Slowly the clock finally struck 4:00 am, and I opened my notebook and went straight to page 8 but I was shocked, there was nothing. I checked several times and still nothing. I looked to see if something changed on any other page but still nothing.
Then I looked at the clock in case I was mistaken, but it already marked 4:02 am, so there is no error, simply nothing! 'What happened?!' I started to think like crazy.
This can only mean one of two things, the first is that I failed in such a way that I could not gather the necessary contribution points to send the message. The second is that I succeeded but due to causality, I am not allowed to send the confirmation or the success will be at risk.
Damn, I can't know which one is correct and which is not no matter how much I think. The first option seems unlikely because the previous attempt was very close to success, but I cannot rule out that the new changes, maybe due to some error in my interpretation of the message triggered worse problems than those of the previous attempts and I could not send even a message.
But the second option also does not sound so probable, after all, the confirmation of the partial successes sent in the previous messages served to further improve the successes in the following messages. It does not sound logical that the message could not be sent to confirm the total success of my plan.
Which of the two options is correct? Or am I leaving some other possible option out of my mind? I thought about everything again several times, but nothing occurs to me.
I opened the notebook again to see if there was any change in case it was an error made by my future self whom maybe miss judged the time, but nothing.
I walked back and forth in the room, up and down, I pulled my hair with both hands, I analyzed every thought that occurred to me, I activated the [Nine Eyes], I tried to feel the mana in my environment in case there was any change or reason of some kind, but nothing worked.
I was about to go crazy and think of another plan and try again to see if I received a message this time, and then it happened...
I felt a chill run down my spine and turned to see where the notebook was before, and I was surprised. The notebook began to rise on its own in the air, and when it reached a certain height it caught fire and was consumed in the blink of an eye. It was in an instant, I could not even react to try to put out the flame and even if I reacted there was no way to save the notebook in less than a second.
I saw where it burned, the fire that consumed it did not produce smoke and there was no ash left, there was no evidence that the notebook had been burned, nor any trace of its existence.
But there was something else that I could see in the direction of where the notebook was, something that I would normally have overlooked at any other time, but I did not miss it now. I saw the clock I was using to time the messages, the clock marked 4:44:44 and it had stopped there, the seconds were no longer moving.
The number 4, which meant bad luck or a bad omen or more specifically death according to Korean culture, was marked on the now unmoving clock to highlight the exact moment when my notebook burned.
This message could be interpreted with certainty as a clear indication that this plan failed completely unlike the previous ones, but that is only if I am guided by the Korean culture where I currently live and almost for a moment I thought about redoing my plans, but then I remembered the previous message from my future self on the third attempt. He said, "... sometimes death does not give a tragic end to a story, but rather gives a wonderful beginning to another..." and then I remembered that I have already died once and there is not a day that I am not grateful for it, my new life is proof of what the third message said. Lastly, if my fourth future self clearly indicates death in his message, I will not take it as a failure, error or bad decision.
It is proof of the success that the previous plan worked, after all, I do not believe in superstitions, only in what can be proven. I no longer need the notebook and it is most likely why it was destroyed. The plan is perfectly engraved in my brain and the clock that got stuck at that specific moment is my reminder.
So it is decided, I will walk embracing death and taking it as the opportunity for a brighter new life...
~~~~~~~~~
Several weeks passed and my parents decided to take us to the zoo since they want me to see exotic animals live. Unfortunately, the uncles, Seonhwa, and Seunghae could not come. They have to make some important supply purchases for their work.
Seonhwa was forced to accompany them on the purchases as punishment because she did not turn in the homework on time and the teacher reported her.
She usually behaves well, but now that she has an attention crisis because of Seunghae, she tends to play pranks or behave badly to get the attention of her parents. It usually works and they indulge her, but this time it went wrong and she could not come to the zoo with us.
When she saw me getting into the car, she looked at me as if I had committed the greatest betrayal and I could only tell her that none of this would have happened if she had turned in the homework on time, after all, she had already done it, she just did not turn it in.
And that brings us to the present. Instead of entering the enclosures, my parents decided to go on the safari, so we got on a tour bus and began to tour the artificial desert of the zoo.
We were unlucky and the seats were randomly occupied, so we could not all sit together. Wooseok was in the front seats next to the window, Jinhee was sitting on mom's lap who was seated one seat behind Wooseok and several in front of mine. And dad got the jackpot, he managed to sit in the seat next to the driver and has the best view of all.
Normally, I would have looked for a way to convince dad to give me his seat. But this time I was aware of something else, a memory from the novel that fits perfectly with the current situation and that is why I'm looking around with the [Nine Eyes] active and I observe all the passengers. It did not take long to find who I was looking for, she was one seat behind mine.
A beautiful woman whose beauty is hard to describe in words, but most importantly, my [Nine Eyes] that observe the color Green in all the passengers see no color in her. Also, despite her immense beauty and the seat next to her being empty, it seems that no man intends to take the opportunity, in fact, it seems they don't even notice her existence, as if she were invisible to them. That was more than enough to confirm her identity.
Taking advantage of the fact that the bus stopped and the tourists were excited to see the animals that come close to seek for food that people throw from the bus, I took the initiative and got up from my seat, I headed towards the woman's seat.
"Hello beautiful Noona, if it is not too much trouble, may I sit next to you? The view is better from your window," I said in a childish tone.
She looked at me for a few seconds, a bit puzzled, but then she paid me no more attention. She just smiled and off handedly said, "Of course, come sit next to me, you can take the window side for a better view."
She stood up and let me take the window side and sat down in the adjacent seat.
"Thank you, I knew I was not wrong, you are a good Noona," I said while looking at the animals through the window.
When I stood up and asked to sit next to her, I did not have the [Nine Eyes] activated. If she had seen them at that moment, she would have discovered my ability and this interaction would not have gone the same way. Right now, she believes I'm just a normal kid and is acting accordingly, with no intention of manipulating me in any way.
Now with the [Nine Eyes] active once more, I looked out the window, all the animals are in Green, and in the background, there is a lion sitting on a rock as if he didn't care about anything, his color is also Green, so he is not a threat under my current circumstances.
This does not mean that I am powerful and have the capacity to not be threatened by him, but rather that I am in a place or have access to a resource that becomes the reason why I cannot be threatened by the lion, and it does not take a genius to realize that this reason is the beautiful woman sitting next to me.
A few months ago, I managed to unlock the Yellow, Orange, and Red colors of the [Nine Eyes], and thanks to that, I am now able to measure threats based on my capacity. Contrary to what I expected, the lion appears in Green and not in Yellow as in the case of the original Seol Jihu. So it means that whatever happens at this moment, I am under no threat.
The lion noticed my gaze and seemed to feel challenged in some way, perhaps because I have the [Nine Eyes] active or it is just a bad coincidence, I really don't know, but I did not look away and I saw it get up and run towards the bus, more specifically towards my window.