292 – Short Memories
The scene of my earliest memory was a large palm that filled my field of vision.
The hand that was placed on top of my head and caressed me was so warm and soft that it remained particularly vivid even in my blurry childhood memories.
In my memories, he always smiled kindly whenever we made eye contact.
Every time, the eyes behind the glasses were filled with something. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but looking back now, I’m sure it was probably nostalgia.
My dad was looking at me and missing someone else.
In the past, I vaguely thought it might be my mother, but when I realized the secret of my birth, I couldn’t even be sure.
Basically, our house has always been quiet and peaceful. In particular, my father, who was the only family member, usually stayed in the study, so I was often alone.
If it were any other child, I might have found it boring, but I think I quite liked the silence.
Then, there were times when my father’s guests came to visit.
Customers always called my dad “Doctor,” So they could guess at a glance that my dad, who always stayed home, was doing something.
One day, a typhoon blew in the middle of the night and thunder and lightning roared fiercely.
I was so scared that I ran into the living room and was hugged by my father.
As I was shivering due to the wind and rain pounding harshly on the window, my father told me an old story to help me fall asleep.
A long time ago. It was a story about a boy from a rural village who went to play in the woods, met a mysterious woman, and fell in love.
The woman in that fairy tale was so attractive and beautiful that I was amazed just by hearing the description.
Hair as white as snow and eyes that shine as blue as jewels. A smile that is more perfect than anything else.
As a child, I suddenly forgot that I was afraid of her typhoon and was so absorbed in thinking about that woman in my head.
I still occasionally recall the childish fantasy that I would like to grow up and become such a pretty adult and live with my dad for the rest of my life.
Even looking back now, it is a happy memory. A dazzling piece of the past that will not fade no matter how much time passes.
The peaceful life that I thought would last forever came to an end in just one moment.
At first, I woke up to the sound of people pretending to be human. Since his father often came into the study at night, he immediately closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
But that day was different from usual. The commotion, which was very small at first, grew louder and eventually turned into a huge, breathtaking pounding.
It seemed like someone was banging on the door so hard that it was broken. At the same time, a man’s angry shouting began to be heard.
“Dr. Franken!! “Come out now!!”
Franken? It was an unfamiliar name I had never heard before.
Customers always called his father Dr. Hon Xia. I’ve never heard of the name Franken.
The situation was too abnormal to have come simply for business.
The strong banging on the door and the screaming, almost like a scream, in the middle of the night like this brought me a fear that I had never experienced in my daily life until now.
Soon, Kwasik! A loud roar echoed throughout the house.
I realized it instinctively. The fact that the front door that was supposed to keep out the assailants was breached and no longer functions properly.
When the person broke down the door and entered without the landlord’s permission, the other person was not a guest but a robber.
I was more afraid than ever before. It was so scary that it could not be compared to the time when thunder was crashing outside the window.
Nevertheless, I quickly realized that I shouldn’t be lying foolishly on the bed like this.
I wanted to run out of the living room and into the master bedroom. I wanted to run into my father’s arms and close my eyes tightly, like when a typhoon was coming.
But there was no way the robber who broke into the house would allow such a warm ending.
The moment you innocently go out into the living room, you will truly lose your life.
I quickly looked around and hid in a closet that caught my eye. In case the robbers caught me, I covered my mouth with both hands and tried to hold my breath.
At the same time, I hoped that my father would chase away that monster and defeat the villain like a great warrior in a fairy tale.
“Dr. Franken!! Dr. Franken!!”
The robber’s cries, which were almost desperate, were repeated several times even after entering the house.
This whole situation felt like an absurd nightmare.
I thought countless times that if I closed my eyes tightly, I would wake up one day and have a refreshing morning like usual.
I covered my ears and denied reality. I prayed earnestly for this nightmare to end.
How much time has passed? At some point, I couldn’t hear anything except my crazy heartbeat. Even if I gently removed my hands from my ears, there was silence in the house.
For a moment, I was relieved by the sudden calm, but an ominous premonition penetrated my mind like a flash of light, and I froze, forgetting that I needed to breathe.
···If the robber disappeared, what happened to Dad?
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I drew a hopeful imagination. I thought of my dad brilliantly defeating a gunman, running into the room, and hugging me.
I couldn’t go out of the closet. Although I shouted to myself that I should open the door and run to the living room to check the situation, my body gave in to fear and completely froze.
No matter how long I waited, I couldn’t hear any sign of popularity from inside the house.
Only an eerie, suffocating silence filled the world.
In the end, I barely got out of the closet until dawn broke and the morning birds began chirping.
It has already been several hours since the robbers broke in and the commotion ended. When I opened the door and slowly walked out into the living room, I couldn’t see anyone.
I looked around the master bedroom, study, kitchen, bathroom, bathroom, warehouse, and even the yard, but there were no traces of people anywhere.
Dad and the robber disappeared as if they had evaporated from the world.
The only thing that was left was the front door that was torn off and lying around, and me standing in the living room.
That day, I became alone.
***
Thump thump!!
“Dr. Franken!! “Come out now!!”
At that moment, I realized.
The fact that now is the very day Sharon spoke of.
At the same time, she immediately recognized who she had described as an unknown stranger.
Because his urgent voice clearly remained in my memory.
Even after realizing the identity of the customer, I did not open the door right away.
No, it would be more accurate to say that it was not possible.
I was dying while sitting at my desk in the study.
I have somehow managed to endure until now, but my body was ultimately unable to withstand the unreasonable abuse of uncertainty.
In particular, the act of breaking the taboos of time leaping and creating artificial life forms was decisive.
She took care of Sharon by her side and for a while she quietly moved forward with her nursing life without using her abilities, but she had been pushed into a dead end.
Of course, even this was the same as the flow seen through the story outside the window.
I had a bitter smile on my face at the fact that I had no choice but to follow this decided path, even though I knew all about the pain I would have to endure after this.
‘It is the uncertainty that twists fate…’
This is a truly ironic situation. In order to escape the predetermined fate, I have to recreate the story I saw in the dimensional gap. Am I already bound to a new destiny that my future self has set for myself?
I gradually lost consciousness due to the terrible pain that felt like my whole body was being twisted.
At that time, I heard the voice of a gunman who broke down the door and came inside, desperately calling me.
I knew from the beginning that this would happen, but…
As the end approached, I felt only sorry for Sharon. She hasn’t done anything yet. I was thinking of giving you at least one decent memory as a gift.
But the next time we meet, everyone will have a happy ending.
After that thought, I completely lost my mind.
When I opened my eyes again, the space I was in was completely different.
I probably felt like I was lying on a bed, but my body was so heavy that I couldn’t even move my eyes, let alone my head. A strange feeling that I couldn’t believe I was alive.
“···You’re awake.”
Someone spoke in a voice that seemed to be a mixture of resentment and despair.
Even the words spoken right next to me seemed faint, as if they were coming from a far away place.
“You are nothing but a return receipt. “If I had come a little later, I would have died.”
It’s definitely true. But in the end, I survived because I came at the right time.
She faithfully fulfilled the contract she made with me.
Just once, it reads my vital signs and rushes to save me when my life is in danger.
And when you come to rescue me, you must disguise yourself as a man.
She gladly accepted this bizarre request that an ordinary person could never understand.
The compensation offered in return for the contract must have been that tempting.
In return, I used her time manipulation powers to create her own orb of prophecy that could read her fate, and then gave it to her.
The witch of prophecy was born because of me.
Her prediction that I would meet a terrible end was ultimately the same as the fate I had given myself.