Episode 02
I, who had waited only for the day I could reach him, loaded into the distant past without hesitation.
“Load State 4.”
[Loading State 4.]
The moment the words left my lips, my vision plummeted, and the world shifted.
I had returned to my seven-year-old self, back when he was still alive.
The antique furniture that had been before my eyes vanished, replaced by a horizon of houses with smoke rising like clouds from their chimneys. I clenched and unclenched my small, shrunken hands, the phantom sensation of the past washing over me.
“Long time no see, village.”
In truth, this was a point in time long before I had even met him.
I had been abandoned by my uncle in the middle of a monster-infested forest when I was five. That harrowing ordeal led to the awakening of my ability, but what kind of strength could a clueless five-year-old possess? I didn’t regain the memories of my previous life until I was fourteen—long after he had already died.
Back when I was first abandoned, my mind had been truly, desperately, that of a child. I had run for my life, only to be slaughtered by monsters. Without a moment to process my end, I was forcibly pulled back to my save point. Nothing changed; I was hunted, I died, and I returned. A hell of endless repetition.
It took dozens of deaths before I finally managed to crawl into a nearby village. From there, I was trapped in a wretched, frontier settlement, scavenging for scraps to keep my heart beating. When I was starving…
“A few clever eagles would even pick up the scent of death and circle above me.”
Before I met him, my existence was merely a refusal to die.
So why did I save this miserable moment instead of a memory of our time together? It was simple.
“State 4 was a point I saved back when I didn’t even know how to use my ability.”
I had created the save without knowing how many slots existed or how the interface worked. It wasn’t until long after I met him that I realized there were four slots, not three. The game-like system I used now was something I had refined to manage my life efficiently once I regained my memories. It hadn’t been kind enough to show me the slots or timestamps back then.
By the time I discovered the fourth slot, I was already accustomed to the safety of the other three. I left State 4 alone, a desperate failsafe in case everything went wrong and I needed to reset my entire existence.
Look, my caution paid off. It brought me back to him.
*Grumble.*
At the sharp sound piercing the silence, I stopped my reminiscing and awkwardly rubbed my stomach.
“Ah.”
Before I could wallow in the details of my wretched past, I realized the urgency.
“I need to eat. If I keep this up, I’ll be having another consultation with the corpse disposal team.”
I smiled faintly, eyeing my thin, skeletal limbs.
✦ ✦ ✦
After a moment’s thought, I headed toward the shelter where I used to live during this period.
It was tucked away in the overgrown outskirts, hidden from the villagers’ sight. As my eyes took in the small structure woven from dead leaves and branches, an indescribable emotion surged within me.
“Calling this a home when it can’t even block the rain…”
On rainy days, the memory of sneaking into the villagers’ homes and praying not to be discovered flashed through my mind.
“I’m truly something else, aren’t I? To have crawled back to this time.”
Rummaging through the shelter, I found a piece of bread, blackened and burnt, that my younger self must have scavenged. If I scraped off the charred exterior, there would be enough to eat. It was food I had hidden under a scrap of cloth, treated as a treasure back then.
“But I can’t feed that to the young me.”
On the rare occasion I secured real food, I remembered how I would devour it in a panic, only to rewind time and repeat the process of eating it from the beginning, over and over. Since the rewind didn’t fill my stomach, I would eventually end up crying as the food disappeared.
Pondering my next meal, I set off for Cecil’s house—the best-off home in the village.
*Knock, knock.*
“Who is…?”
Cecil opened the door, her face twisting like a demon the moment she spotted me.
“I have no food to give you, so get lost!”
I knew she would act this way. Before she could slam the door, I slipped my foot into the gap.
And saved.
[Overwriting current state to State 1.]
When the door hit my foot with a thud, Cecil let out a hollow, confused laugh.
“What are you doing, Tania?”
“What do you think? I’m here to swindle you and get out of this village.”
“Wh-what?”
She looked down at me, her expression one of pure shock, as if she were seeing a ghost.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a disgusting face, so my inner thoughts slipped out.”
“Y-you little brat, you’ve finally lost your mind!”
“The one who’s crazy is you, ma’am. Don’t bother asking; you’ll only forget anyway.”
As it was the expected reaction, I replied calmly before loading the state.
[Loading State 1.]
“What are you doing, Tania?”
“Hello, ma’am. Surprisingly, I’ve awakened an ability—would you care to hear me out?”
“What? You awakened an ability?”
She stepped back in surprise, then narrowed her eyes, clearly skeptical.
“Don’t joke around!”
“Are you really not interested? Even though my ability is none other than precognition?”
An Abiliter. Those who awakened a special power were treated as high-value personnel due to the constant threat of monsters. Among them, those with useful powers were extremely rare, usually monopolized by noble families. But here, in a backwater village, a precognitive had appeared right before her eyes?
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Cecil. I wondered how tempting I looked. Of course, my ability was far greater than mere prediction.
“Precognition has endless applications. For instance…”
I covered my mouth and whispered, my voice as seductive as a devil’s.
“I could tip you off about the winning horse at the stables in the big city.”
After saying that, I distanced myself from her, feigning indifference.
“I’m just trying to give you an opportunity, ma’am.”
She stared at me silently, debating whether my words held any truth. A gruff voice boomed from inside the house—her alcoholic husband.
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
But Cecil was too ensnared by the mention of my “precognition” to notice.
“Tania, can you prove more definitively that you’re an Abiliter?”
I smiled slightly at her tone, which had turned dangerously affectionate.
“I certainly can.”
Though, of course, you will forget that you ever asked.
[Loading State 1.]
After repeating the previous process, I saw the same look of deliberation on her face. I spoke first to ease her dilemma.
“In three seconds, the man inside will ask, ‘Hey! Who’s out there?’”
“What are you suddenly…”
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
At the sound of her husband’s voice, her head whipped around. When she turned back to me, her voice was quiet.
“…Are you, by any chance, reading my thoughts too?”
“No. I didn’t read your thoughts; I already knew he would ask because of my precognition.”
“Certainly…”
However, having committed many evil deeds against me, she did not let go of her suspicion.
“There are plenty of other people, so why come to me?”
“Cecil, your place is the best off in this village. I figured you would know how to manage money well.”
“Hmm…”
“And among the villagers, only you have occasionally brought me food.”
Poisoned food, that is.
I smiled brightly to hide my icy expression. I knew the food was poisoned because I didn’t want to know it—but I had learned through experience. She likely hadn’t even bought expensive poison for someone she deemed subhuman; she probably just threw random weeds or mushrooms into the pot.
But even that casual cruelty was fatal to my young self. If I hadn’t used my ability to rewind time, I would have died countless times. In my last life, I was too busy trying to survive to pay her back, but this time was different.
If you’re going to ruin someone’s life, you should be prepared to have your own ruined, too.
Don’t you think?