Did he just ask himself 'Why?' He was in no place to ask such a question. He had seen it throughout all his life. In his faint memories, faces came about. They were just faces with no names.

An old man who loved to slash and tried to quarrel with Jaehwan.

A good-looking blonde young man who always carried a law book.

A woman who betrayed her own kind to trust Jaehwan.

A young boy who trusted Jaehwan more than anyone in the world.

Jaehwan reminisced about them and was grasped with a question. Were they happy then? They trusted Jaehwan's unique world and stayed by his side all the time, but Jaehwan never thought about their happiness even once.

They must have been afraid at the Fall. Afraid about the System being destroyed. How could Jaehwan be certain that what he wanted was what everyone else wanted?

Jaehwan then remembered his mother's face who should be standing beyond the door of this room. He felt confused.

"Jaehwan. You said that the tower will appear in 10 years."

Was it because he was too deep in thought? It took some time for Jaehwan to understand what the Doctor said.

"Why don't we do this? You keep coming to my clinic for those 10 years."

Jaehwan answered in annoyance.

"And why do I need to do that?"

"If the 'Tower of Night' appears ten years later like you-"

"Tower of Nightmares."

"Hmph, Tower of Nightmares. If it appears, I will trust your words. I will do whatever you say."

It was an unexpected offer. The doctor quickly added, "Oh, and I will waive all consultation fees during those 10 years."

"…And why do you want to do that?"

Jaehwan couldn't understand. There seemed to be no reason for the doctor to do such a thing for him. Toward Jaehwan's suspicion, the doctor spoke with a warm voice.

"I should say that I don't want to see a boy's future being destroyed."

"..."

"Besides, it's not entirely free. I have conditions of my own."

"Condition?"

"If the tower does not appear after 10 years, you have to give up on your world."

That too was unexpected. Jaehwan's eyes shook.

"What do you think?"

Jaehwan looked at the doctor's eyes. They seemed to have no hostility whatsoever. The doctor even seemed very caring and concerned about Jaehwan. Jaehwan became confused. And that made him face a certain question that he tried to not ask until now.

What if he was wrong? What if this man was right?

What if the Tree of Imagery never existed in the first place and all of his memories were his creation? What if there was a 'reality' and he was just running away from it? If that was true, then what will happen to him now?

Jaehwan crouched. Like a king trying to protect his fallen kingdom, he crouched for a long time. And after a while, a small voice came out from the ruined, fallen kingdom.

"…Okay."

The doctor smiled.

"Good. It's a promise."

10 years quickly pa.s.sed by and Jaehwan made a few more promises with the doctor.

First, Jaehwan was never to talk about Tree of Imagery or Big Brother to anyone else during those 10 years.

Second, if Jaehwan wanted to talk about the Tree of Imagery badly, he could only talk about it with the doctor.

Third, he had to visit the doctor at least once a month during those 10 years.

Jaehwan then moved onto middle school, and then high school. He also went to college and he lived an ordinary life. He listened to cla.s.ses as if he were climbing the tower, and aimed for higher grades like he was increasing his stats.

But no matter how long had pa.s.sed, the memories of the Tree of Imagery did not go away. On the other hand, thinking of it would make him lose consciousness, so Jaehwan tried hard to not think about it. He just kept on not thinking about it at least 10 years.

His mother became happy. And through it, Jaehwan felt rea.s.sured. He felt like he was living to the fullest, and when he thought that, he also felt strong hatred toward himself. When he couldn't bear it any longer, he visited the doctor to talk about Tree of Imagery. It made him feel a bit better.

Those 10 years felt like 10 billion years had pa.s.sed.

Jaehwan was now a college student. He was now 20 years old.

Finally, it was 2018.