After a while, Edwin, or rather Victor, sighed happily, closing the book. "I did kind of expect through the scattered clues, but who would have thought the author would make such a cool detective to be in a heavy Jekyll and Hyde situation despite looking very capable?"
"Anyhow…" He murmured, gently placed it on top of the other books and turned his head towards the window, his gaze drifting out to the bright afternoon sky. "It has been weeks since I woke up, and I still can't get used to it. "
"Aside from the friendly treatment, I still can't even get used to people calling me Edwin," he muttered, feeling complicated at the thought. It wasn't that he disliked the name, but in his mind, it felt weirdly… wrong, and that's speaking from experience as a gangster, which should have made him immune to the feeling. "Every time they say 'Edwin', I have to remind myself they're talking to me actively."
"As for David…" Victor paused, drifting his gaze from the window to the stack of books on his bedside table. He picked up another book, which was an adventure novel with a surprisingly intricate plot, and ran his thumb over the cover. "He's… something else, alright."
"He keeps bringing me these books, every few days, new ones. And other stuff too, like that sketchpad and those fancy pens. He's really trying to be a good uncle." He sighed, a complicated mix of gratitude and discomfort swirling within him before putting the book back down, but his eyes stayed fixed on the stack, almost as if he was staring through them. "And I do appreciate it, honestly. It's just…"
….
...
...….
"Fucking hell," Victor whispered, covering his face with his left hand finally breaking the silence that had settled over him out of nowhere. He then squeezed his eyes shut tighter, rubbing his temples with a frustrated groan. "This whole messed-up situation is just great. Absolutely fucking fantastic."
"All of this headache and stress from thinking this alone " Victor sighed helplessly, feeling his emotions ease slightly before slowly opening his eyes and turning his sight away from the book and toward the windows again with his mind, this time, drifting miles away, replaying the fragmented memories that now felt like a part of him, yet utterly foreign. "This kid… man."
He shifted restlessly in the bed with the white sheets rustling. "They called him a thief when he was just fourteen. A goddamn thief! He didn't even remember doing anything. Just like that, his so-called perfect little life went down the drain. Friends turning their backs, whispers in the hallways… that kind of crap can eat you up inside, especially when you're just a kid."
Victor's jaw tightened. "And his parents… they started strong, believing him. But the pressure got to them, didn't it? The damn public opinion. Like a pack of wolves going after the weakest one. They couldn't handle it, and Edwin… he was left to deal with all that garbage alone. Shunned. Bullied. His spirit just… faded."
He let out a low sigh, the weight of Edwin's past pressing down on him. "Then, a few years later, bam! Accused of assault. Seventeen years old, trying to clear his name, actually fighting for himself this time. You'd think people would learn, right? But no. Prejudice, lies… it all piled on again. Ruined his reputation. Drove a wedge between him and everyone he knew. Even his folks couldn't stand the heat anymore."
Victor's voice hardened with a touch of anger. "That father of his… Daniel, right? What a spineless jellyfish. Just bailed on his own son when things got tough. Divorce because of the stress? Seriously? What kind of parent does that? Leave their kid hanging like that."
"This kid… he went through hell," He sighed, ran a hand over his face, feeling a strange mix of emotions – anger, sadness, and a growing sense of responsibility. "False accusations, betrayal, isolation… it's a damn miracle he even kept going. And now… now I'm stuck in his body, carrying all this baggage."
"But I guess that's karma, huh?" Victor chuckled humorlessly, staring at the ceiling now, a wry smile twisting his lips. "All those shady deals, the roughing up, the… well, let's just say my past wasn't exactly filled with sunshine and rainbows. Maybe this whole 'waking up in someone else's messed-up life' thing is the universe's way of saying, 'Payback's a bitch, ain't it?'"
After silently staring at the black screen, trying to sort out his emotions, Victor snorted strongly, and a smirk soon appeared on his lips. "You know what?"
"Why am I even bothering to mop like an absolute idiot? Obviously, it isn't going to turn me back into... well, me magically. And it sure as hell isn't going to fix this kid's screwed-up life," He said, pushing himself up slightly against the pillows. "Yeah, I had better take action myself to rebuild this crumbling life."
"And the first step is that I've got to get used to calling myself with that name no matter what," Victor muttered, gazing at the ceiling. "Edwin. Sounds… soft. Not exactly the kind of name that strikes fear into anyone's heart, you know?"
"But hey, I haven't slipped up too badly so far. Baby steps, right?" He then chuckled again, a little less humorlessly this time, before shifting his gaze toward the TV remote control that he put on the bedside table earlier. "Alright…"
"Enough wallowing," Victor suddenly declared, as his hand reached for it and flicked the TV on, the sudden burst of colour and sound jarring him slightly. "Let's see what kind of crap I can find at this time."
He started scrolling through the channels. Reality shows with screaming people, cooking competitions that looked way too intense, and a news channel droning on about something he couldn't bring himself to care about at all. Amid his endless scrolling, his eyes widened when a realisation struck his mind. "Oh yeah, why have I never tried that before?"
"Here goes nothing," Victor muttered, taking a deep breath and exhaling lightly. "Status Window."
Instead of what he had hoped to see with his own two eyes, a strange notification appeared, and it was a simple yet perplexing message.
『System Recalibration In Progress』
"Recalibrating? What on earth does that even mean?" Victor uttered, looking confused, with a frown creasing his brow before gazing intently at the cryptic message, trying to understand or at least looking for any clue that might explain this odd situation. But unfortunately, his mind drew a blank.
Frustration soon bubbled up inside him, with an annoyed sigh escaping his lips as he wanted answers immediately, and in the heat of the moment, Victor impulsively reached out and tapped the screen. To his astonishment, the notification changed.
"Eh?"
『Progress at 40%』
『41%』
『42%』
"This is unexpected," he blurted out, feeling quite surprised, and immediately tapped the screen again, feeling curious to see what would happen.
『System Recalibration In Progress』
"Seriously?" Victor muttered, feeling disappointed that the message reverted to its original state, and tried tapping the screen several times, hoping for some kind of change. But the message stubbornly switched between the two.
Feeling the annoyance growing inside him once again, Victor immediately took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "Okay, okay…"
"Let's think this more carefully," he muttered, leaning back against the pillow, his gaze fixed on the screen. "What does it mean by 'recalibration'? Is there something wrong with the system?"
As Victor sat there silently pondering, a thought soon struck his mind, and he wondered aloud, "Could this be a side effect from that?"
His brow furrowed, and his mouth tensed up as he recalled the strange incident he had experienced, dubbed the reboot, which led him to go through some awful experience that he doesn't want to remember. Without thinking, Victor rubbed his temples, trying to relieve the swirl of mixed emotions that was unknowingly building up and sighed. "Forget it."
"Whatever this is, I'll figure it out later when I'm feeling better," he sighed, shaking his head, feeling helpless. His expression then turned to disappointment. "But honestly, that was a bit disappointing."
"I was really hoping to see my current status window," Victor muttered, recalling a peculiar piece of information he had discovered while going through the memories he gained. It turned out that the original owner was an Awakened Hunter, a rare profession as Awakened Hunters, or Hunters for short, were individuals chosen by a mysterious system known as the Zeroth System.
"I wonder why the kid didn't take the chance to improve his reputation," Victor thought, a slight frown on his face. "If he had this 'System,' why didn't he use it to clear his name or at least get back at the people who wronged him? It seems like such a waste of an opportunity, especially with all the terrible things he went through."
"Well, there's no point dwelling on it anyway," he sighed, shaking his head, and pushing those thoughts aside as it gave him a headache just thinking about the complexities of another person's past before turning his thoughts to the mysterious system itself and trying to recall any information about it. "Hmmmm…"
As far as he could recall, the Zeroth System was a total mystery. No one knew where it came from or who even made it. All anyone knew was that it could give people random yet extraordinary powers, transforming them into beings far beyond ordinary humans.
"Talk about such a cliché trope," Victor muttered, a bitter smile playing on his lips, before light shook his head with a wry chuckle escaping his lips. "And I seriously wondered what's next in this bad anime plot? A wise old hermit who appears out of nowhere to teach me the ways of the force? Or maybe a hidden prophecy that foretells my destiny as the saviour of humanity?"
*Knock**Knock*
Feeling startled by the series of knocks on the door, Victor turned his head towards the sound, his eyes widening in shock. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
As the door slowly creaked open, Victor braced himself, a mix of annoyance and apprehension churning in his gut. But then, a familiar face peeked in, and a wave of unexpected relief washed over him with a soft sigh escaping his lips.
It was David.
"Hey there, sleepyhead," David chuckled, stepping into the room with a small bag in hand. "Just checking in. You were pretty deep in thought in here."
To Be Continued