episode_0277

Episode 277: Time of Confrontation (1)

As I entered the space, the fog that had covered my mind seemed to dissipate, and the blocked blood vessels seemed to open.

That’s how all the memories come back. The memories that had been forcibly forgotten gushed out. But among the many memories, the first to come to mind was the memory of her.

-Ugh! Even a bastard like this dares to… Fuck! Yeah, I’m the idiot. I’m such an idiot for giving my heart to a bastard like this… Argh, it’s so annoying!

She tears at her hair. Red hair is ripped out in handfuls due to the stress I caused. She raises her strength with a frustrated expression and says to me.

-You moron! Listen carefully. You owe me. So… don’t forget the promise you made last time. Got it!

That was the last time with her. Having recalled that far, I turned my gaze away from the memory.

A pure white space. There is nothing to be seen. No living things, no objects, nothing exists here. It is so empty that it can be described as a space of nothingness.

I wasn’t particularly embarrassed. Because this is what this space is like.

Step by step, I just walked forward. And along the way, memories kept blooming, making me laugh and cry. Feelings of joy and sorrow constantly popped up.

Still… I endured and kept walking.

Click, I stopped walking after a while. A pure white door appeared in front of me. I opened the door familiarly and went inside.

Creak….

The door opens with a chilling sound. I took a step, moving my body across the threshold. Beyond the threshold, I saw someone’s figure in the distance.

Click, tap tap click.

A man sitting in front of a computer, typing on the keyboard. He must have noticed that I came, but he doesn’t turn his head back. ‘I’ am engrossed in what I’m doing now.

I moved forward again. The distance is getting closer, and the sound of typing gradually gets louder.

As I said just now, this place is a space created to face the past me. Every time I experience death in more than dozens of lives, I am invited to this place, meet the past me, worry about each other, and find shortcomings in the previous life… something like that space.

Therefore, I don’t simply meet the past me. I only meet the me right before I died in the previous life. Although the current ‘me’ has passed through the past ‘me’, it can be said that it is an existence in a different timeline from the current ‘me’ because it is brought from the point of death and temporarily maintains life.

But the me in front of me was not the me from the previous life. I was short and weak. The last time I died, I was never like that.

Ta-ra-rak, tap tap tap, tap tap… Click!

After a while, ‘I’ pressed the enter key to finish the work.

“Oof.”

I get up from the chair, making a pretty cute sound. And when I turned around, I could see why ‘my’ height was short. It was me as a child of about 15 years old. When I think about it, there were times when I raised my strength in that way at a young age through various means.

‘I’ smiled as soon as I saw me. And then, with a thud, I kicked off the ground. The Heterogeneous Phantom Shift unfolds. It’s a movement that others wouldn’t even be able to chase.

The attack that started as one had already increased to dozens, and soon reached hundreds. Each one was an attack that could strike at any time, and a trick that could disappear at any time. At the same time, the movements linked as one showed no gap.

How many people would be able to withstand that and survive in a similar realm? I don’t think there are many.

But there is one thing I overlooked. Based on the current standard, that is a realm I have already passed.

I waited patiently for a moment. The attacks poured down, and the moment the fist touched me.

Bang!

Appearing from behind, I slammed my head into the ground. The past me was buried in the ground without even being able to respond. I didn’t particularly go easy on it. Because you don’t die here.

“Cough… Ugh, it hurts like hell. You son of a bitch. Couldn’t you have gone easy on me?”

“Go easy on you? What are you talking about? You attacked with all your might.”

Then ‘I’ replied.

“Isn’t that the fun of it? Fighting the future me.”

“Bullshit.”

Well, based on me, it’s the past, but based on ‘me’, I’m the future, so it was a natural thing to say. In fact, this kind of thing happened frequently. I remember it always being like that except for the first time.

I held out my hand to the fallen ‘me’. ‘I’ got up, grabbing my hand.

“More importantly, hello?”

“Yeah, hello.”

“Look at how your tone has changed just because it’s a different body. You idiot, you know that doesn’t suit you, right?”

“…Shut up, you bastard.”

“Hehehe, your personality is still the same. What do you want? Alcohol? Cigarettes?”

As soon as I said that, alcohol and cigarettes appeared in ‘my’ hand. I shook my head.

“Not really. It’s been a long time since I quit. Well, it’s not so much that I quit, but I hardly do it anymore.”

“Wow, I’m rejecting alcohol and cigarettes? Damn, the future is the future after all.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean and stop doing drugs. It’s all over your face.”

I mainly worked from the age of 20. Of course, I also worked at a young age like now, but 100 out of 100 times, my childhood was not normal.

It was basic to live with alcohol and cigarettes, and it wasn’t enough, so I was even taking drugs. I was pouring it into my body at a level tens of thousands of times the proper dosage. Because of that, my brain lived in a state of being pickled in drugs.

“Nope~ I’m not going to listen, you idiot.”

“Drug addict.”

“You know I’m you, right?”

“…….”

Immediately after, ‘I’ moved to the computer. I followed behind. That’s how ‘I’ sat in the chair and started typing on the keyboard again.

“How many regressions is this?”

“3rd.”

“If it’s the 3rd….”

The word 3rd made me think a lot. Because I know what I’m going through now.

“You’ve met her too, right?”

“I met her.”

“You must have just broken up.”

‘I’ smiled bitterly and replied.

“I broke up. It’s fucked up.”

“Don’t cry.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“It’s obvious.”

I wondered why I could see so much sadness on a normal face, but now I can see it clearly. I pickled my brain in drugs to get rid of the sadness. That moment was when I was at my darkest.

“But if it’s the 3rd regression, then you’re halfway there.”

“Halfway? Haaaaalfway? Wow… damn, I’m going crazy.”

“The rest will be harder.”

“I’m already having a hard time, and you’re saying it’s going to be harder? Damn, is that even a thing to say? Ugh, damn it, this is so fucked up!!”

‘I’ slammed the desk. Only after breaking almost a hundred did ‘I’ stop. I cursed a lot during that time. Every time I spoke, curses came out with it.

“Sigh…. But what point in the future are you from? I know you’re my future, but that bastard won’t tell me how many times it is.”

To that question, I answered with just one sentence.

“Your ending.”

“Haha!”

Then ‘I’ laughed so loud that the sky would fall. ‘My’ face was very bright.

“So I do have an end coming? I’m going to live a long life and see things. Wow~ should I have a celebratory drink?”

Hundreds of bottles of alcohol that are created in an instant. I stopped it because I was really going to have a festival.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Hey. People can do this when they’re in a good mood. I remember being happy even about small things in the past. Geez, it seems people change as much as their appearance.”

“…….”

I didn’t bother to answer. In the meantime, ‘I’ kept pressing the keyboard. I watched the scene. Along the way, the title of the novel caught my eye.

[Academy Incident Log (Tentative Title)]

I don’t know why I laughed just at that title. I can’t help but have memories of the past come flooding back. Still, it was new to see me smiling and writing for over 10 hours.

When I was almost done writing one chapter, I asked.

“Is it fun to write that?”

“Fun? Of course it’s fun.”

‘I’ raised both arms and turned the chair around with an excited face.

“You know. This novel, Kyle Arden, is our lifelong dream.”

“…It’s a dream.”

That’s right. I didn’t want to live as just an extra. I’ve always wanted to die as a third-rate villain extra. That’s my dream. And Kyle Arden is a character I created with that wish in mind. This world that I currently call ‘Academy Demonic Celestial Being’ also originated from this dream.

Of course, that’s not the end of it.

This world was also an atonement for them.

“So how does it feel? To have achieved the dream you’ve been wanting so badly.”

“Do you think it went as we wanted? Not for us.”

“Yeah, a sinner with a mind like this can’t have their dream come true. It looks like the content we want is different?”

[Academy Incident Log (Tentative Title)]. In other words, the original content of ‘Academy Demonic Celestial Being’ that I’m currently in is not like this. There is no main character, and it’s just a story about characters coming out and solving incidents that happen in the academy.

To go a little deeper, more than 80% of the content is about everyday life or stories for healing. There are hardly any settings that threaten the world like now.

From the beginning, there were more than one or two strange things. Especially the fact that there are two main characters. It’s something that is never allowed except in special cases.

“The bastard who would do this….”

“There’s only one bastard.”

We were quickly able to figure out the culprit who did this. There was only one bastard who would do this. I had been feeling it to some extent since I regained my memories. No, from the beginning, there was only that guy who would give this invitation.

The conversation seems to be enough for now. I got up from my seat.

“Are you leaving already?”

“I have to go. I know everything I was curious about. What am I going to do here for a long time?”

“Well, that’s true.”

‘I’ didn’t particularly hold me back. There’s a difference in time, but the fact that I’m ‘me’ and ‘me’ is me hasn’t changed.

“Still, it’s nice to hear a lot of hopeful stories. I also heard that I have an ending, and it’s good that my dream came true. So, please take care of me until the end.”

“What do you mean take care of me? I’ll do well on my own, so don’t worry about it.”

“That’s exactly how a third-rate villain would talk. I like it.”

I moved to the door. After that, just as I was about to grab the doorknob and open it.

“Hey, are you happy?”

‘I’ asked. This bastard should ask the right questions. I tilted my head back slightly.

“Happy?”

And then I turned my head to look at ‘me’ and finished the answer with a bright smile.

“I’m so happy. I’ve finally found a haven.”

I wonder how happy I am making right now.

Well, I think you’ll know even if I don’t express it.