ReLife Player - Chapter 2

[A Day in the Life of a Baby]

There were days when I didn’t sleep for days.

This was because the monsters took advantage of Seonnyeo Im Gaeul’s absence and swarmed the walls of the Seoul Cocoon.

There were not enough troops to go around, even though he had just graduated from the academy and had been called to the front.

Cocoon’s curtain crumbling.

An army of monsters swarming in at the crack of dawn.

A burning city center.

People fleeing for their lives.

There was no time for sleep.

People’s minds were becoming increasingly frayed.

No matter how many monsters you killed, they kept coming back, and you were terrified.

The fight went on for days and days.

It was then that Eunha realized that people don’t die even if they don’t sleep.

And after more than 5 days, something irresistible got hold of him and he disappeared beyond consciousness.

When he finally opened his eyes, it was all over.

The situation reversed with the return of Im Gaeul, who was visiting other administrative districts.

Players, led by the Twelve, were able to defeat the monsters and reclaim the city center.

The citizens welcomed the returning players at Gwanghwamun.

They seemed heartened that they had crossed the line of death, but Eunha felt no emotion.

Was I fighting for these people?

He couldn’t understand why so many people were waving at him.

Or the emotions of the players crying there.

If there was one thing he felt there, it was from the children who were wedged between his parents.

They were looking at the players with such innocent eyes, unaware of how cruel this world can be.

In that moment, an envy welled up in him, a ridiculous one.

Yes, you can be taken care of without doing anything.

For that moment, he wanted to be them.

No, he wanted to be a baby.

How nice it would be to do nothing.

I want to rest.

I don’t want to think about anything.

Or so he thought.

«Abu.»

No way.

I’m sick and tired of doing nothing.

I get up.

I eat.

I pack.

Sleep.

Wake up.

The routine was repeating itself.

I was sleeping more than 20 hours a day.

There were times when I tried to force myself to stay awake and resist the pouring sleep, thinking back to when I fought against a horde of monsters before regressing, but I ultimately failed.

How evil my mother’s lullabies were!

More often than not, I would fall asleep in my mother’s arms before the song ended.

How hungry I was again.

My empty stomach screamed at me, and I couldn’t help but cry.

Even the breast milk that I couldn’t adapt to at first was now desperately sought after by me, looking for my mother.

It had been months since I had been able to do anything.

Stress piled on top of stress, causing unnecessary frustration.

At times like that, father would come to see him whenever he had the chance.

«Our Eunha, you’ve been waiting for me to come home!» he’d say, laughing. Father didn’t seem to notice that I was glaring at him with a wild look

This was the kind of man my father was.

The good news is that there was some breathing room.

That’s right.

I was able to do a flip.

«Yay! Let’s take a picture!»

Even his mother, who is usually calm, was losing her cool when he pulled off the flip.

Apparently, his father, who didn’t see this pivotal moment, was discouraged when he saw the photo she took.

From then on, she often took him out of the cradle.

And today, he was doing flips.

«Go Eunha!»

Next to him was his older sister, Euna, who had returned from kindergarten.

With her fists balled up and snorting, she looked just like her father.

«Ugh.»

Come on.

I opened my mouth to say something like that, but I doubt Euna understood.

«Yeah, I’m back, little bro!»

Do kids understand each other?

This time, Euna was wearing a smile that reminded her of her mother.

«Ncha~»

Euna gently hugged Eunha. She wasn’t as steady as her mother, but she was trying to make sure he didn’t get hurt.

«Hehe~»

What’s so good about it?

Watching Euna like that, even his dissatisfaction seemed to disappear.

No Euna.

Eunha’s older sister is four years older than him.

But his memories of her were fainter than his memories of his parents.

What he did remember was that he always followed her around, and that the day he lost his family, she hugged him and promised to protect him.

And how much he resented her and how much he missed her.

By the way.

«Eunha, are you hungry, do you want some milk?»

«Eunha, are you sleepy? do you want your sister to sing you a lullaby?»

«Eunha, do you need to rest?»

Euna had never left his side for a moment. She looked and acted so much like their parents.

Although he had gotten used to it by now, her interest in him was overwhelming.

«Awww.»

Leave me alone.

«Okay!»

Like she understood anything.

No matter how she interpreted Eunha’s whimper, she was bothering him even more.

Oh, no. Don’t answer.

«Euna~ Can you take care of Eunha?»

«Yes~!»

Her mother, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen, only encouraged Euna more.

He couldn’t help it.

Eventually, he tried to ignore her gaze and flip over. Unlike the first time he tried, once he got used to it, flipping over was easy.

Next came crawling. Crawling had been a slow process for the past few days.

Still, he couldn’t wait to walk.

He had no desire to walk out into the world, but he couldn’t stand the idea of lying still.

So he started with the tummy time.

A few days ago, his mother saw him struggling to crawl and muttered, «He’ll have to do his tummy time first.» What is a tummy time?

I wondered what a tummy bug was.

At that time, the mother shook the rubber nipple that he was biting on and gestured for him to come this way.

«Come to me!»

Eunha pushed his stomach against the floor, determined to find the rubber nipple

Only then did he master the belly push.

This time, he raised his upper body with a trick that gave his stomach strength.

His tiny arms shook, but he succeeded.

Now he just needed to push his knees forward.

One step, then another.

He paid attention to the distance between his hands as he reached forward and moved his knees on the ground.

«My brother is a genius!»

Euna couldn’t help but squeal, «He’s a genius!» and she ran over to him.

Where are you hugging me?

Why are you rubbing your face on my ass.

«You smell so good~»

«Awwww~»

Ugh, let me crawl around a bit. And get off my ass.

«Kaaaa~! You’re so cute!»

Maybe he should learn to talk instead of crawl.

Eventually, Eunha decided to stop practicing crawling at this point.

He had gotten the hang of it.

Haaa, I can’t help it.

«Oh, what’s going on?

Just then, my mother, who was preparing dinner, came out of the kitchen.

«Mom, Eunha is hungry!»

«Abu.»

Sis my butt is not a pillow, can you tell her that, Mom?

Eunha puffed up his cheeks in a disgruntled manner, but it seemed that Mom interpreted it in the same way as Euna.

«Mommy loves you too, Eunha.»

Maybe I should learn to speak.

«Our son will learn to speak quickly like this.»

Yeah, I’ll have to learn soon.

I can’t help but complain.

«Hey, Eunha, wanna crawl?»

I had no idea what Mom’s outstretched arm meant.

Using the trick I learned earlier, I crawled over to her.

«Ahhhh! Ah! So cute!!»

Realizing what was happening, Eunha puffed up his cheeks, but he was already in her mother’s arms.

His mother picked him up and patted him on the back, saying, «You did well.» She then showed him how to sit, saying, «Next time, sit like this.» She released her hand.

Then she let go.

Eunha held on to sit a little longer.

But as soon as she released her hand, he didn’t last long and fell forward. If she hadn’t caught him, he would have hit his head on the floor.

It would be a while before he could walk.

«You can take your time. It’s okay to be late.»

She tells me that I don’t have to rush my steps.

But it sounded like she was telling me that I didn’t have to rush, that I could just grow up like everyone else.

It is true.

I don’t have to be impatient anymore.

Sleepy again!

This was the limit of the baby’s physical strength.

Unable to fight off any more sleepiness, Eunha closed his eyes.

He listened to her mother and sister singing a lullaby in unison.

If mom goes to collect oysters~

in the shade of the island,

and the baby is left alone~

watching for home

to the lullaby that the sea sings,

with arms wrapped around,

slowly, slowly,

falling asleep~.