Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 30 - Prologue

He had a choice.

It wasn’t a choice given under unfair circumstances at all.

He knew well what he could gain and what he would lose, depending on which of the two options presented before him he chose.

The outcome of that choice would greatly change the course of his life. Depending on that choice, he might have to do something he didn’t want for a while, or even for a very long time. However, he could also gain countless things that most people who didn’t have such a chance would never even glimpse in their entire lives. Therefore, he had to be cautious.

The first time such a choice came to him was when he was only seven years old.

But no one could protect him by saying he was too young to make such an important decision. The situation was neither unfair nor unjust. The four or five other children who also had a choice were all about the same age. The oldest among them was eight, but the youngest had just turned five recently.

‘Well. Will you do it, or will you not?’

The man’s gentle voice, as he gathered the children and asked, implicitly didn’t force any particular choice. Everything was entirely in the children’s own hands.

The children all seemed to be thinking deeply. Though young, they vaguely felt how important this choice was. They were given ample time to think.

Finally, the first child nodded firmly. The man slowly nodded. Then, the second child also nodded. The third child seemed to hesitate a bit more but soon nodded. The fourth child shook his head hesitantly, with a slightly frowning face. Still, the man merely nodded calmly with a gentle expression.

And finally, the man’s gaze fell on him. He met the man’s eyes.

The man was ‘the Elder.’ The man was the finest and highest person he knew. His father, his uncle, and all the other adults he knew bowed their heads before the man.

It was his first time seeing the man this closely. He was a person who always seemed to be in the clouds, so he hadn’t known he would ever be able to see him like this. He had expected him to be like a very scary and terrifying ghost, but the man’s eyes had soft wrinkles that creased when he smiled.

He remained silent for a few more seconds. He wasn’t agonizing over which choice to make. As he carefully observed those wrinkled eyes, he nodded.

The man nodded again, then looked around at the children. And he asked everyone once more if anyone had changed their mind. But no one answered, and the man nodded one last time. At the same time, an irreversible decision pressed heavily on his heart like a seal engraved with a weighty iron block.

That was the first chance he was given to choose, and he made the decision himself.

That first choice was also the memory of his first mistake, one he would regret later.

His second chance to choose came more than ten years after his first choice.

This time, he stood alone before the man.

He wasn’t a seven-year-old child. More than ten years hadn’t changed him, but they had taught him many things. No one had particularly taught him, but he already knew that his first choice had been a mistake. The outcome of that first choice still wouldn’t manifest for another decade or so, but as with many things, he could predict this quite accurately.

He shouldn’t have nodded when the first choice came. But that choice was already irreversible, and now he had to make a second choice atop that mistake. And this time, there would be no third choice.

‘Will you do it?’

The man, whose eye wrinkles had deepened, asked him again in a gentle voice. He, too, stared steadily into the man’s eyes for a few seconds again. Just as before, he wasn’t agonizing now either. He had already decided his answer.

When he shook his head, the man looked at him for a moment, then calmly nodded. Only the man in the suit, who was respectfully standing behind the man without any particular expression as if he had heard an ordinary answer, frowned slightly for a moment.

He made his second choice, and he was satisfied with that choice. Although he had a second chance to choose, he still had to bear that much weight because he had misjudged in the first choice, but it was still okay.

What choices would others make?

The first child, who was a year older than him, made his second choice last year. He heard that child had nodded in that choice. In another half a year, the second child would have to choose again, and then a year and more would pass before the third child stood before a choice.

But he soon erased them from his mind. It was no longer his concern. Since he had shaken his head in the second choice, whatever choices they made, it didn’t matter.

He felt light.

If this was how it would be, it would have been better if he had shaken his head from the beginning.

But it was useless to think about it now, and at least during these rare moments of lightness, he didn’t want to think such thoughts.

Turning away, he smiled. Now he could retreat. It was somehow frightening yet also incredibly lighthearted, so he smiled broadly.

However, his face, which had smiled so rarely that it could be counted on one hand, couldn’t quite contain that unfamiliar expression, merely pausing his lips ever so slightly. He tried to smile again, but this time too, he slightly frowned his lips. Even though he tried to smile.

Only that was a little regrettable.