Chapter 1
When I first opened my eyes.
The very first thought that came to me was this.
‘Ah…am I dead…?”
It certainly seemed possible.
Just moments ago, I had been standing before the gate leading to the tower’s final floor, and the last thing I remembered was my vision turning bright red as the captain and the old man screamed my name like mad.
Normally, if things had gotten this far, it was only right to assume I was dead.
But then.
"…There are an awful lot of trees for this to be heaven."
A vast, endless green forest stretched out before me.
The birds chirped peacefully, the wind blew softly against my cheeks, and even the clear stream babbled along.
…
It was too peaceful.
Or was it? Was this heaven?
It couldn’t be hell, surely?
If this had been the tower, there should have been at least one A-rank monster hiding behind a view like this. Yet no matter how long I waited, not even a single wolf passed by.
"Could this be the gimmick on the final floor?"
That was what I thought.
Illusions, skills belonging to a psychic-type boss monster, or even mass hypnosis were all perfectly possible if they were tower gimmicks.
So I didn’t particularly panic.
'The captain will show up soon enough.'
'The old man will probably come bursting out from somewhere, swearing all the while.'
'Then we just kill a boss, and it’s over.'
…or so I thought.
"…?"
The moment I happened to see my face reflected in a puddle on the ground.
Wait, this.
That’s not me, is it?
Who are you?
No matter how I looked at it, the reflection in the water was not twenty-three-year-old Lee Rowoon, but a junior version of him who looked about nine years old, copying my every move.
"…Huh?"
I raised my left hand.
The little kid raised his left hand too.
I waved my right hand.
The little kid waved too.
I pinched my cheek.
It hurt.
"……."
I pinched it again.
It still hurt.
"…Wow."
It was real.
My body had seriously gotten younger.
I had shrunk dramatically, and my arms and legs had become absurdly short.
Along with that, even the strength that used to feel like it was being wrung out of me had vanished completely….
“This is exactly what I looked like at nine…?”
No… could this really happen?
I stood there blankly for a while before finally looking up at the sky.
"…Tower administrator? I’d like to file an inquiry."
Of course, nobody answered.
I know! I know it was pointless.
For the next several days, I wandered through the forest searching for people.
I searched pretty hard, too.
Really hard.
The problem was.
"Isn’t this where I came earlier?"
I was lost.
No, I hadn’t originally been bad with directions, so did getting younger make my sense of direction younger too?
Could there be some kind of magic cast over this place?
Anyway, when I came to my senses, I was looking at the same stream for the third time.
"……."
"All right. I’ll just find a person first."
Less than half a day after making that resolution, I collapsed from hunger, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the ceiling of an unfamiliar house.
***
…And it had already been six months since that happened.
During that time, I tried denying reality, pinched my cheeks in case this was a dream, and even entertained the insane idea that maybe ramming my head into a tree would wake me up in my original world.
I really tried every crazy thing imaginable, you know?
This was the conclusion I reached after serious deliberation.
I’m screwed.
Just kidding. It’s definitely an otherworld transfer.
Under normal circumstances, I should have finished off the tower, become humanity’s hero, and be lying in bed in my room, casually scribbling away at a web novel.
But far too much time had passed for me to keep complaining about that.
It’s been six months. Six whole months. Half a year!
They say even mountains and rivers change in half a year, don’t they?
Ah, is that not how the saying goes? Whatever.
I understood this situation perfectly.
Yeah. This isn’t the tower, and I’m not overpowered anymore……
And on top of that.
-Squishy-squishy
Oh, it’s Squishy Hyung~
Squishy like a slime!
What does this mean? It’s my mental state.
Maybe it was because I realized this wasn’t the tower, but just a simple transfer to another world.
My sharp edge was gone, and I had become completely squishy!
Well, I figured it was fine since this was a peaceful world far removed from combat, anyway.
I looked up at the sky.
The sun hanging high overhead warmed my skin to a pleasant temperature, and the cool breeze felt wonderful.
The sounds of the village children playing and the clang of the blacksmith striking an anvil had also become part of my daily life.
In short, I had adapted perfectly.
"Rowoon."
I turned my head at the sound of the deep voice.
It was the hunter from the village where I lived.
With a bow slung over his shoulder, he strode over and let out a sigh the moment he saw me.
"I told you not to go into the forest alone."
"I wasn’t alone."
"Who were you with?"
"…A wild boar."
"…Was it a friend?"
"No."
"Then?"
"It was chasing me."
"………"
The hunter said nothing as he looked up at the sky.
I know that expression very well.
The old man on our team used to make exactly that face whenever I said something ridiculous.
"Anyway."
He looked at me again.
"Don’t go next time."
"I won’t."
"Really?"
"…As long as I don’t get caught."
"You little brat."
Only after he gave me a knuckle on the head did our conversation finally end.
It didn’t hurt. I was just a little indignant.
No, I was very indignant.
"Who could that child take after to be so talkative?"
"Thank you for the compliment."
"That wasn’t a compliment."
"Then is it hereditary?"
"You don’t even know who your parents are, you know."
"……Ah."
I lost.
One should never, ever get into an argument with the village aunties.
Recent record: 0 wins, 27 losses.
I’d fought dragons in the tower, but I couldn’t beat a village aunty.
"Rowoon, have you eaten?"
Not again.
Why did the neighbors talk to me every time I took three steps?
It felt like I had become some kind of pocket-monster NPC.
Still, I couldn’t ignore them….
When I turned my head, the old lady from next door was standing there with a huge basket.
"I ate earlier."
"Even so, have some of this."
"I’ve already eaten three meals today, so this makes four."
"……Whose house have you been eating at all this time?"
"I’m not really sure myself."
No, seriously, this was my fourth meal.
Breakfast was at my house, lunch at the house in front, a snack across the street, and potatoes at Grandma’s again?
At this point, I felt like I had seen more dinner tables in other people’s homes than the one in my own.
The old lady from next door wore an utterly dumbfounded expression, but in the end, she still placed a boiled potato in my hand.
"…Eat this too."
"Thank you."
No, I mean, thank you, but…
Wasn’t this basically food torture?
And I was on my way home to eat dinner right now.
They said we were having pork stew today!
But what did I mean by a village and a house in the first place?
How could there be a commoner family that took in and raised some mysterious child, let alone the fact that I, a former tower dweller, had simply accepted whatever they gave me?
That was…
"Rowoon!!"
Just then, a familiar voice filled the alley.
When I looked up, a fourteen-year-old girl came striding toward me, both hands planted firmly on her hips, huffing angrily.
She had pink hair like cherry blossoms and a smile like sunlight, but once she started nagging, she was the scariest person in the village.
It was Isabel.
…Doesn’t something about this feel familiar?
That’s right, she was the heroine of the romance fantasy novel I had last seen before coming from the tower to this world!
Just look at her. Look at this girl.
She was practically an exact copy of the cover illustration, I’m telling you.
Anyway, when I first came to this village, I questioned everything, then questioned it again.
Whether inside or outside the tower, no one would show unfounded kindness to a child with no connections.
And there was even less chance that commoners busy struggling to make a living would take in a freeloader for no reason.
But this world was that romance fantasy novel?
My wariness plummeted from danger level to safe level.
To begin with, the original novel had none of those spicy tags like bleakness, darkness, or regret.
It was as if the author had emptied their head before writing it; just like a fairy-tale world, everyone was well-fed and peaceful.
Especially when the heroine reminisced about the village of her childhood, it was impossible to tell whether she had been a noble or a commoner.
That was how prosperous it had been.
In short, my carefree, happy life was about to begin.
So, anyway, it all made sense.
That’s just how it was.
"What are you thinking about so hard?"
Right. I had Isabel standing right in front of me.
"I heard you caused another incident?"
"No."
"Liar."
"The incident caused me."
"……What does that even mean?"
"I was walking peacefully, but the wild boar charged at me first, I’m telling you."
"So?"
"I got out of the way."
"Why were you doing that in the forest?"
"…….”
I had nothing to say.
More precisely, I did have something to say, but I knew I’d just get scolded again if I said it.
"Do you really think it makes sense for a nine-year-old to go into the forest alone?"
"Only my body is nine years old."
"Huh?"
"…Nothing."
Isabel let out a deep sigh, then crouched down in front of me and tapped me lightly on the forehead.
"What are you going to do if you get seriously hurt?"
"…"
The truth was, I was an all-powerful overpowered badass from the tower who had even hunted dragons and demons.
For all I knew, I might have been the strongest person in this world, even if all the kids here attacked me at once!
If I said that, though, they would just treat me like a kid whose head had gone wrong.
"……Sorry."
When I muttered softly, Isabel’s expression quickly softened, and she flashed me a grin.
"That’s all that matters."
"But."
"Yes?"
"You nag too much, Sis."
"What?"
"There was someone on our team just like you."
"……?"
"Ah."
I messed up.
The words had slipped out before I could stop them.
Isabel tilted her head and looked at me, but I quickly brushed it aside with a fake cough.
"It’s nothing."
"…You’re a strange child."
She gave a little chuckle and ruffled my hair.
I grumbled for no particular reason, but quietly accepted her touch.