# Chapter 8.
Lee Hwan had considered pretending to suddenly awaken and moving to another company. But that would surely spread rumors within the company, and the attack team would show interest. If he was unlucky, it might even reach Kang Taesung’s ears.
He’d also thought about quietly resigning and then reporting his awakening, but… even if he was B-class, he had the ability to manipulate space. Word would spread to any company. Including Naru, of course.
‘He used to be our supporter, why did he specifically go elsewhere? Oh, that awakened one? He looks like this… Do you know him? Huh, why are you grabbing your weapon?’
The horrific future was clear before his eyes. Even before the monster wave arrived, Lee Hwan’s corpse would first be carried away on ocean waves. In the end, whether he revealed his awakening or not, clearing up Taesung’s misunderstanding had to come first.
Besides, both Kang Taesung and Kang Dongha were Naru people anyway, and most of the events that would trigger the monster wave would be easier to encounter while working for Naru. He could come and go from Naru without suspicion, and it would also be easier to swipe files and such later.
And for a truly absurd reason… Lee Hwan didn’t want to deviate from this route. That is, working as a supporter for four years, then awakening and meeting Kang Taesung—the route from before the regression.
Of course, having already been marked by Kang Taesung, there was absolutely no guarantee that the future would unfold the same way even if he waited four years. But that’s just how he felt. How he felt.
*BANG!*
In a rocky mountain area where sane people wouldn’t venture at this hour, in a no-climbing zone, Lee Hwan noisily stretched his body and sat on a rock.
‘At this rate, I think my body is somewhat loosened up, even if not as much as before.’
Lee Hwan’s growth was remarkable. As long as he remembered the trial and error from the past, Lee Hwan could be his own top-tier instructor.
Thanks to this, he underwent dramatic changes without getting injured and always maintained good physical condition. While he still couldn’t match his future self and Taesung, he could at least make the current Taesung tense up momentarily.
Lee Hwan pushed back his sweat-soaked hair and loosened his waist. He wanted to flip through a gate for a more accurate assessment, but seeing how Kang Dongha was shuddering, it seemed trips there were out of the question for the time being.
‘Is he crazy? Does he want to see his money source get arrested?’
That serious face making things awkward was really unpleasant to look at.
Well, he had rushed things too much. If something wasn’t possible, it wasn’t possible, even with the offer of useful information. No matter if the Team 3 attack leader was his person, and even if their relatives turned a blind eye to what they were doing, there would surely be restrictions if they stood out too much.
Besides, the chairman was still neither his brother nor his father, but his grandfather. The chairman had five children but eight grandchildren. Before the monster wave hit, even great-grandchildren had been born.
Kang Dongha was able to strut around this much with the backing of his father, the eldest son, and his brother, the eldest grandson, but in reality, he was just recognized as one of many grandchildren.
‘Well, it’s a more livable position compared to Kang Taesung.’
At least Kang Dongha was a direct descendant. Taesung called the chairman his uncle.
Lee Hwan clicked his tongue and got up. His body felt light as he jumped down with a swoosh. After pushing himself hard, his ability to control his powers and his movements had clearly changed. More precise manipulation of his abilities became possible.
Yesterday, he had succeeded in designating a space in his desired position while avoiding an attack by kicking the ground with his right leg and flying sideways. It was just showing off, but the thrill when rocks flew into the space he had avoided…
Lee Hwan felt a deep satisfaction like teaching a blockhead and sending them to a prestigious university as he dragged around his gradually refined body.
‘At this point…’
He thought it might be time to appear before Taesung again. It was a hopeful thought, but that’s how he felt. Lee Hwan still believed that his unsightly escape on the day of his regression was due to his lack of skill.
Besides, he wasn’t hoping for much. He just needed to deliver his message without being attacked. Fortunately, Lee Hwan knew past Taesung’s weaknesses, but Taesung didn’t know Lee Hwan at all. That was a huge advantage.
Now about three weeks since his regression, Lee Hwan was still alone in this unfamiliar past.
Whenever he couldn’t communicate with people, whenever he missed future conveniences, and whenever he thought of the peaceful past, Lee Hwan felt like a complete foreigner.
The only thing similar to him in this world was Kang Taesung, at least. Of course, that guy was probably enjoying a happy penthouse life after having his memories wiped… but the comfort that fact provided was not small.
‘Am I just being a nuisance?’
He knew it was a foolish thought. The original goal was to stop Kang Dongha and prevent the monster wave. There was no need to deviate and risk danger.
Besides, Lee Hwan didn’t think Taesung would suddenly become gentle just because he listened to what Lee Hwan had to say. He had no expectation that Taesung’s memories would return against the EX-class skill’s work or that he would become as caring as his future self.
That’s why he quickly targeted Kang Dongha as an alternative from the beginning. Lee Hwan had lived for years in an environment where slow judgment led to injury.
But now, that soft and flimsy thought of “what if” made him waver. The unpleasant experience before the regression had imprinted confusion, and Taesung’s unfamiliar appearance had killed his cold reasoning.
In his confused mind, all he could fill it with were warm delusions and expectations.
In the end, Lee Hwan made up his mind.
* * *
Friday afternoon. Lee Hwan pretended to be sick and slipped out of the office.
Without even being told, he had submitted a half-day leave through the company app, making his supervisor look at him with a troubled expression. Lee Hwan walked out the door, blurring his focus as if he’d lost his sight.
Naru, indisputably Korea’s best company, where riffraff couldn’t even come near!
With the Naru Group headquarters standing tall in the center of the urban area, it took just a 20-minute bus ride to reach the familiar luxury apartment complex and Taesung’s home.
*Screech*, *thud*!
Getting off the bus, Lee Hwan looked up at the top of the tall building. The crazy penthouse with windows reflecting the sunlight wildly caught his eye.
‘I wonder if that glass window has been fixed by now.’
He glanced up but lowered his gaze as the sun blinded him. The high-rise penthouse suddenly seemed to be in an unreachably distant and shining place.
On this rare afternoon when the sun hadn’t set, Lee Hwan was lingering around the flower bed with a serious expression. Returning on his own feet to the place he had fled from on his own feet.
He wanted many things, but in the end, his purpose was one. He just wanted to confirm Taesung once. And then, whether by tying him up or hanging him, he wanted to tell him about the regression.
All those evil deeds of trying to roast him that day were committed because Taesung didn’t know who Lee Hwan was. Once he knew, he would welcome him with delight and embrace him.
Like a day-trader who spent his entire fortune buying scratch-off lottery tickets with a 100 percent payout rate, Lee Hwan was actively running his hope circuits.
Yet at the same time, he was already aware that it was a stupid thing to do. No matter how much Taesung had lost 7 years of memories and experience, he was still an indisputably S-class star awakened one. Even when he lit fires around Lee Hwan last time, his control was so amazing that he almost burned only Lee Hwan, leaving the furniture intact.
If his plan, which wasn’t even worthy of being called a plan, failed, and if he were caught, Lee Hwan could really become a crispy roast, burned outside and raw inside. Nevertheless, somehow a complacent expectation that things would be fine lingered in his heart.
This was his first visit to Taesung’s home since the day he regressed. He used to frequent it shamelessly before, but now, having come after a while, even the building looked as distant as a hometown long left behind.
‘Do you come to my house just to eat meat?’
‘If you’re too quick-witted, you’ll die early.’
Even as a joke, he shouldn’t have said such things. Among all the memories, Lee Hwan bit the inside of his cheek as he recalled that particular one.
The days when he often headed to Taesung’s house after finishing combat. Back then, he really thought such things would never happen. That’s why he didn’t hesitate to say such words.
It was the same when Lee Hwan didn’t know how to use a bath bomb and rubbed it like soap, emerging as a sparkly human.
‘This is the left brain, right? I’ll erase your memory today.’
He had threatened Taesung, whose mouth corners were dancing. At that time, he really didn’t think much of it, but the words he’d said out of embarrassment seemed to have returned like karma, making Lee Hwan’s mouth bitter.
Humans die and get injured easily. He had forgotten that while awakening his ability and hanging around Taesung. Like he was something special.
No matter how rare gate accidents had become, human life could still vanish in the blink of an eye.
On the day his parents who had left smiling in the morning returned as a death notice in the afternoon, and when chrysanthemums were placed on the desk of a colleague who had been sitting beside him just the day before, Lee Hwan had felt that keenly.
If he could go back to the past, he would never make such jokes even if he died.
Thinking this, Lee Hwan realized once again that he had indeed returned to that past.
‘…Let me do what I came to do.’
Lee Hwan spat out his distracting thoughts and rummaged through his bag. A mini megaphone with a recording function was pulled out by his slender fingers. It rattled, looking like it might break after minimal use, but based on the test he’d done at home, it seemed to know its job.
Lee Hwan had skipped dinner to buy this with what little money he had. Eating breakfast roughly and skipping dinner. Proper meals only happened in the company cafeteria. There was a reason he continuously filled his tray with food and stuffed his stomach at lunch every day.
Having trained hard, Lee Hwan was in a particularly bad mood about the potential muscle loss.
After pressing firmly to activate the megaphone, Lee Hwan threw it into the air. At the same time, his eyes glowed faintly.
The megaphone settled snugly into the designated space and spread an almost terroristic sound in all directions through its amplifying speaker.
—Tofu is here~! Fresh~ nutty~ and healthy~ nutritious snack for dads~!
