Surviving Among the Letters

The sun had yet to rise.

And yet, sunlight was already chasing away the darkness, slowly painting the sky in shades of blue.

Against this backdrop, a boy was racing through the slums.

“Ellie! Ellie! Please!”

The boy’s desperate steps carried him toward a military truck, quietly making its way through the slums.

Inside the truck’s transport compartment were children.

“Huff… huff… almost… caught up!”

As the truck came into view, the boy pushed himself to run even faster.

The military truck, moving slowly to avoid drawing attention, allowed the boy to steadily close the distance.

“Ellie!! Ellie!! It’s me! Can you hear me?!”

As the boy neared, he shouted his sister’s name at the top of his lungs.

His voice reached the truck, and from among the children, a faint voice responded.

“Brother?”

A young girl, sitting with her head bowed, suddenly turned to look outside.

At that moment, the boy and his sister’s eyes met.

“Brother!!! It’s me, Ellie!!”

The girl leaned so far out of the truck that she looked as if she might fall.

It was then the boy noticed the cuffs chaining her hands.

“Stay put! It’s dangerous! I’ll come to you!” the boy yelled.

Though the truck was moving slowly enough that a jump might not have caused serious injury, the cuffs bound her to her fate.

Realizing he had no choice but to climb onto the truck himself, the boy summoned every ounce of strength and sprinted forward.

Within seconds, the gap between him and the truck had shrunk to less than five meters.

“Huff… huff… Ellie! Almost there—”

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

A soldier atop the truck had fired at the boy.

The boy threw himself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the bullet. But the distance between him and the truck began to grow once again.

From inside the truck, his sister, perhaps mistaking his fall for a mortal wound, began screaming.

“Brother!! Brother!! Are you okay?! Bro—”

Her cries were abruptly cut short by the cold barrel of a gun pressed against her head from above.

“Make another sound, and you’ll end up just like him,” the soldier growled, pointing at the boy sprawled on the ground.

Seeing this, the girl burst into tears. She muffled her cries with one hand, burying her face in the other, desperate not to anger the soldier further.

“Hic… sob… sniff…”

The truck was filled with the sound of her quiet, stifled sobs.

Satisfied, the soldier withdrew his gun and disappeared back inside.

Meanwhile, the boy, lying on the ground, glanced up and tried to stand, only to see the truck picking up speed.

Now that shots had been fired, there was no longer any reason for the truck to move discreetly.

“No… no… Ellie…”

Crushed by despair, the boy collapsed onto the ground.

Eventually, the truck disappeared from sight.

Inside the truck, Ellie, sobbing and struggling to breathe, began coughing violently before fainting.

Once again, silence filled the truck.

And my reaction, watching this scene from inside the truck, was pure disgust.

Because what I had just witnessed was the prologue to the novel The Idealistic Hero in Paradise, one of my favorite stories.

And the character I’d possessed? None other than one of the nameless extra children crammed into the truck alongside Ellie.

According to the novel, most of these kids were dragged to a laboratory to become test subjects—or something just as horrific.

“Heh… heh-heh-heh…”

Staring up at the ceiling of the military truck, I let out a bitter laugh. This time, the children’s gazes turned toward me.

But I didn’t react.

Why would I? They were nothing more than clumps of text—mere extras. Whether they looked at me or not, it didn’t matter.

That boy I saw earlier? He was just another protagonist bound by words.

Yeah.

In this world, I’m the only one who’s truly human.

And for the only human left behind in a world of text, this place is nothing short of hell.

I’ll go back.

No matter what.

I’ll go back.