The World after the Fall

It was now the summer of 2018. Inside the lecture room at the college, Jaehwan looked out at the window at the green tree outside.

‘It’s about half a year left now.’

If the memory was right, the Tower of Nightmares was supposed to appear in the sky during the winter. It was probably right. In the past, he had gone to the military after the 1st semester of his college, and the tower appeared when he was just promoted to Private First Class.

‘Now that I think about it, I didn’t even finish my military service back then.’

Jaehwan smiled bitterly as he saw the novel on his smartphone.

-HAHA! I am back to the past! Finally! I will start all over again!

As he read through the novel, Jaehwan scrolled quickly down. He was reading it, but it was too cheesy. Even then, the reason why he read it was because of his fond memories of the past.

Did he like reading novels that took place in the past also? He didn’t remember.

Just like a tree without any leaves, Jaehwan’s memory was now vague and empty. Most of the details were all gone and it was those unimportant memories that were more detailed.

“You, the one with looking down at your cell phone. Can you KINDLY explain the parallel universe theory that I just explained to the class again?”

And those detailed memories sometimes collided with the reality that Jaehwan was currently living in. Such an example was the presence of the professor angrily calling him out right now.

“Uh… so your name was… yes. Jaehwan.”

“Yes, Professor Sakamoto.”

“Please, explain what the Parallel Universe Theory is.”

Sakamoto, who was a middle-school science teacher in the Tower of Nightmares, was now a professor at the college, teaching Jaehwan in this new world.

Sakamoto Seiji – Understanding of modern science

When Jaehwan first saw the name ‘Sakamoto’ on his schedule, he was not certain but he quickly found out that it was THE Sakamoto he knew. It didn’t match his memory, but Jaehwan was happy to see his friend from the tower and asked a few questions when he met Sakamoto. But as expected, he did not remember anything. It was fortunate that Sakamoto’s interest in science allowed him to not think weirdly about Jaaehwan’s question.

Jaehwan sighed and stood up.

“Can I explain how I understood?”

“Go on.”

“Uh, so the Parallel Universe Theory is…”

As he began explaining, Jaehwan felt nostalgic. He had listened to Sakamoto’s explanation a long time ago. Sakamoto even explained it again when they found the [Stone of Return] on the 77th floor of the tower.

-I think this stone will bring all of us back to another dimension back in time. But this is all a theory, and we might even all drop in the same dimension. These items exceed our knowledge after all.

‘Sakamoto, you might not have even guessed it, but I am just telling everything I heard from you back then. I am explaining the exact same thing.’

“…So, to summarize, the Parallel Universe Theory is a theory that a world takes many turns with different choices and there are multiple universes that are present that we do not realize. For example…”

Jaehwan then stopped and looked out the window. A sudden illusion came into his vision. A giant tower swept through the sky. A tragedy that came after the tower appeared. Jaehwan spoke.

“Maybe in a parallel universe, Earth might be on the brink of destruction. Because I just imagined it happening right now.”

Some students became dumbfounded. Jaehwan came back to his senses but it was too late. Sakamoto quickly resolved the confusion.

“Good work, Jaehwan. Your example surely fits you as a literature major.”

Jaehwan wasn’t sure what part of it had to do with being a literature major, but Jaehwan sat down anyway. It was now about time to end the class and Sakamoto’s lecture was now nearing its end.

“…The theory has not yet been proven. But it still is a theory that will make our lives more satisfying.”

Sakamoto continued, “To think that every ‘imagination’ we have might be what is really happening in another universe. This theory will make our choices more sincere and careful. According to this theory, we are creating a new universe every second we live.”

Jaehwan found himself concentrating on Sakamoto’s story now.

“Maybe, an ‘imagination’ or a ‘delusion’ doesn’t exist in this universe. All of those parallel universes do exist after all, in terms of imagination, a dream, metaphors, symbols, and so forth. We live once and die once, but we are living multiple parallel universes at the same time… oh, look at the time! This will wrap up today’s class!”

Students began rushing out of the lecture room as Sakamoto kept going.

“H-hey! I’m not done yet! Next week’s assignment is…”

After that lecture, Jaehwan became a bit more interested in other classes. He was especially interested in ‘writing’ classes. He first enrolled himself in many literature classes but found out that they weren’t interesting when he found out that the literature classes did not teach ‘writing’. Yoonhwan spoke to him.

“Huh? Literature major? The only way you can make money is to become a professor. Who writes books these days? You’ll starve to death before you can…”

Because of this, Jaehwan enrolled in ‘Literature Writing’ classes instead. And while he attended those classes, he wrote novels every chance he got. It was through novels that was he was determined to create a universe.

-Your story has no reality.

-You cut out too much in between, too many metaphors… and what’s this? What’s with these incomplete paragraphs? Do you think it looks cool to write in this way?

-I told you to write a novel, not some scribbles.

But his universe was quickly dismantled by merciless criticism. Only one thing was certain. Even within the category of ‘novel’, his stories were ‘unrealistic’ at best.

As Jaehwan kept on writing against all those criticism from professors and assistants, he despaired. The doctor laughed as he heard Jaehwan’s complaints.

“But your stories are fun.”

Jaehwan replied, “Shut up.”

And then came the winter of 2018.