“Jin Muhae… meat.”The moment Muhae stepped into the house, Joo-o darted toward him.His eyes sparkled and he even reached out his hand, like a puppy greeting its owner returning from an errand.But sadly, he was a fully grown man, and his greeting seemed far more interested in the grub than in saying hello.“Don’t call me that.”Muhae snapped back, but Joo-o paid no heed—he snatched the crinkling paper bag with a snap.Inside was a pile of cold barbecue. It was yesterday’s leftovers from Boss Gil.“Jin Muhae and meat,” Joo-o said.“No need to spell it out.”Muhae sighed at least five times. Even as he left the electronics shop, he’d grumbled that Boss Gil was the real miser. Still, the thought of getting that dil back warmed him up inside.If he’d been in a better mood, he might’ve dashed off to the neon-lit entertainment district and bought something fancy.“Don’t take it out here.”“It’s fine.”“Who asked if it’s fine?”Damn. Muhae glanced away for a moment and Joo-o was already reaching in with his bare hands.Had anyone starved him? He stood in the hallway, licking his lips, utterly devoid of patience.Muhae hurried over and blocked him. Joo-o’s fair hand froze mid-grab.“Why?”Rationality wavered on his face. He’d seemed coherent enough when he stumbled out at dawn, but now if Muhae took that meat away he might smash a hole in the wall. Muhae’s instincts kicked in and he seized Joo-o.“I’ll heat it up. Sit still.”With a soft whine, Joo-o allowed himself to be led to a chair, like an animal caught by the scruff of its neck.His face lit up as though he were about to feast for the first time.“Heh. I’ve been waiting.”“For the meat?”“No. For you.”Yeah, right. Despite the lip service, Joo-o’s gaze never left the cold barbecue.When Muhae transferred the meat onto a plate, Joo-o’s eyes followed. Of course, he’d been waiting for the meat, not Muhae.“At least you’re not drooling.”“I’m better now. Yesterday was hard to control.”Was it really that kind of control? He wasn’t a toddler.He kept babbling nonsense and acting oddly. Muhae clicked his tongue and slid the plate into the battered microwave.He glanced back at Joo-o and saw that the strange expression from yesterday had vanished; those red eyes looked a bit softer now.“Humans… really lose their minds at the sight of food.”Human… he doubted that for a second, but what—tramp or test subject—humans were humans.Muhae cleared his head of complications and handed over the utensils.“You behaved yourself, so here.”“If you’d torn my shoes again, I’d have fed you those.”“I don’t want that. It’d taste awful.”“It’s not that it tastes bad. You just can’t eat it.”“…Hmm.”“You can’t eat it.”He probably wouldn’t actually gnaw on shoes—but the thought was unsettling.Muhae repeated himself several times, and only when Joo-o nodded did he pass over the plate of lukewarm meat.With a whoosh of delight, Joo-o cut off a chunk and popped it into his mouth. His narrowed eyes glimmered with happiness.Muhae wasn’t hungry—he just leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching.Even though Joo-o devoured the food ravenously, he ate with surprising neatness.He made no smacking noises and barely made a mess. He handled fork and knife almost like a normal person.“Mmm, haah.”He chewed, his cheeks bulging, then swallowed with oddly addictive satisfaction.It was a sight to behold. Muhae watched him slice, chew, swallow as if watching a TV show.Then it hit him.“…Hey. Where’d you put the bones?”The spot where Joo-o had eaten was spotless.“Where’d you spit them out?”The meat had been ribs—spiced to mask the gamey smell. Not a scrap of bone remained. Muhae’s spine prickled and he grabbed Joo-o’s chin.“You swallowed them?”“Uh, yeah.”When Muhae pressed on his cheek, Joo-o winced and opened his mouth.It was completely empty. No meat, no bone fragments.“I asked if you swallowed them.”“It’s fine.”“Do you even know what I’m asking?”Muhae scanned the floor—no dropped pieces. How he’d cut the bone with dull utensils and then gulped it whole felt like sorcery.If Joo-o really had swallowed bone… unless he had a sandbag-like pouch by his stomach lining, he’d be ruined.Muhae shook off the faint dawn delirium and ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) felt his brain clear. He’d just heard shocking revelations about his father, but he felt no pity.“Vomit it up.”“Why…?”At the command, Joo-o looked tormented. Muhae shrugged and lifted him up, shoving him into shoes, then headed for the clinic.Joo-o wriggled faintly, reluctant to let go of the fork, licking his lips with a sour expression—like he was thinking, I’ll humor you.“I think he swallowed bone.”“What bone?”“Rib bone. He ate the whole thing in one go. About the size of my fist.”“Is that even possible?”Muhae heard Dr. Jeong’s voice and Joo-o sat on the bed, staring into space.A translucent system window hovered at the edge of his vision.WELCOME TO LA VIDA :)~Year 15, Day 119~[Quests]Main QuestTutorial (Completed)CHAPTER 1☞ Outsider of the City (Completed)- Gold-Birthing Wolf √- 200,000 dil Heirloom √☞ The Unextinguished Ember (In Progress)- Intangible Legacy √- The Journey Begins[The Journey Begins]The records of Project Solar47 are incomplete.As Boss Gil advised, you must uncover the missing information yourself.The first person you can contact is a colleague of your father who lives nearby.The story had climbed smoothly onto its rails. In the game, you’d claim the legacy, unlock it at home in an instant, and the next day would already be here—all within fifteen minutes.But in real life La Vida Blue moved neither instantly nor swiftly. Now that the cutscenes you once watched from the hero’s POV were gone, Joo-o had to live through every skipped day and night.Still, it was okay. It wasn’t boring. Compared to the last fifteen years spent writing idle journals and zoning out, every moment with Muhae was a delight.Even if he’d been dragged here mid-meal, Dr. Jeong was still part of La Vida Blue.Seeing the people he’d longed for with his own eyes was indescribably thrilling.“Well, I can just scan his gut to check his condition.”The device drawer slid open.Joo-o, still with the system window up, glanced to the side.“You said he swallowed bones?”He didn’t answer—just stared at Dr. Jeong and then nodded.He still saw the half-eaten meat floating before his eyes.“Spread your arms out. And wait a moment.”“….”“If you behave, I’ll give you something good.”Something good? Joo-o’s lips quivered.Dr. Jeong didn’t miss a beat and produced a clinking metal toy: a shiny wire puzzle.‘Hidden item!’Joo-o spread his arms at once. When the doctor handed him the puzzle, his red eyes lit up with joy.La Vida Blue had an achievement system. It didn’t do much—it was just a little trophy icon you earned for special conditions.One achievement was to collect all six wire puzzles scattered across the world. Having done the same puzzle so many times, he could solve it by sight—but…“It’s new.”Of course. Now that it was real, maybe they’d added more puzzles. This metal tangle looked fiendish and intriguing.As the rectangular scanner passed over him, Joo-o clicked the puzzle between his fingers.Beep-beep.Beep-.“There’s nothing foreign in him. Are you sure he swallowed bone?”“He ate bone-filled ribs right in front of me. Not small fragments.”“But nothing shows up. And we can’t make him spit it out.”“I chewed it.”At the word “chewed,” Joo-o cut in.“How could you chew that? Stay still. It was a huge rib—Boss Gil’s leftovers.”“Then where’d you ditch it? Anyway, there’s no issue—if you’re worried, give him antacids.”Dr. Jeong turned to a cupboard, found a half-used bottle of pills.“Since they’re mine, you don’t need to pay extra.”Clink… two tablets rolled into a small plastic cup. Joo-o watched, biting his lip.Come to think of it, he never ate the bones.Right. He’d always discarded them. It wasn’t the same as eating wild beast meat.Though the sauce-soaked ribs were tender and rich, you weren’t supposed to swallow the bones whole.He’d lived too long in the wild. Not by choice, but long enough to forget human ways.And he couldn’t remember anything before entering this damned game. Joo-o narrowed his eyes, stirring the blank memories in his mind.He still recalled every detail from repeating La Vida Blue countless times—yet…‘I don’t know.’Even after fifteen years, the past refused to surface. Only his name and age remained etched in his mind.

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