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[Alexandr Korol]

Question: In the book, you reflected that this world will not exist, and that you came from the future to build a new world. How should we correctly understand the phrase “come from the future”?

Well, that’s how it should be understood. Again, as a person speaking to another person, let me tell you, imagine I’m a child, just like you, born into an ordinary family, in an ordinary city. Okay, if I were an Englishman, it would be different. But I’m a Russian guy, born in the city of Leningrad in 1990. And I went through everything that you went through: fishing, a fishing rod made from a stick, a float made from a feather and a cork, yo-yos, tattoos from bubblegum wrappers, laser pointers, “Harry Potter” in 1997 – it’s all the same, I’m just like you, but still, I was scared. So, it’s like, I couldn’t focus in school, couldn’t remember and recite a poem, like I was always in the clouds. But at the same time, when I spoke to someone, many people were surprised at how, even though I was small, it was as if there was an adult inside me. Once, you know, someone advised me to watch the movie “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life,” where he’s small, and how he interacts with adults. They compared me to him and said I was the same. And it truly surprised everyone. Now, I look like an adult, but imagine I thought the same way back then. Of course, maybe I didn’t have as large a vocabulary as I do now, after all, practice, time, and experience. But I always thought very consciously about everything. Why do you live? Why this? Why that? How is this? I always had thoughts about higher matters, and I never had desires like other people: to want a car, or a doll, or some toys. I didn’t even have a computer until, I don’t know, what grade. I didn’t use one until I bought it myself. I always loved, like Indiana Jones, I had a life like that – I loved adventures, inventions. So, I had books on inventions, but again, only pictures, I didn’t like reading. Physics, chemistry, invention – “I am discovering the world,” I had books like that. And why do I bring this up? Because, you see, I had thoughts about the meaning of life that shouldn’t arise in a child’s mind at the age of 12, 13, or 14. I always give this example: I remember standing in front of the mirror, I was 12 or 14 years old, in some period of time. And I think, there’s my friend Maxim, and here’s me. Here I am, and this world, everything I see, what kind of parents I have, where I live, what kind of grandmothers and grandfathers I have, what friends, classmates – this is all just a backdrop, and I am the main character,