The Light - Where?

I have so many regrets in life. One of them is that I did not use the days of my childhood properly. If only I trained my body well back then, I might not have become the sloppy person I am today. Sad to say, as they say, regret comes late.

Seeing myself having been trapped in this dark tunnel for don't know how long since we entered here, all regrets came to me unceasingly.

My throat is dry and my body feels weak. How many days has it been since the last drop of water wetted my throat? I already lost count of it.

Inside me, it is as if my soul is being sucked by something. That mysterious crystal is probably have something to do with this.

I feel so tired and dizzy. But… I need to continue.

Even though what awaits me outside here is a world of suffering, my feet just can't stop moving.

As I was treading in a direction I wasn't sure where it was leading, in a little luck, I finally saw a glimmer.

I knew it! Amidst all the misfortune in my life, a time comes when the rarest luck in the world would come to shine on me one day.

"The light!"

In a raspy voice, I screamed out. A surge of excitement flowed like a fountain of water. I reached out my hand towards it. A nostalgic feeling was bursting from within me.

I finally found it! The light that will guide me out of this misery. The light of the entrance! My salvation.

Step, step! I quicken my footsteps. All my steps are light as though my feet did not touch the ground.

Without stopping, the light finally welcomed me.

"Uwaaaahhhhhhh~, uwaaaaaaahhh~"

[A cry reverberated inside a shabby-looking room with old emerald curtains and dark wooden walls around it.]

'Eh? A baby?'

I suddenly heard an ear-piercing cry of a newborn baby. 'Why is there a baby? Who's baby is that?' The thought came into my mind right after hearing that.

Wait, something is not right. What's happening?

Those questions subsequently appeared in my thoughts right after realizing my vision was blurry.

Ah, most probably, it is the effect of getting trapped in that tunnel for so long. My eyes have yet to get used to the light around me.

I must ask for help!

"Uwaaah! Uwaaah!"

I shouted, trying to ask for help. But then again, the cry of a baby is what enters my ears.

What the heck…? This is so weird. My situation is puzzling me.

Suddenly, I heard someone's voice saying,

"Oh~ i~it's a~aa boo~y!"

I heard that. But the words that I heard sounded like waves. It's hard to comprehend what the speaker wanted to say.

Judging from my situation, it seems like not only my vision is affected but most probably also my hearing. I didn't know getting trapped in a tunnel could also have such an effect. All my senses are out of place.

Am I in a vegetarian state? That thought came to me.

Don't know, but I can feel someone's touch, though my body is weirdly not in my full control.

Regardless, it seems like there is someone who is taking care of me.

Hm, medics?

I hope so.

After some time, I still didn't understand my situation.

Time went by,

Since I didn't have a sense of time in my current situation, I could not tell how many hours or days had passed since I escaped that tunnel.

All I could do was listen closely and feel my body and my surroundings. As I was puzzled by my situation, something was inserted into my mouth suddenly.

Fuhn~

At first, I thought it was an oxygen respirator, but I got rid of the idea because if it was true, then it should be inside my nose, yes? But instead, they put it in my mouth? Also, I believed it has already been quite a while since I got out of that tunnel.

I also noticed that it was smooth and warm and some fluid came out! Another thing was, it tastes like bland milk.

Since then, my doubt about my situation grew stronger within me. That can't be, I thought deep inside. But what if… right what if. Hm… I have to wait till my situation gets a lot better before I think about it.

My situation gradually became better as time went by. I continuously heard some voices and felt someone's touch to me from time to time. There was also the feeling I was being carried and embraced by someone. This is weird. All of these are weird to me. I am an adult, so carrying me was not easy I think, even if I have a frail body.

Moreover, my family never cared for me since I was a child. They never showed affection to me.

When I was a child, I learned that I am not my father's legitimate child. I am the fruit of my mother's cheating on his husband. That was what I heard from their constant arguments. But later on, I discovered the truth, that I was their legitimate child.

Anyway,

I grew up without someone who I could ask for, or someone I could talk with. When I entered high school, my mother and father finally broke up after a fierce argument. My father left the house and my mother was addicted to alcohol to the point that she stopped caring about me.

I was left alone. Staying strong, I lived my life without someone to guide me. Many thoughts, mostly negative, crossed my mind. It would be a lie if I said the thought of doing some bad things hadn't crossed my mind. But my good side still prevailed.

I thought my life in school would be better somehow, sadly, my school life never been great either. I didn't have someone who I could say as a close friend to me. I was excluded in every circle of friends. Not that I care though.

Although I found a girlfriend somehow, she broke up with me after knowing my situation. And I learned afterward that she has lost to a bet that was why she agreed to date me.

In short, they used me as their punishment for the loser of their little game.

It was very infuriating.

Since then, I decided to focus on my study and earning money only. I wanted to become rich someday, that's why I needed to finish my university first, then work in a company with a nice salary later.

After that, I wanted to travel abroad and live my life to the fullest.

Despite having no parents to support me, I did my best so I could finish my school by doing some part-time jobs. However, the salary from those jobs was not enough for my future plans. In the end, I ended up joining an underground battle.

It was the only choice I think I had at that time.

Unexpectedly though, beating up someone also allowed me to release all of my pent up frustration.

I thought I was finally walking on a good path. However, the reality wasn't as brilliant as I have in my dreams.

Alas, my limit forced me to face reality. One night, I faced an opponent who was far stronger than me and I was beaten up into a pulp.

I was hospitalized after that.

Due to that, I was forced to stop all my works and recuperate. All my savings from those days of working had gone to my medicines.

If only I trained my body since birth, I would have been stronger than anyone and I would not have lost.

Why was it despite doing all the good things in my life, all the bad things were what happened to me?

Isn't the world unfair?

One day, while gazing at the orange sky through an obsolete window of my rented apartment, I asked heaven about the fairness of the world.

What was the point of my life in the first place? To suffer? A tearful eye blinked in dismay when finally the last bit of my soul crumbled to pieces.

Since then, I started to dream of becoming a bad guy for once.

An absolute bad guy.

There were also times when I wanted to become the world's number one villain that would destroy it.

But whether I wanted that to happen or not, all of that was just me--- dreaming for the impossible thing. I knew well that there was no way that someone like me who was beaten by a random thug could become the number one villain in the world.

Time went by and my injuries finally cured. But, before I noticed it, I found myself as a 35 years old jobless man who had could not enter university.

I lived my life in poverty.

Because of that, the more my dream to become the number one villain would never get a chance to be realized. What could a poor man do? The best I can do in this situation was to become a low class thug.

I sighed in dismay and asked: Why is it all that I envisioned in my life did not happen but the opposite did?

One day, a neighbor told me about a rich company recruiting some people to mine a newly discovered mining site. Since I needed money, I enlisted myself.

However, thousands of other applicants had enlisted and they only needed one hundred people. On top of that, due to inactive for long, my body became so frail. So, chances that I'll be selected was very low, in fact.

I don't know what kind of magic happened, I got in despite having so many competitors. I thought my happy days were about to start. I could finally start again. But then again, it turned out to be the start of my new calvary.

Because of a mysterious crystal, a commotion between the miners happened and it resulted in us getting trapped in the tunnel where we were mining.

Sigh.

That's how I ended up inside that tunnel.

Back to the present, I am staring into a blurry space with my absent-minded mind reminiscing about those old days.

A thought crossed my mind. What if I have chosen to become a bad guy from the beginning? Would my life have been better than this?

I fell asleep with that in my mind.

The next day, I opened my eyes again and guess what! I saw the world much clearer finally. However, what I saw proved all my doubts.

As expected, I had become a baby…

"….."

One thing for sure… I can't trust the light anymore.

I stretched up my arms and saw how tiny they were.

I quickly pondered my situation. Judging that I can finally see clearly but being at a limited distance only, I guess my current age is at most one or two months old or higher. That was only my guess but that was most probably the case.

As I'm not good with babies, so I can be wrong.

Looking around me, I noticed the room looked shabby. It looks like a room of a fugitive person. Also, it looks to me like I am inside a baby's crib at the moment.

The room is dim but the beam of light passing through the crevices on the wall told me that it was morning now.

As I am thinking, wondering what happened and how I ended up in my current situation, I can't help but feel mixed feelings.

'There's no mistake. I got reincarnated like those MCs in the novels and anime.'