V1C1

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Chapter 1 – Escape From the Cornfield

TL/Editor: Yana/Obleau

“Dorothy is dead.”

I opened my eyes to voices hovering in front of me. I saw two farmers wearing blue vests. One of the farmers was the owner of the cornfield I was in and the other was his friend.

“I heard that a decapitated body was found in the Ruby Castle.”

“I heard that Dorothy’s body was found in Snow White’s mine.”

“Did Snow White manage to lure Dorothy into the Jewel Mine? Doesn’t she absolutely loathe women?”

I blinked a couple of times and stared blankly as I listened to the ongoing conversation. ‘Is Dorothy dead? That’s impossible!’ It was a rather hectic situation that could make one’s head spin.

I racked through my brain for old memories and travelled back to a point in time. I remembered late one evening when I found myself in this cornfield for the first time. Since then, I have only been managed by one team.

Wait for the savior, Dorothy.

Dorothy is the only savior who could remove this poor scarecrow from this high pole. ‘Is Dorothy dead? What will happen to me next?’

I felt despair for the first time in my life and lowered my head in response. “So who will save me now?”

“The scarecrow speaks!”

As soon as the words escaped from my mouth, the farmers hesitantly backed away. Their faces turned white as a sheet, in shock at hearing a rag doll talk.

“Since when could you speak?”

Wearing a relatively calm face, the owner poked me with a gardening hoe. I glanced at the pole that sank deep into my back.

“Since the day your wife propped me onto this pole.”

“What? Does this mean that my wife is a sorceress?” He shouted in a nervous tone, his face was quickly becoming flushed. “Only a wizard can give life to an inanimate objects! My wife must be a sorceress!”

“Hey, calm down! You picked up this tattered doll from the streets!” His friend said to reassure him.

“Oh, yes, that’s right.” The owner scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, looking at his friend’s bruise.

I took a deep breath, dropping my shoulders. “If Dorothy is dead, who will remove me from this pole now?”

“Did Dorothy promise to save you?”

“No, she didn’t promise. I’ve never even seen Dorothy’s face. It’s just that my brain was given a command to ‘wait for the savior, Dorothy.’”

“Your brain? That’s not funny. You are just an ordinary rag doll with no brains. Hey, listen to me! You must never descend from this pole!” The owner glowered, while he pressed the hoe under my chin and continued to threaten, “Without a scarecrow, these damned crows would have ruined my cornfield! Your only role is to scare away the crows for the rest of your life on this pole! This is the only reason you exist! So don’t even think about running away!”

The owner threatened me over and over again and then led his friend away from me and up the slope.

I turned away from them and looked up. A murder of black crows circled in the orange, setting sky. The owner hasn’t noticed yet, but the crows have long since realized that I’m not human. They were too intelligent to mistake a scarecrow for a human. As proof, the crows pecked more and more often at the corn without fear. ‘What if the crows start to seriously spoil the cornfield? The owner will never leave this useless scarecrow alone if that were to happen!’

I had to run away. I hastily lowered my gaze and examined my body. I saw a tattered dress of mismatched-colored fabrics, long sock arms and legs stuffed to the brim with leaves, and long hair made of gray wool that was braided down.

My master once threw me into a fireplace in the past. The thought of this memory struck me like a fiery ball. This feeling was very strange. I’ve never felt as much as a spark before. ‘I don’t want to die!’ I sobbed at that time, while my breathing rose and fell violently. Survival instincts, which I didn’t even know existed, took over and I screamed.

I stretched my arms out behind my back and frantically pushed the pole that was embedded into my back. The crows cawed loudly, as though they were laughing at the way I floundered around.

Your destiny is to wait for Dorothy on the spot, whether it be in rain or sun! Is what the caws of the crows seemed to suggest. But I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life waiting for a dead or living savior.

Grabbing the pole with both hands, I pushed my chest forward with all my strength. As I pushed the pole away, I heard the fabric tear. At that moment, my poor body collapsed onto the ground with my contorted limbs.

I hurriedly raised my head and blinked. Hay and leaves were seen tossed into the sky from my fall. The murder of crows flapped their wings loudly amongst the white clouds and cackled from the fright of my fall. The birds let out long, high-pitched cries.

“I did it …” As I reached for my back, I felt a long vertical tear. Leaves fell from the open gash, but there was no pain. Rather, I was incredibly relaxed. My empty chest began to vibrate as if my heart were pumping with adrenaline.

“I did it!” I jumped up from the ground and more leaves fell from my body. For the first time ever, a sincere smile formed across my torn mouth. “Now I am free.”

The moment I made my way through the tall corn crops, an ivory piece of parchment suddenly descended from the air and hovered in front of me.

【You have completed the quest “Rescue the Scarecrow”.】

I stared blankly and blinked, before another piece of parchment appeared before my eyes.

【This is Wonderland Oz! Nice to meet you, Dorothy!】

I skimmed the words on the parchment paper and stepped back. The scarecrow who has always guarded the cornfield its whole life could not read.

‘Better to get out of here as soon as possible than to stress over words that I can’t even read. If I don’t hurry, I might be caught by the owner who has yet to return to the field.’

The parchment paper blocking my view was annoying, so I waved my hands and moved forward. Itreappeared again for a while, before slowly beginning to dissipate like smoke.

【Oz is a little different from the fairy-tale world that Dorothy knows. A princess in a fairy tale became the prince of a distant land, a beauty became a handsome man, and the main character became a villain!】

【Except for one person, Miss Dorothy.】

【Save Oz from confusion by defeating the Wizard of Oz and the villains.】

“Why do you keep bothering me like this?” I waved my hand again, looking up into the air. But the parchment kept getting in the way, no matter what.

【Attention! The unnamed prince in the fairy tale also became the princess of a distant land in Oz, and there is only one princess.】

As I climbed the high hill, a wide plain covered in white snow came into view. Snowflakes were slowly falling on a densely snow-covered field. There was not a single person in sight.

I looked back at the cornfield, where the sun had set, and then back towards the snow-covered field, where snowflakes descended from the gray sky. This stark division of scenery split the top of the hill and it felt like Iwas stepping into a completely different world. It was baffling how there was such a view like this hidden behind the hills that I saw every day.

I unconsciously held out my hand. Snowflakes fell on my leaf-filled gloved hand and then quickly melted and evaporated into the air.

I was suddenly reminded of a winter day when I was covered with snow all day in the cornfield. On that particular day, I could not move a finger because of my flabby body. It was obvious that if I walked into this snowy field now, my whole body would get wet as it was back then.

‘Let’s get back to the other side.’ I quickly lost interest in the snow and turned to head back towards the cornfield, when suddenly I bumped into something and took a step back.

【You cannot return to the starting point because that quest is complete.】

I stared blankly at the cornfield, ignoring the piece of parchment that appeared before me. I reached out and felt a transparent glass wall obstruct my path. A wall that had not previously existed was now blocking the path between the snow-covered field and the cornfield.

I could only go down the hill to the other side, but I couldn’t move forward due to the barrier the invisible glass wall created.

I wandered around for a long time, but I could not find even a break in the wall to return to the cornfield. I knocked on the transparent glass wall and turned my back again. Unfortunately, the snow-white plain was the only way I could go.

I hesitated for a moment and stepped into the snow. With a crunch, my right foot disappeared into the snowdrift. As soon as I staggered forward slightly, an emerald parchment paper, decorated with wavy gold foil around the edges, spread across the clear snowy field.