The first memory Lee (Is) had in his life was of himself desperately searching for something.

A small-framed young boy was scurrying around, looking down at the ground as he navigated through the gaps between fallen trees and structures.

“I found it!”

He picked mushrooms growing from rotten wood and stuffed them into the dirty hem of his shirt before hurriedly making his way back to the hideout.

“Chef! I brought some food!”

“Huh? How many times do I have to tell you it’s dangerous outside, you little brat!”

Spindle, the cook of the group, scolded him, but upon seeing the armful of mushrooms, he poured them out onto the floor and began sorting them.

“Hey, these are poisonous. Eat these, and you’ll die. And this one too.”

“Oh…”

“But the rest are edible.”

“Wow!”

Lee cheered.

Only three of the mushrooms were poisonous, so it wasn’t a bad haul.

“Put your head down.”

“Yes!”

Whack!

Spindle struck Lee on the head with his fist.

Lee fell to the ground but quickly stood up again, only to receive two more hits in succession.

After three blows, Spindle began teaching Lee how to distinguish between edible and poisonous mushrooms.

“Got it? I told you this before. If you forget again, I’ll turn you into mush.”

He tossed an old, frayed botany book to Lee as he issued the warning.

Aside from his lack of knowledge, Lee was a fairly useful assistant for his age.

That’s why they kept him alive.

“Come on, we need to make dinner for the Boss and Arsil.”

“Yes.”

While Lee was frying the mushrooms, other children began returning to the hideout one by one.

Most of them came back empty-handed, looking dejected.

“Anyone who didn’t bring anything, go over there.”

At Spindle’s gesture, the children trembled and gathered where he pointed.

The adults in the hideout surrounded them with clubs in hand.

“Why should we feed and shelter you if you can’t even earn your keep?”

“I-I’m sorry…!”

With a heavy thud, the clubs mercilessly beat the children.

The beating only stopped when the children, curled up in fear, finally lay motionless.

“The Boss is coming! Spindle, how’s dinner?”

“Almost done. Hey, kid, set the table.”

Lee swiftly placed the plates, forks, and knives on the wooden table.

Two sets, one for the Boss and one for Arsil.

“Well, that smells good.”

Brak was the only man who had ever unified the Filthy Alley.

With his ruthless fists, he crushed the skulls of those who resisted, growing his gang into the most powerful force in the alley and establishing a hierarchy with himself at the top.

It was a system of exploitation where Brak exploited the competent, the competent exploited the incompetent, and the incompetent exploited the weaker women and children.

Yet, despite his ruthlessness, there was one child Brak cherished.

“How is it, Arsil? We even have mushrooms today.”

“They smell bad….”

Slap!

Arsil was slapped and thrown to the floor.

When Brak said he cherished her, it meant he wouldn’t kill her when she annoyed him.

“Eat.”

“I really can’t… Ugh!”

The brown-haired girl was forced to swallow the mushroom stir-fry, her mouth held shut.

She scalded the roof of her mouth and throat with the hot mushrooms, and the smell made her want to vomit, but Arsil endured, trembling.

If she threw up, she would die.

She was certain of that.

Following the survival rules that had been forcibly instilled in her young mind, Arsil took small breaths to cool the food while Brak contentedly ate his dinner.

Swoosh

A cup of water was placed in front of her.

It was Lee.

She didn’t say thank you; she just took the cup.

The last time she did, Lee had been kicked by Brak.

Lee then placed another cup of water at Brak’s place.

“Did you cook this?”

“Yes.”

“Did you gather the mushrooms too?”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, Brak picked up the plate and struck Lee on the head.

The plate shattered, and blood dripped from Lee’s forehead.

“Arsil doesn’t like them, so don’t bring mushrooms again.”

“Yes.”

After finishing his meal, Brak went out to patrol his territory with Arsil.

The broken plate pieces and leftover mushroom stir-fry lay scattered on the floor.

Lee couldn’t take his eyes off them, feeling regretful.

Spindle, annoyed, snapped at Lee, who was still bleeding.

“Hurry up and do the dishes, kid!”

Late at night, Arsil nudged Lee, who was sleeping beside her, to wake him up.

“Lee, you have to wake up.”

“Mmm…”

Rubbing his eyes, Lee sat up, the blood on his forehead now crusted over.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“I’m fine. What about you, Arsil? You swallowed those hot mushrooms without cooling them.”

Arsil opened her mouth wide with a grin.

“I’m all healed.”

Arsil and Lee were unique even in the Filthy Alley.

Children weren’t born in the Filthy Alley.

It was a den where those who had committed crimes or fled from sin ended up, a place where people preyed on each other like animals.

Women who were too weak were often raped and killed.

Even if a woman was pregnant, there were no exceptions.

So what about the children who were there?

It was simple.

They were kids who had been kidnapped or abducted from outside.

But Arsil was different.

She was born to a woman who had arrived at the Filthy Alley after struggling with all her might.

The woman, dressed in the robes of a priestess who served the goddess, gave birth and then died.

Brak found the situation curious, so he decided to keep Arsil alive and even took a liking to her.

And what about Lee?

Lee was simply found wrapped in a bundle left at the entrance to the hideout.

It was not long after Arsil had been born.

[The surname is Lee, but there is no given name. Please name and raise this child.]

The note, neatly written, contrasted sharply with the dirty cloth it was attached to.

The surname “Lee” didn’t suggest any connection to a noble family.

Brak left Lee out for three days and nights, but the baby neither cried nor died.

“A kid like this will be useful when they grow up. He’s extraordinary even as a baby.”

The ruler of the Filthy Alley took in both Arsil and Lee, seeing them as auspicious omens.

Two children truly born of the Filthy Alley.

They were Arsil and Lee.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’ve got the sweet herbs and bracken all prepared.”

“Let’s go.”

The two of them, who slept a little apart from the other children, woke up at a time when even the adults were fast asleep and quietly made their way to where the children were.

“Arsil…?”

“Yes, it’s me, Jack.”

“Lupino’s ankle is weirdly swollen.”

“Let me see.”

The children, who were already awake, made way for Arsil as she approached.

Lupino, whose ankle was so swollen it nearly buried the bone, was sweating profusely.

“I’ll heal you.”

At those words, the children unfolded the rags they were holding and covered the area.

Once Arsil and Lupino were covered by the rags, her hands began to glow white.

The swelling on the affected area began to subside little by little.

But before all the swelling could be reduced, Arsil stopped using her divine power.

“How is it?”

“It’s much better, thank you, Arsil.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t heal you completely…”

“No, if I suddenly got all better, the adults would definitely find it suspicious.”

Meanwhile, Lee was secretly handing out the sweet herbs he had gathered and the bracken he had boiled and dried to the children.

The children who had returned empty-handed during the day and hadn’t eaten anything, only to be beaten, devoured the greens hungrily.

Because of this secret care, the children didn’t envy the two who were treated specially by the group.

Instead, they saw them as the only ones they could truly trust and follow.

“Chew it slowly and thoroughly. If you swallow it too quickly, you might choke and die.”

“Next up? Let’s start with those who find it hard to move or feel pain even when they’re still.”

Every night, the brown-haired girl and the black-haired boy evaded the adults’ eyes to heal and feed the children.

When exactly this had started, they couldn’t remember.

It began after Arsil awakened her divine power and Lee started learning to cook and reading the botany book to gather even just greens.

“I wish I could grow up soon. Then I could take revenge on all of them.”

“Hey, why are you saying such scary things?”

“Arsil, you got scolded today too. They beat us up just because they’re adults.”

“And you think you can beat them when you grow up?”

“By the time I grow up, they’ll all be old men!”

Listening to the conversation between Arsil and Jack, Lee had a thought.

By the time we grow up, will these adults even be alive?

And before that, will we be alive long enough to grow up?

“All done. We’re going back now.”

“Good night, Arsil. Good night, Lee.”

“Good night, Jack.”

Surprisingly, it was Lee, not Arsil, who waved and spoke.

Before he had the special item, the Porter’s Bag, and before he had the name Lin, Lee was an expressive and kind-hearted child—except in front of the adults.

“Lee.”

“Yeah?”

“Lie facing this way.”

“Why?”

“I want to sleep while looking at your face.”

Lee chuckled.

“You can’t see anything once you close your eyes anyway.”

“You idiot, it’s nice to see your face right before I close my eyes and right after I open them.”

“Why is that nice?”

“I don’t know, it just makes me feel good.”

“Alright, then.”

As he turned to face Arsil, the girl finally smiled.

And with that, Arsil found the comfort to end her day and the courage to start the next.

“Lee.”

“What is it, Arsil?”

“I really can’t eat mushrooms.”

“I know. I’ll find something else.”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

And the next day,

Lee found himself standing off against a silver-haired child with a bluish tint to her hair, holding a mushroom in his hand.

“What are you looking at, ugly brat?”

“Am I ugly?!”

“No, you look like crap.”

“You could just say I’m ugly. Depending on how you say it, the meaning changes a lot.”

“Who cares.”

“What hole did you crawl out of?”

“Why do you want to know?”

What a charming conversationalist.

No matter how good-natured Lee was, he couldn’t help but frown.

“You’re even crappier now.”

“You’re really annoying.”

“Yeah, and you look like crap.”

Better not engage with her.

Shuddering, Lee began to pack up the mushrooms and move away from the girl.

Grrrgle

Until he heard her stomach growl.

“Ugh…!”

The girl’s face turned red as she clutched her belly, but she couldn’t stop the hunger.

Sighing, Lee took out a mushroom again and tore it into small pieces.

Just in case, he bit off a piece and chewed it to confirm it was safe, then offered the whole mushroom to the silver-haired girl.

“Do you want some?”

She was too hungry to refuse.

“I have water too.”

And water, a precious commodity in the Filthy Alley.

The girl felt a tickling sensation in her chest, something she had never felt before, as she accepted this rare kindness.

Staring blankly at Lee, the girl found herself saying something she didn’t even realize she was thinking.

“I’ve actually been waiting for a man like you for a long time…”

“Huh?”

“…What?!”

The silver-haired girl turned beet red and rolled around on the ground in embarrassment.

“She’s got a lot of energy. Is she not that hungry?”

Lee tilted his head in confusion.

And so, this was how Lin and Ravin met for the first time.