2024-01-14 12:36:01For a moment I thought I was sinking into a cold, dark and deep ocean. My hands and feet were paddling, looking for something to hold on to, but all there was was emptiness. Then I realized that I was floating somewhere. My body was floating as if defying gravity.
I opened my eyes, and all I could see were blurry flashes that were not clear. It was like an empty room without even a speck of dust; I almost doubted how I could breathe because I wasn't sure if this room had oxygen.
Gradually, however, my senses began to adjust. There was nothing to see in this empty space, no matter how desperately my eyes looked around. It felt like my weight was now as light as a feather, easily played by the wind, but fortunately there was no breeze here.
My distorted mind still had various bitter memories from my 27 years of life; I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I wondered if this was the afterlife, and if the dwarf-like man who had been haunted me with text messages at the hotel turned out to be the angel of death?
If it's true, it means I'm really dead. I won't be able to attend Katharina's wedding next month; oh, we didn't even have time to apologize after our fight last night. I thought with closed eyes.
No matter; no one will cry for me when I die. They will only mourn for a short time and continue their happy day tomorrow. More than that, I am grateful because my dream has come true: to disappear from Earth forever.
No longer do I have to worry about the continuation of my life or be overshadowed by sickening feelings about my sad past.
Ah, it turns out that death is not so bad after all. I do not believe in God, and religious people believe in resurrection after death. However, it seems that atheists like me are not accepted in the afterlife of God, so I am drifting in this empty space. That is more than enough.
"Oh, you're someone who gives up easily." The dwarf's man baritone voice made me reflexively open my eyes.
He stood in front of me, still wearing his cleaner and neater version of his construction worker outfit. Slowly, the surroundings brightened because, I was sure I wasn't hallucinating, the man radiated a warm glow. Suddenly, I felt alive again. Strangely, I wasn't afraid at all.
"I haven't introduced myself. Call me Solace; I am the bridge to new worlds for failed people like you," he said with a smile, as if he was calling me a failure a thousand times over.
I couldn't imagine stepping into this empty room. I looked at Solace as I waved away the fog with a wave of my hand, "Worlds, you say? So I'm not dead? This isn't the afterlife?"
Solace nodded wisely. "You're not dead yet, but your body buried under the rubble will be evacuated soon enough. At most, you'll be in a coma."
From the tone of his voice alone, I could tell that Solace had indeed put many others into comas before.
"This is the border between worlds, Joe. Everything in this place contains records of your less than pleasant journey through life. Sorry for peeking into your memories earlier," he continued.
"Hey!" I started to protest, but Solace quickly cut me off. "You have no purpose in life, do you? There are four different worlds that need your help; make yourself useful there and then you will understand the meaning of life."
All of this still felt too strange to me, like I was venturing into a fantasy world and would soon meet a fire-breathing dragon. But I knew I had impulsively agreed to Solace's words when I couldn't bear the weight of my past memories.
"Are there really people who need my help? If you want to help me, then make my life easier in the future," I said.
Solace sighed, with its radiant glow, it seemed like it could blind me in an instant if it wanted to. "Typical young person who just wants to have fun. I am not a fortune teller, I cannot change your future. I am only here to help people like you live the rest of your lives. The only one who can change your destiny is you."
"So you're not a god?"
Solace looked visibly annoyed by my question. "No! I am a helper of the universe!" he exclaimed.
I had already mentioned that I wasn't religious, so this was still hard for me to accept.
"Joe, I mean well. You always feel sorry for yourself and think you are the unluckiest person on earth; I want you to learn to accept yourself. Those who need your help will be useful in teaching you to appreciate life," Solace repeated in his last sentence.
As I thought about this, I realized that my life was indeed resigned. I did not even care about my health or my relationships with friends and colleagues. I often ignored them, assuming that they were only friends with me because they had no other choice. They often left me as their last option for weekend plans; they never responded to my messages when I was in trouble. That's why I cut myself off from socializing.
If they treated me that way, why shouldn't I do the same? That's why I never made friends. I spent almost all of my time alone, but strangely enough, I didn't mind being alone, because I knew that people saw me as stupid, awkward, and nervous, so everyone looked down on me.
This time, too, I had resigned myself to fate.Who knows what Solace will do?
"If you want to improve your life, start by seeing the world as big as possible." Solace continued to ramble on about the world, or whatever it was.
"What if I can't improve my life after that?" I asked.
"That means your soul is truly dead. You don't deserve to be human," Solace replied too lightly. "Just kidding. You're not as bad as you think, believe in your own strength."
Solace waved his hand and immediately four holographic displays appeared. Different images could be seen.
"This is the world you will explore, they are waiting for you. Not Joe the man with no zest for life, but Joe the Observer."
"Observer? What does that mean?" I asked quickly.
"Earlier I asked what is the most useful work for others, right? You can start by being an observer. You have to observe and help them solve their problems while finding solutions. It's very simple, isn't it?" Solace glowed until I shivered under his bright green eyes.
I couldn't even live my life properly, and now this creature from nowhere was saying that?
"That doesn't seem to be for me. Are there other jobs, like bathing dragons?" I tried to negotiate.
Solace glared at me. "Your time is up. This is the border between your world and four others. Enjoy being human!"
Right after that, the empty space burst like a water balloon. I was once again distorted by another world while echoing Solace's last words, as if I wasn't worthy of being called human yet.
I couldn't scream; my throat felt choked. I hoped this was just a dream and that I would wake up in my bed, take a shower, then go to work and buy chocolate cupcakes at Katharina's favorite bakery so she wouldn't be mad at me anymore.
"Ow!" I groaned after hitting something hard, like a wall. Screams of panic brought me back to consciousness.
The first thing that greeted me was the uniquely carved wooden ceilingt; I didn't know where it came from. I lay on an incredibly soft bed until I refused to move. My forehead was still throbbing with pain. Observing my surroundings, I realized that this place was very different from my simple apartment.
This realization was confirmed when a beautiful woman dressed like a princess pressed her hand to my forehead with a worried expression on her face.
"Are you all right? I'm really sorry for leaving you by the lake until you got sick when we promised each other otherwise," she said as softly as silk.
I really wanted to scream, what is this? Why was I at the lake overnight? Who are you? Why are you confiding in me all of a sudden?
Then I felt like I was being tapped by Solace's wrinkled invisible finger. Yes, this is part of my journey to become a true human being. Solace is truly a powerful being who has transported me to another world.
The woman leaned back in the rickety chair that surely belonged to me. "I cannot marry someone I do not love, but my father insists that I provide an heir as soon as possible. I can't! I already have someone I love," she lamented.
Solace may be right. I have only been here a few minutes, and I already feel that this woman has bigger problems than me, and from the familiar way she speaks to me, it is clear that I am her confidante. And I'm sure her problem will become mine in the future.
Hey, but should I be grateful that in this other world my name is still Joe?
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136. Lived the Life You Love
I gasped like a fish on land, truly, it felt like I would die on the spot as soon as I crossed paths with Solace. My knuckles were even colder, and my fingernails suddenly turned blue. Cold sweat poured down my back, and my chest was tight. This can't be a coincidence, there must be a purpose for Solace to appear like that, even though he never cared about me before. The grip on my shoulder reflexively made me jump. Leon was also surprised and released his hand on my shoulder with a worried expression. "Are you okay, Joe? You look sick all of a sudden," he said. I tried to neutralize my breathing and realized I was in an alert position, my hands clenched into fists as if ready to punch someone. Damn it, why is the effect of Solace's existence making me this anxious? "Oh, yeah, I'm just sleep-deprived," I boasted. Leon then gave me a bottle of mineral water and at that moment I realized that we had arrived at Mr. Jaden's residence, even the landlord had gotten off the carriage with
135. The Evidence
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134. The Investigation
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133. Suddenly I'm in Court
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132. The Wealthy Neighborhood
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131. I'm Close to the Trouble Makers
Fertilizing the fields turned out to be very tiring, I thought with my previous experience I would suddenly become turbo-charged, but it was the same with the scorching sunlight in the morning. I then put down the sack of stinky fertilizer, and endured the nausea while drinking soothing water. I'd been working since early morning, but this vast field seemed endless. Maybe it's because there are only two of us working, so it feels like it's taking forever. By the way, I'm a farm worker for a rich merchant with a gothic mansion-like house. It's quite a distance from the fields and the cottage, but it's clearly visible from here. I haven't met the owner either because it seems like the workers are scheduled to work at certain hours. I just followed along when my colleague said that the fields were ready to be fertilized. Now I'm just watching the man tirelessly working, since I came, he hasn't even sat down or had a drink of water. He was tall and strong looking, though. "Leon, take
130. Start A New Role
I'm now like a spirit floating through the air, passing through a line of soldiers to a small cemetery at the edge of a village in the middle of nowhere. Time in a vacuum is indeed different from time in the ordinary world, then it seems that I have passed through a lot of things because now Adam's body and the civilians who were hit by the bomb have been buried. I stare at the tombstone bearing my friend's name, along with a picture of him smiling slightly in his military uniform. He's exactly the Adam I saw last time, I've only known him for a short time but the sadness is overwhelming. The soldiers saluted and carried out the military funeral procession as a last respect with great solemnity. Next to Adam's grave, the graves of his other family members were lined up and I couldn't hold back the tears I had been holding back. They were good people, but why did they have to suffer such a tragic fate? I'm leaving this world, and Adam will never return to the military. He's now sett
129. Solace
Even though my vision wasn't completely clear, my body felt like it was moving on its own to beat up the Solace in front of me. I was sure I had exerted all my strength to give him the greatest punch of my lifetime, but all I felt was like punching a very hard wall. Solace was flat-footed, and the look in his eyes clearly showed that he was bored. I felt even more compelled to turn him into a punching bag. I punched again, several times, but to no avail, instead my knuckles turned red and cracked. "Crazy bastard." I cursed as I kept my distance from the creature. "How could you show up without a single guilty look? I know you're not human, but you're even worse than that."It hurt so much when I thought of Adam who had suddenly died at a young age, along with Celine who was alone, and Adellia with her destiny for the kingdom. "You seem to only want to make me a patient of the mental hospital after this. What help is that? It looks like I'm making their lives even more miserable!" I
128. I Wish I Could Run Away
I never took dreams seriously, but this time I really wanted to wake up and escape from everything that had happened. This memory was very vivid because of the pain I was still suffering all over my body after being bounced around by the bomb blast. Particles of dirt were wafting through the air so my vision was limited, but I could faintly hear screams and bodies clad in army uniforms in the distance. It would undoubtedly be fine if I got hit by a bomb, after all, I wouldn't be able to die. However, what bothered me the most was the sergeant's remark that Greenish had been destroyed. That was impossible. How could that be? According to the information I knew, Greenish and other food supply areas had very strict guards and not just anyone could enter there. I even had to go naked to be checked to make sure that I wasn't carrying anything suspicious when I visited the village with Adam. Then, at the same time, my eyes closed because it was so hard to maintain consciousness. I was
