1.
Probability manipulation.
To be exact, it was less probability manipulation and more an ability close to causal manipulation.
Asat could create multiple possibilities, then choose the one he wanted.
Not hundreds of them, though.
He picked the option he wanted most from a path split into dozens of branches.
And the ability I had awakened was result fixation.
I could now use future sight as well as past sight, but...
Unlike past sight, future sight came with a completely different price.
It wasn’t like past sight, where the worst I got was eye strain.
Future sight took my vision away.
Ah, Adrian’s vision went dark!
That kind of feeling—my eyesight would deteriorate, then eventually sink into darkness.
Time-related abilities in fiction were usually absurdly overpowered, but the price it took from me was no joke.
"...I’m still alive."
When I looked around, I saw a junkyard piled high with scrap.
A very familiar sight, not some unfamiliar ceiling.
I’d thought I’d regressed because the ending screen had popped up.
But judging by the words on the status window, someone else had paid the price for me.
Zephiro-sensei, how far are you willing to go for me?
You really did everything and left, huh.
There was a note lying on my chest when I woke up.
[I’m going.]
Maybe he was shy, because that was all he left behind.
It was a note certifying me as his personal disciple.
And when I checked the time remaining...
Time limit - [357 : 24 : 37]
"D-DAY is in about 14 days..."
I’d been knocked out for three days.
I had no idea just how high-level Zephiro-sensei really was.
All I’d managed to fix was a single sentence.
I, reach Zephiro.
Not that I would wound him. Just reach him. Even though it was such a simple sentence, the price of fixing the result was my life.
In other words, it meant it was impossible.
Me reaching Zephiro.
The road ahead was so long I was already tired just thinking about it.
If there was one good thing, it was that Asat let out a low hum when he saw my ability.
It wasn’t about adjusting probability, but fixing the result.
He said possibility and result were completely different problems.
"...It transcends perception and concept, and fixes the result."
"Even ■ka ■■mon■ couldn’t do that. It’s an ability that belongs to a completely different order than mine and hers."
"I praise you, Adrian. You’ve surprised me twice now."
Asat’s ability adjusted causes.
Mine adjusted results.
His was the ability to change the result by creating a cause.
Mine was the ability to decide on the result first, then forcibly jam the cause into place to make it fit.
He praised me so much I almost thought I might actually be some kind of super genius, but considering I nearly died the moment I used it on Zephiro-sensei once, that didn’t seem likely either.
"Let’s go home and rest a little... I’m fucking exhausted...."
Eleven days of training, rolling around like a hoop.
Three days of passing out from backlash after using one skill wrong.
Was there really no such thing as a free ride?
Ah, this cruel world!!!
I dragged my feet, tired and worn out. I shuffled all the way home, and when the flickering old fluorescent light welcomed me from above the door, I felt oddly relieved. I put the key in and turned the door open.
"I’m home!!! Silver Wolf!!!"
Just as I was looking around for my favorite plushie and body pillow,
a human silhouette burst out of the darkness and flattened me to the floor.
2.
One day, two days, three days.
One week.
Time passes.
You do not come.
When I look out the window, I see a night that will never change.
A city where only neon signs exist as light.
Do I love this city?
No, I hate Neon City.
A hell that restricts possibility, even fixes levels in place, and never changes.
I hate it. I hated that kind of place.
Because not being able to move forward means I can only stand still and look on.
Fourteen days.
Such a thin bond.
Something must have happened, the request must have dragged on, maybe she just went somewhere for a bit.
I thought that.
I only thought it, and did nothing.
Only after five more days did I move.
I wandered the streets asking questions, combed through Scrap Mountain, and went looking for any organization Adrian might have earned the hatred of.
Nothing. There was nothing anywhere. It had vanished without leaving even a trace, as if erased from the world.
You came like the wind, and vanished like the wind.
All that remained was the house, the only place where your traces still lingered.
Did I do something wrong to you?
If so... you could have at least told me.
So I could fix it.
I was angry. I was sad. A mess of emotions tangled together as I stared out the window. In case you came back. I waited for you outside like a pet, staring into the dark.
The pawnshop owner had told me to wait without overthinking it.
That you weren’t the kind of person who’d leave without a word, and that you’d come back.
Lies.
The person who left my side said the same thing.
In the end, I’d lost someone again.
I didn’t want to think about anything, so I just lay in bed.
If it was going to be like this, I should’ve just never gotten attached.
If you were going to leave, then you shouldn’t have been so good to me.
Words tangled with resentment.
And when I drifted off like that, Adrian appeared, split cleanly in half from the waist up and down.
He opened the door to the house.
His white coat fluttered.
Blood dripped from the scalpel in his hand.
And in front of him was Adrian, severed and spilling his organs out.
It was a nightmare.
A nasty dream meant to torment me.
The reason I knew it was a nightmare was simple.
Even while Adrian was dying, he didn’t resent me.
"Ta...ke it..."
"This car...tridge is different. With this, maybe..."
"I can... reach your dream..."
The familiar cartridge was placed in my hand.
Adrian’s hand dropped away.
I felt resentful.
But what I truly resented was myself.
The helplessness of not being able to do anything.
The weakness of being unable to do anything but cry even as someone precious to me died.
I woke from the dream.
The world was still night.
Nothing had changed, and it was cold. Only now was I beginning to realize just how weak I really was. I cried because I missed your playful smile, and I hugged my knees and buried my face in them.
- click
What I heard was...
The sound of a door opening.
"I’m home!!! Silver Wolf!!!"
A tired face, amber eyes, and a fixer coat that looked a little worn to pieces.
It was you. It had to be you.
And I...
3.
"Why are you having a meltdown?"
"Shut up, Adrian."
Our baby Silver Wolf had a meltdown.
Could this really be because I’d gone 14 days without contacting her?
I carried Silver Wolf, who was clinging to me as if she were glued there, and walked over. I was going to drop her on the bed and change clothes, but...
- squeeze...!
The moment I tried to let go, her grip only got stronger.
She clung to me hard enough to choke me.
"Hey, hey, hey! You’re hurting my neck!"
"..."
"Cough, I’m dying...! I’m really going to die...! Your brother is seriously going to die...!"
That was when I realized Silver Wolf had talent for a guillotine choke.
After barely managing to change clothes, I sat down at the table to eat, but...
"...Seriously, what is wrong with you?"
"Shut it."
Silver Wolf plopped herself down between my legs.
We’d always been close, but...
The power of 14 days with no contact was apparently stronger than I’d expected.
"..."
"..."
Silence stretched between us.
Awkward.
I gave up on eating.
Maybe if I just drank without thinking, I’d feel better, so I cracked open some soju and beer.
No, wait, was this my fault?
If a man is going to do something big, huh? Going dark for 14 days is possible!
"Fine, whatever."
One bottle of soju, instant one-shot!
Ugh, damn it, getting stronger doesn’t change the fact that I still get drunk.
After downing the swirling soju like a total manly man, I immediately started feeling tipsy and lost my grip on my senses.
This atmosphere is awful.
I haven’t done anything wrong, but I still feel like I should apologize.
...Though thinking about it again, maybe I did do something wrong.
"Silver Wolfling."
"Yeah."
"I, I, I..."
I had to say I was sorry.
"You crazy bitch!!! You can’t just give me that kind of look because I was away from home for about 14 days!?"
But that wouldn’t suit Adrian, would it?
"Hey! If a man’s going to do great things, he might have to go dark for a bit, okay!?"
"..."
"So don’t be so hurt about it... huh?"
- drip, drip
From those sharp eyes,
tears fell like pearls.
"I-I thought you were dead. I thought you’d never come back."
"Silver Wolf."
"I-I was so, so worried..."
Silver Wolf was crying.
And when I saw that, my mind went completely white.
"Uh, uh, uh, that is..."
Looking at Silver Wolf sobbing softly, I couldn’t say a word.
And then I realized it.
Just how big a presence I was to Silver Wolf.
I’d acted like it was no big deal, but it wasn’t. For the past 14 days, Silver Wolf must have been searching for me. And she couldn’t find me. She must have worried. She must have been afraid.
"...I’m sorry."
I apologized and hugged Silver Wolf.
Holding her from behind, I could feel the warmth of her body.
Only now did I realize I still hadn’t escaped my past.
Kindness and love are relative things. If I knew what she’d said to me in the past, I shouldn’t have acted like this.
"I...’m sorry."
"..."
Silence.
The bonds I had abandoned myself.
The contemptuous looks I’d received in Korea after causing nothing but trouble.
I was equating that with Silver Wolf.
"...Adrian."
"Huh, what?"
"Do you... love me?"
Wait, hold on a second.
You ask that here?
Aren’t we skipping relationship progression way too fast?
I’m starting to get scared.
The distance between me and Silver Wolf narrowed.
And with that, I was sure of it.
Silver Wolf likes me.
I wish it were just me being full of myself.
I didn’t know when it started.
I wanted to just grin and take it all in, but...
There was a brake inside my heart.
If I regressed again after this, what was I supposed to do when I was left alone?
Should I look at your future self the same way I looked at your past self?
If this bond was going to scatter uselessly into time, wouldn’t all that remain be my feelings, sticky and piled up?
I still didn’t have enough information to believe I could clear this.
There was still too much I didn’t know about Hanabi and the troupe leader.
It was a problem fundamentally different from my strength: information.
I had no sure breakthrough. Even if I was strong, I wasn’t strong enough to storm the troupe alone and wreck everything.
Troupe leader + Hanabi? No way I could beat that.
And it wasn’t enough to win. I had to survive too.
If I failed, Silver Wolf’s memories...
"..."
Yeah, and to be honest, I like Silver Wolf.
She’s kind.
Talented.
And affectionate.
Pretty.
And cute enough to make me want to spoil her.
What am I supposed to do?
What could possibly be the right answer for me?
While I was agonizing and unable to answer, Silver Wolf spoke to me.
"Adrian."
"...Silver Wolf."
"Don’t leave. You don’t have to say you love me. Please, just... me..."
Her words were almost a plea.
Her silver eyes were wet with tears.
Silver Wolf moved her lips and spoke to me. Her face was flushed red as she looked at me. I could also see her tiny fist clenched tight.
"I’m not going."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I’m not going anywhere. Even if I disappear for a little while, I’ll definitely come back to your side."
Fuck it, I don’t even know anymore.
When Silver Wolf’s eyes looked at me,
and my eyes looked back at Silver Wolf,
the red-faced Silver Wolf said those words for the first time.
"...Should I go take a shower?"
Yeah, fuck it!
I, Adrian! In the name of my grandfather’s honor!
I’m clearing this quest in this run, no matter what!
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