#166
“Tell me quickly. How long do I have to stay here?”
I urged Shin Haejun to answer again. A small sigh was heard through the phone. Shin Haejun seemed to be struggling to choose an appropriate answer.
– I…
“Do you think that man who looks like you will harm me?”
– That man uses dangerous powers. If you don’t believe me, turn on the news right now. They’re reporting it as a weather anomaly or whatever, but it’s all that man’s power!
“So do you think he’ll harm me?”
Based on the circumstances, the doppelganger Shin Haejun met was clearly the Shin Haejun from my delusion.
‘No, it’s not a delusion anymore, it’s the truth.’
I recalled the worried face of the doctor who had passionately argued that I was delusional and shouldn’t be captivated by my own thoughts.
Doctor, I was right after all.
I sighed, burying my back deep into the sofa.
The timeline still doesn’t match up. For me to become this 21-year-old Jaeha, I’ve already experienced being 26 years old.
‘Perhaps, just like I entered Jaeha’s body… the same situation has repeated?’
If I think of it as my soul being extracted and entering the body of a 21-year-old Jaeha from another world, just like 25-year-old Yeonsu entered 23-year-old Jaeha’s body, this situation makes sense.
The world I’ve entered is probably… the world before the author’s remake.
‘I wonder what happened to this world’s Jaeha.’
Since this is the second time I’ve taken over a perfectly normal person’s body, I felt somewhat concerned.
Anyway, I’m worried about Shin Haejun… Why on earth did he use his power outwardly?
‘It can’t be that a dungeon opened. If it had, there would already be an uproar about it.’
The entrance to a dungeon looks obviously dangerous. Even someone who doesn’t know about dungeons would find it suspicious and feel it’s dangerous.
Above all, in this place without proper awakened ones, there’s no way they could have conquered a dungeon this quickly, so the entrance can’t be closed. It must not have opened at all.
However, in that case, it means he intentionally attacked the middle of a peaceful world. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand.
I know that Shin Haejun isn’t just childishly whining as I see him. I also know that his attitude towards me and others is very different. The image of him I have in mind might only be partial…
But even so, he was an awakened one who protected humanity. I had never seen him use his power selfishly against humans instead of monsters.
“I told you before that I had experienced something like this. I was just treated as if I was delusional.”
– I’m sorry for not believing you. But think about it. I can’t bring you in front of someone who uses such strange powers!
Shin Haejun cried out in a desperate voice as if trying to persuade me. As I listened, I blinked blankly, feeling as if I was hearing about someone else’s business.
How did this Shin Haejun come to appear? Intuitively, I felt it wasn’t the same way as me. If it were, the Shin Haejun talking to me on the phone and the Shin Haejun rampaging on TV would be sharing the same body.
But the two are different people, and they don’t even seem to feel a sense of kinship. Unlike how I had assimilated to the point of considering my own thoughts as delusions.
At the very least, it was clear that one side harbored an enormous amount of disgust.
‘Wait. He can’t bring me?’
I suddenly sat up straight at the thought that had just crossed my mind.
“Did Haejun ask you to bring me?”
– …Haejun?
Shin Haejun asked back in a surprised voice. I bit my lip for a moment. After saying it, I realized my mistake. To me, both this Shin Haejun and that Shin Haejun are the same Shin Haejun, but from his perspective, they’re different.
He had concocted this complicated plan to protect me and put in all this effort, so of course he would feel betrayed if I treated him like this.
“Well, in my memories, he’s not such a bad person…”
– Even if that’s the case, it’s not true now. You didn’t see it. How cruel he is! Hyun Dowoon’s leg…!
Shin Haejun’s voice trembled slightly. He didn’t seem scared, but as if recalling a very unpleasant scene.
“Leg? What about the leg?”
As I asked curiously, I heard Shin Haejun take a breath over the phone. It felt like he was suppressing something, so I prompted him by saying “Yeah?” Shin Haejun hesitated before answering.
– He drove an ice pillar into his leg.
“…What?”
– To threaten me to bring you, he drove an ice pillar into his leg.
Shin Haejun… attacked Hyun Dowoon with ice?
I was dumbfounded for a moment at something I couldn’t have imagined. It was something I had never thought of before. Although the two didn’t get along well, I had never seen them attack each other.
– Do you understand? His leg was only destroyed, but he could have easily died. He’s someone who uses violence as a means to achieve his goal of bringing you. He’s dangerous. That’s why Hyun Dowoon asked me to take care of you.
Shin Haejun seemed to want to admonish and persuade me somehow. That’s probably why he deliberately mentioned Hyun Dowoon’s name. Indeed, I flinched a bit at the mention that Hyun Dowoon had personally asked.
‘Haejun is… moving with a purpose.’
I don’t know when or how he came to this world, but unlike me, he clearly came with an intact body and memories.
And that purpose was probably me. Judging by how he suddenly appeared in front of Hyun Dowoon and Shin Haejun and demanded they hand me over.
‘He must know what kind of world this is?’
Maybe he casually unleashed his power in the street because he thinks it’s not his world. Just because he thinks it’s just another world in a novel.
What Shin Haejun did was wrong. Humanly speaking, I think I should sympathize with and feel sorry for this Shin Haejun who was shocked by what his doppelganger did.
But at the same time, the thought that I might be able to meet both Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon consumed my mind… I bit my lip hard to shake off the thought.
‘How foolish.’
My last memory cut off at the point where I felt betrayed by both of them. I’m not sure what happened after that, but anyway, given that I’m feeling both love and betrayal simultaneously, I couldn’t know if everything would be resolved just by going to meet Shin Haejun like this.
Is it a good choice to go meet him recklessly when I don’t even know why I ended up in this body?
‘Something bad must have happened for me to be ejected from my original body.’
No matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t feel like Shin Haejun would harm me.
But it might be better to recall the rest of my memories rather than meeting the two of them recklessly. Although I don’t know yet, there must be a reason why I entered this body.
Above all, I can no longer be their guide in this body… I was a bit scared to show them this appearance right away.
‘Where did Hyun Dowoon go? What about Nine? There are so many things bothering me.’
– Jaeha.
When I remained silent without saying anything, Shin Haejun called my name as if urging me to answer.
I had something I wanted to ask this Shin Haejun too, so I carefully chose my words and opened my mouth.
“I understand you want to protect me. But… why are you going to such lengths?”
– Why, you ask?
“If Dowoon hyung was seriously injured… if you hide me away like this, you don’t know what other problems might arise. You’re… in danger too. Why go so far?”
– I told you I like you. Isn’t it obvious?
I couldn’t fully understand Shin Haejun’s words, saying it was obvious in a situation where he might die or become disabled. I was grateful that he loved me to that extent, but it was also the reason why I couldn’t give my heart to this world’s Shin Haejun and Hyun Dowoon in the first place.
‘It’s like he was born just to like me.’
And yet, he doesn’t even notice that my inner self has changed.
I already knew this behavior from experiencing it before. Although it’s a world the author has already abandoned through the remake, these people are still functioning only as novel characters. So to me, they were no different from pieces of paper.
“I see. Thank you. For now… there’s something I want to ask of you. I’ll send it in a message.”
Even if they were just pieces of paper, I had to prevent any further problems. To do that, I left a request for Shin Haejun, thinking I should stay in this villa for a while.
***
“I really don’t know… Didn’t you see me leave the group chat earlier? I don’t know his personal contact, what more can I do…!”
Kim Sehyun, who had been tormented all night, sat on the floor of his studio apartment and said with a tearful face. He was too sleepy to be in his right mind. His under-eyes must have turned dark.
The sparkling man who looked most out of place in this modest studio apartment raised an eyebrow. Although he was beautiful with his picture-perfect face, to Kim Sehyun he looked like the grim reaper.
He had heard the man was a chaebol, but he couldn’t understand why he wasn’t going home and instead was sitting on the bed in the center of this tiny studio apartment, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Moreover, he didn’t even seem tired and was still in perfect condition.
Kim Sehyun inwardly wailed as he talked about Jaeha over and over again until he felt wrung out.
Classmate Kim Jaehwan
[Hey, look at this, it’s insane]
[External link]
Classmate Park Hyunchul
[Wow]
[Whoa, what is that]
[Is it the end of the world?]
Around the time he had thought about wanting to sleep about ten thousand times, suddenly his phone alarm went off. It was the group chat with his classmates.
Intrigued by the mention of the end of the world, Kim Sehyun glanced at Hyun Dowoon and then secretly clicked on the link. His mouth fell open.
“What… what is this!”
He was shocked awake by the weather anomaly that occurred in the middle of downtown.
“Ah, there it was. Geez, even calling is noisy.”
Startled by the low voice, he looked up to see Hyun Dowoon’s face, who was standing looking down at his phone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
