Chapter 2
✿Animal✿Farm✿
At the sudden phrase that popped up, I couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.
‘……This isn’t <Yggdrasil>.’
A completely different atmosphere.
A title filled to the brim with colorful flowers and pink.
It didn’t give off <Yggdrasil>’s clean, neat feeling at all.
Yeah, this was more like……
‘A design you’d see in kids’ games…… No, wait a second.’
My breath stopped.
It felt like I’d seen it somewhere before.
As I vaguely caught on, my expression gradually twisted.
“Son of a—seriously.”
Maybe it was because of the influence of this body’s original owner, but the curse just slipped out on its own.
I didn’t even have the strength left to clench my fist in frustration.
Let’s quickly find our animal friends!
‘This is… that thing, isn’t it?’
Digging into my memory, something surfaced.
A web game called <Animal Farm> I used to play through an internet portal site when I was a kid.
I remembered it as a game where you raised cute little animals.
Back then, I enjoyed it in my own way, but why it was suddenly appearing in front of me now—I couldn’t find an answer, so my pupils trembled for a long while.
‘What kind of bug is this?’
It was a bug.
No doubt about it.
‘Did two games crash into each other?’
Even thinking that, it still felt absurd.
No matter if I had entered the world inside a game, having a bug that overlaps with an entirely different game was strange, wasn’t it?
I had gotten all excited when I heard “Unique Skill,” and yet, what the hell was this situation?
‘Then what about my magic? My sword?’
No matter how much I looked, Villed didn’t have any such abilities.
The only thing he had was exactly one.
✿Animal✿Farm✿
Just this.
“Great, just great.”
I grabbed my messy hair in frustration.
Right then, I saw several students moving far off in the distance from the farm.
Each of them was armed and heading toward the training grounds.
A few students could even be seen flying on magic brooms.
‘And compared to that, me?’
Wearing work clothes and cleaning out the livestock pen.
‘If the only skill I got is something like this, maybe managing the stables really was my fate all along.’
Of course, I had no idea how I was supposed to even use this skill.
Without any instructions, it was just <✿Animal✿Farm✿> blooming before my eyes as it pleased.
I was doubtful whether it was even really an “ability” at all.
‘If this is the same Animal Farm I know……’
When I thought back to that time, despite having a pastel-toned, kid-friendly look, it was actually quite a serious game. You raised animals to the end, then competed or battled using them. People even used exploits or cheat keys—it was that intense.
‘Raising animals, huh.’
—Neighhh!
Just then, a horse snorted loudly and stomped, blowing out hot breath.
It was a clear way of saying, “Stop spacing out and hurry up with my feed.”
‘Now even animals are looking down on me.’
With a sigh, I reluctantly tossed the feed to the horse.
As I worked while thinking about this “Animal Farm” skill, time flew by in the blink of an eye.
By the time the sky darkened into a navy blue evening, all the chores and cleaning were finished.
‘Damn, time sure flies doing this.’
Just as I was about to savor a sense of accomplishment from finishing work, the thought of having to repeat all of this tomorrow instantly deflated me.
‘Let’s just go back to the dorm and get some rest.’
Yeah, resting was the priority.
With heavy footsteps, I walked forward.
‘Just looking around, I can tell where I am.’
I didn’t need a map. Since I’d memorized all of Yggdrasil’s maps from the game, I headed toward the dormitory like I was going home.
---
After a short walk, I arrived at the Felhardt Hall male dormitory.
‘Thankfully, it’s not too far from the farm.’
It was a seven-story white building. Its design, reminiscent of old European Gothic architecture, exuded a heavy, luxurious aura.
I went inside and climbed the stairs, overhearing the whispers of students as they noticed me.
“Hey, isn’t that Villed?”
“So that’s where the pigsty smell was coming from.”
“Serves him right. Why’d he go showing off when he doesn’t have the skills?”
“He’s in trouble now that he’s gotten on the princess’s bad side. There goes his school life.”
Judging by the color of their name tags, they were all first-years like me.
Their mocking voices rang clearly in my ears, but I didn’t pay them any mind.
I was too tired to care; all I wanted was to rest.
‘Is it because he’s a noble’s son that he gets a single room?’
Room 301 on the third floor.
I unlocked the door with the key from my pocket and stepped inside.
‘Fancy.’
For a dorm, the room was spacious, with a crystal chandelier, a large bed, and an elegant bookshelf.
It was a lavish, flashy room, but my body was too heavy to stand around admiring it.
I collapsed onto the bed with a flop.
“Yeah, at least the bed welcomes me with softness.”
As soon as I laid myself down on the bed, it felt like I was lying on a fluffy cloud.
Once my body relaxed, all sorts of thoughts began to resurface.
‘So… what am I supposed to do about this?’
I thought about it for a while.
Animal Farm—just what the hell was I supposed to do with this thing?
The problem I had set aside because of the farm work came creeping back into my mind.
‘Maybe I should at least take a look at what this skill actually does.’
The last phrase I saw earlier in Animal Farm kept circling around in my head.
Only for you—your very own Animal Farm!
A farm just for me, huh.
It was still just a farm at the end of the day.
I wondered if the phrase “just for me” was really necessary, but you never know until you see and experience something for yourself.
And hey, who’s to say? Maybe it would turn out to be more useful than I thought.
‘It still bothers me that while the other students are playing an RPG, I’m stuck with a kids’ game. But… a game’s still a game, right?’
I decided to shift my perspective.
‘This place I’m in is a game, and Animal Farm is also a game. Yeah—they’re both games.’
The “abilities” granted to the students through their assigned classes were also, at the end of the day, just abilities inside a game.
My “Animal Farm” was still a game in its own way.
If you look at the big picture, it was the same thing.
Besides, Animal Farm, even though it was a kids’ game, had been considered one of the great classics—something even adults enjoyed.
It was so popular that screenshots from the game would often pop up in online communities for office workers.
So really, what more proof did I need?
Yeah.
I didn’t know yet.
‘I’ll research it a bit more, and if it’s really useless, I’ll just drop it.’
The thought process was long, but the decision came quickly.
I jumped up from the bed, intending to use the skill.
‘How do I… log into the game?’
The moment I thought that, my mouth started moving on its own.
It was a natural motion, like I had known how to do it all along.
“Log in to Animal Farm.”
Ddan-dan-dararang.
Let’s open the door to Animal Farm!
A ridiculously cheap melody played as a green field began to spread across the screen in front of my eyes.
It was painted in bright primary colors, the typical look of a children’s game.
About the same level as the games that used to be on old portal sites.
“This is so ridiculous.”
The moment I saw the reality of what I had half-expected, a laugh slipped out of me.
It was the exact <Animal Farm> game from back then—no more, no less—running right before my eyes.
‘So… what exactly am I supposed to do now?’
As if answering my question, a flash of text appeared before me.
You don’t have any animal friends yet!
‘Well, yeah, that’s true. No animals.’
Sure enough.
The so-called “Animal Farm” was nothing but an empty field.
It was the kind of absurd sight that made the whole situation even more baffling.
‘No animals, no sense, no dreams, no hope.’
The more I thought about it, the more it felt like this game was just taking things away from me.
To find animal friends, you can’t just sit in your room—go out on an adventure!
If you keep living like this, you’ll never find a single animal friend!
You need to work harder at life!
‘…Is this thing mocking me or what?’
I faltered for a moment at the string of messages.
‘And how exactly am I supposed to “go on an adventure”?’
No matter how much I looked around the screen, there was nothing labeled “adventure.”
Even tapping at different parts with my finger did nothing.
“Ah.”
Realizing something, I let out a short exclamation.
“No way…”
Go outside and look for your animal friends!
‘You mean literally go outside?’
This was absurd.
‘What is this, some old VR game fad?’
For a game that barely scraped by at children’s-game level, it sure was bold enough to force outdoor play.
Even bad games should have limits.
To find animal friends, you must go on an adventure! You can’t live like this!
“All right, fine, I’ll go. I’ll go.”
Scratching my head, I opened the door to my room.
As I stepped out of the dorm, the clock showed 10 p.m.
Right then, a message appeared before my eyes.
An animal friend is within 2km!
“…What?”
It was completely unexpected.
An animal friend is within 2km!
Find them before they move away!
‘So that’s what the “adventure” was about? This really is an outdoor game.’
With a dumbfounded face, I just looked around at the dark surroundings.
“You want me to look for it? Now?”
Bring the animal friend back to your farm!
An animal friend is within 1km!
It seemed this meant I literally had to run around and find this so-called “animal friend.”
“Should I… even bother doing this?”
Truthfully, the answer was already decided.
---
I don’t know how long I had been walking since leaving the dorm.
Bring the animal friend back to your farm!
An animal friend is within 1km!
‘Within 1km, huh.’
If there was a silver lining, it was that 1km wasn’t an especially huge area.
‘Maybe I can just check the walking trail.’
As I walked, my eyes were drawn to some large buildings.
‘It’s not inside a building, right?’
If that was the case, this would be over before it even started.
‘Well, I’ll just move in one direction, and if I don’t find anything… I’ll just give up.’
I pushed away the bad thoughts and kept walking—when suddenly, the Animal Farm screen in front of me began to change.
Detecting signal from an animal friend!
An animal friend is nearby!
“Nearby?”
It hadn’t even been ten minutes since I started walking.
But even after looking around, there was no sign of any animal—no traces at all.
‘Nothing?’
Just as I thought that—
The signal from the animal friend has disappeared.
‘What am I supposed to do with that?’
And it didn’t stop there.
This same thing happened several more times over the course of more than an hour, and my patience was wearing thin.
‘It keeps going, “There was something, but now it’s gone.” How am I not supposed to get obsessed with that?’
At first, I’d been motivated, thinking I could at least enjoy the night air while taking a walk.
The “It was there, but now it’s gone” thing was ridiculous, but I let it slide a few times.
But then—
An animal friend is nearby!
The signal from the animal friend has disappeared.
The two messages appeared almost simultaneously.
‘First it’s there, then it’s not—what do you even want from me?’
It felt like I’d done an hour of walking exercise I never signed up for.
‘Stupid bug-ridden game…’
Just as I was about to give up and head back to the dorm—
Animal friend discovered!
—Popong.
With the sound of a bubble popping, a faint light appeared in front of me.