The Cheat Exchanged for My Sister's Life

"My own sister."

"The two of us were found by a priest at the steps of the St. Paul Community Church in Queens."

"Back then, the only thing with us was a note stating our dates of birth."

"Hawk and Anya—those were the names given to us by the priest at the church."

"Anya liked her name very much."

Leaning against his sister Anya's gravestone, Hawk did not ask Gwen how she managed to find this place.

That would have been a foolish question.

When Hawk spoke, his tone was very gentle, as if he were afraid of disturbing his sister Anya.

"Anya was happy."

"She was happy from childhood onward, even though she had a hole in her heart and had to be in and out of the hospital from time to time."

Fortunately, since he and his sister were orphans, he never had to worry about medical bills despite her frequent hospitalizations.

The federal and state governments covered the costs.

At this point, Hawk glanced sideways at Gwen, who was imitating his posture, sitting on the ground with her back resting lightly against Anya's gravestone, and couldn't help smiling. "Sometimes I used to wonder later on if the reason we were abandoned was precisely because once we became orphans, we qualified for free medical treatment."

Hearing this, Gwen's lips twitched slightly, and she shook her head.

"Weren't there any birth records when you were found?"

"None."

Hawk shook his head. "People from the church checked the hospitals in New York City back then, but none of them had any matching records. Later, though, a doctor told me that Anya and I probably weren't born in a hospital, but at home."

Giving birth at home without going to a hospital was not uncommon in this country.

Especially in families with deep religious beliefs, and in more extreme cases, some wouldn't go to a hospital to give birth even if they suffered from obstructed labor, potentially resulting in the deaths of both mother and child.

"Still, it doesn't matter."

"I never had any intention of finding them. Since they chose to abandon us, we'll leave each other alone."

"At least Anya's and my citizenship status was never an issue."

Shrugging, Hawk continued his story.

"Actually, at the very beginning, some people wanted to adopt us."

"But because of the hole in Anya's heart, most families gave up."

"Father Moses was a good man. He didn't want to separate me from my sister, so Anya and I stayed at the church until I was four. Father Moses was our legal guardian at the time."

"Later, though, Father Moses passed away, and Anya and I were sent to a children's home."

"After that, Anya and I grew up there."

The so-called children's home was a family-like residential facility where a dozen or so orphans lived, looked after by staff from a non-profit organization.

Gwen frowned when she heard this.

"Were there never any adoptive families?"

"Who would want to?"

Hawk chuckled softly, looking at Gwen. "Once Anya left the system, her medical expenses would have to be paid out of pocket, and I wasn't willing to give up my sister. Foster families wouldn't have to worry about medical costs, but the environment in foster homes—heh."

Adoption and foster care are fundamentally different.

To be realistic, most adoptive families are motivated by kindness, while foster families—though perhaps not all, certainly the majority—are drawn by the financial subsidies provided by the federal and state governments for caring for orphans.

These foster families use the fostering of orphans as a way to earn government subsidies, spending funds originally intended by the federal and state governments for the orphans on their own daily expenses.

As for the orphans?

As long as they didn't die, it was fine.

Gwen had heard some case studies regarding foster families from George, so upon hearing Hawk's scornful tone toward foster care, she nodded in agreement.

"Then later on..."

At this point, Gwen glanced at the dates inscribed on Anya's gravestone.

May 20, 1995 – September 10, 2009.

Withdrawing her gaze, Gwen looked around at the surrounding gravestones, and then back at Hawk. "I remember this place. Most of the people buried here are victims who died as collateral damage during the battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in New York City..."

A flash of intense coldness passed through the depths of Hawk's eyes, though it vanished almost immediately. He looked at Gwen and nodded.

"Yes."

"Anya didn't die of illness. She died in the aftermath of the war that night."

As expected.

Hearing Hawk's direct confirmation, Gwen said inwardly, and at the same time, understood something.

"So all these years, you've been working this hard in order to..."

"Revenge!"

Hawk turned his head to look at Gwen. Forcing the word through his clenched teeth, the fires of vengeance surged from the depths of his eyes. "I repay every kindness, and I exact vengeance for every grievance!"

He had been an orphan in his past life, and though he was an orphan in this life too, he had a sister who had been with him since childhood. Therefore, even after suddenly finding himself in a new world—even though this was the Marvel Universe and he possessed no system at the time—he had not felt particularly lost.

Hawk had always been easily satisfied.

He had never harbored any grand ambitions of shaking up the Marvel Universe; his lifelong dream was simply to find contentment in peace.

If he didn't have a system, he didn't have a system. It wasn't as though he couldn't live without one.

Hawk had always studied hard. Even while attending a public school, he maintained an academic advantage that caught the attention of an admissions counselor from Midtown High, earning him a scholarship and allowing him to transition from a public school centered around happy-go-lucky education to a private preparatory school.

His plan was simple: study hard, find a good job, and make money to cure his sister's illness.

That was why on September 10, 2009—the very first weekend after he enrolled in Midtown High—he took his sister to Times Square and took a photograph, recording what Hawk believed at the time would be a turning point in their lives as brother and sister, a cherished memory for the future.

As it turned out...

It certainly was a turning point.

Just a hell of a twisted one.

That day, after Hawk finished showing his sister around and intended to take a bus home, the unexpected happened.

The Abomination appeared, and then the Hulk appeared.

The two monsters instantly clashed in a chaotic brawl.

In the past, when watching movies, Hawk had found their fight scenes thrilling, but only when thrust into the middle of it did he discover what lay hidden beneath that spectacle.

Screams.

Agonized shrieks and wails—amidst the rampage of these two monsters, ordinary people possessed zero capacity to resist the danger.

Hawk was caught right in the middle of it, dragging his sister Anya as they tried to flee along with the fleeing crowds.

And then...

The Hulk hurled the Abomination into a building. A collapsing section of the structure gave way, plunging from the sky directly toward them.

That night!

Hawk lost his sister.

At that exact moment!

Hawk's cheat system finally came online.

Envious?

It was bought with his sister's life.

The debt of a sister's murder is irreconcilable.

This vengeance!

Hawk would definitely have it!!