# Chapter 6
The man thought Hwiseo finally recognized him when he saw Hwiseo’s eyes widen like a surprised rabbit after hearing his name. But then Hwiseo replied with a bewildered expression, “My birth name is Lee Bongdeok. But anyway, my name is Lee Hwiseo too,” which made the man doubt his ears.
“I’m also Lee Hwiseo. I’ve never seen a celebrity with the same name as me.”
The man had a ‘what are you talking about’ expression. Hwiseo took out his phone and showed him a portal site screen. He typed ‘Lee Hwiseo’ in the search box. A Joseon dynasty king’s name and a waxing salon appeared in the results. The man grabbed the phone from Hwiseo’s hand and searched for various things. The last thing the man searched for was “Free Love Voucher.”
“That’s a drama I appeared in. I played the male lead’s childhood role.”
Nothing, absolutely nothing. The man looked down at the phone in disbelief. Hwiseo knew about the drama called “Free Love Voucher,” but he didn’t know the man standing in front of him. With trembling hands, the man kept searching for “Blen,” “BLEN,” and similar terms. While the drama was searchable with different actors, there was nothing about an idol group called BLEN.
Could he be so cleanly erased from the world? If this wasn’t a hidden camera prank, was he going crazy? The man suddenly jumped up from his seat and ran out of the room. After passing through shabby houses, he reached a main road. There were many people passing by. They only gave curious looks to the man wandering the streets without shoes. Pushing through the crowds and walking further in, he heard the sound of waves. And then, indeed, the sea appeared.
He grabbed a passing person and asked where this place was. People answered with puzzled expressions, “It’s Pohang city.” It was a place the man had never visited before. He could only vaguely recall its location on a map. He became afraid that everything he knew was wrong, that it was all a delusion he had created. After hesitating for a while, he asked a passerby:
“Does Seoul exist?”
“Seoul? You mean our country’s capital?”
The man slumped down on a cement curb. He couldn’t figure out what was going on at all. It felt as if he had suddenly fallen from the sky. In his hand was the phone he had inadvertently taken with him. The man opened the keypad and dialed an eleven-digit number. When someone answered, he asked in an urgent voice:
“Is this… is this Hwiseo’s phone?”
“You have the wrong number.”
“How long have you had this number? Not long, right?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve had it since middle school.”
The person hung up as if they had no interest in continuing the conversation. The man stared at the black screen. It was true that he had wished to disappear from the world. But not like this. This wasn’t what he wanted.
* * *
Hwiseo brought back the man who was sitting absentmindedly by the sea. After returning to the guesthouse, they lay down facing away from each other and slept. After waking from short naps, they would eat lunch and lie down again. Hwiseo needed to recover, and it seemed the man did too.
There was a knock at the front door. When Hwiseo went out, two village elders were standing with the village chief’s wife. When asked what was going on, the supermarket owner spoke instead of the embarrassed-looking chief’s wife.
“Well, we had some clothes at the laundry shop.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I had clothes there too, a very expensive coat and winter padding that my daughter bought for me.”
The real estate agency owner who was standing next to him joined in.
“Could you possibly, compensate us for that? I know you must be distraught now, but…”
“Of course we should be compensated! It’s not a small amount of money! That’s one thing, and this is another. And while you’re staying here, I heard the village chief’s house can’t accept guests. You know how many people are looking for rooms these days, and even one room is valuable.”
“You told us earlier, don’t keep quiet, you should speak up too.” The supermarket owner nudged the chief’s wife in the side and urged the real estate agent with his shiny forehead, saying, “My clothes were worth this much, and how much did you say yours were?” Hwiseo was genuinely surprised at how numb he felt. It was as if he had used up all his emotions. He didn’t feel disappointed or angry. He just thought this was reality.
“What are you saying to this child! People who should know better, doing such thoughtless things! My goodness, how can people be so cruel!”
The grandmother who was bringing soup in the evening blocked Hwiseo’s path and yelled. The real estate agent wiped the sweat trickling down with his handkerchief and said:
“I heard there might be fire compensation, wouldn’t our burned clothes be included in that? I think there might also be something like death insurance.”
“Look at what this bald man is saying.”
“Brother, let’s be honest, Bongdeok’s father wasn’t originally from this village anyway. And what reason does this boy have to stay here now? What if he just leaves without a care?”
“Do you think I’m joking, woman?”
The grandmother was furious and even pointed at the village chief’s wife standing next to her. They could see the village chief running over, probably having heard the commotion. Hwiseo hugged the grandmother and said to the elders:
“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. But I’m not really in my right mind right now.”
Hwiseo couldn’t raise his face. The problem was that he wasn’t sorry at all though he tried to look apologetic, and he didn’t want to show them his tears. He was sad that he was the only one left to solve these problems. His father was gone from this world. It was heartbreaking enough to make his chest collapse.
Despite Hwiseo’s efforts to stop it, the argument, which even included cursing, only ended after the village chief and other villagers stepped in to break it up. The grandmother hugged Hwiseo tightly and apologized. In her embrace, all Hwiseo could do was shake his head. After everyone had left, the man who had woken up from the commotion was sitting in the room. He looked at Hwiseo’s blank expression and asked if his father had passed away.
“That’s different from me. My father is alive.”
“He’s alive?”
Finding differences between them might be easier than expected. Age, occupation, and family relationships.
“He’s alive, very well. He’s Lee Sunwoo, right?”
Hwiseo suddenly raised his head at the man’s self-deprecating laugh.
“What, what did you just say?”
“He’s the male lead of ‘Free Love Voucher,’ right? I played his childhood role. Oh, it seems the drama existed but the lead actor was different. I really don’t know what’s what anymore.”
The man grabbed his head in confusion. Hwiseo stared blankly at the man who was grimacing in pain, then searched through his phone and held up a photo in front of the man.
“This person, is this him?”
The man grimaced when the screen was thrust right in front of his eyes. But then he froze upon seeing Lee Sunwoo in the photo gallery. Despite looking older with a more modest hairstyle, it was definitely Lee Sunwoo. “Impossible,” the man muttered. In the photo, Lee Sunwoo was wearing an animal headband from an amusement park, sitting next to him and smiling. The man and Lee Sunwoo had never had what could be called a long conversation. Of course, they had never taken a photo together.
The two admitted they had thought somewhat carelessly. Similar faces, even the same name—could it be a one-in-a-million coincidence? That’s what they had vaguely thought. Since he fell into the sea and woke up, maybe his memory wasn’t intact. Since his father died and he lost everything, of course he would be confused. They tried to believe that.
But this was different. Someone with the same name as his father, with the exact same face, living out his father’s former dream? Hwiseo closed his eyes, feeling like he was falling into a black hole that had formed beneath his feet.
As everything went dark like space before his eyes, he remembered a voice.
‘Is there anything more arrogant than thinking we’re the only ones living in this universe?’
It was Misha’s voice, saying there could be countless universes and that another version of himself might exist somewhere.
* * *
Hwiseo tried calling Misha using the number he got from the village chief, but couldn’t get through. Since a week had passed, Misha might have returned to America. Hwiseo was disappointed when he couldn’t make contact, having hoped to find some clues. To clear his complicated mind, he gave the man a rough explanation. The man had the same expression Hwiseo had when he first heard about the time machine.
“So you are me, and I am you. Is that it?”
“That’s what I think.”
“Do you believe that’s possible?”
“Don’t expect me to convince you in a way you can understand. Looking at the results, that’s what it seems like, but I don’t know a damn thing either.”
“It sounds too much like science fiction.”
“If you have any other way to explain you and me, go ahead.”
The man shut his mouth, and Hwiseo regretted not having taken Misha’s words more seriously before. Just then, Hwiseo’s phone rang. It was Misha. He quickly answered before it could disconnect.
“Hello, Misha?”
“Yes, who is this?”
“It’s me, Hwiseo, who guided you to the meteorite coast. Remember?”
“Ah! Hwiseo, of course I remember. Are you okay?”
Misha answered the phone cheerfully. Despite having met for just one day, he had visited Hwiseo at the funeral. He said he couldn’t not come after hearing the news at the place they were together. Misha said he was about to remove the SIM card from his phone at the airport.
“I should have called you sooner, but I was so overwhelmed. Thank you sincerely for coming then. Please be sure to pass my thanks to your friend who came with you.”
“No problem, I’ll tell my friend.”
“But Misha, I’m curious about something. About wormholes and the multiverse.”
Despite the urgent voice, the content was unexpected. Wondering if he had misheard, Misha pressed the phone closer to his ear and asked again.
“Wormholes?”
“You said wormholes could naturally become time machines. That through them, we could go directly from Earth to Vega. So, is it possible for a person from another world, that is, a me who lived in another world, to come here?”
Misha didn’t give any answer for a moment. Instead, only the airport announcer’s entry guidance announcement could be heard. Hwiseo checked the time passing on his phone screen and nervously chewed his lower lip.
“It’s possible. Through a wormhole tunnel that penetrates hyperspace.”
Misha’s cheerful voice echoed through the room.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
