Hendrick’s System - Chapter 2

Hendrick’s System ― 1 ―

Wars have dire consequences. It destroys lives. Even if someone is lucky to survive physical death, they could still die inside. It could still mean they lost the sense of life. Not all of those who survive are lucky. Neither are the lives of those who’ve lost their loved ones. The lives of war orphans, particularly, are often unfortunate.

Hendrick was 14 years old when he lost his parents in the war. He was the eldest of his three brothers. At such a tender age, Hendrick needed to be cared for and nurtured. But as fate had it, he would not enjoy that privilege.

Being the eldest, it was his duty to look after his younger siblings. Of course, it was not easy, especially considering that he was still a child himself. Nevertheless, Hendrick tried. He would wander in the scorching sun all day long, gathering twigs, herbs, spices, or anything that would fetch some cash. Despite his efforts, it didn’t make much, let alone enough for him and his siblings to survive.

It was tough for children, especially Hendrick. It was difficult to do so much work with an empty stomach. His body had grown frail, yet he had to be strong for his brothers, who all looked up to him.

He needed money. He needed a job. But even at his young age, he understood that if you had nothing to your name, it isn’t as simple as just getting a job. To make money, you need to spend money. So, all he could do then was to go around the mountains and collect food or firewood.

“I have to find something today,” he said to himself as he pondered his brothers. He needed to find something.

His younger siblings stayed at the village at Aunt Hopa’s place. She was a person who would take care of children who had similar circumstances as Hendrick- orphans who had nowhere to go. But of course, it was not free. Neither was there a fixed fee for her services. There still needed to be some form of compensation for her help. Yet, Hendrick had not delivered anything in the past few days.

“Is it because it was windy last night?” Hendrick spoke aloud. “There are a lot of broken branches today.” He had gotten used to speaking to himself whenever he got lonely. His conversations with himself eased his pain- or at least made him feel so.

Hendrick didn’t have the strength to cut down trees like the adults. But again, even if he could, he did not have the tools for it. A few times, he figured out how to cut it down, but then he wouldn’t know how to bring it back to the village all on his own. All he could do now was collect dry or broken branches, tie them together, and take them home.

The winds had favored him. Branches were aplenty and he gathered them with grass vines and tied them tightly. When he tried to put them on his shoulders, he couldn’t lift the twigs. Not that it was too heavy for a child his age, but he was already out of breath.

At 14, he was not as big as his peers. Whenever he secured some food, he would always prioritize his younger siblings. They would eat first. So, he couldn’t eat properly, for there was never enough.

“I have to be strong,” Hendrick said in a raspy voice. He was in worse shape than the day before.

“I must be strong” although he felt as though he was nearly reaching his limit, he kept encouraging himself. He could not afford to give up. He could not fail his parents.

He remembered the promise he made before his mother and father died- to protect his younger siblings until the end. The pain throbbed once more. Hendrick put many efforts into raising his brothers, not because of that promise, but because of the stronger instinct to take care of one’s family. He knew that if he didn’t take care of them, the children would become taken advantage of by terrible adults to go to bad places.

“If I don’t move, I can’t take care of my brothers.” He drifted back to what he was earlier doing.

“Phew!”

Again, he took a deep breath. His skinny body was visible inside the rag-like cloth, but only his eyes were bright. However, his gaze did not last long.

His mind was clear for a short while, then his vision blurred and, his legs gave in.

“Uh…” he didn’t have the energy to make an audible noise.

Hendrick dropped the bunch of trees he was dragging as he passed out.

* * *

He did not know how long he lay there. When he opened his eyes, he could not immediately place himself. He could barely manage to turn over. His blurry vision slowly became clear and he identified grass. Then he saw a light leaking through the bushes and leaves.

His body hurt here and there. Actually, everywhere ached but fortunately he didn’t feel to have broken anything.

“My head hurts.”

He must have hit his head somewhere. Hendrick looked around him, trying to ignore his pain. Then he realized that so much time had passed, judging by the amount of sunlight coming in.

The beams of light triggered a thought in him.

“Was it lack of sincerity?”

There was a small temple in the village. But one had to pay to be let in. He had never gone in to pray since his parents’ demise. Instead, he prayed outside every time. He sat there wondering if his voice could still be able to reach God since he was not praying from the temple. “Am I struggling like this because of lack of faith?” He questioned himself.

Hendrick tried to get himself up again. He felt a strong wave of abyss in his vision. His head felt more painful, his limbs faltered and he was sweating profusely. His body felt cold and stiff. He could not move, probably, because he hadn’t eaten for so long. But there was nothing to eat at hand.

All he had was the rag that covered his body, and a stone knife used to pluck tough herbs and vines. He checked his pocket.

“No. It’s gone.” Or so, he thought.

However, the branches that he had collected and tied together were hung from the top of the tree. He didn’t know if he could take it back to the town. Hendrick was weak, but he came to his senses again.

“I have to eat something.”

He moved his eyes around, but could not see any edible grass or bark to eat. He didn’t know all kinds of plants yet, but he knew at least a few of the kinds that he could consume.

“I don’t know where to find it.” He thought desperately, for there hadn’t been any harvest recently.

He wasn’t on his usual path. Therefore, it would be a mistake for him to veer off an unfamiliar path. He seemed to have fallen into a valley, but he could be able to determine the way back.

“It could be dangerous.”

Beasts lived on that mountain. He had heard of predators wandering around, although he hadn’t seen any of it in person. Yet, he was stuck in a situation where he couldn’t do anything about the possible danger.

“I can’t get up. No.” Hendrick groaned. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find any strength within himself. He barely raised his torso, but his legs were just as heavy as rocks, and he didn’t dare move them.

“Uh…!”

He tried to force himself up again. And there was hope. He moved a little, shaking softly, but soon again, his eyes became hazy, and his strength failed him. He needed to get back to the village. Otherwise, he would end up dying out in the field.

He tried shouting, “Ahhh!” hoping that maybe an adult would hear and come to his rescue. But, it had been so long since he last ate so that his voice was a whisper in the wind, hardly intelligible from even a few steps away.

“Help…”

No one responded. Hendrick presumed that there was probably no one around to hear his cries. So, He resolved to pray. He fixed his gaze between the leaves and the sky over the rays of light.

“Please. Please help me. Oh God. Save me.”

Even though his voice grew too weak to help anything, a conviction grew stronger within him. So strong so that he didn’t stop trying. He fought the fear that it was unlikely that God would hear such a small voice. Tears gathered little by little and flowed down his face. They were pent up tears since he couldn’t show his weakness in front of his younger siblings. He let them flow.

“Sorry, If I were a little stronger, I would have been able to make your lives easier,” Hendrick wept as he thought of his brothers.

It was after a while that he saw something strange through his blurred vision. Something seemed to sway in the air before his eyes. Hendrick slowly wiped away the tears with the back of his hand, to clearly see it.

“A letter?”

He couldn’t read. Like most people in the village, parents didn’t know how to write or read themselves, so that they couldn’t teach. But he knew it was a letter. That wasn’t all.

Someone’s voice spoke in his ear.

―Your help request has been accepted.

―The subject of the connection, Jin-Hwan Ko.

―Do you want to accept the interconnection?

It was an adult voice. A male voice. However, it seemed that it spoke with no emotion in its voice. He heard it in his mind, deep in his ears.

Again, forcibly raising his upper body, Hendrick confirmed that no one was around and looked straight ahead again. There was no one else around him. He wondered where the voice came from.

There were still letters floating in the air. Hendrick didn’t know what they said.

―Do you want to accept the interconnection?

As he hesitated, the voice repeated the same line, as if it were a rush. It was not heard from the side or from above. The voice seemed to resonate in his head. Hendrick was amazed and stared at the sky.

God. It was clear to him that God had heard his prayer. Hendrick quickly lowered his head. He wanted to kneel and bow, but his legs still couldn’t move.

―Do you want to accept the interconnection?

“Uh… Yes. Accept. I will accept!”

He didn’t know what the voice was talking of. But he couldn’t refuse what God asked. Of course, he had to accept. He nodded repeatedly and said he would accept it.

―The interconnection has been accepted.

―The connection is activated.

―The transmitted destination exists.

―Do you want to pick it up?

The voice that followed was still monotone and without emotion, but he couldn’t afford to waste time thinking about it. He envisioned the letters that quickly came to mind and then disappeared. it was like a dream. He was wondering if he saw it wrong, so he rubbed his eyes and looked again, but it was still there. It was bigger than his forearms combined. It looked like bread, wrapped in a thin, transparent material. Next to it was something white with colorful drawings and letters.

―Do you want to pick up the subject?

It was difficult for him to understand the situation, but he thought he knew what it was asking. It was asking if he wanted the things in front of him.

“Yeah.”

He felt like he was dreaming. The floating objects slowly landed on his legs. They had weight, and he then knew they were real.

―The collection of Jumbo Bread and Milk has been completed.

At the end of that, the voice was silent. But the things on his legs were still there. Hendrick slowly reached out and touched them.

“It is real.”

These objects existed. When he touched it, a paused voice came back and explained what they were. He felt as if the voice knew he couldn’t read. Both of his legs moved miraculously. Of course, that couldn’t be a telltale sign that he was suddenly cured. He needed to eat. Hendrick got on his knees and bowed down.

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

God gave him something to eat. He said thank you countless times.

“Jumbo bread. Milk.”

He didn’t know what jumbo meant necessarily, but since the bread was so big, he gathered that it was its size. He also understood that it was milk. He has heard of people milking animals before.

“Is it the milk of the beasts living where God is?”

Maybe it could be food from another region he had never been to, but it seemed unlikely for some reason. The packaging of jumbo bread, which he carefully peeled off, was a kind of material he hadn’t seen before. It was as thin as the wings of a dragonfly, but it felt so tough that it will not be torn easily.

The large bread was flat and had two large pieces of bread attached to it. Something oozed out of it.

There was little smell, but it seemed to be kind of syrup. This kind of soft bread isn’t the kind one could easily buy even if you went to the city. Of course, he hadn’t been to the city before. But it seemed so simply because it was the food that God gave.

“I’m sorry… I’ll eat a little.”

He wanted to feed his younger siblings in the village first. But it was clear that this time he needed to come first. Hendrick carefully bit off one end. It was so sweet, so soft and delicious that his dry mouth quickly filled with saliva.

He chewed and swallowed quickly. He felt his energy rejuvenating.

He thought he had had only one bite but realized that he had bitten it several times. Still, it was a large piece of bread. I was too large to eat half of it. Nonetheless, he stopped there.

“Ah” he sighed, “thank God!”

He thought it was gone like his stone knife. He found a wooden bucket hanging from a string. He checked it and saw that it wasn’t broken. Hendrick, who drank a little water left there, carefully poured milk into the bucket.

“I don’t think it should be known.”

It was a kind of instinct. Hendrick felt like he got something he couldn’t keep safely. So, he considered not taking the milk or bread to the village, fearing that anyone would see them and ask questions.

“Delicious.” he thought as he drank the rest of the milk that couldn’t fit into the bucket. The bucket wasn’t necessarily small, but there was just so much milk left to drink all for himself. Hendrick completely removed the jumbo bread from the packaging, took off the jacket he was wearing and wrapped it, concealing it very well. After folding the bread wrapper and the milk jug as small as possible, he tried to bury them in the ground there. Before he was done, the voice of God came again.

―The help connection is reciprocal.

―If you pay for help, there is a possibility that you will receive help in the future.