Prologue (2)

The tight brown rope continued to choke the life out of the middle-aged woman. To her surprise, Tylem, her son, did not run toward her while desperately attempting to pull her down in an oh-so-futile effort.

Rather, Tylem remained unmoving from his spot. From start to finish, he did not take a single step. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for the Mother and her gurgling sounds, the boy moved, revealing his bright eyes, which were deep like the abyss.

The child's previous tears seemed to be all a dream, as if it was never there in the first place. If one were to see Tylem right now, no one would believe he was a mere eleven-year-old child.

"Goodbye, Birth Mother. Life is fleeting, and as your flesh and blood, I will bear witness to your final moments as a living human being. I'll make sure to properly attend Birth Mother's funeral afterward."

The middle-aged woman's dark pupils trembled, dimming in an unknown emotion as if realization had at long last came. Paying no heed, Tylem soundlessly watched her with a smile.

If he wished to, there was a small chance that he could pull his mother back to safety, despite his thin, fragile arms. However, Tylem just watched, silently watching as the light faded from her unrelenting eyes.

The eyes of the damned woman who gave birth to him. How hateful.

The sole good thing he could say about this mother of his was that she had never brought a man home despite her husband dying soon after her pregnancy. Oh wait, that was wrong: she also made sure he would never starve to death.

Tylem could have sworn that he had heard the evil middle-aged woman cry during this time, but when he listened in keenly, he heard nothing but the loud storm brewing in his heart. It must have been something else.

Minutes passed, and after what seemed like an eternity, the middle-aged woman's gurgling noise ceased. Soon, even the corpse stopped its spasms.

When death came, the same fate awaited everyone. To be left behind in the pile of dust as a rotting lump of flesh, returning to the earth.

Staring at his mother's unmoving corpse, the feeling of emptiness washed over Tylem. Going through everything again, his mind became clear without the slightest ripple.

It wasn't a dream. Somehow, he had returned to the past, seven entire years. Sooner or later, the orphanage would take him, and he would spend four long years there.

And then…

Tylem's face darkened.

Leaving the orphanage, his new home would become the capital's top hospital. The moment he had begun opening up to the world again, news came from a mandatory orphanage hospital check that his body had developed a unique heart cancer, one that would be fatal within the year. Due to the uniqueness of his case, the doctors told Tylem that the hospital fees were covered by the nation, wishing to learn more about the cancer.

However, to the surprise of the doctors, Tylem persisted for three years, much longer than everyone had expected.

Walking to the home phone, Tylem slowly dialed three digits.

"Hello, what is your emergency?"

"Hi… there's been an accident over at XX Binane Street, Chengyang Village."

When the dispatcher heard the prepubescent voice, she thought that a little kid had dialed the wrong number, but soon the contents of his report came flooding through like a hurricane.

Right away, the dispatcher began easing the kid through the process while immediately sending a team of police officers over to the location of the phone call.

* * *

Despite being told not to hang up the phone, Tylem did so regardless. In the frigid house, awaiting the police officers, he was not in the mood to listen to the coaxing voice of the female dispatcher.

Unbeknownst to Tylem, while he was closing his eyes to contemplate his situation, a minuscule ball of light had crept out of his right pocket. This ball of light seemed to have a mind of its own.

With its appearance darting back and forth, the ball of light switched its attention to the lifeless corpse hanging off the ceiling wall. Moments later, although it had no features symbolizing life, it seemed to emit a bloodthirsty aura as it fixedly stared at the corpse, the same way a predator would while examining a high-quality product.

Instantly, the ball of light raced to the corpse, sweeping over the middle-aged woman from top to bottom, not missing a single spot. Gradually, the ball of light grew in size at a rate visible to the human eye, yet all of this went unnoticed by Tylem.

There were no visible changes across the middle-aged woman's corpse, so it was impossible to tell that something had happened. Having its appetite sated, the ball of light happily dove back into the boy's trousers, snuggling in the comfort of the warmth.

The entire time, Tylem was absorbed in his own world, looking out the window with an unknown expression. Meanwhile, the ball of light had finally finished digesting its newly obtained life essence in delight: it spat out a hefty manual covered in dust as a reward for the child.

"Hm?"

Jolted by the sudden movement, Tylem stood up in wary as his eyes turned alert. The ball of light may have been weightless, but how was it possible that he would not be aware of the new intrusion?

The book did not appear in his pocket; instead, it slid down through his trousers to the male private area. The sudden intrusive feeling disgusted Tylem as he hurriedly pulled out the object while throwing it as far away as possible.

But Tylem's body was that of a child. Instead of shattering the wall like the legendary martial artists, the book merely flew a few meters before falling to the ground in a pitiful manner.

"A book?"

Honestly, at this stage, Tylem thought he was losing it. From his rebirth to the random book emerging out of thin air, everything appeared so surreal.

"Hah… am I going crazy?"

Instead of moving away from the book, Tylem actually casually stepped toward it, his pearl-like eyes narrowing.

Even if the book was dangerous, Tylem did not care anymore. Knowing the never-ending pain that would await him in the coming years, he didn't feel the need to be scared anymore in this situation; his fate was set in stone.

It would just quicken the process.

Besides, Tylem also had the faint hope, which was buried within him, that the mysterious appearance of this book would change his life forever. It had appeared out of thin air, after all.

When he was hospitalized, one of his favorite hobbies was reading webtoons, thinking about how one day his life could change just like the protagonists in the series.

If it wasn't for the cancer that tore his body apart, could he, too, have experienced a happy life?