Aaron's Side Story Chapter 27: The First Dream (11)
* * *
“Huff... huff...”
His breath is ragged.
It feels like his lungs are going to burst.
Aaron struggled to hold back his trembling knees and ran.
“Brother, I...!”
His hand clasped with his younger sister's was soaked in sweat.
The girl's stamina was already at its limit.
Her staggering steps drew a zigzag pattern.
“We can’t stop, Nina, run!”
They didn’t look back.
The siblings gritted their teeth and ran.
The moment they stop, they will be devoured.
A calamity was approaching from behind.
‘What is this?’
How could the happiness he had just grasped again turn into this?
How did they burst out from the thorny path only to end up like this?
He felt dizzy.
He wanted to curse the gods.
Tears mixed with sweat streamed down his face.
After losing their parents in a freak accident,
The two siblings fell into despair in an instant.
The shop in the village was pawned and disappeared somewhere.
All that remained was a little money and a single house.
If he were unhappy alone, that would be better.
The problem was his sister.
Having been weak since childhood, she needed to take medicine to survive.
Money.
They needed more money.
Aaron rolled in the filth to save up money.
He sold and bought all sorts of things and honed his skills.
‘So, so...!’
It could only be seen as luck.
It was a matter that succeeded once out of ten attempts.
The business he started recklessly somehow established a foothold, and when he became an adult, it stabilized and supported the siblings' lives.
He had recaptured the happiness that had once been lost.
In the corner of the village, a shop was being built just for them.
Aaron collected goods by traveling between the village and the city, and his sister sold them in the shop.
Finally, they no longer had to suffer.
It was the humble dream and happiness of the siblings they had just seized.
But the happiness of the weak is like a sandcastle on the beach.
From that moment on, rumors began to swirl around.
The rumor of destruction.
That rumor became reality and was chasing right behind the siblings.
‘What the hell! Damn it!’
They ran frantically.
The shop that had been their dream and goal had long since burned down.
The house left by their parents had also disappeared.
They abandoned their home, shop, and hometown.
They just ran and ran to preserve their lives.
Sometimes, what chased the siblings were monsters.
The monsters that had lost their homes came into human territory and rampaged violently.
Sometimes they were humans.
The golden empire had collapsed and turned into a playground for robbers.
Knights without masters and citizens who lost their homes became robbers, plundering their neighbors' belongings and lives.
Sometimes it was a calamity itself.
Even now, Aaron could not forget the image engraved in his mind.
If he ever saw them, he could not deny it.
That Taonier had met its time of destruction.
“Help me, help me!”
“Gyaaaah!”
“Uuuh!”
Screams echoed everywhere.
The place the siblings were running was a street in some city.
Mansions and buildings nearby were all burning.
People without a place to go groaned and screamed.
‘Is it the same here?’
It was the same wherever they went.
They had come to a city, which was supposedly safe after leaving their hometown, but the situation had not improved.
To the left, a group of ogres soaked in blood was rampaging.
To the right, the same humans were killing each other and looting.
Disaster was coming right behind them.
“Nina, I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”
“Don’t apologize!”
Aaron interrupted his sister.
He didn’t want to hear it.
“I... can’t... go any further…”
The young man abruptly pulled his sister's hand.
The girl, who was about to say something, leaned forward as her words were cut off.
‘Why?’
The happiness they had built was too powerless in the face of violence.
Because they were weak.
Because they were so weak, they couldn’t protect their happiness.
Just like their parents had been absurdly killed by robbers.
Because they weren’t strong enough to protect their own happiness.
“......”
He couldn’t bear it.
Even running now.
His younger sister, who was physically weak, couldn’t run far.
So she was caught up by the calamity.
‘Because she’s weak.’
If her body had been healthy,
She could have fled much farther than now.
She didn’t have to die in a place like this.
“Go on... go on alone...”
He heard a sobbing voice from behind.
Aaron didn’t respond.
‘Because I’m weak.’
What if he had been stronger than now?
If Aaron had the power to wipe out the bandits or monsters, he wouldn’t have needed to take a dangerous detour.
He could have picked up his sister’s dying body and run away in an instant.
Aaron couldn’t do that.
The siblings were equally weak.
A few years after their parents died.
Aaron tried to train in martial arts.
He knew the reason.
At one point, he had blamed the bandits for killing his parents without any resistance.
But he gave up.
His physical abilities and athletic skills were below average.
He thought it was a waste of time.
It was a busy time.
Rather than training martial arts that wouldn’t work, he thought it was better to check on one more item.
He believed people should live according to their given talents.
‘I was a fool.’
It was a foolish judgment.
He should have forced himself to become strong.
If he wasn’t strong, happiness would crumble like a sandcastle.
Just like Aaron’s parents had.
“Hah!”
The girl’s groans became rough.
Aaron was half-dragging his sister forward.
Now it was at its limit.
Nina didn’t seem capable of running anymore.
“Get on my back!”
Aaron bent down.
He heard a sound of her swallowing hard from behind.
It must be hard to say anything.
“Quickly!”
Aaron urged her urgently.
The girl collapsed onto the young man’s back.
Aaron tried to lift his body.
“Ugh!”
He couldn’t straighten his knees.
The weight on his back felt unbearably heavy.
‘Damn it.’
Why can’t I get up?
Nina is light!
Get up!
“Ugh...!”
The young man barely managed to stand up, carrying his sister on his back.
His legs trembled.
‘Just run away.’
If they stopped here, they would be caught.
The heat of the flames burning the entire city was scorching his body.
Aaron moved forward.
Step by step, one at a time.
He should be running.
He should be running more than this.
He was walking at a pace slower than a slug.
“......!”
Thud.
Aaron’s body toppled forward.
His body couldn’t withstand the burden.
‘What am I doing.’
Aaron was exhausted as well.
It was a fool’s errand to run while carrying one person.
From the beginning, it was an impossible task.
‘It hurts.’
As he fell, he twisted his ankle.
A sharp pain shot up from his left ankle.
Aaron tried to get up but couldn’t.
“I’m sorry.”
Nina said.
“I’m sorry, brother.”
The siblings lay on the ground facing each other.
The girl was crying.
Her face was wet with tears.
“......”
It was absurd.
Aaron chuckled hollowly.
How foolish.
The last family face he should see is like this.
There could be no worse nightmare than this.
Thus, the siblings met their demise.
* * *
Aaron opened his eyes.
On a familiar bed.
He knows that the images he just saw were not just a dream.
The forgotten memories have already returned.
‘This...’
He weakly raised his upper body.
If he had realized this memory eighty or ninety years ago, he would have been very sad.
But now, that fact made Aaron feel even more bitter.
Even knowing the miserable end of the siblings did not faze him.
Even realizing it was his own situation was the same.
Of course.
To cry and throw a fit,
Aaron had grown too old for that.
Only the cold reality struck his mind.
The contradictions he had held for so long began to be redefined and logic was constructed.
“Now I can answer.”
Aaron muttered in a dark voice.
Nearly a hundred years had passed, and even the affection for his family had mostly evaporated.
“Nina.”
He looked at the wall.
On it hung the portrait of his younger sister.
Several facts surfaced in his mind.
First, why are the memories of lower-tier heroes lost?
It was not a difficult question.
If they were summoned with the memories of destruction, they would surely rampage.
The memory loss was the minimum precaution to prevent their commotion.
Only those who can accept reality calmly can gain memories.
That was the reason why 4-star and 5-star heroes preserved their memories.
‘Why did Aaron Delcut pursue strength?’
The Aaron at the time of summoning could not recall that moment.
However, memories do not disappear just because they are forgotten.
The painful end of the siblings.
That lost memory was engraved deep in Aaron’s unconscious.
‘Without strength, one cannot be happy.’
He must have thought so unconsciously.
Aaron thought he acted according to his judgment, but the hidden memories were controlling him.
Of course, it wasn’t an obsession from the start.
Just a bit stronger than the average.
So, to others, Aaron seemed like he was working hard.
In fact, that’s how it was.
The situation worsened after experiencing several events.
Now, Aaron could judge his past self with a clear mind.
‘Was it the 15th floor?’
He traced back to the faint past.
The mission on the 15th floor of Taonier.
The mission was to rescue the princess, escort her, and escape outside the city.
Aaron participated in that mission with his comrades.
‘An incident occurred.’
Perhaps that incident was the first trigger.
In the middle of the mission, a party had secured the princess’s protection and was about to escape.
But then Aaron was poisoned by a weapon coated in poison.
If this continued, Aaron would die.
The party leader, Han, revised the escape plan.
Whether it was because of Aaron or some other reason, he didn’t know.
But the mission, which should have gone smoothly, became difficult after that.
‘......’
Nearly a hundred years ago.
He couldn’t clearly recall the emotions he felt back then.
But it appears vividly.
In the empty training ground at dawn.
A young man swinging and thrusting a spear like a madman.
“Damn it... damn it...”
The young man muttered to himself.
His body was drenched in sweat.
His heavy limbs refused to obey.
The young man forced his body to move against its will.
His lips were tightly clenched.
He swung without even noticing the blood flowing down.
The young man was crying.
“Why... am I so weak... why...”
It was from that moment on.
When the ordinary effort-driven Aaron transformed.
He became obsessed with the purpose of becoming strong, and the balance of his life began to break down.
Back then.
Aaron’s life in the lobby was painful but had small joys.
Moving forward with trustworthy comrades.
But that happiness crumbled.
The talentless Aaron could not help his comrades.
‘It wasn’t just me.’
He wasn’t the only one who fell behind.
There were heroes who were reluctant to fight from the beginning, and there were heroes who dropped out for various reasons along the way.
They too had paths available.
Commonly referred to as non-combat roles.
There were means to be helpful without fighting.
Even if not specifically as an instructor, Aaron had experience as a merchant.
He could have contributed to the lobby with another talent.
Of course, it was sad not to be with his comrades.
It would have inflicted a deep wound equal to that of a shattered dream.
But there was no path.
As much as he knew that, Han and his party never blamed the fallen heroes.
They cheered for their future.
The fallen heroes were the same.
They acknowledged the reality of their inadequacy and, by giving up their paths, did not block the way for their comrades.
But the hero named Aaron was strange.
Those with similar talents had long since given up.
He alone remained, struggling against the wall in front of him.
It couldn’t be explained simply as effort or diligence.
Living a life madly pursuing strength, having given up all daily life.
A madness that surpassed obsession.
He doesn’t know.
No one knows.
Only Han Israt saw the fragments of it.
There were results, however.
Despite his terrible talent, Aaron could belong to the regular members up to the 20th floor.
But Aaron knew.
He knew he would one day fall behind.
The newly minted hero named Belkist had caught up to him in far less time and effort.
‘Still, I didn’t stop.’
Knowing that.
The more he worked hard, the more miserable he felt.
Aaron relinquished his position in the first party to Belkist but didn’t leave the combat member position.
Even in that state, he attempted to become stronger.
‘Did my brother... notice?’
At that time, he was no longer Aaron.
Before he was summoned here, there was a seed in the heart of the young man named Aaron.
It was the deep trauma of having lost happiness twice due to lacking strength.
At first, it was fine.
In a different situation, he could have spent his life without that seed awakening.
But the lobby is not an ordinary place.
It is an extreme place where life and death intersect.
There were several triggers there.
They nourished the seed in his heart.
The seed began to root and grow in his unconscious.
And the seed became a massive tree.
The tree broke out of the realm of the unconscious and infiltrated the realm of consciousness.
Finally, Aaron’s consciousness began to be dominated by that tree.
“......”
Now he realizes.
All this time, Aaron thought that his pursuit of strength was a matter of choice.
<Solve the contradictions hidden within you.>
When he first came here, the boy had told Aaron that.
To resolve the contradictions in his heart.
It was certainly so.
Knowing he couldn’t become strong, knowing there were other paths, Aaron had forced himself to become strong.
‘This is it; it doesn’t make sense.’
In the cabin room.
Aaron stands and looks at the portrait of his younger sister.
He is finally able to answer the boy’s question.
“I’m not not giving up, but...”
I just can’t do it.