Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 213

Chapter 213: My Father
Bright enough to light up the surrounding silhouettes, but still not as bright as Caelan’s silhouette.

Hans watched that figure surprised, standing still in front of it.

‘Could it be…

He reached out to the silhouette with his right hand, as his eyes shimmered with hope.

And indeed… after blinking, he found himself shrouded in darkness once again…

But then, a voice began echoing through the endless void.

“Sigh… talk about a shitty way to die… to think at the end it was really him to kill me…”

The voice was familiar to Hans…

‘It can’t be… there’s no way… is it…’

“Kenta?”

Emerging from the shadows, a blonde young man raised his chin and stared Hans right into his eyes…

“Fuck!!… Hans?!”

‘What the hell? Is it a trial to decide whether I’ll go to hell or to heaven? What should I do?’

“Kenta…”

‘How could it… how could Kenta be here?

I’m sure I killed him with my own hands-

Wait…. Is this the essence of this power?! Does that mean I can… talk to the people I killed?

No, if that was the case, then how could I have spoken to that woman the last time I entered the plain?

I… don’t know.

For now, let’s take care of this’

“Kenta, why did you do it? What would you even gain by killing me?”

“Hans? Did you also die? What happened…”

‘All I remember is… that heat, and those flames eroding my very existence.’

“Answer my question first Kenta… I am sure you have a lot to tell”

“No, I… I can’t, I don’t even know where to begin”

The other replied, ashamed to even watch Hans in the eyes.

“Then don’t tell me if you don’t want to! I will look by myself!”

Hans, who had acted surprised up till then, had set his sight on something he wanted, and he knew nothing would be able to stop him in his own space.

He began walking forward, closing the distance between him and Kenta, worrying the man.

“Huh?!

Hans? Is everything-”

Hans grabbed Kenta’s head.

It was the second time in the last few hours.

The man, who painted in his mind how it ended the previous time, tried his best to calm down his ‘friend’.

“W-wait!! Hans! Hear me out! It wasn’t me, I swear it… wasn’t… m-”

He fainted before he could say anything else, and the following moment, he found his body lying on a tatami just beside a Japanese bed.

In front of him, rolled up in his sheets, was a little boy with black hair and soft skin.

At the sight of the kid, the man’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open.

“So this works too huh?”

A voice beside him said.

Kenta quickly turned around and saw Hans standing a few meters from him… however.

“How are you…”

Hans’s feet weren’t touching the floor, and he was hovering a few centimeters from the ground.

“What? I’ve always been able to do this, and now that we’re in your memories… You should be able to do it too”

“In my… memories?”

Kenta asked confused.

“Mh”

Hans hinted while nodding.

“W-what is happening? What have you done?!”

Kenta could not wrap his head around the current situation…

They were… in his memories? What kind of bullshit was that?!

Was Hans… no, was that really Hans?

“Who… who are you?”

“Who am I?…

That does not seem to be relevant right now… the real question we are here to answer is… who are you?”

The silent room’s door opened, interrupting their conversation and cutting off Kenta who was about to ask another question.

“Hey… are you still up?”

Asked a voice from outside the room…

“Huh?”

The young boy turned around and watched the entrance:

“No…”

“Haha.

Don’t tell your father about it, I came here in secret”

“Mom!”

The kid immediately exclaimed after recognizing her.

She was a beautiful woman, with a pleasant face and a warm voice.

Her hair, dark just like the kid’s, was long and organized.

“What are you-”

“Shhh”

The mother said as she blocked the kid’s mouth.

“Here, I brought you this, are you hungry?”

She said, handing the kid a riceball.

“Uh? No…

I am-”

Interrupting him again, the woman did not care about his reply and just shoved the rice ball in his mouth as he talked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you’re not hungry, but you should still eat”

“Mhphm”

The kid tried to say something while he munched on the delicious food.

“Well then… goodnight”

The woman left the room, but came back just a few seconds later to tell him:

“Also, you should make up with your father, you know he’s just trying to teach you how to take care of things as he does…”

Before the kid could answer, the woman closed the door and walked away, leaving the young boy in his room alone with his food.

“Care to explain?”

Said Hans to Kenta, who were both watching the scene.

“This… happened frequently when I was young.

I used to argue a lot with my father, and as a form of protest, I used to close myself in my room without eating.

My mom, always worried about me, brought me food without my dad knowing.”

“It seems to be a core memory… you must’ve really loved her”

“I did… she was the best person I have ever met in my life… if just… I could spend a little more time with her”

“What happened?”

“She died…”

…

The space around them blurred, and as if they were scrolling through a lot of files, instances of memories flashed by before it all stopped, and another scene started playing.

“I was… closed in my room, as always, playing kid even though I was already nine.

I was at odds with my father for something stupid I can’t even remember… and I was starving since my mother hadn’t passed by in the last few days.

The kid, rolled up in his sheets with his knees against his chest, was keeping his eyes closed and praying for someone to bring him something to eat.

“Knock knock”

A couple of knocks on the door were all it took for him to regain all his missing energy and get up from bed, before walking toward the door and opening it with a wide smile on his face.

To his surprise, standing outside the door was not his mother… but his father.

The kid immediately paled, and his face returned to emotionless as he watched up.

“Ryuji… come with me”

Not a single question was asked, and the kid followed the man without any complaints.

“Ryuji?”

Hans asked in surprise.

“That was my original name”

Kenta’s ghost just beside him replied.

“Why did you change it when you moved to Korea?”

“Because I didn’t want to carry my dad’s surname”

“What did he do for you to….”

“…To kill him?”

“It’s simple… he was… weak, the weakest of the people to ever step foot on earth, and the most repudiating one”

“Was that enough of a reason to kill him?”

“No… if it were only that, the world would’ve made justice without my help, but his weakness hurt those beside him… his weakness… killed Mother”

“What?”

“You see, in the zone where my father founded the Black Bear Gang, there was already another famous organization called the Brown Bear.

The idea was exactly that of being like black bears, even if evil, more amicable and less ruthless.

The Brown Bear did not see us in a bad light, but when a new organization called the White Bears started arising, the troubles began.

Their purpose was to create an organization to hunt down us and the Brown Bear, and that’s what they did.

Since the Brown Bears fought back, they quickly gave up, but with my father’s order against killing, our family continuously made enemies out of everyone without ever getting rid of our previous foes.

Since the worst that could happen if they were to be beaten by us was a few broken bones, they chased us to a corner, before trying to kill my father.

However, he was strong… stronger than most people, and he even handled guns with precision, I think I heard him say he used to be in the military when he was younger.

Since they couldn’t get him… those bastards had to find another target, one that would mean something to my father, and that would keep him at bay for a long time…

They chose… to kill my mother.”

“Your father wasn’t in the wrong… even though he was quite hypocritical, his ideas were righteous…”

“I was already mad at him at the time… but what made me snap was something that happened about six years later…

When the catastrophe had just begun, chaos erupted, and strength became the ruling force in this ruined world… and my father… was really fucking strong”