Chapter 2 – I Have Become A Narrow-Eyes (2)

March 28th, 2023

It was a damn long line.

Everyone standing in the line or moving forward in the line had an irritated expression. This was the checkpoint at the Arienne city gate where inspections were underway.

“Next.”

Following the instructions of the guard, the line moved forward slightly, and the man who was approaching stood in front of the guard.

The guard had a tired face, but he was diligent in carrying out the inspection. 

The inconvenience of the job was manageable, but the inconvenience of having to take responsibility if the person he let in caused trouble in Arienne was too much to bear.

He had to filter out the troublemakers who looked like they would cause problems in the city, so that he would not have to hear complaints like “why did you let in someone who clearly looks like they’re going to cause trouble in the city!?”

“Huh?”

The guard checked the face of the man standing in front of him.

And saw a man with a carefree impression and sleepy eyes. It was hard to imagine that someone like him could cause trouble in the city.

At most, he could be a pickpocket or thief. There was nothing to inspect about him.

He went straight into a formal questioning to quickly move on to the next topic. 

“What brings you to Arienne?”

“Ah~ I came here to Arienne to participate in the academy entrance exam.”

He replied in a light, impressionable voice. It sounded like someone tickling him.

“Academy entrance exam? That one?”

The security guard looked him up and down.

“Hahaha, yes. Doesn’t everyone dream of a life-changing opportunity?” 

Arienne’s Ain Academy is the place where talented people from all over the continent gather.

It was hard to believe that such a carefree person was participating in the exam.

But now, he didn’t even bother mocking him. He spoke to him like he was dealing with his unemployed and aimless nephew.

“Well, I guess anyone can take the entrance exam. Don’t get your hopes up too high. There’s a reason why Ain Academy allows anyone to take the test. Maybe as soon as you take the test, you’ll laugh like a madman and give up, heading straight to the bar, just like everyone else. So, it’s better to just stop by here as if you’re here for sightseeing. It’s better for your mental health.”

“Hmm? Wow, what a kind word of concern from someone I just met. My heart felt warm as soon as I arrived in Arienne. I’ll keep it in mind!”

At the senseless laugh, the security guard smirked and tilted his head.

“Anyway, what. Good luck. You will need a lot of luck.”

Like that, the guard let the narrow-eyed man into Arienne without even a simple inspection of his belongings.

I can bet.

It is unlikely that he will cause a commotion in Arienne.

It was unfortunate for him, but getting accepted to the academy was also just as unlikely.

At least he thought so.

*****

“Is this Arienne…?”

Arienne.

One of the largest cities on the continent.

And, one of the main stages where the story of “Tose” unfolds.

As I arrived in Arienne and looked at the cityscape, I felt a renewed sense of reality as the scenery overlapped with what I had seen in the game.

Ah.

I really have been reincarnated into another world.

I have become the narrow-eyes that I created.

I tried to sum up that complex and subtle emotion with a magical word.

“This is really… When I think about it again, it’s really something, isn’t it?”

But instead of the magic words, I muttered my own words that were entirely mundane.

It wasn’t because of my latent talent in method acting that ultimately flourished thanks to possessing a narrow-eyed character.

It was just one of the effects of being possessed by a narrow-eyed character. It was due to the countless attributes I had assigned when creating this him.

Those attributes had interacted in complex ways, resulting in my speech and actions being perfectly aligned with the narrow-eyed character.

While it was technically possible for me to act in my usual way, it felt awkward and uncomfortable, like wearing ill-fitting clothes.

At first, I resisted, thinking that I was being controlled by something else, but eventually, I accepted it as it was.

My body and this situation, too.

And so, I arrived at Arienne in this state.

“Haa…“

I had created a narrow-eyed character with the sole purpose of getting a cheap high from being immersed in a game, but somehow, I ended up being possessed by the narrow-eyed character itself. 

How was I supposed to accept this?

“Well, what can you do?”

After some thought, I decided to take it as ‘awesome and sweet.’ It seemed like a good way to maintain my sanity and adapt to the current situation.

And I was worried about what to do next after deciding to adapt to the current situation. I had no experience clearing Tose. 

So, all I knew about Tose was some information I obtained from when I briefly tried it out in the beginning and some fragmented information I got from videos or articles outside of the game. 

With that information, I made plans for the future.

I came to the conclusion that I should first enter the Academy. 

[Main Quest: First Step Towards the World]

As the quest in my field of vision suggests, the game starts with entering the Academy.

Moreover, the Academy is consistently treated as one of the main stages in the game. Since I am living in the game, wouldn’t it be best to immerse myself in the game flow as much as possible? In that sense, the Academy was a great place to start my in-game life.

Above all, graduates of the Academy are treated better than most nobles in this world. 

As someone like me, who could be described as fundamentally worthless, the Academy graduation was one of the few things better than anything else for me to establish a foothold. 

That’s why.

The black-haired outsider from another world who arrived at Arienne was on his way to take the Academy entrance exam with dreams of moving up the hierarchy.

‘It was over there, I think.’

According to my memory, there were two places to register for the entrance exam in Arienne.

One was in the first district, the wealthiest area in the city, and the other was in the fifth district, where the most ordinary citizens lived. In the game, they were labeled as options 1 and 2, respectively.

‘Should I try option 1 this time?’

I remembered getting into a fight at the registration center in the 5th district and decided to choose the registration center in the 1st district this time.

I was a newcomer to the city, but I didn’t hesitate in his steps. I had visited the place several times in the game, so getting lost on the way was impossible

“Hmm?”

What.

“…hmm?”

Come on.

“Hmm… “

Uh, what a mess. Isn’t it? 

Or is it something that could happen? By now, I should have reached the vicinity of the wealthiest area, the 1st district, in this city. As proof, the cleanliness and sophistication of the surrounding area should have gone up.

“A rat…”

However, I was walking through a dirty alley where the sun barely shone. Instead of going up, the cleanliness and sophistication level had plummeted, while the dirtiness and obsoleteness level had skyrocketed. There was a simple phrase to describe the situation.

I’m lost.

‘Damn it, am I really lost? Who am I to call myself a possessor?’

A belatedly realized fact. 

Reality and games were naturally different. Bringing the sense of playing games directly to reality was bound to cause problems.

As a wise man once said, that life is a real battle. And I was just an idiot who forgot that fact. 

After a brief moment of contemplation, I decided to do the difficult but necessary thing. To admit my own inferiority as a possessed person who couldn’t even find a single proper way.

I had to go back the right path and make the wasted time worthwhile.

‘It’s not easy though.’

Walking with heavy footsteps, I went back the way I came. 

Please, no matter how inferior I am, I hope that I will not forget even the road I have traveled once.

‘By the way, how deep did I crawl in that I can’t even see people around here?’

The road. Can someone show me the way? Somebody, help me find the way.

How long have I been walking around, looking for the road and people?

“Oh.”

Finally, I met someone face to face as I entered this back alley for the first time. The pedestrian, wearing a dark robe draped over, rushed around looking back and forth after popping out of the alley.

“…!”

In the process, your eyes meet.

“Oh-…”

The man’s mouth was about to open to give a perfectly composed greeting, but it closed again as soon as he saw my face.

Heavy breathing.

A face drenched in sweat.

And eyes filled with intense determination.

The man’s aura was very unsettling.

His dark robe fit perfectly in this dim and dirty back alley.

He didn’t seem like he would kindly offer directions, and there was nothing to gain by engaging with him.

“Oh, the weather’s really nice, isn’t it? Hm~”

I tried to walk past him as casually as possible.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

And just as I was about to take my fourth step forward.

“Hey!”

I deliberately stumbled forward.

-Swoosh!

A dagger flew past my head and narrowly missed its mark, embedding itself into the wall behind me.

‘What the hell! How did the knife just stick into the wall like tofu? Did that guy want to kill me?’

“Oops, what kind of road is this? Huh…? Heh, heh!”

Then I hurriedly turned around and faced the guy who threw the dagger at me and backed away.

“What, what’s going on all of a sudden!?”

Finally, with a scared and bewildered look, I confronted the guy. It was a series of actions that were reflexive and natural due to my characteristics. 

What I intended to do was to confidently curse at him after perfectly avoiding the surprise attack, but instead, I stumbled forward and luckily managed to dodge the attack, acting terrified.

The guy’s expression, who had tried to kill me outright and was now looking at me with a puzzled look, was very subtle. 

It seemed like he was wondering how to interpret my actions, so I decided to help him make a judgment. I intended to curse him out as a rightful act against the guy who had tried to kill me outright.

“Of course, I should avoid it! You suddenly threw something like that. Are you trying to kill me!?”

But as luck would have it, an unexpected reaction came out instead. Whether it helped or not, the guy stopped being cautious and approached me without hesitation.

Translators note:

Are sick already of reading narrow-eyed? Well I sure am with typing it myself cause no translator can tl it correctly… duck.