I quickly put my phone down and started repeating the skill's location in my head over and over.
I had to remember this. My life might depend on these details when I went back to that world.
After repeating the location in my mind countless times to make sure I wouldn't forget it, I finally stopped.
"Man, that was exhausting," I muttered to myself.
I grabbed my phone and checked the time. It was 11:10 a.m.
So I'd spent about ten minutes memorizing everything. Not bad, considering how important this information was.
I got up from my bed and looked down at my clothes. I was still wearing the same simple outfit I'd chosen to propose to Shia. It seemed like ages ago, even though it had only been a couple of hours.
These clothes would work fine. No point in changing now.
I headed out of my apartment and made my way through the building. According to my calculations, I had about an hour and fifty minutes left before the system pulled me back to that other world.
That gave me just enough time to see my parents and Shia before I had to leave. I wanted to say goodbye to them, even if they wouldn't understand why.
Actually, scratch that. Not goodbye. Just "see you later" would be better, since I could come back to this world in the future. The lucky draw system gave me that hope, at least.
Once I got outside the building, I flagged down a taxi. The yellow cab pulled up to the curb, and I climbed in.
"Costa Rita District, please," I told the driver.
Costa Rita was where my parents lived. It also happened to be the area where Rocky and his police team patrolled around this time of day.
The driver nodded and pulled into traffic. I settled into the comfortable back seat and decided to close my eyes for a bit.
Costa Rita was on the outskirts of the city, so the ride would take about twenty to thirty minutes. Might as well rest while I could.
After thirty minutes of driving, we finally arrived at my destination.
I got out of the taxi and handed the driver his fare. It was a bit more than usual, but I didn't argue. He drove off as soon as I paid him.
I stood there for a moment, looking around at the familiar neighborhood. Costa Rita was always peaceful like this. The houses were spread out with plenty of space between them, not packed together like in the city. Each home had its own yard and privacy.
I was standing right in front of my parents' house. The taxi driver had taken me straight to their doorstep, which explained the extra charge. But I didn't care about the money. I wouldn't be in this world much longer anyway, so saving a few dollars seemed pointless.
I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell twice. Then I waited.
Two minutes passed. Then three. Still nothing.
"That's weird," I said under my breath.
Why wasn't anyone answering? Mom was always home at this time of day. She usually spent her mornings cleaning or watching her favorite cooking shows.
Dad should be home too. He worked at the movie theater downtown, but his shift never started before noon. It was only 11:40 now, so he should still be here, probably reading the newspaper at the kitchen table like he did every morning.
Maybe they just didn't hear the doorbell. That had to be it.
I tried to calm myself down, but worry was starting to creep in.
I pressed the doorbell again and waited.
Five more minutes passed. Still nothing.
Now I was really getting worried.
I quickly pulled out my phone and found my mom's number in my contacts. My fingers were shaking slightly as I hit the call button.
The phone started ringing. Once. Twice. Three times.
My heart was beating faster with each ring. All kinds of terrible thoughts raced through my mind. What if something had happened to them? What if they were hurt?
Then suddenly, someone picked up.
"Hey, my sweet baby," came a familiar, warm voice.
Relief flooded through me instantly. It was my mom. She was okay.
"Mom!" I said quickly. "Are you guys alright? Where are you? I'm at the house but nobody's answering the door."
There was a pause on the other end before she responded.
"Oh, honey, we're fine! Your father and I decided to take a little vacation. We're in Florida right now, actually."
I stood there, completely stunned. "Florida? You went to Florida without telling me?"
"It was a last-minute thing, sweetie. Your dad found these amazing deals online yesterday and we just decided to go for it. We tried calling you this morning but your phone went straight to voicemail."
Fuck.
I felt my stomach drop.
So that's why I had all those missed calls from them this morning. They were trying to tell me about the trip.
Man, I thought they were just checking in like usual.
My mom called me every day to ask about my health and what I was eating, stuff like that. So when I woke up and saw the missed calls, I figured it was just her regular check-in. That's why I didn't call back right away. But now I knew the real reason.
Whatever. Nothing I could do about it now.
"When are you guys coming back?" I asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice.
"Oh, not for a while, sweetie. Maybe three or four days? We're having such a nice time here."
"I see," I said with a sigh.
I knew it. I'd completely missed my chance to see them face to face before going back to that other world. This sucked so much.
Then my mom's voice perked up. "Oh! By the way, how did it go with Shia? Did you propose to her? What did she say?"
She sounded way too excited when she asked me.
I understood why she wanted to know so badly. She loved Shia like she was already family.
She'd told me many times that Shia would make the perfect daughter-in-law. And yesterday, I'd told her I was finally going to confess today. So of course she was dying to know what happened.
"Well, actually, I completely..." I started to say.
How could I explain this? That I never got the chance because I got hit by a truck and sent to another world?
I stayed quiet for a long time before I finally said, "I missed the timing."
"What? You missed it?" Her voice got really high.
"Yeah, so I was going to..."
But my mom didn't let me finish.
"Are you serious? What were you doing that you missed it completely? What's she going to think now? I thought for sure she would have said yes by now. I can't believe you..."
"Mom, Mom, please calm down!" I said quickly. "I'm going to her house right now. I'll tell her everything there. I promise."
My mom really loved Shia so much. Sometimes I thought she might love her more than she loved me.
I wasn't mad about it though. It was actually nice that they got along so well. Or it would have been nice if I could have actually made Shia part of our family.
Then my mom said, "Go get her right now. And if I hear you messed up again like today, I'm cutting your monthly allowance in half!"
"Mom!" I said loudly.
She laughed. "I'm just kidding, sweetie. Relax."
"Okay, I should go now. See you guys later!"
"Wait a second," my mom said quickly. "I got so excited about the Shia thing that I forgot to ask. Why did you come to the house?"
I froze. What could I tell her?
"Well, I just wanted to check on you guys," I said, trying to sound normal. "You know, see how you're doing and everything."
"Aww, my sweet baby is worried about us! That's so nice. See? I raised you well. You're such a good son."
There she goes again. My mom loved to compliment me. Sometimes she did it way too much. But I guess that's just what moms do.
"Okay, Mom, I really need to go now."
"Alright, sweetie. Take care of yourself. And don't forget to call me after you talk to Shia! I want to hear everything!"
"I will, I promise," I said.
Then I finally hung up the phone.
I stood there for a minute, looking at my parents' empty house. Part of me wished they were home so I could see them one more time before going back to that other world.
But maybe this was better. What would I have said to them anyway? How could I explain any of this?
Then I quickly checked the time on my phone.
11:50 AM.
So I had about an hour and ten minutes left before getting pulled back to that other world. I needed to get to Shia's place as fast as possible. If I hurried, maybe I could spend at least ten to twenty minutes with her.
I started walking quickly toward the main road to catch a cab. Once I got there, I flagged one down and climbed in.
"Oakmere District, please," I told the driver.
That's where Shia's apartment was. She'd been living there with her mother for about five years now. Her father was hardly ever home since he worked as an airline pilot and was always flying somewhere.
I settled into the back seat, but suddenly a system notification popped up in front of me.
**[Host, please check your left pant pocket!]**
What now? Why did I need to check my pocket? Was something wrong?
The system responded immediately.
**[Just check, please!]**
"Fine, fine," I muttered.
I slipped my left hand into my pocket. At first, I felt nothing but fabric. Then my fingers brushed against something flat and stiff.
What was this?
I grabbed it and slowly pulled it out.
It was a black card, but not like those lucky draw cards from before. This one wasn't blank. There was a strange symbol on it that looked like the letters "T" and "R" combined together in some weird design.
"System, what is this?" I asked in my head, turning the card over to examine both sides.
The system responded right away.
**[Host! This is your "Returnee" Card!]**
Oh, so this was the card I got from the lucky draw?
**[Yes, Host!]**
"I guess it looks pretty cool," I said, though honestly, I wasn't that impressed. It wasn't really that useful to me.
Then another holographic screen suddenly appeared in front of me.
**[By the way, Host! Just so you know, that card will disappear the moment your time in this world ends!]**
"Wait, what?" I said in my mind. "Then why even give me this card if it's going to vanish in an hour?"
**[Host! It's required for the system to function properly!]**
"Oh, okay. That makes sense, I guess."
I didn't bother asking more questions and turned to look out the car window instead. The scenery was flying by as we drove. Everything looked slightly blurry from the speed, buildings and trees blending together as we passed them.
After staring at the moving landscape for a few minutes, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey, System," I asked in my mind. "I just realized I never asked, but what was in those other two lucky draw cards? What did they contain?"
I was actually pretty curious now. The system had said all the lucky draw cards contained good items.
For a few seconds, there was no reply from the system.
I thought maybe I wouldn't get an answer at all, but then a screen suddenly appeared in front of me.
**[Host, besides the first card which you already chose, the other two cards contained the following items:
Second card: A- rank sword
Third card: S+ rank telekinesis skill: "Psychic Lift"]**
Wh...at?
I stared at the screen and read it again to make sure I wasn't seeing things.
I was completely stunned. No words would come out of my mouth. My brain just stopped working.
It took me a full minute to process what I was looking at.
My first thoughts were all jumbled together. What? How? Why?
No, no, no. You've got to be kidding me.
Those were the cards my gut had been telling me to pick. My instincts had been screaming at me to choose differently, and I'd ignored them.
Oh God, I'm such an idiot!
I should have listened to my instincts. I should have thought about it more carefully.
I'd completely blown it. The opportunity was gone.
Damn it! This is so stupid!
I spent the next five minutes mentally kicking myself. Even after I calmed down a bit, I was still angry inside. I'd wasted such a huge chance to get something that could actually help me survive.
"System," I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "In the future, will you give out rewards like these again?"
The system responded immediately.
**[Host! It depends on my algorithm, but you can expect at least one S rank skill in every lucky draw. Though I can't guarantee it.]**
I see.
This was so frustrating. My luck was terrible. I'd gotten a card that only let me return to this world for two hours. That was it.
"This is such garbage," I said under my breath.
Then a thought occurred to me. "Hey, System, what rank is this Returnee Card anyway?"
**[Host, it's an SS rank card!]**
I blinked.
Wait, what?
SS rank? The Returnee Card was SS rank?
Are you serious right now?
Now I was really confused. This changed everything.
So maybe my luck wasn't completely terrible after all. It was more like good luck and bad luck mixed together. I'd gotten an incredibly rare card, but it wasn't the most useful thing for my current situation.
I let out a long sigh and slumped back in the taxi seat.
"So I got something amazing that doesn't really help me survive," I said quietly. "That's just perfect."
The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror, probably wondering why I was talking to myself. I gave him an awkward smile and went back to looking out the window.
At least now I knew the lucky draws could give incredible rewards. I just had to hope my luck would be better next time, when I actually needed something to keep me alive in that dangerous world.