Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

“Thank you.”

Jaewook sent the guest off and sighed as he sat in his chair.

“Haa.”

It had already been three months since university student Jaewook started his part-time job at a convenience store.

Even in this era, where unmanned stores are all over the place, there were still some convenience stores being properly manned.

One such place was this ‘Moon Village,’ which surprisingly still existed in the advanced Republic of Korea.

“At least they pay decently, or I wouldn’t bother.”

This convenience store near the Moon Village stuck to traditional staffing methods for reasons like theft prevention.

They even offered proper night shifts, despite not having too many customers.

But I guess they’re still operating because they’re making a profit.

While guarding the quiet night convenience store and fiddling with his smartphone, Jaewook had to greet the next customer in just a few minutes.

Ding ding.

“Welcome!”

The bell above the store’s door jingled as a person entered. Jaewook switched back to the mindset of a diligent service worker.

However, when he stood up and looked around the store, he couldn’t see any customers.

Oh, is that the customer?

Wee-oo.

A faint mechanical sound could be heard. Jaewook peeked around the corner of the display shelves and caught a glimpse of the customer’s profile.

Snow-white skin and snow-white hair.

Could it be an albino? Yet she didn’t seem sickly at all.

In a Korea that had mixed races due to increasing immigration with discussions about low birth rates, seeing someone with silvery, whitish hair was quite rare.

She had a petite build.

She was beautiful, but her appearance leaned more toward cute than pretty.

Even in his dull part-time job schedule, she was a ray of sunlight.

“But, you know…”

Jaewook, who was always eager to approach pretty girls on campus, felt no urge to get her contact information after seeing such a beautiful girl.

First of all, she looked too young.

Jaewook’s strike zone was for older women, not kids like her.

Could she be around fourteen or fifteen? Best case, maybe a high schooler?

If a college student like Jaewook were to flirt with her, that’d be a crime.

She couldn’t have been more than 150cm tall.

The reason Jaewook couldn’t be sure was because of the automatic wheelchair the girl was riding.

Even on a global scale, South Korea’s welfare system was quite decent.

Probably, even for someone living in a place like this Moon Village, the government would at least provide electric wheelchairs.

“Tsk.”

Jaewook clicked his tongue.

What could have happened to that girl?

Since he hadn’t seen her with a guardian, he could easily guess she lived alone.

Her small stature also triggered his protective instincts, and looking at her made him feel a strong sense of pity.

The girl in the wheelchair had been a familiar sight during Jaewook’s three-month stint at the store; he had tried to speak to her but had never heard her voice clearly.

She only expressed her intentions by nodding or shaking her head slightly.

Jaewook, busy enough taking care of himself as a college student, didn’t have the right to meddle further without knowing her circumstances living alone in this Moon Village.

Tap.

It seemed like the girl finished shopping.

What she placed on the table, as usual, was one triangle gimbap and one cup noodle. And a welfare card.

Also, there was one item she hadn’t bought before.

It was a can of beer.

“……?”

Jaewook looked at the girl with a puzzled expression.

The girl avoided Jaewook’s gaze.

He intended to just ring her up but couldn’t help but ask.

“Um, excuse me, but minors can’t purchase alcohol…”

Zing!

Between the strands of her silvery hair that partly covered one eye, her obsidian-like pupil shone fiercely.

Jaewook was taken aback by her gaze.

In the three months he had seen her, this was the first time she showed emotions.

Her cute appearance contrasted sharply with the fierce glare of a warrior fresh from battle.

Tap.

The girl silently pulled out another card.

“Gasp…!”

What she placed on the checkout counter was her ID with her photo on it.

[Lee Seulbi]
24xxxx-4xxxxxx

“Born in ’24…!”

From her birth year, he realized the girl was definitely nineteen years old.

She was an adult fully capable of buying alcohol without issue!

“I’m so sorry! You just look so young!”

Jaewook freaked out at the revelation that such a youthful-looking girl was actually the same age as him, hurriedly completing the transaction.

Bow.

Returning to her usual vacant gaze, the girl slightly lowered her head while sitting in her wheelchair.

Wee-oo.
Ding ding.

Phew!

He heard the store’s door close, and Jaewook released the breath he had been holding, collapsing onto his chair.

“Haha, an adult, huh?”

It’s hard to believe how many things there are in the world, but Jaewook was genuinely shocked today.

Of course, he had seen adult women shorter than 150cm, but he had never seen one looking this young.

Yet again, he felt pity for her.

The girl’s stunted growth to that age was most likely due to not having had proper meals since she was a child.

“How awful.”

While Jaewook didn’t know the details of her situation, he couldn’t help but blame South Korea.

If they were going to support vulnerable populations, they should do it properly.

Now alone again, Jaewook drifted into thought before opening his smartphone to watch a video.

[Full Dive Virtual Reality, ‘Astria Online’ Official Service Launch Imminent.]

In this era defined by singularities, a massive RPG game was receiving acclaim for excellently integrating virtual reality systems into the lives of people globally.

The final promotional video for that game had gone up.

The interest from gamers worldwide for this game had been so tremendous that during beta, they had to split the servers by country due to congestion.

As the girl’s contemplation faded from Jaewook’s mind, he smiled while watching the PV.

“I’ll be a capsule owner soon.”

That was what had motivated Jaewook to stick with his part-time job at the Moon Village convenience store for three months.

Of course, households had nearly all secured one capsule by now, but for Jaewook, living independently and juggling living expenses and tuition, buying his own capsule required a significant commitment.

He spent his tedious working hours imagining himself enjoying adventures in the Continent of Astria.

*

Pwah! Eww! Pthh, pthh!

Ugh, what’s this?
This definitely wasn’t the taste of beer I remembered before.

Is this body preventing me from drinking properly?

Then again, during his activities on the Continent of Astria, his compatibility with the beer-loving Dwarf warrior Ain was also poor.

I chuckled, reminiscing about Ain, who used to joyfully chitchat while holding a beer mug in the tavern.

Ain had stopped me from drinking, claiming I was too young.

Upon being called as the Hero by the god of this other world, the new body I received wasn’t an adult from the start.

Seven years old.

When I fell into this world, I was about seven years old—traded my lost life on Earth for the new body I got.

It was a body so frail that I couldn’t even wield a spoon properly.

The fact that my gender had changed didn’t matter much at this point.

My weak body managed to function thanks to the holy sword I had been forced to grip and the surrounding environment.

I had fallen in front of the church holding only a holy sword, and as a hero blessed by the divine, I was raised by the priests.

Then, in the year when my body finally turned twelve, the church was burned down by demons.

I shook my head vigorously.

I find myself recalling the past without wanting to.

This is Earth.

Not the Continent of Astria.

I have completed my mission as a hero and returned to Earth.

But is that truly the case?
Were all the adventures I experienced on the Continent of Astria real?

Am I just a poor girl who suffered an accident, experiencing a psychotic episode and picturing this?

I was a man in my previous life, died on Earth, received a new body in this other world, ventured for over a decade to defeat the Demon Lord, and finally returned to Earth.

If they plan to really send me back, they better provide some after-service too.

I can’t just be sent back with a broken body after fighting the Demon Lord; how am I supposed to survive?

I poured the beer I couldn’t finish down the drain.

What a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.

Swish.

As I spilled the beer, my gaze fell upon a slender wrist and pale arm.

Kick.

For some reason, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I had gotten used to this slender childlike physique.

It didn’t feel real.

But this was my voice.

Wee-oo.

I maneuvered the electric wheelchair, heading toward my home while carrying the food I bought at the convenience store today.

Legs that wouldn’t move on their own.

This too seemed surreal.

But these are my legs.

Indeed.

Right now, I was lacking a sense of reality.

Severely so.

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