[ TWATF ]

Chapter 107: Catastrophe (8)

Chapter 107: Catastrophe (8)

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Sameng Hoon said to Jaehwan, “I do not know why you hate this world. But I know one thing. That you hate going back in time.”

Sameng Hoon had been gathering a lot of information about Jaehwan. After numerous bribes and threats against the [Nightmares] of the Union, he was able to obtain interesting videos from the Tower of Nightmares. It was the sight of Jaehwan refusing to go back in time to start the game again. So that’s why Sameng Hoon knew Jaehwan was going to say this.

“You know that and you still offer me this?”

“Yeah, I thought you would say that.” Sameng Hoon laughed. “I’m not offering for you to go back in time. I’m a Commander of the <Great Lands>, but even I can’t control time.”

“…The Demon once told me that too.”

Sameng Hoon laughed. “Yes, of course. I am not trying to give you your ‘past’. It is different.”

He continued, “Going back in time won’t make all the horrors and nightmares you faced disappear. Isn’t that right?”

Jaehwan did not answer, but he was right.

“You will still have traces. Scars. And all the memories that you had faced even if you go back in time. But you cannot forget it either. All of that shapes who you are. It’s you.”

Jaehwan couldn’t object. He even agreed to his words. This enemy knew more than anyone else in this world.

“So, what I’m offering to give you is not the past. It’s the ‘present’.”

“…Present?”

“Yes.” Sameng Hoon nodded, “I looked at what you did, what you had to choose in order to stay in the ‘present’. It was a noble deed, but I had a question. Was this the ‘present’ you really wanted?”

Sameng Hoon asked as he glanced around, “Answer me. Is this place, the ‘present’ you really wanted to protect?”

Jaehwan also looked around. Unfamiliar world, unfamiliar people. These were people who did not know him from his days on Earth. And Sameng Hoon added, “I am sure that this isn’t your ‘present’.”

Sameng Hoon then pointed at the video on the ceiling.

“The time that you deserve or the one that you lost. The ‘present’ you seek is not here.”

Jaehwan looked up. The people of Earth and the ordinary life within it.

“Become the 9th Commander, and you will be able to go there anytime you want.”

Jaehwan understood what he was offering. He was really offering Jaehwan a chance to go back to his world in the present.

“Of course, you will find your family too.”

Then the video showed a woman. She organized the bookshelves and took out the book titled, “The Little Prince”. She smiled as she looked over the cover page silently. Jaehwan knew who she was. For the first time, there was sadness on his face.

Sameng Hoon smiled. He knew humans well. He too was a descendant of humans. All humans had ‘longings’, or the feeling of something that had been lost. Even Sameng Hoon felt a certain emptiness when Sameng Garam had died. He wasn’t too bothered as he had lost human traits a long time ago. But these humans were in a remote region, especially the ones who just got out of [Product] stage, were different.

Sameng Hoon had been preparing for this moment. He knew Jaehwan would not reject the offer.

Jaehwan asked, “…Let me ask you again. What if I reject?”