Calamity Upon This World

"No, pick me back up. I want to play with Mother more" Maran said as he raised his hand, asking the women to pick him back up.

"No, silly, did you forget you promised to play with your friends today?" the woman asked playfully as she lightly bumped him on the head.

"Aww" Maran said, making a cute sound as he lowered his head in disappointment.

His sad expression was more than enough to melt the woman\'s expression as she gave up and said.

"Fine, we\'ll play more once you come back, but only after you come back. You shouldn\'t keep your friends waiting."

"Yay, I love you, mom," Maran shouted as he ran outside, excited to come back and play with his mother again.

"My precious son," the woman said as she saw her son run outside excitedly.

**

\'What was I doing here again?\' William thought suddenly, he was finally regaining his sense of self, having no memory of his interaction with \'his\' mother just moments earlier.

William looked around in confusion, trying to understand what was going on.

He seemed to be in a primitive village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a forest.

Slowly, his memories of what was happening started coming back.

"I need to get out of this place; my team needs me. I promised to protect them."

"They are my responsibility."

"And that bastard Sung can\'t get away with this."

William looked around in panic, but before he could act on any of his thoughts, the will of his body regained control, and he fell to the ground.

But in the next moment, he got back up and said,.

"Well, that was weird, but anyway, I should go play with my friends."

After a bit of running, William, or rather, Maran, finally reached the place he had agreed to meet his friends.

"Where are you guys?" Maran asked, confused by not seeing any of his friends.

Maran was already 10 minutes late compared to the agreed-upon time, and his friends were pretty punctual, so it was weird for them to not be here yet.

Almost as if answering his questions, a ball rushed out of a nearby bush, aimed at Maran.

But to the surprise of everyone, even Maran himself, almost instinctively, raised his hand and caught the ball.

"Huh?"

Maran stared at the ball in his hand in bewilderment, confused by where it came from and even more so by how he had caught it.

"I didn\'t expect you to actually catch it," said a childish voice as a black-haired kid stepped out of the same bush from where the ball had come from earlier.

"Wow, you\'re amazing, Maran," said another voice as a chubby kid with a snotty nose stepped out of another bush.

"It must just be dumb luck," said a red-haired girl as she stepped out of another bush.

"Why are all of you hiding in the bushes?"" Maran asked in confusion, unable to understand the reason behind their actions.

"It\'s your fault, idiot, for being late," said the red-haired girl as she expressed her annoyance at her friend\'s non-punctuality.

"I\'m sorry, I was busy playing with my mother," Maran said non-apologetically.

"Hmm, mother, boy, as usual," said the red-haired girl mocking him.

Unfortunately, her remarks had no effect on Maran; if anything, he took pride in his love for his mother.

"Forget that; how did you catch the ball?" asked the black-haired boy, still confused by how Maran had caught the ball without even looking at it.

"Yeah, that was awesome," said the chubby kid.

"I\'m not sure; it kind of just happened," Maran replied truthfully.

"Like I said, it was dumb luck." The red-haired girl puffed up her chest at being proven right.

"Shut up, Margaret; that makes it even more surprising. Maybe Maran has some sort of hidden talent," said the black-haired kid.

"I agree with Jang; Maran must secretly be super talented," said the chubby kid.

"Thanks, Jang and Chang," Maran said as he smiled upon hearing the praise and looked away shyly.

Margaret clenched her fists in annoyance until they were white before she said.

"Are you guys done wasting time?"

Her comment brought Jang, Chang, and Maran back as they remembered the real reason why they had gathered today in the first place.

"You\'re right, Margaret, let\'s get this done with quickly so I can go back to my mother," Maran said as he urged his friends to stop wasting time.

Hearing his words, Margaret, Jang, and Chang had the same thought.

\'Such a mama\'s boy\'

**

"Wow, Maran, I was right; after all, you\'re something else today." Jang complimented Maran as he was hit by a ball and eliminated.

The kids had been playing a variation of dodge ball for the past hour, and Maran was completely unstoppable.

No one was able to hit him, and he easily hit anyone he wanted.

Even with all three of the other kids trying to hit him, they were unable to.

This was obviously due to the influence of William on his body, but none of the kids knew this, so to them, Maran had just awakened his hidden talent or something.

"This sucks; I don\'t want to play anymore," Margaret said as she fell on her buttocks.

She and all her friends had been trying to eliminate Maran for the past hour, but it was all futile.

It was almost like he could read all of their moves and actions before they even made them.

"I agree; let\'s call it a day for today, and tomorrow let\'s play a game Maran isn\'t so \'talented\' in," Chang said as he also gave up.

"Sure, that works with me," Maran said as he stepped outside the game boundary.

He felt bad for killing all the fun for his friends in the game, but then again, who cares? This just means he can go back to play with his mother earlier.

\'I can\'t wait to go back home,\' Maran thought in excitement as he hastened his pace.

**

AN: