Chapter 2: 2 More Times
He can hear and see.
A beautiful halo of light bloomed in front of Ronan's eyes. Carefully, he raised his right hand, spread out his palm, and gently felt the warmth of the light falling upon it. It was so warm that it felt almost hot, even boiling, yet it outlined itself with unmatched clarity. The lines on his palm resembled veins on leaves. His fingertips couldn't resist a slight curling, as if trying to clasp the light, but then they straightened out again, and he simply gazed at the radiant glow within his hand.
"... Ronan!"
Once more, the voice called out, approaching from a distance, much clearer this time, although it still made him slightly uncomfortable.
It wasn't his mother's voice, but a man's. Strangely enough, it wasn't the Chinese pronunciation of his name, but "Ronan."
What was happening?
Could such a vivid dream be an "Inception"?
He abruptly turned his head, but a wave of dizziness overcame him. His groggy head felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. He swayed, unable to maintain his balance, and crumpled to the ground, plunging the world into chaos once more. Darkness.
Was it over? Had the dream ended?
Familiar darkness swept in again, but before it could engulf everything, a handful of cold water splashed onto his face.
Snap!
A crisp sound of water splashing reached his ears as Ronan was instantly soaked. His hair and cheeks were drenched, and the cold water trickled down his neck onto his chest and back. He instinctively closed his eyes, avoiding the cold water's intrusion, but the chaotic thoughts dissipated. The weightless spinning and the shock of the cold water dispelled the dream's confusion and illusion, and he woke up.
He embarrassingly opened his eyes to find a youthful face magnified tenfold before him. It was so close that it almost touched his nose. Ronan's eyes widened, startled. He instinctively held his breath, his head colliding with the ground, rendering his entire body motionless. What was going on?
However, Ronan quickly realized his reactions, and his mind filled with perplexity.
Was this what happened to the heroines in Korean TV dramas when they faced the wall? Unable to resist, frozen, holding their breath, with every cell in their body screaming, "Don't speak, just kiss me"? (TN:Kabedon!!)
Was his reaction truly that of a drama queen?
But Ronan wasn't entirely to blame; he wasn't accustomed to this—not to the sound, not to the gaze, not to the changes in the surroundings.
This was true whether it was a splash of water or an unexpected approach.
It had been an incredibly long time since Ronan had reacted so intensely. Over the past three years, the world had slowed down tenfold. Now it was suddenly speeding up. Meanwhile, the state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness continued to disrupt his brain's judgment until the cold water cascaded down, only then did he feel the approaching breath and touch.
The conditioned reflexes transitioning from hearing to sight felt both unfamiliar and familiar to Ronan. All he needed was a little time to adapt, and it seemed like the whole brain's processing speed was slowing down.
"A dream. It's just a dream. Everything is just a dream," Ronan told himself.
However, this dream was becoming increasingly realistic, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and fantasy:
The droplets of water, the warmth on his arm, the crowd surrounding him, the bustling noise, and even the stinging sensation from the collision between his palm and the ground all became vivid.
And, of course, the face magnified tenfold before him.
Ronan genuinely believed he needed a totem—any totem from "Inception" would suffice, even if it wasn't the protagonist's spinning top. Otherwise, he wouldn't know how to differentiate between dreams and reality because the joy and happiness deep in his heart were pulling him under.
"Ronan? Ronan! Wake up! Hurry!" one voice exclaimed. "Oh God! His pupils are dilating, and he can't seem to focus. Has his brain malfunctioned?"
"I can't believe this!"
"Cliff! Maxim! For Christ's sake, can you both calm down and stop arguing? Ronan is unconscious. Please call 911! This is not the time to evade responsibility. We have more pressing matters to attend to. We need to stay focused. Can you guys focus a bit?"
"I knew it. I knew it! We shouldn't have performed on stage tonight. This could've been avoided. Ronan has a fever. He needs rest! But you don't care about that! What do you even know? What are you doing? If Ronan..."
Buzz, buzz.
Buzz, buzz.
Ronan felt a bit perplexed because it was as if three flies were buzzing around his ears, incessantly flitting about, refusing to be swatted away.
A little further away, two flies were red-faced, engaged in a heated argument and complaining, pacing back and forth like raging bulls. Meanwhile, a fly at the nearer end of the distance rambled incessantly, muttering meaningless nonsense to itself, utterly incapable of finding a solution.
What was even more disconcerting was that there seemed to be a swarm of flies buzzing around, raising the indoor temperature continuously.
So... buzz, buzz.
His head was throbbing!
Finally, Ronan understood what it felt like when Sun Wukong complained about Tang Sanzang in "Journey to the West."
Yet, the irritability and pain gradually cleared Ronan's mind. It was a subtle sensation, akin to... a drowning person breaking free from the entangling grasp of waterweeds and shedding the mire of the lakebed, exerting every ounce of strength in a desperate bid for the surface, even if it meant enduring the agonizing prick of needles in their lungs. Limbs weakened progressively in the dark-blue waters, but the distant white light motivated a final surge of effort, and despite blurred vision, they refused to yield. Closer, closer, just a little more...
Puff!
Breaking the surface, they inhaled deeply, filling their lungs with fresh oxygen. Breathing heavily, the world clarified once more. The boundary between dreams and reality seemed to shatter. He felt gravity tug at him, and his heart plummeted heavily, crashing to the ground without weight.
The sensation of weightlessness was now real!
If one were to follow the rules of "Inception," after weightlessness, the dream would give way to wakefulness. So, was he back in reality now?
In the very next moment, a face magnified tenfold filled Ronan's vision. Every detail was vivid, from the fine hair on the skin's surface to the childish roundness in the eyes. Ronan felt his gaze focus.
Round eyes, round nose, round chin, red lips, and white teeth; a face that still retained traces of baby fat, with wildly curled golden hair, drenched in sweat at the temples and forehead, strands sticking to the skin. The bright eyes seemed impossibly clear, capable of penetrating the deepest worries, fears, and anxieties.
"Ronan! Wake up, Ronan!"
It was as if the baby-faced person sensed Ronan's reawakened gaze. The furrowed brows softened slightly as they shook Ronan's shoulders urgently. The force was so intense that Ronan felt like his insides were jumbled up, as though the sounds of food colliding in his stomach were audible.
Boom!
Instinctively, Ronan thrust his head forward, producing a sharp sound akin to a watermelon cracking open.
Weekly Power Status
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