Chapter 66: Am I Kyle?
Kyle walked back into the mansion.
The kids were still in the dining hall, cleaning up or whatever. Leo saw him first.
"Brother Kyle!"
The boy ran over. Then, stopped. He looked up at him with those golden lion eyes.
"You... you’re not leaving, right?"
Kyle blinked.
Leo’s voice got quiet. "You were gonna leave, weren’t you? Before."
The other kids heard. One by one, they stopped what they were doing.
Scorpio put down a plate. Her violet eyes went wide.
"You were leaving?" she said. Not angry. Just... surprised. Like she didn’t see it coming.
Virgo stood by the table. She didn’t say anything, but her yellow eyes stayed on Kyle.
A boy with wavy blue hair and whale symbol in his eyes — Pisces, maybe — looked down at his feet.
Even the elf girl — Sagittarius — peeked from behind a chair. Her green eyes were... sad? Or scared. Hard to tell.
Kyle felt something twist in his chest.
"I was thinking about it," he said. "But I’m not leaving."
Leo’s face lit up. "Really?!"
"Yeah."
Scorpio punched his arm. "Good. ’Cause we just met you, you know?"
"That hurt."
"Good."
Some of the kids laughed. The tension broke — Pisces smiled, Aquarius nodded, even Sagittarius came out from behind the chair.
Virgo didn’t smile. But her shoulders relaxed a little.
Kyle watched them. These weird kids with zodiac signs in their eyes. Runaways. Experiments.
`They’re happy I’m staying.`
He didn’t know what to do with that.
***
Later, in his room. Kyle sat on the edge of the bed. Lilian’s words kept coming back.
`You fight like a knight. Not an assassin.`
He looked down at Fear Blade. Still strapped to his belt.
She was right. He wasn’t an assassin. He had called himself that because he thought it fit his real class.
But he never learned to be an assassin. He thought about it, what did fit him? Direct attacks. Charging in. Using strength and speed. Not sneaking around, not finding gaps.
`That’s a swordsman.`
A knight. A warrior. Someone who meets force with force. Not a dagger.
`So why was I using a dagger?` He rubbed his face. `Maybe I should switch to a sword.`
But that meant starting over, learning a new weapon, and where would he even get a good sword here?
He pushed that thought aside.
Then there was the other thing — Class cards.
He had never heard of that. Never seen one. But Lilian acted like it was common knowledge.
`It’s like when I asked about the difference between animals and monsters.`
Back in Stonehelm, when he asked that question, Mira laughed at him. Everyone thought he was an idiot. Because everyone knew that. It was basic.
`So class cards... are also basic?`
Kyle felt a little stupid. But whatever. He would learn tomorrow.
What matters to him now is to try something. He activated his skill [Mind Control].
His eyes glowed faint crimson in the mirror.
"Split my mind," he commanded. "Focus on two things at the same time."
The command sank in.
He opened the shop screen and looked at two items at once. He could read both descriptions, compare prices, and see the pros and cons at the same time.
It was like having two brains.
`HOLY SHIT!`
His eyes glowed crimson for a moment as he commanded himself to focus on three things this time.
It worked! He was able to focus on 3 items at the same time.
But gradually, he began to feel a headache. It started mild and then became more intense with each moment.
"Stop..." he whispered.
The splitting stopped, and the headache faded.
`Three is my limit... for now.`
But still. This was huge. In a fight, he could have one part of his mind watching the enemy, another watching his back. Like eyes in the back of his head.
He smiled, satisfied with the result.
But then his thoughts drifted. There was another thing he wanted to try. Something he had thought about before.
Controlling his mind to remember things. Anything he wanted. Perfect recall.
He activated his skill again. The faint crimson glow in his eyes. He was silent for a while as he decided what he wanted to remember.
Then he frowned.
`The novel...`
The novel he moved on to... or so he assumes.
That night, on his bed, in his dorm, he had started the first Chapter of some fantasy novel. Then suddenly he moved to this world... but the problem is that he doesn’t remember.
He doesn’t remember anything about that novel!
"Remember the novel," he commanded. "The one I was reading before I came here."
The command sank in.
Kyle waited for moments, but nothing happened. Just... blank.
He frowned.
"Remember the novel," he said again. Louder.
Still nothing.
No title. No cover. No Synopsis. No characters. Nothing.
`What the hell?`
He knew he was reading something that night. He had high hopes for it. He was excited. But now? He couldn’t remember a single thing about it. Not just that, but he realized something strange.
When he first woke up in that forest, he didn’t even try to remember the novel. He just... accepted everything. Assumed he got transported into that novel. Never questioned it.
`That’s not like me.`
He loved novels. He would never forget a book he was excited about. Never.
But this one? Gone.
His frown deepened as he activated his skill once again. His eyes glowed crimson as he commanded.
"Remember every novel I’ve ever read."
The moment the command left his mind—
"AGHH!"
He screamed.
His brain split into pieces. Memories flooded in like a dam breaking. Thousands of books. Titles, plots, characters, scenes, emotions. All at once.
His head pounded. His vision blurred. He couldn’t breathe.
"S-STOP!"
He shut it off, and the headache slowly faded.
He was panting, and sweat covered his face.
`T-too much... All at once... It was too much.`
He breathed slowly and deeply.
But something was there now. Fragments. Bits of memories from dozens of novels. Stories he had read late into the night.
Gradually, a smile formed on his lips.
He was now remembering happy memories from his life, stories that made him laugh, feel sad, and rejoice. He loved novels so much that he would sometimes stay up until sunrise reading them. He laughed as he remembered that one time, his mother caught him staying up all night.
Kyle’s laughter was genuine, from the depths of his heart. He missed those days.
But gradually, he stopped laughing and frowned.
`My... mother...?`
He had a mother.
Of course, he had a mother. Everyone has a mother.
But... what did she look like?
He tried to picture her face.
Nothing.
He tried to remember her voice.
Nothing.
Her smile. The way she walked. The sound of her laugh.
All blank.
`T-that’s...`
His heart started pounding.
He tried to remember his father. A tall man? Short? Glasses? No glasses? He couldn’t see his face. Couldn’t hear his voice.
Nothing.
He tried to remember his roommate in the dorm. They lived together for months. What did he look like?
Nothing.
He tried to remember the coffee shop he liked. The barista. The old couch by the window.
Nothing.
He tried to remember anything. Any face. Any person. Any specific moment with another human being.
He knew facts. He knew he had parents. He knew he had a friend. He knew he walked certain streets.
But he couldn’t see any of it.
Like a dream you wake up from. You know something happened. But the details slip away the harder you try to grab them.
Like someone wrote down his life on a piece of paper. And all he had was the memory of reading it. Not living it.
Then suddenly, he froze, completely overtaken by terror as he realized something.
Sweat dripped down his neck. His heart was beating hard in his chest. He stood up and stumbled over to the mirror.
He stared at his reflection. Crimson eyes. Sharp face. Pale skin.
His hands gripped the edge of the wooden table. His breathing was loud in the quiet room.
"Kyle... Kyle... W-was my name Kyle?!"
