Chapter Index





    Ch.76Hero’s Trial (7)

    Today, just like always, I ate the home-cooked meal my mother prepared. And I’ll probably continue eating home-cooked meals like this in the future.

    Just thinking about it makes me happy already. Being able to eat such deliciously comforting food every day from now on—I’m truly blessed.

    While lost in these thoughts, I suddenly realized I’d finished a whole bowl of rice. I immediately said to my mother:

    “One more bowl, please!”

    “Eat more slowly. You’ll get indigestion that way.”

    “How can I eat slowly when it’s this delicious?”

    “I can make it for you whenever you want, so take your time.”

    I can eat it whenever I want. That simple, ordinary fact makes me incredibly happy.

    So today, like any other day, I spent my time in the same routine. Now I should quickly go to sleep and wake up to spend tomorrow just like today.

    I should take off my ring before sleeping…

    …Wait, why am I taking off my ring?

    Well, it makes sense to remove it. Who sleeps wearing a ring anyway?

    Anyway, as I took off the ring, I expected to feel overwhelming fatigue… but I didn’t. Come to think of it, where did I get this scale ring from?

    I definitely didn’t buy it myself. I have no interest in accessories like this. So it must have been a gift…

    …Dragon person?

    This ring, made from dragon scales, was definitely given to me by a dragon person. But dragon people don’t exist in this world.

    So where did this ring come from? Now that I think about it, Ha-eun mentioned something about a dragon person appearing as a parallel world result.

    Could there be some connection? What were the other results that came from there?

    I don’t know. I don’t really want to think about it, so I’ll just go to sleep.

    ***

    I woke up to the sound of my alarm. Today I decided to make breakfast secretly before my parents wake up. They’ll definitely be surprised.

    So I prepared breakfast just like I always do…

    …Just like I always do?

    Suddenly my mind filled with a strange sense of dissonance. I clearly remember preparing breakfast every day. But I also clearly remember not preparing breakfast every day.

    I distinctly remember my mother waking me up every morning and eating with my father.

    But I also distinctly remember preparing breakfast every morning. So which one is correct?

    This dissonance is maddeningly irritating, but I decided to make breakfast anyway.

    So just like always… no, for the first time… no. Anyway, I made breakfast. Just before it was finished, I called out:

    “Leo! Agath! Rebecca! Breakfast is ready!”

    If I call now, everyone will gather by the time it’s done. That’s why I called early.

    Anyway, after I moved everything to the table, my parents sat down shortly after. See? How could I not know this when I’ve made breakfast so many times?

    “Sweetie, what’s all this?”

    “I just suddenly felt like making it.”

    “Thank you, we’ll enjoy it.”

    After taking a bite of the breakfast I made, they said:

    “It’s delicious. Have you been secretly taking cooking lessons?”

    “Well done.”

    Even my usually quiet father gave his approval. My lips naturally curled into a smile. While I was feeling proud, my mother suddenly asked:

    “By the way, what were those strange names you were calling out earlier?”

    “What names?”

    “You know, Leo, Agath, and whatever else you said.”

    “…Wait a minute.”

    Those are definitely names I’ve never heard before. But they’re also strangely familiar names. I don’t know exactly what they are, but they’re definitely names.

    So whose names are they? Based on the names, they don’t seem to be Korean…

    “I think I confused them with game characters.”

    I have no connection with foreigners. So I probably just mixed them up with names from a game or something.

    There’s still a strange sense of dissonance somewhere, but I forcibly ignored it. This is definitely the world I live in. What could possibly be strange about it?

    So I prepared for school just like I always do.

    ***

    Shortly after leaving the house, an intense headache came over me.

    It’s truly maddening. I keep feeling this dissonance strong enough to give me a headache, but I have no idea why.

    Everything feels both strange and familiar—a contradictory situation. Now I can’t even tell what’s strange and what’s familiar anymore.

    While walking alone, someone suddenly spoke to me from behind.

    “Have you heard of the brain in a vat?”

    Turning toward the voice, I saw a muscular high school student wearing the same uniform as me.

    “Excuse me, who are—”

    “It’s basically a theory that this world is completely fake, and someone is showing you this false world.”

    “But who are—”

    When I blinked, the muscular student disappeared. What was that?

    When I turned my head forward again, that student was right in front of me.

    “Survival instinct.”

    And when I blinked again, the student disappeared once more.

    I immediately scanned the area, but the student was nowhere to be found. Did I just see a ghost?

    But somehow that student felt extremely familiar. As if I’d known him since childhood.

    But I don’t know anyone like that. There’s nobody at our school who works out that intensely except for me.

    What on earth was that?

    I should get to school first and think about it later. I might be late again at this rate.

    ***

    Somehow I managed to walk to school. And now I no longer feel that sense of dissonance. Instead, a useless question has taken its place.

    What if this world is fake, and someone is showing me a false reality?

    Honestly, it makes no sense. This is definitely the reality I’ve lived in for 19 years. How could it all be fake?

    It would make more sense to say I’m living as a magician in another world.

    But something still bothers me. There’s definitely something I’m missing…

    Right, I had a ring yesterday. I should go ask Ha-eun about it.

    So I hurried to Ha-eun’s classroom to ask about the ring, but,

    “A ring? I don’t know anything about that.”

    Ha-eun, who seemed most likely to know something, said she knew nothing.

    With no progress made, I entered my classroom where everyone was gathered as usual. Maybe Ju-an knows something?

    “Ju-an, do you know anything about this ring?”

    “No. Where did you get it from?”

    “I’m pretty sure I got it from a dragon person.”

    “Dragon person? Isn’t that something from fantasy worlds?”

    “But somehow I feel like I really did get this from a dragon person.”

    “But such beings don’t exist in this world.”

    “Yeah, that’s true.”

    Instead of discovering the identity of this ring, I’ve fallen deeper into the mystery. Who could have given me this ring?

    Besides Ju-an and Ha-eun, who else would give me a ring?

    Let me try to recall everything from the past. In the past, I…

    Something’s strange. I clearly remember always joining the boys’ team whenever we divided into male and female groups.

    There are other absurd memories too—like entering the men’s bath in middle school, or always wearing men’s clothes.

    The more I search through my memories, the more contradictions I find. It’s as if my life has been hastily edited.

    …Come to think of it, didn’t that high school student mention something about a brain in a vat?

    It’s absolutely impossible, but what if this world is completely fake?

    That would explain everything—the strange dissonance, these awkward memories, and something I’ve forgotten. Everything.

    But I only have suspicion, no concrete evidence. No, the only evidence I have is this ring.

    There are no dragon people in this world. So how…

    …If this world is fake, what if this ring is an artifact that crossed over from the real world?

    Let’s assume dragon people exist in the real world. Then a more useful clue would be…

    Suddenly I remembered that website that finds your parallel world self. Maybe I could get a clue from there?

    But suddenly I don’t feel motivated. I’d rather just give up and exchange meaningless jokes like usual.

    At the same time, I want to figure out what this damned dissonance is. There was definitely something very important…

    While racking my brain, I suddenly remembered what happened this morning.

    When I called out the names of three people I don’t know… or do I?

    Leo, Agath, Rebecca.

    At the same time, images flashed in my mind: a blood-red magician, a pink-haired holy knight, and a saint.

    Could there be a connection? The characteristic of Young-min, who appeared as a holy knight, is… having an excessively strong sex drive.

    The characteristic of the school nurse, who appeared as a saint, is that she was an atheist, and my characteristic as the blood-red magician is…

    Something related to lifespan… did I sacrifice my lifespan or something?

    Right, I received this ring to compensate for my weakened body after sacrificing my lifespan.

    I sacrificed my lifespan to survive, and I was in danger because I was performing a request.

    And I received requests because I was working at some office. The name of that office was…

    I’m almost there. If I just remember a little more, it will all come back to me.

    But I don’t want to remember. No, I absolutely refuse to remember.

    I just want to continue living this peaceful and enjoyable daily life with everyone. I want to live in this familiar world with family and friends.

    If I leave here, reality will surely return—a reality with all sorts of troublesome things like Demon Kings.

    Do I even need to distinguish between real and fake? Whatever the case, all that matters is my happiness.

    Even if I return to reality, there’s no family or friends there. So wouldn’t this world be better, even if it’s a lie, because at least the semblance of those things exists?

    But can one truly be happy living in a world of nothing but lies?

    Everything here is false. Everything here is just an illusion. Is this world really better despite that?

    I don’t know. Let me stay here a little longer and think about it. I have plenty of time anyway.


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