Wearing a stethoscope at her neck and a purple scrub, the emergency ward doctor was checking the diagnosis for the young kid under her care. The doctor, Christine Palmer, was worried for Ryan that showed signs of being clinically depressed. Maybe she should have hurried to the psychiatrist as Shirley said.
Before she could arrange any intensive checkup for Ryan, Knight's family butler has arrived at the hospital.
Wearing a black tuxedo as he walked into the hospital, Hiddle thought solemnly, 'Young Master finally woke up. I don't know whether this is a blessing or retribution for the Knights family.'
He always thought Ryan as a soft child, he was very fond of him. The Knights family was a military family, and all of them were hardened men. But during the crisis 3 years ago, Tim Knight become the only survivor.
It almost seems like the end of the Knights' family, this goes on until Ryan wakes up.
The Knight's family was targeted by a secretive organization. False accusations, framing, and sabotage affected the whole family member. Tim persevered and tried to fight back. But instead, his son had an accident that was planned by the organization.
He also placed his son inside a private hospital and falsified his son's identity to make sure he was not targeted. Not much to do when you're in a coma. Tim thinks that his son was weak or rather, his weaknesses. He didn't want to involve him in this.
He knows that if his son was taken, he would lose this war. After his wife died during childbirth, Ryan was the only love he had in this world. He would rather fight the whole world than lose his son.
That's why he was so angered by the attack on his son that the entire enemy organization was flipped upside down. He swore to cut down its root! He generated so much chaos that some upper-tier members of government and Congress came to calm him down. Even the man with the eyepatch came to calm him down.
Tim was a mad dog in the shadows while posing as a respected member of society in the light.
Back to the butler. He came to ward 404, where Ryan was and opened the door slowly. His heart was in pain from the guilt as he wasn't there for Ryan.
He has to support the knight's family, the living ones.
3 years ago, the doctor said Ryan was barely alive and death will be mercy for him. Only due to Tim's insistence, Ryan could live to this day.
Hiddle was filled with a guilty conscience, as he supported the doctor at the time. He just… wanted the boy to have peace. It breaks his heart every day seeing the boy he raised could only live with life support.
The old butler took care of the boy meticulously. He cuts his hair, trims his nails, and makes sure he's comfortable if there's any chance he wakes up. He reads to the boy every time he has. To get a response from Ryan was the old man's life's greatest wish.
Hiddle saw Ryan sitting upright on the bed with his half-opened. It seems like the sun's glare is too much for the newly-awakened boy. He walks slowly toward the blind and closed it. The corner of his eyes moistened when he neared the boy, who is now a young man.
Although he supports the doctor at the time to pull the plug, it can't be denied that he loves the young master like his own son. "Master Ryan... " Hiddle spoke slowly.
The kid on the bed looked at him and said with a shy smile, "Long time no see, old man."
Ryan has finished processing his memory. He felt the needs to do it quickly as the Marvel universe is not for a slice-of-life genre.
It's now 2005, 3 years before the plot for the canon started. And with the Osborne group around, he knows this wasn't the canon MCU, but also not quite the full marvel comic book universe, or he's in some variant timeline.
He was a bit relieved that there's no mutant in this world. The mutant-verse is messy, and if he's in the world of mutants, he would support the mutants. No doubt about that. The discriminatory nature of humans has always sickened him, whether it is in the comic, or his previous world.
He wanted to sleep. He wanted to escape from this reality. He was having a panic attack till he heard the voice calling him. He turned and saw a white-haired, 180 cm tall old man who wears gold-rimmed glasses on his face, and with a kind temperament.
He referred to his memory and knew this was Hiddle, his housekeeper. In his memory, his father is a cold and calculating man. He knows his father's nature, but his father always tried to show him that he loves him. It's a little weird that his father was not here.
"How are you feeling, Young Master?"
"Well... I've been better," joked Ryan. Compared to his previous life, this body was undoubtedly better. But he couldn't show that. He needed some time to adjust to his new life.
"After I talked to the doctor, we can go home now, '' said Hiddle.
Ryan nodded. He agreed with the butler. There's nothing much to do in a hospital. Especially when he needed to investigate the world he lives in now.
After 3 days of observation in the hospital, Ryan could go home. Dr. Christine Palmer wished Ryan all the best. Although he doesn't remember anything, Christine has been observing him for 3 years and taking care of him. She was elated when Ryan woke up.
Ryan hugged the beautiful doctor to thank her. This was not in line with his personality, but he did it to avoid suspicion as the previous him was a soft and kind kid. A little bit naive but he was a nice person. It's going to be a little hard for him to pose as such a person.
Hiddle drove Ryan to the Knights Manor inside a black SUV.
"Master is in the middle east, handling some affairs. He'll be back in 3 months, ''said Hiddle.
Ryan thought sarcastically, 'Your son was in a coma for 3 years, but you don't even see him when he wakes up.'
Unknown to Ryan, his father never told the public about him in a coma and pretended that his son was studying in Europe. If he came back now to see his son, it'll cause some suspicion. Although his problems were over, people could never be too sure.
Ryan entered his room in the Manor. The room was familiar and both unfamiliar at the same time. Nothing changed from his memory, but he knew deep down, that he wasn't the real Ryan Knight. There's also an uncomfortable matter for him as he cannot remember his last name, or his family in the previous life.
His friends, his country, and so on. He knew he has all those but when he tried to recall them, the memory seemed to have been blocked.
Ryan walked to the full body mirror inside the walk-in closet in his room. He's now a 174cm, blonde-haired man with purplish-blue eyes. His body was scrawny and thin, his cheeks were sunken, showing signs of atrophy for 3 years he's not moving.
He studies his eyes for a while. In the Marvel universe, the color purple was not such a good thing. The purple man Killgrave, Thanos, etc.
While contemplating his appearance, he thought, 'Well, at least my family's rich.'
It was a good thing that he has an identity, background, and influence to survive in this dangerous world. Now he's back in his 20's. There are a lot of things he could try.
Maybe he would further his studies. A regret that he has in his previous life was he didn't further his studies. Because of his family's circumstances, he quit halfway through his degree and started working.
"As I am 20, it'll be awkward to enter high school, maybe I can take the GED/SAT before applying to university."
Ryan walked outside to his room and sat down on his desk. He took a book from the shelves and a ball pen that was used by the previous Ryan. He scribbled things that he remembered from his previous life and started to plan his new life. Jotting down and planning was a habit he has had in his previous life and was similar to the previous Ryan's habits.
"Ryan Knight was a well-educated kid with excellent academic records. Although nowhere near Peter Parker level or Gwen Stacy level, there's no problem to get into the Ivy League," He muttered excitedly as he imagined his college life. He then continues to sort off his memory. After having a lonely dinner, he went to sleep.
Hiddle only gives him soft food for now. He hated it when the old man treated him like he was fragile. While eating his breakfast, he had a thought, 'Maybe I should go meet the Ancient One.'
There were a lot of stories he read that was about transmigration, some of which had to do with the Ancient One. 'The male ancient one was ruthless, but the female ancient one was a little mellow and could be talked to.'
He's just not sure which one it was. If he went to the sanctum, and then got banished to another dimension as he was not the inhabitant of this world, that will be the end of him. He shuddered and pushed the impulse to the back of his mind.
Ryan asked for a laptop after his breakfast. Then, Hiddle gave him a premium laptop with the Stark OS that reminded him of a Macbook. However, the OS wasn't as developed as he thought.
He then surfed the Web, but it' was greatly annoying as he'd already used to the future information age. Maybe this world's technology was advanced compared to his previous world. But for personalization of technology and convenience? His previous world takes the cake.
He spent his day quite repetitiously as he needed to recover from prolonged atrophy of his body. He watched some cartoons, ate healthy food, got some exercise with his health instructor, and did therapy. Hiddle's insistence on the last part annoyed him, but he did it obediently... for now.
Few things give him comfort, such as some sitcoms or shows from his previous world; Malcolm in the Middle which is on TV showtimes, friends rerun, Star war/trek, and many more.
But there wasn't any manga, anime, comic book culture, and so on here. In fact, the comic or animation industry was almost extinct. Most movies were also shitty. 'It can't be helped that it's only 2005, but still...'
He expected a transmigration life to be exciting, but this was boring. The old man also didn't allow him to go outside until his condition is better. So he's stuck in the house. He's so bored that he doesn't even bother to pose as the nice and naïve kid anymore.
After 2 weeks in this world, an intriguing thing happened during his sleep that broke his boring life.
He heard the sound of a chime that woke him up in the middle of the night. He's a little excited after seeing what happened.
"Finally!" He muttered underneath his breath and his eyes gleams with excitement.
There's a floating panel in front of his eyes that said…
[ Interdimensional trading is now online]