[CHAT]
Anon: Hey—are you still there? Are you alive?
Anon: Please say something. We’ve been refreshing like idiots.
Anon: No death notice yet. That’s a good sign, right?
Anon: Yeah. No system notice means he might still be breathing.
***
Ethan frowned and scrolled up through the channel history.
What he found was worse than panic. It was raw, jagged fear—messages posted mid-disaster, broken by screaming pauses.
***
A few minutes earlier, Player 0344 had stopped hiding behind anonymity and started live-typing his own ship’s nightmare.
***
0344 had been a sailor on a standard cargo ship running what should’ve been a safe route.
Without warning, two pirate ships appeared around them—as if they’d slid out of fog and shadow.
No distant sails. No slow approach.
One moment: empty sea.
Next moment: cannon mouths and grappling hooks close enough to spit on.
***
A cargo ship didn’t have real defenses. The crew didn’t even try to fight at first.
And normally, pirate rules were ugly but consistent: take the goods, take the coin, leave the crew alive.
***
Not this time.
According to 0344, the pirates began selecting prisoners—dragging them onto the deck and killing them one by one for no clear reason.
The cargo crew snapped. They fought back.
In the chaos, 0344’s “father”—his father in this new world—threw himself between 0344 and the pirate captain.
The captain beheaded him.
***
0344’s messages turned incoherent after that. He posted anyway—either to warn other players, or because there was nowhere else to put the scream in his chest.
***
And buried inside the horror was the detail that made the channel go ice-cold:
Two Abyss Thralls had been among the pirates.
***
[CHAT]
Anon: I thought Abyss Thralls level by killing people. Why would they team up?
Anon: Maybe they can make deals and grind together?
Anon: The system never said they have to kill everyone. Just who benefits them.
Anon: Isn’t it only same-class Awakened that matter for their progress?
Anon: Doesn’t mean they won’t kill for fun. They’re not normal.
Anon: And some of them have to sacrifice to an Old God. Regular people work as offerings. Let that sink in.
Anon: So you’re saying the pirates were harvesting sacrifices…
Anon: 0344—are you still alive? Please answer.
***
Ethan stared at the chat until the letters blurred.
A world where the Old Gods were real didn’t allow peace for anyone—not for long.
He looked out the cabin’s tiny round window at the endless water.
Bad luck? Sure. Pirates on the Endless Sea were rare.
Pirates backed by the Abyss were rarer.
But rare didn’t mean impossible.
***
He wanted Storm Island. Mithril rounds. Flint loaded. Tasks finished.
The reward. Then Tier 1.
Even with Xia at his side, time felt thin—like ice over deep water.
***
He kept watching.
Eventually, in the flood of anonymous posts, Player 0344 appeared again.
***
[CHAT]
Player 0344: Guys. I’m alive. I…
Anon: Thank god. Where are you? Are you safe?
Anon: 0344 hang on!
Player 0344: Thanks. I’m trying.
Player 0344: My dad—my father here—shoved me into the sea so I could escape.
Player 0344: I have a C-Rank Stamina Talent, so I’ve been holding under the surface. They haven’t found me yet.
Player 0344: But my dad… he…
Anon: We’re sorry.
Anon: I’m so sorry.
Anon: It’s awful, but… he was your “father” in this world. You’ve only known him three days. Don’t break yourself over it.
***
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Three days was enough to love someone if you’d been starving for it your whole life.
***
[CHAT]
Player 0344: I know you mean well. But you don’t understand.
Player 0344: Back home, my father died early. My mom remarried. I grew up bouncing between relatives, eating their pity and their contempt.
Player 0344: You people with parents don’t know what it feels like to always be a guest in your own life.
Player 0344: Then I came here… and I had a dad again.
Player 0344: And he looked like my real father. Talked like him. Even the way he laughed—almost the same.
Player 0344: I had a home.
Player 0344: I was happy. I didn’t care about Talents or becoming Awakened.
Player 0344: I just wanted to live with him.
Player 0344: Those pirates killed him. I don’t have a home in either world now.
Player 0344: What’s the point of getting into Saintis Academy? What’s the point of my C-Rank Talent?
Player 0344: I couldn’t even protect him. I can’t do anything.
***
[CHAT]
Anon: Don’t post personal details. Even here.
Anon: Yeah. Keep yourself safe.
Player 0344: Doesn’t matter. Two worlds, no home. I don’t see any hope.
Player 0344: I’m going up. Sorry, everyone.
Anon: 0344—NO. Don’t do that!
Anon: Live. You can’t get revenge if you’re dead.
Anon: Please come back!
***
Player 0344 stopped replying.
The channel filled with helplessness so thick Ethan could almost taste it.
No one could reach him. No one could help. All they could do was sit in the dark and wait for the system to announce the inevitable.
***
Ethan waited too.
And what made his stomach twist wasn’t the grief—it was the silence.
***
The death notice never came.