Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Sudden Situation (3)
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He thought it was an interesting lucid dream.
In the time where all things had stopped, Jin-hyuk had become Hong Gi-jun and slipped into the shadows. Even knowing it was a dream he wouldn't remember upon waking, he strained to listen to the conversation between Hong Gi-jun and the shadow. Amid it all, his own figure—lying uncomfortably surrounded by the kids—looked happy.
Hong Gi-jun let out a long breath that had filled his lungs.
While Hong Gi-jun fumbled for words, the shadow rippled like a lake shaken by an earthquake.
It didn't seem like it would do anything right away.
Hong Gi-jun nodded at the shadow's warning.
He could only return after accepting that condition in the first place.
The sole regressor of the rewound time, Hong Gi-jun.
No matter what he did, the shadow wouldn't intervene—it just kept emphasizing that he keep the secret. There was no explanation for why it had to be that way. Not in a position to complain, Hong Gi-jun couldn't even ask the reason and had no choice but to accept unconditionally.
Hong Gi-jun stroked Jin-hyuk's forehead.
That touch was endlessly tender.
"He just fell asleep while feeling frustrated and let out some groans."
Hong Gi-jun's brows furrowed sharply.
It wasn't about physical pain. Or was it? Loneliness making his heart ache? In any case, he realized that only Korean-style conversation was possible with fellow Koreans.
"How should I take your showing up like this right now?"
"So it was for my sake. Worried I'd violate the contract and die."
One corner of Hong Gi-jun's mouth subtly lifted as he nodded gravely.
This shadow might seem curt, but it usually answered questions directly enough. From long observation, despite its mythical presence, it had plenty of quirky, deficient sides unworthy of its stature.
No place to vent his frustrations, and here you were—perfect timing.
"Can you show up from anywhere?"
It was an answer that naturally drew a nod.
But something felt off. If only he had returned, would Jin-hyuk even believe him if he told? Just a year ago, he'd told Yu Se-ra he knew the future and gotten a look like she was staring at a bug.
Hong Gi-jun posed the question he'd failed to ask before.
"What's the reason I can't tell this kid? You said only I came back."
What the hell? Sealed it, so why would the seal break? On closer look, wasn't this shadow bastard incompetent? Couldn't even kill him? For a fleeting moment, Hong Gi-jun's mind spun idle delusions. Believe it or not, just spilling it all to Jin-hyuk would feel like a huge relief.
As stray thoughts flitted through, Hong Gi-jun licked his dry lips.
"I even suspected you were meddling in this world. Seeing this kid's abilities."
Hong Gi-jun shot a suspicious glance at words hard to swallow easily.
"Swift feet, superhuman strength, rapid physical growth—all that you claim is this kid's own doing?"
The shadow was the sole being to peer into the desire-that-wasn't-a-desire coiled deep in Jin-hyuk's heart.
That said, to Hong Gi-jun's eyes, both Son Jin-hyuk and this shadow seemed to be misunderstanding what "ordinary" meant.
"He's not ordinary. No one sees this kid that way."
"Pardon?"
What kind of nonsense was this to a top-tier university graduate?
Offended but unable to call it out, Hong Gi-jun puffed out his cheeks.
Hong Gi-jun was at a loss for words.
Separate from how the shadow's take on "ordinary" rang somewhat plausible, it reconfirmed that common-sense conversation on a human level was impossible with this shadow. It explained quite kindly, but the focus always veered off.
In any case, it meant that someone with the skill to top the whole school doing just that wasn't particularly extraordinary. That's how Hong Gi-jun took it.
As Hong Gi-jun pursed his lips in thought, the shadow added,
"Yes...... well. Now that you mention it, you're right."
He had to pretend to get it. Otherwise, this overly loquacious shadow had the temperament to halt time indefinitely for a lecture.
The shadow glanced around the room incessantly, like a child at a novel spectacle.
The shadow extended an arm like black smoke, pointing at the sleeping Jin-hyuk.
Only then did Hong Gi-jun nod in understanding.
Son Jin-hyuk had lived a life far from ordinary even in the past. By any human's perspective, it had been an unhappy one—and by the shadow's definition, a life of not utilizing his innate strengths fit the bill too. It wasn't so much that he didn't use them as his personality prevented him from doing so.
'If I'd been born looking like you, kid, I sure as hell wouldn't have lived like some priest.'
Hong Gi-jun smacked Jin-hyuk's forehead with a sharp crack.
With time frozen, it was possible.
Even that light tap made his hand sting, so Hong Gi-jun squinted one eye.
"Anyway, you're saying this kid isn't the one from the past, but if the seal breaks and memories flood back, he could go berserk?"
"Noble, huh......"
Did he need to live an ascetic monk's life of abstinence to earn a "noble" judgment from the shadow?
Hong Gi-jun clutched his chin, lost in thought.
Hong Gi-jun let out a smirk at the follow-up.
How fiercely they'd debated old turns of phrase back then. And yet the shadow never berated or slew him over it—just regarded him like some exotic creature. In many ways, it was an existence with thought processes and tolerance beyond human intellect and emotion.
"Does this kid know of your existence?"
"How would you know and help if you're not here—"
Hong Gi-jun's eyes narrowed once more.
Offering help meant interfering with this world, didn't it?
As if sensing his gaze, the shadow appended,
At first, out of curiosity about what sort of world it was, it had come to peek around on its own—hiding in Son Jin-hyuk's shadow, of course.
It had even been detected by something called General, a sanial. They called sanials "dogs" in this world? Whatever.
One day, a strong connection tugged at it, so it checked and found Son Jin-hyuk practicing meditative breathing.
When deep sorrow reached it, Jin-hyuk had been conversing with the soul of an ascending woman. It had hurriedly shooed her away, isolating Jin-hyuk from grief.
The day his nape prickled, an old man who looked like a priest had glared. It hadn't been caught, but the world seemed far from easygoing, so it decided against frequent visits. No need to disrupt Jin-hyuk's daily life.
Still, it quietly chatted whenever Jin-hyuk's little sister called.
They'd conversed every night since she was a baby, and her babbling had been utterly adorable. The baby hadn't minded the shadow either and came every night.
Hong Gi-jun shot the shadow a sparrow-like glare as it fell abruptly silent, as if pondering something to say.
This bastard's off in his own world again.
"Uh, by 'help' you mean......"
The shadow's interventions had been utterly trivial.
To avoid meddling in this world, it had borrowed the energy Jin-hyuk had filled through meditation. It created a moon to brightly illuminate the dark tidal flats overhead and used that energy to save his mother and sister from the brink of death. In the process of saving the fetus and praying for her health, some abilities like language seemed to have transferred over—but as his sister gained more humanity, she'd lose those abilities anyway, so no cause for concern.
Even its will to save villains was admirable, so it placed taboos on them too. Jin-hyuk would likely chalk it up to his own efforts and ingenuity in winning them over, but what did it matter?
In any event, the shadow had only peeked into this world whenever Jin-hyuk earnestly wished for something.
"You don't know everything?"
What's a status window?
The shadow nearly asked Hong Gi-jun what that was but held back out of pride. It was obvious even this old man—who barely surpassed a monkey's intellect—wouldn't know. It had no idea why he earnestly muttered it, but it remembered being summoned once or twice because of this "status window" thing.
"Well...... I suppose so."
He didn't know what had happened, but if it said so, then that was that. Hong Gi-jun merely scratched his sideburns. He was well aware how difficult it was to gauge the scale of the shadow's "trivialities." This was the being who'd casually clenched a fist to obliterate a planet and called it minor.
"Uh—any chance we could amend the contract?"
"I need this kid's help."
Asking a middle schooler for business advice was about as sensible as nonsense got.
Yet given his freakish growth rate and talent, it didn't seem entirely impossible. Even Son Gwang-yeon couldn't win a single game of Go against him and relied on outside help beyond farming, didn't he?
Hong Gi-jun pressed his forehead.
The world looked like a Go board dozens of times more intricate.
Every move he made reshaped the history he'd recorded, moment by moment.
Each stone altered history, leaving him unable to decide where to place the next. It wasn't just one or two business items—he'd aggressively absorbed multiple companies, so of course predicting changes was tough. Over ten U.S. firms alone had been acquired under his U.S.-based investment company.
Without Son Gwang-yeon's guidance—the only genius he'd ever acknowledged—he never could have risen to vice chairman so swiftly.
Gwang-yeon had now hit his limit, so another ally was needed. Someone a step above Gwang-yeon.
"My head hurts like it's going to kill me."
Fucking hell, seriously.
Doesn't communicate worth a damn.
A surge of irritation welled up in Hong Gi-jun.