Demund opened his eyes. Instantly, the heaviness of his body filled his nerves and he lifted his arm slowly to adjust to his slower, duller body. He tried circulating; it made his body a little lighter, but a sharp but minor pain went through his head. It was more like a jolt of electricity than pain though, like his senses were stimulated with mana or SAP. Like usual, he got up on his bed and turned off the alarm.

He pushed himself to the side of the bed. His prosthetic was propped on the side, ready to be mounted. But he didn’t put it on. Weekends were more relaxed, and sometimes, the prosthetic was too bothersome. It choked on his leg like thick socks.

By now, he could walk around on one leg, at least in his house. So without equipping it, he hopped over to his drawers and quickly fetched some soft, baggy clothes. After putting them on, he hopped out of his room and went downstairs.

Why had she spit on him?

He sat down on the chair. Breakfast had already been set, and his mother was chewing on some toast.

“It’s a wonderful morning,” she greeted Demund. “Should I get you some milk? Or juice?”

“I think milk will be good,” answered Demund. “Thanks, Mom.”

Mrs. Blanner smiled and headed towards the kitchen. Demund pulled some toast on his plate and reached for some jam.

Was it some sort of marking?

There was no way to tell, but her spit had smelled…rather strong. And that weird gurgling noise she had made, like something was coming up from her stomach. And her blushing.

He took a bite out of the toast and put some slices of ham in his mouth. He chewed.

Oh man, she was ten.

He admitted that she was cute. Then again, no one from that world he saw looked ugly. But she was ten for goodness sake. He just hoped that it wasn’t the case.

……well. What to do.

“Here you go,” said his mom as she placed a glass of milk before him gently. “Careful not to choke.”

Demund took a big gulp out of the cup and swallowed. “Thank you.”

His mom sat back down and returned to her food. Her movements looked rather weak. Weaker than he had remembered it.

“Where’s Dad?” he asked, his mouth full again with food.

“The usual. Isn’t it great? He’s going to be promoted again.”

“No way.”

“I don’t believe it either. But he’s been working hard.”

“We should congratulate him.”

“Demund, I was thinking the same thing.”

Mrs. Blanner looked at her son who was rapidly consuming his meal hungrily. Lately, he was eating much more than usual, and seeing her son enjoy his food made her happy. Demund wasn’t short, but she thought it would be better if he grew more.

They were working so hard. Her husband, at work; her son, at school. Even on Saturday, her husband went to work while she stayed home. He had to try harder to make more time for his family, he had said to her. While she loved that side of him, sometimes her heart ached to see him exhausted when he arrived home.

Her son was the same—but in a different manner. There was not a single moment where she had seen him with something entertaining, excluding books. He was always doing something productive. He hadn’t been this way. The past year, she had seen wonders. Her son had transformed somehow.

Perhaps it had to do with his ability. Dreams, the doctor had said. Living out and fulfilling your dreams. That was what his ability probably was, and she felt content.

But a part of her believed it to be too unnatural. She didn’t know what abilities felt like, and neither did her husband. They were devoid of SAP, and Demund’s transformation had been very abrupt. Too abrupt even. She hadn’t seen anything notable happen, and yet it had happened—right under their noses. Something had happened. She didn’t know what.

“Mom, you’re staring too much. Do I have something on my face?”

“No. I just think my son is an amazing person.”

Demund swallowed and snorted. “I’m just being like Dad. Trying my best. That’s all.”

“Just don’t burn yourself out.”

“Hah. I don’t think I ever will.”

What was making him so motivated? So full of energy? What allowed him to push on? Were abilities this great? Could they really do this much? Transform people so significantly?

It was unnatural how quickly Demund had recovered from his accident. Just five months—and he had completely become used to it.

She had been so worried. It still lingered in her, but it had been pressed down by her son’s desire to stay above his misfortune. He had tried his best, and so would she. So had her husband.

“Why don’t you bring your friends over some time?”

“Here?”

Demund furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t think they’ll like it here. They’re super wealthy.”

He paused. “Actually…it might be a good idea. Maybe they’ll enjoy seeing the low life.”

“We’re not exactly poor, honey,” coughed Mrs. Blanner with a smile.

“Mom, you should have seen their houses. They’re…on a completely different level.”

He paused again. “Is there even anything to do here?”

“I can treat them to a meal. And you could walk around the neighborhood. We also have some board games in the storage.”

“Board games…I can’t believe we still have them.”

She had seen his friends visit the hospital. She saw his classmate’s car pick him up and drop him off every morning for two weeks. She wanted to thank them somehow.

“I’ll think about it,” he concluded.

Over the break, she and her husband had tried their best to fill their son’s weaknesses only to find out that he was more than capable of taking care of himself. But they had tried, and Demund had responded by being more dependent on them, even if it was just by a small amount.

But…as his mother, she would always worry.

Oblivious to her thoughts, Demund continued to think.

He wouldn’t have to spit on her too, would he?

〄 〄 〄

Well then. Back to Demund.

Demund put aside his thoughts from Shaden and crossed his arms while sitting on the couch. He began to think.

Obviously, Enariss had been startled by the hooded figure they had seen—two days ago? Ever since then, she had acted weirdly. She had canceled all of their runs and even her plan to study at her house. But why?

What kind of person or information would make her so unsettled?

He rolled his head. Was there anything he could do to help? Judging by the intensity of her reaction, he concluded that it couldn’t be something as simple as a broken friendship. Maybe a past trauma, or something related to her future or family.

He rubbed his chin.

Enariss had never, ever once told him about her past. Some things he could pick up at her house, like the absence of her mother, but that was the extent of things. Come to think of it, she had mentioned visiting some orphanages. Did that have to do with anything?

It couldn’t be something as serious as a big conspiracy that involved the rich, upper class and the businesses of the underworld, could it? If it was, then…he couldn’t do anything. He was just an ordinary high schooler, even if he aced his classes. It wasn’t like he was a genius hacker or fighter or had a crazy ability or specialized weapons…

No. Judging by her expressions, it seemed to be something more personal. Now then, what could he do about it?

………Absolutely nothing.

He turned on his phone and sent Enariss a text.

[If you need anything, let me know.]

Then he put it down and lifted his book up.

He would read to ease his worries.

〄 〄 〄

Enariss frowned as she scribbled in her notebook. It wasn’t that the questions were hard; it was just that she was too distracted to think properly. Nevertheless, she moved on to the next problem with expert precision.

Maybe she should have invited Demund over after all. Then again, there was no knowing when the reply from Xecalic would come. That’s what he called himself—she still thought it was a little overboard. It was a silly name, but he seemed to be doing well.

[Bee-beep]

?

Alerted by her phone, she took a look at its screen. A message from Demund. Her lips curled up as she read the message and she pushed her long hair to the side.

He was worried, wasn’t he?

Then again, had her uneasiness shown on her face that much? She was sure she had kept her face as natural as possible. She rubbed her neck and let out a deep breath. It was good that he cared for her. But honestly, they were becoming more like close friends. While a part of her was frustrated, a part of her thought that it would be nice to enjoy the moment.

It could turn out to be a sham like before. Her forehead wrinkled as she remembered something from middle school. Something that had delivered the final blow.

She shook her head. It was a waste to think of trash with her time.

Now then, how would she reply?

Suddenly, the screen of her phone changed into a call, and a familiar song began to play from it. ‘Wannabe Secret Agent’—read the text on her screen. Her focus immediately shifted, and she felt a jolt of cool wind go down her back.

So soon? He had told her it would at least take two days!

Rayn had never lied to her before. With a swallow, she slid her hand across the device.

“Hello? Is this Seca?”

“Yo, Ena! How’s it goin~! I got some crazy news for ya!”

The male voice suddenly lowered into a whisper. “And please…call me Xecalic. It’s much cooler.”

“So, what’s the news?”

“Hmph. I’m glad you understand. Anyway—”

He paused and coughed. “I give up. Can’t do this; sorry ‘bout it.”

“What? What do you mean?”

The male voice let out a deep sigh. “Exactly what you’re hearing. I can’t do it.”

His voice turned into a whisper again. “You’re…is your device encrypted?”

“What? No. Who cares about my device.”

“Hmm…you’re right. It’s me they’re after, the greatest—”

Enariss rolled her eyes. “Who can’t even hack into the school’s database. Or security cameras. Or some small cooperation.”

“Hey, I can. But I can’t find something that doesn’t exist.”

“Hmmm? What does that mean?”

The other end of the call let out something like a mix between a cough and a grunt. “I looked through the info. School’s info I mean. And guess what? There’s nothing on the truck you talked about!”

“It was a van.”

“Same thing. The only thing related was a record of that kid’s injury. That’s it. Nothing that shows that the school hired the vehicle, nothing related to who even hired it.”

“……tell me more.”

“Yeah. Everything seemed to be wiped. It’s not that I couldn’t find traces of the information. If someone had erased it without me being able to detect the shards of info, then they’d have to be some sort of god of electricity and coding—”

“Focus, please.”

He coughed once. “So, nothing was even recorded.”

It still said too little about the situation. Maybe the school didn’t want its name to be tarnished. But no record at all? As the president of a club, she knew how meticulous the school’s organization of information was. Everything had to be recorded, even if it was just buying an additional ball. Something as big as hiring a vehicle—

Realization dawned on her. What if the school hadn’t called for the vehicle? What if—someone else did?

“That can’t be all you did.”

“Hmph. Course not. I’m Xecalic, the divine hacker.”

There was a sort of slurping noise in the background. “Cameras, I searched through them all using this program I—well, you wouldn’t care. But yeah, no car. The only footage was at the scene of the accident. Man! It looked brutal. And the quality wasn’t even that good.”

Enariss waited for him to continue.

“A ghost car—that’s what it looked like. Came out of nowhere, slammed into the poor dude.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, duh. As if I’d let something pretty interesting go. Well, I wanted to go real for once, so I plugged myself in. Any mentions of the car, the company it was related to, where it came from—literally all the stuff. Oh, and stuff concerning your friend.”

Another slurping noise. “There was nothing. All non-existent like the files from the school. Like they had never been recorded. Like—”

“It had been set up from the beginning.”

“Smart girl! That’s what I thought too. But you see, in this day and age, nothing can be hidden. And I found it. Traces of code that was scattered in the net. Pretty heavily encrypted.”

“And then? What did you find?”

“……a wall. A giant wall.”

His voice had lowered into a whisper once more.

“On the outside, it looked pretty harmless. Just scripts blocking certain pathways. Seemed pretty random, but I’m a genius.”

He took a deep breath. “The world government. The United World Management.”

“What?!”

“Wait, wait, don’t freak out. I’m not a full-blown criminal yet. And before you panic, I’ll just say that it was very loosely connected with the UWM. Nothin’ fully involved. Something like a small branch office. A really small branch office. Heck, even finding that was super hard, but thankfully, I had heard of them a few years back—you should be really grateful to me, you know?”

“I always am. So? What’s your conclusion?”

“Don’t be too hasty. The information felt super shady; you know—the same feel as the missing information. Like they exist, but as ghosts.”

He paused. “Ena, I could force myself in. But I’m not the only one with a network-based ability. There are countless others. A barrier, no matter how intricately woven, can be broken through. But if there are a thousand spiders remaking it, then it’s simply impossible. And besides—this is the UWM we’re talking about. You know I can’t get involved. I really want to get my government job.”

“………”

“Don’t worry. This much info won’t catch anyone’s attention. Man, I hate ghosts in cyberspace. They creep me out. But anyway—”

Enariss closed her eyes.

“Give up. Someone really wants it hidden. It’s not just your friend’s information; it feels much bigger. Too many restrictions. There are probably thousands of people involved, including your friend.”

“What does Demund even mean to them? He’s just a cripple!”

“Hmm…I am absolutely clueless. Well, that took way too much time. It was fun while it lasted—but hey, don’t forget to send the funds over.”

“I’ll send it today.”

“Excellent! Now if you’ll excuse me—”

There was a crackle of static and a jumble of bottles.

“Oh, and one more thing. The ghost-like code I mentioned—there was a student in your school who shared the, feel? Not really sure, but it seemed interesting. Well, he graduated, so it wouldn’t matter…wait.”

Enariss heard a sharp intake of breath. Then a lot of keyboard-tapping noises in the background.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait—Ena, can I get back to you later? I found something really interesting. Just gimme one or two more days. But send the donations, yeah?”

“Thanks, Seca.”

“It’s Xecalic. Now, I got some exploring to do. I’ll send over the report when I’m done.”

The phone clicked off.

“Hah…”

The UWM. Seriously?

It was no secret that they kept their eyes on everyone. And naturally, everyone’s privacy was protected to a certain degree from hackers. But for Seca to mention them explicitly meant that this would be a few stages deeper than normal.

Just like when they were trying to dig out information on Rayn. They had gotten into a lot of trouble back then.

She’d have to see his report to wrap her head around it. Letting out a cry of frustration, she fell on her back on the carpet and stretched her arms out.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t replied yet.

She went back to the chat between her and Demund and stared at it.

Who are you, Demund? Why would anyone want to hurt you?

Why would his accident be intentional? Why would a branch of the UWM try to cover it up?

This had all begun with Rayn. Wherever he went, he always caused something big. She had seen his records once at the cost of a week of scolding by her father. They had fought a lot back then.

“Ach!”

She let out a cry as her device fell on her face. She quickly lifted it back up, and to her shock, she had accidentally begun a call with Demund. In a hurry, she canceled the call and turned to the side.

[Sorry. I accidentally pushed it.]

She sent the message and thought.

[I’m fine! Just a cold. I’m surprised you noticed it.]

That would explain why she couldn’t have him over. She fell on her back again and closed her eyes.

〄 〄 〄

A cold? Was it really just a cold?

Demund frowned at the message. No, it wasn’t just a cold. It couldn’t be. How would a cold explain the hooded person and Enariss’s desperate chase after him/her?

He had been fast, so maybe Enariss thought he hadn’t seen him. She was hiding something. She was from a very wealthy family, she did possess an incredible ability, and she was the definition of a perfect girl—

Maybe the last part didn’t matter, but by the looks of it, this was something he couldn’t interfere in. He had nothing to do with it, after all. Something involving the upper class and their affairs in politics or some extravagant business—he had no part in it.

He wished he had. If he were Shaden, he would have been able to track down whoever it was Enariss had chased. And help her out more. Alas, he was just Demund.

[Get well soon!]

He sent the text and put his phone down. Everyone had their own problems. It would be rude to press the matter further. If people questioned him intently on his life in the other world, he would be more than uncomfortable.

Living in different worlds. Today, Demund empathized with the phrase more.