RECTW 13

Chapter 13

There was no manual.

No follow-up window appeared either.

For a moment, I considered just rolling the dice and seeing what happened, but quickly abandoned the idea.

What if something happened?

An ordinary citizen like Seo Singa had never lived recklessly like that…

“Excuse me? Are you still there?”

Who exactly am I talking to right now…?

‘This is really a one-sided communication system?’

It only appeared when it wanted to, and I couldn’t even talk back?

The frustration was enough to make me explode, but—

Stay calm.

I couldn’t afford to get angry.

I wasn’t some protagonist.

I was just a useless extra who had gotten caught up in Min-su’s regression accident. I should be grateful enough that I hadn’t been sent back. It was already generous to give me missions and rewards.

‘Sir, you can see how humble I’m being, right?’

Time was still frozen.

Conscious of whoever might be watching from somewhere, I put on an exaggerated display of humility while frantically poking at every floating window in sight.

I couldn’t find any explanation for the dice, but fortunately, when I clicked on things like the [Excellent] grade, additional information poured out.

“Oh… so you need over 80 points for [Excellent].”

The report card would be issued in two ways:

Unexpectedly, like now, whenever the challenger reached an important milestone.

Officially, twice a year—on birthdays and New Year’s Day.

There were seven possible grades.

Outstanding: 90+ points

Excellent: 80+ points

Growth: 70+ points

Average: 60+ points

Effort: 50+ points

Below those were Insufficient and Fail.

A [Fail] grade—anything below 30 points—came with penalties.

“Official evaluations twice a year…”

‘Wait. This is literally a report card?!’

Going back in time and attending school from the beginning was already maddening enough.

Now I had to receive a second report card on top of that?

The thought was overwhelming, but I decided to look on the bright side.

The first mission had already begun.

As long as I performed well, I would be walking the path I was already destined to take anyway—and getting rewards on top of it.

Take these dice, for example.

They were apparently the reward for a Good grade.

I still had no idea what they did, but judging from their appearance alone, they seemed incredibly valuable.

I rolled the dice around in my palm, already becoming attached to them.

“But excuse me, am I supposed to carry these around like this? What if I lose them? Or someone steals them? Don’t you have loss-and-damage insurance or— Mother of God!”

“Huh? Mom? Why? Why are you calling me?”

My mother called out again, asking what was wrong, but I couldn’t recover immediately.

The people around me and the scenery had resumed moving as if nothing had happened.

I stared blankly for a long time before finally regaining my senses after stepping outside the bank.

Reflexively, I searched through my bag.

‘They’re gone.’

The lucky pouch sat quietly inside.

But the dice were nowhere to be found.

Then had all of that really happened?

The moment I worried about losing them—

The dice that had been resting in my palm simply melted away.

I unconsciously clenched my fist.

‘Did the dice melt…? Into me?’

I didn’t even know what they did yet.

I hadn’t even gotten the chance to roll them once before they dissolved into my body.

Then how was I supposed to use them?

How did they even work?

‘Give me my dice back!’

“Singa. Sweetie. What’s wrong with you? Are you sick again?”

“Mmm. No~ I’m just happy because we made money.”

“A little thing like you is already obsessed with money!”

Mom laughed cheerfully, but I couldn’t laugh at all.

I swallowed the urge to cry and simply kept chanting in my head:

System, come out…

♧

“Unni? Looks like you just came back from grocery shopping.”

“Oh! Hyun-gyo’s mom!”

We were on our way home, trying to settle our restless hearts.

At the elevator, my mother and I ran into the mother of Jung Hyun-gyo from apartment 1001 upstairs.

As soon as she spotted us, she greeted us with a gentle smile.

Truly, she was every bit Hyun-gyo’s mother.

Her elegance was beyond words.

From her neatly tied-back hairstyle that revealed her forehead, to her fair skin and graceful gestures—

She looked like the very embodiment of refinement.

Compared to a certain someone’s mother, who had gotten a ridiculous lion’s-mane perm trying to imitate Kim Hee-sun, the difference was heaven and earth.

Honestly, I had no idea how Dad tolerated Mrs. Bang’s hairstyle.

“Unni, isn’t that heavy? Did you carry all of that yourself?”

“Well, it’s not like I have a car. What choice do I have? Ah, this is just my fate. Where are you coming from? School?”

“Yes. I had some work at the lab.”

Elegant Mrs. Eun Yeon-joo was a university professor.

An art professor, I think.

According to Mom, she had even studied abroad when she was younger.

Someone who had gone overseas to study art during the 1980s had to be unbelievably wealthy.

Honestly, I sometimes suspected she had an ancestor who collaborated with the Japanese occupation.

“Singa, give that to me. It’s heavy, isn’t it? Auntie will carry it.”

A kind collaborator—no, wait.

How could such a beautiful woman also be this kind?

I was carrying a tray of thirty eggs with my frail child-sized body, and I stared at her in admiration.

Then Fake Kim Hee-sun ruined the moment.

“It’s fine! She’s surprisingly strong. Totally different from how she looks. She’s the only one in our family who doesn’t catch a cold in winter. She’s a different species from a delicate beauty like you~”

Was this woman my mother or my stepmother?

“Honestly, Unni. Singa is such a pretty child.”

Ignoring Fake Kim Hee-sun’s nonsense, Kind Shim Eun-ha graciously took the eggs from me.

‘You really can’t compete with educated people…’

“By the way, Unni, something good must have happened.”

“Oh my, is it that obvious?”

“Of course. You should smile more. When you smile, it makes everyone around you feel happy too.”

“How can she be this good at talking?”

Mom’s mood brightened even further.

I smiled too.

How could anyone not like Professor Eun Yeon-joo?

After my kidnapping incident two years ago, Mrs. Bang had spent nearly an entire year bedridden.

She blamed herself constantly and cried almost every night.

Rumors even spread through the neighborhood that the mother in apartment 901 had severe postpartum depression.

Hyun-gyo’s family was the only neighbor who knew the truth.

Because of Im Rampa.

Hyun-gyo’s father was a chief secretary at a major corporation.

His boss happened to be Im Rampa’s uncle.

(Probably that Je An-min guy.)

Whenever Im Rampa came to Korea, Hyun-gyo’s father often looked after him in place of the busy uncle.

Naturally, the two families became close.

That was why Im Rampa practically lived at Hyun-gyo’s house whenever he visited Korea.

Since our family and Hyun-gyo’s family had both been involved in the kidnapping incident, interaction between us became unavoidable.

Before long, Mom and Mrs. Eun Yeon-joo were calling each other sisters.

Having kind, decent neighbors was a blessing.

With a cultured Seoul beauty sincerely caring for her, Mom recovered much faster.

Professor Eun deserved a huge share of the credit for helping Mrs. Bang emerge from her depression.

Dad and I were grateful enough to bow toward their apartment.

Fortunately, Professor Eun’s kindness wasn’t just for show.

She genuinely liked my mother.

Then again, where else would you find someone this childish in middle age?

Probably entertaining.

The two married women got along so well that they practically forgot they were standing in front of an elevator.

Meanwhile, I stood beside them absentmindedly, thinking only about my dice.

Maybe that was why I thought I heard the sound of dice rolling.

…No.

Wait.

That wasn’t my imagination.

‘I can really hear it?!’

The moment I heard the dice rolling—

A cough sounded behind me.

“Cousin.”

【The ‘Dice of Connection’ has been prepared.】

【Challenger, it is your turn.】

【Roll the dice.】

Following the unfamiliar man’s voice, a mechanical voice echoed inside my head.

Instinctively, I turned around.

A man I had never seen before stood there.

He was very tall.

His slender frame didn’t feel physically threatening, but his appearance was suspicious beyond belief.

A long coat.

A baseball cap pulled low.

And as if that weren’t enough, a scarf and even sunglasses.

He had practically equipped every possible item for hiding his face.

He looked like someone I had never seen in the neighborhood before.

And yet…

For some reason, he felt strangely familiar.

The man was facing Professor Eun Yeon-joo.

The instant he removed his sunglasses—

The world froze once again.

‘Huh? That person is—’

There was no time to be more surprised.

The sound of rolling dice grew louder, urging me on.

Startled by a cool sensation, I looked down at my hand.

At some point, the pair of dice had reappeared.

They were resting in my palm once more.