Chapter 156
Chapter 156
Translator: Penny
Chapter 156
⚠ WARNING! ⚠
⚠ WARNING! ⚠
※ Trigger element detected ※
The usual sky-blue Status Window had been replaced by a crimson one, flashing wildly before my eyes.
It was clear something was wrong.
A nauseating pain surged through me, and I vomited up the water I'd swallowed with the sleeping pills.
As I stared at the white pills dissolving slowly on the floor, the throbbing headache that had already been plaguing me intensified.
Trigger element? I racked my memories, but I had no trauma associated with sleeping pills.
Unless you counted the time I mistook naphthalene for peppermint candy as a child.
I'd been taking pills since I was young, so I had no negative memories of them either.
Error! Error!
Past: 파⑇⑆▚⑉
I stared blankly at the blood-red Status Window, its screen shattered and displaying indecipherable characters. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat as if someone had clamped their hand over my windpipe. I clutched my neck, gasping for air, while a sharp pain stabbed through my solar plexus.
My vision flickered and blurred until I saw an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. The ashtray sat on a shelf beside the bed.
And that bed...
That's the bed from my new house in Cheongdam-dong...?
In my memory, the bed had been pristine, untouched. But the one before me now clearly showed signs of use.
Some lunatic—I didn't know who—had apparently smoked in bed, leaving cigarette burns and ash stains all over the blanket.
Fuck, are you out of your mind? What kind of crazy bastard...? Who the hell is doing this on someone else's precious bed?! My chest tightened with rage, and a fit of coughing erupted.
My gaze shifted to the floor, where a cracked smartphone lay sprawled as if someone had thrown it down.
The YouTube drama clip was paused with the play bar visible. The person dominating the screen was unmistakably Gyeon Hajun.
I knew all the drama titles Gyeon Hajun had starred in before the regression, but the drama name visible in the corner of this video was completely unfamiliar.
What the hell is this...?
An irritated sigh escaped, and a hand reached for the phone.
Fuck, that's not my hand!
Though the hand's size and shape closely resembled my own, I was certain it wasn't mine.
The back of the hand and each finger were covered in tattoos.
Before the regression, I had gotten one tattoo on my forearm and another on my inner wrist. Only later did I learn about the risk of hepatitis C from the needles, which stopped me from getting more.
Ignoring the winged design on the back of the hand, each finger joint bore a single letter of the alphabet. The distance made it impossible to decipher the word.
When I spotted several beer cans scattered on the floor, not just one or two, I gritted my teeth.
So some lunatic has broken into my house, taken over, and is living this trashy, degenerate life...
As my vision gradually rose, I followed its upward trajectory, hoping to catch a glimpse of the intruder's face.
"Hyung! Eden Hyung!"
The urgent call of my name snapped me back to consciousness, as if I had been pulled from the depths of sleep.
Ryu Jaehee steadied me with frantic hands. Tears welled in his eyes, whether from shock at the sedative's unexpected effects or from guilt.
"Jaehee, what time is it...?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
Ryu Jaehee answered immediately, his response rivaling even Big Xby's speed.
"One AM. Should I call 119?"
Seeing Ryu Jaehee's determined expression, his phone already displaying the emergency number, I was struck anew by the importance of education.
When someone's sick, call 119. If you drill that into their head, even a jerk who'd spout nonsense about "dying messages" will instinctively reach for emergency services.
Back when Reve first debuted, even being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance wouldn't have made major headlines. But now that Reve was quite famous and still actively promoting, being taken to the emergency room would be a top entertainment news story.
"Damn it," he muttered, rubbing his throbbing temples. "Calling Manager Hyung at 1 AM feels awkward."
Breathing difficulties and hallucinations aside, vomiting sleeping pills was less dramatic than coughing up blood.
He irritably swept his bangs back, took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. Fortunately, his breathing had returned to normal, and the tingling in his fingertips had subsided.
It didn't seem like an emergency room visit was necessary right now. Still, the uncertainty about his condition left him deeply uneasy.
"Tomorrow—no, it's past midnight, so today. What's on the schedule today?"
"Early morning music show pre-recording, and a radio appearance at noon."
After roughly calculating the end time of my radio schedule, I concluded:
"I can schedule a hospital checkup for the afternoon."
Would a same-day checkup be a comprehensive examination? I really need to get a thorough checkup. Sudden shortness of breath is a serious issue, isn't it? And the hallucinations... shouldn't I see a psychiatrist about that?
As I spoke, my expression remained disturbingly calm, which made Ryu Jaehee grab me and burst into hysterical sobs.
"Just call 119 and make a scene, Hyung...! You being so calm is even scarier! You're not usually like this!"
"What the hell? I'm not brain-dead, you know? Do you think I can't assess the situation?"
I'm sacrificing my own well-being for the group, even giving up going to the emergency room at dawn. Huh?
"What's wrong...?"
Gyeon Hajun emerged from the single room, his gaze sweeping over me, drenched in cold sweat, and Ryu Jaehee, who was supporting me. His eyes then shifted to the floor, where only tiny granules remained of the dissolved sleeping pills in the water.
Having quickly assessed the situation, Gyeon Hajun calmly asked, "Should we go to the hospital? Should I call a taxi?"
"Ah, right! I forgot about taxis!" Ryu Jaehee clasped his hands together and nodded vigorously, as if he had just discovered some profound truth.
"No, I'll go to the hospital in the afternoon after finishing my schedule. I'm fine now," I replied, wiping the cold sweat from my eyelids. Kim Dobin, who had cautiously peeked through the slightly ajar door, quietly closed it again at my gesture.
Amidst all this, Seo Yehyeon remained lost in his dream world, the only member who didn't even glance at me. He was sleeping so deeply, he wouldn't have noticed if someone carried him away.
That's a blessing in its own way.
I told Ryu Jaehee, who was wiping up the water on the floor with a towel, to just wipe it up roughly and go to bed. Then I returned to my room.
As I lay down on the bed, the suffocating pain from that moment resurfaced in my mind. It was a terrifying agony I never wanted to experience again.
And then there was that scene—I couldn't pinpoint when it had occurred, and no matter how hard I searched my memories, it remained elusive.
First, I needed to calm down. I opened the system window.
It was time to use all the Random Tickets I had accumulated. Who knew, maybe I'd get another Longevity Potion or Panacea Potion, the same one I had given to Gyeon Hajun before.
Back then, I had no choice but to give it up out of human decency. But now that I truly needed it, it had to appear again.
You have acquired the item 'God of Sports'!
You have acquired the item 'Music Search'!
You have acquired the item 'Human Translator'!
As I stared at the useless items flooding my screen, I sighed, wondering if they were even worth anything, especially now that my health was at risk.
Give me a Panacea Potion instead of this junk!
Hearing my sigh, my roommate Kim Dobin cautiously asked, "Hyung, should we go to the hospital now...?"
"Why do you guys only start nagging me about the hospital when I'm calm like this? Where was this concern when I was freaking out earlier?"
If you'd shown even half this much reaction back then, how much better would things have been? Huh?
"The number one song on Popular Music for the third week of May is... Altair's Come to My Universe! Congratulations!"
Pop! Confetti rained down on the stage.
Altair's Come to My Universe, you say? No matter how many times I heard that combination of words, I couldn't get used to it. I grimaced inwardly, forcing a wide smile and clapping enthusiastically.
What I was used to was Reve's Come to My Universe.
KJ beamed as he accepted the trophy. Watching Cha Yeonho receive the trophy with a smug grin and shake it triumphantly, I bit down on the inside of my cheek to suppress my true emotions. It ached from the constant clenching.
Stealing our song and taking first place? You must be thrilled.
Due to a significant gap in digital scores, we had to concede the music show win to Altair again this week.
Just wait till I catch that damn leaker. I'll behead him and hang his head at the LnL headquarters as a warning.
Gritting my teeth subtly, I stepped off the stage before the encore performance began.
We had only one week left of promotions. We had to secure first place at least once during that week.
Only then could we find some solace in knowing we'd beaten that damn One Chance at least once, despite the leak.
But that would only be possible if we managed a reverse climb on the charts, just like Come to My Universe had before the regression.
"Oh, by the way, your schedule's been updated for tomorrow," Manager Hyung announced matter-of-factly. We already needed to visit the hospital again, so this sudden addition was far from welcome.
"Suddenly? I told you I have a hospital appointment tomorrow!"
"The event stage fell through, and they're practically begging us... Can you postpone your checkup?"
"Reve still has a long way to go. He's still stuck filling in for punk bands."
I clicked my tongue in dissatisfaction and crossed my arms.
"Hyung, is that event going to be on an outdoor stage?" Seo Yehyeon asked, his eyes glued to his phone screen as he listened quietly.
"Yeah, outdoor stage. Why? Is there a problem?"
"It's supposed to rain tomorrow. They're predicting a shower."
"Don't worry, don't worry. It's just a passing shower, not a downpour. What could go wrong?" Manager Hyung waved his hand dismissively, trying to reassure us with his smooth words.
Kim Dobin narrowed his eyes. "That's a flag statement. Whenever someone says that, something always goes wrong."
"Here you go again, spouting nonsense." I pressed down on Dobin's head, scolding him. Flag or no flag, don't you know words have power, you idiot?
📝 Translator’s Note:
You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.
This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.
To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.
but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny