik sobbed, thinking of his siblings. It was a moment later that he saw something strange through his tear-blurred vision.

“…”

Something seemed to shimmer in the air before him. Slowly wiping away his tears with the back of his hand, Hendrik could see it clearly.

‘Letters…?’

He couldn’t read. Like most people in his village, his parents were illiterate, so they couldn’t teach him. But he knew it was at least letters. That wasn’t all. Someone’s voice reached his ears.

-Your request for help has been accepted. -Connecting to: Go Jinhwan. -Would you like to accept the mutual connection?

It was an adult’s voice. But the emotionless tone made it seem inhuman. He heard it with his ears, but it felt like it wasn’t heard by his ears. Forcing his upper body up again, Hendrik confirmed no one else was around and looked forward once more. In the air before him, unintelligible letters still floated.

-Would you like to accept the mutual connection?

When he hesitated, the last part of the phrase he’d heard just moments ago repeated, as if urging him. It wasn’t from beside him, nor from above him. It was a voice that seemed to echo inside his head. Hendrik startled and looked towards the sky.

“You… you heard me.”

It was God. God had clearly heard his prayer. Hendrik quickly bowed his head. He wanted to kneel and prostrate himself, but his legs still wouldn’t move.

-Would you like to accept the mutual connection?

“Uh… Yes. I accept… I will accept.”

He didn’t know what it was talking about. But he couldn’t refuse what God asked. He had to accept it, of course. He nodded repeatedly, saying he would accept.

-Mutual connection accepted. -Connection activated. -Transmitted target exists. -Would you like to receive it?

The continuing voice still felt emotionless, but he didn’t have the luxury to care about that. After the letters that quickly appeared and disappeared, Hendrik blinked his eyes, seeing something similar appear in the air.

“…”

Something was floating in the air before him. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he’d seen it wrong, but it was still there. It was something larger than his forearm combined… perhaps something that looked like bread, wrapped in a transparent, thin material. Beside it was a white, angular object, also about the size of his forearm, with colorful pictures and text.

-Would you like to receive the target?

The voice continued. It was hard to understand the current situation, but he seemed to understand what it was asking. It was asking if he wanted to receive those things.

“…Yes.”

Was he dreaming? The floating objects slowly descended onto his legs. But that slight weight wasn’t a dream.

-[Jumbo Bread] and [Milk] have been received.

With that, the voice fell silent. But the items on his legs remained. Hendrik slowly reached out and touched them.

“It’s real.”

They were definitely real. When he touched them, the voice that had stopped returned, explaining what they were. It felt like it was considerate of him, who couldn’t read.

“My voice… reached out.”

As if by a miracle, his legs moved slightly for a moment. Of course, it wasn’t enough to say they were perfectly fine. But as if understanding what that meant, Hendrik knelt on the spot and bowed.

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

God had given him food. He thanked Him countless times.

“Jumbo Bread… Milk…”

He didn’t know what “Jumbo” meant, but he could tell it was bread just by looking. He similarly understood “milk.” Animal milk was also consumed here.

‘Is it the milk of an animal living where God resides?’

Perhaps it could be food from another region he’d never been to, but somehow, he felt it wasn’t.

Rustle.

The packaging of the Jumbo Bread, carefully peeled off, was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was thin like a dragonfly’s wing yet so tough that it felt impossible to tear. The large bread was made of two flat, large pieces joined together. Something sticky was slightly oozing from between them. It had almost no smell, but it seemed like some kind of syrup. Bread with syrup, and such soft and tender bread, wouldn’t be easy to buy even in the city. Of course, he’d never been to the city, but he somehow felt that way. Because it was food sent by God.

“I’m sorry… I’ll just eat a little.”

He wanted to feed his siblings in the village first, but now it was clear what took precedence. Hendrik carefully bit off a piece from one end.

‘Sweet and soft.’

It was so delicious that his parched mouth immediately filled with saliva. He ate without even knowing how he chewed and swallowed, then quickly came to his senses. He thought he’d only had one bite, but he could already see he had taken several. Still, it was a huge loaf of bread, not even a quarter or even an eighth gone, but he stopped there.

“Ah… thankfully.”

He thought he’d lost it like the stone knife, but looking a little behind him, there was a wooden water bottle hanging from a string. He almost crawled over to it and thankfully, it wasn’t broken. Hendrik gulped down the little water remaining in it, then carefully poured the milk into the bottle.

‘I shouldn’t let anyone know.’

It was a kind of instinct. Like he had gained something he couldn’t protect. So, he couldn’t take the milk or bread as they were back to the village.

‘Delicious.’

He drank the milk that couldn’t fit in the water bottle on the spot. Since he had to roam the mountain all day, the water bottle wasn’t small, but there was quite a lot of milk, so he could drink a significant amount. Next, Hendrik completely removed the Jumbo Bread from its packaging and took off his top shirt to wrap it carefully. Then, he folded the bread packaging and milk carton as small as possible and tried to bury them in the ground there. Before he could, the divine voice spoke again.

-Help connection is mutual. -If you pay a price for help, there is a possibility of receiving help in the future.

Author’s Note

I will write diligently.