#085
However, Jung Hwi-kyung had entered his fifteenth iteration. It wasn’t by choice. After a traffic accident, he woke up to find himself back at the beginning. At least, Hwi-kyung had never personally pressed ‘Y’ to a “Do you want to regress?” prompt.
It was clear that the system window had forcibly moved him to the next iteration, but there was nowhere to complain. The system window displayed a congratulatory message saying he could now work anywhere without a license, but Hwi-kyung wasn’t happy at all.
How could he view the system window kindly when it claimed to have fulfilled a wish after forcing an iteration move due to an accident, not his own choice? He wanted to scream at the system window, telling it to just kill him if this was how it was going to be.
But the system window never gave a proper response no matter what Hwi-kyung said. It only popped up windows occasionally at its whim. Sometimes, it would display notifications as if taunting him, suggesting he try a new workplace.
This was deception. Even Ok-ja couldn’t perceive Hwi-kyung’s existence, so what use was getting a good job in this situation? There was no reason to work when he was half-erased from the world. What’s the point of employment when he realized that retirement wasn’t the way to end the regression, which had been his last hope?
“If you’re going to do this, just kill me…”
Immediately after entering the fifteenth iteration, Jung Hwi-kyung contacted Lee Gyo-ha as soon as he came to his senses.
Appropriate conditions not met
Appropriate conditions not met
However, as soon as Hwi-kyung sent a message to Gyo-ha, he was sent back to the first day of the fifteenth iteration. The same happened when he tried to call or even when he attempted to go to America. At some point, he couldn’t even hold his phone anymore. Just touching the phone would send him back to the beginning.
This same day repeated about ten times. Even though he hadn’t been near any black companies, every time he tried to contact Gyo-ha, the “Appropriate conditions not met” window would appear and time would revert.
The system window tried to control Hwi-kyung’s actions by rewinding time. No matter how he tried to find Gyo-ha, it would find fault. It was similar to how the black company label would follow him no matter where he worked.
Finally, after dozens of daily regressions, Hwi-kyung decided to do nothing.
Since Gyo-ha was in America at the regression starting point, it wasn’t easy to go see him directly. It had reached the point where doing nothing seemed safer.
Hwi-kyung crawled into Gyo-ha’s officetel and lay on the bed, not moving an inch for ten days. Even Marcia, who came to clean the officetel, couldn’t perceive Hwi-kyung lying there like a corpse.
Jung Hwi-kyung had literally become a living ghost. When his misery reached its peak, he couldn’t even cry. Hwi-kyung lost all his energy to the overwhelming sense of despair.
Just ten days. Until ten days passed for Lee Gyo-ha, Jung Hwi-kyung endured for dozens of days. He couldn’t even recall what mindset had allowed him to endure.
So now he really didn’t want to move at all. Forget retirement, he didn’t even want to set foot in a company, and sometimes even breathing felt bothersome. He felt like going crazy, unable to understand why he alone had to go through this.
But Hwi-kyung didn’t completely lose his mind. He tried to maintain his sanity even after countless returns to the beginning. Sometimes despair washed over him like a wave, but he couldn’t give up here. He didn’t want to fulfill whatever the system window wanted with his own hands.
During the ten days of lying in bed doing nothing, the system window kept sending notifications suggesting he try a new job. But how could he work when even interviewers wouldn’t be able to perceive him? Hwi-kyung ignored the system window throughout.
Appropriate conditions not met
Your wish is ‘to get a job at a good place’.
You can work anywhere.
You will never be involved in scandals.
Continue to fulfill the wishes you’ve achieved.
When he kept ignoring the system window, threatening notifications like this would appear. However, even when the system window tried to force action, Hwi-kyung was no longer afraid of returning to the beginning. He had become somewhat worn down by the repeated regressions.
This location is dangerous.
You can get a job at a better place.
You can work anywhere.
Leave this place.
When he greeted the tenth morning lying in the officetel without leaving, the system window displayed several additional notifications urging Hwi-kyung. It had become a bit more polite, but these were familiar commands to Hwi-kyung.
Maybe the shaman grandmother is coming, like during Kim Tae-pung’s concert… But what use is that now? Even if the shaman grandmother came, nothing would change if she couldn’t perceive him. Hwi-kyung, having lost all motivation, completely ignored the clamoring system window.
Leave this place.
Appropriate conditions not met
Finally, the system window tried to revert Hwi-kyung, who was determined to lie down and do nothing. Hwi-kyung was always busiest right after regression. It thought that if it just rewound time, Hwi-kyung would move actively.
Appropriate conditions not met
Appropriate conditions not met
But only the “Appropriate conditions not met” window kept appearing, with no forced regression occurring. Even Hwi-kyung, who had turned off his attention to the system window, realized that it had failed to rewind time.
With this realization, someone entered the officetel. Hwi-kyung, who had been sprawled out for ten days, finally staggered to his feet.
It was too late for Yoon Marcia to come, so the person returning to the officetel was most likely the owner. There was no way a petty thief could enter such a well-secured, high-end officetel.
He wanted to immediately open the bedroom door and confirm it was Gyo-ha, but he was afraid of being sent back to the beginning if he acted rashly. Hwi-kyung sat there like an insect pinned by a needle, waiting for Gyo-ha to open the door.
If even Gyo-ha couldn’t perceive him, it would truly be the end. The worry he had buried, not wanting to think about anything, came flooding back like a broken dam.
Hwi-kyung finally admitted that he had been waiting for Gyo-ha all along. Even when he wanted to lose his mind and die, he was able to endure solely because of Gyo-ha. He believed that no matter how long it took, Gyo-ha, who had barged in recklessly and said they should live together from now on, would eventually find him.
Lee Gyo-ha had succeeded in gaining Jung Hwi-kyung’s trust in just two iterations.
“…Hwi-kyung?”
The door opened very slowly. In reality, it opened normally, but to Hwi-kyung, that moment felt like an eternity.
But that eternal moment was worth the wait. Gyo-ha immediately recognized the figure visible through the door crack. Even in the dark room with the lights off, he properly perceived Jung Hwi-kyung.
Hwi-kyung rose from his seat and immediately embraced Gyo-ha. Unlike other people whom he couldn’t properly converse with or even touch, Gyo-ha’s embrace was still warm. A tingling sensation, like when they first shook hands, spread from the point of contact throughout his entire body. It felt like a mild electric shock.
This sensation gave Hwi-kyung a sense of reality. Jung Hwi-kyung needed Lee Gyo-ha. He needed him to keep from going insane, and he needed someone who could understand his situation.
But beyond all that, only Lee Gyo-ha could save Jung Hwi-kyung. Because even after the unwanted fifteenth iteration began, he alone had found Jung Hwi-kyung.
“Someone else answered the phone, and you weren’t at home, so I was worried.”
“…”
“If I had known, I should have come here first. Did you wait long?”
Since the fifteenth iteration began with the bus accident, Hwi-kyung had thought of Gyo-ha whenever he wanted to give up on everything. For Gyo-ha, it had only been ten days, but for Hwi-kyung, dozens of days had passed. But Hwi-kyung was able to endure that time. Because he knew that Gyo-ha would eventually find him.
Because he had made an oath to him…
The oath between people had taken effect. From the long-ago promise to be by his side when Hwi-kyung was sick, to the words blurted out about living together, all fulfilled their function.
A childish curse had returned as salvation. Gyo-ha was by Hwi-kyung’s side at the most terrible moments. The overwhelming thoughts and doubts, worries and anxieties often disappeared when he was beside Gyo-ha.
How could he not love him? Jung Hwi-kyung wanted to live because of Lee Gyo-ha. He wanted to properly exist, and didn’t want to give up on life. He wished for a single life that flowed naturally rather than an eternal life repeating the same segment.
“…I didn’t come over on purpose.”
“I know.”
“I intended to stay in the fourteenth iteration.”
“I know that too.”
“Do you also know that no one but you can recognize me?”
“That I just learned now.”
Even knowing the situation wasn’t good, Gyo-ha didn’t waver. That’s why Hwi-kyung could confide in him what he couldn’t tell anyone else.
“You know.”
Appropriate conditions â– et
“I want to live normally with you. I don’t want to do any more regressions.”
“…”
“That’s my wish now…”
Hwi-kyung’s hand, trembling, traced up Gyo-ha’s face and grasped his chin. Gyo-ha’s head tilted closer to Hwi-kyung. Their lips met briefly, and they shared each other’s breath.
What was that kiss that it made him cry? When alone, he hadn’t cried despite all sorts of hardships, but in front of Gyo-ha, he kept crying. It was because he knew Gyo-ha was a kind person who would wipe away his tears.
Appropriate â– onditions â– ot mâ– t
Appâ– â– â– â– ate â– â– nditâ– â– ns â– â– t â– â– t
The system window, which had returned to normal Hamchorombaditchche font after entering the fifteenth iteration, started to look broken again. The shaman’s wish hadn’t been properly repaired, and Lee Gyo-ha still had a chance to save Jung Hwi-kyung.
Because Jung Hwi-kyung had made a wish to Lee Gyo-ha, who was nothing special.
