Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 2
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2
I had been waiting for nothing but the day I would meet the Old Gentleman again, and without hesitation, I loaded a distant point from my past.
“Calling Checkpoint 4.”
[Loading Checkpoint 4.]
The moment I finished speaking, my vision plummeted downward and the scenery transformed around me.
At last, I had returned to my seven-year-old self—to a time when the Old Gentleman was still alive.
The antique furniture that had filled my vision moments before vanished without a trace, replaced by humble cottages with smoke curling like clouds above their chimneys.
I flexed and clenched my now-smaller hands awkwardly as I reminisced about the past.
“It’s been a while, this Village too.”
In truth, this current checkpoint was a point in time when I had never even met the Old Gentleman.
At around five years old, I was abandoned by my Uncle in the depths of the Monster Forest, teeming with creatures.
As a result, I was attacked by a monster and nearly died, which is when my abilities awakened.
However….
‘What power could a five-year-old who knew nothing possibly have possessed?’
I only recovered my memories from my past life at fourteen, after the Old Gentleman’s death.
This meant that when I was abandoned in the Monster Forest, my mental age was truly that of a five-year-old child.
Young as I was, I ran for my life, but ultimately, I was killed by a monster.
And before I could even comprehend death, I was forcibly returned to a saved checkpoint.
Even after being revived, nothing changed. I had to flee from the monsters again.
A hell where I could not die even in death repeated itself endlessly.
Only after dying dozens of times was I finally able to escape to a nearby Village.
Afterward, trapped in a poor, remote Village, I survived by begging for food scraps.
During times of severe hunger….
“Cunning vultures would catch the scent of death and circle around me.”
Before I met the Old Gentleman, my life was nothing more than merely surviving without truly living.
But why did I save this moment of misery instead of the happy times I spent with the Old Gentleman?
It’s simple.
“Checkpoint 4 was saved before I understood how to use my abilities.”
I didn’t even know how many save slots existed, so I saved without designating which slot to use.
It was only long after meeting the Old Gentleman that I realized there were four save slots, not three.
This interface, which resembles a game system, was something I refined for efficient management when I recovered my memories from my past life.
It didn’t display information as conveniently as it does now—how many slots existed or when each checkpoint was saved.
But when I discovered there were four slots, I had already grown accustomed to three.
So, just in case something went wrong, I deliberately kept Checkpoint 4 as my insurance to reset my life.
See? Thanks to that decision, I can see the Old Gentleman again.
Grrrrowl.
At the sharp sound piercing my ears, I stopped reminiscing about my past and awkwardly rubbed my stomach.
“Ah.”
Before I finish retracing all the miserable chapters of my past….
“I need to eat something. At this rate, I’ll be meeting with the corpse disposal team again.”
Gazing at my skeletal limbs—nothing but bone and skin—I let out a hollow laugh.
✦ ✦ ✦
After a moment’s deliberation about where to go, I found myself returning to the Shelter where I had lived during this period.
A place nestled in the wooded outskirts, hidden from the villagers’ eyes.
As I took in the small space woven together from large leaves and branches, an indescribable emotion washed over me.
“A place that can’t even keep out the rain, and yet I called it home….”
The memory of rainy days—when I would secretly slip into the villagers’ homes and desperately pray not to be discovered—flashed through my mind.
“I really am remarkable. To have returned to this exact moment in time.”
Rummaging through the Shelter, I found a charred piece of bread that young me had scavenged from somewhere.
If I scraped away the burnt exterior, there would be quite a bit of edible portion inside.
It must have been precious to me back then—hidden carefully beneath a scrap of cloth—but….
“I can’t let my younger self eat something like that.”
There were times, rare as they were, when I managed to find proper food; I would eat it ravenously, rewind time, and repeat the process from the beginning several times over.
But rewinding time didn’t ease the hunger—it remained just as sharp—so whenever I saw the food disappear, tears would stream down my face.
As I pondered where to find a meal, I made my way to Cecilia’s house—the one person in this Village with the most comfortable circumstances.
Knock, knock.
“Who is it….”
The moment Cecilia opened the door and spotted me, her face twisted like that of a malevolent spirit.
“I have no food for you, so get out of here!”
But knowing full well how she would react, I wedged my foot into the doorway before she could slam it shut.
And at this point, I save.
[Overlaying current viewpoint onto Viewpoint 1.]
As the door caught against my foot with a thud and refused to close, Cecilia let out an incredulous laugh.
“What in the world are you doing, Tania?”
“What do you think? I’m going to extort you and leave this Village.”
“What, what?”
She stared down at me with an expression as though she’d seen a ghost.
“Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve seen such a revolting face that my true thoughts just slipped out.”
“So you’ve finally lost your mind!”
“It’s you who’s lost your mind. Since you’ll forget whatever I say anyway, there’s no point in you asking. Let’s not bother.”
Knowing this was the expected reaction, I responded with composure and then loaded the viewpoint.
[Loading Viewpoint 1.]
“What in the world are you doing, Tania?”
“Hello, ma’am. Surprisingly, I’ve awakened an ability. Would you be willing to hear about it?”
“What? You’ve awakened an ability?”
She stumbled backward in shock, then narrowed her eyes in disbelief.
“Don’t joke with me!”
“You’re really not interested? Even though my ability is precognition?”
Abiliter.
Those who have awakened a special power and can wield it freely—we call them Abiliter.
In this world, due to the frequent invasions of monsters, Abiliter are treated as premium personnel.
Among them, those Abiliter with exceptional abilities are mostly monopolized by noble families, making them extraordinarily rare.
Yet here, in this remote Village, an Abiliter with a precognitive ability—one I had never once encountered before—had appeared right before my eyes?
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Cecilia.
How coveted I must appear in her eyes.
Of course, I possessed an ability far superior to mere precognition.
“Precognitive abilities have limitless applications. For instance….”
I covered my lips and whispered in a voice as seductive as a demon’s temptation.
“I could tip you off about which horse will win at the Horse Racing Ground in the Major City.”
After saying so, I withdrew from her without hesitation, as though she were inconsequential.
“I’m simply offering you an opportunity.”
She gazed at me quietly, as if deliberating whether my words were truth or falsehood.
That was when a gruff, middle-aged man’s voice echoed from inside the house.
Her drunken husband.
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
But Cecilia seemed not to hear him, her mind entirely consumed by my “precognitive ability.”
“Tania, can you prove to me more definitively that you’re an Abiliter?”
At her suddenly gentler tone, I smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
Though you’ll surely forget that you ever asked me this.
[Loading Viewpoint 1.]
After loading the viewpoint and repeating the previous sequence, Cecilia wore the same contemplative expression.
I opened my mouth first to ease her deliberation.
“In three seconds, the gentleman inside will ask, ‘Hey! Who’s out there?'”
“What do you suddenly mean by——”
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
At her husband’s voice from behind, her head snapped around.
Moments later, she slowly turned her head back toward me and spoke quietly.
“…You don’t mean to say you can read my thoughts?”
“No. I didn’t read your thoughts—I simply knew through precognition what you were about to ask.”
“Certainly….”
Yet she, who had committed so many misdeeds against me, refused to abandon her suspicion.
“Why come to me when there are so many others?”
“Because your household is the most prosperous in this Village. I thought you’d understand how to move money well.”
“Hmm….”
“And you were the only one in the Village who ever prepared food for me.”
Poisoned food, that is.
I forced a bright smile to conceal my expression growing cold.
How did I know the food she gave me was poisoned?
I didn’t want to know the details either.
They hadn’t even treated me as human, so they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of procuring actual poison—that would have been too much effort.
It seemed they’d simply plucked whatever grass or mushrooms grew in the surrounding forest and tossed them in.
Yet even such careless ingredients proved fatal to a child like me.
Especially since my immunity had already weakened from prolonged starvation.
Had I not rewound time with my ability, I surely would have died.
In my previous life, I was too consumed with mere survival to repay them, but this time is different.
If you’re going to destroy someone else’s life, you must be prepared to destroy your own as well.
Isn’t that right?
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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