Chapter 2 …
I had been waiting for the day I could go back to meet Uncle, so I loaded a point in the distant past without hesitation.
“Load Save Point 4.”
[Loading Save Point 4.]
The moment I finished speaking, my vision dropped sharply, and the scenery changed.
At last, I had returned to when Uncle was still alive—when I was seven years old.
The elegant furniture that had filled my sight just moments ago vanished without a trace, replaced by humble houses with smoke lazily rising from their chimneys.
I awkwardly clenched and unclenched my smaller hands, reminiscing about the past.
“It’s been a while… this village too.”
In truth, this point in time was before I had even met Uncle.
I had been abandoned by my uncle in the middle of a forest crawling with monsters when I was about five.
Because of that, I was attacked and nearly died, awakening my ability in the process.
But…
“What strength could a five-year-old who knew nothing possibly have?”
I only recalled my past life memories at the age of fourteen, after Uncle’s death.
Which meant that when I was first abandoned in the monster forest, my mental age was truly that of a five-year-old child.
I tried desperately to run, but in the end, I was killed by monsters.
And before I could even fully grasp my death, I was forcibly returned to a saved point.
Even after coming back to life, nothing changed. I was chased again.
A hell where I couldn’t even die kept repeating.
Only after dying dozens of times did I barely manage to escape to a nearby village.
After that, I was trapped in a poor frontier village, surviving by begging for scraps.
When I was severely starved…
“A few clever vultures caught the scent of death and circled around me.”
Before meeting Uncle, my life was nothing more than barely clinging to existence.
And yet, why did I save this miserable time instead of the happy days I spent with him?
Simple.
“Because Save Point 4 was made before I even knew how to use my ability.”
A save point made without even knowing how many slots I had, without choosing where to save.
It was only long after meeting Uncle that I realized there weren’t three save slots, but four.
The current interface, which looks like a game system, was something I improved after regaining memories of my past life to manage things efficiently.
Back then, it didn’t kindly tell me how many slots I had or when they were saved.
But by the time I realized there were four slots, I was already used to having three.
So, just in case something went wrong, I kept Save Point 4 untouched as a way to reset my life.
And look—thanks to that decision, I can see Uncle again.
Grrr…
At the clear sound echoing in my ears, I stopped reminiscing and awkwardly rubbed my stomach.
“Ah.”
Before going through all my miserable past…
“I should eat something first. At this rate, I’ll be having another meeting with the corpse disposal team.”
Looking at my emaciated limbs, nothing but skin and bones, I smiled faintly.
✦ ✦ ✦
After briefly wondering where to go, I stopped by the place I used to stay back then.
A hidden spot on the outskirts of the village, covered by thick trees so the villagers wouldn’t notice.
As I took in the small shelter made of crudely woven leaves and branches, an indescribable emotion surged within me.
“Calling this a house when it can’t even block the rain…”
Memories flashed through my mind of sneaking into villagers’ homes on rainy days, desperately hoping not to get caught.
“I’m something else too… managing to come back to this time.”
Rummaging through the shelter, I found a piece of bread, charred black—something my younger self must have picked up somewhere.
If I scraped off the burnt exterior, there would still be edible parts inside.
It must have been precious to me back then, carefully hidden beneath a scrap of cloth.
“But I can’t feed something like that to my younger self.”
There were times when I managed to get proper food, and I would devour it, then turn back time and eat it again from the beginning, repeating it several times.
But even if time reset, the hunger remained.
And seeing the food disappear afterward would make me cry every time.
After thinking about where to get food, I headed to the house of Aunt Cecil, who was relatively the most well-off in the village.
Knock, knock.
“Who is—”
The moment Aunt Cecil opened the door and saw me, her face twisted like that of a demon.
“There’s no food for you, so get lost at once!”
But I had expected this. Before she could shut the door, I slipped my foot into the gap.
And at this point, I saved.
[Overwriting the current point onto Save Point 1.]
Thud.
When the door failed to close because of my foot, Aunt Cecil let out a disbelieving laugh.
“What do you think you’re doing, Tania?”
“What else? I’m planning to squeeze you dry and leave this village.”
“W-what?”
She stared down at me in shock, as if she had seen a ghost.
“Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a disgusting face, so my true thoughts slipped out.”
“Y-you’ve finally gone mad!”
“The crazy one is you, Auntie. You’re going to forget anyway, so let’s not waste time asking questions.”
Since it was the reaction I expected, I answered calmly and then loaded the point.
[Loading Save Point 1.]
“What do you think you’re doing, Tania?”
“Hello, Auntie. Surprisingly, I’ve awakened an ability. Would you like to hear about it?”
“What? You awakened an ability?”
She stepped back in shock, then narrowed her eyes in disbelief.
“Don’t joke around!”
“Not interested? Even if my ability is precognition?”
Abiliter.
Those who awaken special powers and can use them freely.
In this world, because of frequent monster invasions, Abiliters were treated as high-value personnel.
Among them, those with powerful abilities were extremely rare, as noble families usually monopolized them.
And now, in a remote village like this, right in front of her, stood an Abiliter with precognition—something she had never seen before?
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Aunt Cecil.
To her, I must have looked incredibly desirable.
Of course, my ability was far superior to mere prediction.
“Precognition has endless applications. For example…”
Covering my mouth, I whispered in a soft, tempting voice like a devil’s lure.
“I could tip you off about which horse will win at a racetrack in a big city.”
After saying that, I stepped away as if I didn’t particularly care whether it was her or not.
“I’m offering you an opportunity.”
She stared at me silently, as if weighing whether my words were true.
At that moment, a rough middle-aged man’s voice came from inside.
Her drunk husband.
“Hey! Who’s outside?”
But Aunt Cecil seemed too absorbed in my “precognition” to hear him.
“Tania, can you prove more clearly that you’re an Abiliter?”
At her suddenly softened tone, I smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
Even though you’ll forget asking me that.
[Loading Save Point 1.]
After loading and repeating the same sequence, Aunt Cecil showed the same conflicted expression.
To ease her doubts, I spoke first.
“In three seconds, your husband will ask from inside, ‘Hey! Who’s outside?’”
“What are you—”
“Hey! Who’s outside?”
At her husband’s voice from behind, her head snapped around.
A moment later, she slowly turned back to me and spoke quietly.
“…Don’t tell me you can even read my thoughts?”
“No. I didn’t read your thoughts. I simply knew, through precognition, that he would ask.”
“I see…”
Still, given all the wrongs she had done to me, she didn’t drop her suspicion.
“There are many others. Why come to me?”
“Because your household is the most well-off in this village. I figured you’d know how to handle money.”
“Hmm…”
“And you’re the only one in the village who gives me food.”
Poisoned food, that is.
I forced a bright smile to hide the coldness creeping into my expression.
How did I know the food she gave me was poisoned?
I wish I didn’t.
It’s not like she would go out of her way to buy poison for someone she didn’t even consider human.
She probably just picked random plants or mushrooms from the forest and threw them in.
Even that carelessness was deadly to a starving child like me.
Especially since my immunity had already been weakened from prolonged hunger.
If I hadn’t turned back time with my ability, I would have definitely died.
In my previous life, I was too busy surviving to pay her back.
But this time is different.
When you ruin someone else’s life, you should be prepared for your own to be ruined too.
Right?
