Chapter Eighteen
Ren shifted in the backseat for the twenty-fifth time, the heavy silence between the two women making him restless.
'Weren't they best friends? Then why were they acting like mortal enemies?' Ren leaned back with a sigh, closing his eyes. 'Whatever. System, I'd like to claim the special mission rewards.'
[Transferring Memories …2% … 45% … 78% …98% …100%]
—
"Dad! Please, dad!"
Ren's eyes snapped open as he found his body in a translucent form, floating in the air. He first stared at his translucent form before looking down at a young man, kneeling on the ground in heavy rain.
Without another thought, Ren floated closer to the scene and to little shock, he found the original owner kneeling in front of the closed mansion gate, banging on it, desperately.
"Dad! Please open the door! Dad! Grandma will die! Please! I need money!"
Tears mixed with rainwater trailed down the young lad's cheeks which seemed very unbecoming for a man of his age.
'Instead of begging, couldn't he have taken a loan then worked to pay it back?' Ren's lips pressed in a thin line as his eyebrows scrunched in part anger and part disappointment at the lack of common sense. 'You have the brain later to borrow money from a loanshark to buy an overpriced diamond ring, but not now to save someone you love? Hah.'
Screehhh…
The wooden door creaked open as a ray of light and hope fell on the young lad's face. He immediately looked up, crawling forward on his knees as he grabbed the leg of a guy approximately around his age.
"Brother! Xen! Please help me! Grandma is really sick. I need five million for the surgery. If you want I'll leave Mainland and go to the Sydia City. I'll never come back here. Please! Just help me this once, Xen."
Xen stared down at the trembling young man with pure contempt then kicked him square in the chest as the young man sprawled backward into the mud, gasping.
"Get off me, trash. You failed the Hunter Crystal test. Your last chance at being useful for the family," Xen spat in disgust at the young man trembling in mud. "Someone like you is not worthy of negotiating with me, let alone calling me brother."
Ren stared at the scene with cold eyes. The cruelty not shaking his heart in the slightest. 'Humans are the same everywhere. Even planet change cannot change their disgusting behaviour towards their own kin let alone others.'
"Now that it has come to this." Xen straightened his cuffs as he rolled his eyes at his adopted brother. "Let me enlighten you a little more. I'm not your real brother. I was lost as a child and found a few months ago. I am blood. You? You're my replacement. You aren't their blood. You are just an adopted son. A charity case Dad took in out of care for my mom. And now that I'm back, you're nothing."
The young man's face went slack with shock.
"Another thing, that sudden collapse Grandma suffered? The heart attack?" Xen leaned down. "I arranged it. I changed the medicine you prepared for her to induce the heart attack and convinced everyone you did it.
And, the reason no bank, no loanshark, no friend would lend you money? That was me too. I made sure every door stayed shut. You and your supporting bone. My family is not a place to feed trash like you and your old hag."
Xen stood tall, rain sliding off his umbrella. "Unless you want to die along with that old woman, who should already be dead by now, you better leave for Sydia City tonight. Crawl there if you have to. Never come back here. This is the last mercy I'm showing you for saving my mother from going crazy from my loss all these years… brother."
Xen turned and stepped back inside the mansion.
Screehhh...
The heavy door closed as the lights clinked and the entire mansion went dark. The young man remained kneeling in the mud, sobs swallowed by thunder.
Buzz… Buzz… Buzz…
The buzzing phone in his pocket made the young man pull his strength together a little as he pulled it out of his pocket, trembling. The screen glowed with a single message from the Mainland Central Hospital.
[Your grandmother has passed away. Please come to collect the body immediately.]
Ren bit the inside of his cheek as he let out a huge breath, closing his eyes and letting go of the control of his translucent body. 'It seems I was wrong for the first time in my life. To repay you for this life and my misjudgment, I'll destroy your– No. My Family, Ren Esper."
—-
Other memories and information flowed through Ren's neurons like a calm river.
Warmth filled his body as he felt the shards of scattered memories fit in his brain like pieces of a puzzle. As the last shard took its place, a gentle breeze blew across Ren's hairs, allowing a gentle windy whisper ring softly in his ears.
"We'll meet soon, Ren."
'...Who?'
[Transfer Complete!]
Contrary to Ren's expectations, the memory transfer had brought little to no pain.
The flow of memories of the previous owner through his mind were done so naturally that it became difficult for Ren himself to tell whether he was an otherworldly soul or truly Ren Esper.
However, despite the lack of pain, the sudden flood of so many shards of memories left him utterly exhausted. His eyelids grew impossibly heavy, not allowing his eyes to open even after the memory transfer had been completed, and within moments as expected Ren fell fast asleep.
Alex caught sight of him in the rearview mirror, her eyes narrowing at his slumped figure in the backseat. His head had drooped to the side, his breathing settling into the slow, steady rhythm of someone completely unconscious.
'Unbelievable. There he is, sleeping like a baby, while I'm stuck dealing with Monica in full jealousy mode.' Alex's grip tightened on the steering wheel. 'Honestly. What does she see in him?'
[Appearance of useful connection in …3]
The blue countdown screen flickered into existence, unseen by the sleeping Ren as the car raced towards Alex's gym at full speed.
[...2]
"Alex, slow down the car." Monica sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, staring out her window as the trees raced by.
[...1]
Alex turned her head in Monica's direction before scrunching her brows in frustration. "Ica, are you seriously mad at me over the fact I got a little touchy with Ren?"
[0.]
"Obviously! That's my boy- ALEX WATCH OUT!"