Chapter 188 – White World

Chapter 188: Chapter 188 – White World

Sohen settled comfortably into his seat by the window.

He fastened his seatbelt, adjusted the seatback, and opened the file containing the novel again.

(Where did I leave off...)

The plane had already reached cruising altitude; the turbines hummed steadily, and white clouds stretched out beyond the window.

He read for about an hour.

The text on the screen flowed smoothly, and at some point, Sohen began to read certain passages almost aloud, barely moving his lips:

- (Me). "Three women stood in the grand hall with marble columns. The eldest, with silvery hair that fell to her waist, held an ancient scroll in her hands. Her gaze was at once gentle and commanding — the gaze of one who had once been merely a guardian but had now become something far greater. Standing beside her was a woman with golden hair, whose eyes shone with the soft warmth of a mother, but deep within that warmth lay a long-suppressed passion. And the youngest, with dark locks falling over her shoulders, looked at him with a mixture of defiance and devotion, as if she had long since decided that he belonged to her just as much as he did to the other two...

(The first Chapter had exactly the same text... Why repeat it when it’s already clear who’s who?)

- (Me). "Hah... ’You’re finally back...’ — said the silver-haired one. ’And this time, you won’t get away...’. The hero stood in the middle of the hall, feeling the magic of the blood flowing through their veins respond to his presence. They were his family by the laws of this world and at the same time, something forbidden that had long since transcended ordinary bonds. Each of them carried a part of his power within her, and each was ready to give him everything she had. The youngest took a step forward..."

(Each of them carried a part of his power?... I don’t recall anything like that. Did I miss something?)

- (Me). "Phew... ’Today you won’t choose just one. Today you’ll accept us all...’ The air in the hall grew thicker. The magic circles beneath their feet glowed with a dim light, and the hero realized there was no turning back..."

Sohen read on, sinking deeper and deeper into the text.

Suddenly, his eyelids grew heavy.

The words on the screen began to blur.

- (Me). "I don’t..."

He tried once more to focus, but his body would no longer obey him.

His eyelids closed.

...

- (Me). "Did I fall asleep? Strange. Something like this... Hmm?"

When Sohen opened his eyes again, he was no longer sitting in his airplane seat.

- (Me). "???"

He was standing on his feet.

(What on earth...)

There was nothing around him except... pure, endless white.

- (Me). "..."

Sohen stood in the midst of the endless whiteness and... wasn’t surprised.

- (Me). "Ha-ha..."

(I’m in...)

"The Void"

The place where Sohen now found himself was something like a space where there was nothing and no one.

There was no ceiling, no horizon, and no sense of air.

(The Void... Before eyes was only white — a color that didn’t blind, but at the same time offered nothing to grasp onto.)

- (Me). "Phew..."

He sighed, dropped his shoulders, and simply moved forward.

- (Me). "..."

His footsteps made no sound.

The soles of his shoes touched something solid, but this "something" had no texture.

There was neither cold nor heat.

Time behaved strangely here as well — as if it were stretching or contracting so much that it was impossible to tell how much time had passed.

Sohen didn’t count the time, and he didn’t need to, since he already knew a certain secret of this "White World."

An indeterminate number of steps had passed when his gaze finally fell on a dark spot on the smooth white surface.

- (Me). "..."

As he got closer, he saw that it was... a book.

A large book.

So large that when he stopped right in front of it, the top edge of the cover reached about halfway down his thigh.

At a glance, about a third of a person’s height.

The thickness of the spine was even more impressive.

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of tightly bound pages.

The cover was dark brown, almost black in the shadow cast by its own mass, made of thick leather.

No embossing, titles, or decorations.

Just a heavy, solid, almost monumental object lying on the white "floor" as if it had always been there.

- (Me). "..."

Sohen slowly dropped to one knee.

He stretched out both hands and carefully wrapped his arms around the book from the sides.

The weight was real and palpable.

Lifting it with one hand would have been difficult.

He stood up, holding the tome in front of him, and simply stared at it for a few more seconds.

- (Me). "Hmm..."

Then he opened it.

The pages were thick, slightly pale yellow, but not old.

The text was written... by hand, in clear, even, modern handwriting.

- (Me). "..."

Sohen quickly scanned the book and stopped at one page.

- (Me). "Red Star Style, Position Number 3..."

Strikes with hands, feet, and knees; grappling techniques; throws; secret strikes; prohibited strikes; and much more.

All of this...

- (Me). "A guide to becoming a martial arts master..."

Sohen slowly turned the pages, one by one.

His fingers glided across the paper with a familiar ease.

Without even realizing it, the corners of his mouth curled into a quiet, nostalgic smile.

- (Me). "Ha-ha... It feels like it all happened yesterday..."

The author of this book, who spent years writing it, was... the main character of the story "My Family’s Secrets Website."

- (Me). "Damn it. The Dark Blade Strike and the Bone Destruction Style... It was pretty fun to use them on the members of the Iron Fist clan. Ha-ha, how quickly they dropped dead when the Style of the Blue Dragon of Decay touched their pathetic bodies. I wonder if the son of the clan leader back then is still alive? I still remember how his big mouth tried to intimidate me and my family... For about a week, his body was subjected to quite a few techniques from this book, and as a result, he was left a vegetable. He was even lucky to have survived at all, but as for his father... things are very sad there. I can’t say more, or our story will be censored."

He carefully closed the book, pressed it to his chest for a moment, and then slowly sat down right on the white surface.

The huge tome rested on his lap.

Sohen placed his palm on the cover and closed his eyes.

(More than enough time to remember...)

...

Nine years ago.

— (Me). "Mom, I’m leaving."

— (Karin). "All right, sweetheart. See you tonight."

— (Me). "Okay."

Twelve-year-old Sohen opened the front door of the house and stepped outside.

- (Me). "I don’t really feel like going, but..."

It was 7:45 a.m.

It was a weekday.

The weather was beautiful and sunny, just as it had been forecast for the next few weeks.

A little boy with a backpack, after checking to make sure he had everything he needed, was ready to head where all children his age were headed — to school.

- (Me). "I think that’s everything. I still need to pick up a book later at... Hmm? What’s this?"

As soon as he took a single step, his slightly sleepy eyes spotted something in the grass not far from him.

Stepping closer, Sohen saw...

- (Me). "A phone?"

On the property belonging to his foster family, there really was a modern phone lying there, one that looked brand-new on the outside.

- (Me). "Hmm..."

Sohen picked it up and examined it.

- (Ne). "Someone lost their phone. It doesn’t look like Grandma’s, Mom’s, or my sister’s. Maybe the neighbors’?"

Sohen was about to show the "lost item" to his mom, but at that moment, two mysterious shadows crept up behind him.

- (???). "Never turn your back on me..."

- (Me). "Aaaah?! What?!"

Two pairs of hands suddenly grabbed Sohen by the waist, giving him quite a scare.

The phone the boy was holding flew into the air for a moment but eventually landed safely in his palm.

- (Me). "You two..."

- (Neburo). "Surprise! Glad to see us, hehehe?"

One of the strangers turned out to be his close friend and classmate, Neburo.

- (???). "You’re always so easy to scare, hehehe."

- (Me). "..."

- (???). "Why are you looking at me like that? Do you actually like me?"

- (Me). "I’d rather like a blackboard than you."

- (???). "Boo. That’s so mean. You’re so awful."

- (Me). "And what about you..."

The second child was a girl named Sakura, and she was also his classmate."

- (Neburo). "That joke worked... What’s that you’re holding?"

- (Me). "You mean that... Well..."

On the outside, it’s just a regular Samsung A99 phone, but... inside is a fateful device that will drastically influence the events that are about to unfold.

(A little about Sakura... Romantically speaking, neither I nor Neburo are interested in her. She’s quite pretty, but to me personally, she’s just a good friend. We’re still friends to this day, though we’ve both gone our separate ways. You know about me and Neburo, but as for Sakura, after high school she married her brother’s best friend and moved with him to France. Together they opened a bakery and are running it quite successfully. Sakura’s husband is a really nice and kind guy who used to play on the same soccer team as me. They’ve been together since high school and are planning to have children in the future. They’re the perfect couple — the kind you could make a twelve-episode anime about. I wish them all the best and a happy family life.)