The World
After waiting for a long time, Liam eventually fell asleep, lying flat on the sofa.
21 October. Sunday. 07:30 a.m.
Even Isabelle, who had left the house at 07:00 to go to school, did not notice Liam’s presence in the living room.
By coincidence, his mother walked into the living room to take her bag from the hook behind the sofa where Zavi was sleeping. Unexpectedly, she saw her son fast asleep on the couch.
As she was about to wake Liam, her foot stepped on something. She glanced down and saw a wooden door beneath her foot. Because it had floral carvings, she knew it was supposed to belong to Ren’s room.
Confused, she gently woke Liam. "Wake up, dear. Did you stay up late again last night?" she said while lightly shaking his body.
Feeling something touch him, Liam slowly opened his eyes, catching a faint beam of light entering through the ventilation, before staring at the ceiling.
He tried to sit up while holding his neck, which suddenly felt stiff and painful, probably from sleeping in the wrong position. He did not know for sure, but he tried to hide the pain from his mother.
"What time is it, Mom?" he asked while yawning.
His mother took a pocket watch from her bag, glanced at it briefly, and said, "It’s already 07:35," while holding the watch in front of Liam’s face.
Liam immediately took the watch and checked it himself. Realizing he had slept for an hour, he returned the watch, stood up, and decided to have breakfast.
His mother was startled, then smiled at her son’s behavior. As she turned away, she suddenly realized she had forgotten to ask why Ren’s bedroom door was in the living room.
"Zavi… did you argue with your brother again?" she called out, her voice filled with worry.
From the kitchen to the left of the living room, Liam peeked out from the doorway and replied, "No. The door was broken. I wanted to fix it and reinstall it myself…"
"Alright… just don’t do anything reckless. And don’t forget to ask someone for help."
After that, his mother lifted the door with some difficulty, placed it in front of the bookshelf, and then left the house to go to the market at the city square.
In the room where the kitchen and dining area were combined, Liam sat on a chair, staring at the dining table filled with various delicious dishes.
Without hesitation, he began eating the food, flavors he had never experienced back on Earth. Exactly at 08:00, he finished his meal, brought the dirty plates to the sink, washed them thoroughly, and neatly arranged them back on the rack.
His breathing and stomach felt far more settled than before. He stepped out into the living room, lifted the door, and returned to Ren’s room.
After placing it down, he searched for tools in the storage room to fix it. When the storage door opened, dust immediately burst into the air and struck his face.
Liam coughed as the dust entered his lungs. Just by looking at it, the storage room clearly had not been entered or cleaned by the family for a long time.
"Are the tools even in here?" he muttered quietly.
After searching for a while, Liam found a hammer, screwdriver, chisel, and sandpaper inside a box on top of a large shelf. He took it, checked the contents, and carried the box back to Ren’s room.
Liam fixed the door by himself. Despite the difficulty, he persisted. Twenty-five minutes later, the door was installed just like before.
Finally, he could breathe a sigh of relief, since his earlier actions could have raised suspicion. Ren’s bedroom door was now locked with a new key.
Liam returned the toolbox to the storage shelf. Afterward, he went to the bathroom to wash his dirty hands. He returned to his room, having nothing else to do.
But as he entered, his gaze shifted toward the desk. A notebook lay there.
His eyes widened. Liam immediately remembered what he had written the previous night.
Panicked, he hurriedly opened his wardrobe, took out a black coat, and put it on. He left his room and locked the front door.
The key was safely tucked into the pocket of his black coat. He let out a long breath and headed toward the library on Street 01, located between the borders of the Tezny and Chapena districts.
Liam walked calmly along the sidewalk, observing people going about their activities. On the stone-paved road beside him, several horse-drawn carriages passed by, accompanied by the rumbling sound of hooves and wheels scraping against the dried, muddy stones.
His gaze remained fixed ahead, focused on his steps to avoid bumping into others. A few seconds later, he was about to turn into Street 01, just a short distance to his left.
As he turned, his eyes briefly caught sight of someone reading a newspaper and seemingly watching him.
"Huh?" Liam quickened his pace, eager to enter the library, which was only a few steps away.
It was one of the largest libraries in Moran City, a city far from the heart of the Kingdom of Norn and often underestimated by others. Liam came here to search for important information about cities within the Kingdom of Norn, other continents, and the location where he currently lived.
Earlier that morning, and again thirty minutes ago, he had dreamed of Zavi’s gruesome death. Liam could not hide his fear, forcing himself to stay calm and act normal while investigating on his own.
"This can’t be a coincidence," he thought in panic.
Five minutes later.
He stood before the open iron gate, watching elderly people, teenagers, and children accompanied by their mothers pass by him and enter the library.
The library was enormous. A fountain stood at the center of the path, with beautiful gardens surrounding each building. Two large, shady trees stood on either side, with a pair of benches beneath them for resting.
As he passed through the gate, Liam was greeted by two guards who encouraged visitors, including him, to read properly.
Liam smiled politely at the guards and continued walking toward the main entrance. Upon entering, a large hanging lamp was the first thing to greet him.
He glanced at the layout of the building, then moved to the left, passing rows of tall, massive bookshelves in search of informational texts. After a long search, he found a book that seemed suitable.
"Is this really the right one?" he muttered softly.
However, after only ten seconds of reading, a cold voice pierced his ears. His body froze instinctively as he slowly turned his head to the side, facing a man and a woman.
"So you’re here after all, Zavi," Leo muttered, his former classmate.
Leo Zilvera and Forn Vinora, his former classmates from Vamaeora High School in the Tezny district, the city center.
Liam paused briefly and asked, "Were you two looking for me?"
"Weren’t they Zavi’s close friends? Why are they here? Leo lives in Forgenate, and Forn in Tezny. This is strange."
"Oh… when we were about to enter the library, Leo happened to see you. So he decided to greet you since it’s been a long time," Forn replied, her black hair tied back.
Liam chuckled lightly, acting like a genuine friend. Their meeting was brief. Liam chose to excuse himself, unwilling to interact too much for fear his identity might be exposed. However, the two of them did not let him leave so easily.
Instead, they invited him to hang out somewhere, since it had been about two and a half years since they last met.
Being repeatedly pressured to join them made Liam uneasy. He walked away, leaving his two friends looking slightly disappointed.
Liam stopped, turned back, and saw the painful, gloomy expressions on their faces. He let out a long sigh and said with a heavy heart,
"Alright, alright. When is this outing going to happen?" he asked, and watched their expressions brighten again.
"You said it was a coincidence? Huh, that’s impossible."
They approached Liam, and Leo whispered the exact location, a pleasant spot where they were to gather at a park in the Tezny district.
Liam nodded, pausing briefly to recall the place mentioned. After that, they bid him farewell, reminding him not to be late for the meeting point.
"Yeah, alright," he replied with a flat expression.
From a distance, Liam watched their backs as they exited the library’s main entrance. He then returned to the bookshelf where he had been reading earlier and continued until he finished the book.
"What does this mean?" he muttered in surprise, holding his chin. "What kind of strange conflict is this? And the discovery of a dead body with black spots on the neck?"
Liam's eyes widened. He didn't know if such incidents often occurred in this world.
Then he turned the pages of the book further, even surprised that the book recorded both past and present events. Unlike the location of his home on Earth, the history in each book was strange and varied.
The book Liam held, titled "Mystery and the Upside-Down World," detailing the beginning of the Star Calendar era around the 800s. It was a time of war, cultural and religious discrimination was everywhere, and discrimination, or more accurately, hatred towards people with brown eyes, who were called "devils from hell," still existed in the star calendar era.
"Isn't that cruel?" Liam nodded. "But there was a reason for it," he said softly, shivering after reading a few paragraphs on page 50.
Over 500 years ago. Yet it is still vividly recorded in this book, and one line on page 50 describes the brutal massacre perpetrated by the brown-eyed human race against several blue-eyed races, including the Zavi, dark brown-eyed, gray-eyed, and black-eyed.
...
