Childhood Friends – Rules of Back Alley
Leo awoke in a dark warehouse. Straw was scattered across the floor, and from somewhere, he could hear the snorting of horses—multiple horses.
As he tried to sit up, his arms wouldn’t budge.
It was too dark to see, but he realized both his arms were tied behind his back and fastened to a post.
He twisted and turned, struggling to free himself, but his bound arms wouldn’t move an inch.
His arms were secured to the lower part of the post, so even when he pushed off the ground with his feet, his back only slammed against the wood.
“Lena! Lena!”
He shouted, knowing it was futile. He had to do something, anything, or his heart felt like it would burst.
As he called out until his throat was raw, someone opened the warehouse door, peeked inside, and then slammed it shut. In that brief moment of light, he saw it was nighttime outside.
“Hey, you son of a bitch! Get in here! You little punk!!”
He hurled every curse word he knew. But the closed door remained shut, and Leo, trapped in the darkness, collapsed, gasping for breath.
Lena had been captured. He’d heard them say she would be put up for auction tomorrow.
Panic surged through him, but his body was still as stone.
Where did it all go wrong?
‘The innkeeper knew I was hunting. He said some merchant told him.’
The merchant who’d recommended the inn had sold them out.
‘But how did he even know I was hunting? I never told him.’
Maybe Lena had said something. That damn merchant had been all smiles and charm, often chatting with Lena.
But that didn’t matter now.
Lena was the one in danger.
He had to escape, somehow, but there was no way to free his arms. The darkness was so complete he couldn’t see an inch in front of him, let alone come up with a plan. What could he possibly do with just straw on the floor?
The chill from the ground clung to Leo throughout the night, keeping him cold until morning.
As day broke, thin rays of sunlight pierced through the gaps in the wooden walls, finally illuminating his surroundings.
Only then could he take in the warehouse. Just as he’d expected, bales of hay were stacked everywhere, and he was tied to a large post in the center of it all. It looked like a stable.
But he was still trapped.
There was nothing but straw on the ground, no tools in sight. He couldn't even reach the surrounding hay bales.
Leo was utterly abandoned.
Aside from the brief opening of the door the previous night, no one came.
He tried digging at the ground with his feet, pushing against the base of the post, but it wouldn't budge. It was buried deep in the earth.
He attempted to wriggle his arms free, but it was hopeless. Craning his neck back, he saw the thugs hadn’t just bound his wrists; they had tied his entire forearms to the post.
And because it was secured so low, he couldn’t get any leverage in his seated position. There was no way to exert force or even wiggle his fingers to try something, anything.
He was utterly powerless.
As evening fell, the leader of the group who’d taken Lena arrived. Leo glared at him, lips curled back in a snarl.
“...Where is Lena?”
“Well, well. Still got some fight in you, eh?”
The day had been an agonizing stretch of aching muscles, gnawing hunger, and a parched throat. He had spent the entire day, quite literally, doing absolutely nothing.
It had been long enough to break anyone’s spirit, but Leo had endured.
He had consciously forced himself to think about the modern world. If he hadn’t, his spirit would have shattered.
The leader, seemingly uninterested in answering his question, simply nodded to his men.
The thugs following the leader forced a gag into Leo’s mouth and covered his eyes with a blindfold. Then, he was stuffed into a leather sack like a piece of cargo and loaded onto a carriage.
- Clip-clop, clip-clop.
The carriage started to move.
“What happened?”
He heard hushed voices from the front.
“We ended up selling her to those princes. But for some reason, that girl insisted they bring this one along too.”
“Won’t it be a problem if he gets loose? He seemed pretty handy with a sword... Should we break an arm or something?”
“Believe me, I’d love to… but we can’t. Orders are orders.”
After what felt like an eternity, the carriage finally came to a halt, and Leo was dumped onto the ground.
“Leo! Get this off me!”
Lena’s voice reached him from afar, but then nothing.
Leo thrashed and yelled, but only muffled groans escaped his bound mouth. Rough hands yanked him to his feet, dragging him somewhere. He felt his limbs being released, but it wasn’t what he thought.
[ Lena’s final class has been decided. ]
It wasn’t freedom.
It wasn’t his hands and feet being untied, but his entire being, the world around him, dissolving into nothingness. A strange, floating sensation engulfed him, and then the ending arrived.
[ Thank you for playing Raise Lena! ]
Final Class: Prince's Concubine
Marriage Partner: Aeton de Lognum
- Born in Demos Village, Lena had a happy childhood. Although poor, her parents showered her with love… (Excerpt omitted) …Reaching Nebis, they were captured by thugs. Lena was sold to the princes of the Lognum Dynasty. Forced to become a concubine with Leo's life on the line, Lena secretly helped him escape before taking her own life. -
Final Class: Assassin
Marriage Partner: Unmarried
Childhood Friends Ending: The Princes' Playthings
- Born in Demos Village, Leo had a happy childhood. Having lost his mother at a young age… (Excerpt omitted) …Reaching Nebis, they were captured by thugs. Leo was imprisoned in the mansion of Prince Aeton de Lognum. Escaping with Lena's help, Leo dedicated his life to revenge. He barely succeeded in wiping out the thugs but failed to assassinate the prince and was executed. -
An image of Lena flashed before his eyes, adorned in beautiful yet vulgar finery. Her eyes, staring out from beneath clothes that seemed ready to fall away, were dead and empty.
Despair crushed Leo, leaving him numb, unable to think as he slowly shattered, his existence fading to nothing.
Minseo’s consciousness slipped out from the fragmented remains of Leo.
‘I just… I want to give up…’
Another miserable failure.
He couldn’t even protect Lena, let alone make her a princess. He’d brought her to the capital only to face such a cruel fate.
Every plan he’d made had crumbled into dust.
He didn’t know why those thugs had targeted him and Lena, but one thing was clear: the princes of the Ohrun Kingdom, the closest to their home, were nothing but scum.
There was no way a commoner like Lena could ever have a fairytale romance with such trash. Even if they hadn’t been caught by those thugs, it would have ended the same way.
Minseo wanted to give up.
It had been over a year since he’d entered this game.
He missed Chaeha terribly.
He wanted to go back to his parents.
But his desperate wish was denied by the cold, emotionless text announcing the restart.
[ You have failed to clear Raise Lena! ]
[ Leo, you were too naive. In his later years, Leo massacred an entire ‘family’ in Lena’s name. For this feat, you have unlocked the information {Rules of Back Alley}. ]
[ Restarting. ]