Chapter 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Return to Life
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For a moment, he thought it was a dream.
But...
His senses, smell, sight. Everything he felt was vivid.
The slurred pronunciations unique to English and Cantonese. Stewardesses chattering away as they pulled their carry-ons. And the drone of a plane engine from outside the window.
The route that went through Hong Kong instead of a direct flight to France, all to save money...
Right. He had to admit it. He was... in Hong Kong.
But even so, he was still confused.
‘Eurostar... terrorism... explosion...’
His last memory flashed through his mind. A frantic situation had unfolded, and he remembered running frantically through the power plant. And then, something had happened at the end. That part was hazy.
‘This is crazy.’
Everything around him. The sensory cells in his body were telling him this was real, but the fact that he had died was also an undeniable truth.
‘Did I return to the past when I died?’
Was that even possible?
From the perspective of a scientist who sees the world through proof, no matter how you looked at it, this was an ‘impossible’ event.
So, what was a more fitting explanation? He tried to find a plausible, scientifically sound example.
‘Rather than an unrealistic regression, what if I just dreamed of my future self?’
While dozing off in the airport waiting area. A fleeting, yet long, long dream.
‘Since dreams can't measure the passage of time.’
Yes. That was the most realistic explanation.
He hadn't returned from the future. It was just a nightmare, brought on by an uncertain future.
Sixteen years old. Somewhere between a boy and a young man, with late-onset puberty piling on anxiety and discontent these days.
Of course he could have a dream like that.
Sprouting wings and flying through the sky, or suddenly being much older and doing something. Impossible things, but weren't dreams where the impossible happened?
‘Things that can happen anytime in a dream.’
Arriving in France, getting pickpocketed right after leaving the airport, and the fellow countryman who appeared offering help turning out to be a casual con artist...
Everything that happened in the dream was due to the special circumstances of immigrating and the anxiety of having to face an entirely new environment...
‘Something like a nightmare derived from that.’
Yu-hyeon decided to think of it that way.
Just then, he heard his father's voice—a tone that was both familiar and, having not heard it in so long, almost awkward.
My god! Not just anyone's voice, but his father's sounded awkward? Had it been that long?
Yu-hyeon thought that even for a dream, this was a damn weird one.
“Yu-hyeon.”
'Dad...'
It was his father. The one he had missed so dearly in his dream.
But in reality, his father had never left his side.
‘Of all the strange dreams to have...’
Yu-hyeon quickly rubbed his dry face, as if trying to shake off the feelings from the dream.
“Son, let's go.”
“Huh?”
“It's time to board.”
“Oh...”
“You just woke up?”
“I dozed off for a bit.”
“You must be tired from rushing around since dawn. Let's go. You can sleep more on the plane. Oh, by the way. Since this is a connecting flight, the seating is a bit off. We'll have to sit separately. Is that okay?”
“Of course. I'm not a kid. Don't worry.”
*
‘I'm... I'm going to be sick!’
It wasn't airsickness, nor was it an upset stomach from something he ate. It was because the events from the dream he'd dismissed as nonsense... were repeating themselves as vividly as if he had just experienced them.
‘Déjà vu?’
The feeling of having seen or heard something before. A recurring sense of familiarity... No, it was definitely not that. Every form of déjà vu we experience in reality is nothing more than an illusion born from familiarity.
Not like this. Where the face of a stranger seems familiar, where you remember their name before even checking their name tag. And where you shouldn't be able to know what they're going to do next.
-What would you like to drink?
-Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry, but could you please raise your seat back just a little?
-Eun-su. That student over there. Isn't he just gorgeous?
-I know, right? Wow, how can a boy look like that? I don't think I've seen him on TV. Is he an idol trainee? How old do you think he is? Eighteen? Nineteen? No, I heard they start training even younger these days. Ah, I don't know. Just looking at him is nice.
‘Stop! Just... stop coming to me!’
Unintentionally, the words and actions of others were playing out sequentially in his head before they happened.
The stewardesses were nearby, but definitely not close enough for him to hear their voices so clearly. And yet, their words flowed into his ears as if they were whispering right next to him.
-Oh, geez. Nayeon is at it again. She's such a sucker for a pretty face, you can't stop her. Stop staring and just bring him a Coke or something.
-Hehe. Should I?
‘Ugh... My head.’
More than feeling amazed or surprised, he was overcome with dizziness, a headache, and a wave of nausea.
Just then, the stewardess who had been sneaking glances at Yu-hyeon cautiously spoke to him.
“Um, are you okay? You're sweating a lot. Should I get you some ice water?”
‘This wasn't in my memory...?’
The next action he remembered her taking was related to a Coke. There was no memory of her approaching him with a worried expression or offering ice water...
“Could you?”
“Yes. Just a moment. Oh, and if you need some headache medicine, I can get that for you too.”
‘This isn't in my memory either.’
Yu-hyeon nodded, grateful for Nayeon's kindness.
“Yes, please. I guess I'm a little nervous since it's my first time flying.”
As Nayeon hurried away, Yu-hyeon looked around the cabin. Except for Nayeon's words and actions just now...
‘...the rest is exactly as I saw it in the dream.’
In other words, the dream he'd had in the waiting area wasn't just some meaningless nonsense.
‘No. It's not a dream. You can't have memories this vivid just from dreaming.’
Everyone dreams. Most are dreams you don't even remember, and of the few you do, you're only aware that you dreamt.
And even those dreams you're aware of, it's normal for them to be forgotten quickly. What he was experiencing now should be impossible.
‘If it's not a dream... did I really regress?’
His thoughts were a jumbled mess.
‘Whether this stems from a dream or I've actually returned to the past after living the future, the key is...’
...that I know what's going to happen. And not just vaguely, but vividly!
‘I need confirmation that this isn't a hallucination, that it's real.’
If what he was experiencing now, if all these memories, were from the future...
‘The stewardess's words and actions changed because of me. The future I don't touch flows on as it was, but this means the future can change depending on what I do.’
If these things he was experiencing weren't hallucinations, auditory illusions, or some kind of déjà vu...
‘Dad. I have to save Dad!’
The painful memory he'd had to carry in his heart his entire life. He couldn't let it repeat.
Nayeon, the stewardess who had gone to get the headache medicine and ice water, returned.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
Taking the medicine and cup of water, Yu-hyeon met Nayeon's eyes and gave her a gentle smile.
Their eyes met, and Nayeon bit her lip slightly before turning away with a smile on her face.
“Eun-su. Eun-su.”
“What is it now?”
“Wow, that boy's skin. It's totally like porcelain. And when our eyes met, he just... smiled like this, with the corners of his mouth. I thought my heart was going to explode.”
“Calm down. If the manager catches you, it won't just be a lecture this time.”
“Hey! Anyone else can say that, but not you.”
“Why not me?”
“Am I the only sucker for a pretty face here? I know you're a serious case too. Last week, when that actor Park Han-yeong was on our flight...”
Eun-su quickly covered Nayeon's mouth.
“Let's respect my privacy, shall we?”
“Mph, mph.”
*
Listening to the conversation from the galley, Yu-hyeon's eyes glinted with interest. What the two of them were saying was hardly different from what he had heard and seen in his dream—no, his future.
‘Except for the parts I interfered with, everything is flowing just like my memories?’
He didn't know how far this principle applied, but it was clear that the future wasn't set in stone; it could change based on his actions.
Extremely personal, minor changes might not cause significant deviations, but he realized that if he took actions that affected a wider range of people, the future he remembered could change completely.
‘I suppose I'm the butterfly.’
Briefly thinking of chaos theory, Yu-hyeon quickly swallowed the medicine to combat his throbbing headache.
‘My hearing is too sensitive. I need to find a way to control this...’
Yu-hyeon had thought his dizziness and headache were due to the jumble of memories, the repetition, and the confirmation. But he was wrong.
‘With my eardrums this sensitive... it's no wonder I feel sick.’
A short while later, as the medicine took effect, the dizziness and headache began to subside.
‘A person's memory fades and is easily altered. As new memories and experiences accumulate, this process will only accelerate.’
Having calmed down, Yu-hyeon took a diary out of his bag.
To deal with the inevitable jumbling and confusion of memories, he had to record the key memories that pierced through the future in writing.