Chapter 203
Chapter 203
As soon as I confirmed Cheong-ryeo had picked up, I cut straight to the chase.
"Can you talk?"
—Yes. Is there a problem with the mission?
"..."
—I figured that was the only reason you’d contact me.
Was calling him right after the encore concert too obvious? My judgment had been clouded because I’d been blindsided by so many unexpected situations lately.
Still, I can't look like I'm begging for clues.
To set the right tone, I had to start with an interrogation. I tilted my head back.
"There was no problem with the mission itself."
—I see.
"But another mission appeared."
—...
"It wasn't the last one. Did you lie to me on purpose?"
—No.
The answer from the other end of the line was compliant. There wasn't even a hint of a smile in his voice.
I heard the faint sound of a dog whimpering for a moment, and then he continued quietly.
—I think I can explain... If you're okay with it, why don't we meet up briefly when you have time? Someone might overhear a phone call.
"I'd prefer to do this over the phone."
I didn't actually want to chat his ear off on the phone; I meant that someone overhearing was better than me getting my head cracked open by him again.
—If it makes you uncomfortable, we can meet at the TeSTAR dorm. I don't have any other intentions. ...I know it wouldn't work anyway.
Hmm. I was planning to squeeze information out of him by threatening him with the recording if he talked nonsense or tried to dodge the question, but it didn't seem necessary.
Of course, I couldn't guarantee when this guy might lose it again, so I naturally intended to set up some safety measures.
"Let's do this, then."
After setting a time and place, I stepped back inside from the balcony.
Kim Rae-bin, who happened to be nearby, jumped in surprise.
"Hyung! You were gone for thirty-five minutes, so I was worried you might have gone off to drink in secret! Were you on the balcony the whole time?!"
"Yeah."
This guy was a bit tipsy, too.
I sat down next to him before the others could notice and try to talk to me.
"Rae-bin."
"Yes!"
"I have a favor to ask."
"I shall listen with all my attention!"
Kim Rae-bin straightened up, perhaps mistakenly thinking I was about to critique him.
No, that's not it.
I waved my hand to tell him to calm down and continued my explanation.
"You see..."
And things went exactly as I expected.
A few days later.
"Not bad."
I arrived first at the outdoor cafe on the outskirts of the city—a place I had suggested and he had rented out entirely.
It was difficult to observe from the outside, but it was the kind of place where if a scream were heard, someone nearby would report it immediately. There were plenty of CCTVs, too.
"You're early."
A few minutes later, Cheong-ryeo appeared at the entrance fence... and next to him was a dog in a perfectly fitted harness, panting away.
"Woof!"
"..."
I thought it might happen, but I didn't expect him to actually bring it.
"I thought bringing him along would be a good excuse. Is that okay?"
"...I don't mind."
"Haha, you can pet him. He loves people."
Cheong-ryeo gave a thin smile and picked up the dog to carry him as they moved. The dog's tail was wagging furiously.
He’s got a good life.
The dog looked plump, as if he were being well-fed.
"The cafe owner said we can eat whatever we want from the kitchen, so please, make yourself comfortable."
As if I could swallow anything in this situation.
I sat at the table and answered flatly.
"I'm not interested. Let's talk first."
"Is that so? All right. Then, shall we start with... why the missions haven't ended?"
"There's something you should answer before that."
"Hmm?"
I asked the question I’d been wondering about but had put off because I didn't think he'd answer.
"How were you so sure about the number of missions?"
"..."
From the beginning, this guy had told me the total number of status effects with absolute certainty.
—From what I’ve calculated... it seems they give you one basic mission, plus one for every year you’ve returned. That’s what I thought.
"I need to know where that formula—years returned plus one—came from. Because it was wrong."
"Ah, that."
Cheong-ryeo nodded readily and stroked his dog.
Then, he dropped a bombshell.
"I collected cases from people like us."
"...!"
"Oh, they're not around anymore. They're dead."
His face showed no particular emotion.
"It was some kind of illness... anyway."
I clenched my hands. My brain felt numb.
There were others?
"How did you meet them?"
"Ah, this is a bit embarrassing... Was it the fifth time? I once went around saying useless things, trying to debut as quickly as possible."
Cheong-ryeo continued with a bright smile.
"I went around on broadcasts blabbing that I knew the future."
"...!"
"But maybe because the fields were different, the mission didn't clear... Well, I went back to doing it properly after that. It's funny thinking back on it."
This bastard's tone was changing.
I couldn't let a madman indulge in his past for no reason. I cut off the strangely shifting atmosphere.
"Anyway, and then?"
"And then... an old man approached me, saying he had come from the future too."
Cheong-ryeo took his hand off the dog.
"After verifying if it was true... I figured it out once we compared notes."
"What?"
"The point where the future he knew ended matched exactly with the point in the past where I restarted."
"...!"
"So... it seems only one person who knows the future exists at any given time. Him for a few years, and then me for the next few."
"..."
"And now, it's you, Moon-dae."
Only then did I understand what he had said to me before.
—Now is the perfect time. You must feel like the protagonist of a story.
Was it because only one person occupied that specific period of knowing the future?
...Then what on earth is the criteria?
What could this guy and I possibly have in common? And was that dead old man also in the entertainment industry?
All sorts of questions swirled in my head, but the situation was too delicate to grill him on everything.
Even now, Cheong-ryeo was muttering to himself as if in a trance.
"Hmm, come to think of it... I never tried restarting before he died."
"..."
"It would have been nice to restart while he was still alive to see if he went back to the past too. Right? Then we wouldn't have gone through all this trouble. Haha!"
"No."
I cut him off on purpose.
"No?"
"Yeah. I'd rather get hit a bit than die just to check that."
"...Hmm. Well, I suppose so."
Cheong-ryeo's momentum died down.
This is driving me crazy.
I wiped the dog's saliva off my hand after it started licking me, and then I realized something else.
"...Then the reason you realized immediately that I had come back to the past was..."
"That's right. The timing was perfect."
Cheong-ryeo laughed.
"I wondered if someone else might know the future now... and then suddenly, a civilian appeared on an audition show and took first place."
"...!"
"On a program everyone expected to fail, but ended up being a massive success... you took first place by revealing your family history at a very critical moment."
"..."
It was the result of a combination of coincidence and the Status Window's effects, but Cheong-ryeo smiled as if he were slightly embarrassed for me.
"I thought you'd looped a few times. Naturally."
"...Hmm."
It certainly seemed like a plausible enough reason for him to suspect me and test the waters.
"But I didn't expect it to be a different person... Well, actually, I thought that might be why another mission appeared."
In that instant, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
"...Because I'm not 'Park Moon-dae'."
"Yes."
Since I had entered someone else's body, it meant there was an additional penalty compared to those who simply returned to the past.
I never asked for this, and yet everything is going insane.
I pressed my fingers against my brow.
...If this hypothesis was correct, the fact that the target of death in this status effect was specifically designated as 'Park Moon-dae' felt quite relevant.
It felt like a signal that from now on, if I couldn't clear the status effects, I wouldn't be allowed to keep using Park Moon-dae's body.
Shit.
...Would it end with just one more?
I didn't know. There were too many anomalies, from the Status Window errors to the coins.
I can't even check the coins.
There had been no news since the pop-up saying I’d received them.
I had even swallowed my pride and whispered "Inventory" out loud, but nothing changed.
All I got was Cha Yu-jin, who overheard me even through his earphones, asking, "Is there inventory left for the albums?"
Damn it.
Just thinking about it made my face flush. I roughly stroked the dog as it rubbed its head against me.
Is there no one else with a Status Window?
I felt like telling the guy sitting in front of me to shout "Status Window" just once.
Of course, instead of acting on that impulse, I simply stood up.
It's a problem if a Status Window actually appears, and it's a problem if it doesn't.
There was no need to provoke him further. I had achieved my minor goal, so I planned to minimize irritation and dig for more later.
But suddenly, the dog started whimpering.
"...Whine!"
Is he telling me not to leave?
"It looks like Kong-i wants to play more."
"...Kong-i?"
"Yes."
A surprisingly domestic name popped out. It suited the dog, but hearing it from that guy made my skin crawl.
At that moment, Cheong-ryeo spoke as if to emphasize something.
"It's his original name."
"..."
I knew what he meant.
"I see."
I patted the head of the dog—who had likely been called Kong-i for a very long time—a few more times before finally standing up.
"Stay and play some more."
"I'm good."
I felt completely drained. There was no need to talk to this guy anymore.
I walked toward the entrance fence.
The guy, who had picked up the dog and was following me, suddenly asked a question at the exit.
"Hmm... come to think of it, you must have an original name too, Moon-dae-ssi."
"...!"
"Was it the same name by any chance? Haha."
I answered almost reflexively.
...It wouldn't matter. It wasn't like he could find any records of me anyway.
"Ryu Gun-woo."
"Hmm."
He made a subtle expression.
"It's better than Park Moon-dae."
"...I suppose so."
I couldn't really deny that.
Still, I thought Park Moon-dae was... a decent enough name once you got used to it.
The fans seem to like it because it's unique, after all.
Anyway, I hopped over the fence of the outdoor cafe and started heading home.
"Awoooo—!"
I could hear the dog's rather mournful howling until I turned the corner.
I massaged the back of my neck.
It wasn't a total loss.
At least I had a hypothesis as to why another status effect had appeared.
I hated to admit it... but having another brain to work with definitely made it easier to draw conclusions. Especially now that he wasn't throwing in useless bluffs.
However, hearing that this bizarre phenomenon had happened to others in succession made it even more grotesque.
Why am I the only one with a Status Window?
I really felt like the protagonist of some web novel.
Just then, the smartphone in my pocket rang.
Oh.
I answered immediately.
—Hyung! Are you okay?!
It was Kim Rae-bin.
"Sorry. I was late checking. I'm on my way back now."
—You are very fast... It hasn't even been an hour.
Tell me about it.
I recalled the conversation I’d had with Kim Rae-bin yesterday.
—I'm going out during our break. Could you send me a text every thirty minutes? It won't be long... five or six times should be enough.
—Of course! But may I ask why?
—I remembered getting into a scuffle with some crazy guy last time. I want to be prepared. If I don't reply, call me. If I don't even pick up the phone, report it to the company.
—I see! That is an excellent idea!
It was a sort of part-time job as an emergency alert bell.
Kim Rae-bin was tight-lipped once you gave him a heads-up, and he rarely forgot a task he was given, so I planned to use him often in the future.
Should I make him a snack when I get back?
I was contemplating what "carrot" to give him since I couldn't keep using him for free.
Suddenly, a wave of noise flooded through the phone.
—Ah, hey!
—Hyung!! Hurry, hurry!
—Go away, Cha Yu-jin!
—It's important! Kim Rae-bin, move!
It was Cha Yu-jin. I knew it.
"I'll be there soon. See you in a bit."
Just as I was about to calmly end the call—
—Moon-dae hyung! We're on a US show!
"...?"
—Our reality show!
It was incredibly sudden news.
For the record, after I confirmed the details, it became even more absurd.