Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 110

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 110

ep17. Circulating (6)

“…Mother?”

The moment I called out.

The form that had been flickering like a broken panel revealed its true shape.

A gaunt woman lying powerlessly on the bed.

A still young woman with a pale complexion and sunken eyes and cheeks.

That woman was my mother who had passed away when I was young.

I stared blankly at my mother, then looked around and muttered again.

“The cancer ward inpatient room.”

At that moment, the black and unclear space flipped over piece by piece.

Eventually, the space took shape as a white hospital room.

So this is how memory reconstruction proceeds.

“…My mother passed away from illness when I was 9 years old. This seems to be when I had my last visit with her before she died.”

Was it because I gave the correct answer?

A young child appeared in the hospital room.

It was me at age 9.

It was a strange thing.

This “biography” should be composed of my memories.

Yet I could observe my own appearance from the outside.

My past young self was dressed in clean clothes like an adult.

And like an adult, his expression was rigidly hardened.

Every child has a time when their mother is their entire world.

I was the same.

So that version of me was living in a world that seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

-Do-un.

My mother lying in the hospital bed called to me.

Hearing my mother’s voice for the first time in over ten years sent chills down my spine.

-You must listen well to your father. Understand?

These words were the last will my mother left me.

The moment I realized that, the space collapsed again.

* * *

Beyond the collapsed space, I could see a door.

Opening that door and going out, another chaotic world appeared.

However, this time the surroundings were bright.

And something like a large cloth was swaying.

The scene before my eyes was still incomprehensible, but I felt familiarity here too.

I remembered this flow of air and flickering of light.

“This is my room.”

As I spoke, the space revealed its identity.

“I’m reading a book alone in my room.”

I looked toward the bed.

On it, a version of me around 12 years old was lying face down.

Young me was reading a book in that position.

It was a novel packed with dense text.

Wind seeping in through the slightly open window.

Curtains swaying in the breeze.

The sunlight also swayed with the curtain’s movement.

That play of light and shadow left stains on the paper, but I was so absorbed in the world within the book that I didn’t care.

“Isn’t it difficult to recall memories?”

Cha Si-eon asked me while holding his notebook.

So I shook my head.

“Fortunately, it’s happening naturally.”

“That’s good. If we continue like this, we should be able to escape easily.”

“But why isn’t it moving on?”

I had just correctly identified where this was and what memory it represented.

But unlike before, this space was maintaining itself.

“It’s because the stored memory hasn’t ended yet.”

“Ended?”

“The memories that the ‘biography’ reconstructs could be short scenes like before, or depending on the case, situations that last for several hours. We estimate that the duration varies depending on how the memories are bundled together.”

“Don’t tell me I have to read that entire book to move on to the next part?”

“Who knows. What the scale of this memory is.”

Cha Si-eon answered lightly while perching on my desk.

That action seemed to suggest we might have to wait here idly.

That’s when it happened.

Click-

The sound of the front door opening came from outside.

-Gasp!

Young me startled and sat up.

Then became distorted again like broken graphics.

Young me froze just like that.

I watched that scene and tentatively opened my mouth.

“…My father didn’t like me reading novels. So I only secretly read the books I wanted to when my father wasn’t home.”

At my explanation, young me moved again in normal form.

12-year-old Seo Do-un hid the book he was reading under the bed mattress.

Then he grabbed the heavy bag on his desk and hurriedly left the room.

Crack-!

Whether the memory portion had ended, the space collapsed again.

* * *

At this rate, it really might be easy.

I thought this as I opened the door that appeared again.

Then the next memory covered by a veil appeared.

Where is this place now?

This location had many things.

In a wide indoor space, rectangular somethings arranged in rows.

And a strangely noisy atmosphere.

Though my eyes and ears couldn’t identify any information, I could feel it this time too.

I hesitated for a moment, then went to the very corner of the space.

Then I carefully placed my hand on the form there.

“This is a desk.”

With my recognition, the me from the memory revealed itself once again.

I held my breath for a moment.

I was sitting at a desk wearing a school uniform.

It was my high school uniform.

Ah, this time. This memory is….

High school student Seo Do-un was hunched over as if that cramped desk was his entire world.

With a face devoid of any vitality, completely withdrawn.

Come to think of it, I had liked staying in my own space since I was young.

So I fantasized within books that were like windows to other worlds, and immersed myself at my single-space desk, avoiding outside interference.

It was the same when I was in high school.

I gazed at my younger self for a moment, then spoke with difficulty.

“This is a classroom from the high school I attended.”

At that moment, the noise cleared and the classroom’s appearance was revealed.

The other lumps also became students sitting at desks.

I had attended an all-boys school.

So my classmates wearing the same uniform as me were all male.

-Hey, hey, catch it!

-Argh!

The back of the classroom was noisy.

Looking back, I saw four or five students gathered together kicking a soccer ball around.

Playing ball in the classroom was clearly a nuisance to anyone watching, but no one bothered to stop them.

Because that group kicking the ball were the so-called tough guys who had a loud voice in the class.

I recalled the situation from that time and swallowed dryly.

Perhaps sensing my tension, Cha Si-eon glanced at me once.

But he didn’t say anything particular.

He didn’t rush me like he had done before either.

As if to say I could take my time to prepare mentally if needed.

He knew it too.

That a classroom wasn’t just a place of learning, but a small society.

And that what happened there could sometimes be utterly savage.

But I felt rather uncomfortable being treated with such consideration.

So I deliberately spoke as if it was nothing.

“It was self-study time. But while the teacher was away, some kids started playing with a ball…”

Thwack-! Thud-!

Just then, the soccer ball bounced off the wall and flew toward my desk.

Crash-!

As a result, my belongings on the desk scattered in all directions.

It was like a bolt from the blue for me, who had been quietly studying.

High school student Seo Do-un, who had nearly been hit by the ball, stood up in surprise.

And his eyes met with the guy who had kicked the ball.

What was that guy’s name again.

I can’t remember.

All I remember is that guy’s rough personality and violent behavior.

He was the type who, even when he did something wrong, wouldn’t apologize and would act brazenly instead.

He was also the type who showed his power by bullying others.

Because of that, everyone tried not to clash with that guy.

I was the same, but coincidentally, this situation unfolded in front of everyone.

So the me from back then…

-If you’re not going to study, don’t come to school, you bastard.

I straight up cursed at him, freezing the entire classroom.

“…?”

Cha Si-eon looked back at me.

What are you looking at…

You said you wouldn’t react…

I avoided Cha Si-eon’s gaze and quietly swallowed my shame.

Meanwhile, high school student Seo Do-un frowned and cursed again.

-Stop acting like kids and go sit down, you crazy bastards.

“…?”

Cha Si-eon looked at me again.

I was simply embarrassed by my dark history and pressed my hand to my forehead.

In the meantime, the guys who had been at the back of the classroom quietly went to their seats and sat down.

However, the guy who had kicked the ball just stood there blankly, continuing to stare at high school Seo Do-un.

High school Seo Do-un also stared back at that guy, then sat down first.

The situation seemed to come to an end, but…

Bang-!

Seo Do-un, irritated again, kicked his desk and stood back up.

The classroom atmosphere turned cold again.

But Seo Do-un didn’t care about the surrounding gazes.

Unable to contain his anger, he roughly threw open the classroom door and left.

* * *

When high school Seo Do-un moved, the space collapsed.

So I recited soullessly to reconstruct the memory.

“School corridor, corridor, corridor, restroom…”

New backgrounds were generated following my words.

Thus, high school Seo Do-un safely arrived at the restroom.

Seo Do-un roughly washed his face at the sink.

I thought he was cooling down like that, but.

Bang-!

Adolescent Seo Do-un, unable to control his temper, struck the innocent sink again…

Cha Si-eon, who couldn’t bear to watch anymore, muttered.

“And here I thought you were pretending to be nice…”

“I never pretended to be nice…”

I groaned while pressing my forehead again.

“I was a bit sensitive back then because of academic stress…”

When I tried to make excuses, Cha Si-eon asked seriously.

“Did you get away with that unharmed?”

He’s asking if I didn’t get beaten up by the kids, right?

“Yes, well. Back then my family was quite well-off. I’m actually from a wealthy family.”

I spoke emptily, having given up on everything.

Yeah, I understand Team Leader Cha’s question too.

I’m not particularly sturdy even now.

But back then, I was blatantly underweight.

My body thickness was similar to the female students at the academy, and sometimes I was even thinner.

In short, it was a body that would have difficulty being guaranteed human rights in an all-boys school.

It’s not like I had any great fighting skills either.

Instead, I had conditions that allowed me to win without fighting.

Like my father’s social status.

Like my father’s wealth.

Like my father’s connections…

Yeah, what’s the point of hiding it.

I was a young master.

“…”

Cha Si-eon nodded as if he understood something.

This guy, that’s what he was really curious about.

He said he wasn’t interested in other people’s pasts.

He said he wouldn’t react to illusions.

I waited for this uncomfortable scene to quickly come to an end.

But far from ending.

Ding-dong- Ding-dong-

The school bell rang.

High schooler Seo Do-un wiped the moisture from his face at that sound.

It seemed this memory would continue a bit longer.

* * *

Afterwards, Seo Do-un finished school without any incidents.

And at dismissal time.

“What’s in front of the school gate is a car.”

At my explanation, the mass standing in front of the school gate changed into a black sedan.

The moment I saw that car, I sighed again.

So this scene is coming out too.

“It came to pick me up.”

At the same time as my words, my past self opened the back door of that car and got in.

High schooler Seo Do-un opened the console box next to the driver’s seat as soon as he closed the car door.

Then he took out a cigarette from inside and naturally put it in his mouth.

“…?”

And Cha Si-eon looked back at me with eyes even more shocked than before.

What, why.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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