4 Beginning After the End

Shu moved his fingers nervously as he contemplated his future in despair.

He tried to look around the area, but his eyes were fixated on something else, the girl lying beside him.

Seeing her thin clothing soaked with water, he stared straight into her enticing chest.

It was a panic moment for the virgin boy who finally encountered a 3D female in a long time, except his Mom, after almost a year of being a shut-in surrounded primarily by 2D women.

But he couldn't savor the beauty, for the girl woke up and covered herself. The young woman stared at him with sharp blue eyes before rolling over and splashing water in his eyes.

"Pervert."

"W-W-What are you talking about?"

Shu said as he backed off from her instantly.

"Hmph, what were you staring at?" She said and sultrily stepped out of the hot spring.

She was dripping all over and her black striped bra was opaquely visible through her wet T-shirt.

Shu started blushing too hard and looked to the other side.

"Heh," Kyoka said, trying to act a little overwhelming towards Shu.

"Acting like that, I bet you are still a virgin." She said with a smug on her face.

-So it's like that, huh?

Shu sighed in disappointment and looked at her with a smile.

"Yes, I was one until a few minutes ago." He said, staring at her body with utter discomfort.

Kyoka's cheeks turned red as she covered her body again with her hands and shouted,

"Is this how you talk to someone who saved your life, you ungrateful chozzer!"

"Oh, you saved me? As per I remember you were saying something like 'save me?' while dying beside me. What was that?"

Shu interrupted her before she could speak, making her eyebrows flick.

"Although I couldn't hear much, it looked to me like you were the one asking for help. Am I wrong?"

"Yeah, you are wrong." She exclaimed, coming closer to him and glaring at him.

She began contradicting her own words while Shu wasn't listening as someone entirely centered his attention on her body gestures.

A few inches away from his jacket, he saw her chest almost touching his, and her wet lips and hair were adding a sense of intimacy to the situation.

Shu was having a hard time dealing with it, despite the fact that Kyoka was not even aware of it.

While shuddering at the touch of her chest against his jacket, Shu snapped back to reality and turned to face her, blushing heavily.

"T-That's fine. I get what you're saying. I'd appreciate if you kept those things away from me." Shu said.

"I-I-I knew it. You are a pervert!" She said and immediately stepped away from him.

—But you were the one who stuck to me.

As he looked at her drowsily, Shu pondered.

"Well, whatever you say. However, I don't think it's the proper place or time to argue." Shu said while pointing towards the surrounding with his eyes.

As Kyoka realized the same thing, she looked at the huge volcanoes with a frown on her face.

"Yeah, you are right. Sorry for getting so heated over such a meager argument." She said and started looking around her.

—The talk was not so meager for me, but that is irrelevant now.

"Yes, I also apologize for my rudeness." Shu said while scratching the back of his head.

"Anyway, what's your name?" Shu asked.

"My name is Aoi Kyoka, but you can just call me Kyoka. What about you?"

"I see. You can call me Shu, Hayasaki-"

[OKAY] [OKAY] [INTRODUCTION TIME OVER]

Out of nowhere, a childish but mature voice spoke up.

Upon hearing the voice, both Shu and Kyoka became angry and confused.

[UM, GIVE ME A SECOND]

[LET ME GET OUT OF HERE]

The world around them almost ceased to move, more precisely it became too slow to be noticed by a naked human eyes.

[THIS FORM DOESN'T FIT ME AFTERALL]

Their attention was drawn to the cause of the voice that spoke from behind.

The creature looked strange and strange as it floated above them in a white fluffy form.

An adorable face, like that of an Amazon dokkaebi toy, with a carefree mood.

From head to toe, his body was white, and he didn't have any clothing; he was a tiny soft toy with no body features on it except for eyes and a mouth.

[EHM EHM]

[AM I AUDIBLE TO YOU BOTH?]

They were both surprised by the dokkaebi's sudden appearance and couldn't comprehend it.

"Are you the one who brought us here?" Even though she was scared to death inside, Kyoka put up a brave face while asking because the creature in front of them didn't look scary.

[HUH?]

[OH, THAT!]

[YUP, I WAS THE ONE ASSIGNED WITH IT]

[YOU BOTH ARE LUCKY THAT YOU GOT ME]

The dokkaebi said while blinking his right eye and having a cute expression on his face.

"Is that right? You were the one who assigned that weird assignment to me, right?" Shu asked indignantly, which was to be expected.

[YES]

[IS SOMETHING WRONG?]

Having a dumb-looking face, it seemed to be unconcerned about what was being said.

"I could have died because of your diligence there; what would you have done if I had died?" Shu asked.

[HMM?]

[I WOULD HAVE PICKED SOMEONE ELSE, LOGICAL ISN'T IT?]

"You..."

Shu exclaimed but his instincts stopped him from speaking any further.

[ALSO, YOU ARE THE FOOL HERE]

[HAHAHAHAHA, I MEAN I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING]

Shu stared at the dokkaebi with a confused face, while Kyoka had a dumb expression on her face.

[SINCE YOU HAD ME LAUGHING, LET ME EXPLAIN IT TO YOU]

[THE TWO OF YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COLLABORATE, BUT LEAVE COORDINATION ALONE, IT FELT LIKE YOU WERE BOTH CREATING OBSTACLES FOR EACH OTHER, ESPECIALLY THIS GIRL HERE]

Neither of the two understood a word of what the hand gestured and stared at each other blankly.

[WHILE YOU WERE SLAUGHTERING YOURSELF, SHE WAS COWERING IN FEAR]

[WHAT WAS THAT? S-S-S-STAY A-A-WAY FROM MEEEEE]

[PFFFT...]

[AND THIS GUY HERE]

[DID I TELL YOU WHAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN IF YOU COULDN'T COMPLETE THE QUEST IN FIVE MINUTES?]

[JUST GOING ON CUTTING YOURSELF TENACIOUSLY, LIKE AN IDIOT]

Embarrassed and irritated, Shu looked downward.

[THE SAME QUEST WAS GIVEN TO BOTH OF YOU TO DIVIDE IT AND PERFORM IT EQUALLY]

[BUT ONE ACTED LIKE AN IDIOT AND THE OTHER COWERED IN FEAR]

[SHISHISHSHISHISHI]

[YOU WERE ONE OF THE UNIQUE BUNCHES I HAVE ENCOUNTERED SO FAR]

[I AM VERY INTERESTED IN YOUR FUTURE SURVIVAL RATE]

A teehee face appeared on the creature's face.

"One more thing, where are we and what are we supposed to do?" Kyoka asked with an embarrassing look on her face.

[AH RIGHT. I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL THE THING THAT I CAME HERE FOR]

A sphere with the appearance of an eyeball was taken out of the dokkaebi's fluffy body and left in the air by his chibi hand.

During the whole talk, he was just rolling and somersaulting in the air while explaining things.

In the stance of an anchor, he held a microphone in his hand.

[SO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE ARE REALLY GLAD TO ANNOUNCE THE STARTING OF THE MOST AWAITED PROJECT IN THE UNIVERSE - BILLION RECURVE]

It pointed out towards the red ground at the formless amoebic creatures.

[AS YOU CAN SEE, THE PROLOGUE QUEST HAS BEEN COMPLETED AND WE ARE ALREADY DONE WITH THE FIRST STEP ALL AROUND THE GLOBE]

Suddenly, the floating eyeball blinked and presented a Blue screen in the front of it.

The screen displayed a planet that looked like Earth with dense spots at various points, pointing something.

[WELCOME TO THE BEGINNING OF THE LIFE]

[ALL OF YOU ARE THE LIVE WITNESS OF THE CREATION OF THE FANTASY EARTH DREAMED BY OUR ADMINISTRATOR]

As the two kids below looked at the dokkaebi, their dumb faces indicated that they could never understand what was going on.

[IT'S TIME TO START THE PROJECT WITH A BOOM!]

As it spoke, the yellow sphere surrounded the two kids, making them float around in the air. The dokkaebi teleported into the sphere along with the kid, watching the sky with eager eyes. It was a marvelous display of cuteness and fantasy.

"What is going to happen here?" As he noticed himself floating, Shu asked in surprise.

[HMM?]

[IT'S GONNA BE THE BEGINNING OF LIFE]

[SIMPLY PUT, THE ERA THAT THIS PLANET IS IN RIGHT NOW IS 3.8 BILLION YEARS OLDER THAN THE ONE THAT YOU WERE LIVING IN BEFORE]

"3.8 Billion years old?" Kyoka said in astonishment.

-3.8 Billion years old? From what I can recall, it was the time when life first appeared on the planet. That means those creatures are...

As Shu looked at the dokkaebi with a worried smile, something suddenly occurred to him.

"Hey, by the blast, you didn't mean..."

[YUP]

[IT'S GONNA BE A SPECTACULAR EVENT]

Seeing this, Shu's face smoothed out, Kyoka's face shone, and the dokkaebi's face was excited.

Glow-in-the-dark fragments of fireballs, some large, others small, started emerging from the black sky. On Earth, these fragments were infamous for their destructive appearance, the meteors, and the asteroids.