Two days had passed since that event.
Jin sat in Hans's tavern, as he had for hours. His hair had become straight again, and he wore the simplest clothes possible. Sorrow dominated his face, and silence had been his only companion for the past few days.
Buren entered and sat beside him, with Hans standing before them as usual.
"Kid, did you end up like this because of what happened between us back then?" Buren asked.
Hans added, "There are still many secrets and strange phenomena in this world. A few things interfering with your life is no excuse to stay dormant and drink for two whole days."
Jin raised his eyes. His face was utterly exhausted, his expression dark and extinguished.
"Do you both know?" Jin began. "When I was a child… I asked my mother many times about my father's identity. She never told me who he was, no matter how much I asked. I grew to hate him because I saw him as a bad person for abandoning his wife and son. When my mother noticed this, she started telling me things about him. She told me I inherited my hair color, my eye color, and my facial features from him. Later, she told me he was an amazing and incredibly talented swordsman. She exaggerated his talent and character, but that only increased my hatred. My question then was: why would someone so wonderful and powerful be such a villain that he would abandon his wife and son until their lives ended? When my mother remarried and gave birth to my sister, I considered her husband my true father, and I never thought about the matter again."
But...
His voice trembled, and tears began to stream from his eyes.
"How… could someone I've never met, whose face or name I don't even know… how could the Tower place a version of him against me? How in heaven's name?"
Buren's and Hans's eyes widened. What they had just heard felt like a catastrophe that terrified their hearts. They didn't utter a word that might suggest they knew this person, but their reaction confirmed it.
Jin tightened his grip on the glass in his hand until it shattered.
"How… could this cursed Tower do something like this? A person in a different world, someone even I don't know—how could this bastard Tower bring him here? And why? Why does the Tower do this to me specifically, out of everyone? Since I set foot in this cursed place, every trial, every test, every status window, every reward... this cursed Tower singles me out."
"And that damned Heavenly Demon, he knows everything about me; he manipulates me like a puppet. And that wretched Regressor, he knows me, knows my homeland, and knows what my life was like in the previous timeline, yet he refuses to tell me anything. Everything happening around me seems to be against me. Who on earth am I to have such luck in life? Power? Wars? Wealth? To hell with it all. I want none of it."
Buren and Hans remained silent. Their faces showed regret and pity, yet they did not speak.
"Hans…" Jin said, "I'm sick of your acting. You are hiding many secrets. My instinct tells me you are the most dangerous person I've ever known. What are you hiding?"
Hans and Buren were struck with horror, shock written all over their faces. But Jin didn't give them a chance to speak.
Jin spoke with fury: "Hans… since the first day I met you, it seemed like you knew me. You understood my personality. Whenever something affected my psyche or an accident happened to me, you would speak of solutions or give me advice without even asking. Hans… who on earth are you? And what do you know about me? And now, when you heard that I met my father, you felt shocked. Damn it all! Who is this cursed person? And what are you two hiding from me? Do you know how I can reach my cursed home?"
Hans finally spoke. "Jin… sometimes… you must stop asking… and just wait. The answers will come on their own."
Jin's anger exploded, and he unleashed his aura and killing intent.
His left eye turned the color of darkness again. He spoke with a rage he had never shown before.
"Hans… if you are a Regressor, I won't ask what I was in my past life. I won't ask what you are hiding now. I will ask you only one thing."
Everyone in the tavern gasped from the crushing pressure; some had already lost consciousness. As for Hans and Buren, their gaze confirmed one thing: absolute terror.
To them, this wasn't a level of power that should frighten them—they had witnessed things far more insane—but it was the form of the boy's power itself that terrified them.
Hans was about to speak, but… they were interrupted by a system window that suddenly appeared before Jin.
> [System]
> [Calm down.]
> [Your sister is fine, and I will make you reach her.]
>
But this did not calm Jin; it only fueled his rage. He screamed from the depths of his heart.
"You son of a b*tch Tower! Who am I, you bastard, and why are all these strange things happening to me?"
Hans was stunned by what he heard and spoke immediately.
"Jin… it's better if you stop now. Everything you want to know, I will tell you. I won't deny the fact that I've hidden many things. So just calm down now, and when the time comes, I will tell you what I know."
Jin looked at him with his dark eye, his pupil sharper than ever.
"You want me to calm down? This cursed Tower is a living being and can communicate with us whenever it wants. Yet, you two didn't care; you knew this beforehand. This bastard tells me he will make me find my sister. He already knows everything in the world. What is the truth of this strange world, guys?"
Buren said, "Kid, believe me… what you're doing now won't give you any answers. It will only increase your oppression and sorrow. Jin… eight months at most, and Hans will tell you what you want to know."
Jin wept from the bitterness. "Why? You are the person I trust most. Why do you join this bastard in something like this?"
"Because hiding information from you now is what will benefit you most," Buren replied. "All of this is for your own good."
Jin looked at them with a broken face. Despite the power he had reached, despite the experiences he had gone through, he was still a small child inside. This was too much for him.
He stood up quietly, left the tavern without another word, went to Buren's smithy, took his team's weapons, and departed.
Inside the tavern, Hans stood still, and Buren remained in the same seat. But their faces had changed; they carried an unbearable weight.
"Is that eye... the one?" Buren whispered.
"Yes, it is," Hans replied. "Please… do not speak of this matter again."
And so… the boy asked a question for which he would not receive an answer, no matter what he did.
End of Chapter