Chapter 119: Nightmare. (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 119: Nightmare. (5)
And as time began to accelerate once more, the blurred boundary between the world and myself began to sharpen.
However, my senses remained opaque, and my body wouldn’t move as I intended.
“…Ah… oob.”
Oh, ‘What the fuck’ came out as the sound aubu.
I couldn’t tell if my tongue was just too short or if my muscles simply weren’t listening to me.
“Euba.”
Well, I guess this is that, isn’t it?
“Look at him. He can’t even open his eyes yet.”
It was the girl’s voice, now familiar to me.
“…This is my brother? What’s wrong with him? He’s not cute at all. He’s all wrinkly.”
“Na-hyun, babies are always like this when they’re first born…”
“…Really? The babies I saw on TV were all soft and fluffy.”
“So-hyun will look like that soon enough.”
…Yeah, it’s definitely that.
“Abu.”
“But the books said babies are supposed to cry. Why isn’t he crying? Is he okay?”
“…I wonder. They said there were no problems, but he is being quite well-behaved.”
Wah. I’m baby So-hyun. I’m screwed.
…But how can a baby’s first attempted words be ‘What the fuck?’
“Ah, me too! I want to hold him too.”
“Ah, are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m a bit dizzy and heavy, but I think I’m okay.”
Someone lifted me up, but in this body, I couldn’t even offer a hint of resistance.
Soon, I felt something warm enveloping me.
“So-hyun~ It’s Mommy.”
— Ha-neul~
…Ah, I see. I was unsure because my vision hadn’t cleared yet, but now I know for certain. This is So-hyun’s mother.
Though it was technically our first meeting, perhaps because I had seen her through my sister’s dreams, or perhaps because of the blood tie even if only through this flesh, being in her arms didn’t feel awkward at all.
“…Why is he so quiet? He’s not even crying.”
“Oob.”
“I know, right? But the doctor said he’s fine, so he must be. For now, you’ve worked so hard, so get some rest.”
Hmm, it is strange, though.
Seriously, why isn’t this kid crying?
The dream, not me, still held the reins of this body.
If this was right after Kang So-hyun was born, it would be normal for him to be crying his eyes out.
Actually, I had a hunch.
Between Kang So-hyun’s behavior at Cheon Yu-hak’s birthday party and everything else I’d seen so far, there were too many actions that ‘Kang So-hyun’ wouldn’t have taken if he were just a character.
Then again, the answer was pretty much given the moment a newborn baby tried to say ‘What the fuck’ as his first words.
Combining all the evidence so far, the number of possibilities narrowed down significantly.
I didn’t know the exact cause, but it seemed ‘I’ had been possessed by Kang So-hyun since this very moment.
Rather than Kang So-hyun being designed as this kind of character only to die doing nothing, it was far more persuasive to think that I had lost my memories for some reason.
And if this hypothesis was correct, the answer to the memories beyond the noise could be narrowed down to some extent as well.
Though I wasn’t entirely sure about that part yet.
“It’s not coming out.”
Ah, it seems the scene changed again while I was lost in thought.
“What isn’t, Mom?”
“Breast milk. I really wanted to breastfeed him once he was born.”
…Excuse me?
“Hmm, I kept massaging during the pregnancy, so why won’t it come out? They say some people just can’t because of their constitution, even if it’s not clogged.”
“…Your health isn’t even that good, and you were planning on breastfeeding?”
“I did my research, you know? They said nursing is good for building a bond between mother and child. It’s also a problem if it builds up too much.”
I really fucking hate this…?
No, rather than hating it, it’s embarrassing.
At my age, I have to suck on the breast of a woman who’s practically a stranger?
The woman with ash-gray hair approached and took me into her arms.
The lukewarm, cozy warmth of a person felt good, but in truth, it brought back bad memories rather than good ones.
Was it because my situation was never great whenever someone held me?
The day my biological mother abandoned me.
The times I acted like a fool while isolated in the orphanage.
And in my most recent memory, when I was ‘donuted’ by Professor Cathy—to me, the warmth felt in a person’s arms was something that only reached me when I was driven to the very edge of a cliff.
“Well, even if nothing comes out, wouldn’t just letting him latch have an effect?”
Honestly, I thought I’d be more mortified and embarrassed, but for being held by a beautiful woman, I didn’t feel much of anything.
Is it because she’s the mother of this body?
“I heard babies can’t control their sucking, so it hurts. Should I brace myself and try?”
…But that’s just how it feels; this is still a bit of a blow to my conscience.
“Mph!”
Fortunately, the ‘me’ in the dream seemed to agree as I tried to turn my head away. But did you know? It’s incredibly difficult for babies to turn their heads of their own volition.
I never imagined I’d experience that firsthand at this age.
There was a rustling sound. The warmth drew closer.
Ugh, ugh… ughaaaaa…!!!!
And at that moment, as if by a miracle, the scene shifted.
The massive thing approaching me vanished, and a young girl was looking down at me instead.
I survived.
No, actually, it wasn’t something to be that flustered about, but the optics were just a bit much.
“Hey.”
“Abu.”
“Say Noona. Noo-na.”
“Naiya.”
“…He’s really stupid. He can’t even talk.”
Is she crazy? What is she saying to a kid who can’t even roll over yet?
“…It’s because of you. Mom’s been sick ever since you were born. Who do you think you are, making our mom hurt?”
Wait, I’m getting a bad vibe here. Is she going to mess with me? Bullying a baby who can’t even speak? My sister really had a personality back in the day, didn’t she…?
“…Hurry up and tell Mom not to be sick anymore. Mom needs to be healthy so we can go on walks again and go play as a family.”
Ah, I was wrong. My apologies. But honestly, you sounded like a little bully, so I was a bit scared.
“You know, Mom said I’m the Noona. She said I might not know what being a Noona means because I’m still young, but I know that much, okay?”
Oh, is that so? Our Noona is so impressive.
“A younger brother is like a Noona’s subordinate.”
…Or maybe not?
“Dad said so. He said from now on, it might feel like the love I used to get is being split in two, and since you’re still little, they might have to focus more on you. But he said that doesn’t mean they don’t love me.”
I wonder if she realized the baby was listening to everything.
“Mom told me to talk to you and make baby noises, but is this not it? There’s no reaction.”
So-hyun’s Mom, how can you tell a kid to make baby noises without explaining what they are?
“Noo…”
“Oh…?”
“Noo-ya.”
“Did you just say Noona? You did, right!”
Uh, well. Yes, I did. A creature with a pitch-black soul pretending to be a baby did indeed say it.
“Mom! So-hyun called me Noona…!”
“What…!? That’s not fair! Me too! Call me Mommy too…!”
The cheerful household was turned upside down again.
I don’t know. What could have happened after this for things to collapse into their current state?
I wished I could see the process in more detail, but given how long it was taking for the scene to change, it seemed it was going to show me a story from much further in the future.
After a long wait, the scene fixed in place.
“…Why did you do it?”
I felt dizzy.
It was hard to breathe.
There was hardly any Innate True Qi left in my body, and yet, the thought that I had failed made my head feel like it was splitting open.
Filling my chest in place of the empty vessel was despair and loathing toward the trash who had interfered without knowing a damn thing. And from those two emotions, rage was born.
Before my eyes was a woman lying in bed, asleep.
No, she wasn’t asleep. I had mistaken it for sleep because she was still so beautiful, but she was no longer breathing.
“Then was I supposed to just keep watching you act like that?”
“He’s right, So-hyun… You’re being too much right now…”
“Who do you think you are to do this of your own accord?”
I didn’t know the process.
I couldn’t remember why I held such feelings for the woman before me.
This wasn’t my dream, after all.
Yet the emotions I felt were so intense that I almost mistook them for my own.
“Did I fucking ask you to save me…? I said I’d use my own power, so why the hell did you do this on your own?”
From the context, it seemed I had tried to do something using ‘Reinforcement’ before the woman died, and my family, worried about me, had stopped me, resulting in the failure to save her.
“Bring my mom back…! Bring her back…!”
If that was truly the ‘me’ I couldn’t remember, was he acting like that simply because he was influenced by his young body?
Or had he truly come to think of her as his mother during the time I hadn’t seen in the dream?
“Stop it, So-hyun! Do you think Mom would like it if you acted like this!?”
Ah, it’s Noona. She was smaller than she is now, but she wasn’t just a child like in the earlier dream.
Was she in middle school? Or had she just graduated?
“Ah, right. It’s you, isn’t it? It’s your fault.”
“…What?”
My mouth moved against my will.
“No matter how much I tried to get close, you pushed me away and bullied me with all that bullshit. Why are you acting like a sister only now, you bitch?”
Being cursed at by me must have been quite a shock, as she took a step back.
“I asked if I ever told you to save me. Ah, I see. She wasn’t your mom, is that it? I probably didn’t even feel like a brother to you, so you must have hated how much of a nuisance I was.”
“So-hyun, you…!”
Kang Hyun-woo tried to step in, unable to take it anymore, but ‘I’ showed no intention of stopping.
I don’t need any of it.
Muttering that, I lifted a necklace from my chest. It was the artifact that had restored life force in Cheon Yu-hak’s dream, an item whose identity I hadn’t yet grasped.
Life force was gathered there.
A vast amount of it.
I forcibly took all that vast life force into my body and used Reinforcement.
My entire body creaked as the price for harboring power beyond the limits of an undeveloped body.
The vessel that had barely been holding on began to crack.
As the price for containing power far beyond my station, the acupuncture points and bones throughout my body were twisted.
“Ugh…!?”
Kang Hyun-woo lunged at me, but with a light swing of the child’s fist, he was sent rolling across the floor, vomiting blood.
This was the sight of an A-rank talent burning himself to the limit without regard for his own body.
That said, I wasn’t swinging my fists around randomly.
For now, as long as they didn’t approach, I didn’t harm or attack anyone first.
“Bring her back…!”
I just screamed while burning myself up.
“Bring her back…!”
When I struck the floor, the entire surrounding area shook.
It was, quite literally, a tantrum thrown by burning through my own life.
“So-hyun, please. Stop. Mom asked me.”
“Shut up…!!!!!”
“She told me to protect you even after she’s gone, that I’m supposed to be in her place now!”
Though trembling with fear, she approached me.
“Mom is gone now. You can’t do this. Just calm down a little, So-hyun…!”
But there was no way for sincerity to reach a monster that had lost its reason.
“Get lost…!!!!”
A fist swung toward Noona.
“<Block!>”
Flustered, Noona created a shield with mana, but against a strike that burned through life itself, such a shield was no different from a sheet of paper.
It only delayed the moment death would overtake the girl by a fraction of a second.
Cracks began to form on the shield.
“I hate this too…! I’m scared too…! Do you think you’re the only one who’s sad!?”
The desperate siblings screamed at each other with voices bordering on shrieks.
Like I care. Then don’t get in my way. Everything could have worked out. It’s all your fault.
No. Perhaps this was my fault. If I had been honest first, if I had trusted my family, if I hadn’t been arrogant, this accident could have been prevented.
Conflicting thoughts occurred simultaneously.
The funny thing was that both felt sincere.
All the shields protecting her vanished, and we glared at each other.
And then.
“What on earth is going on…!? Stop this!”
A woman appeared and caught my fist with incredible ease.
Rather than looking like she was in pain, the woman who blocked the punch reached out to me with a worried expression.
“My goodness, your body is a wreck.”
Who are you? Get lost.
“…Ye-hwa.”
“…Well, I came to talk about a deal, but I didn’t expect to see this. I stepped in because it looked like an urgent situation. You’re okay, right?”
Ye-hwa. Seo Ye-hwa.
The world’s Number 1 ranked hero and a monster possessing SS-rank talent stood before me.
“At this rate, this child will die.”
“…What?”
“He’s used too much power beyond his limits; his body is completely ruined. I’ll perform emergency treatment first.”
“Ugh…! Ggh…!”
As I tried to force my suppressed body to move, my bones snapped.
“Ngh…!”
For a moment, it was a spirit capable of pushing back even an SS-rank, but perhaps she was only momentarily surprised, as she easily subdued me and began flowing mana into me.
“…I’m not a doctor, so I can’t completely restore your body, but I can provide the minimum treatment.”
I don’t need it.
The completely distorted bones and muscles regained a human shape, and the shattered vessel regained its form as if it had been forcibly glued back together.
There were holes here and there, but it was at a level where I wouldn’t die immediately.
“…What drove you so far? Why are you crying so sadly?”
Even through my hazy consciousness, I glared at Noona until the very end.
Noona also looked at me with trembling eyes, exhausted from crying, but eventually averted her gaze.
“…I pray that you.”
I could feel what the ‘me’ in the dream was thinking.
As expected, this world is trash.
It was a mistake to try and do anything in this wretched world.
It was a mistake to try and regain what was lost and gone in my original world.
The problem was trying to adapt at all.
“Will not fall into despair at such a young age.”
Let’s go back.
I have to go back.
If I stay here any longer, I might go insane.
I will achieve my goal, no matter the sacrifice.
And then I will return.
To my original world.
And with that final thought, the dream ended.
Before me stood Noona, trapped within a black sphere.
It was very different from Cheon Yu-hak’s case, but I naturally knew how to wake her.
The sludge in my heart began to surge.
Right, so you’re her friend, are you?