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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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“I’m telling you! I feel great today, like I could fly!”
Kang Hyun-woo trembled anxiously as Yoo Ha-na hopped around.
“What’s going on? Is it because she slept with our son yesterday?!”
He was probably joking, but it was surprisingly true.
I felt like dying from the pain of severing my innate qi, but I could recover soon with the ‘Creator’s Favor’ that my friend gave to me, so it was a good deal.
“Cough…!”
“Honey!?”
“Mom!?”
I knew this would happen.
As she overdid it with her dance, she coughed up blood, and Kang Hyun-woo and Kang Na-hyun rushed to her side, startled.
Of course, I also pretended to be surprised and ran over.
I didn’t really expect to be able to heal her with just a single Enhancement.
But if it wasn’t enough, I just had to accumulate more innate qi.
It wasn’t difficult since I had the right artifact with me.
I would maintain the Enhancement on her, just enough so that my own condition wouldn’t become critical, and save the necklace’s power as much as possible to let it accumulate life force. Then, it would be possible to heal her completely.
I was a bit worried about saving a character who was supposed to die, but I tried to convince myself that this much was fine.
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Everything was going smoothly.
Days passed without any major problems, except for the thought that I was getting too deeply involved in this family act.
I organized the original story’s plot in my head before my memories faded, and I focused on training in my free time to become even a little bit stronger for the future.
The training was quite difficult.
The concept of magical power, unlike talent, was quite foreign to me, and I struggled to control it at first. But after a little over a year, I could handle it quite well.
…Honestly, I wanted to contact Lilac and the other main characters besides Cheon Yoo-hak, but I didn’t have the chance since I was still young.
The time when I turned eight was probably the brightest period for our family.
My sister, though still prickly, played with me, and my father, who always made time for us despite his busy schedule, came home with gifts and smiled at my healthy mother.
The family act had no problems.
“Huu…”
The only problem was that my still-weak body couldn’t keep up with my plans.
But it was okay.
It wasn’t unbearable.
This was a small price to pay for saving a character.
My family was worried about my weakening health, but I tried to hide it as much as possible since I had a way to recover.
When they worried about me too much, I just smiled.
The smile I imitated from my past benefactor was still effective here, and my mother usually let things slide when she saw that smile which resembled her own.
But there were times when I couldn’t get away with just a smile.
“So-hyun, can I see you for a moment?”
Her gentle voice was laced with worry.
I roughly guessed her reason.
It was probably because I collapsed during gym class today.
They said that they couldn’t find the cause because there were no external injuries and my organs were fine, but I knew why it happened.
It was because I had used too much of my innate qi, my innate life force.
“So-hyun, are you hiding something from Mommy!?”
I could have been honest here, but I wasn’t.
“No…”
It was more childlike to deny it first before being scolded by a parent.
“…Really?”
I flinched at her deep gaze.
This was just an act, but perhaps because I was too immersed in the role, or perhaps because of my young body’s physiological reaction, my heart trembled.
Now, if she scolded me, I would cry and tell her the truth about collapsing at school.
“Okay, then it’s fine.”
“…Actually… huh?”
Instead of being angry or disappointed at me, she just said it was fine and stroked my head.
Sometimes, this person so easily defied my expectations.
What was her reason for not scolding or punishing a child who was clearly lying?
“I was just going to tell you that if you were embarrassed about being weak, you didn’t have to be. And if you were faking it because you didn’t like gym class, you could just say you didn’t want to do it.”
Her gentle touch felt like it was melting my heart.
“But since this isn’t either of those, then it’s okay, So-hyun.”
What was okay?
“Mommy got healthy too. So it’s okay now.”
But you would get worse immediately if I stopped the Enhancement.
I felt uneasy.
“You don’t have to get hurt for Mommy, So-hyun.”
…For a moment, it felt like I had been hit in the head with a hammer.
She knew?
How did she find out? Since when?
“I was right! I just took a guess!”
…Damn it? I fell for that? Was my mind becoming childish because of my body?
“What’s so strange about it? Did you think Mommy wouldn’t notice if her incurable illness suddenly got better, and her son got weaker day by day~?”
She playfully pulled my cheek.
“Our So-hyun’s cheek is so soft~”
…I see, so this was normal.
Honestly, I thought she wouldn’t find out.
When I was sick in that cramped single room, or when I was sick in the orphanage, no one ever noticed as long as I hid my expression.
My only solution back then was to endure it alone.
Because I thought that was what a mature and good child did.
Enduring was normal for me.
“So, So-hyun, you don’t have to do that.”
“…I don’t want to stop.”
So, my mouth moved faster than my brain.
“You… You’re not going to listen to Mommy~?”
I just needed to do it a little more, so I couldn’t stop now.
Besides, I hadn’t admitted to anything, so what could she do if I ignored her?
“I didn’t do anything.”
“…Is that so?”
Just a little more, and I could completely heal you.
Then I could recover too, so there wouldn’t be any problem.
Telling you now would only make you worry.
So, this was the right thing to do for now.
It was my bad habit, reaching conclusions on my own. But I had no choice this time.
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I turned nine.
My birthdays were filled with more bad memories than good ones, but that changed after I possessed this body.
I suddenly remembered my birthdays from my previous life.
-Ha-neul is a good boy, so you can be alone, right?
I didn’t even know what a birthday was, but when I asked my mother after reading about it in a book, that was her reply.
The following year, I was abandoned, so it wasn’t a very good memory.
After entering the orphanage, we had something similar to a birthday celebration on a set day every month, but it was just us wearing a conical hat and singing a song.
Before Ms. Cathy came, the drunk director would often cause a scene while we were singing.
It got a bit better when I was a student and worked part-time, but until I was almost twenty, I remember feeling like shit at my birthdays because of my memory of being abandoned.
So, after being transmigrated into this world, every birthday I’ve had was incredibly awkward.
The parties, the gifts, the congratulations, the feeling of people caring about me, it was all new.
And above all, my mother’s cooking, which she insisted on making herself after she got better, was memorable.
The galbi-jjim, with only soy sauce and sugar, and no water.
The soggy japchae seasoned with salt.
And the soaked seaweed she insisted was beef and seaweed soup.
They were all tasteless, but they were memorable enough to force myself to eat.
I had been thinking lately.
Maybe this was happiness.
I would go back when I reached the end of this world, but until then, it was okay to rest a little.
Maybe that was why…
Maybe that was why I was punished.
For forgetting my original purpose and focusing on other things, for trying to act like a real person in a place I stole.
Or maybe it was just the price of being careless.
Maybe it was because I knew what kind of place this world was, yet I thought I was doing well and didn’t need to hurry.
As if celebrating my ninth birthday, this damn world…
…as if telling me to never let my guard down…
…turned my life upside down.
The department store terrorist attack.
The day my mother, saying that she would buy me a gift since my sister, who had just started middle school, and my father were busy, took my hand and led me out, a terrorist attack occurred.
Ah, seriously.
This was why…
…I hated my birthday.
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Drip.
My eyes opened to something hot and red on my face.
The smell of iron.
“Ah, So-hyun, you’re awake?”
At first, I couldn’t understand the situation because of her cheerful greeting.
A smiling face.
Pale blue lips.
Ah, right, there was a terrorist attack.
She was holding me while her head was bleeding, either from being caught in something or from the debris of a collapsed building.
…Even though she was getting better, she wasn’t strong enough to withstand this kind of injury.
“Let go.”
My head was spinning.
Was I injured too?
No, it didn’t matter. I had to save her.
I couldn’t lose her this time. I couldn’t give up.
“So-hyun, I think we can get out if we go this way. Mommy will try a little harder.”
Don’t lie.
“Let go.”
She was about to collapse from exhaustion, yet she was worrying about me.
I could take care of myself, so she should worry about her own body.
In the end, she collapsed.
She moved forward with willpower alone, but reality wasn’t so kind.
“…Ugh…! Haah, haah. It’s okay, So-hyun. Mommy is really okay. I’m just a little tired. Let’s get out of here quickly. It’s dangerous here.”
My head spun as if it were malfunctioning, seeing her smile even after collapsing.
I didn’t know what to do.
Should I use Enhancement, carry her, and run at top speed?
I wasn’t in good condition either, so if I did that, not only me, but she also wouldn’t be able to endure it.
No.
…Actually, there was a way.
I could escape this crisis if I used the life force I had been saving up to heal her for the past few years.
But then, would I be able to gather enough life force to heal her again?
“Where are you going in such a hurry?”
An unpleasant, annoying voice came at the worst possible time.
“Wow, you’re fast. How did you get this far? The captain said to catch everyone, so this is a problem~”
And it wasn’t just one guy. I could hear several of them laughing.
A trembling hand gripped mine.
“So-hyun.”
Don’t say it.
“Do you see that exit over there?”
I told you not to say it.
“Mommy will hold them off, so you go and get help.”
She whispered so the villains wouldn’t hear, but her tone was firm.
“Actually, Mommy is stronger than you think. So I can hold on until So-hyun comes back.”
Don’t be ridiculous.
Seriously, don’t be ridiculous.
So, you’re a liar too.
If you were going to lie, it would be better if you acted the same way.
Abandon me and run away. So that I wouldn’t have any lingering feelings.
“No.”
“…So-hyun, yes, that’s right. I shouldn’t lie at a time like this. Mommy’s sorry, So-hyun. I wish I could save you like a hero.”
No, I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry.
The villains, who were approaching us, were watching us as if it were a funny show.
She stood in front of me.
“I’m sorry I can only do this much for you.”
“Don’t do it. Why are you going this far?”
“Huh? Of course. I’m your mother, after all. What’s so strange about a mother doing this for her son?”
She answered as if it were obvious, her voice trembling, but I knew better than anyone that it wasn’t obvious.
I can survive without you. So, get out of the way. No, I’m not even your real son.
This wasn’t even real, but I felt like crying.
“Is the melodrama over?”
“Don’t worry. We won’t kill you. Your mom is pretty.”
What was it called? The words wouldn’t come to my malfunctioning mind.
As the villains approached us, the words I had forgotten slowly came back to me, and my heart grew cold.
…Ah, I see. This was malice.
Right.
“You’re probably too young to know, but they say kids these days know everything.”
That’s right.
The world has been warm to me lately.
I had forgotten because I was living comfortably.
I clutched the necklace around my neck.
I had forgotten that the world was a cold, cruel place to me.
The accumulated life force flowed into my body.
“Don’t touch her, you bastards.”
The villains were a bit surprised when I cursed, but they quickly laughed at me.
You trash extras, you puppet characters.
Why are you messing with me again?
“You won’t die a peaceful death.”
It was still okay.
I would just use 30%, just 30%, and save the rest.
Then I could save her in time.
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T/N – Ah shit. The world just doesn’t seem to want the MC to be happy for too long. That last part was really hard to read through. Fair warning, the next chapter will hit just as hard.
In other news, it seems like my theory of the gods conspiring to make the MC’s life miserable is about to be debunked over the next couple of chapters. The world just really wants the MC to suffer.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
