How Can Exploiting Yourself Count as Child Labor?

On his final transmigration mission, Baishan Youxi discovers that his abilities have weakened. He used to be able to split off an avatar in his childhood form, but now he can only switch between his true form and his childhood form.

At the same time, bad luck comes in pairs. The System, which had come online late, takes one look at the situation and lets out a shrill scream.

"The deployment period was wrong. Everyone who needed saving is already dead."

System: "What do we do? What do we do?!"

Baishan Youxi: "...Isn't that a good thing?"

System: "!?!?!"

Realizing he'd said what he was thinking, Baishan Youxi silently shut his mouth and looked away.

No more avatar meant no more tool to do his missions for him.

So how could having fewer missions not be a good thing? (Looks away.)

-

The System had known since the moment he signed his contract that Baishan Youxi couldn't be bothered to do missions. So he naturally started slacking off.

For certain reasons it couldn't reveal, the System accepted his attitude. But there was one thing it couldn't understand.

System: "...Fine, slack off if you want, but why do you still have to switch into your avatar form before going out to work?"

Baishan Youxi: "Because it gives me the comforting feeling that my real self is still slacking off."

System: "?"

What kind of mental gymnastics is that?

Besides...

It looked at the main characters' gazes, both open and hidden, on its display screen, and couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat.

Come to think of it, wouldn't this look to everyone else like the Host was exploiting child labor?

-

Recently, Gin had acquired a partner who was extremely efficient at completing missions. That was the latest news Rei Furuya had received.

According to the intelligence, this person was highly dangerous. If they couldn't be recruited, they should be watched closely. With that in mind, Rei Furuya gathered information about the person.

Then he discovered that the high-risk sniper codenamed Sightline was a boy no older than ten.

Rei Furuya: "?"

For the first time, he wondered whether his intelligence-gathering skills were professional enough.

But no matter what evidence he examined, it all showed that this child was Gin's partner.

His initial wariness gave way to a complicated mix of emotions. He changed his approach and looked for a chance to get closer. He discovered that the boy seemed to have an older brother, too.

Like Sightline, the older brother had black hair and heterochromia. He was almost a grown-up version of the boy. Rei Furuya tried to approach him, but hit a wall at the very first step.

He "happened" to run into the young man at a supermarket. In response to his friendly small talk, the young man casually said, "Just call me Sakaue Yuu."

It sounded like a fake name. But things couldn't happen all at once, and Rei Furuya hadn't expected to make much progress on their first meeting.

They chatted for a while and soon said goodbye. Less than five minutes later, Rei Furuya heard him answer his phone at the supermarket entrance. "Hello. Oh, I'm Ooi Keito."

Rei Furuya: "?"

He waited for the man to hang up, then went over again. The young man clearly no longer remembered him, but Rei struck up a conversation once more and casually asked his name.

Young man: "My name is Takao Jin."

Rei Furuya: "..."

You don't even try to keep the act up, do you?!

-

At first, Rei Furuya just thought the man was incredibly strange, and probably exploiting child labor, too.

Later, it was as though he were seeing things.

He saw a few figures beside this man... figures who should never have been able to appear again.

-

The System, which saw right through everything: Heh, I bet on the right horse.

The Host may be lazy, but he really is lucky. Leave everything to the Host's luck. Even if there's a bug, another bug will always come along to fix it. Yep, yep.

So said the System, working overtime.

Synopsis captured on 2025.2.1

Theme: No one can define how life should exist