Bright light flooded his vision as Joonbum opened his eyes.
‘Is it over?’
If what Ponus said was right, Joonbum’s body was headed toward self-destruction due to the side effects of over-evolution. He was still holding on, but it was only a matter of time before his body and mental health broke down.
And what about the others? There were others who came through the gate, including his mother. However, they seemed to be in better shape. Ponus explained that it was possible that Joonbum who began moving back and forth through the Gate before it stabilized was the reason for such a heavier toll.
‘Yeah… I should have known there would be problems.’
Joonbum knew something was wrong with him. One evidence of this was his loss of interest for his family. Before, his priority was his family but now he did not pay much attention to them. All he needed was to hear that they were safe. Joonbum knew that this was unlike him.
Ponus explained it might be because of his destabilized body and mental connection.
‘Is it all fixed now?’
Joonbum then remembered his young son, who he had only seen when still a baby. And of course, his beautiful wives. And his mother, as well as his step brothers and sisters.
He became full of emotions and involuntarily began to weep.
“Hah… it’s been a long time.”
It really had been a long time. Joonbum began to recall long forgotten memories. Memories of everything that had happened, and the distant past when he did not even know of the existence of this world.
“Haha… I am… an emperor now?”
Joonbum then felt a few of those memories becoming fuzzy. It was weird. He could remember them clearly, but now it was becoming blurry.
“Part of your memory will be gone,” Ponus said to him. Joonbum turned and saw an unfamiliar woman standing there with a smile.
“Ponus?”
“Yes.”
Ponus, who was only a hologram, now had a body. It was a created being, but it seemed to be no different from a living human.
“Amazing.”
Joonbum grabbed Ponus’ hand. Its hand had the warmth of a living body. Ponus smiled.
“It is the perfectly recreated body of a human.”
“I see.”
It was due to the amazing technology that Ponus had.
“So, what do you mean by that? My memory?”
“Your biggest issue was that you lost the power to forget. Ever since you started not sleeping, you lost the blessing called forgetting. That will now begin again.”
“Ah…”
Joonbum nodded.
“Where are the others?”
End of Chapter
