The so-called "What If route" was, in essence, nothing more than a change—an alternative possibility. Edward was thinking about whether he should give Snape a happy ending. For example, in that ending, Snape would never utter the slur "Mudblood," and he and Lily would ultimately live happily together as husband and wife.
Thinking along these lines, Edward decided to give it a try.
He began tapping on the keyboard.
On the eve of Halloween in 1981, when Voldemort's curse was about to strike Lily and James Potter, a subtle deviation occurred at a certain point in the timeline. Severus, who should have been lying unconscious on the floor of the Hall of Prophecym was jolted awake by a searing pain. He opened his eyes to find himself back in his Hogwarts dormitory in the year 1971.
Severus Snape did not get into a fierce argument with Lily Evans on the Hogwarts Express, nor did he ever say that fateful word "Mudblood."
What shocked him even more was that the truths long buried in his memories were reassembling themselves in his mind in an entirely new form he realized that Lily had never truly hated him.
This revelation caused his blue eyes to shimmer with moisture during Potions class. When he clumsily yet sincerely apologized to Lily, the girl raised her signature arched eyebrow:
"Looks like our little Potions Prince has finally learned to respect the diversity of potion ingredients?"
She was referring, of course, to the infamous "Mudblood" incident—an event that, thanks to Snape's time-travel, had now been reduced to dust in a distant parallel timeline.
Snape maintained his characteristic Slytherin rigor during Transfiguration, but during Potions practice he took the initiative to explain every step in extra detail. Lily noticed that the once cold-faced, awkward academic prodigy was now capable of tracing a star map of Hogwarts Castle along the rim of a cauldron using a silver spoon.
"You remember the path of every star," she said one evening at the top of the Astronomy Tower, tucking her reddish-brown hair behind her ear, "just like you remember how nervous I get before every exam."
They began spending their weekends together after classes. Snape's house-elf prepared pumpkin juice and honey pancakes, while Lily brought newly sprouted mandrake buds picked from the garden of Grimmauld Place. By the time Harry Potter was born due to the prophecy in the original timeline, the little Harry of this universe was just learning to toddle—two tiny hands gripping the hems of two differently colored robes. Snape and Lily, dressed in blue robes and green robes respectively, were in the middle of debating what kind of ponytail style they should tie their son's hair into.
When the shadow of the Death Eaters loomed over Hogwarts, Snape's Patronus charmed a silver arc across the Forbidden Forest's sky—no longer the heavy tear of a unicorn from the original timeline, but something lively and bright, like the sparks that used to jump in Lily's potions laboratory. He secretly organized the "Firefly Operation Unit," using improved Polyjuice Potion to help newblood and halfblood students escape Death Eater hunts.
Lily, meanwhile, did not remain the briefly mentioned Ravenclaw graduate from the original story. In this timeline, she became Hogwarts's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Whenever the school was suddenly attacked by Death Eaters, silver-green Patronuses always wove protective nets atop the main tower to guard fleeing students—gentle and steadfast, just like Snape's Patronus once shielded Harry from Dementors in the Burrow's living room.
With these changes in place, Snape successfully located all of Voldemort's Horcruxes and helped destroy them. The Dark Lord was gone—forever.
Fifteen years later, on Christmas Day, mistletoe hanging from the fireplace cast shimmering light across Lily's hair. Nine-year-old Harry rushed across the living room holding his Transfiguration homework.
"Mom, look! I turned a toad into a lantern that glows purple!"
In the kitchen, Snape was adjusting a new type of Dreamless Sleep potion with evening-primrose extract. The corner of his notebook still had a golden Snitch stuck to it—something Lily had jokingly placed there.
Snape looked at everything with an expression of deep contentment. At long last, he had the chance to make amends. The mistakes he once made had cost him an entire lifetime of regret—but now…
"Should I add some married-life scenes too?" Edward was tempted. But after giving it some thought, he decided not to. He planned to wait until he actually started filming this part before deciding. For now, Steven had already left satisfied, and Edward had nothing urgent to do anyway. Since he was free, he figured he should outline the concept for his next horror movie.
Originally, he planned to make a different film. But while he was drafting, a new idea struck him—he wanted to create something rather unusual.
A Korean horror film from his previous life's, The Killer Toon.
Among Korean horror films, The Killer Toon was relatively unique, with some strange, uncanny elements blended into its narrative. The reviews were generally good. Although Edward had initially planned to film Coming Soon, its notoriously terrible reputation made him hesitate. In the end, he decided to hand that project off to one of the directors under his company.
Edward still cared about his own reputation, after all.
And The Killer Toon seemed much more suitable, and far more creative.
The Killer Toon begins in an office building late at night. A female team leader is working overtime alone. Of course, this wasn't unusual—these days, most ordinary people were subjected to the torture of overtime, whether they were from East Asia or West Asia. Meanwhile, those pampered Europeans lived comfortably without such concerns. (TN: Lmao)
At this rate, he thought, sooner or later these people would all end up on the chopping block.
The female team leader was an editor. She was waiting for an email from one of her artists. While waiting, she went to rest and made herself some coffee. When she returned, the email had arrived. It contained a new chapter of the artist's comic, and she clicked it open casually to take a look.
The moment she began reading, she realized something was wrong. The comic's panels depicted her exact posture, exactly as she was standing now—and even predicted the things she would do next. Horrified, yet compelled, she continued scrolling to see what would happen.
What she saw next was something absurd—something buried deep in her memory.
According to the comic, twenty years earlier, the team leader had attended her high school graduation ceremony. She was academically outstanding and well-liked. But then a commotion rose from the crowd—people were shouting about a ghost. When she turned toward the noise, she saw that the "ghost" was her own mother.
A car accident had disfigured her mother, leaving half her face terrifying to look at. After learning that the team leader had such a mother, the crowd began ruthlessly mocking her, ridiculing and insulting her. The team leader was devastated and heartbroken.
When Edward reached this part of the script, he couldn't help making a face. These people were unbelievable. In Edward's world, no one would mock a classmate because their mother was disfigured in a car crash. But in that twisted country, people ridiculed and sneered without restraint. No wonder a drama like Hell Is Other People existed.
So that's what their daily life was like—no wonder.
In her diary at home, the girl wrote:
"Having a mother like this is so embarrassing. Why is Mom even alive?"
She didn't even bother closing the diary—it lay open on the desk. Her mother saw it.
Her mother fell into utter despair, because her own daughter was essentially telling her to die.
So, in hopelessness, the mother hanged herself. The girl eventually discovered this and rushed over.
But seeing her mother hanging there, still barely alive, the girl hesitated. She thought of high school. She thought of the ridicule. She looked at her mother's disfigured face. Then, closing her eyes, she turned her back and chose not to save her.
She let her mother die.
This entire sequence was depicted in the comic—the comic titled "The Black Veil."
Such uncanny accuracy terrified the team leader. She had always hidden this secret buried deep in her memory. No one else should have known—only she and her mother had been present.
She immediately called the comic artist Kang Ji-yoon, demanding to know how she found out. But Ji-yoon didn't pick up. The team leader left frantic voice messages, screaming how this could be possible and asking who told her what had happened when no one else had been there.
Right after she finished yelling, the office windows slammed shut on their own. The lights went out. In the darkness, she sensed something swaying—something shaped like a person. Terrified, she grabbed a utility knife for self-defense. Then the computer lit up by itself—showing the same comic she had just read. It began scrolling automatically, panel after panel, predicting her every move.
Unable to withstand the shock, the team leader fled in panic. She tried the door but it wouldn't open, just as the comic predicted. She ran back, tried calling the police, screaming to know who was there. And then she heard her mother's voice—the voice from the day of the hanging, calling her name.
She was paralyzed with fear. Turning around, an invisible force lunged toward her. It pinned her down. She began slashing herself with the knife.
The fatal blow landed on her eyes and face. She died horribly. Her mutilated face matched the exact image from the comic—identical to the mother she once despised.
"This story teaches us two lessons: don't work overtime, and don't be unfilial," Edward muttered as he typed the script. Even writing it, he felt the team leader was utterly deranged. Of course, the country she lived in was equally deranged—mocking people for something like this was simply barbaric.
As for the team leader… to avoid being teased, she chose to let her mother die while hanging in front of her. Edward couldn't help laughing bitterly. She was less than human. No wonder she was taken by a vengeful spirit—she deserved it.
The next day, a police officer and his assistant came to investigate. Surveillance showed the team leader entering the office alone. There were no other traces or fingerprints—everything pointed to suicide. The officer hated such cases and planned for a promotion soon, so he shoved the suicide case onto his assistant.
But then a subordinate insisted he come take a look. Annoyed, he went anyway. One glance at the scene made him freeze—the comic on the desk depicted the death exactly. The deceased's appearance matched the panels perfectly. The officer realized something was wrong.
Meanwhile, the comic artist Kang Ji-yoon was driving on a dark road. She was tired, staring at the road ahead. Suddenly, she saw a young girl walking alone on the roadside. Puzzled, she slowed down, checked the rearview mirror, and confirmed the girl was indeed walking alone in the dark.
She didn't think much of it, until she turned her head, and the girl was suddenly standing right in front of her car.
Startled, Ji-yoon slammed the brakes. When she looked again, the girl was gone. She searched around but found nothing. The place was eerie. Then the girl appeared next to her car, knocking on the window.
Relieved that it was just a person, Ji-yoon rolled down the window. The girl said she was tired from walking and asked for a ride. Ji-yoon agreed.
As they drove, they chatted. The girl said she was buying something for her mother. Their home was at the slaughterhouse ahead. She had come alone. Ji-yoon found this odd.
The girl then claimed she was already sixteen. Ji-yoon laughed and said that was impossible—the girl looked no older than ten.
The girl quietly replied:
"Because I died when I was that age."
Ji-yoon stiffened. She whipped her head around—the passenger seat was empty.
Panicked, she got out and looked around the slaughterhouse entrance. No one. She stood frozen in fear. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm from behind. She screamed—
But there was nothing.
Shaken, she returned to her car. She glanced at the rearview mirror—nothing there. She exhaled in relief, turned forward to restart the car—
—and in the mirror, she saw a blood-soaked face of the girl staring at her.
Ji-yoon shrieked and jolted awake.
Her car was still parked beside the slaughterhouse.
She had fallen asleep and slept all the way until dawn.
(End of Chapter)