Chapter 244: Time Gone By
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 244: Time Gone By
Jeong Seong-bin’s shocking revelation didn't end there.
— He said being a picky eater is just an excuse, and that someone in the professional world shouldn't be so selective because it hurts their image... He claimed it’s only because you aren't used to eating it, and that you’d be cured if you just ate it.
“What a load of bullshit.”
— That person gave Ju-woo banana milk last time, right? Apparently, after seeing Ju-woo refuse to drink it, he gave it to I-wol Hyung in secret. Because he was afraid Hyung wouldn't drink it if he knew. It seems he intended to wait until I-wol Hyung drank it and was fine, then say, ‘See? You can eat it just fine.’
“And in the process, a person almost had a heart attack. The company’s really running great, isn't it?”
Choi Je-ho sneered. Jeong Seong-bin didn’t try to stop him. To some extent, he seemed to agree with Choi Je-ho.
There are people like that. The kind of humans who turn a deaf ear when someone says they can’t eat something or that they dislike it.
People with allergies or hypersensitivities have no choice but to know. They know exactly how dangerous the wrong food can be.
These people make sure to clearly mark allergens when giving food as a gift, and they try to avoid risk factors when choosing what they eat themselves.
Just like how I wrote the allergens in large letters on the lunch boxes in ‘Adan-un’ and only drank water when having drinks with the members.
People who haven't experienced something similar think these things are a joke.
It’s a matter of will. You’ll get better if you eat it. A little bit won't kill you. Don't use ‘I can’t eat it’ as an excuse to avoid something that’s just a preference...
‘So what if I can’t eat it, and so what if I just don't want to?’
He probably did it because he wanted to be recognized for something, but I couldn't understand why a grown adult would go to such lengths just because he couldn't get a single compliment from someone else.
Suddenly, my body felt exhausted. Since I couldn't even keep my eyes open, I just wanted to go back to sleep.
However, there was still something I had to check.
Even if the drink contained coffee, the physical reaction had been far too extreme.
The unstable pulse that felt like cardiac arrest was imminent, and...
+
[SYSTEM] A work order has arrived from the ‘Person in Charge.’
▶ Assistant Manager Kim, check the file.
+
...Even the System.
I swallowed a sigh. Then, I pulled up the Memory Data I had tried to forget.
If it were up to me, I really didn't want to open it. What good would come from looking at this?
But this wasn't just anything; my body was failing. If the data and my current state were completely unrelated, it would be one thing, but with the System even giving me hints, I couldn't just ignore it.
I pulled up the Memory Data window, which felt like it should be covered in dust. The same window as before appeared.
Just in case, I lowered the Negative Emotion Perception Rate as much as possible. It was a preventive measure, as I might suffer a mental shock after seeing the data.
+
[SYSTEM] Would you like to view the ‘Memory Data’?
▶ Yes / No
+
The familiar guidance window appeared, then vanished as the ‘Yes’ indicator glowed.
Slowly, my eyes opened.
I was standing inside a familiar room. The officetel where I used to live.
Unlike the pitch-black darkness outside the window, my room was bright.
And against the wall sat the twenty-nine-year-old me, clutching his head while struggling in front of a monitor.
He was facing a pink screen.
It was the point where my memory had cut off before I traveled back in time.
“...Done. I’m not touching it anymore, seriously.”
The me before my eyes said the same words as back then and stretched just like I did then.
As he opened an internet browser to send an email...
“What’s this?”
...He discovered the article about Spark’s disbandment.
“Fuck...”
Right, that was my last memory.
Did something else happen after that? Did I not return to nine years ago immediately after that, but rather something happened that the System had blocked from my memory?
While I was trying to grasp the situation, the me sitting at the computer clutched his chest. Just like I had done a moment ago.
Then, with a gagging sound, he collapsed from the chair. His phone and wallet, which had been hit by his arm, tumbled across the floor.
Suddenly, the words Choi Je-ho had said during his call with Jeong Seong-bin came to mind.
‘They say he might have a cardiac arrest.’
Between the gaps in his clothes, I could see his skin turning blue at a terrifying speed.
The pain of my entire body being crushed as if by a massive piece of iron. The terror that came from being unable to breathe.
Above all, I could feel the pressure—as if his heart was about to explode right that second—from the Kim I-wol crawling on the floor before me.
At that moment, a vibration rang out.
My gaze and the gaze of the twenty-nine-year-old Kim I-wol turned toward the same spot. A call was coming in on the phone.
At the same time, previous memories began to seep in. Very slowly and gradually.
‘...Who is it?’
Perhaps his vision was blurred, because the past me couldn't even recognize the caller. From where I stood, I couldn't see who was calling either.
‘I have to... answer the phone.’
As he thought that, Kim I-wol’s thoughts drifted in a different direction.
‘...And if I ask for help, then what?’
The dregs of a familiar emotion clung to the end of that question.
‘Instead of continuing to live like this, wouldn't it be better to just stay still?’
It was the skepticism that had occupied the empty space left behind by the humanity I had abandoned on the Han River Bridge.
Even though the pain grew worse the longer he stayed still, Kim I-wol did not answer the phone. Instead, he closed his eyes.
‘Let’s just endure it a little longer.’
A voice soaked in fatigue filled my head. It was like a self-hypnosis.
‘Because it’ll be over soon.’
Until the call cut off, Kim I-wol did not panic; he quietly comforted his self, whom no one else would look at.
‘Because I don't have to do anything anymore...’
Ending with a dizzying tinnitus, he fell into the deepest sleep he had known since the day he was born.
‘...What is this?’
I covered my mouth. No matter if it was my own reflection, seeing a corpse was shocking.
It overlapped with the moment of my older sister’s encoffinment. My stomach churned.
I died just like that. Without asking for help even once. Having given up on everything.
I had so little attachment to living.
My breath grew ragged. My mouth felt parched. I was insanely thirsty.
I couldn't lift my head due to the dizziness. I braced myself by pressing both hands against my knees to keep from falling.
What on earth was the System’s intention in showing me this?
Is it funny to see a bastard who had no dreams or hope before now struggling to survive?
Is it showing me this so I know my place? That no matter what I do, that is my future?
My head throbbed. I felt like I wanted to grab the headache medicine on my dead self’s desk and swallow it all.
Just as my vision began to blur, I felt my heart beating rapidly. Whether it was from fear or anger, I didn't know.
At the very least, the current me was alive.
‘...Let’s stay calm.’
I had to think rationally. About why the System told me to look at the Memory Data at this specific moment.
About what I was supposed to gain from this godawful memory.
Because if I gained nothing, I would just be a puppet dancing to the System’s tune.
I slowly wiped my face and straightened my back. Gradually, I was able to move my feet.
Approaching my own breathless body, I thought incessantly.
About the words that the EKG results weren't good. About Choi Je-ho’s phone conversation saying there were premonitory signs of cardiac arrest.
At the same time, one word came to mind.
‘Synchronization.’
The System had clearly stated that the previous body and the current body would be synchronized.
When I first read that explanation, I thought it only applied to things like dark circles.
But if the heart that had already lost its function once, and the skin that had turned so pale it was blue as a corpse, were also under the influence of synchronization...
I opened the explanation window related to synchronization.
+
[SYSTEM] The ‘Synchronization Rate’ is being notified to ‘Party B.’
▷ Current Synchronization Rate: 60%
+
I remembered the synchronization rate dropping by 3% as a reward for the overall win in ‘Adan-un,’ bringing it to around 30%. The current figure was double the last one I had seen.
To summarize: the past me died of an unexplained cardiac arrest.
And although I traveled back nine years, my body is being affected by the actual event of that cardiac arrest.
And as this number increases, my body synchronizes with the ‘dead’ Kim I-wol’s body.
Now I finally understood why people kept telling me I looked like a corpse. And why my fortune said I had the fate of a dead man.
I had been walking around with my life thread already cut, and I was too stupid to even realize it. Since my heart’s durability had dropped, I must have been even more sensitive to caffeine than usual.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
The reason my heart hurt unusually much just from riding an amusement park ride, and the reason I felt a tightening pressure in my chest every time Lee Cheong-hyeon popped up out of nowhere.
And probably from the point the synchronization rate increased, the way my heart would repeatedly race and then go quiet just because I was a little nervous during archery practice.
What would have happened if I had ridden an amusement park ride like before while the synchronization rate was high without knowing this?
What if something exploded on set because they were filming a hidden camera prank? If my heart fluctuates just from concentrating, what if I get even more stressed because of people like Hong Un-seop?
In the first place...
If synchronization reaches 100%, or if I turn twenty-nine...
Do I become exactly like this Kim I-wol?
I felt lightheaded. I walked up to the back of the frozen Kim I-wol. Then, I curled up and sat in the empty space.
My heart surged. The churning feeling was like a wave, or perhaps a dark cloud.
Snow began to fall in my heart.
“You poor bastard.”
I smoothed Kim I-wol’s disheveled hair with my fingertips. The sight of his damp hair spilling down made me sad.
“You pathetic bastard.”
My vision darkened. I’m sure the me in his final moments felt like this too.
“Gasp...!”
Spitting out the darkness, I regained consciousness. Unlike before I opened the Memory Data, this time my eyes opened properly.
“Kim I-wol.”
Turning my gaze slightly to the side, I saw Choi Je-ho. I slowly regulated my breathing.
Choi Je-ho, who had been watching me breathe, asked in a low voice.
“Are you okay?”
“...Probably?”
Nothing hurt anymore. My heart wasn't thumping. I felt a bit exhausted, but it wasn't unbearable.
Sensing that I wasn't lying, Choi Je-ho let out a sigh of relief in his own way.
I thought he would give me some kind of explanation now that I was conscious.
But Choi Je-ho was quiet. He just toyed with the safety bar of the bed, which had been raised to prevent falls.
Then, the best thing he could come up with to say was...
“They said you need to take good care of your heart.”
...That.
I wonder if he was shocked. Well, it would be weirder if he wasn't shocked after someone clutched their heart during a meeting and an ambulance had to be called.
But, if he’s this shocked by this...
What will he do when I actually die?