Chapter 97: A Glimpse into the Past

Since the day I first visited his room, Sung Yohan had not come to my room again.
I had thought he would come to hear my answer the very next day, but his absence made me anxious, wondering if he had changed his mind.

I was going to say a word in the Multi project room, but instead of him, Esper Kim Hyeseok was there.

The next day, and the day after that, he was still nowhere to be seen.
It felt as if he were teasing me, and as he intended, I had no choice but to live in anxiety.
And three days later, he came to my room.

“Shinui-ssi, I’m here.”

“Why are you so late!”

“Were you waiting for me?”

He was about to hug my body with a moved expression, but I quickly dodged.
Then he looked at me with a disappointed face.

“I wanted to come sooner, but I had something to take care of.”

“Still, you could have told me in advance.”

“There are a lot of eyes watching. So, are you going to accept my proposal?”

“No. Since you made such a ridiculous proposal, I’m going to pretend it never happened.”

At my words, one of his eyebrows shot up.
He had a face as if he hadn’t expected me to come out like this.

“Let me out of here and tell me what happened to the devil’s gate. Then I’ll release your ability.”

As soon as my words ended, he started to laugh with a stunned face.
Then he gradually stopped laughing.

“Okay. Shall I show you the devil’s gate right now? I’m curious what kind of face you’ll make.”

His eyes gleamed with madness.
At that face, I shuddered without realizing it.

“…Now?”

To prepare for the future where I died, I absolutely had to know about the devil’s gate.
But since he had suddenly offered to tell me about the devil’s gate, something felt off, and I felt a sense of rejection.

“Yes. I can show you what happens to the devil’s gate, and why he came to the past, in person.”

“You can show me in person?”

“Yes. I’ll show you through time travel.”

These were all things I had been curious about.
To be able to see what happened to the devil’s gate and his face after I died…

Hearing the tremendous offer, my mind started to spin.
Even if he changed his mind and I couldn’t get out of the research lab, there was the gain of finding out the truth, so in the end, I nodded.

“Okay. Then show me in person.”

“Good. But you have to guide me after we get back.”

When I nodded, he held out his hand to me.
Like Siyun, it seemed he also used his ability through contact.

As I took his hand, he clasped it and continued.

“Please recall a memory as close to the time of the devil’s gate as possible. It will be easier to move that way. Or you can think of a time you wanted to go to. I’ll take you back to that time. To a time I remember, that is.”

“Okay.”

To be honest, I was scared to go back to the past.
After all, I didn’t have many good memories.
But on the other hand, I wanted to see his face when he saw my death.
Would he have been worried?
Or would he have been happy that the burden was gone?

I didn’t have many good memories, but still, I tried to recall the times that were even a little bit good, one by one.

To be honest, I was half in doubt.
Whether time travel was possible just by recalling memories like this.
But when I closed my eyes and opened them, Dr. Yoon and my past self were in front of me.

My present self and my past self existed together in the same space.
I couldn’t help but be surprised by this situation.
When I looked at him, who was holding my hand, he gave a slight smile.

「Those people can’t see us. It’s one of my abilities.」

Even after hearing his explanation, my surprise remained.
I looked at my past self and Dr. Yoon with wide eyes.
He was showing me a tablet PC and telling me my grade, and I was checking my grade with a tense face.

“Really? Is it really A-Class?”

I could see my past self, who had heard the news of my promotion, looking at him with a happy face.
The me who had become an A-Class had a brighter face than ever.
But my happy-looking face seemed so pitiful to me.

My past self, who was talking with him in front of the monitor, soon said thank you and went out.

「Let’s follow.」

He held my hand and passed through the door.
This also seemed to be one of his abilities.

I could see my past self contacting him.
Knowing that I would be waiting for him alone after this, I wanted to tell him to stop.

The scene of my past self leaving a message for him to come early and being congratulated on my promotion by my colleagues continued.
Seeing my happiest self since coming to the Center, I wanted to go back to that time, but at the same time, the two thoughts of not wanting to repeat the past coexisted.

Next, I would move to the changing room.
As he and I went down to the exclusive room in the basement, I saw him coming out of my changing room.

‘He definitely wasn’t at the Center that day.’

「It’s him.」

He passed by us and disappeared.
It felt strange to see him here.

「It looks like he came out of your exclusive room.」

Without answering, I went into the exclusive room, and I saw the changing room locker.
Inside, there was a bouquet of flowers.
Only then did I realize that the bouquet might have been from him.

I thought he didn’t know that I had been promoted to A-Class, but to think that he might have known.
Why did he pretend not to know?
Did he think I would like it if he did this?

At his duplicity, I wanted to throw away the bouquet right now, but the bouquet passed through my hand.

「Since we’re just peeking at time, we can’t touch things. But it seems he took good care of you.」

「No. He never took care of me.」

Someone had left the bouquet before he came.
I didn’t want to believe that he had left a congratulatory flower.

Suddenly, I felt my breath catch in my throat.
I wanted to move to the time of the devil’s gate like this.

「Can’t we move to the time of the devil’s gate?」

「It’s difficult since we’re already in this space-time.」

In the end, I had no choice but to wait with him until time passed and the devil’s gate occurred.

I could see my past self entering the changing room.
He and I looked at my past self again.
I was puzzled as I looked at the bouquet.
And then I came out, and before going home, I bought a cake and wine.
Unlike when I had received the promotion results, my face was dark.
Come to think of it, it must have been because I had heard from him that he and Wonjae had been together all night.

After arriving home, I waited for him endlessly.
And after seeing him and him on a live broadcast together, I was in agony and collapsed due to the side effects of the project.
At that sight, the corners of my mouth trembled.
The me in the memory I had wanted to forget was so miserable and pitiful.

「I see why you disliked him.」

「…….」

In the end, I, who had given up on waiting for him, attached a sleep chip before midnight and fell asleep, buried in my blankets.

I tried to stroke my pitiful head, but this time too, my hand passed through, and I couldn’t.

As I was staring blankly at my face, I heard the sound of loud noises and running footsteps from outside.
Soon, he opened the door and appeared.

“Lee Shinui!”

When I checked the time, it was 5 minutes before midnight.
I had thought he had come home the next morning, but from his appearance now, I could tell that wasn’t the case.

He tried to shake me awake, but since I was asleep with a sleep chip on, I showed no signs of waking, like a dead person.

“He used a sleep chip again.”

He messed up his hair and then sat down on the bed, looking at me.

He took off the sleep chip on my neck and looked at my face for a long time.
Then he took something out of his pocket.

It was a small box, and when he opened it, a single Awakened couple bracelet was there.

I couldn’t understand why he was opening the bracelet box now.

He fiddled with the bracelet, then took my hand and put the bracelet on my wrist, then took it off again and held it in his hand for a long time.
And he looked at me intently by my side.
In his gaze was the gentle light I had wished for and wanted all this time.

This was not the him I knew, so I was confused.

「It seems he liked you a lot.」

「…No. I don’t know that side of him.」

That was not the him I knew.
The him in my memory had come home in the morning… and was wearing the same bracelet as that one…

Before long, he fell asleep next to me.
I hurriedly checked his wrist.
The same bracelet I had seen just before was on it.

I looked at my past self and him, who were lying in bed, in a stiff posture.

In less than an hour, he stood up and took a side effect-relieving medicine and a guiding medication.
Then he stayed by my side for a long time, then washed up and changed into his workout clothes.
Before leaving, he left the bracelet next to my hand.

Only now did it feel like the puzzle was being put together.
And it was also a truth I didn’t want to believe.

「Did you have a couple’s bracelet with him?」

「…….」

I didn’t even know of the existence of that bracelet.
I had never seen it before.

Then, I saw my past self waking up.
I was looking around for him and then stood up.
With a thud, the bracelet fell to the floor.
I thought my phone had fallen at that time, but it wasn’t.

Until now, I had thought that Hyun Taewoon had gotten the couple’s bracelet with Wonjae.
But from the looks of it now, it was me, not him.

My head was in such a mess.
I hoped that what I had just seen was not the truth.
Otherwise, the conviction I had believed in until now seemed like it would crumble along with me.