Daldal: Main story

Chapter 4

"Dead... no, alive. What the hell......"

A unfamiliar voice pulled up the consciousness that had been deeply submerged. Struggling, he attempted to pry open his eyelids, but silence enveloped him. It seemed as though an invisible force had sealed them tight. The exertion to open and close his eyes gradually brought his consciousness back to the tangible threads of reality.

The first thing he felt upon waking was this.

"I'm hungry... I'm hungry..."

Hunger.

"What? What's happening? You woke up, what's going on? Huh? Huh?"

A persistent poke at his side elicited a groan from Eun-oh. Once more, he strained to open his eyelids, overcoming the resistance as they finally lifted with a popping sound, as if tearing away a seal. Amidst the stiffness, his pupils were greeted by a blurry, indistinct mass. Through repeated blinks, the form gradually sharpened.

Guiding his hazy pupils, Eun-oh shifted his gaze slowly. To the right, a brownish cage came into view, and as he raised his eyes, a dim ceiling unfolded above him. Turning to the left...

"Huh!"

Startled, Eun-oh quickly sat up. It was because of the unfamiliar face that invaded his field of vision. In turn, the other person was equally surprised and exclaimed

"Oh my goodness!" while shouting "Ae!"

"Surprise, really! You almost scared me with your jump!"

Eun-oh quickly scanned the woman's face. She was a girl, roughly his age or slightly older. Regardless, he didn't recognize her face after looking this way and that.

"W-who are you?"

In response to his cautious question, the woman, with a sharp expression, merely glanced at him without saying anything. Then, she reached out to open the door and suddenly shouted outside.

"Ae! He's awake!"

Her voice was very loud. The woman, who had announced Eun-oh's awakening to someone, sat back down and pouted her thin lips.

"You slept so soundly with your arms stretched out."

"Who on earth are you..."

"I'm the one who should be asking, right? Who are you? Who brought the young master here in the middle of the night and dumped him?"

Young master?

Who is the young master?

Eun-oh, with a puzzled expression, tilted his head. The woman then asked incredulously.

"Don't tell me you don't remember?"

Remember?

Remembering...

"Oh!"

It hit him. He remembered. Eun-oh carefully sifted through the memories surfacing in his mind.

He had stolen some man's belongings, got caught, and instead of facing death, he had sworn to do whatever the man commanded in the future. He remembered dragging his reluctant legs to follow the man's order and chasing after him. However, he soon lost his way. It was because he couldn't see ahead.

He had to move relying on the man's track, but as time passed, that presence weakened.
Eventually, he lost his direction and wandered in the darkness for a long time. It wasn't that he had attempted to escape actively.

The truth was, he hadn't actively sought the man. He hoped to slip away while the man was off guard. So, he squatted down, keeping an eye out, and suddenly felt an immense pain in his neck. That was it. After that, nothing else came to mind. He lost consciousness with a sudden attack and woke up here. The middle part was a blank void.