Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Adrian was still focused on the new puzzle he had discovered when he heard the doctor’s warning. And his focus instantly shifted when the doctor spoke the word ’Evil’.

’Right, that’s the focal point of it all.’

Even though Adrian seemed calm and in control, he was actually entirely clueless about why everything was happening the way it was.

He had suddenly been triggered by the word ’Evil’ even though he didn’t understand why. Then his Origin ability suddenly began acting up, and he was pulled into this vision of the past, or whatever it actually was.

But Adrian had no clue why his Origin ability was showing him this memory. As far as he could recall, this was just an ordinary clinic visit and had left absolutely no emotional impact on him, so what was the point in watching it?

And when he heard the word ’Evil’, his confusion deepened further.

But before he could even process that confusion, his world suddenly shifted once again. The white walls of the clinic were no longer around him, nor could he find the doctor.

People passed him by in both directions. To his left, cars and buses drifted through the road, the sound of their collective honks feeling like a hammer being repeatedly struck over his head.

’...What the-?’

But before he could process even the changed surroundings or the new turn of events, he suddenly felt a tyrannical pull dragging him forward, forcing him to move his steps.

Only now did his gaze fall on the young man wearing a formal black office suit walking ahead. Even from behind, Adrian recognised that it was his previous self.

He matched the young man’s pace and followed him from behind.

...not that he had any other choice, anyway.

***

Daniel walked forward on the footpath, navigating through the clusters of people with such ease that it could only be achieved through the years of experience that he had developed walking amidst the crowd.

It was still bright even though he couldn’t see the sun due to the pollution covering the sky like a grey curtain. As he checked the time on his smartphone, it was still five, three whole hours before nightfall.

If not for the sudden meeting among the board of directors, Daniel would‌ still be working in the office.

’I got quite lucky today. I should quickly cook something up for myself as soon as I reach home. And after that...’

...He was obviously going to sleep like a log until morning.

As he turned left at a crossroad, he saw a blind person holding a cap upside-down like a bowl and shaking it in front of the people passing by. Noticing him, many people paused and put coins in his cap.

But just as Daniel was only ‌a few steps away, the blind beggar accidentally bumped shoulders with a passerby, causing him to lose his balance and fall down. In the process, all the coins contained in the cap got flung into the air and fell to the ground like rain.

For a moment, it really did feel as though coins were raining from the sky.

The blind beggar hurriedly touched the road here and there, as if trying to find his cap. In the process, he picked up whichever coin his aimless fingers touched.

Seeing everything unfold, the people walking by all stopped and crouched as they all, too, began picking up coins scattered across the street. Someone picked up the cap and handed it back to the blind beggar.

Daniel, meanwhile, walked forward while watching his steps, careful not to step on the coins scattered across the road or kick them away accidentally.

As he walked forward, he could feel several eyes staring at his back. They were probably people picking up the coins.

He ignored them and continued forward.

Tring~ Tring~

Just then, he heard a melodious ringing sound coming from right behind him. It sounded like the ringing of a bicycle bell.

Daniel ignored it.

He was walking on a footpath; he had no reason to make way for someone riding a bicycle.

But after walking for about a hundred meters or so, he heard the ringing of the bell from right behind him once again.

Tring~ Tring~

He continued walking as he took out his phone from his pocket and began looking through the recent notifications.

After about another hundred or so meters of walking, he took a turn and entered a different, far less crowded street. But that was when he heard the bicycle’s bell once again, for the third time.

Tring~ Tring~

’Is this intentional?’

He was just about to pause, but sighed and continued walking while ignoring everything around him.

Just then, he saw a little girl with her hair done in twin tails riding a small bicycle with training wheels. She seemed to be matching her bicycle’s pace with his, remaining side by side as he continued walking.

The girl turned to him with her cheeks puffed up and her lips pouty. It was as though she were intentionally trying to show him that she was angry.

’So this little girl was the one ringing her bicycle’s bell from behind. And what’s with that face? Is she angry that I had been ignoring her until now?’

She pointed a tiny finger at him and spoke in her childlike tone.

"Mister, you are a bad person, aren’t you? You didn’t help that blind man."

He met the little girl’s eyes and addressed her in his usual tone.

"Do I know you, little girl?"

Instead of answering, the little girl asked back.

"Does it matter?"

He shook his head.

"Not really."

He then thought back to what the girl was accusing him of. She was saying that he was a bad person because he didn’t stop to help the blind beggar. He was sure that those who stopped to help were thinking the same thing as they watched him walk away.

Then he suddenly remembered what the doctor had told him when he visited that clinic a week ago.

’I might unintentionally arrive at the path of evil, was it? No, maybe it was something else...’

Anyway, he did agree with the doctor on that point.

Daniel returned his focus back to the girl and asked.

"What even is a bad person? And what is a good person?"

The little girl looked at him strangely, her expression practically screaming ’You don’t even know that?’

"Mister, you are so stupid. A bad person is obviously someone who does bad things, while a good person is the one who does good things."

He looked at her expressionlessly, and she looked back innocently. He slowly opened his mouth.

"Then why did you call me a bad person? After all, I didn’t do anything bad."

The girl blinked a few times at his question, then narrowed her eyes.

"But you didn’t help that blind man like the others, so you aren’t a good person. And since you aren’t a good person, you can only be a bad person!"

Daniel frowned.

’What kind of reasoning is that?’

"That makes no sense. By your logic, since I didn’t do anything bad, I am not a bad person. And since I am not a bad person, I can only be a good person. Wouldn’t you agree, little girl?"

The little girl opened her mouth, as if to retort, but no words came out. Slowly, she tilted her head in confusion.

Daniel closed his eyes and recalled the scene of the blind beggar desperately picking up the coins scattered on the road.

He asked himself a single question. Did he feel pity for that person?

’Not really.’

He didn’t. And since he didn’t, he had no reason to help that person.

The little girl was not mature enough to win an argument with him, but if it had been someone else, they would’ve probably said that ignoring someone’s suffering and allowing it to happen is no different from inflicting it and that both were equally evil.

But again, that was just an opinion and made little sense to him.

When he was young, Daniel may have believed that everyone who had stopped to help that blind beggar was doing it out of the kindness of their heart, but he knew now that it was not the case.

With the experience he had gained managing employees in the corporate world, he had become well aware of crowd psychology and thus knew the truth.

Most of those people couldn’t care less about that beggar just like him, or were too busy with their own problems. Yet they still stopped to help, not out of morality but out of social pressure and the criticism they may be subjected to if they didn’t.

Looking ahead, he asked the little girl another question.

"If I do neither good things nor bad things, then what am I? A good person or a bad person?"

The girl was once again unable to answer, looking at him in confusion.

Daniel remained quiet for a few moments, looking into the empty air. And then, he answered his own question. An answer that was simple yet true for him all the same. It was his compass.

"I am just a person. Someone struggling through life, caring little about the labels attached to me by outsiders. But I know the line, see it, and know better than to cross it. Because in the end, actions have consequences."