Hospital

In a white room of the Branch B-3 Hospital, Rewen was laying down peacefully on the bed with his previously injured elbow and waist now without a single scratch. Beside him, a nurse was carefully scrutinizing his condition. 

"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?" She asked. 

Rewen frowned, then said with a serious face. "Yes, my balls are itching to get out of this place. I have been jailed for like two hours when a Healer healed me the minute I came here. Any cure?"

The nurse made an awkward face. "I have been told to not let you go because of certain reasons." She paused and looked at the young man's face which was not very pleasant, then switched topics. "Right. I heard you defeated Ruby despite not even being a Rank 0 Mage. How did you do that?"

In a split second, Rewen made a smug face and coughed. "Well, of course. If I had to say, Rank 2 Mages are pretty difficult to defeat. The reason I could defeat her is not that she was stronger than me but because she was berserk and I made use of my intellect. Haha… brains are greater than brawns."

Rewen himself didn't believe that he could spout this much nonsense that makes the perfect sense. Although Ruby was indeed berserk, as a Rank 2 Mage, her combat experience would let her be stupid even if she wanted to. The only reason he managed to defeat her was because of her carelessness. Not to mention, Rewen himself was strong. His physical stats became more than four times while using the [Freestyle Knights Combat] technique. 

Of course, how could a nurse do all of this? She simply felt that the young man in front of him was an extraordinary person. She smiled kindly and asked a few more questions before sighing. 

"You shouldn't blame the girl. She had no idea that she was the victim of interference."

"I'm afraid I can't but I'm curious as to why she didn't know that she had interference. I mean, don't people who have it be the first person to know about it."

The nurse replied affirmatively. "Yes, she did know that she had interference but she chose to forget the matter and become a person who needed no sympathy and to prove herself that she isn't any worse than other healthy people. You know how cruel interference is, right? If you ask me, just the mere thought of a soul existing within me and having hold of the decisions I make makes me shudder."

Rewen nodded and asked in curiosity. "By the way, what does interference mean? It doesn't exactly sound like the Judarin and other early post-apocalyptic languages and isn't even remotely close to the modern Unified Language that we all speak today."

"Interference is a word from the pre-apocalyptic period. It's an English word, the most prominent language of the period. In modern Unified Language, keeping the context in mind, it would mean interference - the action of interfering or the process of being interfered with."

"It was that simple?" He felt perplexed. 

The nurse laughed but didn't say anything. 

"So how was the pre-apocalyptic world like?" 

"You might find it surprising but the world today isn't any different from 2020. Today is 1st April, 4027 and the normal lifestyle and technology were the same as it was back twenty centuries ago. I know you are doubting my words but all evidence and facts say that although the world has changed, it hasn't changed. Interesting, isn't it?"

"If it's as you say, it is. My question is why is it like that?"

"After the awakening of the earliest modern humans, they were very much looking forward to advancing science with mana. Unfortunately, after about five years, they passed a decree prohibiting every science research center around the world to continue their progress and destroy the accumulated research. Why did they pass the decree? We don't know."

The young nurse didn't get annoyed hearing him asking questions. Before becoming a nurse, she was a Level 4 Historian and was very passionate about the subject. So she was more than willing to answer questions about history. 

Seeing the passion on her face, Rewen felt the need to show more interest. "So how did mana come to being?"

The nurse's eyes went round. "You don't even know this? Oh wait, was today your first day in the Academy?"

He gave a slight nod. 

Her face went from confused to livid, then from understanding to again confusion. "I thought you were in your second year… anyways, coming to your question, I don't have time to explain since it includes so many events and characters so I'll explain in brief. By the end of 2020, the world abruptly went dark and everyone fell asleep. It possibly happened because an alien race released an extremely small percentage of mana inside a worldwide virus that was prevalent in that year. People died and everything went silent. The continents broke apart and the world itself underwent a mutation. The Earth you know today used to be 7287 times smaller.

"For 564 years, everything was dark. By year 500, more than twelve people woke up from their slumber and waited for the sun, the primary source of light, to lit up the world again. They kept waiting but the world never lit up. They knew that they were already far away from their Solar System but still held that hope. One died. Two died. Three died. Similarly, eleven of them died. 

"The last one was the youngest. Seeing all his friends die, he felt hopeless and had given up on life. He went back to his old house and stayed there for three years. He said in his diary that he tried to hang himself four times but just couldn't do it. One day, he blankly stared at the ceiling of his bedroom and saw a lizard move around. He felt extreme disbelief and anger. If such a tiny thing is surviving, why can't I survive? He wondered. The next day, he left his home and created a source of light and named it 'Sun' which was way larger than Earth-"

Rewen interjected. "Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. How did he create that? Also, is this lame ass backstory supposed be a part of world's history?"

The nurse shrugged her shoulders. "Nobody knows. We just know that before he died, he engraved the words 'Dear future generations, be grateful for I created a whole Solar System for you. The name's John Smith and I hope you remember it'. Of course, it was written in English. After that, some fourteen years later, people started waking up. It is estimated that only 0.03% of the entire population survived."

Rewen's interest in Earth grew. 'This Earth is possibly bigger than my previous world.' Although he knew he wasn't in a luxury to marvel about the world as he has more important matters to worry about, he also felt that rushing things up won't help. 

"Hn? You have got a serious look on your face."

Rewen chuckled. "It's not every day I talk with a nurse well versed in history."

They talked about a few more interesting things before some people along with cops entered the room. Two cops led the group, followed by a man and two women. They were Rewen's cousins - Cal, Denny and Zelic. 

An hour ago. 

Cal was working in the factory when he got a call from his brother's childhood friend, Gill. 

"Hello."

"Hello, is it Cal?"

"It's me. What's up, Gill?"

"No time to explain. Come quickly to B-3 Hospital! Rewen had an accident."

"What? How? Is he okay?"

"Don't worry, he is okay. Come quick. It's complicated to explain."

*Beep*

Without wasting any more time, he called his sister, Denny.

***

The Academy's largest auditorium was packed with people. Everyone is hyped and excited about the Grand Welcoming Ceremony. Some even came three hours early to get the front seat. More than 40% of the seats were already filled. 

"I heard two A-rank idol groups are coming this year. The last time two A-rank idol groups came was five years ago. I'm excited to see the performance of DREAMTEEN because they released their album not too long ago."

"The only reason I'm here is for Ruby and Fang."

The atmosphere was very lively. Somewhere in the middle sat two girls. They were precisely Denny and Zelic. 

"You did tell them about the arrangements right?"

Zelic pouted. "For the sixth time, yes. Don't worry, Sis. Nothing would go wrong with the plan."

Denny still wasn't convinced. "Let's go and check it out again." Saying so, she got up. Zelic groaned and caught her hand. 

"Just sit. Everything's in plan. Diana quit the choir squad and her quitting has been accepted by the Council. The guys and the girls are already here. Now, we just wait for Rewen to arrive."

Denny sat down after some hesitation. "He will come, right?"

"As long as your bland brother Cal doesn't have a loose mouth which I'm not too optimistic about."

Zelic and Cal were never on good terms.

*Ring*

Denny's smartphone rang. She took it out and saw the name 'Cal'. Beside her, Zelic chuckled. "Speak of the devil."

"What is it?" 

"Come to the B-3 hospital. Rewen had an accident."

*Beep*

Denny remained silent for a while before getting up and dragged Zelic out of the auditorium. 

"What the hell happened!?" 

"Rewen had an accident."

***

Coming to the hospital, the girls spotted Cal talking with a cop. They ran towards him. 

"Cal, what happened?" Denny asked worriedly. 

"Don't worry, Rewen is fine now," Cal explained unhurriedly.

"What exactly is going on?" Zelic questioned.

Cal was about to explain when the cop suddenly interjected. "Follow me."

The cop took them to a room on the second floor. As the cop opened the door, the girls' eyes wandered around the room and they got a huge shock. They noticed four other girls were already in the room.

'Aren't they the A-rank female idol group that was supposed to perform at the Academy tonight?' Denny looked at Zelic only to find her looking at her.

Cal was nonchalant and bland. He never had any interest in idol groups but he did wonder about them. 'Rewen must have hit one of them. They are all at least Rank 2 Mages. How could Rewen, who wasn't even a Rank 0 Mage, defeat any of them?'

The five idols also noticed the people that entered the room and stood up. Among them, Ruby went forward and bowed. 

"I'm sorry."

Amidst the confused Denny and Zelic, Cal stepped forward and spoke in a neutral tone. "It's not up to us to decide whether you're guilty or not. I'll leave it to the law."

Ruby didn't say anything and went back to her chair. Following her, Cal and other idols also went back to their seats. Confused and lost, Denny and Zelic also took a seat. The cop sighed and turned on the projector and soon enough, a video was played. 

The video first showed two guys walking down a deserted street. Cal, Denny, and Zelic immediately recognized the guys - Rewen and Gill. Soon, it showed the part where Rewen was hit by a speeding figure. 

At this point, all three of them turned towards Ruby who covered her face with her hands. Then the video showed the brief argument between Rewen and Ruby. 

Cal: Since when did he develop such a strong mouth? 

Denny: Since when did he grow the balls to argue with an idol? 

Zelic: Since when did he have such charisma? 

Ruby: So embarrassing! Just kill me… 

All the things that happened till this point had been shocking. Zelic and Denny even guessed that Ruby must have hit their brother and as a result, an accident occurred. But what they saw next was miles away from their expectations. They saw Rewen throw some fast punches in the air and all of a sudden, he flew and crashed onto the nearest light pole. 

Their minds went blank but as they thought of opening their mouth, they saw another impossible thing. Rewen, who should have been half-dead by now, leisurely sat on the fallen pole and took off his suit unhurriedly. The next events completely shook everyone's minds excluding Ruby's. 

The video ended with Gill and Kesha helping Rewen get into the car. No one spoke for a long while. Finally, Cal broke the ice by giving a rare laugh. Only he knew the reason for laughter. 

"Mind yourself, Cal!" Denny turned to the cop and asked. "Is he alright now?"

The cop nodded. "You can come with me to see him."