Chapter 186: Eunnamu's Revenge
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 186: Eunnamu's Revenge
6
Eunnamu, the returnee from Outer World · 1.
Though her memories were a jumble of two different lives, there was one thing they had in common.
In both, she had been a plaything for the one lurking at the boundary.
Countless Evil Gods had toyed with her, but the one who tormented her most viciously was that very being.
From the rift between time and space, the creature that could peer into and steal countless engraved memories had done unspeakable things to Eunnamu.
After endlessly rummaging through her memories, it had sought just one thing.
To connect Earth to the Outer World.
For the Evil Gods, Earth was teeming with countless new toys, from returnees and hunters to ordinary people.
The Evil Gods were beings who would sacrifice even their own lives for the sake of curiosity and amusement.
That was why the one lurking at the boundary had relentlessly tormented Eunnamu’s worldline.
“And in the process, I died about twenty-two times.”
Eunnamu’s face was remarkably calm as she said this.
She had been forced to bear the full brunt of the repercussions from viewing the worldlines.
That was why they had cursed her with immortality.
They had no intention of losing a world so full of toys.
A brain scorched to a crisp, a body shattered and reassembled, and the backlash from the worldlines.
Eunnamu’s mind was worn down countless times from enduring it all, but her immortality extended to her psyche as well.
“So I remembered. To endure that time, I replayed my happiest moments over and over.”
A fond smile graced Eunnamu’s lips.
“I thought of the person who was my first love in middle school, my first boyfriend.”
A memory from that jumbled past. It was something the Eunnamu of our world never had, but now it had become hers completely.
She had replayed that ancient memory countless times.
“What was the reason I fell for you? It was something incredibly trivial. You sat next to me, Ha-chan. The day I caught a cold, you noticed, told the teacher, and took me to the nurse’s office.”
It was a trivial story, if there ever was one. The kind of thing that might happen to anyone. But for some, such moments can become special.
The two of them, sitting in the back by the window, grew close after that day.
They would show each other their notes if they missed something in class, wake each other up from naps during break, and go to lunch together.
Studying together during exams. Hanging out to celebrate after they were over.
Going to PC bangs to play games they both liked, or spending hours singing at a karaoke bar.
A scene from their school days. That was how people grew close.
In that world, Eunnamu and I became close just like that.
It was more than enough time for love to blossom.
I like you.
Eunnamu confessed her feelings.
Her eyes were moist, her lips trembling.
The moment she uttered the confession—the biggest moment of her life—the me of that world accepted it.
And then… she was swept away in a dimensional shift.
On the very first day they became a couple, she was abruptly dropped into a hell that seemed to stretch on for eternity.
All the while, she replayed the memory of her happiest day over and over again.
Then, she seized an opportunity and returned to Earth.
The moment she saw me—the person she had endlessly thought of in that hell—she must have been terrified.
She couldn't have borne it if the me of that world ended up in the same state as her, a victim of the Evil Gods.
So, she left the side of that world’s me.
Even as an immortal, she chose to leave because she loved him.
“I searched for a way to kill the Evil Gods until the very, very end, but my own end came first.”
Eunnamu let out a soft laugh.
The day she was killed by my sister, her memories once again scrambled by the Evil Gods as she went on a rampage, killing other returnees.
She remembered the face she saw in her final moments—my face.
“After seeing that end, I knew for sure. I absolutely cannot let this chance slip away.”
Eunnamu looked at me, her eyes wide and clear.
“So I’m going to do it. So…”
Eunnamu hesitated, her lips faltering, as she looked at me.
“Can I confess to you one more time?”
The confession she had made once in that worldline. Eunnamu was asking to make it again, in this one.
Her question was so earnest it made me feel just how precious her feelings for me were to her.
But there was one problem between us.
“Eunnamu.”
I don’t have the memories from her worldline.
Unlike her, I didn’t inherit those memories.
I didn’t know the extent of her misunderstanding, but I had to tell her the truth.
My eyes met Baeksan’s for a moment.
“The choice is all yours.”
Baeksan clicked his tongue after spitting out what could be seen as cold words.
“And helping you with the responsibility is my job.”
Spoken like the reliable regressor he was.
I opened my mouth to speak to Eunnamu, who was watching me quietly.
“I don’t have the same memories of that worldline as you.”
All I have is a single, fragmented memory that Baeksan gave me.
When I told her this, Eunnamu fell silent.
“…You don’t have the memories?”
“What I said that day about an ex-girlfriend was something I learned about through other means. I don’t have the memory itself.”
Eunnamu’s eyes wavered.
She was flustered by the fact that there was no one to share her most precious memory with.
“I’m sorry. I let you misunderstand.”
All I could do right now was apologize.
If I had known this sooner, I could have resolved it, but it was too late.
And this was after she had used her immortality to help me.
“Then I…”
Eunnamu’s lips parted, but she slowly lowered her head.
Seeing her like that, I was about to call her name again.
“…I’m sorry.”
Eunnamu suddenly blurted out an apology.
Then, trying her best to hide her flustered expression, she continued.
“I… I misunderstood on my own. I’m sorry.”
When she lifted her head, her face was trembling pitifully.
Watching her, I bit my lip.
In her past life, while suffering at the hands of the Evil Gods, the one thing Eunnamu had wished for was her memories with me.
The memories she had longed for, so much so that the worldlines themselves had connected.
In this moment, all of it had vanished like a bubble.
No. This can’t happen.
Even if her memories of that worldline were forcibly injected by an Evil God, I couldn’t let her wear an expression like that.
The suffering she endured from the Evil Gods was the same, no matter the worldline.
The culmination of her worldline couldn't end with that look on her face.
“Eunnamu.”
So I called out to her.
“Let’s start our relationship over.”
I can’t give her the life she longed for her entire existence.
The one who built those memories with her was the Kang Ha-chan of another worldline.
“Start… over?”
Eunnamu asked, looking at me.
Her face was filled with confusion, a mix of trembling, anxiety, and a dozen other emotions.
“I’m Kang Ha-chan.”
The me of that world is Kang Ha-chan. And I am Kang Ha-chan.
“And you are?”
Why couldn’t the same person build the same relationship again?
The existence of countless worldlines meant that the me of that worldline could also be me.
Hearing my question, Eunnamu’s eyes slowly began to widen.
As her pitifully trembling eyes watched me, her lips slowly parted.
“Eun… namu.”
In any worldline, Eunnamu is Eunnamu. And I am me.
That root is an immutable law that never changes, no matter the worldline.
“Eunnamu, what do you want to do?”
Once again, my question was thrown to her.
Receiving my question as if it were an echo, Eunnamu slowly lowered her head.
Her face was reflected on the surface of the sea.
The Eunnamu from the worldline she lived in and the Eunnamu from the worldline whose memories she inherited both had the same face.
Eunnamu realized this as she looked at her reflection.
“…I want to confess.”
To redefine their relationship, Eunnamu once again brought out her most precious memory.
“To my first love, to the first love that will begin in this worldline, I want to create the happiest memory of my life.”
Her happiest memory, regardless of the worldline.
If that memory didn’t exist in this worldline, she just had to make it again.
Realizing this, Eunnamu looked up at me.
For the first time, life began to bloom in her eyes, which had only been trembling pitifully before.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
But a smile deeper than any tears filled her face.
Beneath the light of the slowly setting sun.
A breeze blew through the crimson light spreading from the edge of the horizon, scattering Eunnamu’s hair.
With it, a few teardrops caught the crimson hue and rose high into the sky.
Those tears were a farewell to the worldline whose memories she had inherited.
And that smile signified the beginning of this worldline’s Eunnamu’s first love.
They say a woman in love is beautiful.
In this moment, I understood that it was no lie.
The face Eunnamu showed me was so beautiful it left me breathless for a moment.
But then I felt a gaze on me and coughed awkwardly.
Because I caught a glimpse of Si-ho staring daggers at me.
“Ha-chan-oppa, you cheater.”
Her next words came as a shock even to me.
It felt a bit late for this, but the word “cheater” still hit me hard.
‘…You piece of shit, Kang Ha-chan.’
I cursed myself inwardly and swept my hair back.
I’d already come so far down this road that even cursing myself felt empty.
I have to be better to Si-ho.
“Thank you.”
Just then, Eunnamu offered her thanks.
She was still smiling at me, and I smiled back.
“Feeling a little better?”
“Yes, because I’ve realized one thing for sure.”
Realized? What did she realize?
As I wondered, Eunnamu continued.
“The Ha-chan of another worldline and the Ha-chan of this worldline are both still Ha-chan, after all.”
Well, she’s not wrong.
“So in the end, you’ll come to like me.”
But I froze the moment those confident words left her lips.
While Si-ho stared at Eunnamu with a dumbfounded look and Heuksan shot me a pathetic glance from the side, Eunnamu was still beaming.
“Because I’ve dated Ha-chan before.”
She was saying that because of that, she could date me again.