Inside a cramped dwelling of less than twenty square meters, a solitary energy-saving bulb and a phone screen were the only two light sources in the room.
“Sigh—”
A sigh, mixed with various emotions, sounded as the phone screen went dark.
Just now, Yun had finished watching a pirated version of the demon slayer movie on his phone.
He had no choice; the cost of a movie ticket was enough for him to live frugally for several days.
His current financial situation didn’t allow him to spend such a “huge sum” for a bit of entertainment and relaxation.
That sigh was both a lament for the tragic ends of those vivid characters in the plot and a resignation toward reality.
Shaking his head slightly to adjust his mood, Yun opened the door, switched off the remaining light source in the room, and walked toward the street as the sky was about to turn completely dark.
He was heading to his night shift; that movie just now had used up almost all of his meager daily rest time.
When Yun was very young, his parents passed away in an accident, and he grew up in the home of a relatively kind relative.
However, that relative’s own economic condition wasn’t very good either, and with two children of their own, adopting Yun made their lives even tighter.
Therefore, after finishing his compulsory education, Yun took the initiative to drop out and make a living.
Having knocked about in society since his teens, he hadn’t made much of a name for himself, but he was at least self-sufficient.
He had even secured a place in a big city that could barely be called a “home,” and he could send small gifts to the relatives who had taken him in during holidays.
Yun dazed off slightly while waiting for a red light, calculating his savings and thinking about his future plans.
The last glimmer of the setting sun’s afterglow, mixed with the light from the street lamps, shone on his face.
He had delicate yet masculine features.
Even though his frame was slightly thin and small due to limited living conditions, his overall appearance could still be considered quite handsome.
With such an excellent physical foundation, he could have originally done some work that relied on his looks, and his income would certainly be more substantial than it was now.
Unfortunately, Yun truly couldn’t accept it; perhaps his thinking was too conservative, or perhaps he wasn’t hungry enough back then?
Time always passes particularly fast when people’s attention is diverted.
The long red light that Yun had complained about more than once had quietly turned green while he was dazed.
Recalling his thoughts about the future, Yun stepped toward the other side of the road alone in the night.
His mind began to recall the movie he had just seen, as well as the related anime and even the original manga he had occasionally scrolled through online.
He thought back to those characters whose fates left people with lingering regrets.
These thoughts flashed by and were pushed to the back of Yun’s mind as the curb of the sidewalk on the other side appeared before him.
Next, Yun heard some movement nearby.
Before he could turn his head to look, the gaps between the floor tiles on the sidewalk in his vision shifted rapidly sideways.
Just an instant before Yun stepped onto the sidewalk, an out-of-control car crashed into the nearby curb.
The entire car body soared into the air, leaping over the cars waiting for the red light ahead, and found Yun just as he was about to step onto the sidewalk.
It was only after Yun slammed heavily onto the asphalt road and slid for a distance that his brain received the signals of pain from all over his body.
His vision was blurred and tinged with dark red patches due to bloodshot eyes.
Blood poured from his nose and mouth, and his breathing was accompanied by the sound of bubbles.
Broken ribs had pierced his lungs, such that every breath brought an intense pain that would normally cause someone to faint.
Yet, at this moment, the dying Yun still maintained a shred of consciousness under the stimulation of a massive amount of adrenaline in his body.
His limbs had lost all sensation except for pain, and amidst the ringing in his ears, he seemed to hear the startled cries of passersby.
In his final moments, Yun’s brief life of less than twenty years flashed before his eyes.
He realized that the biggest guilty thing he had done since childhood was just watching various pirated novels and anime.
Before his consciousness fell completely into darkness, the last thought that surfaced in his already somewhat uncontrollable mind was—I’ll definitely support official releases in my next life.
…
“My dear son, today is your fourth birthday.
How about Daddy plays hide-and-seek with you?
You hide well, and Daddy will come find you…”
“Do we really have to…
he’s still so small…”
…
“Poor child…”
“I, this Old Man, have no descendants either.
You shall follow me from now on.”
…
“From today on, my name will be Kanzaki Kumo.”
“Child, you…
sigh…”
…
“Hiss—” After breaking free from the fragments of the past, Kanzaki Kumo slowly stood up, holding his head.
A sensation of damp heat and a somewhat sticky feeling came from where his hand was holding, reminding him of what had happened not long ago.
Kanzaki Kumo, who was Yun after reincarnation, was born into a poor family.
When he was four years old, his family abandoned him due to the pressure of making a living.
He still remembered the fake smile on that man’s face back then, and the sallow face of a woman with teary eyes peeking out from behind a dirt mound not far away.
Fortunately, just as Kanzaki Kumo was about to faint from hunger, he was picked up and brought home by an Old Man named Kanzaki Keizan, who cared for him like his own grandson.
The Old Man lived in the town and had once been wealthy, but later his son committed a crime, costing him his life and most of the family fortune.
Since then, the Old Man had been all alone.
Kanzaki Kumo lived with the Old Man for two or three years.
During that time, he learned to read and write, and he proactively changed his surname to “Kanzaki” and his name to “Kumo.”
Regarding this, the Old Man was both gratified and somewhat helpless, but seeing Kanzaki Kumo’s persistence, he didn’t say anything.
However, the elderly man could not survive an exceptionally cold winter.
In this era where the common people at the bottom struggled to survive and the so-called upper-class people did as they pleased, Kanzaki Kumo, who was not yet eight years old, naturally had no way to keep the property.
After burying the Old Man, he began wandering again with a small amount of money that was easy to hide.
Later, he was taken in by the head monk of a small temple.
This temple also housed more than ten orphans around his age.
A group of children who had lost their homes early on were actually quite happy together with their “own kind.”
Except for a fellow named Kaigaku.
Yes, Kaigaku.
And in this temple where Kanzaki Kumo was, there was a tall, naturally blind monk named Himejima Gyomei.
Just yesterday, Kaigaku was caught stealing from the temple for the nth time and was subsequently kicked out by everyone.
But he snuck back in the middle of the night.
Just as he was sneakily trying to do something to the incense burner in the room, Kanzaki Kumo, who happened to wake up, stumbled upon the scene.
In the ensuing argument and scuffle, he was hit in the head with the incense burner by Kaigaku, which directly knocked out the memories of his previous life.
Of course, after these memories flashed through his mind, Kanzaki Kumo knew that none of the preceding was the main point.
Because what came next was the truly life-threatening moment.
When his consciousness was not yet clear, having combined the memories of two lives, he originally thought he had just been reincarnated into Japan at the beginning of the last century.
But these familiar people and events one after another made him realize that this was not the world of his previous life at all, but the world of an anime.
In this world, there were man-eating demons.
And just now, the incense burner burning demon-repelling incense had been destroyed by Kaigaku.
The culprit had already slipped away in the chaos.
Some of the children in the room were cursing at Kaigaku, while others were concerned about Yun’s condition.
But the last bit of smoke in the room was about to dissipate completely.
If his memory was correct, right now, a demon was already outside the temple, salivating as it stared at these dozen or so “little snacks” inside.
The head monk of the temple had gone out with two other monks to perform a ritual for someone, leaving only Himejima Gyomei behind to look after the children.
Within the few seconds it took to stand up while holding his head, Kanzaki Kumo had already sorted out the current situation and immediately let out his loudest shout to date: “Gyomei-san!
Help!!!”