Chapter 36
Don't blame others! How wonderful would it be if everything in the world went according to my will? But I know. And everyone knows. That such a convenient world doesn't exist. I've felt it ever since my father died so absurdly. The world is unfair. Luck and misfortune aren't distributed equally to everyone, and sometimes it's discriminatory to a cruel degree.
"Kuh!"
Grab!
By the time I realized it, Choi Kang-min already had his hand around my throat.
No luck...!
Just looking at Choi Kang-min's expression as he wandered the hotel parking lot told me everything. He hadn't come here knowing I was hiding—he definitely hadn't. It had to be coincidence. Though statistically speaking, it was too improbable to dismiss as mere chance.
"Kang Moon-soo! You worthless worm, how dare you...!"
Snap.
My right arm was severed by his furious grip and fell to the floor.
"......"
But I stayed calm. It hurt like hell, but maybe because I'd been through it once before? It wasn't unbearable. And since I'd braced myself for the worst the moment I returned here, there was no panic either.
"...What?"
"What?"
"Your arm's torn off without anesthesia, so why aren't you screaming? Why aren't you begging for your life, for mercy?"
That was a mystery even to me. The old me would've stomped around yelling if I so much as smashed a finger while restocking at the convenience store. Staying composed through the agony of losing a limb felt surreal.
Anyway,
"Were you expecting that? Sorry to disappoint—"
Crack.
Choi Kang-min snapped my left leg like a twig mid-sentence.
"Hurry up and beg...!"
Was he hoping I'd break down sobbing and plead for forgiveness? In my eyes, he just looked like he was begging me to make him apologize. But I had no intention of submitting to his overwhelming violence. Wasn't one humiliating experience enough? There wouldn't be a second.
"Hey. You been drinking since midday?"
"You bastard!"
Thud!
I was hurled into the hotel's solid concrete wall, colliding limply before sprawling on the floor. The room inside was already a mess of my blood and flesh. Still, my mind remained serene—serene enough to jab back at him.
"Kang-min, grow up a little."
"How dare you...!"
He instantly recognized my imitation of an old man's tone and flew into a rage.
Crash!
* * *
Choi Kang-min finding Kang Moon-soo wasn't coincidence. There was a powerful pull. An unknown force drawing him like a magnet. It wasn't coercive, but he followed it as naturally as preferring asphalt highways over dirt roads.
And there was Kang Moon-soo. Rage boiled up the instant he saw him.
"You...!"
He severed the arm first, then crushed the leg when that didn't sate his fury.
But,
Why! Why the hell not!
He'd ruined Kang Moon-soo's limbs, dooming him to a lifetime as a cripple, yet it brought no satisfaction at all.
The reason? Kang Moon-soo's attitude.
That gaze unafraid of overwhelming power, looking down on him as insignificant. And the biggest problem was how his own mind had come to accept that unflappable demeanor as natural.
In the end, it's just a dream...?
Kang Moon-soo seemed to be saying there was no need to fear, since he wasn't really losing his limbs. Even so,
"Hurry up and beg...!"
Choi Kang-min denied this cruel reality, throwing a tantrum.
"Hey. You been drinking since midday?"
But Kang Moon-soo didn't yield to the pain, saying whatever he pleased. His light tone, laced with jokes, was so comical it seemed like he felt no agony at all.
"You bastard!"
Enraged once more, Choi Kang-min hurled the blood-soaked Kang Moon-soo deeper into the hotel room.
Thud!
Blood and flesh from the severed limbs splattered the walls and floor. His body was naturally shredded—
"Kang-min, grow up a little."
But it still wasn't enough to shut Kang Moon-soo up!
"How dare you...!"
This meant he felt no fear of pain—or even death. Was death truly unafraid to him? No. He simply couldn't die in the first place. Proof? Kang Moon-soo, whom he'd definitively killed in this world (the dream), had revived unscathed and appeared before him.
No...!
Choi Kang-min thrashed like a fish in a net.
Crash!
* * *
I'd thought furious Choi Kang-min would kill me on the spot. But instead of smashing my head with that menacing magic wand, he took out his anger on the room's expensive furniture.
"Hoo... hoo..."
"Choi Kang-min."
"......"
"Admit it already. That uncle's waiting for you at the hospital. For his firstborn son to wake up."
"...Lies."
His face twisted like a crushed aluminum can as he squeezed out the denial.
"You think this is all staged?"
"Kang Moon-soo. Just one question."
"Shoot."
"Do you have some grudge against me? Why are you doing this?"
The question was so absurd that even in my battered state, my eyes went wide.
Is he seriously asking because he doesn't know?
I decided to reconfirm, still unable to believe it after hearing it.
"Telling you an uncomfortable truth you could've lived without knowing until death? That's what you're asking—why torment you by revealing it?"
"......"
Still unwilling to accept it, Choi Kang-min answered with silence.
"Ha! What an idiotic question! You put me through this hell and that's what you say? Forgotten already?"
"This is all your own doing...!"
"And last time?"
"You were spouting nonsense."
"Telling you your days were numbered—was that nonsense? Why see a doctor then? If they say you're unhealthy, you'd just dismiss it as bullshit."
"Th-that's..."
Cornered by my flawless logic, Choi Kang-min trailed off into silence.
"Back then, I genuinely wanted to save you. You had at most a hundred days left. Now it's under fifty."
"This isn't saving me."
"You mean I should've let you die happy, trapped in your blissful dream?"
"...Yes."
"Sounds like something a drug addict would say. 'Just let me die.'"
"It's completely different. I'm a hero saving the world."
"Heroes don't kill their parents for inheritance and frame their siblings to send them to prison."
"That was Father's fault! He should've named me as heir, not my brother...!"
Choi Kang-min shouted desperately.
"Take that up with your dad. Whining to me, a stranger, won't help."
"Kuh!"
Stung by my sharp retort that left no room for rebuttal, he fell silent again. Then,
Thud.
Despite his superhuman speed-of-light power, he dropped to his knees like a criminal and prostrated himself.
"Choi Kang-min."
"......"
"Still clinging to it?"
Dizziness from blood loss was setting in, and I furrowed my brow. Like with Song Seon-yeong, the dream wasn't ending. Proof that this world's protagonist, Choi Kang-min, hadn't fully surrendered—he was still hesitating. Song Seon-yeong had wandered in torment after promising not to kill herself if she lost the swim meet. Same situation.
This won't be easy.
Until Choi Kang-min truly let go of his "Magic Boy" delusion, it wasn't over even if it ended.
"Father only loved the son my stepmother bore."
"I don't care about your family drama. Don't want to know."
I drew a firm line.
"To Father—"
"I'm not a recorder. Say it to his face. You think you're still a kid? Did transforming into Magic Boy make your brain regress too?"
Infuriated by my harsh words, Choi Kang-min glared at me.
"Want to die?"
"Kill me. I'll just wake up from the dream."
"You bastard!"
Thud!
Once again, I couldn't react and took the brunt of his outburst.
My gut's burning...
My eyelids felt like lead plates; I couldn't tell exactly where or how badly I was hurt.
"Cough, cough! Keep this up and I'll die again."
"...Doesn't it hurt?"
"Not enough to kill me!"
Is this bastard seriously asking that?
Though I'd been diligently building stamina lately, fighting a monster that moved at light speed was impossible. Yet even in this wretched state, I didn't feel defeated.
"Kang Moon-soo. Aren't you scared of me?"
"Not really."
"Losing limbs, in agony... it's all just a dream, huh."
"Pretty much."
But calling it a dream didn't make me some iron man immune to pain. Was it bravado? Stubborn grit? I believed that to beat an unbeatable foe like Choi Kang-min physically, I had to overwhelm him mentally.
Hold on! Just a bit longer!
My whole body ached so badly I wanted to die quick and be done with it.
"I've wanted to be a hero saving the world since I was a kid..."
But this bastard had no intention of going down easy. Complaining now? I'd lose my mind.
"I remember it well. Back in the playground doing role-plays with the three of us, you always hogged the hero role. Left me and Kang-hun with villain and sidekick."
"Kuhm!"
The Choi Kang-min I remembered from childhood was just an ordinary boy idolizing heroes. Right. Ordinary—at least before I knew about his history of tormenting his little brother behind the scenes.
"Making your brother play the villain and poking him with sticks day after day. Never thought that was your true nature."
I'd dismissed it as selfish kid stuff. But it got exposed.
"I was scared of Father. Still am—can't even face him."
"Ridiculous. The Magic Boy every villain fears?"
"That's a different issue."
"Because your screw-ups got found out?"
"Kang Moon-soo. It's your fault."
"Huh?"
What nonsense was this?
"If you hadn't interfered, I wouldn't have gone to extremes like harming Choi Kang-hun. Then Father never would've found out."
"Wow! You got a conscience? The very thought of harming family is wrong. Blaming others has limits!"
"Succession struggles are the natural order."
"Oh yeah? Then ruining someone you don't like must be natural order too."
"......"
His tantrum got him nowhere, and Choi Kang-min clamped his lips shut.
"Choi Kang-min."
"Don't wanna hear it."
"I don't wanna meddle in your family mess either, but it's pissing me off, so one word: You're throwing a spoiled tantrum. I never had parents to scold me or siblings to compete with."
"Must be nice."
"No inheritance to fight over either."
"Too bad."
"......"
I like money too, but this guy valuing family by cash seemed rotten to the core.
"Let me make it clear right here. I'm not going back to reality."
"Gonna die like this?"
"Yes."
"Choi Kang-min. I took a photo of your real-world state... Huh?"
I fumbled in my pocket with my remaining arm and froze.
It's gone?
I'd even snapped a pic of him mummified in the hospital bed. Did it fall out while I was rolling on the floor? No photo in sight.
"A photo?"
"...Meant I'd have shown you a photo if I still had it."
"How bad is it?"
"Asthma plus every complication under the sun. Pull the oxygen and you're gone."
"......"
"Wanna die?"
"...Who'd want that?"
"You said you wanted a happy death. Just now."
"Th-that's..."
Trapped by his own words, Choi Kang-min invoked the right to remain silent.
"What a clown. Tell me to let you die, then vent your rage."
"......"
He'd have nothing to say even with two mouths.
"Hey. If you wanna live, open your eyes."
"How...?"
"Admit this is a dream. Accept reality—don't deny it."
This wasn't from shaman manuals or occult books. Experience. And raw instinct!
"Choi Kang-min. Look on the bright side. In reality, you haven't harmed your family. No legal issues. Just youthful mistakes. You can start over. Hell, you haven't even started yet."
I said things I didn't fully mean.
"...Is that possible?"
But it was enough to sway him, caught in the desire to live longer.
"Of course!"
"Really?"
"Depends on you. I'm no fortune-teller."
I'm a shaman. And my role ended here.