Dr. Thomas: ".. Since you don't want to sleep anyway, why don't you chat with me? Who wants to go first?"
Hearing Dr. Thomas's words, Max and Peter immediately looked up, their eyes staring fixedly at Andrew.
Andrew: ".." So I'm the one who's the sickest?
On the other side, in the Wilsons' bedroom—
"Catherine, I'm really not sleepy." After being stared at while finishing his medicine, Finn was forcibly pressed back onto the bed by his butler.
Facing Catherine's firmness, Finn offered no resistance, as if he had long since grown accustomed to this kind of attentive care that went far beyond the duties of a butler.
"Then I'll keep you company for a while. You can tell me anything you want," Catherine said softly.
Staring into Catherine's eyes, Finn felt his mind was in a mess; he seemed to have many questions, yet he couldn't think of a single one. It was as if only in front of Catherine did Finn dare to gently reveal those emotions that he tried his best to avoid himself.
"Maybe it's because of the episodes. Sometimes, I feel like all of this is fake," Finn said softly, as chaotic memories swirled repeatedly in his mind, continuing to stimulate his exhausted nerves, making them throb in pulses.
"What is fake?" Catherine continued to press.
Everything about Finn Osborn," Finn said. "Everything is too good, as if it's something I shouldn't have.
Finn's gaze appeared somewhat hollow again.
Every time things are too perfect, it gives me a sense of falsehood, a feeling of emptiness.
After a pause, Finn said in a self-muttering tone, tinged with guilt—
“It's as if.. I shouldn't be this happy.”
System PP was stunned at this moment.
As the System that had always accompanied Finn, this was not actually the first time he had heard these words from his host.
When Finn's Misery Value was stuck at 9.5/100 for a long time, Finn had once seriously and deeply reflected on how his excessive hedonism was the reason the Misery Value progress wasn't increasing, saying in frustration, "I shouldn't be this happy!"
Later, on the morning after the birthday party, when Finn suffered an episode, he also muttered these words to himself amidst his breakdown—
I should have ended everything during this birthday celebration, yet I find myself clinging to this happiness.
【There is clearly no such thing as Finn Osborn in this world, yet I use this identity to make everyone play along with me.】
I shouldn't be this happy.
Over and over again.
Only at this moment did System PP suddenly realize that while his Host was constantly pursuing pleasure, he also seemed to be subconsciously escaping it.
Even though there had been signs all along, even System PP had fallen into the strange cycle spun by Finn due to preconceived notions—
Thinking that this was just one of the debuffs chosen at the very beginning of the mission.
Thought it was just a [Panic Attack].
However, he did not go a step further to understand the deepest self-denial and insecurity behind Finn's words, "I shouldn't be this happy."
System PP also wanted to know why. By comparison, Harry was far too perceptive; he knew that Finn had been subconsciously running away from something or hiding something. Mental illness shouldn't be an all-encompassing excuse; there must be something even deeper behind this..
Sometimes I feel like all of this is just—
A faint trace of self-mockery surfaced in Finn's vacant gaze.
Just a beautiful fantasy dreamt by an eight-year-old boy before he dies.
When I truly wake up, where will I be?
The thing that terrified System PP the most.. the thing he had never dared to mention, Finn spoke of it calmly in person at this moment.
As a System, System PP naturally knew what had happened before he became a System.
So when it found out that Finn was only eight years old before becoming a System, System PP's programming actually nearly suffered a total collapse.
—How could he.. be only eight years old?
It's true, everything is true!
Hearing this, Catherine choked up instantly, her eyes welling with heat, as she reached out to press Finn's hand tightly against her face.
What surprised System PP even more were the words Catherine said next—
Look at me, Finn. I am here, Joseph is here, Lillian is here too. Could we be fake as well? Time has always been flowing, you aren't dreaming, you've just.. finally come back.
"Catherine, do you recognize me?" Finn gazed seriously at the woman, whose face was covered in tears.
Of course." Catherine nodded vigorously, her voice choking up yet incredibly firm, "I know you've come back.
System PP watched all of this in shock at this moment.
An absurd yet incredibly logical thought suddenly surfaced:
If it's said that all the hosts Finn assisted as a System previously were.. originally people of this world, changing their own futures.
Then why is it impossible that Finn also once—originally belonged to this world?
I recognize you.
Catherine thought that, just as Harry said, if there needed to be someone in this world who could carefully cradle Finn's fragility and fear.
Then that person could be her.
It must also be her.
—How could Catherine not recognize it?
After her daughter Lillian became a vegetable due to the fall.. it was the darkest time for her and Joseph.
When she and Joseph were being suffocated by Lily's exorbitant medical expenses, when they thought their lives would be forever trapped in despair following their daughter's fall and coma.. the Young Master Osborn suddenly appeared before them, extending a hand without reservation, covering all the medical costs, providing them with decent and stable butler jobs, rebuilding their collapsed home.
—Why was that?
She once didn't understand why this young man from such a prominent family would go to such great lengths to help an ordinary, stranger couple.
What was even stranger was that the young man's tone, mannerisms, actions toward them always carried an indescribable sense of familiarity.
Until she saw those paintings.
I understand everything now that I've seen those paintings, Finn." Catherine sobbed, the words she had been too afraid to say finally spilling out, "Lillian loved unicorns most of all, didn't she? That Iridescent Unicorn Girl in the painting, that's her, right? She's so beautiful..
[Iridescent Unicorn Girl], [Moonlit Apprentice], [Sea Breeze Traveler], [Dawn Racer]..
These were all characters created in Finn's earliest stages.
It wasn't the more widely known [Summer's Friends] series released later, but the [Summer's Family] series.
At the birthday party, Noah even went out of his way to turn all these characters into mascots so they could celebrate the birthday with Finn.
What no one saw was that Catherine and Joseph were behind the scenes, weeping uncontrollably.
They were five children who had been almost completely forgotten by the world, their traces erased by darkness, blood, death.
Yet Finn was able to use such vivid and lifelike strokes to make them feel as if they had returned to this world once again, back under the sunlight.
Catherine trembled as she took an old photo frame from the nightstand drawer.
The photo was from the Halloween two years ago—
Lillian, the Iridescent Unicorn Girl wearing a colorful wig; Ella, the little witch in a pointed wizard hat; Ellison, the sailing boy in a striped sailor suit; Jessie, the handsome little racer in a racing suit; and Felix, the boy standing right in the center, wearing a white robe and a pair of small wings.
Everyone in the photo was smiling brightly, as if darkness would never descend upon them.
"There's actually a photo of this!" Finn sat up from the bed in surprise.
Actually, I don't have many memories from before I was eight." But in the next second, Finn's mood dipped again, he said distressfully, "I only remember that on Halloween, everyone dressed up in very special costumes, everyone was very happy.
On the contrary, compared to those carefree times, the painful memories of childhood were incomparably more profound.
He looked up at Catherine, his eyes churning with uncontrollable panic and guilt: "If it hadn't been me, if I hadn't.."
Don't say that!" Catherine immediately interrupted him firmly, "That was never your fault!
"There are some people in this world who are simply demons; he doesn't deserve to be a teacher, let alone your father." Even now, thinking back on it, Catherine still felt a chill run through her. That violin teacher, Palman, who appeared elegant, gentle, highly respected in the eyes of outsiders, had hinted to the public that his wife was infertile so that he could adopt four children; that refined-looking man seemed so gentle and kind.
No one could have imagined that such a seemingly flawless model husband was actually a twisted pervert with an extreme need for control. Exploiting his status and trust, as well as his manipulated wife, he long-term sexually harassed female students; even his fifteen-year-old daughter, Lily, could not escape him.
All the tragedies, all the deaths, they were all caused by him alone.
Catherine would always remember that day, when Lillian returned home looking completely lost, her eyes terrifyingly hollow.
"Felix is missing." Lillian cried, begging them to call the police.
But she and Joseph had no idea what had happened. They knew that although Felix was only eight years old, he had always played very well with Lillian and was often invited to their home as a guest. Upon learning that Felix was missing, they rushed to Mr. Palman's house.
Mr. Palman was also full of anxiety and guilt, saying that he had an argument with Felix, Felix had run away from home in the middle of the night. Mr. Palman had also called the police immediately, the surveillance footage captured the image of Felix sneaking out the door; the police had already intervened to investigate.
At that time, they still naively believed all of this, even hoping that Felix might walk himself back home the next day.
It wasn't until they returned home that Lillian completely broke down, begging them not to believe what Mr. Palman had said.
Finally, under her questioning, their daughter Lillian finally cried and revealed the whole truth—
She had actually always deeply admired that gentle violin teacher, mistakenly believing that what existed between her and Mr. Palman was love, she even became pregnant because of it. Lily was at a loss; she hoped Mr. Palman could be honest with her parents, but to her surprise, Mr. Palman's expression suddenly changed, forcing her not to tell anyone and demanding that she must give birth to his child, even threatening to lock her up. At that time, Felix had secretly let her escape.
But since then, Felix has never appeared again.
Amidst Lillian's emotional breakdown, Catherine and her husband Joseph were furious at the time, they took Lillian directly to the police station to report the crime. Lillian revealed all the atrocious truths, which were undoubtedly very serious crimes.
However, by the time the police arrived at Palman's house, only a few consecutive gunshots could be heard from inside.
After Palman realized the police had surrounded the house, he went into a frenzied loss of control, killing his wife—whom he had always treated as a mere tool—and the three other innocent adopted children, Ella, Ellison, Jessie, before finally turning the gun on himself. As for the last child remaining in that house, eight-year-old Felix, besides that tiny figure disappearing into the darkness on the surveillance footage, there was no trace of him left.
Overnight, of the five people in the photo, only Lillian remained.
Her daughter could not bear the immense guilt and despair.
Lillian fell from the building in the hospital, falling into a long coma from then on, became a vegetable.
Every time she thought about all of this, Catherine felt an unbearable agony.
—Why must a devil's sins be repaid with the lives of a group of innocent, naive children?
After Lillian became a vegetative state, she and Joseph did not give up searching for Felix; they held onto a sliver of desperate hope deep in their hearts—that perhaps that child had truly escaped without looking back that night and had survived well.
Until the appearance of Finn Osborn.
Until the stories of those five forgotten children became paintings filled with childlike innocence.
It wasn't until she had gone through repeated testing and disbelief that she finally confirmed Finn Osborn's identity.
Only then was Catherine forced to accept that most cruel truth—