Chapter 97
As expected, my body deteriorated even more. Being stuck drifting here for possibly several days, things getting this bad already was definitely a bad sign. With about 15 minutes remaining, I got up. It was to check if I could still move.
“Are you feeling really bad?”
“I feel like I’m dying. This is serious.”
I stared at the system window that was starting to flicker.
“My condition is bad, so tracking locations will be difficult now.”
“Don’t worry about that, just stay back, pull yourself together, and provide support.”
I stood on my two feet with difficulty and struggled to catch my breath. It was certain. When I’m recognized as ‘Yu Dohyun,’ the system recognizes me as the administrator. Otherwise, the original Yu Chanhee is just a user. A user who must move only as Yu Dohyun has set it up.
“We have 12 minutes and 32 seconds left. I think I can only see this far.”
Lee Joohyun and the other hunters got up again and prepared for battle. I tried gathering mana as a test, but feeling something flowing backward, I stopped immediately. At this rate, blood would definitely burst out.
“Fuck…”
I muttered curses while watching the system window gradually fade away. The disappeared system window reappeared in a completely different form. It was the familiar window design I originally knew.
[You are participating in an event!]
“I know.”
[Escape the 25th Dogok 2-dong Gate.]
“What kind of twisted event is this, telling me to rush in and then telling me to get out?”
Fortunately, my muttering was drowned out by the battle taking place in front, and no one heard me.
[The exit of the 25th Dogok 2-dong Gate will open 200m west in 3 days.]
[Until then, keep Lee Joohyun and 5 other hunters alive.]
[Would you like to participate in an additional event?]
“Are you crazy? How am I supposed to protect them when I don’t have any power? Give me something to work with.”
[Would you like to participate in an additional event?]
“I’m saying give me the power to participate.”
<Special Space Entry!: Would you like to recall saved memory? Y/N>
<Special Space Entry!: Would you like to recall saved memory? Y/N>
The system seemed confused. Instead of proceeding contextually, windows were popping up in duplicate, as if randomly calling up information. I recognized this window. It was the one I was forced to see long ago when I was sucked into the artificial Gate.
“…Why this all of a sudden.”
What happens if you recall a saved memory while a battle is going on? Why does the system consider entering these Gates as a special space in the first place? Knowing I had no choice anyway, I nodded.
<Loading saved memory of the past ’25th Dogok 2-dong Gate.’>
“I don’t have anything like that.”
But contrary to my words, my body suddenly started moving as if controlled by someone. I opened my eyes wide and looked down at my body as it rushed forward.
“Ah, shit. What is this.”
It felt different from when I gathered mana and fought on my own. It felt like someone was possessing my body and moving it… that kind of feeling. I struck down with my bare hands the monster targeting Lee Joohyun from behind. Holding a short sword that had fallen nearby, I quickly turned and stabbed downward at the fallen monster. It was tremendous power. Stronger mana than I could normally generate was felt at my fingertips. With a scream, the monster’s breath was cut off, and Lee Joohyun looked at me with a surprised face.
“Hey! Are you feeling better?”
I desperately wanted to answer, but no voice came out. I kept targeting only the monsters’ hearts and heads, piercing through them and quickly disposing of them without pause. I could feel the hunters fighting alongside me gradually letting go and watching me. I gave up trying to control my mechanically moving body and surrendered to the movement.
“Hey, Yu Chanhee!”
Only after defeating the last monster could I stand on the ground with my own strength.
“Are you crazy? What was that just now?”
“I don’t know either.”
I barely answered with a voice that finally came out. I felt like my breath was caught up to my chin and about to burst.
<Releasing memory of the 25th Dogok 2-dong Gate subjugation.>
“What kind of crazy ghost possessed me.”
“…”
Lee Joohyun stared at me without saying anything.
“What.”
“This is strange.”
“I think I’m strange too.”
“Stop joking around.”
“Would you believe me if I told you the truth?”
“What?”
“My body moved on its own.”
“…Are you seriously joking?”
“See, you don’t believe me.”
“I mean, are you saying I should believe that?”
“Believe it or not, that’s the truth.”
“Are you possessed? Is that why you can’t use mana? I’ve heard of such cases.”
“Yeah. I’m possessed. The god I serve says you’re going to die today.”
“Ha… Fine, let’s not talk about it.”
Lee Joohyun rubbed his face and turned around to slump down. So everything’s fine since it’s resolved? I continued to catch my breath, completely exhausted. At least Yu Chanhee has no memory of subjugating the 25th Dogok 2-dong Gate. In the first place, since the 25th Dogok 2-dong Gate exists now, it was a contradiction for me to have such a memory. Originally, this is the first time Yu Chanhee has lived to be twenty. He died nine times and never once reached adulthood. But what memory could this be?
I thought this far and recalled something someone had told me before. Do you think what you remember is everything? If what I remember isn’t everything, then where exactly did I stop being myself?
*
After that, I helplessly drifted through the Gate, buried among Lee Joohyun and the other hunters. No miracle like before occurred again. Rather, my entire effort for three days was just trying not to vomit blood.
When we came out of the Gate, we couldn’t avoid the flashes from countless reporters, as expected. The sudden entry of the powerless Yu Chanhee into the Gate had been a public topic for three days. There were even people who speculated whether everyone would die because of Yu Chanhee.
“Explain.”
When I finally returned home, I had to immediately face Han Jaemin, who was sitting on the sofa with his feet on the table. I was tired, but I couldn’t ignore him. That was my position, after all.
“I told you to shut up and stay buried at home, but rushing into the Gate with nothing… were you trying to commit suicide?”
“Well…”
“I heard you went wild inside the Gate? How are you using mana? What exactly are you?”
I had no intention of sitting down and explaining the system to Han Jaemin in detail. I couldn’t do that in the first place. Surprisingly, Han Jaemin was the first to bring up the topic.
“I’ve been suspicious of this for a while.”
“…”
“Do you have the same ability as Yu Dohyun?”
“What?”
“Your brother. He had some kind of fucked up ability, right? Coming back to life no matter how many times he died.”
“…How do you know about that?”
Han Jaemin snickered and lowered his feet from the table.
“I told you.”
“…”
“I know everything. So I know all the ways to make you miserable.”
“What…”
“I don’t know the details either. It’s based on guesses from how that bastard said strange nonsense in front of my parents when he died.”
“…Nonsense?”
“What did he say…”
“…”
“That he wouldn’t die anyway.”
“…”
“That they didn’t need to kill him.”
“…”
“He asked if they weren’t tired of it. Killing him every time and saving those little brats.”
“Those little brats being…”
“You and Yu Hyunjae. When I first heard that story, I thought it was nonsense, but quite by chance, I came to know something. After that, I could kind of guess.”
“But why didn’t you do anything?”
“What would I do?”
“…What?”
“Yu Dohyun is dead anyway. He was even desecrated. He’s really dead, that guy. Even if that was his ability, he’s ultimately dead.”
“You’re so simple.”
“I’m simple?”
Han Jaemin sneered.
“I’m not simple. I just don’t think about unnecessary things. Chanhee. No matter how many times your brother died and died and died, what was the end result?”
“…”
“He just really died, right? That’s just your brother’s fate. Without me having to do anything, he was destined to die.”
“…”
“Whatever that bastard experienced in between, whatever gap there was, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m the one who’s still alive in the end.”
“Right.”
I agreed with Han Jaemin’s words. To be precise, I pretended to agree.
“Even if you have the same ability, it doesn’t matter to me. Because I’ll be the one to survive in the end.”
“You’re quite confident.”
“Why, am I dead in the future you’re thinking of?”
I recalled Han Jaemin from that ‘novel,’ who died at Yu Hyunjae’s hands. Han Jaemin definitely died there. And it was quite simple, too. But was that a real novel? Or just a delusion fabricated in my head? Even the premise that I entered the novel I had been reading had become nothing to me now. Could I still say that it was the ‘truth’ and the ‘future’?
