Age four
Because of unfair pay and worker strikes, his family situation isn’t financially good.
So, his mother has started working as a part-time maid at two different places.
She brings Hugo along with her as she can’t leave him at home.
Who knows what types of odd things he might be doing all alone.
His mother doesn’t let him out of her sight.
As she has come to understand that he is a very active and curious child.
So, she wants to keep him around her all the time.
She only chose jobs that let her bring her child with her.
She promises to the employers that he is good kid and not a troublemaker.
He doesn’t have any problem with such an arrangement and concerns of her mother.
It might even be beneficial to him as he can get to see more and learn from it.
‘Sometimes, I forget that I am just four and act much more mature.
My previous life’s mannerism lessons are working too well.
Thankfully, she isn’t that perspective and thinks of my action as childish.
Nothing more than that.
Even though we are most of time together, she doesn’t pay much attention to me.
She is always busy or worry about my future.
Compared to my previous life where my mom paid too much attention but weren’t always around.
This is quite the upside down.’ He acknowledges the difference in his current and previous life.
Understanding that, no two lives can be similar to one another.
The first working location of mom’s employment is few blocks away.
The place is a little bigger than the rented house they live inside.
The employer is a man in his thirties.
According to what Hugo understands, the employer is a businessman who is going to live here for a month.
So, his mother will work here only for a month and the pay isn’t great but acceptable.
That perhaps because her job is to visit that place in the morning before sunrise.
There, she will clean the house and rinse the dirty dishes.
Then make some breakfast for the employer and later leave.
There is no need to stay after that.
He will leave the house before ten O’clock and will be late at night after work.
Doing his dinner outside too.
So, it is very rare for his mother to see her employer.
Hugo is kind of curious to see how such a man looks like.
But he isn’t brave enough to do anything so he just looks around the house.
He is brownish colored boy who looks like any other boy of his age.
Compared to his past life, this appearance is much ordinary.
His pervious appearance was far too flawless.
‘I am comparing myself to myself at this point.
This isn’t a healthy mindset for someone who died and now is in different body entirely.’ He makes a self-deprecating joke and waits for her mother to finish cleaning.
He has nothing to do and he is off limits to go to many places in the house.
So, he can’t even play around or something.
This schedule has been going for a week now.
And he feels like this part of the day has already become too repetitive.
For these two years, he has been trying to learn whatever he can about this place.
It is obvious that it isn’t Livlong.
He isn’t sure what happened to that kingdom or if the war is still going.
His house has no daily newspapers and even if there were he can’t read this totally different language.
Nor can his parents, they are illiterates.
His curiosity to such things has motivated his mother to put him in a school.
Or hope to in the future.
Perhaps, that is why she has taken two jobs and his father is joining the strike to get better pay and safe environment to work in.
He thanks his mother and father form the bottom of his heart.
But he can’t help but feel bad too.
Perhaps, the life as a rich kid has made him blind to the suffering and difficulty of life.
Now seeing it with his own eyes, he is starting feel pity for them.
‘Wish I could do anything for them.
But I am just four…so, I guess all I can do is to be a good four years old kid.’
Soon, his mother’s work is done and now she will walk to her next employer’s resident.
The rest of her day will be spent working there.
She can’t afford any kind of transport or doesn’t want to take them.
So, she will just walk.
Again, he feels bad for being a burden.
He says sorry inwardly and later they are at the next working place.
This resident’s employer is a lady who had worked at a brothel.
But don’t worry, this lady had actually fallen in love with a man who always choose her for the night.
Later they married each other and lived happily ever after.
However, this lady had been in a prostitute at a very young age without her own consent.
If not for her good luck who knows where would she be now.
That is why, she now wants to help people like her who suffer from the same unfortunate circumstances.
So, with the help of his husband, who is a tycoon form outside, she started a foundation to help these little girls to find a way out of the same hell she been through.
There foundation sure is kind.
However, there has been rumors that this foundation is actually just a façade and her backstory is fake.
They’re actually smuggling little girls to the sea.
These rumors can be fake or real.
Maybe spread by some brothel that doesn’t want this foundation to work.
But Hugo can’t really confirm anything as he has just come to know this info through eavesdropping of random conversation of woman.
He is kind of worried about her mother cause of these rumors.
After all, he doesn’t want anything to happen to her mother.
However, cause of these rumors this foundation might close soon in a few weeks or so.
However, for the time being it would be nice to know before hand about the secrets of this place.
So, he has joined a little group in this resident.
An organization of girls who were saved by this foundation.
But they are worried that they will be thrown into even bigger hell.
This suspicion stems from the same rumors.
Hugo walks through the place like he is just an oblivious kid.
However, he is actually listening to all the conversations of people working here.
He is also keeping in mind whatever is happening today.
Where people are going and why are they coming in here.
As a kid, nobody really pays him much mind.
He just pretends to play and sometimes just watches people like a kid who has found something amusing.
After these little observations, he pays a visit to certain someone.
He knocks at the door in a specific rhythm.
Then the door opens and sees a teenage girl who has dark skin under her eyes.
Her hair is brown and there are many obvious bruises on her body.
She looks bored and not much interested in anything.
However, when she sees that it is Hugo.
She sighs and after looking around.
Making sure nobody is watching.
She whispers.
“Come in, kid…”