Only I Am A Reader-Chapter 572: A Strangely Familiar Story

"Back then, I was just a minor who didn't get to complete her education, so my only option was part-time jobs. The number of hours I had to cover to keep afloat left me with little to look forward to, but…"

Part-time work was definitely far less intense compared to Cassian's suffering as an errand boy inside Dimensional Gates. That being said, it didn't mean that Kara's situation was much better.

In Leo's opinion, the intense life and death struggle was rather a booster towards' Cassian goal.

"It wasn't the fact that I had to work a lot that proved problematic; if anything, it was good to keep myself occupied for as much time as possible. Instead, it was the void that crept back in once I attempted to go to sleep. At that point, my only saving grace was passing out from exhaustion."

Both were people who suffered from grievous wounds to their psyche, something that medicine could never heal. Being engaged in a task that required every little bit of his focus, Cassian didn't suffer as much on the mental side.

"Unfortunately, on certain nights, even exhaustion didn't prove enough. As the miserable thoughts continued, I could only choose to do more, spending these sleepless nights to learn a common hard skill, coding."

'How does that even work?'

As someone who used to skip sleep just so he could keep on reading more, Leo struggled to relate to this part of the story.

It was one thing for a superhuman like a Martial Artist or an Awakened to forgo sleep for a few days, but how did Kara manage to replicate the same feat while still considered a normal human?

'Is this one of the benefits that she never got to realize?'

Just as Leo suspected, as a fellow awakened, especially a natural one, there was no way that Kara didn't change after her awakening. Rather, everyone that regarded her as special only focused on the most obvious aspect.

Special Ability!

To top it off, as someone who had to live the remainder of her life on her own, it was only natural that Kara would have such an oversight. After all, she never had someone that was close enough to compare herself to.

'She most likely believed that to be the norm…'

Normal humans might be able to force themselves to stay awake the entire day, but their ability to concentrate would ultimately diminish over time.

Once an entire day had passed, not to mention something as mentally-draining as learning a new subject, they would even find it hard to read something simple without the words blending together like spaghetti.

"Thankfully, it wasn't as hard a subject as people hyped it to be, so I found myself easily engrossed in it to forget the widening void. However…"

'I can't exactly be the judge of that, but as far as I know, coding is not really a simple subject.'

Although Leo was also a self-taught coder, he wasn't a valid subject of comparison. Regardless of the difficulty of the subject, he could always learn enough about it as long as he found the right book.

On the other hand, even without Leo's cheat attribute, Kara seemed to be able to learn what she needed to just as fast, all while continuously being sleep-deprived.

'A classic case of a lost opportunity.'

Had Kara's parents or the researchers explored other possibilities that weren't obviously 'supernatural', the tragedy that she went through might not have come to pass.

Unfortunately, the deep-seated trauma that the misguided focus had caused only made Kara look the other way, even when she had discovered a talent that could allow her to win in life, just because it was of a different type.

"That painkiller didn't last long, either. Once I got the hang of it and worked on several 'big' projects, the effortlessness of it all left enough space for the intrusive thoughts to crawl back in."

'It almost sounds like bragging.'

Leo knew well enough that showing off wasn't Kara's purpose, but it definitely sounded that way, further proving how skewed her perception of things had become. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"On the bright side, the majority of the debt I had was paid by then, but that burden was never the reason for my despair."

'The familiarity of the situation only makes it more horrifying.'

It wasn't a direct copy-paste, but Cassian definitely felt the same way during his final stage of life.

"I did achieve financial stability. In fact, I am pretty sure my parents would no longer worry if they learned of my situation then, but something was missing alongside my parents."

Unlike Kara, he actually achieved his target, but after that, the only thing that remained was an even bigger void.

The hastened pace that he was accustomed to during his struggle for strength further served to lengthen the time he perceived after accomplishing his objective.

As a result, he…

"However, just when the unpleasant thoughts of ending everything were becoming too much to endure, it was only then I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel."

'Finally.'

"Aimlessly wandering on the street was a practice I picked up as things became harder, the dark night sky could be considered fuel for my despair, but somehow that made me comfortable enough as if I was blending in…"

Kara recounted her big moment in the same downcast tone, but strangely enough, Leo could tell that something did indeed change.

"Yet, at the same time, I was instinctively searching for the light that would change everything, and on that night, I did find that light…"

The moment Kara announced the greatest breakthrough of her life, she raised her head as her lifeless eyes bloomed with vigor.

"My light."

Unsurprisingly, the eyes full of stars were excitedly staring at Leo.

'...Eerie.'

Despite keeping a poker face, he almost bit his tongue as he flinched internally.

The likeness of the story was simply too much to bear.