Kang leaned back in his chair, exhaustion washing over him. Despite the food, his stomach still churned with unease. He stared at the ceiling, trying to process everything that had happened.
'Adoption? Surveillance? Testing?' His thoughts spun wildly. 'What the hell am I supposed to do now?'
Before long, Vanessa peeked into the room again. "Hey... they're letting me take you home for now. Just for the night." She smiled softly but hesitated. "Only if you're okay with it."
Kang's eyes widened. 'Wait, really?'She nodded. "It's temporary. But I figured you'd rather sleep in a bed than stay locked here."But Kang shook his head. "Thank you for your kindness, Miss Reeves, but I don't think I deserve to be adopted by you. I know you're only doing this out of pity. While I appreciate your concern, there are countless other kids out there in situations just like mine—or even worse.
Besides, I don't think Mr. Moores feels the same way about this. I wouldn't want to create tension between the two of you. So, please, you don't need to worry about me. I'll figure things out on my own.
Still, I'm truly grateful for everything you've done. Thank you, Miss Reeves."
Even though the officer from the Bureau of Arcane Affairs said it would be advantageous for Kang to be adopted, he didn't want to.
'It feels pretty inhuman to exploit these kinds of people, and I'd feel pretty uncomfortable with this unknown couple.' Kang thought while still munching on the food.
But then the reality of the situation dawned upon Kang's thought.
'This place... Is not earth.'
Now that he was finally alone he had as much time to think as he wanted to. But these thoughts did nothing but make Kang scared.
He was in this unknown world, having nothing and not knowing anyone.
His only hope of surviving and living a normal life was the couple.
"Are you sure about this, Kang? You don't have to worry about Chris—I'm confident he'll warm up to you quickly. And after seeing how you carry yourself and hearing your thoughtful response, I can already tell you're a kind and considerate kid.
Honestly, your words make me want to adopt you even more. I know there are plenty of others in similar situations, but this... this happened right in front of me. I can't turn a blind eye to it.
And right now, you're here—standing in front of me. If I can save even one person, that's enough for me."
"And just so you know, my house is pretty spacious. There's even an empty room that would be perfect for you." Vanessa said, winking at Kang.
"We'll be back after grabbing something to eat, just let me know if you change your mind"
...
About a week later.
'I can't believe this is really happening.' Kang's heart was beating faster than usual.
Even though both Vanessa and Chris looked rather young, they were older than they appeared. Over the course of the week, Kang discovered that Chris and Vanessa already had two children: a boy named Curt and a girl named Lydia.
During this time, they would spend time visiting Kang, who was staying at a nearby orphanage. Eventually, Chris agreed to adopt him and their children didn't mind adding a new member to the family, even though Curt was rather reluctant.
Now, on the day after Chris signed the adoption papers, Kang was finally going to start his new life with his new family.
During the week Kang has had a lot of time to think. Too much time.
He thought about his real family, his brothers and his friends.
And he realized something.
'I miss them.'
Even though his 'previous life' was ugly and hard, because he has always been poor, he was happy.
But now everything has been take away from him.
Only now did he truly realize how important were his family and his friends to him.
...
"It must have been hard for him"
"Yeah, so much happened for him over the last week."
Vanessa and Cristopher peeked from outside the door, watching Kang who was silently crying by himself.
"Let's give him some time to adapt to the house," Vanessa whispered to Christopher, who nodded quietly."
...
Lydia and Curt were currently having a serious discussion.
"Hah, why did you agree with Mom? Now we have less place for ourselves,"
"Stop being annoying Curt, I already said that I would've given you my paycheck for half a year so shut up."
The former was the 16-year-old Curt. While the latter was Lydia, who was currently 14.
"Yeah, alright. But why did you agree with Mom?" he asked curiously.
"Do you think that I'd tell you?" She tsked, throwing a pillow towards his face. And then, she ran towards Kang, who seemed to be in a better condition than before.
"Hey Kang, welcome to our family!" Lydia said with a smile on her face, "Now your name is Kang Mores."
Kang blinked at Lydia, her bright smile catching him off guard. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and for a moment, the weight on his chest felt lighter.
"Thanks... Lydia," he said softly, his voice tinged with uncertainty. The name "Mores" felt foreign on his tongue, but Kang knew that he'd get used to it.
Lydia tilted her head, sensing his hesitation. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. And trust me, it's not so bad being part of this family. Except for Curt. He's the worst."
"Don't scare him off already," said Curt with a scoff, while walking over.
"Ignore him. Anyway, if you need anything, just let me know. I'll show you the best spots in the house—and the best snacks Mom hides from Curt."
Kang chuckled, It was the first time he'd laughed since arriving in this strange world.
His initial judgment of the two was that Lydia was a cheerful and extrovert girl, while Curt preferred to stay alone, but was still glanced curiously at Kang.
Then, Curt asked a weird question with a serious expression: "Uhm, Kang... If you don't mind me asking you, what's your [Arcanum]?
Kang didn't answer Curt's question, but it seemed that Curt noticed his puzzled expression, "[Arcanum] is the power you awaken when you are born, or sometimes after a certain event." He explained plainly.
"I guess that you have no idea of what [Arcanum] is until now and that you are awakened. Then, I'll teach you the basics of Arcanium, the field of study that concerns the arcane. What you need to know first is that people who wield arcane power are called Arcanists. Since the presence of Arcane in the world was discovered less than a century ago and the first Arcanist was born e few years after that, the number of Arcanists present on Therea is very limited," he said with the demeanor of a scholar, "the number amounts to about 20% of the global population on the emerged lands, about 10 billion people."
Kang listened to Curt with the utmost attention to what Curt said and formulated some hypotheses on his own.
'The global population is more than 30 billion? from what I saw the population density is pretty low, so it means that the total surface of this planet, Therea is much bigger than that of Earth."
Just as he was about to ask something to Curt, something struck him.
Arcane, Arcanist, Arcanum, Arcanium...
These words were strangely familiar to Kang.
'Isn't this the same as the setting of Arcana Rising'
"