Chapter 85
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85
I failed to maintain my poker face. Technically speaking… Min Ji-heon was younger than me. However, that wasn't the case right now.
I had been rejuvenated.
"Do I really look that old?"
I frowned openly, acting as if I’d just heard a bad joke.
"I'm twenty-three. I'm younger than you, Min Ji-heon-ssi."
"Ahaha, so you're twenty-three now?"
Min Ji-heon laughed out loud as if he’d heard something incredibly amusing.
Once his laughter subsided, he seemed to sink into thought for a moment, crossing his arms and scanning me from head to toe. But his eyes were strangely chilling. It was as if he wasn't looking at me, but piercing through to something behind me….
"Maybe… thirty-three?"
"……!"
A red warning light blared in my head, and goosebumps instantly raced up my spine. Regardless, Min Ji-heon toyed with his lips and stared at me.
"No… maybe a bit more? I'm not quite sure, it's a bit touch and go…."
"……."
"Oh, I think I just made a rhyme…."
I watched Min Ji-heon through narrowed eyes as he muttered to himself.
Is he crazy?
…Could he really guess that just by throwing out random numbers? My thought process was slightly tangled, but like a man who had lived as a verbal fighter for thirty-two years, I instinctively let my mouth run.
"I have… no idea what you're talking about."
"……."
"Is this a surprise camera?"
Min Ji-heon, who had been muttering wordplay to himself, simply wore a meaningful smile.
"You're back, aren't you?"
Min Ji-heon narrowed his eyes even further and looked behind me, as if tracing something upward.
No, I’d said it just in case, but is there really a camera installed somewhere?
If I get caught talking nonsense here, wouldn't I be screwed?
"…I'll admit, you're a really good actor, Senior. So, where's the camera?"
"Hmm… Hyung. First, I think I need to give you a little more explanation about myself."
"……."
"Have you ever heard that there's only a hair's breadth of difference between a shaman and a celebrity?"
I felt like I had. However, I didn't have the mental energy to listen to such nonsense right now.
Ignoring my sharp, glaring gaze, Min Ji-heon continued.
"I'm not a shaman~ and my family is ordinary, but… well, since a certain point, I started seeing a lot of things I shouldn't see. Because of that, I suffered a lot when I was young…."
Min Ji-heon laid out his story calmly, as if describing a character he was playing.
"If I don't disperse this energy somehow, low-level spirits swarm me like crazy. That's why I act."
"……What?"
"Don't misunderstand, I really love acting, too."
Min Ji-heon playfully tapped his cheek.
"…Right, I'm sure you love it. So, is your next role a shaman?"
"Haha, my next project is Please Take Care of the Camera. I haven't played a shaman yet."
Min Ji-heon just laughed like someone who had found a new source of entertainment. His gaze was wandering again, looking at something other than me.
"So, I've seen everything there is to see and experienced all sorts of things… but a case like yours is a first. It's been a while since I've been this confused."
'I've never seen anything like this before.'
…I remembered what Min Ji-heon had said to me in Jeju Island. At the time, I thought it was just him trying to assert dominance. Min Ji-heon stopped his wandering gaze and looked me straight in the eye, muttering.
"Is this a person or a ghost…?"
Ding!
[WARNING!
Warning.
Leave now.]
…The system window flashed a warning stronger than any I had ever seen. Beyond the dizzying array of warning windows, I could see Min Ji-heon’s smiling face.
"What was your original job? How did you end up becoming an idol… your skills are quite impressive."
[WARNING!
Warning again.
Leave right now.]
The relaxed atmosphere from moments ago tightened in an instant. The dozens of system windows popping up frantically… gave credibility to Min Ji-heon’s words. This wasn't a staged surprise camera; this was a real situation.
It was time for a change in tactics.
"What are you doing?"
How can I believe this nonsense about seeing ghosts?
Min Ji-heon is an actor. A brilliant one at that, someone who could now even be called a national celebrity.
If he can fool the viewers, how easy would it be to fool an individual like me? I looked at him with a cold gaze and spat out my words.
"Stop the bullshit and get to the point."
I needed to find out how he knew about me. This was inside a game. The only person who remembered me so far was my brother. Even if I conceded that he’d done a background check on me, there should be nothing for him to find.
Min Ji-heon rubbed his eyes and gave a slightly embarrassed laugh.
"…Hmm, Hyung, you're kind of the scary type."
"……."
"You don't have to be so prickly. I know it's suspicious since it's so sudden, but I'm really telling you this out of goodwill."
At that moment, Min Ji-heon gently toyed with the bracelet on his wrist.
"It would be most certain to show you directly, right?"
The jingling bracelet was strung with black beads. As I looked away from the ominous atmosphere, I locked eyes with Min Ji-heon’s strangely shimmering ones.
"You'll want to know, too."
"……Excuse me?"
"I'm thinking of showing you something… but please agree first. This might hurt a bit."
Min Ji-heon spoke with excessive clarity. It was hard to believe he was the same vacant person from before.
I brushed my face in disbelief.
"…Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped me. What was I even doing here?
"Fine, I don't know what it is, but give it a shot. You've really nailed the concept…. Does your CEO know you're acting like this?"
"Ahaha, I don't think the CEO knows. Anyway… you've agreed, right?"
A sudden wave of reality hit me. I realized that following along with this edgelord poser wasn't going to solve anything.
Even so, the reason I told him to go ahead was half to see how far he’d take it, and half out of a desperate desire to grasp at any straw.
"I told you… it might hurt."
After saying that, Min Ji-heon rolled up his sleeves, toyed with his bracelet, and stared intensely at me.
"Should I apologize in advance?"
"……?"
And the moment Min Ji-heon shook his bracelet….
"Urgh…."
Suddenly, I felt as if every blood vessel in my body was constricting, and I lurched forward. Regardless, Min Ji-heon opened his mouth.
"【O ■anderer ■illing the empty ■■.】"
"Wha, what…."
A pain as if I were being slashed by all sorts of sharp objects surged from deep within my stomach. I gritted my teeth and gripped the table, glaring at him.
Min Ji-heon was looking at me, yet not looking at me. He was seeing something unknown beyond me.
"【This is not the ■■ace for ■ou to be…】"
A voice, hissing like a snake yet booming as if I were underwater, wavered in my ears. While my ears felt muffled as if filled with water, the system's warning sound rang out alongside the tinnitus.
Ding!
[WARNING!]
"Gah!"
Cough. Something clumped together surged up my throat. I hurriedly covered my mouth with a napkin and spat it out, but I couldn't tell what it was. My vision was spinning, and the pain was so intense it felt like my soul was being ripped out; I wasn't in my right mind.
Ding!
[WARNING!]
[WARNING!]
[WARNING!]
"【I command the ■■■.】"
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-ding!
Ding-di…
Ding…—
* * *
—…….
…Something impossible happened.
The warning windows vanished all at once.
Everything moved like a slow-motion scene in a movie.
The face of the crazy Min Ji-heon looking down at me calmly, the music softly playing in the restaurant, and the system windows that had been flashing countless alarms as if to warn me before disappearing.
Suddenly, everything felt alien.
This world I was standing in felt alien.
No… that wasn't it.
It wasn't that the world was alien; I was the one who was strange.
Like a foreign object sticking out in a place where everything was arranged regularly, I, standing on the boundary between unreality and reality….
Felt so horrific it made me want to vomit.
Ding!
[E R R O R]
In an instant, my vision flickered.
Screeeech!
A steering wheel spinning urgently flashed before my eyes.
A bright blue sky, my body leaning to one side, a static-filled radio….
Inside a car…
…By the time I realized where I was, I had already veered off course and crashed into sharp construction materials.
K-boom!
"Gasp…!"
As I held my breath, the sense of reality rushed back as if my floating body was falling endlessly.
Only my hands, gripping the table tightly, supported my convulsing body.
"Haa, huff, gasp… ugh, fuck…."
A car accident.
It was the car accident I had experienced… over ten years ago.
The car I was in with my parents. Me, sitting alone in the back seat. That goddamn accident that took two of my family members in an instant.
I gripped the table until my knuckles turned white and swallowed the trembling in my throat.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck…."
I didn't know how many times I muttered the curse or where I was. A cough burst out, and as I covered my mouth, Min Ji-heon hurriedly pushed a new napkin toward me.
Bright red blood stained the white napkin.
"Uh…."
Min Ji-heon’s voice, which had been booming until a moment ago, now sounded clear.
"Uh… was that too much?"
"……."
"I-I'm sorry. That was a bit more intense than I thought."
A slightly flustered Min Ji-heon backed away and hid his bracelet again. I gritted my teeth and breathed heavily, the sensation of the car accident still too vivid.
Suddenly, blood began to trickle from Min Ji-heon’s nose as well.
"Ah, but I'm also… in pain. …Wow, this is stronger than I expected."
"Haa, ugh…."
"Should I do more, or stop…."
Min Ji-heon muttered, closing his eyes as if dizzy. I finally managed to finish a deep breath, and as soon as I grasped the situation, I grabbed him by the collar.
"You crazy bastard…!!"
Clatter!
The table shifted, and teacups fell to the floor. Min Ji-heon frowned deeply and tried to pull back, but I yanked his collar toward me.
"You… you better answer me carefully from now on."
"Whoa, wait a minute…."
"My hands move faster than you think."
"They're already! They're already out!"
Min Ji-heon squeezed his eyes shut as if he were truly terrified. Regardless, I tightened my grip on his collar.
"…How, how do you know about that? What did you just show me?"
"I… I totally get being pissed enough to use informal speech and grab my collar… but I overdid it just now, so I'm exhausted…. No, Hyung, you agreed just a moment ago!"
"Answer me right now!!"
As I shouted in a fit of rage, Min Ji-heon finally opened his tightly shut eyes. His pupils were still hazy and shimmering.
"…Ugh, just calm down for a second."
"……."
"First, just let go of this."
Dammit.
Min Ji-heon said that as he pried my hands off his collar. My stomach was churning and my brain felt like it was melting, so after being pushed away, I leaned against the table, panting and glaring at him.
That son of a bitch….
"Hey, Min Ji-heon!!!"
I was looking for another chance to pounce on him when Min Ji-heon’s manager suddenly burst into the room with a loud noise.
"What are you doing here?! Don't you know we have to catch a flight right now…. Se-Seo Ho-yun-ssi?"
"……."
When I said nothing and only glared at Min Ji-heon, the manager roughly assessed the situation and shifted his eyes around. However, Min Ji-heon quickly hid his earlier fluster and answered nonchalantly.
"Sorry, I ran into a Hyung I know."
"Hyung…? Seo Ho-yun-ssi?"
In the strangely awkward atmosphere, Min Ji-heon’s manager crept up beside him and asked quietly. Min Ji-heon deliberately turned his body to hide the blood-stained napkins scattered about and smiled at the manager.
"Are we leaving? I was just about to wrap things up here."
"Of course we have to leave now…! No, but why are you meeting Seo Ho-yun-ssi? …Are you two close?"
"Hmm, no."
"Then why without a word…."
The manager looked back and forth between the two of us with narrowed eyes. He seemed to sense something strange but found it awkward to dig deeper.
"…But I'm thinking of getting close to him from now on."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
He was a total lunatic.
"…Whatever, we're in a hurry, so let's go. We'll talk in the car. Whoa! Why are the teacups on the floor? There's water everywhere, be careful!"
As the manager pulled him away, Min Ji-heon lingered and glanced back at me.
"…Min Ji-heon."
"M-Min Ji-heon?"
I called out to Min Ji-heon as he was about to open the door and leave. Min Ji-heon’s manager was horrified by the way I addressed him, but I didn't have the luxury to care.
The steering wheel that had snapped, the excessively blue sky, the sound of tires screeching against the ground—all those sensations were still so vivid.
"You… you haven't answered me yet."
"I'm reeeally sorry, but not right now…. I have to go catch my flight."
The manager stared at me in a daze, but Min Ji-heon pulled on the manager's arm.
"If it's you, Hyung, passing the audition is a given… shall we see each other at the filming site?"
"……."
"When you come, I'll tell you then."
I wanted to snatch him back right then and there and demand to know what he’d done. But I couldn't do that with eyes watching.
Unable to quell my anger, my fists trembled, and I heard the manager muttering as they left.
"So, you two were having a yaja session…? Audition practice…? No, what the hell is going on?"
The door to the room closed, and left alone, I crumpled the blood-stained napkin and threw it violently into the trash can.
"Fuck… that piece of shit!"
Muttering curses like a madman didn't make me feel any better. I clenched my fists and glared at the exit Min Ji-heon had used.
"Filming site, my ass…."
Did he think I was just going to sit still?
My jaw trembled.