Chapter 7: Debugging the Past

On the large whiteboard located in one corner of the office room, along with the words “This Week” written in red, were brief notes: the day he met Seon Woo-min at Baekseok Coffee, the date of Woo-min’s death, the subsequent situation, and his own specifications.

As he had initially thought, there was no significant difference in his profile, the people around him, his relationships with them, or his physical condition.

In his previous life, he had majored in business administration at Yeonhee University and was preparing to leave for the United States during the semester.

Then he got hooked on Seon Woo-min, his study abroad plans were indefinitely postponed, and he had a huge fight with his father.

He had no desire to inherit his father’s business, and since he already had a generous inheritance from his grandfather, he dropped out of Yeonhee University without consulting his father and suddenly joined the game company Watters.

Currently, he hadn’t finished the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

He had applied for an international exchange program behind his father’s back because he wanted to return to Korea, and he had briefly studied at Yeonhee University.

Whether then or now, the reason he hadn’t completed his studies was probably because business management wasn’t suited to him.

Or maybe he just lacked perseverance.

After declaring to his father that he would take a break for a while, he’d been making money as a freelancer for several years.

The fact that his relationship with his father was strained was the same then and now.

Seon Woo-min was also living a similar life to before.

The difference was that he wasn’t a Yeonhee University student, and he had gained a sister who hadn’t existed before, while his mother seemed to be absent.

He still hadn’t figured out why he had returned two years in the past.

To interpret it romantically, it would be to complete his love.

If not that, he could assume that due to some error, he had taken up residence in the body of another Lee Do-kyung living in a parallel world.

But rather than obsessing over the ‘why’ or ‘how’ and investigating the cause, Lee Do-kyung decided to focus on using the opportunity given to him.

Since things had turned out this way, he planned to use that opportunity properly and make up for all his shortcomings as a lover.

His initial goal was to make the right choices for each situation and first manage to build a good relationship with Seon Woo-min.

“Now, let’s actually work, work.”

Plunking down in front of a desk surrounded by triple monitors like a folding screen, Lee Do-kyung rummaged through a basket of chocolates and jellies, pulled out a lollipop, and put it in his mouth.

He liked snacking, but before starting work, a sugar recharge was essential.

Rolling the candy in his mouth, he entered a group chat room named ‘Ping-Pong’ and read the messages from team members including Hwang Un-jae.

[Do-kyung hyung-nim, when the player kills an enemy and tries to pick up a dropped item, the item sometimes disappears.

Especially when the enemy dies near a wall.

TT How can we fix this?] Ping-Pong5

“Huh?”

[Hey.

Do you have my tablet pen?] Ping-Pong1

[Ah.

Thought it was a DM.

Sorry sorry] Ping-Pong1

“What’s this now.”

Ping-Pong1 was Hwang Un-jae.

Ignoring it, Lee Do-kyung, lost in thought, tapped at the keyboard.

[If it’s only happening near walls, there’s a high probability it’s a collision detection issue lol.

Seems like the item drop location is going inside the wall or getting placed at wrong coordinates.

Attach a log.]

The faces he had been close with at Watters had become guild members he met in an online game, same as Hwang Un-jae, and they were currently working together as the same freelance team.

They had formed the team with the goal of making a game, but for now, they were focusing on making money through outsourcing.

The official team name was ‘Ping-Pong Booster.’

It consisted of two game planners/testers (QA), one 3D artist, and one UI artist, and Lee Do-kyung was the programmer.

Then, Hwang Un-jae’s younger brother, who had joined sometime ago, was acting as an apprentice and working as a junior programmer.

Putting on the horn-rimmed glasses that had been rolling around on the desk, Do-kyung checked the log, candy bulging in one cheek, and tapped at the keyboard.

[When setting the drop coordinates for the item to drop, random coordinates are set from the enemy’s position.

The logic to detect overlap with walls is missing.

Since it places the location without checking collision detection, it seems like it spawns inside the wall and gets deleted right away?]

[Ah~ so that’s why it looked like it was disappearing.

Would it be very complicated to fix?] Ping-Pong5

[No no.

When setting drop coordinates, just need to add code to check for surrounding collisions and reposition.

I’ll fix it and pass it over.]

He could have done it alone quickly, but he had to explain it step by step.

Still, Lee Do-kyung didn’t particularly show any annoyance.

[But I find adding the reposition code a bit difficult.

Could hyung-nim possibly take care of that part?

TT] Ping-Pong5

“That’s what I said I’d do, kid.”

[Wait.]

Before starting work in earnest, Lee Do-kyung played a 1960s popular music playlist instead of his usual city pop.

It was a collection of songs he often heard at Baekseok Coffee.

His favorite among them was Shin Jung-hyeon’s “Beautiful Woman.”

See you once, see you twice, keep wanting to see you.

Of course, that’s what a beauty is.

Even after seeing, seeing again, I want to see you.

There’s one at the café I frequent too.

Would Seon Woo-min even know that he visited every single day to make his presence known?

Turning up the volume enough that the neighbors would have stormed over if he hadn’t installed soundproofing, Do-kyung began working in earnest.

He opened the game engine window on the monitor and recreated the scenario of an enemy dying near a wall multiple times.

His large hands skillfully moved the mouse as he checked the code editor.

Resting his chin on his hand, he visually analyzed the log, reconfirmed why the items disappeared, readjusted the drop coordinates, and tested the corrected code.

When the character spawned correctly at the expected location, he immediately took a screenshot and posted it in the group chat along with the debugging log.

The lollipop he had been crunching on had long since disappeared from his mouth; he was just chewing on the end of the stick.

[Oh, hyung-nim.

That’s smooth.

Really perfect!] Ping-Pong5

[As expected /thumbs up/] Ping-Pong3

[Good work~ heh] Ping-Pong4

[Thank you for your hard work.] Ping-Pong2

[Lol lol lol lol] Ping-Pong1

“Ha.

I was really focused.”

Even after that, Lee Do-kyung worked for nearly two hours without a break.

You watching, Hwang Un-jae?

Stretching, he took off his horn-rimmed glasses and rubbed his eyes.

He was fidgety, to the point he couldn’t sit still any longer.

He felt like he had used up all his focus for the day.

“From now on, I’m just playing.”

Opening his phone to check the calendar, Lee Do-kyung remembered that around this time, Watters had taken on a project from an external company, and he had worked with Hwang Un-jae as a team.

The amount of investment they received, the scale and nature of the project, and the number of participants weren’t much different from the present.

He didn’t think it was all coincidence—including the day he first met Seon Woo-min.

First, he hypothesized that events would occur sequentially according to the timeline two years later.

If that happened, wouldn’t he be able to prepare accordingly without panicking too much, even if the same events unfolded?

“…Hmm.”

Lee Do-kyung grabbed a notebook rolling around on the desk, drew horizontal lines, and began writing down major events in chronological order.

He couldn’t remember specific dates exactly, but he noted them roughly around that time, leaving as many records as possible.

The day he first met Seon Woo-min, the day they decided to date, the big and small events during their relationship, times when Woo-min was sick, reasons they fought, and places they traveled together.

On top of that, he drew new parallel lines and added things like joining Watters and events with people around him.

With a red pen, he jotted down current events in parentheses.

He photographed it with his phone and saved it separately to the cloud and his drive.

Putting aside other things, if it’s like this, then no matter what I do, I’ll end up dating my Woo-min, right?

Humming a tune, Lee Do-kyung went to the living room and immediately lay down on the sofa.

His seemingly loose daily life was actually loosely divided into three large chunks: work, exercise, and clubs.

Thanks to the property he had inherited early from his grandfather, a consistent asset-holder, and stocks he bought based on information he knew two years in advance, he could live without working for the rest of his life.

But Lee Do-kyung liked his job as a programmer and had no intention of quitting.

Having an appropriate amount of tension made playing more enjoyable.

Hence, ‘work,’ which he consistently did.

And ‘exercise.’

He liked exercise, but having done equestrian and kendo consistently since childhood, it was ingrained in him.

If he went even a day without moving, he got antsy.

Now it had become a major part of his life.

He did various activities, changing them depending on his whim: weight training as a base, plus climbing, boxing, CrossFit, swimming, running, and others.

Finally, ‘clubs.’

He went to clubs purely to enjoy dancing and music.

In the past, he used to go for the purpose of casual one-night stands, but after meeting Seon Woo-min, he cut that out completely.

These days, he had a different reason for going to clubs.

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