The days were growing cooler with autumn, and the mood felt much the same.
A yellow bus sped down the road.
Inside, Charlie and his mother sat side by side, on their way to his aunt’s house.
His aunt’s eldest son had passed away.
From what Charlie had heard, it had been a sudden death.
The details were still unclear.
All anyone knew was that it had happened without warning.
One moment, someone had been perfectly fine.
The next, he was gone.
How could anyone not be heartbroken?
Charlie had also heard that his cousin had died while playing a video game.
That only made him even more curious.
What kind of game had that kind of pull?
Enough to make someone play until it killed them?
…
When they arrived at his aunt’s house, the two women held each other and cried, speaking through their grief in a hometown dialect Charlie could barely understand.
He stood there awkwardly.
He had never been close to this cousin, so he wasn’t overwhelmed with grief.
It wasn’t that he was cold.
If anything, Charlie had a pretty lively personality.
Around close friends, he was the goofy type who could always make people laugh.
But this cousin was basically a stranger who happened to share some blood with him.
He really couldn’t force himself to cry.
“Auntie, can I take a look in my cousin’s room?”
Since he couldn’t fit into the mood in the living room, Charlie quietly asked his aunt, who was still crying in his mother’s arms.
She agreed without much hesitation.
Maybe she wanted it to serve as a warning, because she led him straight to his cousin’s room.
Everything had happened so suddenly that nothing had been cleaned up yet.
The room was a mess.
Even the computer was still on.
His aunt pointed at the game on the screen and broke down again.
“It’s…
it’s this game.
Howie…
Howie, he…
he shut himself in his room every day playing this game.”
“We told him not to play for so long, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“And then…” Her voice cut off there.
Tears spilled from her eyes, but there was nothing anyone could do.
Charlie’s mother looked heartbroken too.
“How long was Howie playing it?”
His aunt blamed herself for not being stricter.
In her mind, that was what had allowed the tragedy to happen.
“More than ten hours a day.
When we called him to eat, he wouldn’t even come out.
He said…
he said he was going down into the mines, that he needed ore for his wife.”
“How is anyone supposed to eat rocks?”
“How were we supposed to know?
We thought he was just joking around.”
Every word from his aunt made the game sound stranger, and Charlie’s curiosity only grew.
The whole thing was so bizarre that he wanted to understand it even more.
He pulled his gaze away from a mouse pad printed with a purple-haired anime girl, looked at the computer screen, and slowly read the game’s name aloud.
“St…
Stardew…”
“Uh…
wait…
why am I so dizzy…”
“I’m so sleepy…
what’s going on?”
For some reason, dizziness hit him all at once.
The scene in front of him seemed to sway.
A second later, Charlie clutched his forehead as a heavy wave of sleepiness washed over him.
Then he collapsed.
…
He had no idea how much time had passed.
The jolt of a vehicle bumping along an uneven road woke him.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on a bus.
Outside the window, the sun was already sinking, casting its last glow across the sky.
Charlie frowned.
“Wait.
The sun’s already going down?”
“Uh…
how long was I asleep?”
He sat up and looked around.
The bus wasn’t big.
It had only one exit, marked by a large green arrow.
“A bus?”
“Are we going home after the visit?”
“Where’s Mom?”
He instinctively looked for his mother, assuming the visit was over.
But after glancing around, he didn’t see her anywhere.
Then he looked out the window and realized this wasn’t the road home.
The scenery outside was completely unfamiliar.
Everything around him was lush and green.
The bus seemed to be traveling along a winding mountain road, heading toward a small town tucked somewhere in a valley.
They definitely hadn’t come this way before, which only made him more confused.
“This isn’t the way back!”
“Where…
where am I going?”
“Can someone tell me what’s happening?”
Panic rose in his chest.
Then a sharp pain suddenly tore through his head.
Grandpa’s words, his letter, and the soul-crushing routine of his Joja job all came flooding into Charlie’s mind at once.
In those memories, a kind old man appeared before him, speaking solemnly as he handed him a letter.
The sudden rush of memories overwhelmed him completely.
Charlie cried out once, then passed out again.
At that moment, the yellow bus drove past a sign.
“Pelican Town, 0.5 miles ahead →”
…
“Beep-beep.”
The bus gave two short beeps as it pulled into the stop, and Charlie opened his eyes again.
He staggered to his feet, his forehead still aching.
“Joja Corporation, Lewis, Grandpa, the farm?”
“What is all this?”
Holding his head, he stepped off the bus in a daze.
It felt as though the memories were guiding him.
According to them, Lewis, Grandpa’s old friend, would be waiting here for him.
Once he was off the bus and standing on solid ground, Charlie felt a little steadier.
He looked around.
There was no grand welcome waiting for him.
After getting off the bus, he saw one person.
Only one.
But she didn’t look like Lewis.
She was a beautiful woman with long, deep-orange hair tied back in a ponytail.
She wore a brown coat, and her figure was striking—curvy, maybe, or simply strong.
Either way, she was gorgeous, with a warm, mature charm.
Since there was no one else around, Charlie walked straight over to her.
Before he could greet her, the woman’s eyes lit up as she saw him approach.
“Hey!
You must be Charlie.”
“My name is Robin.
I’m the carpenter here.
Mayor Lewis sent me to take you to your new home.”
“He’s already there cleaning the place up for you,” she said.
“Oh, okay.
Yes, I’m Charlie!” He still hadn’t quite recovered.
He was dazed, and the answer came out a little awkwardly.
At the same time, he caught a name he recognized from his new memories.
Lewis.
“So he’s the mayor.
From these memories, Grandpa seemed pretty close to him,” Charlie thought, trying to piece together what he knew.
He was slowly getting used to the memories that had poured into him.
“Mm…
all right, then!” Robin seemed satisfied and raised a hand, gesturing for him to follow.
“The farm is this way.
Come on.”
…
He followed her until they stopped in front of a small wooden cabin.
The farm was full of weeds and rocks, and the trees grew so thickly around it that the place looked more like a forest.
Charlie stared at the state of it and couldn’t hold back.
“You call this a farm?”
“This is just an overgrown patch of wasteland.”
He looked over everything in front of him and muttered unhappily.
Robin stopped beside him.
“This is the farm where your Grandpa used to live.”
“It’s called Lily Farm.
It symbolizes happiness and fulfillment.”
“Lily Farm?” he repeated quietly.
That meaning was the same as it was back in his hometown.
The thought passed through his mind.
Seeing the look on his face, Robin patiently explained.
“Surprised by how messy it is?”
“It’s all right.”
“It may be overgrown, but the soil underneath is very fertile.”
“With a little patience, you’ll have it cleaned up in no time.”
“I’m sure you can do it.”
She smiled, her eyes curving gently.
It was a very charming smile, enough to make Charlie, who had only just turned eighteen, feel his face grow warm.
When Robin noticed him blushing, she covered her mouth and laughed softly.
Then she led him to the door of the little cabin.
“…Ta-da!
This is your new home!” she said brightly.
Charlie looked at the cabin.
It couldn’t compare to the houses back where he came from, but it was still his first house.
In a way, he was a homeowner now.
While he was still taking that in, the cabin door opened, and an old man with a brown hat and a full beard stepped out.
He had a high, straight nose and a friendly smile.
“Whoa, there was someone inside!” Charlie blurted, startled.
Before he could recover, the man greeted him warmly.
“Well, the new farmer has arrived!”
“Welcome!
My name is Lewis, and I’m the Mayor of Pelican Town, here in Stardew Valley.”
“H-hello.
I’m Charlie, I’m…”
Charlie got stuck.
He didn’t actually know Grandpa’s name.
Lewis spared him the awkwardness.
“I know.
Charlie, right?
That old fellow’s grandson.”
“You have no idea how curious everyone is about you.”
“We don’t get many new faces around here, so people are going to be paying attention.”
Lewis smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
“Stardew Valley!”
Hearing those three words, Charlie immediately thought of the game that had caused his cousin’s sudden death.
“I…
did I transmigrate into that game?”
“But I don’t even know how to play.
What if there are bosses in here?”
“And how am I supposed to get back?”
Being thrown into such an unfamiliar place made him deeply uneasy.
With all those worries filling his head, he had no attention left for the rest of the conversation.
After all, he was only a student who had just become an adult.
He only caught bits and pieces of Robin and Lewis talking, something about fixing up the cabin and other details.
He didn’t listen closely.
It wasn’t until the two of them were about to leave that he snapped back to himself.
After a fierce round of mental back-and-forth, Charlie made up his mind.
“As long as I clear this game, I can definitely go back to my own world.”
“Yeah.
That has to be it.”
“It looks like a simple farming game.
How hard could it be?”
Seeing the two of them about to walk away, he raised a hand and called out.
Since Lewis was the mayor, he had to be an important figure.
Charlie needed to make a good impression.
At the very least, he needed the man to think well of him.
He looked toward Lewis and called, “Mayor Lewis, Grandpa asked me to give you his regards!”
“He misses you very much.”
Charlie passed along the message from Grandpa’s letter.
Lewis stopped.
He turned back, his eyes a little wet.
“That old guy…
honestly.
All right, I understand.”
“Oh, right, Charlie.
See that big wooden crate beside me?
If you have anything you want to sell each day, just put it in there.
I’ll help you sell it.”
Lewis pointed to a wooden crate nearby as he spoke.
Then he left.
Charlie was the only one left on the farm.
Everything suddenly grew quiet, and another wave of dizziness came over him.
Almost without thinking, he pushed open the cabin door and walked inside.
Before he could even get a clear look at the room, his body gave out.
He collapsed onto the bed and quickly fell asleep.