O stars in the heavens. The alpha dog howled the loudest. Yet, the dying one left a long lasting impression on earth for many light years. The red dwarf might show its brilliance once again. From below, us mortals could only yearn for your beauty, unless when dark clouds shrouded the horizon. I might never admire you once again. For me, myself, and I stood in the deepest part of the abyss.
Abyss. Certainly, I lived here because everything I experienced so far wasn't real. Their affection, their trust, and their favorability.
Fake. Everything fake.
But that was enough sentiment. If no one threw a rope, only I, myself, and I could save myself. With my own nails, I climbed the abyss. Whatever awaited me above, I forged my heart to face it.
First, I needed to confess about the source of this illusion to the very victim of this system, Old Man Brian.
Entering his work room, he welcomed me with a warm smile, as if I was everything he ever had. The system cast this illusion, and the impact even pulled his descendants like a black hole.
"Sit. What's with the long face? Is something troubling you, my grandson?" he asked softly.
I stared into his tender grey eyes. When looking at others, he only put on his sharp expression. Thinking about that just fueled my regret and determination to confess. "Hey. How was your day?"
Brian chuckled. "I think this is the first time we finally talk eyes to eyes. Were you usually an awkward person?"
"I am trying to be nice here, Geezer."
He smiled. "That's more like you. The day is early, but I have never felt this good for a long time. All thanks to you."
"About that, I believe I did nothing much."
"Hahaha, acting humble again. You can be yourself when it's just the two of us. I find your rude self to be darling."
"No. Really. I am here to talk about that. Please hear me out."
Sensing the seriousness in my gaze, he folded his arms on the table.
"So I always found it weird that you all accepted a former convict like me into the family. For the first time, last night, I finally had a chance to check about this inherent ability of mine. The revelation fucked me in the ass. I have been feeling like shit since that. First, I want to apologize. It was never my intention, but my inherent ability has been brainwashing your mind. Not only that, it is also affecting your descendants. This ability is so terrifying that it unconditionally changes people's mind about me. Your affection, your trust, all of them are fake. For that, I am so sorry."
Brian rubbed his neatly-trimmed beard. "Your ability? Do you mean the Grandpa Maximum Charm that the system cast on me on the first day we met?"
I widened my eyes. "How? How the fuck do you know?"
"Well, my grandson, It wouldn't be called maximum charm if there was a condition to it, would it? The system itself explained it to me. My usual self would scheme my way to get this absolutely terrifying ability, but even I cannot harbor ill intentions to you in any way. Right now, if you decide to kill me, I wouldn't be angry."
I held my head. "Oh shit. I have read about the effect, but seeing it myself gets me shitting in the pants. Can we do something to get rid of this?"
Brian leaned forward and flicked my forehead, hurtling me off the chair.
I crashed against the wall, but I immediately stood up like it did nothing. Though, my head stung like a hot pan stuck on my skin. "What the fuck? No, wait. You could harm me. That's good, Geezer. Maybe the effect wasn't as absolute as we thought."
"Oh no it's absolute I assure you. I could do that because I intended to lecture you about your dirty mouth. Will you stop with all the cursing, young man?"
I approached him and slammed the table. "Forget about my language. Can't we do something to get rid of my system?"
"Why would you do that? You only gained benefits from that."
Claire's smile flashed in my mind. Her cheerful voices as she talked to me about things. Her soft hand as she pulled me to stroll around the garden. How much of those was her real feelings? As I thought of that, the tears flowed down my cheeks.
"Fuck you for introducing me to her. No. Fuck the system. If it wasn't for that, we would've just been strangers."
Brian smiled. "I assure you, Ryder. After knowing you, my usual self would be grateful too. I have sworn to do anything to help Claire. If this was the price I had to pay, let it be. Both my usual self and I are grateful that I brought you in. I don't know about your past, but you are a good person."
I wiped my eyes. "But Claire..."
"She changed for the better. I am glad for that. Her mother and father were the same. Even if the maximum charm affected them too, they changed for the better. I am glad for that."
"Shit. You are just under the system's control to say that."
"Want to bet, then, young man? We get rid of that inherent ability of yours, and if we don't change our opinion about you after that, I win. If we change, you win. The winner will get one wish."
"Fuck with the bet. I just want to get rid of this malicious thing. Can we do that?"
"Certainly. But on one condition. This ritual only transfers an inherent ability from one person to another vessel with blood relation. We can lead it into a cursed doll and trap the ability there, but we also need to do another ritual preventing this ability to transfer to your blood relatives. We need to find your family first."
"Okay. Let's do that. Please contact my family," I said, but Brian only stared at me blankly as if awaiting something. "What?"
"Your information, my grandson. I have used my own Intel, but something is off. I cannot find anything about you. There's no record of your crime too. It's as if you suddenly popped out of thin air in prison. What's your identity, young man?"
"The fuck are you on? I am just an ordinary citizen. My family is living in... Huh... Huh?? What the fuck?"
Memories were like stars. We observed them from below. However, when dark clouds shrouded the sky, there was nothing we could see.
Just like my past. Dark clouds shrouded them.
"What the fuck? Why can't I remember anything about me?"