Chapter 75
“Let’s go back to the dormitory, get some sleep, and meet the day after tomorrow.”
“Hyung? Are you that tired?”
“The day after tomorrow? Not tomorrow? You’re going to stay in bed all day tomorrow?”
“I’m too tired. You guys might be fine pulling all-nighters with your good stamina, but I’m not. It’s hard to fix my schedule when my sleeping and waking hours get flipped. Ji Yeohoon, you should either sleep in Yoon Cheong’s room today and tomorrow, or talk to the dormitory supervisor to use another room temporarily.”
When I made up this excuse, Ji Yeohoon grimaced.
“I’ll talk to the supervisor about another room. Even if it’s your opinion, Soo-young Hyung, staying in Yoon Cheong Hyung’s room is crossing the line…”
“Whatever…”
I was speechless at Ji Yeohoon’s disgusted expression as he looked at Yoon Cheong. I just nodded in agreement and headed to the dormitory building.
Standing in front of my dormitory room door, I grabbed the doorknob and declared to the guys:
“If you wake me up, I seriously won’t let you off…”
“I won’t wake you up.”
“Hyung, you’ll eat properly, right? I don’t like the idea of you eating alone.”
“Then just wake me up for meals.”
“I’ll wake you up properly. And I’ll keep him quiet too.”
“You’re the one starting trouble. If you just stay quiet, I won’t yell either.”
“You’re talking nonsense.”
I went into the room first, leaving the two bickering behind me.
Their voices could be heard through the closed door for a moment, but soon it became quiet.
For most things, it would be fine to tell the two of them, but I thought this matter wasn’t one of those.
The fact that I traveled back in time is something no one knows. I’m not going to do anything bad with that knowledge; my only intention was to prevent the people around me from dying.
Although I acted for my own safety, I took pride in the fact that the world was not turning out badly.
If Yoon Cheong doesn’t go berserk, wouldn’t the probability of Ji Yeohoon becoming a terrorist also decrease?
So I made efforts, and I was confident that as long as the guys stayed around me and didn’t fall out of my favor, they would never go astray.
But I became confused when what I knew was no longer known only to me.
For the first time since returning to the past, I met someone who could manipulate time at will.
He said he couldn’t use his ability for a while after turning back time even briefly, but if he were to turn back time again, would I be able to notice it like I did this time?
Since I’m not an Esper but just an ordinary person capable of guiding, I was certain that lucky cases like this would be rare.
[This is Moon Soo-young.]
If what that Esper said about his ability was true, saving those guys must have required a tremendous resolve.
For an Esper to not be able to use their ability for a while means their livelihood is cut off until they can use it again.
Anyway, it’s true that I owe this person a debt, but I didn’t want to tell the guys yet about this debt that no one knows about.
[You reply quickly? I’m grateful. I was waiting. Were you waiting just for me? ^^]
Is he really crazy? Seeing how he’s consistently using formal speech, I don’t know about anything else, but his speaking style seems politely insane.
[Yes.]
After sending a short reply, I added another line.
[It seems like you were the only one waiting.]
[^^;;;]
What’s with that smile? I already don’t like this person, and if he’s even less attractive than Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon, does he think he can win me over with that kind of emoticon?
This person gives me a bad feeling—I was wondering if I should just not contact him when a call came in.
Just as I had saved him as “Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy),” it showed up on my screen, and I flipped my phone over.
The phone must have hung up as the flashing light faded.
Only then did I pick up my phone again.
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> I don’t like playing hard to get, it’s not my style. Will you answer the phone? ^^]
Wow, he’s really talking nonsense.
[I’ll answer if you don’t talk crap.]
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> You don’t like my type? ^^]
[I absolutely don’t prefer crazy guys who hit on minors.]
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> That’s a shame~ But I’m only nineteen, so I’m not quite an adult yet ^^ That’s okay, right?]
What? Does he even look old for his age?
No, wait, being 19 years old could mean he’s 21 if his birthday hasn’t passed yet.
That makes him an adult, so why is he playing word games?
I should just block him.
I was curious about what he said about my regression with his ability, but I didn’t need to find out by listening to this nonsense.
As long as he doesn’t turn back time arbitrarily and stays as he is now, there shouldn’t be any major issues.
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> Did you know that if the future doesn’t change much from before the rewind, it can merge with the pre-rewind timeline? ^^]
“…”
I was confused for a moment. What does he mean by merging with the previous timeline?
Does that mean Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon will go back to how they were before?
What the hell are you saying, you crazy bastard!
[Tell me exactly what you mean, you fucking bastard.]
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> It’s hard to explain via text, so please answer the phone. ^^]
[I’ll answer if you don’t talk nonsense or do anything weird. I’m not interested in being hit on.]
[Hong Yun-hak (Weird Guy)> That’s unfortunate. ^^]
Those smiley emoticons were really giving me PTSD.
I’m eighteen years old. After regressing, I’ve been harassed by a strange Esper and developed high blood pressure.
With a throbbing headache, I slid the call button on the incoming call.
“Let’s keep this brief.”
– That’s a bit disappointing.
“There’s a lot to be disappointed about. I’m a busy person and can’t talk for long, so please properly explain what you meant earlier.”
– It’s nothing special. My ability doesn’t just randomly rewind time.
Listening to Hong Yun-hak’s explanation, he had a more complex ability than I thought.
It’s an ability that uses one person as a time axis to turn back time, but it can’t go to the future, only to the past.
Additionally, the person who is the time axis retains their memories.
“So in the Gate, did you rewind time centered on me?”
– That’s not it, but you noticed. That’s why I kept watching because it was strange… You came back from a much earlier past, right?
Inside the Gate, this person said he rewound time centered on himself.
So he must have saved people who were going to get hurt in advance. Knowing this person’s ability, the Chaehwa guild members in the Gate must have listened to him and raided near Calling’s guild members.
If the time axis person retains their memories, it meant that I, who remembered being twenty-six, was the time axis of that regression.
But how did he know I came back?
Could this person have rewound me?
But there were too many errors in Hong Yun-hak’s questions for him to have rewound me.
Besides, if he had used me as his axis, he would have known me, but he’s someone I don’t remember.
Still, I needed to ask.
“Why did you rewind me?”
– I don’t know. It wasn’t me who rewound you.
“You’re the ability user, so why don’t you know?”
– Because you’re the only one with memories. I didn’t rewind time.
“Then how do you know I came back with your ability? You said you didn’t rewind time.”
– As time passes, the memories from before coming back are overlapping with the current memories in real time. Since it’s my ability, I guess that’s why.
“It overlaps because it’s your ability?”
– Yes. But I know you came back at a younger age than I thought. I only noticed after I awakened my ability. The overlapping started from then. So, Moon Soo-young, let me ask one more thing. Don’t you know me from the future?
“No.”
I had never seen Hong Yun-hak before my regression, nor had I heard about him.
It was also the first time after regressing that I learned about an ability user who could turn back time.
Hong Yun-hak said he knows his ability was activated and that I came back, but he doesn’t know why I’m the axis, or how I came back beyond the limits of his ability.
– The most time I can rewind is 20-30 minutes. And I can’t use it consecutively; I can’t use it again until the time I rewound to. Even in the Gate, I only rewound about 25 minutes.
“But you used it in the Gate, right? According to you, you shouldn’t be able to use it in the Gate. You said memories are merging with pre-regression because of your ability.”
Hong Yun-hak, who had been explaining his ability, suddenly stopped talking.
My regression began in the spring of my twenty-sixth year.
There are still 8 years left, but this person casually rewound time in the Gate.
– Are you saying someone else used my ability?
“It wasn’t me.”
– Soo-young is the one who came back. And how could a Guide use the ability? You’re not even an Esper.
“It sounds like you’re saying an Esper could use it?”
– …Did it sound like that?
What does this mean now? He seems to be trying to gloss over it, but unfortunately, I’m not that young.
I wasn’t foolish enough to miss subtle differences in speech, nor was I stupid enough not to understand the meaning of words.
“That’s how it sounded. Did I mishear?”
– You misunderstood.
“Fine. Let’s say I misunderstood, and let’s hear more about what you meant by merging with the previous timeline.”
– I don’t easily reveal my weaknesses. What should we do?
I felt my blood pressure rising again as he spoke in a playful, teasing voice.
Isn’t this kind of blood pressure feeling something you don’t experience in adolescence?
This was important to me.
Yoon Cheong and Ji Yeohoon are getting along very well right now, and although they fight often, they don’t have serious conflicts, and there’s no sign they’ll go astray.
I can’t know what will happen in the future, but for now, I have almost no sense of Yoon Cheong’s future rampage.
There’s still time until they turn twenty, so I was planning to figure things out by then, but in this situation, it merges with the previous timeline?
That means I can’t prevent the cause of Yoon Cheong’s rampage.
I couldn’t help but curse.
There were so many things different from before the regression.
The family composition was different. I had a cute younger sibling now, so this was something I absolutely had to prevent.
Additionally, the futures of some guys at school had changed too. I thought I had prevented the Ye brothers from killing each other, but if things go back to how they were, this is no small problem either.
And the most important point.
If I prevent Yoon Cheong’s rampage, I can naturally prevent Ji Yeohoon’s parents’ deaths.
But if I can’t prevent it, wouldn’t Ji Yeohoon try to kill Yoon Cheong again? Wouldn’t he try to blow up the Gate again?
And where would the kindness in those guys’ eyes disappear to?
“It doesn’t seem like much of a weakness, so wouldn’t it be better to explain quickly? What does ‘merging’ mean, and how can we prevent it from merging? Explain.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe at the thought of possibly losing the guys as they are now.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
