[Final Episode: Inheritance] Beyond the Sofa — Living Life Again While Carrying Scars

[Final Episode: Inheritance] Beyond the Sofa
— The day I become someone's sofa while still carrying my scars

A year was about to pass since I moved to my new workplace.

I am using AI, a 'bicycle for the mind,' to share the life experiences I have painstakingly built up while struggling through the mud.

Those clumsy words were gradually beginning to reach someone.

'I was saved by reading your article.'

'It made me feel like I wasn't alone.'

Every time I saw words like those, I felt a slight warmth deep in my chest.

And then, that day arrived.

I was about to reach a turning point.

'Thank you so much for everything over these long years.'

A holiday morning.

In the living room of my one-bedroom apartment, I stared at the old sofa sitting all by itself.

I've had it for over 20 years now.

It was the first piece of furniture I bought after I married my wife.

When my daughter was small, she used to jump and play on this.

When the divorce was finalized, this was also the sofa where I buried my face and cried in a room where I was all alone.

Even on the most painful night of my life.

Even on the nights when I held a despair I couldn't tell anyone about.

This sofa alone accepted me without saying a word.

Nob.

Edison.

Saru.

And that man in the black turtleneck.

Looking back, perhaps they were all illusions that this sofa brought into my life.

So that I wouldn't break.

So that I wouldn't give up on living.

Perhaps they were supporting me all along with that back of theirs.

Before long, the bulky waste collection crew arrived.

The workers lifted the sofa with practiced hands.

I couldn't say a word, just watched their backs as they left.

The door closed.

The sound of the truck faded into the distance.

The room felt surprisingly spacious.

Yet, that vastness felt strangely lonely.

I sat down on the bare hardwood floor and couldn't move for a while.

When all is said and done.

The fact that I am divorced will not disappear.

The past where I hurt my family will not disappear either.

The time I lost will not return.

My youth will not return.

The career I lost will not return.

And—.

The memory of the HR manager who cornered me in that hellish conference room will not disappear either.

But, that was when it happened.

I suddenly thought.

Perhaps that person was also suffering.

Within the massive organization of the company.

While suppressing their own emotions.

Returning home as a father.

Perhaps they were desperate to protect someone.

Perhaps that person, too, had their own version of a "sofa."

Perhaps they were just a human being who kept wearing themselves down to support someone else.

Even the pain of the person who once deeply hurt me, I can imagine a little bit now.

And the despair of that day, too.

The anger, too.

The regret, too.

Everything was experimental data to build the person I am.

I didn't become an invincible hero.

Even now, the wounds still ache.

There is loneliness, too.

My family won't return.

The time I lost won't return either.

Life cannot be redone.

But I have learned.

That the meaning given to the past is something only I can decide.

There was loneliness.

To be honest, it felt as if a gaping hole had opened somewhere in my chest.

Yet, as if to wrap around that loneliness, a quiet resolve began to fill the depths of my heart.

From now on, I will become someone's sofa.

There are many people in this world just like I used to be.

In their 40s.

In their 50s.

In their 60s.

Frightened by the changes of the times.

While hiding my true feelings deep behind armor.

There are people trembling all alone.

I intend to keep sharing my experiences while using the tool that is AI.

When someone is tired.

When someone feels like crying.

I hope I can become a place where they can rest for a little while.

Nobu, too.

Edison, too.

Sal, too.

And that man in the black turtleneck, too.

You didn't appear just to save me.

You had been walking alongside me for a long time so that I could eventually become the one to support someone else.

Soft early summer light streamed into the room where my old companion had departed.

I stood up quietly and opened my laptop.

As always, I can only type on the keyboard with my index fingers.

But that is fine.

To be a salvation for someone else, while still carrying my own scars.

Because the grand experiment called my life begins anew from here.

(5 Episodes Total - Complete)