The Days of My Youth

There are rules in the world of memories.

Not rules in the sense that you are forced to obey them, but rather elements that, if understood, allow you to delve into memories more efficiently.

The items are as follows:

1. The starting point of a memory world is the major events that shaped the owner's personality. It is standard to begin from the inception of these events. You could call them episodes rather than mere events.

2. The emotions and thoughts of the owner and other characters at the time echo in a voice that sounds like, "What should I eat today?" It is not just the characters; a voice called "Narration" also explains the situation or the surrounding people.

3. The perspective of the memory can change depending on the emotions of those who have entered the memory world—that is, people including Kaits.

For example, if you feel that a certain memory is extremely boring or infuriating, it will automatically skip that part or show you a scene that satisfies those emotions. However, in this case, there is a risk of missing important memories by skipping the ones in between.

4. There are fast-forward and rewind functions.

5. If multiple people have entered the memory world, each can follow and watch the memories they desire. However, since watching memories separately is only done when the subject's memory is vast, Kaits and his group will likely not need to do that this time.

6. If a person has a profound influence on an episode, a "Key Figure" tag is attached. This tag only appears when the most important person in the episode finally makes an appearance.

Just like right now.

Is "Su" her surname?

The world of memories does not tell you everything from the start. Perhaps it is the twisted taste of the being who granted this authority. It deliberately restricts information, claiming it is for a dramatic twist.

7. There are elements deliberately hidden to make the episode dramatic. Also, it shows "Settings" to help understand the episode. If number 2 is a character-oriented explanation, number 7 is the state of the world. It is closer to providing common sense to aid understanding, and this knowledge is automatically acquired by those participating in the memory world.

And, finally, one more thing.

It is more of a warning than a rule, really.

8. If there is an intense memory that even an ordinary person would find difficult to witness, the memory world is destroyed.

This is a rare phenomenon that Kaits only experienced once or twice in his early regressions. Since it is originally meant to prevent a human from going insane upon witnessing a divine existence, it is almost impossible when viewing human memories. Unless you are viewing the memories of a god or a being equivalent to one, the world will not collapse.

Reiterating the rules, Kaits and his group watched the flowing images.

The beautiful girl named Su-ryeon was being bullied.

I wondered how someone with such an incredible appearance could be bullied, but I was soon convinced by the setting that surfaced.

Laband let out a small laugh.

Power-holders who run the country—a truly ridiculous statement.

"Power-holders are filthy, here or there, all the same."

Laband muttered in a mocking tone. Just then, the "Key Figure" tag was attached to the Shin-jin-pa gang. And also to the boy who had just entered the classroom.

"Starting without me?"

He was a student with a large, fierce-looking build, unlike the others in the Shin-jin-pa. But he seemed to be best friends with them; as soon as he entered, he threw his arm around one of them and grinned.

"Good grief."

"Hmm."

Laband frowned with a look that said, "Look at this," and the Scholar groaned as if observing the situation.

After seeing the key figures, both of them had the same thought: the ending of this memory was already decided.

Since Su-ryeon was a key figure and Drae had mentioned her to the point of saying he couldn't forget her, they were bound to get involved somehow.

Inevitably, a conflict would arise with those boys who bullied her. However, not only the boys before their eyes but their backgrounds seemed too much for the current Drae to handle. In most cases where such overwhelming figures appear in a memory...

"It's a memory of regret."

"I agree."

A memory of regret is exactly what it sounds like. Usually, the destination of such a memory is loss and despair; if the person has the qualities to become a hero later, they will overcome it, and if not, they will fall into frustration. However, looking at the state of the past Yeodrae, he seemed to have neither the power to stand against the forces nor the guts to do so.

There was a very high probability of a bitter ending.

Kang Gu-han, who had been giggling, glanced at the fallen Su-ryeon and grabbed her hair violently.

"Augh..."

"Pretty girl. Have you been well? Did you eat?"

Unlike his actions, his tone was as gentle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as could be.

"Remember the proposal I made? Are you in the mood for it now?"

"......"

"Huh? Huh?"

There was no answer from Su-ryeon. Because of that, Kang Gu-han's voice grew louder and rougher.

"Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?! Huh?! Huuh?! Huh!! Huh?! Fucking answer me, you fucking bitch!! Are you in the mood to date me or not?!"

Su-ryeon groaned in pain as her hair was pulled even harder. Then, Kang Gu-han gasped and laughed, "Hehehe."

"Sorry, pretty girl. You know I get excited easily, right?"

In the midst of that, none of the students looked their way. No, to be precise, two people gave them a glance.

One was a male student with glasses and a sturdy build, giving off an atmosphere like an adult, and the other was a girl with a very flashy appearance who seemed to be the same type as Kang Gu-han. It meant she was a bully. Judging by her red-dyed hair tips and the slightly reddish tint to her black hair, she wasn't a diligent student either.

Beep. Beep.

And then, the "Key Figure" tag was attached to those two.

The descriptions are concise for now. They will likely be updated as the memory progresses. Seong Si-hyeon and Han Si-yeong only glanced at Su-ryeon for a fleeting moment before returning to what they were doing.

"This is annoying."

Laband spat out. Power-holders and violence walking around confidently, and people oppressed without even thinking of resisting... the situation Laband hated most was right here. What made him even angrier was that there seemed to be no room for this situation to improve.

Yeodrae.

He hadn't even given Su-ryeon a glance. Unlike the other kids, he wasn't even trying to ignore her. He was just staring blankly at the sky outside the window, his mouth hanging open. Laband felt the urge to punch that stupid face, but throwing a fist at a phantom of the past was useless.

Just then.

Clatter.

"It's morning assembly."

A middle-aged man with a solid build wearing a red tracksuit. His beard was messy, his eyes were unfocused as if everything was a bother, and his hair was sticking out in all directions.

"He's trained in exercise."

"Do you mean the martial arts of this world?"

Laband nodded at the Scholar's question. If so, was he a person who could resolve this situation?

There was no way.

If that teacher had been a person of principle and passion, this bullying situation wouldn't have persisted. The homeroom teacher, presumably a P.E. teacher, glanced at Su-ryeon, who looked like a drowned rat, and let out a huff. Then he looked at Kang Gu-han.

"Gu-han."

"Yeah."

His face changed from a blunt expression to one that looked very pleased.

"Is your father doing well?"

"Same as usual."

It was an incredibly rude way to answer a teacher, but neither of them seemed to care.

"Did you tell your father about me?"

"Oh, of course. I told him how well you treat me, and he said he'd mention it to the director here?"

"Kwahaha! As expected, our Gu-han is the best, isn't he?"

The teacher, who laughed heartily while giving a thumbs-up, soon opened the attendance book and began calling names. He didn't stop the school violence, nor did he even suggest they sit in their seats. The homeroom teacher wasn't just neglecting it; he was ignoring it. No, he was implicitly cooperating. Kang Gu-han and the Shin-jin-pa gang continued their antics toward Su-ryeon while giggling.

"Filthy, fucking hell."

The human world. Wherever people gather, there are bound to be dirty and rotten places. Among them, there are places that smell particularly bad, and this memory's environment was exactly that. The world of the Outsiders is generally a common-sense world without violence or war compared to Elynar. And Yeodrae's memory was a memory that defied that common sense. A disastrous situation where students bully others during class, under the teacher's gaze. And the case where no one tries to resolve that situation was, at least in the memories of Outsiders, never common.

In the meantime, Yeodrae was still looking out the window, and only answered blankly after the teacher called his name two or three times.

I wanted to kill him. Even the Scholar clicked his tongue. The points he had given him earlier for helping the weak male student had almost vanished. Only Kaits watched on with a stoic expression.

The memory continued. Kang Gu-han and the Shin-jin-pa gang bullied Su-ryeon as they pleased. As seen at the beginning, spraying water and pulling her hair was routine.

Not only did they carry out the bullying themselves, but they also used their female subordinates, whom they called friends, to throw erasers from behind, tip over her lunchbox, trip her on purpose... the insidious bullying continued.

There hadn't been any acts shocking enough to be horrified yet, but the frequency of the bullying was just too high. It was fortunate in the midst of misfortune that there was no direct physical violence.

A day, two days, a week passed, and there was no change in the situation. Yeodrae... repeated a machine-like daily routine.

Go to school.

Eat.

Go to the bathroom.

Sleep.

Wake up and clean the dojo.

Go to school.

Eat.

Go to the bathroom.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Wake up and clean the dojo...

In the meantime, he did do a few good deeds. Helping an old woman carrying luggage on the street, helping an elderly person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pulling a handcart up a hill, taking a trembling cat to the hospital... But he thoroughly ignored only Su-ryeon. He didn't even give a glance to her, who needed help more than anyone.

"You cowardly bastard."

"This is normal."

The opinions of Laband and the Scholar were divided.

The Scholar concluded that for an ordinary person, he had decent justice and morality, and since there was no benefit in standing against a massive force, he was taking a wise approach.

In Laband's case, although he already had bad feelings toward Drae, he thought the difference between the past and the current Drae was funny. It was disgusting that he, who now acted as he pleased when he was pissed off because he had power, was just staying still without saying a word.

The common thought of the two, who each held feelings of goodwill and disgust, was this: Yeodrae is not a vessel for a hero.

"How is it, Captain?"

Kaits answered Laband's gaze readily.

"He is not a hero."

"Right~?"

"I never thought he was a hero from the beginning."

Laband was satisfied with Kaits' answer, but the Scholar knew the nuance was different. It didn't mean he wasn't a hero because of this memory. It meant that from the first time he saw the human named Yeodrae, he thought he wasn't a hero, nor was he purely a good person.

From the Scholar's perspective, Kaits was actually raising his expectations even higher.

Why?

The Scholar knew the answer. Kaits might be projecting himself onto Drae.

'We don't know Kaits' past.'

The memories Kaits shows are only information about essential elements to prepare for future dangers. Memories of what he fights against, what he must face, and the difficulties Kaits experienced in previous regressions.

Kaits never once showed his own beginning. Is there even a human who has received the memory of the beginning of the human named Kaits?

'Information is lacking.'

Takashi, the muscular "Gold Taeyang," licked his lips with his tongue in anxiety.

His skill, "Human Analysis."

It is a skill originally meant to assess the state of women to be taken and men whose belongings will be taken like idiots to fulfill the duties of a Gold Taeyang, but it is also helpful in combat.

First, as expected, Yeodrae was a good human. The question mark next to it is a bit bothersome, but that probably means the gap between Extreme Good and ordinary goodness is small, making it difficult to distinguish which stage of goodness it is. Almost everyone has been like that so far.

The nature of Chaos... since humans are originally a race of chaos, there's nothing special about it. But to think that even his weaknesses and precious people were marked with question marks.

'I can understand the men he's been involved with so far... but there should be quite a few women too, right?'

He was a puzzling guy. Fortunately, in the midst of misfortune, while the information is unclear, his body and mind are not in a normal state. I don't know why he has an internal injury to his heart, but Takashi was convinced that he couldn't possibly be fine after fighting Pois.

...No, is that fortunate?

Doesn't it mean he has that level of martial power despite not being in a normal physical state? To think that Nyungar would be neutralized in one blow.

I thought Bold, who fought Yeodrae just yesterday, was caught off guard, but that wasn't the case at all. Yeodrae rummaged through his pocket in the midst of that. The Gold Taeyang clan flinched, and Yeodrae took out a golden marble, tilted his head, then distorted his face as if he remembered something, and put it back in his pocket.

"Hey."

"......"

"Are you not coming in?"

That polite speech mixed with informal language. At first, I thought it was a polite character concept, but he was just doing it to be sarcastic. My anger was reaching the top of my head, but Takashi held it in. Soon, the Gold Taeyang clan's formation, "Debuff Wave," created as a standard for catching rankers, will be completed. Even if the Debuff Wave fails, there are a few more preparations. If those don't work either... the harvest reaped by the remaining thousand or more clan members not present here will help suppress Yeodrae.

Most of all, the fortunate thing is that Yeodrae kept Nyungar alive even in this situation. It seemed true that he didn't kill people.

'Clumsy bastard.'

Just then, the communicator in Takashi's pocket rang. Is it Nakamura? But now is not the time to answer. Takashi ignored it. He didn't know.

That it was a contact from the Shin-jin-pa at the "Headquarters." Takashi laughed, knowing nothing about what was happening at the headquarters right now. Drae just spoke calmly with a still-dissatisfied face.

"Come on in. If you don't come, I'll go in within 3 seconds."

While fast-forwarding through the boring repetition, Laband hurriedly used rewind.

A change had occurred. Yeodrae and Su-ryeon had finally made contact.

And it was Su-ryeon who approached first. The place was the hallway during the commute home. It must have been possible because there was no bullying after school yet.

"Hello, Yeodrae."

"......"

Drae, who was going home with his backpack on and his hands in his pockets, turned around for a moment and tried to leave as he was.

But Su-ryeon grabbed his backpack, and Drae's legs flailed in the air in vain. Drae turned his head without a change in expression and greeted her by slightly nodding his chin.

"Hi."

"Yes. Hello."

What is this situation? There seemed to be no connection at all, so why did Su-ryeon approach him?

"Yeodrae."

"Yeah?"

"Help me."

Su-ryeon's tone was confident to the end. Drae smiled as if he liked that. And he answered.

"I have to go home."

Laband clicked her tongue at the indirect rejection. She felt like she was going to get cancer. She began to wonder how long she had to watch this memory.

"Then, would you like to come to my house?"

But Su-ryeon was no pushover either. Drae was silent at the proposal, not knowing what she was thinking. Seeing him try to move little by little using only his heels, Su-ryeon made a troubled expression.

"Would you come to my house?"

Another proposal. But this time, there was a follow-up.

"Otherwise, I'll scream here that you molested me."

"Let's go."

"......"

Drae walked ahead. Su-ryeon blinked her eyes at the quick change in attitude.

Swoosh.

The scenery changed like flowing water. In the passing scenery, a picture of Drae and Su-ryeon walking somewhere appeared. When the scenery was fixed again, it was inside a studio apartment that could only be described as shabby.

"Welcome. You are the first man to ever come to my room, Drae."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm usually good at lying, but this is true."

"Hmm."

Drae made a heart-pounding expression while acting like he wasn't interested. Seeing such a Drae, Su-ryeon said.

"What would you like to drink? It's not much, but I only have barley tea."

"Then barley tea."

"Yes. Just a moment."

Still, Su-ryeon served the barley tea in a shiny cup, as if she had washed the dishes clean. She invited him to sit, but Drae stood up and sipped the barley tea, seemingly fully intending to return, and Su-ryeon sighed.

"Help me."

"Why me?"

Before saying he couldn't do it, the pure question of "Why me?" came out first. In fact, it was a question Kaits and his group were also curious about. What did she see in Drae, who was close to a loser with nothing, to ask for help?

"As you know well, I am being bullied."

"That's true."

It was a shameless answer even though she had sarcastically asked if he didn't know well. Su-ryeon continued the conversation as if it were nothing, as if she had just said it.

"And the kids who bully me are scary, and their parents are so scary and amazing that the fear a student can give is nothing, so no one helps me."

"Was it like that?"

Pfft.

Who snorted? Laband looked at the Scholar, wondering if it was him, but he was looking at Kaits. Kaits was just watching the scene before his eyes with a face without any emotional change. ...It was a great poker face.

"Yes. It's a situation that has been going on for several years, so people seem to think it's natural now. But you're different, aren't you, Drae?"

"Was I?"

"That bastard. At this time, it wasn't 'is it like that,' but 'was it like that'..."

Laband's words were spat out as if she were annoyed. Whether the existence outside the memory did that or not, Drae in the memory drank the tea nonchalantly.

"Yes. You transferred to this school about a year ago, your body is solid as if you learned something, and you seem to be quite good at fighting. On top of that, your identity isn't properly verified, so from the perspective of those mischievous kids, you are an existence of unknown origin. It's a power that's much more reliable than public authority, which can't do anything because it's suppressed by the power of those kids' parents."

How on earth did Su-ryeon know that information? It was a question anyone would naturally have, but Drae didn't ask about it.

"So you want me to help? You want me to take the risk without any compensation?"

"No."

"...?"

It seemed Su-ryeon wasn't normal either. While Drae was floating a question mark, Su-ryeon smiled.

"If you help me, I'll tell you my secret."

"I don't want to."

"......"

It was a short answer. Drae moved his feet as if to return... but stopped. Drae, who had been closing his eyes and thinking deeply about something, said.

"Hey. If I help you, that's... what are you doing?"

Rustle, rustle. Su-ryeon was slowly taking off her clothes. Su-ryeon, who had become dressed in cute underwear as her school uniform top fell to the floor, smiled brightly. That appearance was beautiful enough to captivate even Laband, who was a woman, and the Scholar, who had no interest in women.

"If you help me, you can do whatever you want with me."

"..."

Drae had a somewhat mysterious expression. Su-ryeon opened her mouth as if to drive a wedge into such a Drae.

"My secret. Shall I tell you in advance?"

"I'm not really interested."

"Even so."

Now she had an attitude as if she wanted to say it herself. When Drae looked at her as if to say, "Tell me," Su-ryeon opened her mouth.

"I."

"Yeah."

"I can read people's hearts."

"......"

"That's why I need you, Yeodrae."

Beep!

The character window was updated.

Just as I was distracted by the unexpected information, a voice rang out. A bizarre voice whose identity I didn't know.

'I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could just kill them all.'