His body was tossed by the current, while his chest grew tight as he swallowed the salty sea water.
Noel Baluev remembers his previous life, where he was shackled by invisible chains in a bottomless pit of darkness. Screaming, crying, begging for freedom and ending up being played again like a heartless puppet.
No, it wasn't him who was heartless, it was that man.
In this world everyone always has things they want to forget, right? When surviving and fighting is no longer an option, then running away is the only option left. Even if it's running away from the mortal realm called the world.
Noel had run as far as he could and hid to escape the nightmare. However, just when he wanted to start over, the nightmare came back to haunt him. Pouncing like a wild beast when he is inattentive-to reaffirm his position as a helpless prey under the claws of the predator. No matter how many times Noel thought, this was all just a dream that would end one day.
One day when he was dead. But the vicissitudes of fate are cruel and frightening. It seemed that God, a deity or something, had made him a favorite toy to play with.
He couldn't tell the difference between his past life and his present life. Noel never felt free from the invisible chain around his neck. Chains that Walther controlled in order to easily pull Noel back to his side. Before being left in the dark again.
The heartbeat that had been racing as if it was about to rip through his chest slowly slowed, followed by more excruciating pain.
Am I going to die a second time? Noel asked as the sea continued to carry his limp body towards the bottom. Just as Walther had led him into the abyss of suffering in his past life.
Who knows how much saltwater he had swallowed, and how much salty liquid had spilled from his eyes.
What Killer Rabbit? Noel wanted to laugh. The Killer Rabbit couldn't even help his body out of the most isolated place in the entire world.
"Noel!"
Noel slowly opened his eyes and found a glimmer of light.
"Noel!" The voice sounded again. The voice that was familiar to his ears. The voice that always called out to him softly despite the cruelty that accompanied it.
"Walther ..., help me!" he pleaded to the nightmare in a whispered tone full of helplessness.
Noel could see Walther smiling at him. The man didn't answer, but one hand reached for Noel's fingers, grasping them tightly.
"Noel ..." Walther whispered.
The owner of the name only gave a blank stare. Though the waves thundered, all that was heard was silence. Bringing Noel to a speck of light. Because where there is Walther, there is always light.
Noel felt his heart being hit by something hard, his head spinning. Time seemed to pull him back in time. Tracing the pus-filled memories of a wound that was still wet. When no one came to his aid, Walther came to his aid. However, he was also the one who had made Noel's loved one leave him, his father.
"I'm with you, Noel. Always with you."
Noel's heart whimpered at that, as if Walther had pulled his chain tightly. Noel responded by saying, "Don't go! Don't leave me!" He held Walther's hand tightly.
"I won't, even if you choose to leave, I won't let you go."
The cold no longer bit the skin. The smell of the sea was gone. Noel closed his eyes, as the emptiness returned.
"Walther ..." Noel's weak and hoarse voice said when he opened his eyes.
Gregory, who had been busy with his cell phone contacting someone, immediately approached Noel who was lying down in a confused condition looking around. Especially when he saw the IV tube attached to his skinny arm.
"Gregory?" Noel's eyebrows knitted, confusion filled his mind about how he was in an all-white room, and how Gregory could find him. Soon a teenage figure also appeared to the right of the brown-haired man. "Rolan?" called Noel weakly, as Nate called the teenager.
"Noel, are you okay, is something wrong?" A worried Rolan asked.
Letting out a long breath, Noel replied, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry." His lips curled into a faint smile to reassure Rolan that he was fine, even though it didn't look like it in reality.
"How did you guys get ...?"
Before his question was finished, Gregory said first, "I'll explain later, after your condition is much better than it is now. The most important thing right now is that you need to rest for a few days."
Gregory knew that Nate had a strong immune system and rarely got sick. But when he did get sick, Nate would have a fever that could be considered quite severe. And now it was happening while Noel was occupying his body, made even worse by Noel's shaken psyche.
It would probably take Noel a week of complete rest and not getting too involved with too many activities to get back to normal.
One day after Nate left, Gregory received a message from Nate in the form of a location where he managed to find traces of Huang Tailung. Soon after, Gregory caught up with Rolan who didn't want to be left behind—because Walther was going abroad on business. Usually when not staying with Noel and Gregory, Rolan stays with Walther.
Gregory arrived in Hong Kong when the sky was already dark. At that time he had so much trouble finding Nate's trail through GPS. With the help of a few remaining confidants, Gregory managed to find Nate's whereabouts on the dock.
At that time the control of Nate's body had returned to Noel who was then in a state of urgency, desperate to jump into the sea from the pursuit of Huang Tailung's bodyguards.
Gregory did not act immediately. If he approached Noel's whereabouts would be discovered. So Gregory was forced to wait for the men to leave. During that time Gregory began to count every second that Noel entered the cold, salty water. Waiting for him to surface. Meanwhile, the people who were chasing him never left.
In the end Gregory ordered the people who used to work for Nate to distract them. And that's when Gregory dove into the ocean, and found an unconscious Noel, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the surface.
A few hours after being brought back to the hotel where Gregory was staying, Noel's condition worsened. That made Gregory uneasy. He had never seen Nate's body temperature so cold. Despite being in a resilient body, Noel's shaken psyche could have some pretty serious effects.
Gregory parted the curtains, letting the sunlight stream in through the glass window and shine on Noel's frail body lying in the hospital bed.
Noel felt quite relaxed after seeing the light. A split second later he remembered something. He tried to get up, but was immediately held back by Rolan who had been sitting next to his bed.
Noel asked in a hoarse voice, "Where's the briefcase, have you seen it?"
"The black briefcase?" asked Gregory, turning his back to the window, looking at him.
Noel nodded.
"I threw it away," Gregory said lightly, which got a hysterical reaction from the questioner.
"I almost died to get it from Huang Tailung!" Noel glared at the brown-haired man.
Then a chuckle escaped Gregory's mouth. "I'm just kidding," he replied. He looked at Rolan and continued, "Don't worry, Rolan already has it."
Gregory's statement just now made Noel breathe a sigh of relief. He could finally calm down a bit. Then Gregory approached and handed him something.
"Drink this, it's a tranquilizer, it might make you feel a little better."
Noel accepted the tablet and drank it with the glass of water Gregory had provided. "Thank you," he replied, returning the glass.
"You were delirious and screaming in your sleep," Rolan added.
Noel smiled wryly as he remembered his dream. The dream had seemed so real. After a few moments of taking the medicine, Noel felt his eyes heavy, it seemed like the effects of the tranquilizer had kicked in and brought him back to sleep without worrying about his condition anymore because he was in a comfortable place and with good people.
Spending two days in the hospital, Noel preferred to rest in a hotel because he didn't like hospitals—just like Nate who never wanted to set foot in that drug-filled place even though his intestines came out he preferred to put them back in, stitch them up and treat them himself.
"So, you almost took your own life just for grabbing this thing?" Gregory held a glass tube the size of an adult's index finger in front of Noel.
"It wasn't me who wanted it, it was Nate. He told me to get it from Huang Tailung," Noel replied, if it wasn't for his best friend's safety Noel would never have been forced to take it from a group of Hong Kong gangsters.
Gregory watched the small tube intently. "This ..." His facial expression changed, as if he remembered something.
Seeing the change in Gregory's face, Noel suddenly asked, "Have you seen it?"
"I think so, but I don't remember it," Gregory replied uncertainly.
Seeing the two men beside him talking about something, Rolan, who had been busy playing a game on his cell phone, snatched the tube from Gregory's hand and watched intently. Noel and Gregory looked at the look on Rolan's face simultaneously.
"Do you know about this thing?" asked Gregory.
"Yeah, I've seen it a few times. Daddy keeps a dozen of these tubes in the safe of his apartment," Rolan replied, earning more serious looks from the two men in front of him. "The liquid inside is a dangerous compound resulting from a failed invention test."
"Do you know what it's used for?" Gregory asked again.
This time Rolan shook his head.
"What about the scientist who discovered it, do you know his name?" Gregory asked again, not really expecting Rolan to know his question this time.
Unexpectedly, Rolan nodded.
"What's his name? Does he still work for Zwick and Sons?"
The teenager seemed to think for a moment. "If I'm not mistaken his name is—emm ..." Gregory furrowed his brow as he listened to Rolan's disjointed reply.
"Do you know the name?" Noel asked.
"I've heard Daddy mention the name of the scientist who invented it, but I forgot, if I'm not mistaken it was Baluev. Really." Rolan tried to reassure the two men in front of him, his tone implying conviction.
There were many people named Baluev in this world.
"You said Baluev's name while looking at me, you don't suspect I made it up, do you?" accused Noel, giving Gregory a glance.
Rolan shook his head. "I don't think so, after all, innocent Noel couldn't have made such a dangerous thing."
"Innocent you say?" Noel grumbled, the teenager was just like Nate who called him a homebody.
In the midst of Noel's protests that did not accept the word innocent being pinned on him, Gregory interrupted, "You say this is a dangerous thing?" he asked Rolan.
"Yeah ..., you could say that." Rolan replied simply, before going back to playing the game on his phone.
If Huang Tailung wanted the object Gregory was holding so badly, it meant that the liquid object in the tube was so valuable. Especially about Noel's confession saying that Nate told him to take the object. Maybe if Nate was around, the man would know the answer, although in this condition it was not easy to call him.
Gregory let out a long sigh, giving up on trying to figure out what it was until his memory caught up with someone. Someone who had almost the same skills and knowledge as Nate.
"I think we need someone to help us analyze it." suggested Gregory after a moment of struggling with his thoughts.
"Do you know anyone?" Noel felt like he had a bright spot.
"Yes, but it will be a little more difficult." Gregory took a cell phone from the pocket of the black pants he was wearing. "Do you remember Forst?"
"Igor Forst?" Noel was surprised. "You want to ask him for a favor?" The image of the smirking, thick-browed man immediately came to mind. It wasn't that he was afraid of Igor, but Noel had trouble pretending to be Nate in front of the man. Noel couldn't mold Nate's character into his own for too long.
Noel looked like he wanted to negotiate, but everything was unexpected. Gregory had already pressed the button for the video call without preparing Noel to warm up to acting as Nate first.
"Tell him you need him." Gregory quickly pointed the phone screen at Noel's nervous face.
"Wa-wait Gregory!" Noel wanted to ask for time, ended up being ignored.
"Remember, do it as Nate." Without letting Noel wait, Gregory had the screen right in front of his face. In less than a minute the video call was answered by someone from the other side.
"Wow, guess who called me. Senior Nate or can I call you ex-senior?" asked the one in the video while hissing out his trademark grin.
Noel stared at his phone screen.
"Ahaha, why are you looking at me like that Nate? Have I gotten better looking?"
Noel who remembered his purpose of contacting the man immediately said, "I need your help." It seemed like he had already begun to master being a fake Nate with full force.
"Help?" Igor's thick eyebrows linked.
Noel nodded and was immediately rewarded with the laughter of the man on the other side. "Are you willing to help me or not?" Noel shouted at the phone screen and made the man on the screen stop laughing.
"Alright alright, I'll help you." Igor waved his hand lazily.
"Good, meet me tonight at a bar, I'll send you the address." After saying that Noel immediately turned off the video call.
"He's crazy." One comment Noel pinned as Nate and Rolan called him homely and innocent.
"Igor, he's like that since he's been imitating Nate's lifestyle," Rolan added.
"More like he's obsessed with living like Nate," Gregory continued.
Living like Nate.
That made him shudder, Noel couldn't imagine that if he was used to living like Nate he would laugh without anything funny like that poor Igor, maybe if they met later Noel would advise Igor to go to a psychiatrist.