Chapter 90: The Day Chose To Forget
Darkness.
Not the absence of light.
The absence of everything.
Dillan couldn’t feel the floor beneath his feet.
Couldn’t hear his own breathing.
Couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open.
Only one sound remained.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The pocket watch.
Except...
It was counting backward.
4:20
4:19
4:18
The ancient voice echoed again.
"Do you remember... the day you chose to forget?"
"I..."
Dillan answered into the darkness.
"...No."
Silence.
Then...
The darkness split apart.
Rain.
Heavy rain.
A train station.
Children crying.
Adults shouting.
Eight-year-old Dillan stood in the middle of the platform.
Across from him...
Eight-year-old Sasha clung tightly to his sleeve.
"Dillan..."
"...Don’t forget me."
Young Dillan smiled.
"I won’t."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Suddenly...
Everything froze.
The rain stopped in midair.
The people became statues.
Even the departing train stopped moving.
Only one figure continued walking.
An old man.
The same elderly man from the memories.
The same man who had given him the pocket watch.
He stopped beside young Dillan.
"...The time has come."
Young Dillan slowly nodded.
"I know."
Sasha looked between them.
"...What are you talking about?"
Neither answered.
The old man knelt before the young boy.
"...If you continue..."
"...They will find you."
Young Dillan lowered his head.
"...I know."
"...If you remember..."
"...They will awaken."
"...I know."
"...Then choose."
The old man held out the silver pocket watch.
Young Dillan accepted it.
Then...
To the older Dillan watching the memory...
The child suddenly turned.
Looked directly at him.
As though he could see him.
"...You came."
Adult Dillan’s heartbeat stopped.
"...You..."
Young Dillan smiled sadly.
"...I knew you’d come back eventually."
The memory shattered.
Dillan gasped.
He was back inside his apartment.
The lights returned.
His body was covered in cold sweat.
The pocket watch rested on the desk.
Still frozen at 4:20.
The System quietly appeared.
[MEMORY RECOVERY: 16%]
[NOTICE:]
[FORGETTING WAS VOLUNTARY.]
"...Voluntary?"
His voice cracked.
"...I..."
"...I chose..."
"...To forget?"
Guardian Network Headquarters.
Thirty minutes later.
Commander Yuna listened carefully as Dillan explained everything.
When he finished...
Nobody spoke.
Finally...
Dr. Yeon broke the silence.
"...You mean..."
"...You erased your own memories?"
"...Apparently."
Dana rubbed both temples.
"...Why would anyone do that?"
Lyra answered before Dillan could.
"...To protect something."
Sasha quietly stood near the window.
She hadn’t interrupted once.
Her eyes remained lowered.
Then...
Very softly...
"...He almost told me."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...What?"
"The day I left."
She slowly looked up.
"...He started saying something."
"’If one day I don’t remember...’"
"...Then..."
Her voice trembled.
"...The train arrived."
"...He never finished."
Silence.
Commander Yuna folded her arms.
"...Meaning he planned this."
"No."
Lyra quietly corrected.
"...He prepared for it."
Elsewhere...
Chairman Gamilo stood inside a hidden underground chamber beneath his estate.
Ancient symbols covered the walls.
In the center...
A massive stone door remained sealed by seven enormous locks.
Only the first glowed faintly.
The Chairman looked at it calmly.
"...The first has opened."
The secretary nodded.
"...Yes, sir."
"...And the second..."
The Chairman placed one hand against the stone.
"...Has begun responding."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"...Faster than expected."
Back at headquarters...
Sera found Dillan sitting alone in the greenhouse.
The flowers gently swayed in the evening breeze.
She quietly sat beside him.
"...Thinking?"
"...Too much."
He answered.
"...I don’t understand myself anymore."
"You don’t have to."
He laughed weakly.
"Easy for you to say."
Sera smiled.
"No."
"...It isn’t."
Silence.
She looked toward the lilies.
"...People change."
"...Sometimes because they want to."
"...Sometimes because they have to."
She looked back at him.
"...Whoever you were..."
"...You’re still choosing who you become."
Dillan stared quietly at the flowers.
"...You really believe that?"
"...I do."
She stood.
Then gently placed a white lily beside him.
"...Don’t let yesterday decide tomorrow."
She walked away.
Leaving him alone again.
Night fell.
The city lights stretched endlessly beyond the headquarters.
Lyra stood once more inside the Resonance Chamber.
The Field had become restless.
Tiny ripples spread in every direction.
Then...
A second pulse echoed through it.
Not from Seoul.
Not from another country.
From somewhere...
Far beyond Earth itself.
Lyra’s expression slowly hardened.
"...No..."
She whispered.
"...The second Watcher..."
"...Has started moving."
Far away...
Inside the endless chamber beyond the seven layers...
The Second Watcher opened his eyes.
Unlike the First...
His robes were covered in ancient silver markings.
He looked toward the First Watcher.
"...The Memory Lock weakens."
The First Watcher nodded once.
"...Soon..."
"...The Choice Lock."
The Second Watcher slowly stood.
Golden eyes burned beneath his hood.
"...Then..."
"...History begins again."
The chamber fell silent.
And somewhere in the distance...
A second lock clicked.
Click.
Click.
Dillan’s eyes snapped open.
He had fallen asleep inside the greenhouse.
Moonlight poured through the glass ceiling.
The white lily Sera had left beside him still rested on the bench.
Yet...
Something felt different.
The Resonance Field was moving.
Not violently.
Purposefully.
Like countless invisible threads were slowly rearranging themselves around the city.
The pocket watch in his jacket ticked softly.
For the first time...
It no longer felt like it was counting time.
It felt like it was counting...
Choices.
The next morning...
Guardian Network Headquarters buzzed with unusual activity.
Emergency alerts flashed across every monitor.
Commander Yuna entered the operations room carrying a tablet.
"We’ve got reports."
Dana looked up.
"What kind?"
"People."
Silence.
"They’re remembering things..."
"...That never happened."
Dr. Yeon immediately frowned.
"...Impossible."
"So I thought."
Yuna placed several reports onto the table.
A businessman remembered attending a school that never existed.
A little girl insisted she had an older brother despite being an only child.
An elderly woman claimed she’d been married twice...
Even though official records showed only one husband.
"...False memories?"
Dana asked.
Lyra quietly shook her head.
"...No."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...Possible memories."
Nobody understood.
Except Dillan.
"...Choice."
Everyone turned toward him.
He slowly reached into his pocket.
The silver watch.
Still frozen at 4:20.
"...The Watcher said..."
"...The Choice Lock."
Lyra’s expression slowly changed.
"...Reality..."
She whispered.
"...Is remembering different paths."
Across Seoul...
The phenomenon continued spreading.
Some people laughed.
Others cried.
Some simply stood frozen.
Each one remembering...
A life they had never lived.
Meanwhile...
Sasha quietly walked through an old neighborhood.
She had returned to the place where she and Dillan had played as children.
Most of it had changed.
The small grocery store was gone.
The playground had been rebuilt.
The old fence they used to climb had disappeared years ago.
Only one thing remained.
The oak tree.
She gently rested her hand against its bark.
"...You survived."
A soft breeze answered.
She smiled.
"...We both did."
Then...
Another voice came from behind her.
"...Did you?"
Sasha immediately turned.
A young man wearing an expensive black suit stood several meters away.
He looked no older than thirty.
Perfectly groomed.
Perfect posture.
His smile never reached his eyes.
"...Mr. Kellan."
Sasha’s expression became unreadable.
"...I didn’t expect Father to send you."
He adjusted his gloves calmly.
"...The Chairman believes you’re becoming emotional."
"...I am emotional."
"...Exactly."
Silence.
He stepped closer.
"...Come home."
"No."
"...Final answer?"
"...Yes."
Kellan sighed.
"...That’s unfortunate."
His eyes slowly shifted toward the city skyline.
"...Because the Board has decided..."
"...Dillan Ruren can no longer remain uninvolved."
Back at headquarters...
Mira rushed into the operations room.
"...Commander!"
Everyone turned.
"What happened?"
She placed several surveillance photographs onto the table.
Every one had been taken that morning.
Different districts.
Different cameras.
Different times.
Yet...
The same hooded figure appeared in every single image.
Not one.
Seven.
Standing silently across the city.
Watching.
Each facing a different direction.
Lyra’s face lost color.
"...They’re gathering."
Commander Yuna looked toward her.
"...For what?"
Lyra answered almost immediately.
"...Judgment."
Dillan looked down at the photographs.
Seven Watchers.
Each standing perfectly still.
One beneath a bridge.
One beside the Han River.
One atop a skyscraper.
One inside an abandoned church.
One at the city gates.
One inside a cemetery.
And...
One...
Standing directly outside Guardian Network Headquarters.
Looking upward.
Toward him.
Without warning...
Every monitor inside headquarters turned black.
Then...
Golden letters slowly appeared.
Not System windows.
Something older.
Something far beyond the System.
THE SECOND LOCK HAS OPENED.
THE THIRD SHALL CHOOSE.
The message disappeared.
Power returned instantly.
Dr. Yeon checked every machine.
Nothing had been damaged.
No trace remained.
Except...
The pocket watch.
For the first time since stopping...
Its hands moved forward.
4:20...
4:21.
Tick.
Dillan stared silently.
Then another System notification appeared.
[Chronological Lock: 2/7 Released.]
[Next Condition: Choice.]
The room remained silent.
Commander Yuna slowly looked around at everyone gathered there.
Dana.
Sera.
Mira.
Lyra.
Sasha.
Then finally...
Dillan.
"...Whatever comes next..."
She said quietly.
"...We face it together."
Everyone nodded.
Everyone except Lyra.
Because she was looking through the window.
Beyond the city.
Beyond the clouds.
Far above Earth itself.
For just a heartbeat...
She saw it.
A colossal silhouette sleeping beyond the seven layers.
Its outline was larger than worlds.
Its breathing moved entire dimensions.
One eye...
Slowly opened.
Lyra’s voice became barely audible.
"...The Architect..."
"...just looked back."