Parallel World.

Another world that is said to exist alongside ours.

In the end, it's just science fiction. I never believed in it.
At least, not until yesterday.

When I woke up, something felt off.

I thought the dizziness and weakness in my body were symptoms of a cold, but that wasn’t it.

The moment I looked into the full-length mirror in my room, I froze.

What I saw was a small child, about 130 cm tall.

Golden bobbed hair.

Mysterious blue eyes.

The face looking back at me was even cuter than the child actors you’d see on TV.
What the hell was going on?

I pinched my cheeks, and the pain was real.

Then, suddenly, a flood of memories crashed into me.

I clutched my head in agony, unsure how much time passed.

It might have been only about a minute, but it felt like the most painful moment of my life.

And then, I understood.

This was a parallel world, not the world I had lived in before.

My name was Han Yuna.

I was 21 years old.

I had no family.

No, I did. But my parents and older sister died in an accident.

It happened on the day we were supposed to go on our first overseas trip.

A plane crash.

My parents and sister shielded me with their bodies, allowing me to survive.

I was the only one left.

The reason my room was a mess.

The reason I woke up in such a skinny body.

I realized...

The "me" from this parallel world had tried to die.

Or... did I come to this world, and the version of me from here went to mine?

I don’t know.
I don’t know anything anymore.
My mind can't process this.

I laid back down on the bed.

Something nudged my hand, and I found a bankbook.

It contained an unimaginable amount of money.
It was the insurance payout from my parents' and sister's life insurance.

Every cent was still there, untouched.

If I go back to sleep, will I be able to return to my original world?

I miss my family from my original world.

I miss my mom.
I miss my dad.
I miss my sister.

I want to eat mom's soybean stew again. I want to go fishing with dad.
I even miss the instant noodles my sister, who treated me like her little servant, would sometimes make for me.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, a loud growl came from my stomach.

I was starving to the point where my stomach felt like it was sticking to my back.

How long had it been since I last ate?

Dragging my weak body out of bed, I opened the door and stepped into the chaos that was the rest of the house.

Trash was scattered everywhere, glass shards and bloodstains were smeared across the floor.

Retracing my steps, I went into the kitchen. When I opened the fridge, a horrid smell hit me, and I quickly slammed it shut.

Rummaging through the kitchen cabinets, I thankfully found some ramen and started eating it in a hurry.

I choked a little but kept shoveling it in.

I wanted to live.

I didn't want to die.

I have no idea why someone like me, who was living a normal life up until yesterday, ended up in such a situation.
But I want to survive.

After finishing the ramen, I sat down on the floor.

What should I do now?

Will I have to live in this world forever?

A world where I know no one?

The thought was terrifying.

A week passed.

During that time, I cleaned up the house and focused on regaining my strength.

I hired a cleaning service to help, but they gave me strange looks the whole time.

In the end, they refused to take money for their work, telling me to "stay strong" before I practically forced it into their hands.

I survived on food from the convenience store, while using my phone to gather information.

To my surprise, this parallel world was far more technologically advanced than the one I came from.

It had things I had only dreamed of—like fully immersive virtual reality games.

The perfect way to escape from reality.

I immediately ordered a gaming console and waited a week for it to arrive.

It finally came today.

It looked like a small VR device. Could this really take me into a virtual world?

After reading the manual, I plugged in the charger and lay down on the bed.

When I pressed the power button, I was instantly transported to another place.

A blank space with nothing in it.

From there, I logged into Arcana Online, the game that had held the number one spot in rankings for a long time.

The scene shifted.

[Welcome to Arcana Online.]

After the welcome message, I was transported to what seemed to be a training ground.

Standing before me was an angel with white wings.

"Greetings, traveler. My name is Raphael, and I am here to assist you on your journey."

"Please take care of me."

"Let's begin the tutorial, shall we?"

[Please set your nickname.]

"Yuna."

[Would you like to set your nickname as: Yunarohalkeyo?]

"What!? No! Just Yuna!"

[Nickname: Yuna.]

[Please select your appearance.]

This game didn’t allow much customization—just hair color, really.

Deciding to move on, I pressed the skip button, and a variety of weapons appeared before me.

[Please choose your weapon.]

There were swords, bows, staves, rapiers, gunlances, dual blades, bowguns, and countless other weapons.

I chose a staff.

[Based on your weapon choice, we recommend the following classes.]

[Mage]
[Elementalist]
[Cleric]
[Summoner]
:
:
:

There were many classes to choose from, but I selected Summoner.

I didn't want to travel alone.

I wanted to journey with someone.
I’m alone in the real world, but I didn’t want to be alone here as well.

[You have acquired a unique trait.]

A slot machine appeared before me.

Raphael gestured for me to pull the lever.

When I did, the machine made a loud noise and began to spin.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the EX-class trait: Protective Instinct.]

Protective Instinct: The ability to care for and shield others from harm or danger.

I had gained a fascinating ability.

Raphael’s expression changed the moment I obtained it.

"Ahem, this isn’t usually allowed, but here, take this."

He handed me a small egg.

"This will be a strong companion on your journey."

"Thank you, Raphael!"

"And take these as well!"

He gave me even more items before waving me off with a smile.

After the tutorial ended, I was transported to the starting village, Cradle.

I had received a lot of items... but were they any good?

I've never played a game before, so I didn’t know.

More importantly, when would this egg hatch?

I checked the egg in my hands, but no information popped up.

[???'s Egg]

I had no idea what it was.

If I don’t know, who would!?

Frustrated, I put the egg in my inventory and equipped the gear that Raphael had given me.

[Summoner's Ring]
Increases affinity with summoned creatures.

[Summoner's Necklace]
Increases bond with summoned creatures.

[Summoner's Earrings]
Increases satisfaction of summoned creatures.

Wearing all three accessories activated a set bonus.

[Summoner Accessory Set equipped.]
Summoned creatures’ stats are significantly increased.

But... I didn’t even have a summoned creature yet.

As I was about to head to the hunting grounds, someone called out to me.

"Hey, little miss, are you alone?"

I turned to see a large man, as big as a bear, waving me over.

When I approached, he handed me some bread.

"You must be new in this village. Take this and eat."

"I’m sorry, I don’t have any money."

"It’s fine, just eat. Do you want another?"

After receiving two more pieces of bread and thanking him, I watched him wave me off.

Taking a bite of the warm bread, I was shocked.

It tasted just like real bread.

No, it tasted even better.

"It’s the same taste I remember from Daejeon’s Bread City."

As I savored the soft, moist flavor, I wandered through the village, marveling at how real everything felt.

In this game, it was impossible to tell who was an NPC and who was a player.

It was a world where NPCs and players coexisted.

A fascinating game.

It was so lifelike.

I was wandering around, eating bread, and just about to head out of the village gates when I got stopped!?

"Little miss, why are you heading out at this hour?"
"I need to earn some money."

If I want to level up and buy items, I need money.

"Do you have a guardian?"

"Huh? No, I’m alone."

Tears welled up in the guard's eyes as he handed me something.

"Take this and stay strong."

The guards, who were on duty, kept giving me bags of money, even though I refused. Each time I declined, another bag appeared in my hands.

After I ended up with three, I thanked them and finally accepted. They told me to never give up and to come find Captain Charles if I ever had any trouble.

I told them I understood, and as I left the gates, they shouted words of encouragement and waved.

Was this game always this... friendly?

It's a world filled with warmth.