Perfectionist

Down the Rabbit Hole

'Fsssh'

The sink turns on with a gentle sound and I wash the sleep off my face.

The past few days had been hell.

The amount of things I had to do was stressing me out.

I was neither a workaholic nor a masochistic person.

Furthermore, when I had made several preparations for the oncoming disaster and had warned my family.

They looked at me as if I were insane, unwilling to comply.

Especially grandma and mother.

Dad was hesitant while grandpa had remained silent.

Even Theo, my big brother that I had always trusted, seemed...different.

At that point, I had asked the system-

"Why are they looking like that?"

[The Niko family values useful people. Even if you're their child, once you outlive your usefulness, you will be thrown away. This has been a tradition.]

"They think I've gone mad?"

[Not exactly. They feel you are a liability. A waste to keep cultivating. They feel you are at your wits' end and are trying to stir up some doomsday prophecy to improve your position.]

"Un-fucking-believable. Were they acting for fifteen years?"

[It was genuine for the first seven years but afterwards, their innate sociopathy takes over. Sociopaths are unable to form emotional connections and have a natural mastery over emotions, thus it is understandable for host to fall for it. It had happened on thousands on occasions in the past.]

"...So what about my brother then?"

[He had been influenced by his father. A pseudo-sociopath lies in him. He cannot be classified as a sociopath as he is in a curable state and can still regain his emotions but will instinctively think of-in this case, profit first before anything else, even when family is involved.]

"Jesus Christ, what the fuck?" I took a deep breath, stilling my mind.

[Business is a way that corrupts minds after a long period of time, even more so when there is a figure egging them on onto the wrong path.]

I had indulged way too much in this family of mine.

I was practically acting like a child even with the mental age of a mid-thirties' woman.

I needed to start getting back into the game.

No more messing around.

I still had a lot to prepare and besides, they weren't my real family.

I still had one back home, and for once, I had a goal.

One of the few things the system could not teach me effortlessly about.

Travelling beyond the speed of light.

I wanted to do something even my previous world could not accomplish.

I wanted to surpass the speed of light and return home.