For a moment, the room fell silent.
Shuron lay on the ground, sighing in relief that he had dodged the attack.
He slowly stood up. While dodging, his body had rolled across the bed, but he had slipped off the edge. Now on his feet, he looked at the little girl still sleeping on the bed..
She had simply changed her position, unaware that she had almost hit her brother in her sleep. Now she lay comfortably, taking up the entire bed.
Seeing her like this, he smiled. An old memory surfaced in his mind. The same thing had happened when they were young, but back then he had been asleep and unable to dodge. He had woken up from that sudden "hammer."
And now the same scene was playing out in his dream, which strangely made him happy.
But that happiness didn't last long.
A thought surfaced in his mind. "Is this dream based on my old memories? But why this one? It's so old… almost fifteen years. There were so many others… why show this embarrassing one, where I cried after getting hit?"
"Anyway…" He shook the thought away. There were more important things to focus on.
"WHAT AM I DOING HERE???"
"WHY AM I NOT WAKING UP? WHY AM I STILL HERE?"
"I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET HER HIT ME. MAYBE THAT WOULD HAVE SHATTERED THIS DREAM. WHY DID MY BODY MOVE ON ITS OWN TO DODGE? IT'S JUST A DREAM."
Though he was screaming, the little girl didn't wake up. The screams echoed only inside his mind.
"Calm down… think calmly. Even if dodging didn't wake me, falling off the bed should have. But it didn't. Instead, I felt it. How? How is that possible?"
"In my whole life, even in dreams where I got hit by a car, I never felt anything. So why can I feel it now? Is this really a dream?"
"What's going on? This is getting irritating. If I'm late, what will I tell the shop owner? That I was trapped in a dream? That sounds ridiculous even as an excuse."
"So what should I do now? I don't understand what's happening… hmm? What is this?"
"WHY IS THE CALENDAR SHOWING A DATE FROM 15 YEARS AGO? CAN A DREAM EVEN SHOW DETAILS LIKE THIS?"
"WHAT THE HELL… THIS BED, THIS STUDY TABLE, EVEN THE CLOTHES HANGING THERE… THEY'RE ALL DIFFERENT. THEY'RE FROM 15 YEARS AGO…"
"WHAT IS REALLY HAPPENING? EVEN THINGS I DON'T CLEARLY REMEMBER ARE HERE. IS THIS REALLY A DREAM? HOW CAN A DREAM BE THIS VIVID?"
As he shifted his gaze away from the little girl and looked around, shock filled his face. Endless questions flooded his mind, overwhelming him with their sheer number.
The young man stood frozen in his room, like a statue, his face filled with shock and disbelief as his mind raced.
After looking around, he confirmed one thing. This wasn't a dream. Everything felt too real. He could breathe deeply, feel pain, and even hear the distant sounds of passing vehicles.
It wasn't a dream.
Once he realized that, his thoughts began racing again, but this time without panic. He tried to reason through the situation, searching for an explanation.
"If it's not a dream, then what is it? It can't be real… right?"
"Otherwise, how is my little sister here? She should be in her university dorm. And how is her age reversed by fifteen years?"
"How can she be in a seven-year-old's body? That's impossible."
"So what is this, if not a dream? Oh… wait. What the—"
Mid-thought, he suddenly looked at his arm. He had been absentmindedly brushing his clothes after standing up, even though there was no dust on them. His arm, which should have been rough after years of work, now looked soft and smooth, like a teenager's.
His gaze shifted to his other hand. It looked the same.
His eyes then searched the room until they landed on a mirror. His body moved on its own, while his mind remained blank from the shock. Before he realized it, he was already standing in front of it.
The moment he saw his reflection, his confusion deepened. His thoughts erupted.
"WHY IS MY BODY SO YOUNG??? THIS FACE, THESE HANDS, THESE LEGS… EVERYTHING IS SO YOUNG… HOW???"
Amid the chaos in his mind, a thought surfaced.
"If this isn't a dream… then is it like regression in novels? Where the main character goes back in time?"
Before he could fully process that idea, another possibility came to him.
"What if it's not regression? What if it's transmigration? And… is this even my previous world? Let's check first…"
With that thought, he moved to the study table and opened the laptop. He began searching online, reading news articles, browsing forums, and checking trending topics.
"No…"
"No…"
"No… it's all normal."
"It's the same. Just like I remember…"
He closed the laptop. He had checked almost everything, yet found nothing new or strange.
This world was the same.
Which meant… this wasn't transmigration.
It was regression.
He sighed in relief after that realization.
"It's good it wasn't transmigration…" he thought. "I can't imagine leaving my family behind and ending up in another world, or even a parallel one like Earth. Even if they looked the same, they wouldn't be the same people. I would have left my real family alone to struggle… it's good I didn't transmigrate."
But the relief didn't last long.
"But is regression really safe? Is my family still the same? In novels, there are always multiple timelines… what if I've ended up in a different one? Have I left them behind..."
"no… No, NO."
"I DON'T WANT THIS REGRESSION OR ANYTHING. I WAS COMPLETELY FINE. TODAY I WOULD HAVE GONE TO MY PART-TIME JOB AS USUAL, THEN TO MY OTHER WORK, AND USED MY SALARY FOR MOM'S MEDICAL EXPENSES AND ROXA'S TUITION. BUT NOW… WHY AM I HERE?!"
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS. I DIDN'T WANT THIS. I WAS FINE WITH MY LIFE. SO WHY?!"
He was almost on the verge of lashing out as these thoughts spiraled in his mind.
Just then, a voice interrupted him, cutting through everything.
"Shuron, Roxa. Wake up."
It wasn't loud, yet it echoed clearly in his mind.
The person behind the voice wasn't in front of him, but his mind immediately formed an image.
A middle-aged man. A calm face with a gentle smile. His looks weren't striking due to age, but there was a warm, parental presence in his expression.
Though he hadn't seen him for a whole decade, he hadn't forgotten what he looked like. There was no mistake, no blur in his mind. He remembered everything about him, the person his family had missed for so many years.
He imagined how that man used to play with him, taking him on trips and vacations.
He imagined celebrating festivals together with him.
Memories kept surfacing in his mind. Every moment, every bit of joy they had shared.
A second passed, yet it felt like a lifetime. He finally replied.
"Yes, Dad."
There was no strangeness in his voice as he said it after so many years. He had longed to say that word more than anything.
And now, having finally spoken it, his heart was filled with happiness.
A second passed, yet it felt like a lifetime.
He replied.
"Yes, Dad."
There was no hesitation in his voice. No unfamiliarity. He had wanted to say that word more than anything over the years.
Now that he finally did, his heart filled with warmth.
The voice came again from the hall.
"Okay. Shuron, wake up your sister, freshen up, and come down for breakfast."
"Okay, Dad."
There was no reply after that. The conversation ended, just voices passing between rooms.
Though he wanted to talk more, he held himself back.
There would be time later. He had already confirmed this wasn't a dream. He wasn't going to wake up. It's reality. And in this reality, his father is present.
His father wouldn't be going anywhere.
He could talk as much as he wanted later.
For now, he went to freshen up.
Entering the room-attached attached bathroom, he splashed water on his face. At the same time, his mind began making decisions about his future.