The white room was vast. Way too vast for a system space. As far as the eye could see, it was just clean, empty white, like the place had just been scrubbed with the cheapest bleach on the market.
There was no gravity, which made Zen—known as Baskara or Kara in the fantasy world—choose to float around like he was doing the breaststroke on a memory foam mattress.
Next to him, a faded blue sphere of light, looking a bit blurry, floated along in resignation. And now, Zen had returned to his original form as Zenra.
"Tem," Zen called out, breaking the silence that had lasted for who knows how many hours.
[What, burden? You wanna complain again about how this room color is giving you cataracts?] The system's voice replied. There was still a hint of static, but luckily, its sassy tone was back to about fifty percent.
"Nah. I was just thinking... in an empty white dimension like this, do you think there's anyone selling firecrackers?"
[...Huh?]
"I mean, it's so quiet, man! If we had some firecrackers, we could at least throw them on the floor to hear a 'BANG!' or, I don't know, throw one under your boss's suit jacket just for fun. Anything to stop us from being bored out of our minds waiting for the end."
[Ra, your brain really did get scrambled after the termination, didn't it? We're in the soul-wiping waiting room, and you're out here thinking about selling fireworks?!] The system's voice vibrated with frustration, flashing disco blue-red lights from how annoyed it was.
Zenra chuckled, resting his chin on his hands while his legs swayed in the air.
"What else am I supposed to do? That stuck-up Protocol 001 said the deletion process starts in 48 hours. But there's no wall clock here! Feels like I've been waiting for three days and three nights. Might as well start a mass firecracker festival-"
[Your imagination is way too high, burden. I don't even think you could pull that off. You're about to die and you've still got so many complaints.]
"Are you mocking me? Hey Tem, let me tell you something. You yapping too much is crazy, like a dog. Sometimes I feel bad looking at you, it reminds me of a puppy—still young but already 'forbidden' (haram)."
[Turns out your mouth is more advanced than an iPhone, burden. No data plan, yet you get all the info and spread it to the whole world.]
"Just finding that out? C'mon, my mouth is top-tier, Tem. You lose, hahahah." Zen laughed to himself.
[Stressed. Everything is stressed. The saying is right, life is simple, it's the mind that's complicated.] The system replied, looking at Zenra with a side-eye.
The young man who was busy floating rolled his eyes lazily when he heard the system's question.
"It's called life, Tem, it's full of riddles. It's annoying because it doesn't give any clues. I'm suspicious of other people's lives—they're all peaceful and quiet. I suspect that when I was in the womb, I just accidentally clicked the 'Birth' button, and stupidly enough, I didn't click the 'Rich and Romantic' button! And now look at my life—still single from my first life all the way to the second,"
[The womb doesn't have that feature, burden. Stop talking nonsense, don't let some kid read this and use it as a reference.]
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Oh, hey Tem, I wanna ask something."
[What is it?]
"So, they say gambling is a sin, right? But birth is a gamble with your life, so does that mean we're all sinners by default because we were born from that bet?"
Now it was the system's turn to stare, annoyed, at the young man in front of it. It was truly at its limit.
[Why would you ask that? Are there no other, more useful questions? Seriously, did you skip school that much? Your brain needs repairs. Ask about the law or something, but this? This is just way too random.]
"Fine, law, whatever. Don't even ask me about the law in this country, I know it by heart. The law here is just like a rubber band. If it's for the common people, it's pulled so tight it snaps, but if it's for the 'wealthy,' it gets so loose you could use it to play jump rope. We steal a piece of wood for cooking and get charged with layers of crimes, but they steal billions of public money? Eh... the sentence gets reduced for 'good behavior.' Polite to who? The Grim Reaper?"
[Stop it, burden. Do you want to be charged with defamation?]
"Let 'em. I'm not scared. Besides, you said we're gonna die anyway, so why be afraid? Everything I'm saying is true. Being 'polite' is just 'skincare' for corruptors now. Just put on a sad face, look down, wear a nice shirt, and boom... billions in fines get a 50% discount. Is politeness now just a 'bypass' for jail cells, instead of actual ethics?"
The system rolled its eyes again. Even with death looming, he still had to speak his mind.
"Oh yeah, I just remembered. Before we vanished, you were gonna say something. What was it?"
The system went quiet. Its mind drifted somewhere else. Actually, it wanted to tell Zenra what really happened, but it couldn't bring itself to do it because it involved Albiru.
"Tem?" Zenra waved his hand in front of the system, snapping it back to reality.
[What, dog?]
"Why were you spacing out? Miss your boss?"
[Ugh, as if. If anything, I regret why I respected someone like him so much.]
"Then why were you spacing out? Watch out, you might get possessed."
[I'm a robot, I can't get possessed. What demon would even want to possess me?]
"I mean, you never know. You don't act like a robot, you act like someone living a wild life."
"Enough, enough. Just tell me what you were gonna say, I'm curious," Zenra said, looking at the system expectantly.
[Eummm... that... well... it... I... I wanted to... I wanted to tell you about...]
"About who?"
Tem looked away, thinking hard.
[Oh, about Cruel's past! You don't know what he was like or what he went through before you became Baskara, do you?!]
The system's voice suddenly made Zenra cover his ears, afraid he'd go deaf from how loud the system was shouting.
"Just chill, my ears still work, you know! No need to scream!"
[Hehe, sorry Ra, slipped up.] The system grinned.
"Alright, since you're gonna tell me about Cruel's past, hurry up and tell me. I'm dying to know," Zenra said, looking curious.
[Patience. I'm trying to connect it to your memory... Unlocking Hidden Memory: "Cruel's Childhood Trauma." Please prepare your mental state, Host, because this is way more bitter than being dumped by someone you call 'babe' when you're just friends.]
Zenra rolled his eyes when he heard the system's joke—how could it joke during such a serious moment? And it was a hurtful one, too. In the end, the 18-year-old froze when the system suddenly played a clip in his head. His vision blurred, but a few seconds later, when he opened his eyes, he was shocked to find himself in the yard of a simple house.
There, he saw two boys, aged 6 and 3, playing soccer. It was clearly Baskara and Cruel when they were little.
"Abang! Please kick it gently, El can't catch it," the little, lisping voice of Cruel made Zen, who was watching, gape.
[Shut your mouth, burden, don't let a dinosaur fly in there.]
The young man immediately closed his mouth and tried to look as normal as possible.
"What is that? I was having fun watching, I'm shocked to see El lisping. I thought he was born able to talk perfectly."
[You should've thought about that, burden. Do you think kids are born talking perfectly without learning? You think this is a novel or a movie? This is the real world, burden.]
"Whatever, I'm just shocked. Don't talk anymore, I wanna keep watching."
Zenra turned his attention back to Baskara and Cruel.
"You're the one running too slow, whose fault is it that your legs are so short?" Baskara snapped, giving Cruel a dirty look.
Man, Kara's mouth is sharp, Zenra thought, clenching his fists in annoyance.
"El is tired, Abang," Cruel whispered, looking down.
"Whatever, that's just an excuse. If you can't play, just say so. Don't act like you can."
Cruel went quiet, looking down even further.
"Are you deaf or dumb? When someone talks to you, answer, damn it!" Kara pinched Cruel's little arm hard, making the boy wince.
"Sorry, Abang, it hurts," Cruel cried, but Kara ignored him and yanked his hair instead.
"Listen here, you useless kid! You shouldn't have been born! Because of you, Mom and Dad don't pay attention to me anymore! I get scolded all the time, even though that never happened before!"
Kara let go of Cruel's hair, then shoved him hard onto the grass.
"El!!" Zen wanted to run to Cruel, but the system held him back.
[What are you doing?]
"Helping my brother, obviously! Why are you asking?!"
[Just stay there, don't get involved.]
"Huh? You're telling me not to get involved? Are you crazy, Tem? No, I can't let this happen. My brother is being treated like that? How can that human-shaped devil say that? That's his own biological brother, damn it!" Zen pulled his own hair in frustration.
[Calm down, burden. Just watch, no need for all the drama.]
Zen took a deep breath and went back to watching the two brothers.
"Sorry, Abang," Cruel whispered again.
"What? What did you say?"
"S-sorry."
"I can't hear you, say it louder!"
"S-so-sorry, Abang!!!"
"Tch, I don't need your apology." Kara kicked the ball toward Cruel and walked away, leaving his brother all alone.
After Kara left, El slowly stood up. Zen tried to pat El's shoulder, but his hand passed right through.
"Dang, why can't I touch him?"
[Obviously you can't, burden. You're in the past. You can't change anything, you can only watch.]
"I have to watch my brother suffer like that? You're kidding, Tem? That's torture, damn it!"
The system stayed silent as Zen grew angry.
"El! Can you see me? It's El, it's Bang Zen, the one who became Bang Kara in the future. Can you see me?"
Zenra tried everything to show his presence, but it was all useless. No one could see him.
"Brother, why are you alone here?" A woman's voice made Zen turn around. A young woman walked toward Cruel.
"Did you fall, dear? Why don't you go inside? It's hot out here," the beautiful, long-haired woman said, wiping the sweat off El's face.
"It's okay, Mom, I was just playing with Abang," the little boy smiled at his mother.
Wait, is this Cruel and Kara's mom?! Zen was shocked.
[Act normal, burden.]
"I didn't know his mom was so beautiful!"
[Can't see a pretty girl for two seconds without losing it.]
"Seriously Tem, she's my ideal type!"
[Remember, burden, this is your mom too. You like your own mom?!!]
"No way, I'm still sane enough to know she's my mom, I'm not that crazy."
[Who's prettier, her or your biological mom? Vina?]
Zenra thought hard.
"Hmmm, I think... they're both pretty. But for my mom, looks are everything. This one is simple. The auras are different. My mom has no motherly aura at all. She's so different from Kara's mom."
The system went quiet again, wanting to ask more but afraid of reopening Zen's old wounds.
"Alright, let's go inside, dear. It's too hot for you," the mother, Framesti, said, gently holding El's hand.
Just as Zenra wanted to follow them, everything turned bright white, forcing him to close his eyes.
Zen opened his eyes, and found himself in a dining room.
"Dang, where am I now?" He looked around, confused.
[Still on Earth, burden. Don't worry, we're not on Mercury or some alien planet.]
"I know we're on Earth, Tem! I mean, a second ago we were in the yard, how are we here now?"
[Did you forget we're still in Cruel's past? We can't leave until this is all over.]
"Oh right. Hehe, my bad. Hey Tem, I'm wondering, when I was Kara, why did we live in a shack? The house looks pretty nice."
[An incident happened, burden. It's a long story, you'll find out soon enough.]
"No spoilers?"
[No!! Absolutely not!!]
Tem glared at Zen, who was just chilling on the stairs.
"Brother, little brother, come down, it's dinner time," Framesti called out, setting the food on the table.
"Are the kids down yet?" Luky, their father, asked.
"Not yet, probably still showering," the wife replied.
"Did you talk to them, Luky?"
Luky thought for a moment.
"Yeah, I'm gonna talk to them. They're grown up enough."
Plak!!
As soon as he reached for a piece of fruit, his hand was smacked with a rice spoon by his wife.
"That's for dessert, don't eat it yet. If you want some, cut it yourself."
"Come on, Hon, don't be so strict. It's just one piece."
Framesti smiled—exactly the same smile Cruel gave when he was about to kill someone or summon a demon.
"Oh, just one piece? Sure, go ahead, I'll just cut some more."
"The fruit?"
"You."
Luky swallowed hard and quickly put the piece back.
"Turns out Cruel's psychopathic side comes from his mom. I thought it was just him. Luckily when I was Kara, she wasn't around. Imagine that, I'd be on the edge of my seat," Zen mumbled.
Soon, Baskara and Cruel came down. They walked right past Zen without realizing anyone was there. Zen estimated they were about 15 and 13.
"They grew up so fast."
[It was skipped, burden. You want to watch from them being babies until now? You want to get old watching this?]
"I'm just surprised, man. You're the one who skipped it, now I don't know how my brother grew up."
The system ignored him and kept looking at the family.
"Mom, what's for dinner?" Kara asked.
"Mom made soy sauce chicken, your favorite, right?"
Cruel nodded, while Baskara just stayed quiet.
"Good, everyone ready? Wash your hands first."
The three nodded.
"Good job. Eat up, boys." Framesti smiled, serving them food.
"Their family was so perfect..." Zen stared blankly.
"I never had that. My parents wouldn't even let me eat at the dining table. It reminds me of Bang Al," Zen wiped his cheeks, a few tears falling.
[Don't cry, burden, or I'll start crying too.]
"Who's crying? I just got something in my eye," Zen lied, his voice cracking.
The system looked at Zenra sympathetically.
The sound of spoons clinking filled the silence. After a while, they finished eating.
"Abang, little brother, Dad has something important to tell you."
Zen, who was busy picking his nose while watching, suddenly felt curious.
"What is it, Dad?"
Luky looked at his wife, as if asking for permission.
"Mom and I are planning to go to our friend's house tomorrow. Our friend's father passed away. We can't take you guys, so you'll be home alone. Is that okay? Aunt Viana will be coming over, though."
Baskara and Cruel went quiet. Zen and the system were pale as ghosts.
"Tem, I didn't hear that right, did I? Don't tell me this is the trip where they...?"
[...]
"Tem?"
The system sighed.
[Yes, burden. They get into a car accident and die on the spot.]
"That means we have to stop them from going!!!"
[It's useless. You can't change the past.]
"So I'm just supposed to sit here and watch Cruel and Kara lose their parents?!!!"
[....]
"You're cruel, Tem!!"
[Ra, listen to me!!! We're just watching Cruel's flashback, and I can't do anything either!!! You know we're about to be deleted, right?!! So why are we worrying about them? Focus, burden, don't get sidetracked!]
Bugh!!!!