After My Rebirth, I Gave Up on Saving Others

In my previous life, my parents sold our cozy city home and returned to a humble hut to care for me.

As I opened the security door, I was greeted by a warm, bright house that felt dreamlike.

My father lounged on the sofa, watching TV, while my mother served dinner, scolding me for coming home late on a snowy day after my fever had just subsided.

"You need to finish this," she insisted.

If it were in the past, I found her nagging annoying, but now it filled me with sadness, and I resolved to treat the two people who loved me most well.

I glanced toward the bedroom where my wife, Marie, was helping our child with homework.

It was great. Everything was the happiest.

At the dinner table, our family shared a joyful moment.

My son, Bruce, complained between bites, "My deskmate was bullied by the class monitor, and I stood up for him. Now they became close and say bad things about me."

I gave him a piece of meat, saying, "Every failure makes you wiser. Let's stop interfering in other people's business in the future."

My parents were surprised by my response, not expecting the usually kind me to speak that way.

Bruce grinned and agreed, "Dad is right."

At that moment, I offered him not just food but also my regrets for the growth I had missed in my previous life.

When my parents learned I had succeeded in my interview, they were extremely happy. But Marie kept eating without saying a word.

Later that night, she closed the curtains and asked, "Zane, you know how to swim. Why didn't you go down and save people?"

I was puzzled. "Haven't you always wanted me to mind my own business?"

She frowned. "Yes, but being righteous and being nosy is different."

Seeing her tired face, I swallowed my response about fearing lung infections after my fever.

After all, she didn't know anything, so I secretly comforted myself and didn't take it seriously.

She seemed to think I had nothing to say and continued, "If Alex hadn't saved that person, you'd be no different from a murderer in my eyes."

Only then did I realize Alex was my wife's college classmate.

I retorted, "Yes, it's right that he saved that person. But do you know what happened when he saved people? Do you think the person he saved was a good person?"

She said, "Zane, it's fine if you don't save people, but your sarcasm makes you a terrible person."

Marie looked disappointed and didn't want to say anything more to me. She picked up her pillow and went to sleep on the couch.

At night I dreamed about my previous life again. My wife and children had left me, my house was empty, and I was lying on the bed helpless.

I woke up in a cold sweat, convinced I had made the right choice.

But I didn't expect Kenny's parents to come to the company to make trouble on my first day at work.

His mother, wearing bright lipstick, expressed her displeasure, "It's fine if you didn't save our Kenny, but why did you lie to bystanders about him winter swimming? You are delaying the rescue time. If anything happens to him, I won't let you off the hook."