* * *

Back in the previous world,

The girl sat on her desk and put out her notes to review before the professor arrives.

She was Kaezar Padilla a close friend of Jasper Perez since high school and his classmate in this subject.

While she was quietly reviewing the previous topic, she heard the usual chattering of her classmates but somehow, instead of the topic “love” it was replaced by the topic “last night accident”.

“So I heard on the news that a certain bus was found last night abandoned in the middle of the road and neither the passengers nor the driver could be found.”

‘So something like that happened huh?’

Kaezar said to herself as she listened to the chattering of her classmates. She could not watch the news since she was staying at the boarding house and it didn’t have a free Wi-Fi or TV for entertainment but it has a mini-library so that the boarders can do their assignment even in the absence of the internet. Due to that, Kaezar will eagerly listen to news related chats of her classmates so that she would know what was happening in her surroundings.

“They say that the bus was last seen on the bus stop near at our school. Apparently, it was the last bus during the night.”

Upon hearing the words “bus stop near at our school” and “last bus during the night” stared at the girl who was talking with a surprised reaction.

‘It can’t be…’

Kaezar shook the shoulder of the girl who was talking while asking “Do you know who the missing passengers are?”

“I don’t know.. Geez Kaezar, stop it!”

The girl shouted and told kaezar to stop.

“Ah. I’m sorry..”

“N-no its okay.”

Kaezar sat down again at her desk and pretended to review her notes once again. She did something embarrassing. Truth be told, Kaezar love Jasper and when Jasper confessed his feeling to her, she didn’t know how to react so she told Jasper to wait and let her think about it and she ran away. Yesterday night, the day when the accident happened, he saw Jasper running towards the bus. She tried to call him but decided not to since he seems to be in a hurry.

‘I hope that the bus where Jasper got in isn’t the one on the news’

She knew that the bus which jasper got in last night is the last bus that night but yet she still hopes that ‘that isn’t the case’.

*riiiing* *riiing*

The bell rang and the students who were chatting with their friends sat properly at their desk.

Kaezar look around to look for Jasper but she didn’t saw him.

‘Maybe he’s just late. Yup.. Maybe he’s just late.’

Convincing herself that Jasper was late since he always comes late at the first class in the morning.

Whether he’s bad waking up or having encountered a heavy traffic she doesn’t know.

The teacher went inside the room and announced something.

“Ah.. Okay guys. I have something to announce. You might know about the abandoned bus right?”

Upon hearing those words, Kaezar chest tightened.

‘Please tell me that Jasper isn’t one of the passengers of that bus.’ Speaking only in her mind.

The students said ‘yes ma’am’ on unison and the teacher nodded.

“Mostly of the victim there were our students. And among them some of them are your classmates.”

Kaezar gulped.

‘Why did this teacher like to stop talking and look at everyone face before proceeding?’

She complained internally.

“In fact, two of your classmate was there. And they are, Jack Daniel and Jasper Perez.”

Upon hearing the names of missing students, Kaezar’s sight seems to become dark all of the sudden.

‘Jasper Perez… Jasper was one of the victim… If only I called him that night then this will not happen..’

Kaezar fainted and it causes a commotion in the classroom. The teacher instructed some of the boys to bring Kaezar at the nurse office and let her rest there for a while.

* * *

I was sleeping comfortably when I heard a shout of a girl in the middle of the night waking me up. It was a cry of pain and you can also hear a man’s voice saying. “It’s alright, it’s alright. Drink your medicine, here.”

Gotten curious of what was happening, I followed the direction of the voices and there I saw Kaezar and her father.

Kaezar was drenched with her own sweat, her face was distorted by pain and she was grasping her chest due to pain while her father was giving Kaezar her medicine with a pained expression. He also wipes Kaezar’s sweat.

I quietly went back to bed after it. I lay down at the bed and stares at the ceiling.

“She’s sick.”

I muttered to myself and closed my eyes. It seems that I can’t sleep. Maybe because of what I saw but I am not sleepy now.

 Kaezar was sick but I didn’t know that. Maybe her sickness strikes again due to her running around the town looking for me.

When I thought it like that, I felt pain in my chest.

“Maybe it was my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. Kaezar has a weak body in the first place.”

I heard a man voice at the door. I look at it and saw the doctor carrying a bottle.

“Would you like to drink with me?”

He said while shaking the bottle on his hand.

I nodded and get up. We went to the living room and he puts a cup and filled it with alcohol.

“It’s been a while since I drink alcohol”

He said while filling his own cup.

“It’s the same with me. I think it’s been months since the last time I drank.”

We toast our cups and drink.

The alcohol is a little bit sweet. I savored the taste of the alcohol and relaxed my body on the chair.

“How is it?”

“It’s good.”

Actually, I prefer to drink ice cold beer than wine but I think it can’t be help.

“Haaaa…. You know.. Ever since Kaezar was a child she was prone to sickness. Maybe she inherited it on her mother. Her mother has a weak body and got sick when she gave birth to Kaezar. After 3 months, she died. Heh.. It’s pretty ironic right? A pharmacist wife died due to sickness.”

After the doctor said this he filled his cup and drank it again.

“I think it isn’t ironic since even in my wo-.. where I came from, doctor’s family can also got sick and some of them died.”

I almost said ‘my world’ but stopped since this was just a dream, there’s no need to tell it ‘my world’.

I never thought that I will be drinking alcohol in my dream.

“Hmmp.. Well, maybe you’re right. But you know, this isn’t a dream.”

The hell is this man talking about? Can he read my mind?

“You know kid, I met someone with the same expression like you when I told him that my wife died.”

He drank another cup of wine and started to tell a story about the past.

“It was a long time ago. Back then I was working as a pharmacist in the city and right there is where I met him. He was a beginner adventurer back then and just like you. He also killed a thief and brought to my place. Kaezar was 2 months old at that time and my wife was bed ridden due to her sickness. I tried different known medicines but it was ineffective. We somehow became close friends and he told me different things about him. He said that he has a family in ‘reality’ which I didn’t understand at first… I mean I don’t know what ‘reality’ is he talking about at first but I finally understood what he meant when my wife died.”

The doctor drank another cup and filled my cup with alcohol once more.

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“When my wife died, I felt my whole world crumbled to pieces and I don’t know what should I do with my life. And he said, “You have a daughter to raise, don’t be down just because your wife died. Even if this was just a dream I don’t want to see a child growing in a wrong way because of her father!” That was the time I finally understood what was his reality. So I told him that this wasn’t a dream and if this was his dream then he can bring back my wife. But he just stood there and remained silent. I don’t know why but I got pissed on him and tried to punch him but he easily dodged my fist.

‘This is a dream right!? If I punched you then you’ll wake up right!?’ I shouted at him. Oh by the way, I am crying back then. Upon hearing my words he stood again without moving or talking. That time I tried punching him once again but that time, he didn’t dodged and accepted it. My punch made him staggers on his feet and fell on his butt. He holds his cheek, where my punched landed, and laughed.

‘So this isn’t a dream after all’ he laughed louder than before which really pisses me off so I beat him up and he repeatedly said ‘Sorry’ while laughing. After 5 minutes of my beating, I got tired and sat down. He get up and fixed his clothes. And said, ‘It really does hurt like in rea- no.. It really hurts. You’re right, this isn’t a dream. This was definitely reality.’ “

He pauses after his lengthy talk and drank another cup.

I also poured another wine to my cup and drank it. To tell you the truth, I don’t care what is the doctor was saying. I am just accompanying him.

“You might not care about what I am talking right now but thank you for pretending to listen to my story.”

The doctor said which surprised me. Can he read others mind?

“I told you before right? You look the same with someone I know. Even your expressions are the same.”

Who is this person that the doctor was talking about? Why did he said that I was the same with the person he knew?

“Well anyways just pretend to listen okay? Where was I.. Oh right right! After he said that, he said that he will support me and my daughter financially since he can’t support his own family if this was his new reality, he said. You really resemble him you know… Hey can I ask how old are you now?”

 Surprised by his sudden question I almost spilled the wine which I am pouring to my glass.

“I am 21 now.”

“21? Hmmm.. Your name was Jasper right?”

“Y-yes”

The doctor fell silent and think for a while. Sometimes he scratched his head and look closely to my face while muttering “It can’t be…” “Maybe he was…” and “Well he said that time…”

“Uhmmm.. Is something wrong?”

I asked the doctor since it felt creepy when someone look at you closely while muttering something.

“Ah sorry sorry.. I am just lost in my thought.. Well, last question..”

Perhaps the doctor saw my creep out expression he apologized to me.

“Are you perhaps… No.. Can you tell me who your father is?”

“What’s with that question?”

What’s with that question? Really.. Why did you suddenly got interested with my father name?

That is what I wanted to say but only said the first question since his eyes was serious.

“Percival Perez”

Telling my father name, the doctor eyes got wide and grasp both of my shoulders.

“YOU ARE THE SON OF THAT BASTARD!!”

“Huh??”

I got shocked at what the doctor did and his words takes time to be processed on my brain. And when my brain finally caught up..

“WHAT!!! HE’S ALIVE!!”

This time I was the one who was grasping the doctor shoulder.

“Calm down! Calm down!”

Hearing the doctor plead for me to calm down. I let go of his shoulder and said “sorry”

“Yup you really are that bastard’s son. No doubt about it.”

It seems that my father and this doctor were close enough to insult each other.

Even though I am doing it the same thing with my friends, I don’t know why men can openly insult their friends and still be friends. Sometimes, you are already insulting your friend but they will just laugh and insult you as a payback.

“You seemed a close friend of my father..”

As I said those words, the doctor face broke out with a smile and drank another cup of wine.

“Well of course. He was also the one who bought this house you know? But I wonder what would that guy say if he found out that you were here.”

The expression that the doctor was showing now was peaceful and he seems to be remembering the past.

Actually, I didn’t personally know my father. I only saw his face on pictures but my mother said that I have the same personality as my father. My mother said that father died in a traffic accident when I was just 3 years old. I remember the grave we used to visit before and my mother would cry every time we visit it. Sometimes she would talk to the grave as if giving a report to him and until now, every time something bad happened my mother will go to the grave complained.

“So he’s still alive here huh… Hey doc, can you tell me where could I find my father?”

“Hmmm.. Maybe he’s in the capital? Well, the last time he visited here was a month ago.”

I don’t know why but my heart pumps harder when I heard that he just visited here last month.

Maybe because I was excited to meet the father I never knew.

No not maybe, I am excited!

The father whom I thought was dead was here! Alive and Kicking! I don’t know if I would recognize him or would he recognize me but I wanted to meet him!

But how did he end up here? Is this afterlife? Am I already dead?

Thinking about that I felt the blood on my face got drained. The excitement I felt before became despair. I felt the world suddenly crumble beneath my feet and I am falling down.

“I’ll guess that you are thinking that this was afterlife too right?”

I only nodded at the doctor’s question.

I mean, my father was here (which was already dead) and I am also here after getting swallowed by that weird worm. I guess my body became poop already.

“Didn’t I tell you? This is reality! You’re not dead yet.. at least here.”

The last words were said in a low tone so I didn’t get it.

“This isn’t afterlife you hear me!? Damn.. Why would the son inherits his father flaws!? Look here kiddo, in this world it was common to summon someone from another world to slay the Overlord! It always happened when a new overlord was born.. You know, this was happening for almost 20 years now and yet the overlord isn’t moving right now and the other summoned heroes were doing their best to find him!

So cheer up! You’re not dead yet! *sigh* you can stay here for as long as you’re here at the village. I think this will lessen some favor I owe at that bastard.”

Saying those words, the doctor stood up with the wine bottle on his hands. His face was color red and when he walks away he staggered a bit. Is he already drunk?

But the words “dead” and “afterlife” was stuck on my head and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Of course I can’t since I learned that my dead father was here. Doesn’t that mean that this was the afterlife right? Does my body become a poop now?

I slowly stand up and went back to the bed and lay down.

There are too many things that keep bugging me right now.

Let’s leave it for tomorrow and for now let’s sleep.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep.