Aftermath 4

Athena and I had a quick talk about what happened in their group before I arrived. Although I already heard every thing from Alicia, I just listened to her wholeheartedly without saying anything.

Every time she opened her mouth when she was trying to say something, in my vision, I saw a faint silhouette of her with her previous life appearance.

𝘈𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.

After the long talk about what happened in the dungeon, I finally decided to change the topic by saying, "Anyways, you said earlier that you wanted to ask me something. Can I know what is it?"

"Ah... There's no need for me to ask that anymore?"

"Hm...?"

"Well..." Athena started fidgeting her fingers as if she was trying hard to think of something that could shift my question to a question that was not related on my question.

Sighing, I waved her off to attract her attention back to me. "Actually, there's no need for you to answer that question. But, can I ask you what happened to you after I died in our previous life?"

This had been my question since after I died and got reborn as Athan. I guess I'll finally figure it out after she answer.

Athena paused for a moment. After pondering for a minute, she looked at me straight in the eyes saying.

"That world... That world has already been destroyed."

***

Thus, Athena began her explanation. She told me that twelve years after I died, a certain someone I know invented something that works similar to the sealed portal.

At first, the portal worked perfectly as an teleportation machine. Because of this, almost every country around the world came with their full support to help that person.

Every thing worked perfectly. After the teleportation machine was invented, more and more inventions and ideas came to life.

With this, the humanities progressed a hundred years early in the future.

"Everything went smoothly. There was no wars between countries because every countries made a peace treaty. And some people managed to make a spaceship that could withstand the speed of light!"

Athena had a cheerful expression while she was saying this, and I just smiled internally when I saw her like that.

She continued on telling me stories about what happened before the 'incident'. When we finally reached the end of her excited stories, Athena's expression suddenly turned serious.

"All of that just disappeared..." She sighed and looked at the window. "A couple of years after the teleportation machine was invented, one of them suddenly had an malfunction..."

Hearing her say that, I don't know why, but I think I already know she was about to say next.

"Let me guess... Some scary as fuck came out of the teleportation machine." Saying this, I pinched the middle of my brows in contempt. I didn't even need to turn my head to her direction to see what she was doing because I had a feeling that she was there nodding her head.

"Yes," She responded to my question without shifting her eyes from outside.

I just let out a long sigh, saying, "You don't need to continue." I mean, I already had a rough idea about what was about to happen next anyway.

𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯... I thought to myself, turning my head to face and stare at the window.

"Anyways, also... It's about your stepsister..."

When I heard her mention this, my attention immediately went back to her. "What about her?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

Athena took a long deep breath before continuing, "She was actually one of the scientist that helped 'that' person complete the teleportation machine."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah... Surprising, isn't it? I was surprised too when I found that out. I don't know why she helped that person either, but I can tell that she has her own reasons why she did that."

"..."

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭... 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵... 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦? 𝘐𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵!?

With this thoughts rotating around inside my mind, my expression remained indifference as I took out two cups and a teabag that was resting inside my [Pocket Ring].

After putting a hot water and the teabag onto the cups, I gave Athena the first cup while the other was mine.

"I guess she was still angry about me accidentally creating a theory that was exactly the same as her theory and publishing it on public..." As I said this out loud, I took a sip at the tea I was holding.

But before I could drank any of it, Athena uttered something that threw me off guard.

"You are so dense as fuck..."

"Pfff....! Haaaa!?" I spurted the drink out in my mouth. "What do you mean by that?"

𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺? 𝘖𝘳, 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴?

I turned my head to look at her while holding an 'did I heard you correctly?' expression.

It was as if she understood my expression that she decided to continue, "You heard me correctly. YOU ARE SO DENSE AS FUCK! You... You understood human emotions, yet, you can't even understand what simple love is!"

"That girl loved you because after your adoptive parents died-in other words, her real parents, you took them in and worked your ass including your stepbrother (Athena's boyfriend) since the other family members never wanted to take the three of you in. You both worked hard... Wait, actually, you are the one who worked the most since you took six part-time, and your brother took three, while also going to school every five days in a week! If I was in your case, I would have long given up and committed suicide because of the stress and depression you felt after seeing the only family who loved you and cared for you died!"

"And also, yes, you did accidentally created the same exact theory as her and published it on public, gaining millions of supports from people around the world. Although this made her angry, did you actually think that she'll remain angry after what you did to help them after all those years! Not to mention, even while you both work in the same laboratory, how can you not notice her looking at you the same gaze I made when I'm with your brother!... Sometimes I think being a genius has their own problems."

When I heard her say all of this, I went silent.

I don't know if I should consider this as a complement or an insult for indirectly saying that I'm an idiot. Both of them, probably?

"So you're saying that that girl had loved me romantically? That's preposterous. That girl never once called me, nor treated me as her big brother. That girl hated me with guts even before her parents-my adoptive parents died. So, why would I force her to call me her brother and force myself to call her as my little sister?" I pinched the middle of my brows before shifting my attention back to her.

"Yes. I understand that I did helped them finish their schooling and fed her with the help of my big brother... I mean her real big brother, but, that doesn't prove anything that she loved me romantically. Right now, I felt like that she was only confused by her own feelings. Sooner or later, she will forget about me in her life." Smiling, I shook my head with a helpless expression.

*Tak!*

She facepalmed after hearing my words. "I never thought in my lifetime that I would actually call a good-for-nothing genius as a romantic idiot... I don't know if this would be considered as pure luck or bad luck. But, damn, I feel bad for her..."

"Hey... Calling a genius as an idiot can hurt their feelings as well, you idiot."

When she was about to continue speaking, the door behind her suddenly opened as a cheerful and excited voice came in.

"I heard that you are awake, Athan."

Arthur was only halfway inside the room when Athena released an icy cold pressure that made Arthur stop his movement.

"You're an eyesore. Get out," Her gaze was cold as the pressure she released increased by two-fold.

When Arthur felt this, he immediately turned around and grabbed the doorknob saying, "Y-yes, ma'am!" As he closed the door.

Seeing this, I bit my lower lips to calm myself down, trying to suppress the laugher that was threatened to escape from my lips.

After Arthur left the room, the cold pressure Athena was releasing disappeared as she turned to look at me with the same expression she was using when she was giving me a sermon.

"Let's continue..." Saying this, she continued speaking.

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬... 𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵.