Chapter 0
Lee Seonghyeon had graduated high school, but failed his second attempt at the college entrance exam.
One day, after being hit by a truck, he was reincarnated in another world that looked a lot like the game he used to play.
Seonghyeon was reborn in a region known as Labyrinth City. Since he’d been obsessed with games, adapting to this world of swords and magic hadn’t been particularly difficult.
Of course, part of the reason it hadn’t been so difficult was that the abilities he’d received when he came to this world were exceptional.
Still, the homesickness of knowing he couldn’t go back came to him every night…
All in all, this other world held far more hope for Seonghyeon than his previous life had.
In this other world, in the city where Seonghyeon had ended up, there was a dungeon called the Labyrinth at its center.
The Labyrinth fed on human thoughts and grew, while people made their living from the items it produced.
With the many adventuring abilities he’d been granted, Seonghyeon could earn money by exploring the Labyrinth.
No matter how harsh and life-threatening that work was, it was better than wasting his life at a desk, studying things he’d never get anywhere with.
Then, one day.
Seonghyeon had gone out to the shopping district to stop by the potion shop as usual, but the street was noisy.
“You’re a slave! How dare you not get up?”
“Ugh… ngh…”
A slave trader was mercilessly mistreating an elf girl who had collapsed in the street.
It was a familiar sight to see slave traders roughing up their slaves, since so many of them were always trying to escape.
That was simply the kind of world this was, before you even got into human rights or anything like that.
Seonghyeon knew it was best not to get involved in troublesome affairs like this, yet for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off them.
Was it because the slave was so beautiful? Or because she seemed strangely familiar?
“Get up! Get up and walk! How dare you try to run away? You’re a slave. You’re a slave I have to sell! Get up, eat something, and get back in your cage!”
Seonghyeon didn’t want to get mixed up in troublesome affairs.
The elf slave who had collapsed was so thin that she must have gone without food for a long time, and the skin beneath her eyes was hollow.
The slave looked as good as dead.
The elf said something in her own language, as if asking for help, but unfortunately, nobody in this city—not even Seonghyeon—could understand Elvish.
Smack—
“Aah—!”
“You’re making me hit you, aren’t you? Huh? Let’s go back nicely, okay?”
As the slave trader lashed her with his whip, the elf writhed feebly like a dying creature before crumpling to the ground.
Even Seonghyeon, watching, felt dizzy.
The next moment, the elf’s eyes met Seonghyeon’s.
“Seonghyeon… Lee Seonghyeon! You’re Seonghyeon, right?”
“…What?”
Seonghyeon was startled.
There was a language of this world.
But the language the elf spoke wasn’t of this world, and yet he could understand it perfectly.
Of course.
It was the language he’d heard back on Earth until a year ago… Korean, to be exact.
And since Seonghyeon used an alias in this world, hearing someone call him by his real name left him utterly bewildered.
“You little brat! How many times have I told you that you can’t use magic? Get up! I said get up!”
“Excuse me, Mr. Slave Trader?”
Before he knew it, Seonghyeon was walking toward the slave trader.
He’d earned quite a bit of gold while making a living in this world, after all.
His steps, spurred on by what was almost an impulse, carried him right up to the slave trader.
“Um… uh… Cleric, what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to buy that slave. How much is she?”
“Oh, you’re a customer! Goodness, elves are usually terribly expensive as slaves, aren’t they? But that one won’t obey, no matter how many slave brands I put on her. Heh.”
“Is that so? How much?”
“Four thousand ducats.”
“All right. That’s reasonable.”
Though he’d spoken so casually, Seonghyeon pulled out his meager purse and paid.
And just like that, he’d bought an elf slave.
The elf who’d collapsed seemed to have passed out completely. She lay limp on the ground, unable to move.
“You know how to use a slave, right? She’s got high magic resistance and mental fortitude, so it doesn’t work very well on her.”
“I know.”
Seonghyeon understood that a slave contract was much like a porter’s contract.
After accepting the transfer of ownership from the trader, Seonghyeon picked up the elf, who weighed less than a twig.
Of course, that was partly thanks to the abilities he’d gained in this world, but the elf was so thin she looked pitiful.
He’d have to question her about how she knew his name.
**
Seonghyeon’s lodgings,
The elf woke up when the sun was nearly setting.
When the elf came to, Seonghyeon gave her some porridge and dabbed her head with a cool towel.
The elf got up trembling and tried to run, but Seonghyeon activated her slave mark.
“Kyaa—!”
The slave sat down with a thud, her face flushed bright red.
He hadn’t meant to threaten her, but Seonghyeon grabbed the back of her neck and held her fast so she couldn’t escape.
“I have some questions.”
“W-what are you going to ask me?”
“Well, for starters, I’m curious how you can speak this language.”
“Y-yeah, Seonghyeon… Seonghyeon, it’s me. I know this is hard to believe, but—”
If she just said it was her, who on earth was supposed to understand who she meant?
With a sigh, Seonghyeon let go of the back of the elf’s neck, which he’d been gripping tightly.
“Don’t run. I’ve already checked your status window.”
“W-what? Status window?”
“That’s right, Erze El Rasia.”
“Ugh… Don’t call me that name. It gives me the creeps.”
Though she was gaunt, she had a cute face, and her genuinely creeped-out expression left Seonghyeon a little hurt.
But the elf still wasn’t answering the questions he wanted to ask.
“So, who are you?”
“Ugh… Fine. I’m Kim Suyeon. We went to the same elementary school, and in high school, believe it or not, I was in your third-year Class 7.”
Huh?
As a question mark appeared on Seonghyeon’s face, things slowly began to fall into place in his mind.
That childhood friend of Seonghyeon’s—the one who’d been such a good student and gone to ○○ University—had undergone one of those TS reincarnations he’d only heard about.
In other words.
I’d bought a slave, only to find out she was my childhood friend—and had undergone TS, no less.